The best games of 2018 (so far!)

The games I’ve really enjoyed the heck out of this year so far are:

Battle Chasers: Nightwar (Switch version was late)
Yoku’s Island Express
Sdorica (f2p on Mobile)

Wish they’d hurry up and release it so they can get to work on other systems. Needs to be on Switch

O forgive Tom, great Spire, for he knows not what he is saying. Before we send the bears to maul you, you better repent dear Tom. We would hate lose our beloved Tom Chick.

haha, you made me try and find this. I need a coffee.

I’m afraid I can’t take credit. My archnemesis/frenemy @Chappers trolled me but good with that one.

-Tom

Synthetik
Into the Breach
Subnautica
Overload
Northgard

I haven’t played a lot of games this year, actually. I still have to try Kingdom Come and Vampyr.

Book of Demons is a light ARPG with cards. It’s fun, but if you’ll pardon the obvious, it’s paper-thin.

Slay the Spire is a game made by people who understand Dominion and Netrunner, and who know what joy there can be in finding abusive combos.

:O

Tom made a list! Did I move the great chain of progress?

:D

I’m glad to see Overload get some critical recognition. It’s easily one of my favorites this year, even with its goofy save system.

No love for Northgard or Kingdom Come: Deliverance? You seemed to really be enjoying both during the streams.

No particular order, as I haven’t played enough of most of them for it to be fair:

Northgard
Surviving Mars
Subnautica
Yoku’s Island Express
Beat Saber
Battletech
Frostpunk
Railway Empire
Brass Tactics
Budget Cuts

Man, that save system threw me for a loop for the longest time. I wouldn’t have minded so much if it had been clearer about how it works. I kept restarting levels wondering where my upgrade points went.

I like Northgard a lot, and it’s certainly a notable 2018 release for folks into strategy games! But I feel it’s got pacing issues. The games are a little too drawn out for an RTS and a little too short for a 4X/colony management game. I admire how it’s trying to split the difference, but I think it’s found itself in an awkward middle ground. Still, it’s miles better than, say, Surviving Mars.

Gah, Kingdom Come: Deliverance! I would have to put that under the “didn’t play it enough to decide” category. I put it on hold waiting for a patch, and then when the patch rolled around, I had moved on to other stuff. Hmm, maybe I should jump back into that while waiting on the dang Divinity: Original Sin patch…

-Tom

Hmm, it figures the ones I hadn’t heard of and had to look up are VR boondoggles. :)

-Tom

Everything old is new again. Or something.

Just play Celeste about 3 hours and then quit while you’re ahead. The other two are okay but skippable.

You and I are very much alike Mr. Bond Chick.

Great article. I am looking forward to Wreckfest. Of Tom’s list I only played FarCry 5, which I liked but had some gripes with. Then I finished God of War, which was pretty good, and played a tiny bit of Detroit and Vampyr…want to finish both but no time. And Kingdom Come will wait for a PC upgrade.

Oh yeah, was creeepy as fuuuuuuuuuuck.

Well, that was the idea, to do away with the clutter of traditional inventory and skill systems and wrap all that along with stats in one neat package.

No, we haven’t. Book of Demons is the first title in a series so there is no way we would give up on it now, we are invested and in for a long run.

And the game is close to being finished, we are planning on exiting early access later this year with a lot of stuff planned before that.

I’m glad you are still looking forward to it, there will also be cool stuff after the launch. Still got some neat stuff up our sleeves.

I believe it’s coming to Steam in six months or so.

Hey I am a big fan of Book of Demons, was a little worried to read the comments about the Dev’s loss of enthusiasm. Glad to hear that’s not the case and I’m really looking forward to seeing this progress. :)

What goofy save system?

Here’s my experience with it: I save the game, and later I load the saved game.