My Top 10 Video Games of 2023

If you're dumb enough to read my yearly ramblings about my favourite video games, you'll probably still not remembered that last year I said that this generation hadn't really hit its stride yet. 

This year is the complete opposite. 

 

It's been absolutely relentless for video games this year. All absolutely amazing, most of the games on this list would be easy game of the year winners in previous years. But the bar was set so high this year. There's a bunch of games that are easily game of the year contenders that I've barely touched. The covid game lag all hit this year, and it's been great. Early next year is looking fairly stacked for me as a JRPG fan but I'm hoping we get back to a steady release of games going forward. 

Video games continue to be great, every so often they really push the medium forward and are leaps and bounds ahead of anything that tv or film can do. One game on this list in particular did that, but we'll get into that later.

Before we get into it here's a handful of games, I never got to that I think would probably shake my list up:

•  Mario wonder
• Cyberpunk phantom liberty 
• Fort Solis
• Octopath Traveller 2

One last thing, since writing this I've put nearly another 30 hours into Baldur’s gate 3, so it should be way higher on this list (probably 2), but I couldn't be arsed to mess around with it, but just know it's verrrrrrrrrryyy goood! 

 10. Diablo 4

Diablo 4 felt great when it released, it was a fever dream for anyone who grew up playing diablo 2 for hours on end in their teens (That's me). Diablo 4 tells a really interesting story with great characters and locations. The connected world feels great to explore and its insanely fun when your character build is in full swing. Disappointingly the end game just really didn't hit, the seasons content just didn't land for me, I'd much rather hit a max level cap and have the grind for gear to get stronger rather than start all over again. Out the box it's still a great package. 

9. Starfield 

It's a controversial one and I get it, prerelease people thought it was going to be something it wasn't. The opening of the game doesn't really land its mark, and there's a reason for that. The big oh shit moment comes a few main quests into the game. It's a really cool moment, but I'd played 40 hours before getting to it, and it kind of didn't hit it's mark. I assume majority of people don't even know there's a whole system of abilities in that game. Taking that aside I think starfield is Bethesda’s best game. I really enjoyed the world, the missions and the stories. Some wild side missions like the alien Easter egg or landing on a planet and meeting Genghis Khan, Roosevelt and Cleopatra trying to build a society. The whole multiversal stuff really hit for me and I loved to see a glimpse of it all at the end. 

8. Resident Evil 4 Remake 

RE4 Remake is a perfect video game, right up to the point you visit the island and its full of military dudes. It kind of redeems itself later on, but I sort of wish they'd ended the game with the castle. Its great though, the action feels amazing, it looks stunningly scary and that mission with Ashley in the dark was haunting! 

7. Dead Space Remake 

Dead space remake landed in January, and it was perfect for dark winter nights. The sound design in the game is unreal! It was great revisiting the ship and I loved the side quests they've added. Survival horror really feels like it's back in a big way and better than ever! Hope they remake 2 because I want more dead space.

6. Star Wars Jedi Survivor

Jedi survivor is soooo very good. I love Star Wars, and this game is the best thing they've done with the franchise in years. Some sections of this game are absolutely wild! Combat is super fun, and the story it tells kept me glued throughout. They've made a lot of improvements over the first game, and I cannot wait to see what they do next!

5. Baldur’s Gate 3

When I first started playing Baldur’s gate 3 I loved it, I then got very stuck and kept dying. Stopped playing and moved on. It’s since won game of the year so I've decided to go back to it. Turns out I just needed a long rest... I got passed the part I was stuck on, and I've fallen in love with it. Tabletop d&d is so much fun, and that game represents it brilliantly! Very excited to see where my characters end up. I'd love to play this 4 player coop I think would be a perfect alternative to a d&d night.

4. Final Fantasy 16

Final fantasy 16 blow me away this year. I adore final fantasy games and I loved what they did with this. Brilliant cast of characters particularly Clive played by the actor Ben Starr. Turns out he's a massive gamer and final fantasy fan himself and you can tell in his performance. He puts his heart and soul into every scene. There's some really stand out moments in the game, it very much inspired by game of thrones and takes you through the twists and turns of the politics in their world. The premise that each nation has a nuclear weapon in the form of someone turning into a massive beast! Things turn south and the nations end up at war, you play a bloke called Clive who gets caught up in it all. You basically figure out that the crystals that are basically representing oils are destroy the planet when they're used/mined for resources. So, you go out to destroy all the crystals to save the planet. The game has some of the best boss battles I've ever experienced in a video game. 

3. Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom (ToTK)

ToTK made me feel like a kid again, it's the same wonder I felt at like 8 playing ocarina of time for the first time. Breath of the wild never hit for me, but ToTK absolutely did. I loved exploring the world, meeting old friends, build wild mad devices to get around. The story was incredible, one of the best stories in a Zelda game. The side quests were fun and engaging. A huge part of my love for this game was that I played a whole bunch of it with my son. Seeing his wonder and amazement was incredible to experience. He saw most of the major story beats and followed it right through until the final encounter. I've got a lot of happy memories from playing this with my son. 

2. Spider-man 2

Spider-man 2 is the biggest dopamine hit of 2023. Literally everything you do hits you with dopamine. I could not put the game down. The action was insanely fun, swinging around New York is incredible, not only to actually swing but just the graphics it's an incredible experience just exploring. The story is unreal. As someone who's been a big spider-man since I was a kid and got a lot of memories watching the old cartoons, and a love for the modern films, I absolutely adore what they've done with this spider-man universe and the story they're telling. Insomniac set up a bunch of stuff and I cannot wait to see what they do next.

1. Alan Wake 2

Every so often a game comes along and sets a new bar for narrative video games. Back in 2013 we got BioShock infinite and last of us. Both of these games set the new bar and games have been following those standards ever since. Alan wake 2, has set a new bar. Remedy have applied everything they've learned over the years from the original max Payne games, Alan wake 1, quantum break, and control, all leading to this culmination. Everything in Alan wake 2 is intricate to the story it tells, from gameplay, to music tracks record specifically for the game, live action, cutscenes, voice acting.

I'm going to talk about specifics, some of these could be classed as spoilers for the game, but nothing here is story spoiler.

A chapter of Alan wake 2, turns the game into a full blow musical, with a set of songs, which tell a story, live action dancing and acting all while you play out the events of a story of the game. It's absolutely wild, I've never experienced anything like it. 

If you're unaware, Alan wake 2 is a full-blown survival horror game, which I quiet often forget when I tell people to play the game. It's not because the survival horror aspects are bad, they're actually some of the best I've ever experienced. Parts of the game gave been full blown anxiety levels of which I haven't experienced since resident evil 7 in VR. Alan wake 2 is so very good at survival horror, from the resource management, almost every encounter felt tight, like I just scraped by, by the skin of my teeth. Creeping around the world is insanely atmospheric, there's jump scares and plenty of them, sometimes you're expecting them, but one got me right in a safe room which I wasn't expecting. There are great creepy enemy encounters, and they rarely overstay their welcome. Huge sections of the game there's no combat, but it constantly makes you think there is going to be, it strings you along and then when you least expect it, you're attacked. 

The cast of characters are insanely well acted and performed, from their in game parts to their live action sections. Every character is interesting and adds value to the story. Its top tier stuff, think breaking bad levels of quality. 

Alan wake 2 is part of the shared remedy universe, they're kind of doing their marvel avengers thing, but across control (their 2019 game) and Alan wake, and although not officially confirmed there's a boat load of nods and references to quantum break (Tim breaker - Quantum break). I cannot wait to see what they do with this universe and these characters next. 

Alan wake 2 is without a doubt the best game I played in 2023, not only has it set a new industry standard for video games, but there's ALOT TV and Cinema could learn from this. If you pick any game to play off this list, please play this, the horror aspects of the game are intense, but play it with the lights on and man up.

My Top 10(ish) Video Games of 2022

 2022 overall has been a weak year for video games, we're 2 years into the New Generation of Consoles are we're still not really hitting on full cylinders. Microsoft had no new gen games this year and sonys offerings although were spectacular were all playable on the previous gen console. Usually at this point into a console generation all the heavy hitters are coming out and you're really starting to feel what's under the hood of the consoles. We're obviously still feeling the effects of covid and hopefully next year it'll be a fantastic year for video games, and looking at what's expected I think it'll be one of the best years for games.

That's not to say this year hasn't had some fantastic games, when I started thinking about my list I struggled to get it down to 10 and kinda of combined two games in one slot. Before I get into what is considered my top 10 I want to give 3 special mentions

Cyberpunk 2077 - The next gen update came out this year and it fixed a whole bunch of issues that had plagued it the last couple of years. I absolutely adored my time in night city. Exploring, and meeting the people who live there. It looks beautiful on next gen systems and I really really recommend people check it out.

