In looking through the list of ramblings I did this year, I was struck by the fact that I almost universally kept going “yep, play this, play this, play this”. Simply put, it was a really good year for games.
Game Ramblings #200 – The Plucky Squire
Yes, this was a late 2024 game but I didn’t get around to it until the disc version came in. This game is a celebration of so many games of the late 80s and early 90s and wraps itself up in a modern presentation. It’s an easy game to drop into and just play, which is something that a lot of modern games really miss.
Game Ramblings #213 – Star Wars Outlaws
Game Ramblings #214 – Ghost of Yotei
These were by two big open world standouts of the year (even if Star Wars is a 2024 title that overflowed into this year….) and for some reason I decided to play them back to back. However, I enjoyed them for different reasons. Star Wars stands out in my mind because it takes the nostalgia of the IP and transforms it into something playable in a way that has never managed to be done this well before. Ghost on the other hand is taking a known quantity and acting as the perfect iterative sequel. Neither game is perfect, but their imperfections are not big enough to overcome the fact that these are two incredibly detailed and incredibly well crafted games with a ton of content that just did not get old to play.
Game Ramblings #202 – Stellar Blade
Despite the fact that this is another 2024 catch up for me, I would probably point to this as my favorite combat experience of the year – even over Yotei. Yes, it’s totally hornier Nier Automata in a lot of its presentation. However, the combat experience is just so tightly put together and rewarding to get right that it was easy for me to just ignore the outfit aspect of the game. I went in playing this as work-relevant research into Unreal on PS5, but came out having really enjoyed the experience I was given.
Game Ramblings #201 – Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition
This is easily the remake/remaster of the year for me. I could go on at length about how good the Xenoblade series is, and I’m glad to just see this game on a more modern accessible platform. The combat system in this series continues to excel and some of the overall balance and game flow changes here make this another incredible entry in the series.
Game Ramblings #204 – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
This is almost certainly my favorite turn-based game of the year, which shouldn’t necessarily be surprising. The combat can be phenomenal. The overall presentation is phenomenal. The soundtrack is phenomenal. I do think they have potential to improve on this with better gameplay settings granularity, but for a debut title of a large studio this one hits a lot of really high points and is not something that should be missed.
Game Ramblings #210 – Donkey Kong Bananza
Just like last year, I think an easy platformer is my actual game of the year. The thing about this one is that I was able to just turn off my brain and literally be a dumb ape. The core mechanic of effectively being able to break everything allowed me to ignore more clever mechanics and just break everything. The nice thing is that that’s entirely optional. Where I may get around a door by smashing everything to pieces, other people may get through it by finding an explosive and just walking through. Where I may find a hidden cave by smashing in a straight line and falling into it, other people may notice the lights leading the player down a path and walking in nicely. It’s a game that lets you play how you want with any kind of gameplay around that still being fun.
This game is very much what Odyssey was to Mario and Breath of the Wild was to Zelda. It’s taking an existing IP and modernizing it in a way that not only ends up being good but can legitimately claim to be the best thing that the series has seen so far, which is a large claim when up against things like Donkey Kong Country. Does it have the most impressive tech? No. Is it difficult? No. Does it have the most complex game mechanics? No. However, like Astrobot last year it hits a perfect blend of fun and flashy without introducing any friction to the player experience. And like Astrobot, this is one that I can point to and go “when you get the system, play this first”. I would not say that about anything else on this list.