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Elden Ring. It has been a long time since a game just pulled me in like this one. These days I am pretty much done at the 20 hour mark – enough time to see what the game is doing and yeah, I could keep doing the same thing for another 50 hours but I have other things to do. After 100 hours in Elden Ring I still had no idea what might be coming up around the next corner – it just keeps unfolding before you like… well I don’t have a good simile to put in here, but like something that unfolds in an unexpected but utterly delightful way.
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Stray. This would make it into my top 5 on its own merits – but it was extra special this year because it was a game that my two young daughters just absolutely adored and wanted to play or watch me play constantly (not the zurk levels though!).
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Total War: Warhammer 3. Specifically Immortal Empires. The whole conceit of Warhammer has always been a fantasy matchup of who would win in a fight between a zombie and an orc, or a dwarf and an elf. That has now reached its acme with TW3.
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Campaign Series: Vietnam. A Vietnam War game that extensively features the French in Vietnam in the 40s and 50s. I have a special interest in post-war South East Asian politics and how the British and the French re-took possession of their previous colonial holdings after the Japanese left, only to find things had irrevocably changed with decolonisation and communist forces arraigned against them. Despite the creakiness of the aging Tiller engine, I really loved how this title dug into the forgotten battles of Vietnam.
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Gran Turismo 7. You get a better appreciation for how good these games are once you go and play other driving games for a while. I was playing Drive Club before this came out, and I was really enjoying it. But then I played GT and you realise ‘oh yeah, right. This is how driving is meant to feel’. Props to Kaz for keeping all the weird silly little GT quirks in the game. Just a delight.
Honourable mentions
Victoria 3: One of my most anticipated games of the year – but honestly have not really played it!
Distant Worlds 2: Also highly anticipated, but it was released too early.
Marvel Midnight Suns. I like the tactics part, the ‘read books with Blade’ part I don’t really like.
Vampire Survivors. I enjoyed the gameplay loop on this for a few hours, but I haven’t gone back to it.