Tormented Souls - Tormented Souls is a throw back to old survival horror games with fixed camera angles, it's rough around the edges, and has B tier voice acting but it's an absolute delight to play especially if you're a fan of original resident evil and silent Hill. It has tones of character and atmosphere. Some genuine edge of your seat moments and a really great story. 

Pentiment - Pentiment is the game I wish I'd found more time to play, it's an absolute delight the time I've spent with it so far and will definitely be the game I play over the Christmas break. Pentiment tells the story of an artist during the medieval times who works at an abbot. Things turn sour and you're scooped up into a murder investigation. It's a bit point and click/ text adventure there's a lot of reading but some absolutely fantastic writing and characters. It feels a lot like disco elysium. I really recommend people check this one out.

Okay let's gooooooo

10. MultiVersus 

Multiversus came out right slap band in the summer draught. It's a 2v2 smash bros style fighting came. It's got loads of character and depth, it's crazy fun to play and there's so many layers of tactics to it. Finding your character getting good with them and dominating the online play is some of the must fun I've ever had with a fighting game. If I was younger I'd have spent waaaaaaaay more time playing this. Its free to play and a blast. Haven't tried it, but I'm sure it would be great with beers and mates.

9. The Quarry 

Its a teen horror game by the folks behind until dawn and the dark pictures anthology. Slow moving choices based game heavily story driven. The Quarry is THE BEST one of these games they've made since until dawn, I think it's better then until dawn. It tells the story of a bunch of teens stuck on the last night at summer camp. Things go horrible wrong and fast and they're being chased around the camp by mad men and creatures. I don't want to spoil it because it's worth experiencing. These games rely heavily on their cast and this one has a fantastic cast. There's some great scares and moments along the journey. 

8. Pokemon Legends/Pokemon violet

Both these pokemon games absolutely blew me away this year. Legends tells a totally different story with a whole bunch of different systems, being able to creep up on pokemon and throw pokeballs at them without battling was a wild concept and it works brilliantly. Exploring that vast world was a joy and the story and characters were super interesting. I hope we see more Legends games in the future. 

Pokemon violet takes some of the amazing open world stuff from Legends and crams it into an old style pokemon game. But it's totally open and there's more too it then just gyms and defeat the bad guys, there's titans to defeat, challenges, and what genuinely feels like a lived in open world. It's the best old style pokemon game to date. I love it. I just wish I performed better on the switch. Nintendo really really really needs new hardware. 

After these two games I'm definitely excited for pokemon again and what they do in the future.

7. Resident Evil 4 VR (Meta Quest 2)

Back in 2017 I was blown away by resident evil 7 in VR it was like nothing I'd ever experienced. When I heard they were remastering resident evil 4 in VR I didn't think it would work. Then the reviews came out and everyone was gushing over it. I ended up buying a meta quest 2 specifically just to play resident evil 4 in VR and what an experience. Somehow they've managed to make a game that feels incredibly familiar and old feel fresh and exciting. Picking a clip from your belt and reloading your gun feels effortless. Scrambling around in a house being swarmed by enemies really gets your heart racing. Special shout out to Ashley for standing right in front of you when you enter most doors and scaring your half to death! Resident Evil 4 VR is some of the most fun I've had in VR and its a most play experience. Its the best looking and feeling game on the meta quest 2 by far. Its worth the £350 for the headset just to play it.

6. Horizon Forbidden West

Forbidden West came out a week or so before elden Ring, which meant I fell off it and didn't return until I'd finished elden ring. When I came back to Forbidden West although it was some of the best graphics I'd ever seen it took me a while to get into it. But once I got into it I was hooked. Exploring the world was really fun and they really made good on a bunch of story stuff they'd set up in the first horizon game. It has a great cast of characters and some of the most interesting missions and stories come from the side content. Once you reach the mid point and the game really opens up its incredible and all the different mounts you get to explore. I wished there was more underwater stuff would have loved to see some sort of underwater civilisation. 

