jawa asks... what games have you most enjoyed in 2018 (so far)?

>>> ...what games have you most enjoyed in 2018 (so far)? <<<

> You can chose games that were released before 2018 if you want to; this is all about the games that you've played and enjoyed during this year... not necessarily just ones that launched during the year

> If you also want to add your current Game of the Year for a title that launched in 2018... go for it!

Please enjoy sharing your thoughts here :-).

Last edited by Tafdolphin on Tue Sep 11, 2018 10:01 am, edited 2 times in total.

Great idea for a thread as always.

Not sure if it's just me but I have a teeeerrible memory when it comes to media consumption. Books, films, music, games...I can never remember when I played, watched or listened to something, or even if I have at all.

Anyway. 2018:

Most time played: Stardew Valley

Thepigsmustfeedthepigsmustfeedthepigsmustfeedthepigsmustfeedthepigsmustfeedthepigsmustfeedthepigsmustfeedthepigsmustfeed

Biggest Surprise: Unavowed

I don't think I've played a point 'n click since the last of the Monkey Island games (which we all know is Curse and there was no fourth or episodic Telltale games) and I only picked this up due to the immense praise it was getting over twitter. And it earns that praise. This is a p'n-c by way of BioWare and The Witcher, seemlessly integrating player choice, party mechanics and a whole boatload of quality-of-life improvements onto a genre that sorely needed a shake-up.

It's also marvellously written and gorgeously drawn.

Best game of 2018 so far: Into the Breach.

Soon as I played it on PC earlier this year I knew this was going to be the perfect Switch game. And it is. Perfect. It's the best tactics game I've ever played, probably the best puzzle game I've ever played, and one of the best games I've ever played. It's balancing alone is breathtaking, let alone the wonderful music, design and writing. It's hard to see anything beating this to my overall GoTY.

YouTube

Most time played: Rivals of Aether
Best game of 2018 so far: Hollow Knight
Close 2nd: Undertale

Zelda: BotW (Switch)
Really enjoyed this, but my interest fell away after 70 hours, just couldn't be arsed with it. I will definitely return at some point as I've got all of the main story and a few shrines left, so there's plenty of legs in it.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands (PS4)
Absolutely loved this, still do when I get that soldier shooty-sneaky itch. Soundtrack and vistas are superb.

Football Manager 2018 (Switch)
My favourite gaming franchise in the palm of my hand. I have ascended to a higher plane of pleasure.

Skyrim (Switch)
My favourite RPG in the palm of my hand. I didn't think I'd enjoy starting this game again for the 6th or 7th time, but it's got its hooks in me all over again.

That's about it.

I don’t think I have played any games that were released in 2018. Other than “freebies” on Gold or PS+. :lol:

My most played/enjoyed games this year would be Assassins Creed: Origins (Xbone), Middle Earth: Shadow of War (Xbone), Trials Fusion (Xbone & PS4) and Super Meatboy (PS4).

Well I'm also playing Skyrim again but on the Xbox one, despite having finished it before on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC a fair few times.

I also played and finished xcom 2 and the chosen dlc.

I played a fair chunk of Andromeda but haven't gone back to finish it, played some of the fallout 4 dlc and gone back to playing animal crossing to play it with my fiancee.

Oh and also been playing mario tennis and hollow knight which would probably get my game of the year vote so far as it's basically making me feel the way symphony of the night did the first time I played that.

I've also been playing my usual retro load, been playing a fair bit of streets of rage 2 recently

NickSCFC

That is all

Last edited by Photek on Tue Sep 11, 2018 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

Although release last year some games have been in my play list more this year.

I HAVE BECOME PUBG.

It's dominated online play with mates almost exclusively.

I really REALLY love Sea of Thieves too, there's a ton of stuff to do and going on and major increase in stuff next week also. :toot:

I've enjoyed Assasins Creed Origins.

Biggest disappointment is my Nintendo Switch. I've barely touched it, it's being played constantly by my 8 year old so it's not neglected. She plays, Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, Mario Rabbids and that free Pokemon game pretty much non stop, in fact she wanted Splatoon 2 for her birthday last month. I suspect Breathe of the Wild will be attempted soon, they're all on it digitally.

