The MMNTech GOTY Awards 2018: Best of the Best

2018 has brought us a lot of negative news from the gaming industry. Whether it be toxic developers, greedy publishers, the hyper-politicization of the medium, or the usual sloppy releases, it’s easy to forget the good. And man, when 2018 brought on the good, it brought on the good.

Since I’ve mostly been playing older games and remasters this year, it’s been hard to pick the new releases that stand out. A lot of brain wracking went into this article to find which ones really went above and beyond. So without further adieu, here are the best games of 2018.

Honourable mention goes too…

Kingdom Come: Deliverance (Warhorse Studios)

Kingdom Come is, in many ways, a flawed game. It’s buggy and a bit rough around the edges at times. Though given this is Warhorse Studio’s first, it’d certainly a damn impressive way to burst onto the scene.

The game takes place in medieval Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) during a conflict over the throne following the death of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. Henry, the son of a blacksmith, sees his family murdered during an attack on his home village, and vows revenge on Sigismund of Luxembourg.

While the game takes heavy artistic license with its story, you do have to admire the attention to detail. Everything about the world is carefully crafted to be as historically accurate as possible. You know that if a medieval game makes Shad geek out, you’re in for a spot of good historical fun.

The bronze medal goes too…

Octopath Traveler (Square Enix)

For the third place spot, it really boiled down to a four way between like Celeste, Subnautica, Dead Cells, and Octopath. I’ve only managed to play two of them though. While Subnautica has won a few top PC game awards, I still think it needs some refinement before it’s truly GOTY worthy. So Octopath it is.

Octopath does for Switch fans of classic JRPGs what Bravely Default did on the 3DS. In fact, it was largely made by the same people.

Here we have 8 branching stories told through the eyes of eight different characters, with their own style of play. Each of which will travel through a lovingly rendered 2.5D take on classic SNES artwork. In many ways it is both an homage and spiritual successor to Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. The art design actually reminds me a lot of 3D Dot Heroes for the PS3, which I loved despite its flaws.

Combined with a great score and the refined turn-based gameplay Square is known for, this is a must have for any JRPG fan.

The silver medal goes too..

Spider-man (Insomniac)

Super hero games are generally… not good. Especially licensed games. Insomniac though has seemingly pulled off the impossible. Spidey has a game that’s actually good, damn good. Which shows how far developers can go when it’s not a licensed tie in to sell toys or movie tickets.

Creative freedom, it works, and Insomniac certainly has a lot of experience with games like this. Combat is satisfying, swinging from webs is satisfying, it’s got a decent story behind it, and a beautifully rendered version of New York to explore. Finally, something much battered comic fans can sink their teeth into.

And the gold medal for best game of 2018 goes to…

God of War (Santa Monica Studios)

The fourth God of War is a deeply masculine story. Not the juvenile, dude-bro variety of the original trilogy. Rather we dive deep into what it means to be a man in the more mature, classical sense. It’s a tale of honour, confronting one’s demons, and the relationship between father and son. Something I’ve come to appreciate more as I’ve gotten older.

God of War on the PS4 is both a soft reboot of the series as well as a direct sequel to the previous games. This is the same Kratos who slashed and shagged his way through ancient Greece. We learn that he survived his final confrontation with Zeus and Athena, and has since fled north to the hinterlands. He has tried to live a normal life, while keeping his godhood secret from his sickly young son Atreus. However, the local deities haven’t taken too kindly to the Greek God of War moving in on their turf. Now Kratos has to take his deceased wife’s ashes to the top of a sacred mountain, while the entire Norse pantheon is trying to end him.

While the story and overall tone have changed since the original trilogy, gameplay has stayed more or less the same, all be it more refined. Annoying QTEs and save checkpoints were mostly removed. Combined with stellar art direction, it’s simply the best looking and playing game of 2018. It also brought the series in the exact direction fans wanted.

God of War is a stand out above all the other Triple A garbage we’ve been inundated with this year, and proof that single player games can still knock it out of the park.