36. Hitman GO: Definitive Edition
Platform: PC (Steam) | Time played: 4 hours | Beaten in July
Square Enix "Go" games has a lot of positive rep, so I decided to give it a shot. Hitman GO is based on a neat idea. It's basically a board game set in the Hitman universe. Square Enix translated Hitman into this format quite well. There is always one main objective - go to certain point or assasinate a target, but every location has it's own set of optional challenges. If you want to play something in a spare time, Hitman GO is a game worth to consider.
37. The Next BIG Thing
Platform: PC (Steam) | Time played: 5 hours | Beaten in July
I consider myself a fan of adventure games made by Pendulo Studios. Weirdly enough, I never played The Next BIG Thing, despite having it on my backlog for years. Summer is a good opportunity to finally correct that mistake. The Next BIG Thing is a quite different game from Runaway series. It's funnier, more wackier and has a lot of weird characters that are just hilarious. The concept may sound like a recipe for a disaster, but this crazy mix works as intended. The only thing I didn't liked was simplicity of puzzles and this annoying puzzle with tango. That scene when Liz started dancing was worth it, though.
38. Detective Pikachu
Platform: 3DS | Time played: 10 hours | Beaten in July
A bolt of brilliance. Honestly, this is the one of the most bizarre ideas for a game you can have. What's even more weirder, it actually works. Detective Pikachu shows the world of Pokemon in a completely new way, it's a very fresh take on a franchise. Basically, it's a combination of Telltale's adventure games with Professor Layton series - a story-driven adventure game where your main objective are cases to solve and investigations that requires interaction with NPCs and Pokemons. Gameplay is easy and sometimes feels a little too repetitive, but humor overshadows a lot of flaws.
39. Star Wars: Episode I - Racer
Platform: PC (GOG) | Time played: 11 hours | Beaten in August
Episode I: Racer is in my Top 5 of Star Wars games, so when GOG recently added the game to their library, it quickly became a must play in my list for 2018. Completed an entire campaign as Dud Bolt (he's a cool dude, don't judge). Loved it, it still gives thrills even after 19 years. What suprises me is why we never had another podracing game beside Racer sequel. EA has exclusive rights for Star Wars and talented studio like Criterion. Why they didn't gave them green light for a new podracing game is just baffling.
40. Oxenfree
Platform: PC (GOG) | Time played: 4 hours | Beaten in August
I've heard a lot about Oxenfree, so I had this on my radar for a while. It was a long time coming, but I finally played it myself and wow, what an amazing game. I really liked it. Oxenfree is a very unique take on an adventure game genre. If you think about it, this game is kinda hard to explain properly, but believe me - it's totally worth it. I was captivated about how well-written a main cast of characters were. Props for the writers. What I also liked was a spooky atmosphere, that awesome dialogue system and the way they used player choices to shape the narrative. This game is a little gem. If you never played it, just try it.
41. A Story About My Uncle
Platform: PC (Steam) | Time played: 3 hours | Beaten in September
It was suprisingly good. A Story About My Uncle is basically a low-budget Portal where instead of creating portals, puzzles were designed around jumping between platforms. It was short, but very relaxing... well, beside very annyoing and demanding chapter in the Ice Cave.
42. Assassin's Creed: Origins
Platform: PS4 | Time played: 74 hours | Beaten in September | Platinum Trophy
I've played multiple Assassin's Creed games in 2018 and after a while I've felt burned out with the same formula. Origins is a breath of the fresh air that this series really needed... or so I thought. Ancient Egypt is an outstanding setting for a game, I loved what devs did with Bayek and Aya and the overall changes in the franchise. It was clearly inspired by The Witcher 3 and it did really good for Origins. Sadly, it's not a same experience. There is a lot of inspirations from the gameplay perspective, but I think the world is too bloated and had too many pointless points of interests. Clearing the world map was a painful chore and main story wasn't really that interesting. Quests were a big improvement, but most of them ended up as simple fetch-quests that never added anything to characters arcs or lore. So yeah, I liked Origins, but there are some parts of the game that were only okay.
43. Another World: 20th Anniversary Edition
Platform: PS4 | Time played: 3 hours | Beaten in September | 100% Completion
Well, that was fast. I've heard a lot about Another World, it was a frequent guest in my favourite gaming magazine from the 90s, labeled as one of the best games of its time. I never played it until this month when the 20th Anniversary Edition was released for PS Plus owners. It's a unique game that feels very cinematic. It doesn't have any user interface, life bars, or even tutorials. You need to figure everything on your own, which was very refreshing. I've had some problems with few combat encounters with multiple guards, but I managed to beat this and unlocked every trophy.