5. Return to Monkey Island

I spent a whole bunch of my childhood playing point and click adventure games, broken sword, Zak mckrakken and the alien mind benders but one that really stole my heart was monkey Island. The story of pirate in training guybrush threepwood. Return to monkey Island is a return to form of those original 3 games. It's still a point and click adventure but the puzzles are less obscure and if you get stuck there's a handy tips book in the game. It's an all star cast of returning characters and it's just Genuinely funny and heart warming. For me the game felt like coming full circle. Very early on its revealed guybrush and a son and he's telling his son about an adventure. I've grown up with guybrush and he has a family now as do I. The bond between him and his son feels really special and something I feel with my own son. Really recommend it if you're a fan of those old games!

4. Plagues Tale Requiem 

Plagues Tale the original is one of those games that nowhere near enough people talk about. It's a fantastic action adventure set during the Plague and tells a really interesting story about a boy (hugo) who's infected with a disease that causing all the rats to come. It absolutely goes off the rails and gets wild but its really interesting and fun. Requiem picks up where the last game ends you continue playing as Hugos sister amecia as you try and protect her little brother and cure him of his disease. The game wastes no time in pulling you from a nice moment to horrifc events. One thing that the game does is it has moments of downtime when it shows you really beautiful moments and locations in the world and it let's you soak those in before it all goes to shit. The voice acting and performance from the cast are incredible and had me laughing and crying. It's about 15 hours long but it's a pretty tight experience and worth playing. It's also on gamepass. 

3. Lost Judgement 

Lost Judgement came out late in 2021 and I ended up playing it in early January so it's technically not a 2022 game but it is hands down one of the best games I played in 2022. Lost Judgement is a beat em up style game similar to the first 6 yakuza games. You play as an ex lawyer now private detective. You get asked to investigate some bullying at a high school which soon leads to a murder investigation and the whole story goes off the rails with twists and turns. It's a roughly 50 hour campaign and I was absolutely hooked to my seat. I couldn't stop playing every night and ended up finishing it within 2 weeks. The combat is really fun and there's some wild wacky characters you meat along the way. 

2. God of War Ragnarok 

GoW Ragnarok is a master piece. It's combat is super tight and fun, each of the three weapons you get in the game all feel different and super fun to master. Exploring that world is super fun I was constantly bimbling off the path to explore, find chests, do side quests etc. Some of the side quests in that game are so much fun, from the characters and additional bits of story to the boss fights and places you go. When the game really shines is its story telling and performance its Oscar winning levels of performance you'd be hard pushed to show me any movie or TV show that comes anywhere close. Ragnarok picks up a few years after the 2018 game everything is going to shit and ragnarok is looming. At its heart the game is telling the story of a father coming to terms with his son growing up and having to release the reigns and hope that he's done enough for him to survive in the world. It's genuinely moving and had me in tears multiple times. I've never seen or experienced anything like it. Video games can make you feel emotions more then and tv show or film can and this really pushes the medium forward in that.

1. Elden Ring

Elden Ring is the first video game I've been properly addicted to since my old world of warcraft days. Any minute I could be playing elden Ring I was. As soon as my son went to bed at 7pm on a night I was straight on elden Ring playing it till 1/2am every night for about 6 weeks straight it very nearly lead to me getting divorced. 

But what an incredible game, there's something about exploring that world and finding new things to explore or kill set of endorphins in my brain. The slog of spending night after night bashing your head against a super hard boss and then the release when you finally killed it. Learning the lore of the world and how everything was connected. It was such an amazing magical experience. Somehow the people at fromsoftware managed to take that feeling of playing a table top rpg like dungeons and dragons, exploring a world and they turned that feeling into a video game. Just thinking about it as I write this gives me goosebumps. I await whatever dlc comes to elden Ring. It's a true masterpiece and one of the best video games in the last 10 years. 

My Top 10 Video Games of 2021

 2021s been a pretty weird year for video games, first full year of new consoles and nothings really blown me away like previous years, (Titanfall and destiny I'mm looking at you). But that doesn't mean there hasn't been great games this year there has been! Of The 25ish games I've rolled credits on this year it's been fairly difficult to whittle it down to a list of 10 and even harder to agree on the final list order. But before we dive into the list I just want to give some special mentions to games that didn't make the list but I had a lot of fun with.

Call of Duty: Cold War - I had so much fun with cold war this year, its a pretty subpar COD compared to 2019s modern warfare, it lacked maps at launch, and was consistently buggy with graphical glitches but it was such much fun hanging out with my mates every night having a laugh especially during the winter lockdown.

