There were so many games that were great in 2018. Here are the 10 games that stood out in the minds of Gamasutra’s\u00a0writers this year. (Selections in alphabetical order.<\/em>)<\/p>\n When\u00a0Celeste<\/em>\u00a0first came out this year, I played it for maybe a half hour, and then stopped. I just wasn’t in the mood for yet another hard-as-hell platformer.<\/p>\n It wasn’t until I picked it\u00a0back up at the end of the year when I completely fell in love with it, and appreciated what it was doing. Yes, the game is difficult. But the way the story addresses that difficulty, and emboldens the player to\u00a0keep climbing<\/em>,\u00a0is absolutely brilliant.\u00a0Celeste<\/em>\u00a0shows us that we can be our own worst enemy, but that “enemy” is still an innate part of who we are. And having a friend or two help you realize that along the way never hurts.<\/p>\n Mechanically, it’s a simple concept for a player to understand. Jump, dash, and grab. The game masterfully introduces players to the traversal mechanics, then sprinkles in new level design elements where players have to use those basic skills in new ways. It all just feels perfect. – Kris Graft<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Ben Esposito\u2019s\u00a0Donut County<\/em>\u00a0is the perfect amount of video game.\u00a0It\u2019s a funny, surreal story about remote control holes that\u2019s a joy to play, one that doesn\u2019t overstay its welcome.\u00a0– Alex Wawro<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Before diving into why Florence <\/em>is a unique experience, the developers deserve credit for making a game that\u2019s the perfect length of time. Clocking in at around two hours, Florence<\/em> tells a story about love at a great pace.<\/p>\n The game takes the generic formula of a traditional relationship (meeting, falling in love, falling out of love) but tells it in such a different way through effective use of simple mechanics, powerful score, and unique art style.<\/p>\n Games without a lot of dialogue or text need to go the extra mile to convey an engaging and emotional story effectively, and Florence<\/em> absolutely nails it.<\/p>\n No story spoilers will be given away, because it’s a game that needs to be played in order to fully grasp the impact it has. Florence<\/em> is made for mobile and other short, narrative games would find themselves a great home on the platform. Mobile is confined to a very small subset of mechanics: Tapping, swiping, or holding an icon on your screen. Those constraints serve as powerful storytelling tools ripe for innovation.<\/p>\n The game in its entirety is made up of small, digestible vignettes of very personal and intimate moments in adult relationships where both the good and the bad are shared in a special way. – Emma Kidwell\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 11 bit Studios’\u00a0Frostpunk<\/em>\u00a0was the 2018 game I could never stop thinking about. From the moment my poor survivors reached the totemic Generator sitting in the frozen Arctic north, every decision I spent with this society simulator helped me reckon with the demons of authoritarianism and how much control and the lies you can tell yourself in the name of the greater good.\u00a0<\/p>\n Frostpunk’s<\/em>\u00a0thoughtful design means that it’s not just an arbitrary moral messenger here to warn you of the woes of a police state or theocratic regime. It’s crafted to guide you on a path of different path of pain points to remind you that just because you didn’t commit higher crimes against freedom, your lesser decisions still infringed on the rights of your people. And as the pressure drops, and your city is freed from the frozen snow in a great sigh of relief, you’ll look at it’s become and see how even its physical shape was impacted by how much you’d give up in the name of survival.\u00a0– Bryant Francis<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The\u00a0Hitman<\/em>\u00a0sequel drops the episodic format of that last rendition but keeps a firm grasp on\u00a0Hitman 2016<\/em>\u2019s charm and quirks as it introduces just the right dose of new mechanics, new levels, and new content to the last game\u2019s already tried and true formula.\u00a0Hitman 2<\/em>‘s magic is in each of the massive sandboxes that each main story mission of the game is set in and how it gives players the freedom to take complete ownership of their plans and assassinations, whether the steps they took to complete those objectives were laid out by the game’s suggested or plotted out completely from scratch.<\/p>\n While setting up a platform for another season\u2019s worth of dev and user-made content is an impressive feat, the team at IO Interactive also remade every level, both DLC and base Season 1, from Hitman 2016<\/em> for Hitman 2<\/em>. It\u2019s an undertaking that no doubt took a considerable amount of work, especially since each Legacy level manages to embrace the new mechanics and AI of Hitman 2 <\/em>without losing the feel of the original. Between the Legacy levels and the still-evolving agent-versus-agent multiplayer Ghost Mode, Hitman 2<\/em> has become a game that both builds on the successes of its predecessor without shying away from risk. – Alissa McAloon\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Nothing I\u2019ve played conveys the sensation of snatching salvation from the jaws of failure quite like\u00a0Into the Breach<\/em>.