Spiderman - currently really enjoying this and one of my favourite games of the year even though I have barely touched the main story!

Shenmue - Spiderman has taken up my time since last week, but this is the game I have been waiting 15 years for, so playing it has been a joy despite the odd glitch. I will get back to it once the patch hits.

God of War PS4 - started off slowly, but the graphics and the epicness of the quest made me fall in love with this. Great game, with amazing graphics.

Fifa 18 - I have been playing this online quite a lot this year as my love for Pro Evo fades.

Yakuza Kiwami - Again, late to the party on this one, but downloaded it on PSN and loved every moment of it. I even forgot most of the story, so it was like a new game, revisiting familiar characters, who were younger!

Dark Souls Remastered - Finally completed this one!

Dark Souls 2 PS4 - I wasn't a massive fan of this on the PS3, but replaying this in full hd and at 60fps helped reignite my love.

It's gotta be Hollow Knight. It's so just so good.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2
I sank so much time into this, more than I have sunk into any game in a long time. Really looking forward to giving the Torna DLC a go later this month, more XC2 is always a good thing.

The Battle for Polytopia
A civ lite on mobile that has micro transactions, but is an absolutely joyous experience. The micro transactions come in the form of other tribes, buy 1, or 2 or 4 or none of them, entirely up to you and its entirely possible to buy none and get plenty enjoyment out of it. I encourage everyone to give it a go, especilly if you like Civ, its nowhere near as in depth but it scratches that itch very nicely.

Forza Horizon 3
Jumped back on the Xbox train this summer and really enjoyed this, its been a while since I played a Forza game but that was a good thing, I had grown tired of the sameyness of it all so having a couple of years away made it all that much better, really looking forward to 4 later this year.

Yakuza 0 - PS4

I finally got into this series this year and am absolutely loving it. It's an unbelievably dense and bizarre game that flops between gritty seriousness and off-the-wall strangeness with systems upon systems that just keep going.

Asura's Wrath - Xbox 360

An equally bonkers "game" that is perhaps the weirdest and most over the top I've ever seen. It's marred slightly by the shady DLC which locks off the proper end of the game behind a paywall, but I got it all heavily reduced on the marketplace so that was mitigated somewhat.

Night in the Woods (Switch) - The storyline and the characters really got to me; absolutely sublime and I assessed this as a [10] back in February.

PES (2018 and 2019) (PS4) - For me, it's the gameplay that makes it; every match is different and I enjoy the challenge of playing online. Early days with the 2019 Edition but it's good so far.

Final Fantasy XIV Online (PS4) - I've played this on and (a lot of) off for five years now and I enjoy it... but I still barely know what I'm doing :fp:

. I love the gameworld, the characters and the atmosphere but, dang it, everything just seems so complicated. I really need to fully immerse myself in it for a while to pick things up; half-hour sessions now-and-again doesn't really cut it.

OnRush (PS4) - I descibed this as "...exciting, moreish and downright rambunctious!" and that view remains.

I did play Zelda BotW (Switch) and was having a lot of fun with that before wandering off. The updated No Man's Sky (PS4) is wonderful. I've also played Kart, Rocket League and Splatoon (alll Switch) as part of the weekly GRcade sessions and - as ever - they have been really enjoyable... albeit I've totally lost my mojo for these sessions during the past two months or so. Nothing to do with the people as they're good folk :wub:

.

In terms of GOTY for 2018... at this point, I gotta choose between Night in the Woods and OnRush. Looking at the remaining releases for this year, Fallout 76 is gonna be interesting; I wasn't keen on it at the first reveal but the idea is growing on me.

Last edited by Yoshimi on Tue Sep 11, 2018 11:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

I played through Persona 5 this year, on and off. Loved the game and finally finished it a month or so ago.

Also enjoyed/enjoying Valkyria Chronicles Remastered, God of War, Spider-man.

On Switch... Hollow Knight, Enter the Gungeon, Stardew Valley and Captain Toad Treasure Tracker were all great.

Bought and played many more games, but they're all my highlights.

