Is it a tradition if we only did it the once before?
So, in that spirit. Here’s mine, and they were picked for the amount I played them rather than anything complicated like how good there were.
Rule #1: Must be released in 2018.
Rule #2: Erhm, tired now, so no more rules. Anything you liked, including DLC.
My pick 1:
I just played it a lot. So many VR games felt like demos, while this one, with the mods, story and all, seemed like a proper long game.
Pick 2:
Flawed on release, but got better and better overtime. A bit of a gem in the rough.
Pick 3:
I mean, we waited for a long time and here it is. Felt bad about the AV-8B, as she got dropped quicker than anything, but it’s been a good year learning it bit by bit.
2018, the year that everything that was any good over the last 3-5 years was ported to the Switch, plus GoW, Spiderman and RDR2…
2017 was an amazing year with lots of stuff all around that was great, this year, well I was left scratching my head as to what I enjoyed that actually came out this year, here’s what I got.
and this last one had it’s actual release this year (despite being in EA last year, so I’m counting it)
Here’s to 2019 and hoping for a better year overall
This spacesim isn’t new, but it made some great improvements this year. The last chapter of the “beyond” series of updates really knocked it out of the park with the new scanner, mist and lighting improvements.
Such a great game. Chill yet full of terrors as well. The dev tried to make a game without necessary violence and succeeded in my opinion. This is one of those rare gems where the game has some truly innovative things to do.
I have spend countless hours on this, a lush vacation to sunny greece. The game is pretty standard hack & slash fare, but the excellent world building and voice acting make it worth its while. I will love Kassandra forever.
Il-2 BoX has been making great strides this year. If only there’d be more hours in the day…
We all know this one, don’t we? DCS 2.5 has been my favourite game this year. From making carrier traps after deep strikes in the gulf to fighting desperately over the caucasus mountains in an antique MiG to save a fictional country from oppression, it’s been great.
Hmm…if it weren’t for that, I’d still go with the continued development of VTOL VR. I looooove that sim!
I haven’t had a bunch of time to do FPS gaming…but I’ve heard great things about Red Dead Redemption 2 - a game I’ll probably pick up for 99 cents in 5 years in a sale.
But if I had to pick one, I’d go with the DCS Hornet. I mean, there is just so much goodness packed into there, with more to come…it is an easy pick. Event though I haven’t really flown in much.
A close second for me would be the Carenado Citation II for personal affinity reasons. Even though the systems are a mess, it does a good job of replicating the feel of the Citation.
Pillars of Eternity was released before 2018. I got it for a few bucks (if that) on GOG…and played it essentially nonstop for weeks. The battery in my laptop dies, but I wouldn’t replace it before I had finished.
WEO flight sims, and a few legacy FPS, I use Macs…not all that many good games come out for Mac…this is the exception!
How was that? I enjoyed the first reboot, but sort of forgot about this one as I didn’t play Rise of the TR.
Unusually for new games, it actually has a demo as well (on the main Steam store page):
The only other big release I can think of on the PC was probably AC:Odyssey
Again, I sort of skipped that as I read such bad things about Unity, skipped AC: Origins (which actually is meant to be very good) and then ignored the latest ones.
Not sure if DQ XI or Bard’s Tale IV count as major releases anymore. But just picked up both Hitman 2 and Monster Hunter World during the sale both seem pretty good so far.
IMO you should play both, they are quite well done.
As a fan of mesoamerican cultures and their art I enjoyed the last one a lot, and the story wasn’t bad either.
Gameplay wise Rise of the TR is my favourite.
Both are really good games IMO.
I played a couple of good games this year. Even Red Dead Redemption 2, one of the most interesting games of the last 5 years.
But 2018 was the year I discovered DCS… And everything else became a shadow. This year I reignited my passion for flight sims, spent money on my PC setup, bough a HOTAS, a new monitor and a GPU. I just remembered when I bought my first SVGA Graphics card to run an F14 simulator (Fleet Defender maybe) back in the day.
And the F/A 18 was the first full fidelity model I learned. (Spoiled brat, such an easy plane - but I digress)
I’ve been flying some of the mini campaigns: Challenger, Eastern Friendship and the Snakes head, and to actually be confronted with the full fidelity aircraft and have to remember every procedure - AND THEN - still be able to execute a mission is such a blast. Right now I cannot still refuel in mid air, so I’m stuck on one of the missions, but everything else, when DCS starts working, it really shines. I’m no expert by any means, but steam already says I spent 150 Hours in game and I have many more to spend. I have not had any other game that felt so endless for me (I’m not a hardcore gamer, let alone a competitive one, so maybe that’s why).
I see old users that are getting more tired than I am form the same old and rightfully demanding more gameplay upgrades (and I certainly join the choir) but to be fair, DCS as it is is already such an expansive and complex and fun experience, it’s hard to complain. In fact, I feel absolutely out of place talking about other games because I still cannot wrap my head around this I know some don’t like to classify simming with gaming, but I do. Especially when flying single player story based campaigns.
Anyway, after those off topic formalities and homages I’ll chime in.
Oh you are absolutely right to do so. In fact one of the complaints raised against DCS and Il-2 is that they are simulators and not games. But a well-written campaign adds on a whole new layer of entertainment to the sim.
Things that happen! For reasons! With (so it sometimes seems) consequences! Those are the things that make a game a game worth playing.
On the other hand, to me, even doing go-arounds and start-stop training in things like the Spitfire, Harrier or Huey make a compelling game where what happens is that schurem flies! and the reason is that little schurem wants to fly and the consequences of his action are either flaming wrecks or good old inflation of schurems’ ego
I am really looking forward to 2019 when it comes to DCS. Not only what will happen with the planes we have and will get, but mostly to see how the new mission generator and “RTS game layer” will bear out.
Yeah…I love sims that are games. I’ve flown some really enjoyable campaigns in DCS World that were compelling because of the mission designs and the story behind them. It almost feels like you are participating in a movie instead of watching one. I would really love it if an option to sort of role play a character came with some of our sims. I’d love to have a character that I would have to take from infancy (maybe flying the Yak-52 to start) through to jet training (L-39 or C-101), and then on to more complex roles. Kills, sorties, and ejections and/or deaths would affect your progress. Ah…that’d be fun.
I didn’t stray very far from flight sims this year, but when I did, it was usually Project Cars2. Now the best looking driving sim has a physics engine to match. (late 2017 release)
