5. Unravel Two

Genre: Platformer
Developer/Publisher: Coldwood Interactive / Electronic Arts
Release Date: June 9, 2018
Platform: PS4 (also on Xbox One and PC)
Time Played: N/A – maybe 5 hours?

I played through the main story with Lee-Ann earlier in the year, and we loved it. We didn’t play too many couch co-op games last year, something I’d like to change in 2019, but I sure am glad we got to this one. Unravel Two requires a lot of teamwork, in a fun way, and it can be hilarious when you mess up. We spent a good portion of this game in tears from laughter, and that probably pushed this higher on my list than if I’d played it solo. It’s just a great co-op experience.

I’m unfamiliar with the first game, but this one felt pretty special. The first thing you notice is the graphics. This is one of the prettiest games I’ve ever played. The beautiful photorealistic backgrounds are truly something to behold, and I couldn’t get over how great the splashing river water and flickering fire looked. The puzzles were clever and made good use of the cooperative yarn mechanic, and the platforming and swinging felt very smooth.

It’s a bit of a let down as far as the story is concerned. They set a great tone, but the subtle story they were trying to tell in the background fell flat for me. We also didn’t play through the additional challenge levels but felt we got a full experience with the main game.

I also loved the music. It’s full of sweepingly epic folksy songs, but it doesn’t seem to have been released as an album yet. There’s a version of it on YouTube, but I think someone just cut together music from the game itself. It cuts off in weird places and feels disjointed. I’ve been listening to the album of the first game in its place for now, which is similar and also great.

4. Celeste

Genre: Platformer
Developer/Publisher: Matt Makes Games
Release Date: January 25, 2018
Platform: PC (also on everything else)
Time Played: 9 Hours

I was excited to get my hands on this right when I first heard the announcement. I’m a fan of challenging platformers (although, they are becoming a dime a dozen these days), and Lee-Ann and I played the hell out of the last Matt Makes Games title, TowerFall Ascension, but I didn’t anticipate how much I’d love the characters and the underlying tone of the game.

This is a game about a woman trying to climb a mountain, but you quickly realize it’s largely about her learning to come to terms with her anxiety and depression. In pushing herself up this mountain, she’s forced to confront those feelings rather than trying to pretend they don’t exist. It’s not a subtle message, by any means, but it’s still handled in an effective way. I just thought all of the characters, and how the story was told, worked so well.

What makes the game, however, is that it’s also a great platformer. You’re given a simple moveset – jump, wall climb, air dash – and you’re constantly given new ways to use those moves right up until the end of the game, in ways that you discover yourself without any tutorials. They really nailed the progression.

There were a few mechanics that I felt took away from the experience a bit. The wind levels, in particular, I just found really grating, but for the most part, every new mechanic was fun and interesting. I played through the main game and maybe three of the B-Sides and stopped there. I did want to experience the core of the mountain, but once I saw the story through to completion, it felt finished to me. There is quite a lot of content there, though, for those who want to carry on.

Bonus points for taking place in Canada (possibly a few hours from where I live) and also having a fun soundtrack!

3. Marvel’s Spider-Man

Genre: Action Adventure
Developer/Publisher: Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Release Date: September 7, 2018
Platform: PS4
Time Played: N/A – maybe 25 hours?

Spider-Man was one of my favourite superheroes as a kid. I loved the comics, the novels, and the old television show. As an adult, I find I mainly associate the character with mediocre (and sometimes awful) movies. I stopped caring about him, and I wasn’t really excited for this game the way others were. Curiosity thankfully got the better of me, though. Playing this really brought back that childhood love of the character. I expected to mainline the story in this and not spend too much time on side-quests, but I played through everything in the game except some of the crimes at the end and the DLC.

The swinging felt perfect. That’s something they really needed to get right and they did. The combat was fun and varied, although it could become a bit one-note if you didn’t push yourself to try new skills and gadgets. I even loved the stealth aspects, which I often find frustrating and dull. It was just a joy to explore the world, unlock backstory items, and swing around town with that action movie orchestral soundtrack in the background.

The web swinging aside, there’s not a huge amount new here. The combat and stealth you’ve seen in Batman: Arkham style games, the open-world task discovery you’ve seen in Assassin’s Creed style games, the tracking you’ve seen in The Witcher (and I’m sure other games), but it does it all incredibly well. Just a solid experience all around.

2. God of War

Genre: Action Adventure
Developer/Publisher: Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Release Date: April 20, 2018
Platform: PS4
Time Played: N/A – maybe 30 – 40 hours?

Like Spider-Man, I was planning to skip this, but the hype on the Internet got to me. And again, I’m glad it did. I absolutely loved this game. The story is just so well told, the voice acting is great, the music is epic, and the combat has quite a lot of depth if you decide to explore all of the skills and combos. I really enjoyed spending time in this world.

I’ve never taken an interest in mythology, but I played this while reading Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, and it was just a great experience. Both that book and this game really brought those myths alive in a way that I’d never experienced. I’m planning to read other mythology collections from other cultures this year now.

It’s the care in the details that elevated this game. From Mimir’s stories while you paddle around in the boat, to the impressions your footprints leave in the snow, to that visceral feeling of the axe snapping back into your hand when it’s recalled. Brilliant game.

1. Night in the Woods

Genre: Story-driven Adventure
Developer/Publisher: Infinite Fall / Finji
Release Date: February 21, 2017
Platform: PC (also on everything else)
Time Played: 12.5 Hours

I struggled between this and God of War for the top spot, but this game captured my heart in a way I wasn’t expecting. It’s a 2D adventure game, just dialogue with an occasional minigame, but I really fell for this world and the characters.

Right from the beginning, it perfectly captures that melancholy feeling of returning to your hometown after being away for the first extended period of time, when finding even the smallest change is jarring. Reestablishing old relationships and seeing how people have changed and how you’ve changed. The characters are well-developed and interesting, and the writing was fantastic. I exhausted every dialogue option I could find in this game, from the silly and hilarious to the thoughtful and poignant.

Night in the Woods felt like a labour of love with an impressive attention to detail. The town really does feel vibrant and lived in. The platforming is incredibly satisfying, even though it’s not a platformer. I love all the small touches – how Mae’s footsteps produce guitar notes as she’s walking along powerlines or how leaves lift up off the ground as she runs past. If you jump on a car they’ll dip down in different ways depending on where you land on them. This small team just took so much care in every little aspect of the game that I was constantly excited to see what was coming up.

So, that’s it! My top ten games of 2018. I think I forgot I was doing a top ten list and just wrote a bunch of reviews, but I’ve really enjoyed mixing it up here and plan to continue writing about the games I complete throughout the year.

It was a good year for media, at least for me, and 2019 is already looking better. I’m in the middle of two games that would have probably made this list, and I’m reading a brilliant book that would have also been in my top ten list if I’d read it last year. Not a bad start!