At the end of each year, my friends and I like to look back on the games that came out or made a splash. I feel like every year, I look back and think “Man, what a great year for gaming.” In hindsight, that’s been true for the most part. These past few years into this current generation of consoles have seen the releases of fantastic titles like The Last of Us, Breath of the Wild, Stardew Valley, Overwatch, Splatoon 2, Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and countless others. Games have been good. But, what about 2018? How’d this year’s games look as a whole? The short answer: great, The long answer: gaming is in the best place it’s likely ever been. I intend to look back at the best moments of this year. For the sake of organization, I’ll keep this in a monthly order. This’ll probably be a long one. Let’s do this.
JANUARY
We saw three big drops in the first month of 2018. Blizzard officially launched Overwatch League. OWL has only grown in popularity since. Esports have always had unstable ground to stand on in terms of respect. OWL firmly established esports. It had millions of concurrent viewers across all platforms. It’s appeared on ESPN. The only esports event it hasn’t passed is DotA 2’s The International.
Matt Makes Games released Celeste, a side-scrolling adventure game with a gorgeous soundtrack and compelling story. It recently picked up “Best Independent Game” at This year’s Game Awards. It really is a wonderful experience. Give it a go if y0u get the chance.
Capcom finished off January with the release of Monster Hunter World, their best selling title ever. They just announced a crossover for it a few days ago. They’ve held on to the momentum they established early on. Monster Hunter: World remains as enjoyable a game today as when it first released.
Other great releases include Subnautica (one of my personal top 10) and Dragon Ball FighterZ.
FEBRUARY
Bluepoint Games remastered the critically acclaimed Shadow of the Colossus. The game originally came out on PS2 in 2005 and featured the player hunting down 16 gigantic boss enemies known as Colossi. The remaster greatly enhanced visuals and sound design while maintaining the feel of the original.
PC got a new fantasy RPG titled Kingdom Come: Deliverance. While not the most mechanically stable release, its story and roleplay elements made it one of the best RPGs of this year.
Winner of “Best Strategy Game” at the Game Awards, Into the Breach was the next big title from the developers behind FTL: Faster than Light. I gave this game one of my strongest endorsements when it came out on the 27th. It won strategy GOTY for a reason. If you’re a fan of this genre, this one is a must have.
MARCH
March was a big one. Final Fantasy XV, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, and Surviving Mars, all came to PC. Outlast II was released for the Switch, EA published Burnout: Paradise Remastered for Xbox and PS4.
The first of the two biggest drops of March was A Way Out. A Way Out was published by EA as part of their “EA Originals” program to support indie devs. The exclusively co-op prison break game was an inventive adventure that I can heartily recommend. It takes advantage of two person solutions to the problems the protagonists face. A Way Out is a memorable experience without a doubt.
And of course, our second big AAA title of the year was Far Cry 5. Ubisoft brought the Far Cry series to Montana, where the deputy of the local police force becomes the target of a cult known as Eden’s Gate. The tone feels grim at times, but a good deal of the game is a folk music fueled explosion fest. You can expect attack helicopters, pickups with .50 cal turrets, and an aggressively American semi-truck with mounted machine guns and a bald eagle mirror charm. It’s a wonderful game with what is arguably the best fishing minigame ever made. To this day, I stand by that claim. If you liked Far Cry 3 or 4, pick this one up.
APRIL
It’d be unfair of me not to open up April with the GOTY. Made by Santa Monica Studios and published by Sony, God of War dominated the month. The game was an unexpected reboot of the cherished chronicles of Kratos, a father on a godkilling revenge quest. It’s one other awards like “Best Storytelling” at Golden Joystick as well. Average reviews were well over 9/10, with many perfect reviews.
South Park: The Fractured but Whole also dropped in April to very positive reception. The sequel to South Park: The Stick of Truth features more of what made the original great. Scathing social commentary, quick comedy, and surprisingly fun gameplay.
PC got Frostpunk, a city building simulator in which the world has frozen over. The only way your city can survive is by settling around a massive furnace which powers and heats your citizens. The devs (11 bit Studios) built the game around tough choices. Should you put the children to work this month? Should you stop giving treatment to the critically ill? Frostpunk is a must for the city sim fans.
MAY
May opened up strong with Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Obsidian is famous for games like Fallout: New Vegas and Knights of the Old Republic II. Pillars of Eternity II is better than its predecessor in every way.
Nintendo bolstered the already impressive Switch library with an upgraded port of Hyrule Warriors. Zenimax dropped the Summerset Isles expansion for Elder Scrolls: Online. Microsoft dropped State of Decay 2.
Detroit: Become Human is one of those games that pushes the boundaries of morality in games. While there were some that thought it didn’t do these touchy topics, the fact that Quantic Dream attempted to integrate ideas of sentience, abuse, and class structure into a game was a welcome change.
Can you see where I’m going with this? 2018 already had an impressive lineup at this point, and we haven’t gotten to June yet.
