It’s been a strange year for me. I started a website with some life-long friends, I bought and played more video games in a twelve month span than at any time in my life. And in a rarity for me, I didn’t really know what my Game of the Year was going to be until the very end. There was a lot of 9/10s but no clear and obvious masterpiece or front runner like “Balatro” or “Elden Ring.”

But as you will see coming up, I’ve given my top choice to a man rather than a game. A collection of his works has been given the top prize, and I’ll explain why it still counts and how little of a shit I give if anybody gives me guff over my decision.

Honorable Mentions:

“Yooka-RePlaylee” — The best version of a retro platformer I wish turned into a real franchise.

“Pokemon Legends Z-A” — I played over 40 hours of this, and still don’t know if I liked it for what it was or what it represented in my mind.

“Megabonk” — It’s the blueprint for a 3D “Vampire Survivors” which won’t be coming any time soon because Luca Galante is working on a roguelike dungeon crawler with cards, which is a shoe-in to win my GOTY in 2026.

“Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound” — “Shinobi” ate this game’s lunch.

“Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4” — I wish I loved this enough to get it into the top ten, but that fumbling of “THPS 4” and the missing soundtrack really grinds my gears.

“First Berserker: Khazan” — The best soulslike of the year! Not quite a “Lies of P” entry in the genre, but still very good.

“Oblivion Remastered” — Still better than “Skyrim.”

“Doom: The Dark Ages” — I really liked this game! Too bad it came out early in the year, left no impression afterwards, everybody forgot about it, and there was no DLC. Shame.

“Elden Ring: Nightreign” — This will go down as history’s greatest asset flip.

“Outer Worlds 2” — Better than the first!

“The Roottrees are Dead” — I wish I was smarter because then I wouldn’t have to continuously keep using the hint system.

“Absolum” — Nearly made my top ten as it runs out of steam right as you finish the game the first time, and unlock pretty much most of the things available (also gets a little repetitive without offering new mechanics).

“Nubby’s Number Factory” — It’s “Peggle” mixed with “Frog Fractions.”

“Metroid Prime 4: Beyond” — More like “Mid-troid Prime,” amirite???

“Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles” — This would be GOTY if I could see what was going on, and the camera didn’t get stuck behind trees and shit constantly.

“Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” — This is a very good game, but it didn’t grab a hold of me like it did with everybody else. A lot of RPGs lean on excessive lore and proper nouns, and that’s never a good way to capture my attention. The levels remind me of a PS2 game, and I think they could go a lot farther with the QTEs mixed into combat because it basically became a game revolving around hitting “A” at the perfect time. I’m not going to call it overrated, but I would like to see what a sequel could really do.

10. ‘Borderlands 4‘

CEO of this fine site, Jack Miller, and I played this on stream for dozens of hours. We’re both huge fans of the “Borderlands” games ever since the original, and this was a step up from “BL3” (the worst of the series by far). The writing wasn’t memorable or funny, but at least it wasn’t annoying, obnoxious, or offensive to my ears/intelligence.

The open world was a smart move, as was just streamlining the missions you picked up and could pin to your screen. The new motorcycle is a godsend and the grappling hook/jetpack combo could have been a game changer, but are just nice additions. If only they could get rid of the PC mouse cursor on consoles so the UI/UX doesn’t suck horribly.

9. ‘Hades 2‘

This and “Hollow Knight: Silksong” were maybe my two most anticipated games coming into the year. And if it wasn’t for the top tier quality of both Supergiant and Team Cherry these would have been considered disappointing in my mind. I don’t like either game as much as the first, because what they brought to the table was more of the same but just slightly different enough to make it seem like they didn’t just run out of ideas.

There wasn’t a weapon I liked to use, I never sprinted or used the magic ever, none of the boons interested me, and I didn’t at all feel the compulsion to grind out every single thing like I did with the first. It’s not a major step down narratively, but I just didn’t care for Mel’s companions like I did with Zag and co. I’d like to see Supergiant do something completely different and not in that same isometric top down view for their next game.

8. ‘Hollow Knight: Silksong‘

The art is stellar, the game feels pitch-perfect, the music is moody and atmospheric, and it’s the exact type of macabre game to welcome you into the fall. But this is another one that, early on, I got the feeling that I wouldn’t be in love, but would instead be nitpicking and butting my head against. And it turned out my sneaking suspicion was correct because this game is unnecessarily hard as nails.

The exploring led to fewer awestruck moments and more “oh fuck this enemy/boss.” The charm system got changed for the worse too. Combat didn’t seem as dynamic or parkour-intensive as I figured it would be. This is a great game, but it’s far from the life changer the original was.

7. ‘Once Upon a Katamari’

Just on principle, if you put out a new “Katamari” game I’m already inclined to not just purchase it but keep it close to my heart forever. The idiosyncratic blend of J-pop, jazz, tchotchkes, trinkets, knickknacks, acid, and insanity is such a winner in my book — nothing can really top it. When you sit down to play as the Prince of All Cosmos, you aren’t shooting or fighting or hacking or slashing. You’re rolling, baby, and the groove just sweeps you up in its magic. Or a classroom full of Japanese children. Or an entire zoo. Or a city block.

This is the best Katamari game since the first two and while the new power-ups are more of a fun distraction than a revolutionary addition to the gameplay, there’s not much you can do to ruin the Katamari experience, and this only adds loads of new creative and fun levels to the canon. As well as the King in a new sexy outfit.