From ‘better than I expected’ to ‘WHY HAVEN’T Y’ALL PLAYED THIS YOU TROGLODYTES’:

Sushi Striker - I expected this to have a silly but entertaining plot and forgettable gameplay. In fact, it was sort of the other way around: the plot was too ridiculous for the most part to be believable, but the gameplay was tremendous fun with surprising depth. Lots of it, too, and it looks and sounds really nice.

Iconoclasts - Kind of the opposite: forgettable aesthetics, variable gameplay, but one heck of a plot. Sometimes emotional, sometimes funny, sometimes surprisingly epic.

Hollow Knight - Oh what a lovely world! Great exploration, great combat, and quite the challenge. Bit dark, but cute enough to get away with it.

Celeste - My favourite 2D platformer, ever.

Three indie side-scrollers, and a puzzle game about flinging fish at people. Couldn’t be more different to last year!

Bluesky

Quite a few games if I use the term loosely, but most notably: Devil May Cry 3, the classic Sonic games, Wind Waker HD, Portal 2, Yakuza and Fallout New Vegas.

My two most played games of the year are Horizon: Zero Dawn and Star Wars: Battlefront II on the PS4. Beyond those two, I've been thoroughly enjoying Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered, Metroid: Samus Returns and Sonic Mania Plus. Beyond those I'm not sure I've played a great deal.

Last edited by Jenuall on Tue Sep 11, 2018 12:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My 2018 gaming has been pretty much dominated by the Nintendo Switch so far, the PC has only had a look in for a few bits here and there!

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch) - Such a fantastic game that has reignited my interest in the JRPG genre. I sank so much time into this and didn't regret a moment of it. Bring on the DLC!

Stardew Valley (Switch) - Really enjoyed this and it had me hooked for a month or so, but I need to go back and continue tending to my farm which has been neglected whilst other games have taken over my time.

Hollow Knight (Switch) - Took a while to click with me but is now firmly under my skin and I can see myself being very disappointed when it is finally over. The gameplay is so rewarding and I love having a large space in which I am let loose to explore and discover its secrets!

Prey (PC) - Replayed this earlier in the year to try a new "guns blazing" approach in contrast to my normal style which is more stealth based, still loved every minute of it and it has probably solidified its position as my favourite Arkane game, which is tough going as I love pretty much everything they do! :wub:

I finished this just before the DLC and updates came out so I'm planning another run soon to try out some of the changes that have been put back into the base game that should mix things up a bit.

Prey - Mooncrash DLC (PC) - As above, fantastic stuff yet again from Arkane. Initially I was concerned about the switch from a more narrative heavy game to the "rouge-lite" style they went for here but it actually works amazingly well at encouraging the player to mix up their styles and pushing you into more creative approaches and solutions. I'll be sad if this is the last we see of Arkane's Prey universe but it has certainly left its mark on me.

I've got a few games on to go at the moment that I need to spend more time with before I can tell if they are up for "best of the year" contention - right now I'm working through Dead Cells, Into the Breach and Celeste (all on Switch). Currently I'm enjoying Dead Cells, loving Into the Breach, and really struggling to find the love for Celeste (I know there are a few big fans on the forum, so sorry about that!)

Yoshimi wrote:I played through Persona 5 this year, on and off. Loved the game and finally finished it a month or so ago.

I really need to get back into this. I was really liking it (not quite as much as 4) but I just stopped playing for a bit one day and haven't been back since.

Hollow Knight has been a real joy, a core of solid Metroidvania style gameplay coated with delicious layers of aural and visual aesthetic goodness.
I still play a bit of Rocket League with mates and it remains a thrilling and silly and infuriating kickabout.
I picked up Mad Max on Plus and I'm still pushing through it - it's almost a good game that I feel would be better (or perhaps just more interesting) if it more fully embraced the survivalist genre.
I've continued to mop up moons in Super Mario Odyssey, the bite size task tailored perfectly to the Switch's portability.

Given that those are the things I actually remember playing, they're by default my most enjoyed. :fp:

jawa asks... what games have you most enjoyed in 2018 (so far)?

Who is online

Affiliates