44. Assassin's Creed: Origins - Discovery Tour (DLC)
Platform: PS4 | Time played: 8 hours | Beaten in September | 100% Completion
Assassin's Creed was always inspired by real historical events, but it was never properly outlined outside of the codex entries. Discovery Tour is a very original idea that brings a completely new way to experience Origins. Ubisoft really nailed it and did something unique, a whole map of vanilla Origins filled with 75 excellent guided tours. Every tour offers a lot interesting facts about history of Ancient Egypt, its rulers, cities, pyramids, landmarks or even daily life of regular citizens. It was an awesome experience and I hope we will have more interactive tours like that in other games based on historical events. Yes, I'm talking about you Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
45. Assassin's Creed: Origins - The Hidden Ones (DLC)
Platform: PS4 | Time played: 8 hours | Beaten in September | 100% Completion
When I heard that Ubisoft was inspired by The Witcher 3 expansions, I was intrigued what they're going to do with Origins post-release content. The Hidden Ones is dissapointing, it can't be compared to the amazing Hearts of Stone. I expected it will be more of the same as the vanilla campaign, but I thought that they'll at least try to do some new things that were builded on the original foundations. Nope. Sinai is filled with the familiar outposts, papyruses, treasures, animal dens, Phylakes, tombs, etc. Same old, same old. Main storyline is even more dissapointing. Ending saves it, though. I hope The Curse of the Pharaohs will be better. The Hidden Ones didn't delivered.
46. Medal of Honor
Platform: PC (Steam) | Time played: 6 hours | Beaten in September
There was a time when Medal of Honor was considered as one of the better known IPs. I still remember the original game on PSX and how much fun I had with playing it. Danger Close Games tried to bring some relevance to this old franchise with a reboot that was released in 2010. While I like the setting, Afghanistan had a lot of potential, but a game itself feels very dry and souless. Medal of Honor is just another military shooter inspired by Modern Warfare. Nothing more. It's obvious that devs tried to focus on authenticity and deal with a danger that these soldiers are exposed to, but this neat idea never really went anywhere beyond some cutscenes. I was lucky I got to the end. Seriously, I got so many game-breaking bugs, which required me to restart missions multiple times in the row that I considered of dropping this title. Which is kinda funny considering we are talking about a 6 hour campaign.
47. Assassin's Creed: Origins - The Curse of the Pharaohs (DLC)
Platform: PS4 | Time played: 15 hours | Beaten in September | 100% Completion
Finally! My playthrough of AC Origins is wrapped up after 105 hours. The Curse of the Pharaohs feels like a proper expansion. It not only builds upon the Origins formula, but adds a lot of new stuff as well. I really liked supernatural events and exploring areas based on Egyptian Afterlife. Aaru, or The Field of Reeds was my favourite. Story felt interesting and new characters were more memorable than the ones from the main campaign. If you didn't played it, I totally recommend to play this expansion. It's much better than The Hidden Ones.
48. Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series
Platform: PC (Steam) | Time played: 8 hours | Beaten in October | 5 episodes | 100% Completion
It seemed fitting to play this series after a recent turmoil at Telltale Games. Guardians is a weird game - it makes a bad first impression, but quickly grews into something much better than I initially expected. While the second, third and fourth episodes were very strong, a finale was kinda underwhelming. I really liked Telltale's interpretation of Guardians and a dynamic between all members of the team. They felt really familiar to characters we known from the movies, but we still had some cool suprises on the way. Story was interesting, dialogues and situations were funny, action scenes stood out compared to other Telltale's adventures. The only thing I didn't liked was a main villain. Hala was an equally menacing and interesting villain like Malekith from Thor: The Dark World and this really says something...
49. Deltarune
Platform: PC | Time played: 3,5 hours | Beaten in November
If you asked me a week ago what game I will be playing, I wasn't expecting to write about a new game set in the Undertale universe. But here we are! Toby Fox made a great suprise for my birthday with this stealth release. Deltarune is suprisingly good for a free game. I really liked a new set of characters, playing with a party and refined combat. While it lacks emotional punch that an original Undertale had, it is still an oustanding game in its own right. It's also a first chapter in a much larger story. So well, I will patiently wait for whatever comes next.
