1. Horizon: Zero Dawn I absolutely love everything about this game. It's story isn't entirely unique but takes things in a direction that we don't normally see. The world is beautiful, the environments are varied and fleshed-out, the societies and cultures of the people are believably crafted, the combat is fun and engaging, the character and machine designs are truly a work of art, and all this from a studio known for making by-the-books first-person shooters. I was captivated from beginning to end and even platinum'd it (something I had not done in a long time). I can't wait to see where this franchise goes from here.
2. Nier: Automata It's weird, it's strange, it's a bit on-the-nose, and it's better for it. Combat from Platinum and written by Yoko Taro, it's a nerd's wet dream. I played the original Nier but never finished it. This fulfills every needed element that the former was missing and packaged in an open world that, while not as breath-taking as Horizon, is intriguing and sets the exact tone which the story is trying to tell. I picked this one up on a whim, and don't regret it in the slightest.
3. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Speaking of tone, my God! With the combined elements of the original's mansion exploration, strict inventory management, and sense of discovery along with the latter games' intense combat and character design, RE7 offers us a combination of best elements with a first-person view to add tension to every encounter. The pacing and third act definitely hold this game from greatness, but everything else from the house's design to the voice work of the hostile Baker family make this a game I will be thinking about all throughout this year. It's a deliberate step in the right direction that this franchise desperately needed.
4. Nioh In it's own right, Nioh is a well-crated romp with an interesting premise. However, when compared to the source of its inspiration, the kinks in its armor start to show. The segmented bits break the flow of the experience and the connective tissue of the world over the knee with a definitive crack and is held back with a needlessly complex combat system. The levels are not varied enough in design to the point where they all appear too similar to each other. Ending with a let-down of a final boss, it clearly dethrones DS2 as the black sheep of the family. However, when examined apart from its constituents, it's a great experience that I was ultimately glad to take part in. Unlike ...
5. Mass Effect: Andromeda I may be one of the most engrossed fans of this franchise you will find on this forum. As a result, because these games have had such an impact on me in terms of how I play games and view games as an art form, I was probably more critical of this game than I would have been if I wasn't. It isn't utter garbage, like you may have heard, but the term disappointment definitely comes to mind. The severe lack of polish, horrible facial animations, numerous needless management systems, near game-breaking glitches (I actually had a save file corrupted), and mostly awful character dialogue is disheartening to a fanbase which regarded the series as one of (if not the) best science fiction space operas in the game industry. It's not the Phantom Menace of Mass Effect, there's a lot in it that works -- so more like the Revenge of the Sith, it guess. The combat was really fun, the worlds were beautiful and very different from each other, and the change in the dialogue system (in theory anyway) and the use of multiple profiles was a smart way to keep what would have felt like a similar concept very new. When everything worked, you could see the game hidden beneath that could have been, which makes the end result all the more painful. But for everything that worked, there was something that didn't. In the end, the game was a mediocre attempt trying to hold itself up to a well-crafted and vastly superior franchise.
In-progress. Persona 5 I'm only a little over 10 hours in so I can't form a solid opinion about it just yet. But I am really enjoying it so far. I might update this later when I've had more time with it. After over a year of Ben hyping the hell out of this, I had to pick it up. This is my first Persona (and Shin Megami Tensei, I suppose) so expect a fresh and admittedly naive take from me.
