Great year for games, not much for anything else. Without fanfare… my top ten!
10. Metroid Dread
I’ve been a huge fan of Metroid games and their derivatives for a long while now and I was really looking forward to that new 2D entry (Still looking forward to Prime 4!) after the interesting one that was Samus Returns a while back. Dread is pretty good, with intense boss fights, a good sense of completion for exploring nooks and crannies here and there and an interesting story and setting. I enjoyed the EMMI sections as well, even if I wasn’t very good at them. The reason I didn’t rank it higher (and the reason I couldn’t get 100% of everything) is because I was just plainly incapable of doing the Shinespark puzzles. The game would’ve been much better without them.
9. Bravely Default 2
Bravely Default 2 plays it much more safer than the first two games in the series, but I still had a blast with it. I leveled all the jobs to the maximum, got all the secret boss fights and played the card game much more than I should’ve. I still love job-based RPG systems very much and BD2 allowed for just the right amount of party customization with cool abilities that blend well with each other. The story was okay too, but it fell on the forgettable side of things. I kept waiting for the big plot twist, the big meta-element that would pop at me and make me either love or hate the game, but it kinda never happened. I really enjoyed what I was left with, for sure!
8. Gnosia
An interesting little visual novel that plays around the concept of the game of “Werewolf”, but in a spaceship with a colorful cast of characters, roles, skills and strategies. A bit frustrating in spots (especially at the beginning where your stats are really low and you can’t do much to verbally overpower some of your crewmates) it was fun to discover everything about the other characters and figure out the secret behind the whole thing. If you have a few hours and love visual novel, this one is pretty good!
7. Get In The Car, Loser!
I’m really glad to have played Get In The Car, Loser! before the end of the year because it’s a great game; An RPG with pretty interesting systems and a good story, an endearing cast of characters with their own struggles, a kickass soundtrack, and it’s free - although you should buy the DLC to support the game’s creator! What more could you want? The core loop of fighting, having discussions with the other party members in the titular car, then upgrading and customizing your party - all the while reading cool side stories on the items themselves - everything is solid here!
6. Persona 5 Strikers
I thought I was getting into “Persona Musou” where you would just mow down hordes of mindless demons, but P5S is a bit deeper than that. It plays more like a traditional action RPG with persona characters and systems, and that’s great! I had a good time coming back with the gang to go on a road trip to save the world once more. The new characters were great - I was especially happy to see a persona user over the age of 20 - and we did pretty much everything we could in the game, all quests and most of the optional content. I’m glad I played this one!.
5. Shin Megami Tensei V
Only in a year with so many great games could I place SMT at the fifth spot, but that’s how the cookie crumbles, especially if you consider that I haven’t really personally played SMTV but rather watched someone do it. Without a doubt, this is the next amazing installment in this series of RPGs with a few new twists. I really enjoyed the concept of “open world SMT” for the first few maps (then it became a bit tiresome) but otherwise everything is there. The press turn system was still great to play with, the difficulty was a bit toned down (although we should try it on Hard before making judgement) and there was a lot of stuff to do to get the true neutral ending, but we did it all! The only thing that’s left is the Demi-Fiend fight, haha.
4. Yakuza: Like A Dragon
The only other Yakuza game I’ve played so far is Zero, but this new direction taken by the series (in a turn-based RPG direction) really surprised me, and I’ve devoured all of its content, doing pretty much everything there was to be done. Kasuga Ichiban and his friends were a cool crew to hang around with, all the minigames were pretty great and the battle/job system was amusing to play with. We had a blast with Yakuza:LAD and it was so much fun, one of the best games of the year!
3. NEO: The World Ends with You
I had spent so much time with the original game on DS that I had some apprehension for this sequel - how could they make it work? Was capturing lightning a once-in-a-lifetime thing? They absolutely made it work, NEO:TWEWY is a worthy sequel to a cult classic and I love everything about it. The battle system completely captures the essence of the original while being wildly different; The cast of characters are pretty cool and it oozes style in every way it can. What a game, I’m still thinking about it right now!
2. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
I’m a huge Ace Attorney fan, so it should come at no surprise that the latest two entries in the franchise completely took me by storm. Two great games - that really tell one single story - about courtroom dramas, intrigues and a compelling cast of characters that pushed me to play through the whole thing as quickly as I could. Familiar mechanics with a few twists thrown here and there, compelling villains and great music, I love Ace Attorney, I hope they make more of these!
1.Resident Evil: Village
Resident Evil Village is so cool, in my mind it is a mix of 7 and 4 (which is my favorite one) in a sleek package with a great cast of characters, gameplay that changes enough to keep you on your toes, secrets and mysteries to find, and reasons to replay the whole thing multiple times - I think I’ve played it five times in a row (I so rarely do this with games) because I wanted to try different playstyles and unlock more bonuses. I would totally play RE8 again even if it becomes one of those games you know everything about and can play semi-automatically. I love it that much. Like with Ace Attorney, I hope Capcom can follow it up!