JUNE
For those of you familiar with the industry, this was the big one. June 12-14 was E3: The Electronic Entertainment Expo. E3 is the biggest game convention of the year. I’d need an entire article to cover each individual conference, but to sum up far too much information with far too little words: a lot of games were announced. A good deal of those titles are already out, and games like Metro: Exodus and Anthem are right around the corner.
As for games, Unravel Two got shadow dropped at EA’s conference. Aside from that, Mario Tennis Aces was released for the Switch. Wasn’t a smash hit, but definitely a solid addition to the platform.
JULY
Not sure why it played out this way, but July was the month of remasters. First big one was Red Faction: Guerilla: Re-Marstered. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker came to Switch with enhancements from the original. Fans of the Sonic the Hedgehog series where treated with Sonic Mania Plus, a sizable expansion for the already well received base game Sonic Mania.
Outside of remasters, Switch got Square Enix’s sidescrolling RPG Octopath Traveler. The game was the Switch’s second proper RPG and was met largely with praise.
AUGUST
Indie developers really shined here. Dead Cells came out the 7th, and just won “Best Action Game.” This roguelike sidescroller is still one of the highest rated games on Steam. Really, really fantastic title.
Also on the 7th was Overcooked Two, a frantic co-op cooking game with lots of confusion and hilarious gameplay. If you’ve got a Switch, Overcooked Two is a must.
We Happy Few was finally released after years in strained development. Guacamelee 2 ad Donut County were also released. Neither are huge games, but both are well worth their asking prices and are tons of fun.
SEPTEMBER
We have to start September with Insomniac’s Spider Man. It’s the game that finally pushed one of my friends to pick up a PS4. The game has echoes of the sheer fun of Spider Man 2 for PS2. It’s incredibly well done. This is one of the pillars of the Playstation’s lineup.
Next up was Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Square Enix hasn’t seen stellar reception to the recent entries into the series, so they changed up the formula with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Lara Croft is now much more dangerous. The action sequences are much, much more interesting than previous titles. Shadow is one of the best games Square has made.
Dontnod dropped the first episode of Life is Strange Season 2. The game is very similar to Telltale’s style of storytelling. Life is Strange is a very fun and enjoyable game, so season 2 will definitely be something to keep your eyes on in the coming months.
OCTOBER
And then, we get to October. Let’s just do this. This October was amazing, so we’ve got a lot to cover.
PSVR got Astro Bot Rescue Mission, an adorable and crazy fun VR platformer that takes advantage of PSVR’s tech in ways other games haven’t. Seriously. This game is fantastic.
For those of us into racing games, Playground Games released Forza Horizon 4. The arcade racing sim is undoubtedly one of the best racing games ever made. It’s fun, challenging, and above all absolutely gorgeous. It’s one of the best looking games I’ve ever played.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey falls in the same boat as Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Ubisoft took a year off in 2016 to improve the franchise, and the improvements that came from that year in AC: Origins transfer here, too. The RPG elements with more fluid combat and the reintroduction of naval combat make this title one of the best games of the series, rivaling ACIV: Black Flag.
Super Mario Party hit the Switch, leaving just Metroid and Animal Crossing as the only Nintendo pillar franchises yet to make it to the console, but we’ll see more of both next year.
I could talk about the fantastic puzzler Return of the Obra Dinn by the same guy that made Papers, Please, the vastly improved Black Ops 4, or the well received fighter Soulcalibur VI. But really, I need to just give Rockstar the press time they’ve earned.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the biggest reason 2018 has been so amazing for games. The western RPG is a prequel to Red Dead Redemption from 2010. Now, I could give you all of the reasons this title was so fantastic, but this article is already at 1776 words, so I’ll just say this. Play it. It’s one of the best games I’ve ever played.
NOVEMBER
While November is usually a huge month for gaming, this one was a bit slow.
On the good notes: Sypro: Reignited Trilogy. Following the example of Crash N.sane trilogy, nostalgia sells. The remaster is still true to the fun of the original, but makes it look and feel like a modern platformer
But the most notable release for November wasn’t one that contributed to how great this year has been. Fallout 76 was a sour spot for Bethesda. Almost no aspect of 76 was well received. Several issues and PR blunders solidified 76’s position in history as a misstep. However, aside from the microtransactions store, there didn’t seem to be any ill intentions here. The reason I bring it up is that it was a huge release. I couldn’t talk about November without mentioning why I don’t count it as a positive.
DECEMBER
Even though we’re only a few weeks into the month, it’s already been one to remember. Square Enix released Just Cause 4 to mixed but overall favorable reviews.
The thing that this December will be remembered for is Smash, without a doubt. Nintendo finally launched Smash Bros: Ultimate for the Switch, rounding off the console’s library nicely. My friends and I have been playing it constantly. In short: it’s worth it.
There aren’t any big titles coming by 2019 as far as I’m aware. Looking back, this was definitely one of the best years in recent history. We saw mainline games, indies, and some straight up oddballs. But with what we already know happening next year? 2019’s shaping up to be even better.
