I feel like my votes are throwaways for the most part so I kinda don’t know why I am even posting, but I guess it’s good to put something in for the record. I didn’t play Spider-Man or God of War although I do own the former and my son bought the latter. There simply isn’t enough time to play everything in a year.
- Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon - Best 8-bit styled game since Shovel Knight. Everything about it evokes a certain era but without any of the slowdown, shimmering, or general jank that could pervade even the greatest of games from that era. Also doesn’t end after you “finish” it, which is great. It’s short and to the point in a way I wish more games would emulate.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII - It’s the best iteration of Team Deathmatch available in a modern game. Blackout is fun, and I enjoyed messing with it, but this is all about TDM (or Kill Confirmed) for me. Heist is cool too, though. Shwakt!
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - It’s Smash, with everything, and it’s great. You either get it or you don’t.
- Battlefield V - Between Call of Duty and Battlefield, I think these are the best iterations of these two franchises we’ve ever seen. Conquest in Battlefield V has a “You are there” sensibility for a World War II game that is unmatched. The destruction of buildings and terrain is an incredible playfield addition that again adds to that verisimilitude the Battlefield series strives for while still remaining a game. With both this and CoD, I approach them without any real care for single player content or bots so my opinion is directly based on multiplayer online, which again, I think is the best it’s ever been. This is a beautiful rendition of the horror of war.
- SNK 40th Anniversary Collection - It’s one of the very best retro collections I’ve ever played. Filled with facts about development and anecdotes that show just how simple things we take for granted today required serious thought in the early '80s. The games are awesome too, and it expanded half again through free DLC. Digital Eclipse made up for a lot of failed past efforts with this one.
As documented in the Nostalgia, Gaming, and You! thread, I spent a lot of my gaming time playing stuff on systems released before the turn of the century. It’s been a lot of fun both tracking down things I want to play and learning how to get the best picture and sound quality for games of that era on modern televisions. I still have a Sony Trinitron CRT that I love, but there will eventually come a day when other methods are required and I still find emulation to be a tool in the box and not the be all end all solution.
There’s just something about the games of that era that resonate with me far more than many modern releases. Shorter, skill-based, tightly focused… I think that’s why I really enjoy Nintendo’s output more than anyone else’s these days. Even something long form from Nintendo like Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey or Pokémon Let’s Go (which almost made my top five…) is built to be played in small chunks where there is wonder around every corner. That’s how I play so I’m glad someone is still making those sorts of games.