Hello and welcome to my game of the year list. It’s me, Andre from the gaming Fyx Podcastz aka the Wet Gamer, aka Your Partners favorite Game of the Year.
I initially wrote this list without any sort of preamble, but then I thought I should at least put a lil sum-sum here to try to justify myself. Six years ago, I had this idea to gather a group of six strangers from the Unofficial Giantbomb Facebook group and attempt to create a Giantbomb style Game of the Year top 10 list. It was a reasonable success in terms of what we set out to do.
While we’ve all remained friends, and still talk all the time, the podcast has dwindled and we aren’t as interested in arguing over what the best games are. I still think there’s fun to be had with the right framing, but I’m also a lot harder to please these days. I could have added a few more games to this list, but I wouldn’t have felt good with a full top 10, so I cut it off at five. Who does a top seven anyways?
As I’ve come back to my list, I realize it’s mostly sequels, even if the previous game in all but one of the entries came out more than a decade ago. That doesn’t change my feelings about these games, I loved every moment I spent with these five games, and I’d do it again! And with that out of the way, here’s my list! *Drum roll*
5) Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
I don’t think there’s a superhero that has better games than Spider-Man. You can make an argument for the Batman: Arkham games, but the fantasy of swinging around New York in bright red spandex is sort of unbeatable. Just me? Okay, well trust me when I say that Insomniac managed to improve on nearly every aspect of their first wall-crawling adventure. The combat is more fluid and varied, the traversal improves on the tried and true web-swinging formula, and the quality of the writing is improved and gives great depth to the whole cast. A bigger improvement than expected, and a great showing for Insomniac.
4) Armored Core 6
From Software is back at it again with a series that has been dormant since the Playstation 3. There was a lot of speculation upon announcement that this would be “Mech-souls” and simply graft Armored Core into the Souls formula that From Soft is now famous for. But they were quick to dismiss that notion. Instead, they made a tough as nails classic style mech game that really gave people trouble. Balteus almost made me set the game down (pre-nerf) but I persevered and found myself enraptured by the presentation of the story and the combat. I played through multiple times and got all the endings. My only real complaint is that the difficulty varies incredibly wildly from mission to mission. Michigan Forever!
3) Cocoon
Cocoon wasn’t a game I was expecting or aware of until it was released. Luckily it was available on Game Pass. With lineage from Inside and Limbo, you can expect some interesting puzzles. I can honestly say that I haven’t felt this sort of satisfaction at solving puzzles since the original Portal. Cocoon is a lonely experience, journeying across alien worlds, solving puzzles to activate various machines and defeat an array of enemies that would see you stopped in your tracks. I couldn’t really tell you why they’re trying to stop you, but I know it was a good time.
2) Alan Wake 2
I haven’t even finished Alan Wake 2, I’d wager I’m around ¾ of the way through, but I feel safe saying that it is one of the Greatest Games of All Time. It brings Alan Wake more in line with modern survival horror games like the recent Resident Evil games. It improves vastly upon the gameplay of the original game from 13 years ago. But more importantly than that, the creativity and bizarre nature of the story is exciting and new. Remedy has hit their stride and I can only hope that they continue to hit the quality they’ve shown with their last few releases. I am fully onboard for the Remedyverse. Theres only one thing that kept Alan Wake 2 out of the top spot and that is…
1) Baldurs Gate 3
In a world where Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t come out… Well, I don’t want to think about that. Instead, I just want to reminisce about my times adventuring across the Sword Coast with my pals. I picked up BG3 when it originally entered early access, and I played for a couple of hours to get my feet wet and expose myself to the world. But that was many years ago. I then set the game down and returned in time for launch. Reader, let me tell you, the weeks before launch were painful. I don’t remember the last time I had anticipated a game this much. Luckily it lived up to the hype.
The incredible cast of characters is really what makes BG3 special. Neil Newborn as Astarion gives an absolutely incredible performance. Never has an undead vampire been so full of life. Also, I would be out of line to not mention my big giant wife, Karlach who is the life of the party and kicks major ass.
Larian has continued to improve the game over the past few months, with expanded endings and gameplay improvements which have me excited to revisit the game. I look forward to throwing on a mod to remove the party limit and exploring the world with all of my companions.
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