[typing]
Well, it's that time of year again. The year is ending.
I don't know how that keeps happening.
It's like it happens every year.
But, uh, it did!
And that means it's time to make a video about the favorite games
I've played throughout the year.
And this year I'm gonna be doing it a little bit differently.
I'm not gonna make some arbitrary numbering of them or
say which one is the absolute best.
Because it's like how do you say this
action game is better than this puzzle game?
You don't!
So I'm not going to.
We're also just going to be talking about the games that I've played, obviously.
Because there's still some that I have not, so those will not be on the list.
But whatever.
My personal, subjective list commences.
Elite Dangerous
Talk about a mind-boggling game.
Explore a one-to-one representation
of the Milky Way galaxy
and do just about anything your space-adventuring heart desires.
Relying on the same basic premise of the classic Elite games,
you basically start off with a simple ship and few resources,
and make your way in the galaxy
by way of legal and not-so-legal trading,
bounty hunting and discovery.
It also make fantastic use of VR,
and I about wore out my Oculus Rift with it when I first got it.
Wolfenstein: The New Order
This was developed by Machine Games,
who are largely composed of people that worked at Starbreeze
on games like the Darkness and Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay,
and, man, you can tell!
This is pure action game perfection
taking the familiar Wolfenstein characters and setting
and tossing them into an alternate-history Cold War
filled with some of the most satisfying sci-fi weaponry ever.
B.J. Blazkowicz doing his best Rorschach impression gets a little stale,
but, man, the rest is, ugh!
Stealth, shooting, exploration. It's all here and it's all top-notch.
I loved this game and it's quite possibly my favorite of the year.
Watch "underscore" Dogs
I must admit, my biggest reason for enjoying this game
was being able to explore a virtual Chicago.
It's always been my favorite city
and while the game takes some bizarre creative liberties with its depiction,
it's so dead on other times that I just walk around for hours
doing nothing of value.
Sadly, most of the gameplay and the main character himself
can be described in much the same way:
nothing of value.
Although I did get a kick out of some of the hacking mini-games,
and I think the series has potential,
I just hope Ubisoft doesn't milk it to death.
Shovel Knight
I would describe this as 8-bit-influenced platforming art.
Take equal parts Mega Man and DuckTales
and throw in a dash of Zelda II.
That's Shovel Knight in a nutshell,
and holy crap, is it every bit as good as it sounds!
And looks. I really dig the art style here.
It sticks to the original color palette of the NES,
and mixes in the parallax scrolling and level of detail from the SNES.
For me, this is quite simply the most enjoyable old school-style platformer of the year.
So if you like those classic titles,
but want something totally new to sink your teeth into,
look no further.
Divinity: Original Sin
Now this is a role-playing adventure that you really shouldn't miss
if you like that kind of stuff.
It takes classic computer role-playing and adventure game stories and puzzle solving,
complete with loads of complicated dialogue and inventory puzzles,
and mixes it with tactical turn- based combat and superb co-op.
I love how the lead characters are often at odds with one another
and you're constantly having to resolve conflicts of interest and morality.
I did find the combat segments to be a bit too punishing and long-winded at times,
but overall, I find that the biggest sin would be not playing Original Sin.
Murdered: Soul Suspect
Here's a game I have mixed feelings on.
On the one hand, I love the premise of playing a detective who has to solve his own murder
before he can move on to the afterlife.
I enjoyed the twist on the Salem Witch Trial tales
and the fact that you can solve murder mysteries as a cat, if you're so inclined.
I mean, that's just great!
But I freakin' hated the clunky, infuriating stealth sections,
and there are simply far too many of them.
If you can get past those, this is quite the fun little
paranormal murder-mystery adventure game.
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Weird how this game ended up as one of my favorites from the year,
since I'm normally not enough of a fan of these derpy movement games
to want to play it to completion,
but Octodad won me over in its bizarre tales of paternal struggle.
I mean, the dude just really loves his kids and his family,
even though he's an octopus
as is constantly being hunted by an evil chef.
The story is what makes Octodad, to me.
Though I must admit that I was also highly amused
by taking something as simple as buying groceries
and turning it into this huge ordeal.
The Sims 4
Yep, this game was a disappointment to many, myself included.
But, yep, I still had a ton of fun with it anyway
and I look forward to seeing what kind of expansion shenanigans they come up with,
overpriced or not.
I still think that Maxis should have delayed the game for another six months or so,
because the things they've added as free updates since launch have been great,
and I think the potential for this entry in the series is huge.
Most of the engine improvements are awesome,
the Sims feel more alive than ever and I quite like the aesthetic.