Bravely Default 2 - I absolutely loved bravely default 2 it's a lot of fun, and tells a great story I fell off it about 40 hours in because it makes you do a load of filler tasks just as the story is coming to conclusion. I hate this JRPG trope, I do however hope that square give this team the budget to make a big RPG because they've got some wild ideas!

Final fantasy 7 remake intermission - final fantasy 7 remake is my favourite game of the last 10 years, so this dlc was great because all I want is to play more and more. It sets up part 2 very nicely and I eagerly await what's next.

1. Halo infinite
Halo infinite is one of 3 games that felt like a next generation game this year. Although the story it's telling is a little messy the game play is that halo formula that I love mixed with some far cryish elements of you clearing towers, which then populates your map with a bunch of side stuff to do, each one usually rewards you with something it's a rat wheel but the whole thing feels worth while. It looks fantastic at 4k, and the voice acting is fantastic and the cinematography of every cutscene. I fell in love with the Halo universe 20 years ago and have loved almost every game since (Halo 5 I'm looking at you) this is definitely a return to form and the open world elements are great. Excited to see where they go in the future.

2. Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium was one of them games I knew I'd like when it was first released but the idea of having to read hours upon hours of text didn't appeal to me. When it released on PS5 this year with full voice acting I knew I'd want to give it a try. I started playing and I couldn't put it down. It's a tabletop style RPG with every decision you make based on dice rolls and stats. At first it seems quite complicated with all the different systems but it's super simple. The game tells the story of a down and out cop (who you play) and he's been sent to piece together a murder. The only problem is you start the game hungover and no memory the next three days you have to piece together what happened to you and figure out who the murderer is. It all comes together in one climatic ending. The soundtrack is amazing and I've listened to it plenty of times this year. Really recommend people check this one out.

3. Yakuza like a dragon
Yakuza like a dragon is a modern take on old school RPGs specifically Dragon Quest games, the game constantly references it throughout, poking fun at its self and breaking the forth wall. It tells a pretty serious story but is able to make light of situations as well, it had me laughing and crying. The cast of characters are great and it's an all round fun time. Excited for more games like this in the future!

4.Psychonauts 2
Psychonauts 2 genuinely made me feel like a kid again. It's a platformer with a lot of heart and it's genuinely belly laughing funny. The idea of the game is you jump in and out of people brains exploring their mind, it touches on some pretty heavy mental health issues. It's such a great game and one of the games of this list that i recommend everyone play if they like having fun.

5. Resident Evil Village
Resident Evil Village is great, it's the culmination of Resident Evil over the years, taking what it learnt from 7 and adding in the best bits from 4 and 5. It's like a greatest hits of resident evil games. There's definite closure for Resident Evil 7 and ties it all nicely into the events of Resident Evil 1. The dolls mansion is genuinely one of the scariest experiences in a video game. Excited to see where they go next with the franchise.

6. Guardians of the galaxy
Guardians of the galaxy is 100% the biggest surprise of the year. It's probably the only game on this list I could recommend to anyone who plays video games. Gameplay wise it isn't anything special think 2013 Tomb Raider 3rd person action game with some super light RPG elements. The combat never gets any real depth. BUT the writing in this game is fantastic, the story it tells is so compelling and the whole cast do a fantastic job of bringing these characters to life. They've as good as their MCU counter parts. It's a pretty long game at about 17 hours but it never feels like it's over staying it welcome. There's post credits and what they do with them is super clever!

7. Persona 5 strikers
I'm gonna be honest here, I love Persona 5, so any excuse to spend more time with this cast of characters I'm going to jump at. Strikers exchanges the turn based elements for a more hack and slash style combat. Although it never hits the highs of the original it's still a great 50 hour RPG that if you're a fan of the series you should play.

8. 12 minutes
Okay yes 12 minutes is on my list, and it's one of those if you know you've probably got some things to say about it. But story ending aside i had a lot of fun and think the game does a great job of mixing up point and click games with a time loop mechanic. It's a short game I think I got through it in about 4 hours and never really and any issues of being stuck but I can see how people would be frustrated having to retrace the same steps over and over to figure out what to do next. I really enjoyed it.

