In order
1. Elden Ring - PSV: Honestly this may be the best game ever made, its insane how the first time they do open world they make the best one with very few flaws that could easily be tweaked in a sequel, its wild. Its 10 in my personal top ten of all time and I cant imagine it being topped, its the game of the decade, good luck Miyazaki with one upping yourself like you think you will lol (plz tell me you actually understand why this was so popular..). (with 3 playthroughs and a platinum Ive put in probably 500 hours single player only) Score - 9.8
2. Dark Souls 2 Scholar of the First Sin - XBONE: To be fair I beat like 70% of it last year but I finished it completely early this year but w/e, I love how the game can open up based on what you choose to use the stones on to me this was its greatest addition. I like the life gem system option (hate the ADP stat tho it was a bad idea). There are a lot of magical areas, sunken sea, that underground lake, dragleic etc. (although a bit too much poison..) Yes the story and boss battles are worse than DS1 but damn were those DLC's great quality containing some of the best bosses/areas in dark soul. To me the worst thing about this game is it wants you to hate it, its easily the most evil and imo difficult of the series, its so cheap, its why I had to take a break from it for a couple months last year because I was tired of how mean it was lol, god the runs to bosses suck so much haha. Score - 9.4
3. Mario Kart 8 - Switch: Finally I got around to playing this, the main reason I think I didnt play it on the wii u was because 7 was such a disappointment and the CTR remake absorbed my kart game thirst when I would have. I get why alot of people think its the best MK (I still say MK DS due to snaking..), there's definitely an argument, its courses are easily the liveliest and best to look at, the music really well done, courses are engaging, and man that 250 cc mode rules, I love that shit. Weakest things are single player is still lackluster/limited (cmon nintendo you should really innovate here..) and the DLC pass courses are disappointing. Score - 9.4
4. Slay the Spire - PC: Shew, this game is dangerous for me, It's art and music are meh, and sometimes the game will put you in unwinnable situations which is bullshit but its insanely addicting for a person who loves card games. I played this game too much too fast for its quality (I burned so many day with this game morning to night..), yes the card game system is great but that game is horseshit, it was difficult for someone who is adept at card games so I cant imagine a normal person making it through some of that stuff. Beat the Heart with all the characters for fun and then got A20 like an idiot with the first character just for pride lol (not worth the bullshit, A16 up is poorly designed) and then I was good. Game is more addicting than good but I cant deny how much time I gave it. (Please make a sequel with better art/music..) Score - 9.2
5. Silent Hill 3 - PS2: Silent Hill has never been one of my top franchises due to its meh combat but Ive always respected it does with horror/atmosphere, I enjoyed the first 2 (especially the 1st) and really ended up surpassing my expectations. Its has easily the scariest level in the franchise with that crazy looking hallway, it might be the scariest game in the series, it has some brilliant horror moments. I also really dug the personal story it had with heather, had alot of heart even if the main silent hill ish stuff was less interesting than previous games. It may now be my favorite (either that or 1, its tough). Makes me really wish Silent Hills had been a thing :S. Score - 9.2
6. Spiritfarer - PC: This game might be the least interesting gameplay wise on the list but it definitely resonated with me, just talking to these spirits in a very realistic fashion before its time for them to move on was very moving, the characters feel really realistic when it comes to human personalities and their flaws things arent always wrapped nicely into a little bow either. The mini games on the boat while basic were super relaxing and cathartic it was strange. In particular I loved the little song summer teaches you to grow the plants. Idk it was just a very heartwarming yet sad relaxing game Id recommend. Score - 9.1
7. Bloodbourne - PSV: Ok this is a very good game, From Software always brings it in the Level Design and Combat departments, its great there and has ton of great enemy visual designs. I enjoyed the arcane tools and the rallying system is a fantastic addition, id like to see it used more (maybe as a stat/talisman buff?). That being said, I think its pretty overrated by the Souls community, the combat variety was a lot worse, most fights felt very samey, the vial system is awful and the bullet system could use some tweaks. The game is too dark alot of the time and it can be annoying to see things (were not talking a horror game like resident evil, Id argue you can see better with your light in that even lol) and makes for a sadly worse visual experience, most area's have that same dark pallet to them which gets pretty old compared to their other games vivid art design (basically it removes alot of what makes a typical souls game visual wise special, a dark zone is fine every now and can add variety but when they are all dark it can take away). Also when everything is a crazy looking eye ball thing it kinda takes out the impressiveness of it. Guns are kinda whatever, they also samey and I