Every website I’ve ever worked at, even the scrappy upstart freelance sites, have eventually been blanked. Vanished. All my work, gone. Deleted and unable to be retrieved. But since now I co-own this website, nobody gets to destroy my game of the year top ten lists but me!
For now, I have to re-do them from scratch, and I don’t care if the order isn’t the same as it was back in the day. This is 2025 me making these, not 2016 me! I’m sure there are things I forgot about, indies lost in the shuffle, honorable mentions not mentioned, but I’m only human. I’m just a mere mortal — a man dedicated to chronicling what I deem to be the best games of each chunk of twelve months.
You can read the first entry in this series here, from 2022-2024.
You can read the second entry in this series here, from 2019-2021.
2018
Honorable Mentions: “Dragon Ball Fighterz,” “Hitman 2,” “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey,” “Guacemelee 2,” “Darksiders 3,” “Far Cry 5,” “Yoku’s Island Express,” “Donut County” and “The Messenger”
10. “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” — What an amazing amount of content, love, nostalgia, and options shoved into one cartridge. I have no idea how Nintendo follows this up without just reinventing the core gameplay or moving this into 3D.
9. “Katamari Reroll” — If there is a list, I will try my hardest to squeeze “Katamari Damacy” onto it. One of my all time favorite pieces of art, remade for modern consoles; fucking brilliant from start to end.
8. “Return of the Obra Dinn” — Out of all of the “detective mystery clue puzzle” games, this is the best one. Gorgeous, mesmerizing, and with a kickass pirate/sea monster vibe that most games don’t nail if they even attempt such a thing. Looking at you, “Skull and Bones.”
7. “Spyro Reignited Trilogy” — I loved the shit out of the original games on my PlayStation when I was a young lad, and they still hold up. But now they don’t look ugly as sin, they control way better, and I can play them on my Xbox and not the inferior PS controller. Offset sticks, y’all.
6. “Marvel’s Spider-Man” — This is the perfect Spider-Man video game. Better than the sequels, better than the PS1 game, and better than “Spider-Man 2” for the PS2. It is perfect. Having said that, I’m not sure people can continue to just copy paste the “Batman Arkham” style of combat and get away with it. But the swinging is (*chef’s kiss*) perfection.
5. “Celeste” — This is the apex of indie games — the zenith of what a small team can do with platforming, music, and a strong narrative. If only more people could get over the instinct that tells them this game is too hard, or just not for them, then they could experience something so beautiful that also has lots of options to make the gameplay much easier and simplified.
4. “Dead Cells” — It’s not quite a Metroidvania, it’s not quite a pure action game, it’s not fully a platformer, but it is one of the greatest roguelikes ever made. An infinitely replayable, addictive, clever indie that never seems to run out of new ideas, unlocks, or secrets. Plus, this game has so many DLCs for dirt cheap — it’s hard to ever put down.
3. “Into the Breach” — There will never be a strategy game quite like this because people either do too much extra with mechanics and systems, or they don’t do enough. “Into the Breach” has a razor-sharp balance, a wicked art style, and every other “X-Com-like” game pails in comparison to this.
2. “Gwent: The Witcher Card Game” — Nobody can play this anymore since the game has been updated to suck. Originally, this was the classic three-lane “Gwent” from “The Witcher 3,” and it was masterful. Then, for some ungodly reason, the devs at CD Projekt Red just changed everything wholesale, and made it two lanes. The rock, paper, scissors gameplay of cards was eliminated, and thus was my interest. But man, when this was in beta, there wasn’t a better CCG out there. RIP. old school “Gwent.” They better leave this untouched for “The Witcher 4.”
- “God of War” — It is exceedingly rare for me to think while playing a game “this is the best video game I’ve ever played.” It happened during “Super Mario World,” “Tetris DS,” “Resident Evil 4,” and then with “God of War.” As a day-one fanatic of the original games, this exceeded my wildest expectations with the new camera angle and main weapon, the story, the shift from Greek to Norse mythology, and the overall tone.