9. Deathloop
Deathloop has one of the best openings to a game that you'll play, although about 4 hours in I hit a bit of a wall with it and nearly stopped playing. One more loop I said, and everything sort of fell into place and I couldn't put it down. Again Deathloop is a timeloop game with the story being you're stuck on an island and at the end of every day it starts back at the beginning again (think groundhog day). The only way you can break the loop is if you can kill all the targets in the same day. The game has you figuring out how to get the perfect day to kill everyone in one loop. The game is super smart at pieces together the puzzles and giving you a path to follow. The abilities you get are super fun, seeing it all click into place and getting the perfect day is great.

10. Tales of Arise
Tales of Arise is a brilliant JRPG, I've only played about 10 hours but loved what I've played so far and can't wait to find the time to be able to properly dig into it. If you've played previous tales games they've made some improvements to the combat and it looks stunning. Story is going some interesting places and I recommend more people check out tales games! 

My Top 10 Video Games of 2018

Heyyy so i wrote this back in December of last year but never posted it. Anyway here's my Top 10 Games of 2018.

10 Octopath Traveler
Octopath Traveler came out mid summer and really hit home with those SNES final fantasy feels! It’s a great old school RPG with stunning visuals. It is absolutely gorgeous! It has this really cool 2D 3D vibe going on! You’ve gotta see it to know what I mean! The whole thing glistens! The combat system is sorta similar to bravely default you can stack attacks and unleash them all in one go to do increased damage which really adds a new layer to battles. The music and voice acting is insanely good. I genuinely felt lost in this little world when I played it. My only main issue with the game is the grinding. To advance the story you’ve gotta grind out levels and it’s the only reason I’ve fallen off. I’m hoping I can find some time in the not so distance future to return to Octopath Traveler and finish it. 

9 Call of Duty Black Ops 4
Blops 4 hit with mixed reactions. I remember watching that reveal event and thinking yeah this seems more like blops 3 which I wasn’t a fan of. We were also hit with no single player campaign this yeah which was a real major bummer for me as playing through the call of duty campaign is something i look forward to every year. Then they dropped that Battle Royale announcement. Fast forward to the release of blops 4 and it has my favourite Battle Royale mode to date. Black out really gets the great mix between what I love about Fortnite and pubg. There’s some great locations on the blackout map and the mix of weapons and vehicles make for some intense battles. At first glance the inventory system feels fiddly but after a couple of games it’s super comfortable and easy to use. Unfortunately I haven’t played as much blackout and blops 4 as I want to. This mainly falls down to less time these days and the fact that red dead came out and ate up all that time. I haven’t even talked about the competitive multiplayer or zombies. To be honest I’ve barely touched zombies but it seems like a solid addition if you’re into that sort of thing. The competitive multiplayer is super fun. This time around there’s named hero characters each with their own sets of abilities. Each of these characters really mix up the multiplayer. Load outs and levelling still works as you’d expect from a call of duty multiplayer player. Blops 4 is a solid package even without the campaign. However blackout mode is what stands above from the other modes. 

8 Marvels Spider-Man 
Spider-Man is one of those games that just feels good. The swinging is insanely fun add some of that batman Arkham combat we all know and love and a super well written set of characters and you’ve got an incredible Spider-Man game. My major issue with the game is that it’s wrapped up in an open world game. Everything other then the main story felt unimaginative and boring. Fortunately the game didn’t make you jump through a bunch of hoops to see the main story other then tutorials. Aside from the open world side stuff I loved the story arch and where the game takes Spider-Man and the villains he faces. 

7 Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the tomb raider is definitively the best of the three games. The only elephant in the room with it is we’re 100% hitting diminishing returns. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing because it’s not everything about it is excellent. But it isn’t doing anything new everything is super familiar. I absolutely adored my time with Lara and seeing her story finally come to an end. If you liked the previous 2 games I recommend you picking this one up and seeing her story through to the end. 

6 Vampyr
If you’d have asked me when I first started playing vampyr what it was like I would have told you it’s a bad video game and you should steer clear. I’m still not saying it’s a good video game but what I am saying it does some really interesting stuff. I’m a sucker for vampires and Victorian turn of the century era so this game was gonna be in my ball park whatever. Vampyr is a hack and slash RPG with skill trees however the bulk of your xp doesn’t come from slashing dudes. You gain majority of xp from killing off major characters in the game. By killing them you suck their blood (obviously). This is what makes the game super interesting. Each time you kill someone off in a sector it affects the stability of that sector and if you get too thirsty the whole sector descends into chaos and theirs monsters and vampire slayers to fight popping up all over. In my play through my character got a little too thirsty and there was barely anyone left alive in London. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Vampyr and although it’s sorta a bad game it’s really good and I 100% recommend people check it out and see it though to the end. 

