Game of the Year 2018

As always, I’m very late in posting my favorite games of the year. My excuse this time around is about the same as in previous years: moving, job, other marital responsibilities. BUT, this year I have an extra excuse, and that’s because I’m going to be a dad soon. My wife and I have been in full-on baby prep mode since October, which made my normal year-end scramble to play games even harder.

But I’m glad I refrained from posting too early, because those extra few months allowed me to more intelligently write about The Banner Saga 3, Gris, Pokemon Let’s Go, and Fallout 76 (ugh).

As always, I believe in full transparency to my process. So here’s every game I played in 2018 and where I played it (with links to a game’s review or podcast where I talked about it).

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (PS4)
• Celeste (PS4)
• Crossing Souls (PS4)
• Destiny 2: Forsaken (PS4)*
• Destiny 2: Warmind (PS4)*
• Donut County (PS4)
• Fallout 76 (PS4)
• Fe (PS4)
• Florence (iPhone)
• God of War (PS4)
• Gris (Switch)
• Guacamelee 2 (PS4)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man: The Heist (PS4)*
• Marvel’s Spider-Man: Turf War (PS4)*
• Minit (PS4)
• Moonlighter (PS4)
• Octopath Traveler (Switch)
• OnRush (PS4)
• Pokemon Let’s Go, Eevee (Switch)
• Pokemon Quest (Switch)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PS4)
• Shape of the World (PS4)
• Spyro Reignited Trilogy (PS4)**
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch)
• The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (PS4)
• The Banner Saga 3 (PC)
• The Gardens Between (PS4)
• The Station (PS4)

*DLC, not eligible
**Re-released game, eligible

As with last year, I’ll be breaking games down in these categories:

Best Looking Game
Best Setting
Best Music
Best Characters
Best Story
Most Disappointing Game
Game of the Year

For all categories except Game of the Year, I’ll have a ranked list of five plus as many honorable mentions as deserve to be mentioned. Game of the Year will be a ranked list of 10 with some honorable mentions. (For the record, the honorable mentions will be listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order.)

Given the nature of this post, there will be very mild spoilers throughout. Let’s get started on the next page with the first category!