It’s been a big year for gaming, folks, and with so many incredible new titles now out in the wild, putting together a list of the best games of 2018 was no easy feat. We got highly anticipated games which lived up to expectations, some amazing indies, and some phenomenal stuff that came out of nowhere.
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So without further delay, here are PEDESTRIAN.TV‘s favourite games of the year, in no particular order.
Red Dead Redemption 2
RDR2 is nothing short of an absolute masterclass in storytelling, world-building, meaningful gameplay, and sheer beauty. The level of detail Rockstar has achieved is stunning and, frankly, absurd, but in the best way.
Set before the events of Red Dead Redemption, the prequel puts you in the shoes of gang member, Arthur Morgan, as you fight to survive during the end of the outlaw era.
God of War
With one of the most compelling video game stories ever written, this revamped God of War is an action-packed gut punch that’ll draw you into its world from the very beginning. By never once cutting the camera away from what’s going on, it achieves a level immersion that’s rarely seen.
Bringing Greek god, Kratos, into a world of Norse mythology creates an intriguing and dense journey highlighted by how goddamn satisfying it feels to chop the hell out of your enemies with a huge axe.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
The very first Call of Duty game to feature only multiplayer actually turned out to be the best Call of Duty game in a while. It comes packed with a ton of different modes, including one of the better takes on the battle royale genre so far.
It’s fast-paced first-person shooter action at its finest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooyjaVdt-jA
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
The Nintendo brawler is back and absolutely lives up to its name. Packed with 74 fighters, 100 stages, and a 20+ hour single-player campaign, it’s certainly the biggest Smash Bros. title of all time.
It manages to feel incredibly fresh whilst continuing staying true to its roots, and it does it flawlessly.
Subnautica
Subnautica launched on Steam‘s early access platform all the way back in 2014, but it wasn’t until this year that it finally got a full release, making it one of the best games of 2018. In its true final form, the open-world survival game is awe-inspiringly pretty and devilishly frightening at the same time.
After crash-landing on a watery alien world, you must explore the depths of the planet’s oceans in order to harvest resources and survive. The deeper you go, the gnarlier it gets.
Astro Bot Rescue Misson
While the hype around VR may have tapered off in 2018, Astro Bot Rescue Mission was one of the best applications of the technology I saw all year, if not, ever.
Released exclusively for the PSVR, the platformer gives you a little robot buddy to control and puts you directly inside his world. Some enemies will even attack you directly with vision-blocking goo, and when you get stuck, the answer almost always lies with you changing your perspective. No, literally, sometimes you have to stand up or look underneath a ledge to find the answer.
Dusk
I was not at all expecting a retro-style shooter to be making my top 10 for the year, but here we are. Dusk takes its gameplay, graphics, and level design all the way back to the days of the OG Quake and Doom.
Its no-bullshit approach to the genre will take you right back to the 90s, where strafing was the only strategy, reloading wasn’t required, and the only objective was to get to the fucking exit. But amongst its old-school sensibilities is a decent story and a sprinkling of just enough modern concepts to keep it relevant to today’s gaming landscape. Oh, and t also has one of the sickest metal soundtracks since Red Alert 2.
Sea of Thieves
I’m putting Sea of Thieves down as one of the most entertaining multiplayer games of the year simply because retelling the stories of my adventures is just as fun as actually playing them.
Following maps to buried treasure or hunting down skeleton bosses with my mates have made for some of my year’s best gaming moments. Whether it was roaming around sinking whoever we could find or mistaking a ship full of friendlies as enemies, there was always a story to tell by the end.
Not to mention it has the most beautiful video game water I’ve ever seen.
Marvel’s Spider-Man
I’ve never been a huge Spider-Man fan in general, but there’s something about the way Insomniac Games nailed the feeling of web-slinging around New York that pulled me into its world and story.
Not only that, but the combat is satisfying, deep, and varied enough to make beating the piss out of bad guys stay fun throughout the entire adventure.
Far Cry 5
As far as Ubisoft‘s long-running open-world FPS franchise goes, number five seems to hit all the right marks to create a balanced and enjoyable Far Cry game.
Set in the United States for the first time in the series’ history, the fictional land of Hope County sees you liberating outposts once again, this time from an out of control religious cult. The gunplay is sharp, the world is dense with content, and the arcade mode is a delightful cherry on top.
There you have it, folks, our picks for the best games of 2018. Bring on 2019 and all of its upcoming delights.