5 Monster Hunter World
Monster Hunter World hit back in January back when I had a whole bunch of time on my hands. Somehow I managed to smash about 100 hours into it over a couple of weeks before my son was born. MHW really gelled with me. Going out and killing huge monsters with friends is super fun and looting parts from monsters to make cool gear and weapons is a never ending rewarding grind. MHW really hit that sweet spot of an mmo without all the hassle and bullshit that comes with it. Grab some friends agree on a target and head out and have fun. I wish I’d played more of it but intend to return with the expansion. 

4 Shadow of the Colossus
I finished shadow of the Colossus the day before my son was born. Me and my dog sat of the sofa high fiving every time I killed a boss. My time with shadow of the colossus is super bitter sweet because I loved every moment of that game. The world is stunning and the story is beautiful. But this game is the last memories I have spending time with my dog before things go crazy and we had to re home him. If anyone missed the original for whatever reason back when it was released on the ps2 I recommend this remaster as it’s excellent! 

3 Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu 
Pokemon let’s go hits you right in the nostalgia. I’ll be honest with you I swayed back and forth on let’s go a lot before it’s release. I was dead against it and then dead excited for it. Let’s go changes up the formula of what you think of conventional Pokemon games and gives it the Pokemon go treatment. But in a really cool way. There’s no longer random battles with wild Pokemon instead you see Pokemon roaming about the world you run into them and bam start throwing poke balls until you catch it. I’m sure that on the surface this would put old Pokemon fans off but it’s actually super intuitive and just makes sense! Everything else you know and love about Pokemon games is there, battles with trainers, gym leaders (none of that trial shit, I’m looking at you sun and moon) typings etc. Okay so there’s no breeding but that’s okay because if you wonna get Pokemon with good ivs you just chain them. After catching over 31 of the same Pokemon in a row you start to find Pokemon with higher ivs and increase your chance of catching a shiny. Also the higher your chain the more xp you’ll earn. It’s quality of life improvements like this that really make let’s go great. Not only that but you return to kanto. Exploring those towns on your tv is crazy. Like if I could go back 20 years and tell 9 year old me about it I’d probably lose my mind. 

2 God of War
I’m 100% sure that when I finished god of War I said this is the best game to be released this year and it’s going to be my goty. It almost made it. God of War is a phenomenal game. I never really got on with the original games they just didn’t hit with me. I think one because it came out towards the end of the ps2s life and at this time I was too busy replaying jrpgs and getting drunk on a weekend and two it wasn’t edgy enough for me. I was an emo kid and if I was gonna play any hack and slash action combat game it would be with my boy Dante. Fast forward to that e3 reveal and I was on-board with the new direction. God of War hit at a time that was prefect for me. My son had just gotten into this routine of having a 3 hour nap in a morning usually about 9ish. On my days off the minute he fell asleep I’d dive straight on my PS4 and load up god of War. The story of a father and son journeying to scatter ashes of their wife/mother really resonated with me at the time probably because I was a new father and in some sort of weird way I found similarities in my struggles with parenthood and kratos struggles. The story takes the two of them on a crazy journey. I was hooked with the story and wanting to see its conclusion. The combat feels super nice. I took great pleasure in driving my axe through giants faces. God of War hits some pretty serious beats but it’s also pretty funny too! There’s two dwarfs who act as the comic relief throughout the game. The game is super smart in letting you explore the world. There’s a lake which acts as a hub to different locations. Depending on your actions the lake rises and falls which opens up new areas. There’s a bridge which leads to a gate which you use to travel to different parts of the world. Everything is intricately woven together and makes an incredible game. God of War looks stunning and is an incredible game. It’s a must play. 

