- Hypnospace Outlaw - The best reality I've inhabited all year. Also the best fake internet that's ever been in a video game. But it's so much more than that, with character stories that are equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. It's also packed with music believably of its time, anchored by an incredible original soundtrack featuring electronic songs by Jay Tholen (in a wide range of personas) and a collection of music by Hot Dad (portraying my NPC hero of the year, The Chowder Man). At the end of the day, this is a special game and I'm lucky to be alive to play it, and so are you for that matter.
- Death Stranding - To see a big budget adventure game center a protagonist dealing with personal isolation and disconnection, among other issues, was pretty stunning. That's divorcing it from the Kojima wackiness - which I find absurdly enjoyable (most of the time). That's also divorcing it from the gameplay loop - which pushes every button in my brain labelled "logistics", "load management", "orienteering", and "route construction". It was the connection to Sam and seeing him process the world, and seeing him work to make things better, outside of his own personal want - that's what's kept me going more than anything else.
- A Short Hike - It's tough for me to say but I don't think I've played another game that's put me in an absolutely happy and comforting place like this all year - from the characters to the dialogue to the humor to the freewheeling nature of everything you do and encounter to the completely beautiful ending moments. It's like if Animal Crossing was reimagined by Kaz Ayabe of the Boku no Natsuyasumi games. It's only about 80-110 minutes long, but's absolutely worth it.
- Judgment - It's still only my second favorite RGG game behind Yakuza 0, but there's two fascinating aspects about Judgment that have never come across in past Yakuza games. First, the procedural crime drama and investigation aspect, which pushes storytelling into a different direction and presents the closest thing yet to a full 3D AAA Phoenix Wright game. Second it's the story of the lead character vs. the world. When he's in Kamurocho, the game seems to present both Kiryu and Majima like "kind of a big deal", even in times of peril (and they are). Sometimes that's Kiryu/Majima themselves, and sometime that's the game world reacting to them. Here, Detective Yagami is just a guy that has to do things. In this regard it feels closer to when Akiyama and other lead characters show up in later Yakuza games or Kiryu in Okinawa. But more than that, this version of Kamurocho feels even more rooted in realism than ever. It seems like there's a lot more interactions with regular people, especially with regards to the relationship with Yagami's old office and side quest characters. It's almost a shame that Shenmue 3 (which is unfortunately still stuck in my backlog until I finish part 2) came out this year, because Nagoshi seems to be mastering the elegant-mundane aspects of his games in ways that Yu Suzuki could only dream of.
- No Man's Sky Beyond - If, after launch, Hello Games never did anything else for the game, I'd be okay, knowing the story of the struggle of even making it to launch, losing so much work after the studio flooded, and having to deal with deadline pressure from Sony after barely recovering enough for a release candidate. It was at the time, the perfect game for my life situation (just out of the hospital after a heartattack, and anxious from a red flag of early CLL-SLL detection). It was relaxation and exploration, and getting lost, wonderfully lost - who the fuck needs other people? I sure didn't. Then they added more to it, like base building and vehicles - I was even happier with that. Then the ARGs started, then Atlas Rises, then NEXT, then Abyss and Visions, and then Beyond. It's culminated into transforming the game into one of the greatest ever. And they just keep going.
- Dragon Quest 11 Definitive Edition - I could just post links to the Tim Rogers videos, but I'll just say that DQ XI S is like every itch of my love of classic JRPGs scratched, and all the new content to this version, from the side-stories to the QOL enhancements to 2D mode and Tickington quests, is wonderful. PS: Give me more Sylvando, by any means necessary.
- ETHEREAL - Discovered this via Humble Trove, which has sort of become a reliable source of neat esoteric hidden gems in the last couple of years. I know minimal and abstract block puzzle games kind of played themselves out, mostly because in the last decade everybody thought they could do one. It's a shame because it means this one was pretty thoroughly ignored. But this one is special - the puzzles are intricate and well crafted, there's secrets buried all over, and the audio design is high quality.
- Lonely Mountains: Downhill - Wonderful portrayal of what I like to call "nostalgia for the mundane". A perfect refection of childhoods of riding bicycles in the wilderness, and while we mostly had forests and smaller hills, the feelings are the same. Surprisingly mellow and cozy for a game where you race against a clock.
- ISLANDERS - One of those games that got under my skin in the first 10 minutes. It's super simple score attack Sim City - meaning no major resource management or stat gaming besides smart building placement. You get dropped on an island, and build a settlement, building by building. Absolutely brilliant with how concise the game plays and information is communicated. Not to mention, it has some amazing "one more go" energy. Hope this one gets some console ports, because I want everybody to be able to play this one regardless of platform.
- Untitled Goose Game - Even after all the hype and memes, this almost didn't make the cut. The puzzles with regards to the groundskeeper and the village shops had an inconsistent flow at first. Then I started looking at having them intersect in ways and everything with regards to playing and enjoying it clicked in a big way. The fact is, this game is also probably the most successful implementation of Keita Takahashi's design theory without being a shameless knockoff of Katamari.
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