Welcome to the my personal list of games I enjoyed this year. That’s right it’s my list, feel free to disagree with me but it won’t change anything.
Anyway here are the rules;

1. These are games that I’ve played and reviewed this year.
2. The only order to this list is the order in which I reviewed them, its not a top 10, these all feature because of how good I consider them to be.
3. The games don’t have to have been released this year.

With that all said, lets get into it.

Psychonauts 2

This was a long awaited sequel for me, I loved the original (and lacked the tech to play the VR one) and loved this one even more. Everything the first had this iterated on and improved. Great characters, wonderful humour and I love the art style.

A Hat in Time

Yet more platforming goodness. I enjoyed my time with this so much I introduced it to my nephew (and I don’t usually do that because he makes any game I do that with insufferable). Bright, colourful and full of character.

Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition

I really enjoyed my time with this game and I’m waiting as patiently as I can for the sequel to finally land on PC. This game ticked boxes I didn’t even know I had. Hunting mechanical dinosaurs (and other creatures) it turns out really is my jam.

Death’s Door

A recursive game… I like that as a term and its a term that fits this game perfectly. This was a game that I liked the look of and loved the feel of playing. The combat is meaty but manageable as long as you don’t allow yourself to be swarmed.

Iratus: Lord of the Dead

It looks and plays similiarly to Darkest Dungeon in a lot of ways, but not so much so there isn’t anything unique about it. However the ability to enhance your units by adding body parts that you harvest from successful combats gives this game a unique feeling. Go on play it, be the bad guy.

Wandersong

This was such a feel good game, I believe I said this game felt like a Cartoon Holiday Special and I stand by that statement. It’s saccharine sweet at time but sometimes thats exactly what you need.

The Outer Worlds

I do love a nice chunky RPG sometimes, one where you can really get your teeth into the mechanics and fiddle with numbers etc. The Outer Worlds gave me exactly what I wanted. I would suggest investing in the DLC’s though, they’re very unique and entertaining… perhaps more so than the base game.

Oxenfree

Play this game. PLAY IT.
It’s not overly long and the mystery is great. That’s all I can say. So…

PLAY IT.

Dusk

Screenshots do not do this game justice. This game is frenetic and and a joy to control. It seems boomer shooters are back and are taking no prisoners.

A Plague Tale: Innocence

This game is just so damned good, its gorgeous and grotesque to look at. The story… well it’s interesting. We’ll see if the sequel can match what the original did. Stealth your way to victory and stay in the light!

—————————————————————————————————

I’m so glad that unions are rising within the games industry. This can only lead to good things, sure the games may take longer but the talent used to create them will now finally have some real protection from their corporate masters. With luck more and more of these unions will spring up and really affect some long lasting change for the better.