I just wish it had deeper customization, a true open world
and more options for ruining my Sims' lives.
Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition
Yeah, yeah, Diablo 3.
Came out two years ago and it sucked on launch,
as I said in my video on it,
but holy crap!
Blizzard delivered with this rerelease
and I actually find that I prefer it on consoles,
as opposed to the PC in this case.
They fixed every one of the complaints I had on launch,
retooled the controls to work perfectly with the gamepad,
and the couch co-op is phenomenal.
I haven't had this much fun with a console hack-and-slash
since Dark Alliance on the PS2,
so this was entirely welcome in my book.
Wasteland 2
I was a Day One backer for the Kickstarter
and adore the original game,
so, yeah, I'm straight-up biased in saying it's one of the best of the year,
but, dude, it is! I swear!
If you like old school cRPGs, turn-based tactical combat
a la Fallout 1 and 2,
and ridiculously involved character specialization,
then this is your game.
It falls into sort of a weird territory, though,
as far as looking like a game from the early 2000s
having gameplay that kind of feels even older,
yet came out in 2014.
But if you just imagine this as the Wasteland sequel that was *made* back then
but was never released,
your mind will explode like a blood sausage
at the sheer awesomeness contained within.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Developed by a group of ex-People Can Fly developers
going by the name The Astronauts,
Ethan Carter is not the brother of Aaron
and is actually a mysterious, gorgeous, relatively short exploration-focused adventure.
It's quite linear and the puzzles never really reached the levels of complexity I was expecting,
but it didn't matter because the world and the narrative
just drew me in and held my attention throughout.
Forza Horizon 2
I love this game so much.
This is one of the single best racing games I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.
It picks up the torch once carried by games like Test Drive: Unlimited and runs with it,
making for a better game in almost every way.
Expanding on the original Horizon,
this time you get a true open world,
day, night and weather cycles,
one of the more eclectic selection of cars I've seen,
and excellent online gameplay, should you so desire.
And having a constant drip feed of cash, prizes and upgrades
that actually make a difference to the gameplay
makes it one of the most compelling racers I've played.
If you actually have an Xbox One and enjoy cars to any degree, get this!
Alien: Isolation
I was prepared for this game to suck.
After the debacle that was Aliens: Colonial Marines
and this being developed by the people behind the Total War series,
how could this be any good?
Well, I'm happy to say that my fears were completely unfounded
and instead, my fears were redirected towards one of the most insidious,
evil creatures ever brought into a game.
Granted, the whole thing kind of turns into a limp noodle towards the end,
but altogether this is still one of the games I had the most fun with this year.
It may be stressful, maddening and chilling fun,
but lots of fun nonetheless.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
This is another contender for my absolute favorite of the year,
and it came out of freakin' nowhere!
But I sat down and played through the 30-hour campaign
in practically one sitting. It was not healthy.
It may look like a mindless action game,
or yet another Lord of the Rings licensed disappointment,
but...augh!
You're in for a real treat, if you just get past the first few hours.
The Nemesis System is one of the most amazing things I've seen in games in years,
and combined with the grotesquely satisfying combat,
it made for some of the most enjoyable gaming I've had in a long time.
Monument Valley
Wow. This is absolutely captivating.
M.C. Escher-inspired artwork,
gameplay elements similar to Echochrome and Fez
and an ambient soundtrack that is nothing short of inspiring to me.
I don't even bother with mobile games typically,
but this is one that I had to make an exception for as soon as I saw it
and, man, I'm glad I did.
If you've got an hour to kill and want to tease your brain a bit,
just install this, plug in some headphones
and go play this under the stars one night.
I did, and I found it to be refreshing, relaxing and ridiculously awesome.
And lastly, Goat Simulator, the best game of the year–
okay, no, it's really not, I just
felt it weird talk about 2014 and not even mention Goat Simulator
because I mean, between this and Flappy Bird,
it hard to think of two games that just were
absurd and somehow caught on in the public eye.
And that is all for my personal best of 2014.
Like I said earlier, there's a bunch of games that I just haven't even gotten around to playing yet,
so I'm sure that my list would change if in a couple of weeks if I play some more stuff, so whatever.
Leave your favorites in the comments below
and if there's stuff that I haven't seen or something
and you think that I would really enjoy,
according to these other things that are on my list,
then let me know. I'm always looking for more stuff to play that I might not have yet.
And if you enjoyed this video, then I've done a bunch of other lists,
and a bunch of reviews and other things here on this channel.
So, if you care for more of my voice in your ears, then you're in the right place.
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And as always, thank you very much for watching,
and we'll see you in 2015!