Hell, even the cringey voice acting from the old ones got a trillion times worse once Christopher Judge stepped into Kratos’ sandals. Or snow boots — I guess he doesn’t wear sandals anymore. A towering performance, an epic game, a memorable tale, and the sequence where you get your blades of chaos is a top moment in all of gaming to witness.
2017
Honorable Mentions: “Metroid: Samus Returns,” “Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga,” “Gorogoa,” “Tacoma,” “Yooka Laylee,” “A Hat in Time,” “Hand of Fate 2,” “Prey,” “Assassin’s Creed: Origins,” “What Remains of Edith Finch,” “Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds,” “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,” “The surge,” “Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle,” “South Park: The Fractured But Whole” and “Bye-Bye BoxBoy!”
10. “Uncharted: Lost Legacy” — This beat out so many games I really enjoy and love, it’s criminal to even talk about this and not mention that absolutely stacked list above. But I think the open ended, larger zone areas of this game puts this over the top, because it gave us a glimpse of what Naughty Dog could do with an open world and then they just never got around to giving us such a thing. Which is a real shame, because this was supposed to be the direction the studio went in and NOT whatever the hell they did with “The Last of Us Part II.”
9. “Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus” — A better story, better level design, better visuals, and a whole section about getting your head cut off and put on a new body. Fuck Nazis — this game should have sold millions more for us to get a proper sequel.
8. “Snake Pass” — I truly appreciate all games that opt to create their own unique gameplay loop that isn’t just shooting or punching. Hell, there isn’t any jumping, falling colored blocks, or karts to race. You’re just a snake, and you slither around the levels in one of the most idiosyncratic experiences you can have controlling something. Has anyone made a game this special since?
7. “Nioh” — This is Team Ninja’s Soulslike, and it’s real good. Levels are better than the second one, the bosses are better than the second one, and I don’t think they accomplished anything better than this first Nioh besides a character creator. I wish there wasn’t as many systems going on — it’s a very overwhelming game with the upgrades and stances and magic and loot. Maybe they should pare this down for “Nioh 3.”
6. “The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild” — It should win every GOTY award as it stands as one of the best open world games ever made — only surpassed by “Tears of the Kingdom” and maybe “The Witcher 3.” But I’m more personally connected to Mario than Link, despite understanding that this is a better game than anything on this top ten list, but don’t get it twisted, “BOTW” is still a GOAT. It’s that darn Switch 1 hardware that stifles its greatness.
5. “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” — This is the biggest pivot I’ve ever seen with a gaming franchise. A complete 180 in terms of quality, tone, and ultimately scares per second. I cannot undersell how important this game being good was to my wellbeing.
4. “Hellblade” — And speaking of sanity, this is the best game ever made about mental illness. It’s a complete triumph, a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned. One that everybody should play to get a sense of what it’s like to lose your mind that only gaming can replicate.
3. “Cuphead” — Yadda, yadda, impossible art style and music. Blah, blah, blah, hilarious boss battles and brutal difficulty. It’s all been praised to death, but yeah this is extremely my shit, and just as good as everybody says it is. Brilliant game from conception to execution.
2. “Hollow Knight” — If there’s a Mount Rushmore of Metroidvanias, it has to include three games. “Super Metroid,” “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night,” and “Hollow Knight.” It’s the modern day Metroidvania of our time, the 2D Dark Souls we never got, a bug infused daydream that’s both contemplative and soothing. Many games attempt to present a world worth exploring that’s interesting and relaxing, but not boring, and few succeed. “Hollow Knight” is otherworldly and haunting in the most memorable way.
- “Super Mario Odyssey” — This is the single greatest 3D platformer ever made. It’s one of the best Mario games, one of the best Switch games, and hits so hard for anyone with an ounce of nostalgia for their childhood or gaming history. There’s so many levels, with so much depth, and captures for Cappy. The ideas keep coming hours later, the joy never dims, the fun never diminishes, and there’s more moons to get than you’d expect. “Donkey Kong Bananza” feels half as full as “Odyssey” actually is, Nintendo has a herculean task to top themselves.
