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Category: Video Games

AL’s 2023 Game of the Year

Published December 30, 2023

This year has been a banger year for video game releases. The quality of games that came out this year is incredible, and it made making this game of the year list damn near impossible for me.

I think it’s important to note that while this year was incredible for game releases, it was a hot garbage year for the industry and those who makes these games. This is incredibly unfair, and it put a damper on the year of really damn good video games. I’m just a small voice screaming into the void, but video game companies really need to do better than this.

As I said, I had a super hard time making this list this year, and I probably made about 50 shuffles in my list before I landed on this one. So despite all of my suffering, I’ve made a list, and you can see it here.

Me trying to decide GOTY this year
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AL’s 2022 Game of the Year

Published December 31, 2022
AL’s 2022 Game of the Year

I am legitimately so happy about how amazing my top games were. There are two themes I noticed with my list: Square Enix had a good year, and we had a matchup in the top half of my GOTY list that is reminiscent of the 2019 list. I won’t even lie to you all. My top three shuffled around A LOT while I was finishing up this list, and I struggled so hard to pick which one got the top slot. After a lot of deliberation, listening to podcasts, and suffering, I finally went with the list we have here. That being said, all three of them are really phenomenal games, and I was really impressed with the games on my list this year…which it is worth noting that I finally broke my rule of 7 and have a list of 10 this year. :O

Without further ado…let’s GOTY!

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AL’s 2021 Game of the Year

Published January 1, 2022

It sure has been a year again, eh? This was an interesting year in games, and there were some fantastic surprises, some important rereleases or remakes, and several games with really strong narratives.1 I feel like this list isn’t truly surprising given that it is ME we’re talking about here, but it was still a lot of fun to play some great and oftentimes impactful games in this dumpster fire of a year. Check out the podcast here and Jared’s write up here.

Anyway, let’s get this party started! There will be spoilers behind the cut!

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AL’s 2020 Game of the Year!

Published December 26, 2020

Man. 2020 sure has existed, eh? It’s been a really strange year in basically every realm, and video games were not immune to this. Despite the oddness, I’m here to deliver my supplementary awards and my game of the year awards for 2020, and this time we’re back to seven. Here is the link to the SAC OVA podcast where Jared and I break all of this down too, and be sure to check his list out here. Without further ado, let’s do this thing. There will be spoilers behind the cut!

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Let’s Talk About Squall Leonhart

Published May 28, 2020
Let’s Talk About Squall Leonhart

Loner. Emo. Cold. Unlikeable. Whatever.

These are some of the nicer words you’d find on the internet that refer to Squall Leonhart, the protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII. Meanwhile, I personally find Squall to be one of the most complex and interesting protagonists in a Final Fantasy game. 1 So what is it about Squall that is so fascinating decades after the release of Final Fantasy VIII?

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To Bloom New Possibilities: Atlus’s Hypocritical Portrayals of LGBTQ+ Narratives in Catherine: Full Body

Published February 26, 2020
To Bloom New Possibilities: Atlus’s Hypocritical Portrayals of LGBTQ+ Narratives in Catherine: Full Body

While there was hope that Catherine: Full Body could fix the narrative issues from the original, it does the exact opposite. Catherine (either version), in essence, is a game where you play as a character who is -phobic and misogynistic, surrounding himself with others who mostly think like him. Vincent is sleazy, but we are encouraged to support his quest since he is the “hero” of the game. However, Vincent rarely learns that his behavior is abhorrent—the only time he has repercussions for his actions are in the “bad” endings of the game, and even then, there is no indication that Vincent would change anything about his behaviors.

Read the full article here.

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AL’S 2019 Game of the Year!

Published December 28, 2019

We’re back with another year of games and life under the belt, for better or for worse. I’ve played what could be considered a decent amount of games this year, and now I get to rank them! My list is, of course, the end all be all of games of the year lists. I will say, the games that I put as my top 4 could easily be GOTY. They’re all that damn good. So let’s get started with this GOTY train!1Also, be sure to check out Jared’s list here, and the SAC OVA podcast here.

Let’s do it!!
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AL’s 2018 Game of the Year

Published December 29, 2018

It’s a tradition now! 2018 has been a weird year for games, especially given how strong last year was. Despite that, I came up with the 7 games I had the most fun playing in 2018. Without further ado, I’m gonna give you my favorite games in a list format for your viewing pleasure. The podcast where we talk about our Games of the Year is here. Give it a listen!

https://media.tenor.com/images/b92634c8a7e4ea6af7fbe3731f4a7672/tenor.gif
Let’s get hype like Mari!

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Dissertation Defense

Published April 29, 2018

I livestreamed my dissertation defense on April 27, 2018. If you would like to watch, the video can be found below.

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