kinda quit using them after a minute, didnt feel super useful/interesting to me (wasted points on bloodtinge too..). Sadly item pickups were not very exciting in this game, they were mostly vials or silver bullets, pretty bland, new weapons were rare till the dlc, or they were the boring Blood gem system. Please never revisit this boring loot system, it just leads to alot of uninteresting stuff in your inventory to look at, it reminded me of nioh's bad loot system, it matters but everything is basically the same and your just looking for a slightly bigger number on the bloodgem idk it was boring. The story/lore just wasnt as interesting this time, npc's were mostly behind the same looking door and it was hard to get them to a place to engage with you in some way, I just dont think the game did a great job of getting players to care about it like most other from software games, I didnt understand much of what was going on at all. And finally the chalice dungeons are poorly thought out, they are extremely samey, have mostly even more boring than usual pickups and are tailored to multiple playthroughs with insane damage/health level gaps between you and their mostly reused bosses, skip these for a better experience. Okay Rant over, game very good but the weakest of the 6 SB games, the DLC is great though btw. Score - 9.4
8. Returnal - PSV: This game is funny because its gameplay is really strong, it has fun enemies to fight, its visually very interesting, atmospheric and challenging to boot, but its a weak rouguelike and the whole game is focused around it being a rogue like so yeah.. I really hope housemarque just makes one of these but not a roguelike with more linear game design/more content. Also the story is a bit disappointing for how seemingly interesting it might could be and too vague. Score - 9.4
9. God of War Ragnarok - PSV: Oh boi, I thought this was gonna win GOTY free early this year lol although the marketing had me (correctly) worried, sadly I was (mostly) wrong.. 2018 is one of my favorite games and is brilliant, yeah it may have been worse in the gore, brutality and boss department than the older GOW's but it clearly had amazing combat, side quest design, excellent pacing and rewarded players who were thorough. Ragnorok feels like worse bloated DLC, its just the truth almost 100% the game and thats what I came away feeling. The story of the first game wasnt great but it had its moments and was at least ok but this one man, it just felt kinda hollow. It doesnt go anywhere interesting and focusing too much on Atreus, Kratos seemingly doesnt have a character arc anymore and is alot more boring in this one. There are slightly potentially cool things that get teased by the villains/story that just dont pay off/go anywere(very last jedi like/modernism like). Most of the intriguing stuff from the last game goes nowhere either, which is sad. Sendri is great, Odin is mostly interesting till the end of the game, Mimir is mostly annoying in this one. Oh yeah way way WAY too much walk and talk, it feel like Gears of War, might be worse in this regard. Oh yeah the pacing is awful god the first 3rd of the game is really slow, then it opens up some to some areas that are weaker than the last game (with some asset reuse), the best area in the game is tucked away side content land in the last 3rd, I recommend doing that. Then what imo the reason the game is any good, the combat, while being alot of fun, you is mostly the same and some of its additions besides the third weapon are a pro and con. Id argue the rune attack spam just gets out of control way too soon in the game, most combat encounter are kinda trivialized halfway through the game, in 2018 you got there but it was late game and never on the level of the spam you can do here, ends up making alot of the combat feel very samey and your already using 2 of the same weapons from the first game with only 1 new one. Oh yeah then theres the Instant puzzle solving by the NPC's, yep its an issue, some will do it before you even look at it, its bad.. Anywho there's more to complain about but I wont, its still really fun and in my mind DLC, a bit overpriced and bloated but hey its an excuse to do more of that really fun combat system. Score - 9.4
10. Halo Infinite - PC: Note, this is mostly about the Single player because as an OG halo fan the new halo multiplayer style since 5 isnt halo so I didnt engage with it more than a couple game in the beta so yeah.. Anywho didnt expect much from this after the train wreck of Halo 5 (and was right not to) but I put this game up here for one and one thing alone, dat grapple hook. The halo stuff was working it played like vanilla halo but traversing an open world with that cool grapple hook and vanilla halo shoot bang was very fun, the physic's and momentum ruled. The open world was fine, it was something different for halo, I enjoyed the collectables and points of interest but there was nothing really special at all about it, the game was mostly an excuse to engage with the incredible grapple hook, I couldnt help but really wish they had just made a game around it with no halo stuff, that game could have been something special but I enjoyed it regardless. Somehow the story is worse than Halo 5's which is nuts but it absolutely is awful, it just doesnt hurt anymore after H5. The balance is also terrible in the open world, weapons are littered everywhere it has no balance design lol. So yeah I give it 1 great grappling hook out of 1. Score - 9.2