6. ‘Shinobi: Art of Vengeance‘

Any time a new Metroidvania enters the scene, there’s a lot of scrutiny. After the past ten years or so of indie games polishing the formula of “search action” to perfection, it’s still amazing to me to see things like “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown” shatter my brain by adding pins for photos of rooms to come back to later on. 

And as far as new additions or innovations for the genre go, “Shinobi” adds… nothing new. But man is it a fun ass game that includes character action combos to purchase and GORGEOUS ink work. Why did games stop utilizing cel shading? And why are there fewer games now where the protagonist uses a cloth to hang glide around in the air? There was “Breath of the Wild,” and then this, and no other studio thought that would be fun?

5. ‘Donkey Kong: Bananza‘

I am a tiny bit sad that the team who made “Super Mario Odyssey” chose to make this instead (probably to push the new movie they’re making). But as far as 3D platformers go, Nintendo still does it better than everybody else and this is a joy to not just pick up and play, but also complete.

Despite the hundreds of times I’ve heard DK say “OH, BANANA!” it never got old. Punching the ground never got old. The camera getting stuck in terrain did get old, but I’ve already listed all of the numerous tiny things that irked me about an otherwise incredible digital sandbox. Imagine if you could get DK to throw his feces at enemies. THEN it would have really gone up in my estimation.

4. ‘Ghost of Yotei‘

This is why you don’t pre-write your top ten games of the year list early. Because if you actually play these games, surprising things happen. I was not a huge fan of “Ghost of Tsushima” when it came out — it’s just okay. I love Sucker Punch for their “Sly Cooper” trilogy, but ever since their stuff just hasn’t grabbed me. But “Yotei” thrilled me from the very start. A genuine shock. This is the best thing they’ve made since “Sly 3.”

I don’t know how or why this one worked for me but it captured my attention, and didn’t let go until I beat it. Chalk it up to a better hero, world, combat, or mini-games, but this clicked and I spent hours flicking those coins across the table for cash. Maybe it was the addition of multiple weapons like “Nioh” or the way merchants would come visit your camp when they had new things to offer. Or maybe it was the instantaneous fast travel — that helped.

3. ‘Dispatch‘

This is an incredible TV show if you want it to be, and a live-motion choose-your-own-adventure visual comic book (if you want it to be). It could very well be the best thing Telltale never made, and is ripe for so much more world building. Lovable characters, sharp writing, great jokes, a very addictive loop of sending out heroes during your shifts to level up the Z-Team; this game has it all. Twists, turns, laugh out loud moments, and a hacking mini-game.

An impressive debut from a new studio, but the pedigree is top notch. I cannot wait to see what this team does going forward, even if it is something completely different.

2. ‘Blue Prince’

Obsessed. I was obsessed with this from February until around the end of summer. Run after run, discovery after discovery, “Blue Prince” delivers the goods in a way I’ve never seen before.

Maybe “Inscryption” when you could walk around that little room in between card games, or “The Witness” if it was a roguelike. That’s probably the best way to describe this game, but it sort of defies all of those typical conventions.

Making every step you take matter is a remarkable accomplishment. Turning every single object in a house seem like a red herring is like seeing the mystic arts performed in front of you. It’s been joked about before but you cannot help from turning into the Charlie conspiracy theory smoking a cigarette with blood shot eyes meme after playing this.

The secrets within secrets, the layers of deception and world building, the placement of clocks and chess pieces that seem to help then not help at all but then actually help in the end game… I’m speechless. This is game design pantheon shit right here, and it’s a testament to how original thinking and new ideas can inject blood into an industry hellbent on caving in under the weight of everything turning into “Fortnite.” We need more “Blue Prince” style games even though none of them will hold a candle to it.

1. ‘Death Stranding: Director’s Cut,’ ‘Metal Gear Solid Delta,’ and ‘Death Stranding 2: On The Beach‘

Hold on, let me explain. It’s the Year of Hideo Kojima, and therefore he gets my Game of the Year award for releasing “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach,” having Konami release his game again in “Metal Gear Solid: Delta,” and because I played through “Death Stranding: Director’s Cut” over the summer too. Do these all count? Is it fair to the other games on the list? I don’t really care, but if you, like, need the closure then sure I’ll go ahead and say my ultimate GOTY winner is “DS2.”

I am a late stage Kojima convert, as in I’ve only played “MGS V: The Phantom Pain,” which I loved, and this year I went through both “Death Strandings” and was floored. Jaw on the floor, walked away impressed, and thinking Kojima is a genius. And not because of his writing, which is laughable dog shit, but because no other AAA games are as well thought out and detail oriented as his. His work is legendary, because the proof is always in the pudding.

It’s like for “Death Stranding,” he and his team at Kojima Studios took a look at the song playing when you enter Mexico in “Red Dead Redemption,” and they thought to themselves “let’s make an entire game built around that.” And then they looked at the level of micromanaging and life-sim adjacent systems in “Red Dead Redemption 2” and thought “what if we did this, but in a way that is fun and doesn’t suck shit?”

The first game made it so going over rocky terrain was arduous. You needed to bring a ladder or climbing anchor rope thing. The second game is just filled with cars people left around, generators installed every five feet, and jump pads. Both are valid, fun, and interesting ways of playing the most unique AAA series I’ve ever played. Who knew a delivery game with a core philosophy of “the journey will be weird” that engages, challenges, and surprises the player more than any action or shooter ever could?

---

Image credit: “Death Stranding 2,” “Blue Prince,” “Ghost of Yotei,” “Donkey Kong Bananza”