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!
Game that would’ve been my GOTY if it came out a month later
I just had to mention this. It would’ve been GOTY easily. What a good game. Make sure you play it.
7.) 7’Scarlet (PS Vita)
Okay, this game was a huge surprise for me–I won’t even try to lie. It was the second game in Aksys’s “Summer of Otome”, and I really wasn’t sure what to expect with it.1 The thing is, the story of this game was fantastic. Yeah, the dudes were great, and Toa is for sure the best datable 2, but the actual narrative and how it unfolds little by little throughout is amazing. The heroine goes to a small town in Japan to try and figure out what happened to her brother, and she ends up staying at a hotel with a supernatural investigation internet group that just so happens to consist of awesomely hot dudes that want to date her. The whole mystery of the game is incredibly fun, and it even starts with an FMV, which is so unlike otome. The only downside of this game is the final hidden route, honestly. It’s icky.
6.) Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Switch)
Hyrule Warriors! It returns. Anybody who has ever listened to the pod knows how much I love musou games, and this game combines musou AND Zelda. What a winning combo! This is the third time I’ve bought Hyrule Warriors, and it’s still just as fun as it was the first time. However, this time we got all the DLC and extra content across versions added into one neat package, but with the added bonus of last year’s Game of the Year Breath of the Wild costumes for Link and Zelda. There really isn’t much to say here except sometimes it’s really, really fun to kill 2,000 dudes with guitar riffs and crazy drums behind you.
5.) BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (PS4/Switch/PC)
Blazblue is a fantastic game. Blazblue crossed up with Persona, RWBY, and Under Night In-Birth is WILD. While I’m not the biggest fan of RWBY and had no idea what Under Night WAS until this game, the story mode was just so crazy and fun. The multiplayer was also a blast, and one of the most ridiculous parts is making your chibi character of choice do emotes–which led to Jared’s Chie face down while my Yosuke danced on top of her to “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely.” 3 I got a lot of playtime out of this game, and it was a blast to play with random characters.
4.) Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (3DS)
First off, Radiant Historia is AMAZING. AMAZING. It has been since it originally came out in 2011. Perfect Chronology makes it even better 4 With added CGs, opening video, more scenarios, and extra endings, Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology was some of the most fun I’ve had in gaming this year. This game is so reminiscent of SNES games I loved, specifically Chrono Trigger, and it has a fantastic story with nuanced characters that really shine. After finding out that Mitsuru Hirata worked on this game, it makes so much more sense on why I loved it and my 2016 GOTY so much5–this dude knows how to make good ass games.
3.) Code Realize: ~Future Blessings~ (PS4/PS Vita)
You mean I get to date MORE of my favorite otome boy, Victor Frankenstein? YES. Code Realize: ~Future Blessings~, the first of the fandiscs, was localized this year, and we got more time with the boys, more wild stories, and more steamy content than I ever expected. First off, it’s TRAGIC that I couldn’t date Watson. He is wonderful. Instead we get datable Herlock Sholmes, which I GUESS is okay. Second, the original story with Shirley and the mafia of London is hilarious, and you get to see Sisi in a sweet mafia outfit. Third, you get a neat new route with Finis that luckily doesn’t take the typical otome route and make him datable. Instead, it humanizes him quite a bit more, which was very cool. Fourth, you get more Delly stories! Who doesn’t want more shenanigans with out favorite kid vampire!? Lastly, you get more stories with the OG boys, and a lot of them are heart wrenching, hilarious, and badass. Surprisingly, my favorite was not actually Victor’s. 6 You also get to see some amazing Impey shoulders and find out that Cardia and Lupin most certainly did the do, so if you’re there for that content, you’ll get it.
2.) Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night/ Dancing in Moon Light (PS4/ PS Vita)
I was going to say nobody is shocked that this is here, but they may be shocked that it’s #2. Anyway, Persona 3 Dancing is some of the most pure joy I’ve gotten in all of 2018. I say that completely seriously. Getting to see all these characters in HD, hearing the fantastically remixed songs, and chatting with them in the club and in their rooms made me so unimaginably and indescribably happy. Persona 3 means the world to me in gaming, and seeing all of this new content in addition to a genuinely fun to play rhythm game made it one of my favorite games of the year. PLUS MORE AKIHIKO SANADA YUS. It also had my favorite moment of gaming in 2018. The only reason this didn’t make it as my GOTY is because the story mode was not nearly up to snuff as compared to Dancing All Night. After playing that amazing game, I just couldn’t give it #1 knowing what they’re capable of.
1.) Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna The Golden Country (Switch)
I wasn’t sure if this counted as a game at first, but I decided it’s my list, I put 50 hours into it, so it’s a game. I loved Xenoblade 2, and I put around 300 hours into it. When they said there would be story DLC, I was stoked as heck. When they announced it would be Torna DLC detailing info about what happened 1000 years ago with Jin, Mythra, and Addam, I was even MORE stoked. Turns out this expansion packs a huge punch–story, characters, quests, and quality of life-wise. It’s an improvement in every way over the original 2, including getting rid of the horrible gacha system. The story hurt me in ways I never expected, and it made me care more about Lora, Jin, the originally enigmatic but actually huge nerd Addam, and other characters we meet along the way that we have and haven’t seen in some capacity in the original game. It’s just overall a fantastic ride that I was so happy to have experienced.
And that’s it!! 2018 is a dumpster fire and a wrap. I played some fantastic (and not so fantastic) games this year, and it’s been a bit of a crazy year for me. I’ll see ya next year with some more fun stuff!