Hey, PC gaming is dead anyway, right? Right? ;)
No, apparently Steam single-handedly saved it. :)
What’s the procedure exactly because we have a game that was released v1.0 and got votes, and we have one or more still in EA process and it got votes too.
Last year EA votes were simply prohibited.
The problem this year is there is a super popular title that has been feature complete for a few weeks and is about to be released next week that a lot of people want to vote for. It’s just a single case, really, and it’s about to cause a meltdown and I run for cover!!
In the past, we didn’t allow Early Access games for this very reason. But I guess that changed either this year or last year. I’m not a fan of the change.
I feel like it is definitely eligible, per the rules, it is purchaseable. Though the early access ends later this month for the full release, it might be more of a 2019 game.
Now, looking at the rules, technically Slay the Spire was released in Nov 2017? But, everyone played it in 2018? And they are doing a 1.0 release in Jan 2019?
I need a rules clarification?
This stuff doesn’t happen in the Best Boardgame 2018 thread. 😀
I think I may have a nominee for the best board game (to clarify) of 2017, now :O
Probably the best game of 2017, 2018, and 2019.
I don’t think I played that many games that actually came out this year. I have the new Assassin’s Creed, Florence, Into the Breech, etc. queued up for play and just haven’t gotten to them yet.
- Rimworld
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Battletech
- Subnautica
- Monster Hunter World
Slay the Spire would be on there, but I guess it gets to be on next year’s list instead.
I’d played RImworld before 2018, but the 1.0 release is where it really grabbed me and I played all the way through to the end.
I’m having a really tough time deciding the order this year. I just loved 4 games so much, but they’re all so different from one another that comparing them to each other seems wrong.
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Red Dead Redemption 2 - It’s an open world Old West Life Simulator. I get up, have some stew, drink some coffee as I chat with people in my camp. I cut some wood, move some hay bails, brush and feed my horse, and then I go out hunting or I got out on a mission to earn money for the camp. The detail in this world is amazing. You can sit on a hill top with a pair of binoculars and watch the wild life all around you. I’m not far enough along in the story to know if I’ll love that aspect of it as well, but I’ve got a feeling I’m in good hands.
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Overload - A successful kickstarter that reboots Descent. Dodge incoming fire. Be aggressive with missiles. Curse at the smart robots that dodge and weave and thwart your plans to get to the reactor and blow it up. I missed this.
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Dead Cells - So this came out of nowhere. I don’t like Spelunky, I don’t like Roguelikes. But this is one of those rare games that can take you by the hand and make you appreciate a new genre. Brilliant, just brilliant.
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Subnautica - Explore a new world? I’m only at the start, but what an irresistible premise. I love it so far.
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Forza Horizon 4 - This is just pure fun. There’s a car in DiRT Rally that is too much car for me. In that game, if you can’t control a car precisely, all that raw horsepower just means that you’re going to end up in the ditch or in a tree, or face first into a rock. I love DiRT Rally, but in Forza Horizon 4, in that same car, I was sliding in and out of ditches, plowing through trees as I slide sideways into the next turn. Sometimes you want precision, sometimes you just want to listen to great tunes as you jump over a river.
Honorable mention: Yoku’s Island Express - Combining two genres like pinball and platforming hasn’t been done before, and that makes this feel like a really unique experience that’s also a joy to play.
Yeah, it’s… very awkward. There’s a lot of discussion upthread, and I think for now I’m convinced that it could be a 2017 release or a 2019 release but not a 2018 release, but there isn’t really a right answer. The big picture remains that it’s really hard to win a Quarterly with an extended Early Access schedule, which I’m sure has game devs tossing and turning all night.
Holy shit it comes out in January? This could be bad. Maybe I should avoid it for a few months until I clear my backlog.
It’s not but this forum also has a heavy PC leaning so not the best barometer.
My argument would be, the only real point of these lists is to foster discussion or discovery, so if people put the same game on multiple years, who cares. All it means is, the state the game was in at that point was fun enough to be one of someone’s favorite games of the year. I realize this is calling for anarchy but at this point there are so many games coming out anyway…
Of course if the intent is to have a definitive top 5 list, whatever that means, then yeah you need a concrete rule.
Eesh, whatever. I’m leaving Spire on until it’s explicitly disallowed by whoever is making the rules for this thing. Almost everyone who played it, played it this year. For whatever value the word “released” has in 2018, it was released in 2018.
Yeah I got confused because I thought it had entered Early Access in 2018, not Nov 2017. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. But I hate to retract a ruling I made upthread, especially after people voted for the game. So this is Slay the Spire’s best shot at winning a Quarterly.
I retracted my vote for Slay the Spire, since it seems anyway to be the only game still in EA that is being nominated this year. I hope Spireslaying lovers shall unite again this time next year!
I was all hyped to vote for my absolute favorite game of the year, They Are Billions; a game I have been playing almost daily since this summer. Alas, it seems that it was released just over a year ago… I weep with the knowledge that I missed over six months of play-time.
- Subnautica
I played the hell out of this game when it was in early access, then I played the hell out of it when it was released. Awesome pacing; relaxing and tense in equal measure; a surprising pacifistic streak. I look forward to playing it in VR someday.
- Rimworld
I doubt I can add much to what’s been said above.
- Dead Cells
I hate platformers; I don’t care for “pixelart” games; I don’t like 2-D side-scrollers. Yet I adore this game. Smart grinding, well-paced action, and a meta-progression that keeps me coming back.
- Battletech
I used to play the original board game, and loved it. This it the first computerized version that has really reclaimed that feeling.
- Fallout 76
There are no shortage of things wrong with this game, but it’s still a good Fallout experience and I’m still racking up the hours.
Honorable mentions:
Slay the Spire
Into the Breach
Vermintide