Irish’s Top 5 Games of The Year (In No Specific Order)

That I Played…

1. Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu as you can tell based on the title is a rather loose adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft classic. Set on a fictional island in Boston you play as a private detective and former soldier who gets a little in over his head when he is wrapped up in a case given to him by a late painters father who has received a strange delivery which is a piece of art done by his daughter. While there is shooting in the game it comes near the end so all of tension and action of the game comes as you are solving puzzles and investigations. But things get crazier as the plot starts to come alive and certain things happen which don’t seem to make sense such as a character dying early on in the game yet appearing very much alive later on in the story. You then end up going into the past of the game in the consciousness of a character you meet after the first big bad encounter of the game. As I mentioned in the Quick Hit! Review, there are moments where the most action happening in the game was finding a ceremonial dagger and slashing a painting which nearly leads to you getting sent to the looney bin. The thing I like about this game is how it tricked me into playing a stealth game… a genre I 1. do not enjoy and 2. am very bad at. But somehow I made it through and despite what others say I really enjoyed this game.

2. MLB ’18: The Show

What can I say? I’m a baseball fan with a die-hard love for the game. They used to say those who can’t play manage, and that those who can’t manage, watch. While I am at the “watch” stage, in MLB ’18 I can be a fantasy baseball general manager and create dynasties. In my current session I have the two powerhouses; The Yankees and the San Francisco Giants off to incredible starts with each team having only a few losses. I am incredibly proud of the Giants as I have turned them completely around as perennial losers since the 2015 season and turned them into winners having beaten the Yankees in the 2018 World Series and having signed All-Star Outfielder Bryce Harper. One of the things that can easily be forgotten is that A. Draft Picks are bargaining chips B. Good coaches inspire good baseball and C. Do NOT break the bank with free agents! I could give two shits about Diamond Dynasty as I don’t care about multiplayer or microtransactions towards multiplayer shenanigans. For some reason, this game series going all the way back to MLB ’06 on PSP has been and always will be the equivalent of comfort food as I have poured THOUSANDS of hours into each individual game except for 2007-2008. Thus declaring my insanity as the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results” but the only difference is that I end up winning each game, therefore, declaring me a crazy person.

3. God of War

“The gods of Olympus have abandoned me…” this line spoken by Kratos over thirteen years ago began the God of War trilogy but we need to jump two years ahead in time to God of War 2 which was the test to see if industry madman David Jaffe’s smash hit wasn’t a fluke and if Cory Barlog could duplicate the success of the first game. Well, he did and after becoming a father down the line would breathe new life into the game series and it would reach new heights and soar higher than ever before. I am of course talking about this year’s entry into the God of War series that saw Kratos (now voiced by Teal’c himself Chris Judge) as an older man, a father, and in Norse territory where he would be both haunted by his past and hunted by a “Stranger” who knows who he is and what he’s done in the past. All of this is unknown by his son Atreus who, based on the previous games would make Atreus a demigod. This not only sets up Atreus to be a legacy character to take over the series from Kratos if he gets killed off in a future game. Overall I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed God of War.

4. Assassin’s Creed: Origins

Yes, this game was released a year ago but I never got a chance to finish it as it is stupidly long. You play as Bayek a Medjay aka a protector of the Pharaoh who has gone rogue due to the betrayal of all betrayals that lead to the death of his son which causes him to break his vows and become the Punisher and start the war between the Assassins and the Templars. Whereas in previous Assassin’s Creed games the combat was the simplest thing imaginable but in AC: Origins they went in a more Dark Souls route where RB/RT were light and heavy attacks. Needless to say, I really enjoyed what this was which was a series that was starting to feel stale much like Call of Duty and WWE games but was injected with new life and more heart.

5. Total Extreme Wrestling 16

Yes, another game that came out in the past, more specifically 2016. Also, this is mainly a text game but I have been putting a ton of hours into it. You play as either the head booker (matchmaker) in the wrestling industry which means you make the matches, sign the wrestlers, create the story-lines, and deal with backstage affairs all the while dealing with the owner of whatever promotion you are working for. OR you can say “FUCK THAT NOISE!” and do things Paul Heyman style and be the Owner AND head booker. But unfortunately, this isn’t an officially licensed game that features ANY pro wrestling company so what you ultimately begin with is the Cornellverse or as its commonly called, the ‘C=Verse’ which has generic wrestlers so what the key thing about the game are mods that are interchangeable that vary from real-world monthly updates, fantasy scenarios, and real-world years to play through. I stumbled upon one titled “Flashpoint!” in which, very much like the DC Comics event has one change in history affecting the main timeline in a titanic way creating a new alternate timeline. The ‘Nora Allen’ of this was Owen Hart and instead of him falling from the rafters in ’99 and dying he instead refused to do it and as a result, certain people are still alive in this timeline that passed away like Test, Randy Savage, and Eddie Guerrero. Not only that, but WCW is still around and as a result wrestlers that were WWE talent are now WCW talent. Wrestlers like Dolph Ziggler, Rey Mysterio Jr., and more. 

So there you have it. My personal top five games I’ve played this year. Before I wrap up I just have one thing to say… DIG IT!