2016
Honorable Mentions: “Firewatch,” “Deus Ex Go,” “Gears 4,” “The Division,” “Enter the Gungeon,” “Ratchet & Clank,” “Uncharted 4” and “BoxBoxBoy!”
10. “Dishonored 2” — This one barely edged out some legit titles, but I’m a sucker for that one puzzle with the big locked door, where you have to solve the riddle by figuring out which person sat where and wore what. More games need this kind of shit in it, as well as teleporting around, and stabbing people, and hiding behind crates, all that other fun stuff.
9. “Doom” — The heavy metal reboot legacy sequel that started iD’s return to glory. I still think they should have just called this “Doom 4” because it’s much easier for me to search online. But this game rules and Mick Gordon deserves better than how he was treated.
8. “Grow Up” — The surprise follow-up to “Grow Home,” this is mainly the same experience of climbing and jetpacking up beanstalks and giant flowers. A lot of indie games have taken this angle, of telling a rich story while you climb a mountain step by step, using both hands to grasp onto rocks carefully. But it was done much better here, and done first years before everybody realized climbing tall mountains is really fun.
7. “Inside” — Some indie games lean heavy on a unique mechanic, an outdated genre, a transgressive narrative, or a sick art style. But a select few combine “vibes” with the avant-garde to create artwork so special, you kind of just walk away speechless. “Journey” is one of those rare examples, and so is “Inside.” A blend of Animal Farm, Ninteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, and every David Cronenberg film mashed up together into one behemoth of an adventure. Wordless, stunning, provocative, and open to interpretation, “Inside” is the last game we’ll ever get from Playdead because the main creative forces split. One of them formed Jumpship, and made “Somerville” which was just okay.
6. “Virginia” — So take everything I said about “Inside” but put it in first person, set it near the FBI headquarters, have a mystery surrounding a priest’s missing son, and add some extensive editing and jump cuts to the gameplay. That’s “Virginia” in a nutshell, and the less you know about it going in, the better.
5. “Dark Souls 3” — It’s not as iconic as the first game, the level design isn’t as singular in its interconnectivity. But it’s miles ahead of the second game, and plays much better. The bosses are spectacles, the aesthetics are more in line with “Bloodborne,” and the DLCs are great. This is the kind of fan service that can stand on its own and create new fans, like me, who jumped on board around this time and never looked back.
4. “Overwatch” — I played so much of this multiplayer for years on end — mostly just doing it by myself after my friends abandoned the game. It was my go-to live service, and when it was good, it was great. Until it wasn’t because Blizzard thought it was a good idea to just cater to an eSports bubble that never really got off the ground, and then Activision shot itself in the foot over and over until they had to saw off their leg for no reason whatsoever.
3. “Titanfall 2” — Respawn gave us an all-time single player akin to something Valve would dream up, another super addicting multiplayer (I prefer the first one but that’s splitting hairs), and nobody bought this game and I hate all of you for not keeping this franchise alive. We had it so good, and gamers everywhere shrugged their shoulders so they could opt for “Call of Duty: Ghosts” or whatever dogshit came out that year.
2. “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” — This is my favorite in the series, and one of the last truly exceptional examples of an immersive sim. This is what I thought “Cyberpunk 2077” would be. A moody, rain soaked trip through Prague, this is one of the most enchanting noirs I’ve ever gotten to play. The only others I can even think of are “The Wolf Among Us” and “L.A. Noire.” This is the definition of an underrated, hidden gem.
- “The Witness” — Jonathan Blow sucks, as it turns out, but he left quite an impression with one of the best games of the Xbox One/PS4 generation, one of the greatest puzzle games ever made, and one of the few times I can remember a video game having a twist not to its story, but the central conceit of the game itself. A mind-bending, obsessive game within a game, puzzle within a puzzle that will melt your brain and also glaze your eyeballs with perfectly placed trees and clouds. Trust me, everything on that island is put there for a very specific reason.
Image credit: “Super Mario Odyssey,” Nintendo
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