\u00a0There\u2019s a lot to admire about Subset Games\u2019 sophomore effort, but what\u2019s most striking is how often it sets up tactical problems that seem first impossible, then survivable, then solvable. It\u2019s my favorite strategy game since chess, and a remarkable follow-up to\u00a0FTL<\/em>. – Alex Wawro<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Marvel’s Spider-Man<\/em>\u00a0is just one emotional pit stop for the web-headed hero who’s had a hell of a 2018. He gave his life in the film Infinity War, he’s reframing his own heroic origins in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and when given a shot, Insomniac Games doesn’t waste any time when granted use of one of the biggest icons in pop culture.<\/p>\n Not only does\u00a0Marvel’s Spider-Man<\/em>\u00a0give breath to a dizzying and dynamic traversal system that takes advantage of New York’s iconic architecture, Insomniac also uses its mission design and gadget expertise to weave a narrative about the struggles of Peter Parker, and how his selfless nature and faith in other people can be used against him.\u00a0<\/p>\n But it’s still not a cynical game! It’s quippy, it’s cute and it gives Mary-Jane Watson something to do. If superheroes are becoming the modern-day mythological heroes, it’s great that Insomniac Games injects a meaningful experience in the middle of its well-honed, well-polished technical achievement.\u00a0– Bryant Francis<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Rockstar\u2019s Red Dead Redemption 2<\/em> excels on the merits of its smallest moments. The massive open world is an ambitious undertaking, and a space you as a player spend a considerable amount of time traversing during and between missions. And that downtime is where Red Dead Redemption 2 <\/em>shines. It’s captivating, or even just relaxing to just toss headphones on and exist in that world for a while, fishing, or hunting, or tracking down small oddities hidden out in the wilderness.\u00a0<\/p>\n The same is true for the moments spent catching up with the other members of the Van der Linde gang. Catching small conversation with a friend around camp or even just lingering among that cast of characters as they sing, drink, and celebrate after a heist well done makes such an endearing and heartwarming experience that I can’t say I’ve found in other games before.<\/p>\n It’s impossible to mention\u00a0Red Dead Redemption 2<\/em>\u00a0here however without calling out some of the controversy that’s surrounded the game in the leadup to its release regarding excessive crunch, mandatory or otherwise, during the development of Red Dead Redemption 2<\/em>. Current and former Rockstar\u00a0developers have\u00a0spoken at length about their experiences<\/a>\u00a0while working on the game, and the\u00a0stories on those perspectives<\/a>\u00a0should be mentioned with any discussion or praise of the game itself. – Alissa McAloon<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In an indie scene where retro has become a cliche, a few games continue to remind us of why gaming’s past remains a valuable space to explore. Lucas Pope’s latest, a brilliant supernatural mass murder mystery-cum-insurance investigator simulator, uses its 80s-inspired graphics to reinforce core mechanics. First, your character uses an enchanted watch to see a deceased person’s moment of death in freeze-frame; no animation required, just an eye for detail. Second, that detail is brought into sharp relief by those same graphics. Where certain things might get lost in the haze of bloom and shaders, the unpretentiously-used bit graphics work in favor of clue-finding.<\/p>\n The story that evolves is an incredibly gripping spec-fic narrative in its own right. You only get snapshots of every life aboard the Obra Dinn, often at their lowest moments and their very ends, but you still come away knowing something all-too-human about them all as you piece together Pope’s grand puzzle. The end result is one for the ages. – Katherine Cross<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In the run-up and launch of\u00a0Tetris Effect<\/em>, I formed a new pet peeve: people saying things like ‘it’s just re-skinned\u00a0Tetris<\/em>‘ or ‘do we really need another version of\u00a0Tetris<\/em>?’<\/p>\n For one,\u00a0Tetris<\/em>\u00a0is a game\u00a0that humankind will be playing in some shape or form for the next\u00a0thousands of years<\/em>, barring any near- to mid-term self-destruction of our species. To say something is “just\u00a0Tetris<\/em>” is like saying “just the Ancient Pyramids” or “just the moon landing” or “just penicillin.”\u00a0Tetris<\/em>\u00a0is a monumental\u00a0human achievement.<\/p>\n Ahem\u00a0ok where were we?\u00a0<\/em>Oh yes,\u00a0Tetris Effect<\/em>.\u00a0Yes<\/strong>\u00a0we do need another version of\u00a0Tetris\u00a0<\/em>— specifically this version. Tezuya Mizuguchi’s take on the game (which was directed by Takashi Ishihara) is surprisingly emotional, bringing together visuals, sound and music, and interactivity together perfectly, with a soulful sincerity unique to Mizuguchi’s work.<\/p>\n And don’t pass up on this if you don’t own PSVR — while that’s a great\u00a0Tetris Effect\u00a0<\/em>experience, the game doesn’t lose its\u00a0beauty\u00a0on a regular screen. Just turn the lights down, turn the sound up, and play yet another version of\u00a0Tetris<\/em>. – Kris Graft<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are a lot of games released into the market every year. And we cover this trend; this inundation of games filling the marketplace. It’s a trend that complicates the chance for success and recognition, from developer to developer, from game to game. That was\u00a0true as ever in 2018. But among our staff, there\u00a0hasn’t been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/gamasutras-best-of-2018-the-top-10-games-of-the-year.jpg\")
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