50. Homefront
Platform: PC (Steam) | Time played: 4 hours | Beaten in November
Homefront's campaign is a bit of a mess. Kaos Studios had an interesting concept for a story, but it's obvious they couldn't properly execute a vision they had for this game. Campaign is decent and has a lot of unique locations, but something is clearly missing here. Characters could be more developed, story could be more impactful, missions could be more varied and memorable, etc. But overall, it's not that bad. Homefront made a better impression on me than Call of Duty: Ghosts and a Medal of Honor reboot.
51. Spyro the Dragon | Reignited Trilogy
Platform: PS4 | Time played: 8 hours | Beaten in November | Platinum Trophy
I was really hyped for this. Spyro is my favourite series from the original PlayStation, so Reignited Trilogy was easily one of my most anticipated games for 2018. Spyro the Dragon is a game that started it all, its also the weakest in the series. But I still remember a lot of levels I've played as a kid, nostalgia factor is very strong here. Toys for Bob did a fantastic job with restoring this game - it looks different, but is still faithful to the original designs. So, now it's time for Ripto's Rage!
52. Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
Platform: Xbox One | Time played: 6 hours | Beaten in November
Played it in co-op with my friend. Ultimate Edition is a solid remake of Gears 1, I was eager to revisit this series and finally beat the campaign as a second protagonist (Dom Santiago). The Coaltion made some subtle changes in the formula, but core gameplay is the same. It is mostly the same game I played on my dusty 360, but prettier and sharper. What I really liked is the fact that Ultimate Edition included new chapters that were added by People Can Fly in a PC version. They weren't anything special, but thanks to them the game had a better transition between Act IV and Act V.
53. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage | Reignited Trilogy
Platform: PS4 | Time played: 12 hours | Beaten in December | Platinum trophy
Spyro 2 was the best entry in a whole series. The case is exactly the same with Reignited Trilogy. Ripto's Rage introduced a lot of subtle changes in gameplay formula, which overall made it a better and more cohesive experience. Scenes with squabbles between Spyro and Ripto were genuinely funny. Hunting for orbs never got old. Really liked a bigger variety of locations and challenges that were presented. There were some minigames that felt a little bit janky, but I never felt bored or annoyed to the point that I refused to 100% the game. Enjoyed it to the point I unlocked a Platinum trophy.
54. Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon | Reignited Trilogy
Platform: PS4 | Time played: 12 hours | Beaten in December | Platinum trophy
Spyro 3 is a weird game. It's clearly more refined than Ripto's Rage, but it also made a few steps back. Year of the Dragon has even bigger variety of locations, they added much more stuff and hefty amount of minigames to complete. But it kinda jumped the shark. I still had a lot of fun with it. While searching for dragon eggs weren't as absorbing as hunt for orbs or dragon statues, Year of the Dragon was a great experience. Similar to every other Spyro game on my 2018 list, I also unlocked a Platinum trophy. Didn't made 100% of challenges, though.
55. Dragon's Lair | Dragon's Lair Trilogy
Platform: PC | Time played: 40 minutes | Beaten in December
Dragon's Lair is essentially an cartoon movie with quick-time events, released in times before they were even popular. It's very impressive what they managed to do with this, considering it was released in early 80s. While I really liked a final sequence in titular dragon's lair, the other ones were only okay. There was a lot of repetitive scenes, everything felt very disjointed and lacked a more cohesive story. But we are are talking about times, where usually a first game was more of an experiment than a proper experience.
56. Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp | Dragon's Lair Trilogy
Platform: PC | Time played: 1 hour | Beaten in December
Time Warp is objectively speaking a best game in Dragon's Lair Trilogy. It felt like a very cohesive tale, that was clearly planned from a beginning to its very end. It has a lot of fun scenarios, substantial amount of diversity, great humor (Dirk escaping from his angry mother-in-law and visit at Beethoven house were the highlight). What was even cooler, was an addition of artifacts to hunt during events. Found them all.
57. Space Age | Dragon's Lair Trilogy
Platform: PC | Time played: 35 minutes | Beaten in December
It felt really similar to a first game, but set in space. And with a completely new character. Great idea, but just like original Dragon's Lair it felt very disjointed. Constant jumping between new scenarios were sometimes very confusing. Unlike a first game, this time they tried to tell a story, but it never grew on me. I didn't liked a new characters. Sadly, there was nothing memorable in them.
My 2018 Post - Part 1 (#01 - #35)