The Impact Factor’s Top 10 Games of 2018
Perspectives
You know the drill by this point – 2018 is almost over, which means it is time to discuss my favorite games of the year.
2018 has been fairly momentous for me outside of games. I submitted my first first-authored manuscript for publication. I graduated, receiving my Ph.D. in biomedical sciences. I began my post-doctoral research. And, I accepted a job offer to be a Scientist at a biotech startup. That’s a whole lot for one year, especially after years of toiling away in pursuit of said Ph.D. Please don’t call me doctor, though.
Overall, I’d say it has been a pretty good year for games. Maybe not as mind boggling as last year, but 2018 has maintained a breakneck pace of good video games. And I’m happy with that. This made it quite hard to narrow my list down to my ten favorites, but I did! For the most part.
Like last year, here is a brief list of games I wish I had gotten to play. Any or all of them could have made the list: Moonlighter, Life is Strange 2, Overcooked 2, Gris, Tetris Effect, Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, Soul Calibur 6, Florence, Return of the Obra Dinn.
Without further ado, let’s get to the list.
10. The Swords of Ditto
Honorable Mention: Divinity Original Sin 2: Definitive Edition
I love including games I played co-operatively with my wife on these end of year lists, so The Swords of Ditto was an easy inclusion. Ditto is colorful, bright, and filled with charming enemies and dialogue. This is the little isometric action RPG roguelite that could. Combat was just deep enough to keep us engaged across several successful playthroughs, while the gameplay & world hooks left us still wanting to play more. Ditto is perhaps not an exceptional title, but it is one that we had a exceptionally fun time playing. That’s good enough for me. Oh yeah, the theme song slaps and I invented a dance for it. So, yup, it had to be included on the list.
Divinity 2 is included here as an honorable mention. The wife and I started playing this in December, and given the scope and scale of this game, we’ll easily be playing it long into 2019. Divinity 2 seems rad as heck, and almost certainly would have unseated Ditto if we had played more. We’re only 15 hours in, but I can tell the game is something special.
9. Dragon Ball FighterZ
Honorable Mention: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
2018 was a stellar year for fighting games, a genre many of you know I hold close to my heart. There were so many releases, in fact, I barely got a chance to try them all! (Soul Calibur 6 chief among them). But the ones I did get to play were awesome. FighterZ resonated with me on so many levels, though. While not the biggest fan of the IP itself, fighting as Dragon Ball’s long list of legendary fighters felt great. The combat was fast, furious, and filled with flashy combos and super moves. I fell into a deep FighterZ hole early in the year, spending 70 hours or so in-game within the first few weeks. The fighting engine reminded me of my favorite fighting game of all time (Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3), so that helped to secure its spot on the list. Plus, there were so many great tournament moments for FighterZ how could I not give it the nod?
Smash is an honorable mention here, because it is an unbelievably polished, content-stuffed, fun package. It’s everything I could have asked for from a new Smash game. Aside from the tedious grind to unlock characters, there is nothing I don’t like about it. However, without a solid group of nearby friends to play it with, Smash loses its luster. I can only play against CPUs for so long before I lose interest, and I’ve heard online is a mess. Oh well. I’ll always have it for when there’s a party.
8. Guacamelee! 2
There were a whole bunch of Metroidvania’s vying for my attention this year, but none resonated with me as much as Guacamelee! 2. What took it over the top is how tightly the game controls. The combo based combat is dynamic and rewarding. The platforming is precise as it can be, with an even mix of fun and brutally challenging sections throughout. Much like the first, I did not stop playing Guacamelee! 2 until I had it 100%-ed. The world is fun, the dialogue is funny, and the game lasted exactly as long as it needed to maintain my full attention in a busy release year.
7. Dead Cells
These lists aren’t getting too predictable, are they? You know I got to have an indie roguelike gem on my top ten list. Dead Cells is the clear winner with that in mind. My expectations for Dead Cells were extraordinarily high – I had been following the game since it was in early beta last year. The actual play experience, shockingly, lived up to those expectations. The gameplay loop is deviously addictive. The end-game is punishingly hard. Item combinations make each run feel fresh. I loved the branching paths and hidden secrets. Dead Cells is a game you only made progress in as you yourself got better. I haven’t popped back in since my release month binge, but after writing this, I’m itching to return.
6. Yakuza 6: Song of Life
My wife and I are relative newcomers to the Yakuza series (as I imagine many are in North America), but boy have we fallen pretty deeply into it in a short span. Yakuza 6 is the perfect mix of serious and campy, ultra-violence and goofiness, charming heroes and despicable villains. The game is absolutely stuffed with things to do, and believe it or not, just about all of them are a highlight. To this day, I still have vivid memories of our various exploits in Kiryu’s final fight – whether it was spear fishing for the Bloody Shark, growing our street mob, dressing up as a mascot, or finally learning the secret of Onomichi. Perhaps the best sign is that we’re still itching to play more Yakuza, with Yakuza Kiwami downloaded and waiting to be played as I write this.
5. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed wasn’t a franchise I cared to try up until very recently. Nothing about its characters, world, or gameplay loop seemed up my alley. That was until last year’s Origins, in which the franchise shifted to become a large open world RPG. But even then, my intrigue was not enough to get me to play. Everything changed with Odyssey, though. An open world action RPG set in classical Greece? Yes freakin’ please. A kickass female protagonist who can confidently topple fortresses and mythical creatures alike? Heck yes! The world of Odyssey is rich and beautiful. And while not everything is always worth doing, there is so much to do that 75+ hours in I never tired of exploration or combat. It’s a true feat of game development that for a game as colossally large as Odyssey is, everything remained in sharp focus.
4. Marvel’s Spider-Man
Spider-Man is fantastic. Amazing. Spectacular. Ok enough comic puns, but seriously, I would have never expected to think so highly of a superhero game. Historically, so many have been so bad you don’t want to let yourself hope. Spider-Man is a clear exception to that trend, however. While playing, you could tell how delicately and specifically everything was handled. Web swinging across Manhattan not only felt natural, it felt right. Gameplay across the board felt additive. You’re always making progress and doing new things. Where Spider-Man really succeeded, though, is in its characters. Peter Parker is the perfect mix of humble, caring, disorganized, and clever. The game features many franchise-best adaptations of characters, while at the same time taking serious narrative risks with Spider-Man canon. Spider-Man is my favorite superhero game of all time.
3. Celeste
It’s hard to believe Celeste came out in 2018. Wow years are long. Anyway. Despite coming out nearly a full year ago, Celeste has remained fresh in my mind. What a fantastic experience. Celeste is a game that checks so many boxes for me. Crisp, responsive platforming. Mechanics that cleverly build upon themselves, while also having narrative weight. “Masso-core” challenges for when I’m feeling myself, that remain optional in the path to completion. Endearing characters and a touching story about living with depression. Celeste is a harmonious mix of elements; a game that teaches the player how to play games. I’ve popped in and out of the game throughout the rest of the year, but never got re-hooked. Still, I won’t soon forget my time with Celeste and would recommend anyone play it. It’s fantastic.
2. Monster Hunter World
Holy moly what a game. A monster of a game, if you will. Monster Hunter is a franchise I always wanted to get into. Thoughtful combat, big bosses, loot grinds, and character optimization RPGs are very much my thing. And I had given it a shot before with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on the 3DS, but it didn’t really click. Perhaps it was the hold-over jank from a long running series, perhaps it was being locked onto a small handheld. Regardless, I finally got it when playing World. Gone was the awkwardness and unnecessary tedium of the past games. Gone were baffling, unexplained systems and sluggishness. World is a polished, player-friendly experience that’s as deep as it is wide. Every monster fight is its own level. Every weapon is its own character – a completely different way to interface with the game. World doles out breadcrumbs to cool new things aplenty, always pushing you towards completing your long & short term goals. Emergent narratives shape every hunt. 160+ hours went by in the blink of an eye. Even after I stopped playing, I kept wanting to go back. And I haven’t even talked about how rad it was to play as a character that looked like my wife. Or how fun it was playing with a group of friends. For the vast majority of the year, Monster Hunter World was my game of the year. Some days, it still is. Monster Hunter World is very good, and I hope against hope I can get myself playing again.
1. God of War
It’s hard to write about God of War without getting into a thousands of words long essay about design, combat, narrative, or characters. There’s too much to say. To put it extremely briefly: God of War is a game that, quite frankly, I cannot understand how it got made. It feels like it was made by a team of thousands, with how polished and perfect* everything feels (*obviously not perfect, but unbelievably smooth and deeply satisfying). The Leviathan Axe is among the best video game weapons of all time, playing a pivotal role in the game’s skill intensive and thoughtful combat. I loved what was done with Norse mythology, and how the world was built with those themes in mind. Kratos was a bafflingly unpleasant character throughout all past entries to the series, but is a complex and interesting figure here. (I’m not going to argue that his redemption is earned, though). The game is not only a thoughtful reflection on parenting, but on how the industry makes games and which stories are worth telling. It is an unprecedented reinvention of a character and genre, and I would love to see similar approaches taken to other franchises in desperate need for a new coat of paint. God of War was a shared narrative experience I got to enjoy with my wife, which made the story’s big reveals and dramatic moments all the more memorable. I could go on and on, but I’ll end it here. God of War is impeccable, and an easy choice for 2018’s Game of the Year.