1 Red Dead Redemption 2
Red dead redemption 2 is the best game I’ve ever played. In terms of gameplay, mechanics and open world it’s fantastic. The story telling in RDR2 is the best I’ve ever seen in a video game. I’ve never cared so much about a protagonist. I’ve genuinely thought about Arthur Morgan every day since I finished RDR2. As a child I have found memories of spending Sunday afternoons with my dad watching cowboy films. Clint Eastwood cowboy films have always been my favourite. As a result of this I’ve always enjoyed cowboy games the two previous red dead games, call of Juarez and so on. But these games have always felt like a playground. You’re peeking in and messing with stuff. They’ve all felt like video games. Red dead redemption 2 feels so much more then that. It gives you the opportunity to role play a cowboy in the west. The world it creates feels real and the characters your meet feel like real humans. Some of my favourite moments were the strangers you’d meet exploring the world and the crazy stuff that would happen. An example of this was when I was riding down a path and some guy fell out of a bush in front of me clutching his arm asking me to take him to a doctor. I picked him up threw him on my horse and rode him to a doctor. The guy paid me for my help and then the doctor informed him that his arm would have to be amputated. Right in front of me the doctor injected the guy knocking him out and began sawing his arm off. Crazy moments like this make up what I love about red dead redemption 2 but For me to really go deep on RDR2 I need to talk spoilers. So here’s your spoiler warning!












Okay so you’re aware there’s spoilers up ahead. Before I get into the nitty gritty I need to talk about a specific mission. The assault on the Braithwaite manor. About half way ish through the game you’ll come to heads with a family called the Braithwaites. The family have been at war with another family for years and Arthur and the gang have been meddling to try earn some money out of it. As a result of this the Braithwaites have kidnapped Jack Marston which if you remember rdr1 is John Marstons son. Dutch the gang leader gathers the gang to assault the manor. As you leave camp you and the gang all start to rid in formation and the sort of music you’d expect from your favourite western movie starts playing. Upon arriving at the manor Arthur and the gang jump off their horses and approach the manor. Again in a formation like something you’d see in the magnificent 7. The scene design in this part of the game is incredible. The moon in the sky and the lighting! What follows as you’d expect is an amazing fun fight between you’re gang and the Braithwaites. Everything about this mission made me feel I was apart of my favourite western films as a kid. I wasn’t just watching it but I was living it. Red dead redemption 2 really makes you role play and feel the life of Arthur Morgan. 

On the surface red dead redemption 2 is a game about Arthur Morgan and his out law gang life. But actually it’s a story about a man coming to terms with the decisions he’s made in his life and when he realises death is round the corner how he can make good on the wrong he’s done. Very early on in the game you have to complete a mission for the gangs debt collector. You’ll visit a man who is sick and beat the money out of him that he owes you. A little later you’ll return to the house to find the man has died and he wife and child are leaving. Every so often after this point you’ll notice Arthur starts to cough and as you progress it gets worse and worse. A little over mid way in the game you’ll return to the major city in the game Arthur starts to cough and collapse. A man pulls you to the doctors for you to find out you’ve contracted tuberculosis and that you’re going to die soon. This comes at a pretty important part in the gangs life. Every plan they’ve ever had to get money and escape has failed and Dutch the gang leader is starting to show signs of instability making reckless decisions. From This point onwards Arthur starts to come to terms with his life style and question his decisions and if he’s doing the right thing. What really pulled on my heart strings was his utter devotion to get John marston and his family out of the gang and get them safe. Knowing the outcome of the original red dead redemption really hurts. Arthur is a genuinely kind hearted guy who got picked up by Dutch when he was a kid and carried along in this crazy outlaw life. 

As the story progresses towards its conclusion Arthur is able to wrong some rights. One example of this is when the debt collector asks you on another mission when you go to the people to claim their money back you’re able to squash their debts and give them additional money. It all ends with Arthur throwing the debt collector out of camp. During the campaign Arthur’s ex girlfriend Mary writes for Arthur’s help if you choose to accept these missions and help her she’ll tell you she still has feelings for you and Arthur says that once he’s got the big score and the gangs safe he’ll leave with her. Throughout the whole game I wanted this to happen. I wanted Arthur to leave and run off with Mary. The whole quest line ends with her sending him the ring he’d given her when they were younger. She didn’t want his life and he could never leave the gang his family. Arthur’s story comes to an end when another gang member weasels in on Dutch and pushes Arthur out. It all comes to a heart breaking conclusion on top of a mountain and Arthur dies to tuberculosis as the sun rises. I desperately wanted Arthur to get out of the gang life and run off with Mary. When he got tuberculosis I wanted him to tell Mary. I 100% feel humbled by Arthurs actions at the end of red dead redemption 2 and I hope that the decisions I made for him were right. Red dead redemption 2 is genuinely the best video game story ever told and everyone should experience it!