tldr Game of the Year
The official tldr.games Game of the Year: where gamedev excellence meets concise recognition. Every year I celebrate the best in the industry - the games that either left an indelible mark on the gaming landscape itself, or just overwhelmingly appealed to my personal sensibilities.
Games
Hollow Knight: Silksong
After so long, Silksong somehow feels both inevitable and unbelievable. Hornet moves like a dream, every dash and dive tight, every fight a dance that's punishing but (mostly) fair. The world of Pharloom is staggering in scope: it just keeps expanding, full of new enemies, lavish art, secrets around every corner - all underscored by beautiful music and crisp sound design. Items and builds feel meaningful, not filler, and the variety on offer is impressive even for a game of this scale. It's everything I hoped for: familiar yet transformed, reverent of its predecessor but confidently its own. After all the memes, the silkposts, the endless patience - Silksong was worth it. Anyone grumbling about difficulty, especially if their point of reference is Hunter's March, might want to remember Hornet’s famous line from the first game. Loved it.
Balatro
Balatro absolutely rules. And this is coming from someone with abject disdain of poker... Traditional poker hands are your basic tools, but that's about as far as the connection goes. The rest of Balatro is a wickedly clever, psychedelic, insta-classic roguelike through which you'll devise cunning ways to break the game. Cards and modifiers are tightly designed, crisply defined and delightfully synergistic. Again, Balatro just rules. Play it.
Baldur's Gate 3
I was ready to bounce off, intimidated by its depth and pacing, but this game is truly something else. Great writing, VA, world design and more than anything, an obscene level of player agency.
Elden Ring
So masterfully crafted, creative, confident and bold that it immediately makes the rest of the openworld genre feel dated and uninspired. A landmark achievement and a very special game. Masterpiece.
Inscryption
Deckbuilding roguelite escape room ARG. An inspiring masterpiece & wonderfully executed ode to card/videogames. If you're into that kind of thing, it's a must play. So, so impressive. Mullins is nuts.
The Last of Us Part II
Harrowing and emotionally challenging, a game has never left me feeling the way I did as I stared through tears at the credits of The Last of Us Part II. This is a masterpiece I love so much, but may never play again.
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
A band of Estonian painters and writers with zero games-industry experience set out to build an RPG, and somehow produced the most beautiful one ever made. Every line of its half-million words is hand-crafted, the whole astonishingly hand-painted city of Revachol aching with the kind of political fury, grief and humour that games rarely reach for and almost never land. It is funny, filthy, devastatingly sad, and more honest about failure and regret than most novels manage. Nothing else has the texture of Disco, and nothing since has come close. Truly an extraordinary game - absolutely a must play.
Return of the Obra Dinn
From the maker (one person) of Papers, Please comes this brilliant shortish deduction whodunnit with terrific music, great voice acting and uniquely cool art direction. An awesome understated gem of 2018.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
I have no idea how Nintendo did this. It takes mechanics and gamedesign inspiration from all over the industry, and improves on basically all of them. Constantly impressive and gratifying - one of the best games ever made.
Dark Souls III
All of the learnings from DS through BB are here, and as a final instalment to the franchise is a remarkably rounded love letter to its fans. Almost certainly the most accessible Souls game.
Bloodborne
Takes all the best foundations from Souls and dials up the speed & aggression. Absolutely inspired and masterfully pulled off. Incredible setting, world design, story and of course combat. Masterpiece, close to perfection.
Dark Souls II
A good game, but not a great Souls game. While there are some mechanical improvements, Dark Souls II is the buffet to it's predecessors fine dining: lots of content, but none of it very good.
Papers, Please
An intriguing, nihilistic, funny and depressing paperwork simulator. A simple concept thoughtfully & creatively explored. 𝙶𝙻𝙾𝚁𝚈 𝚃𝙾 𝙰𝚁𝚂𝚃𝙾𝚃𝚉𝙺𝙰
Hotline Miami
A fresh, visceral and addictive hyperactive trip of ultraviolence, strategy and style. Finds its rhythm immediately and sticks the landing. Hell of a soundtrack too.
Dark Souls
A project handed to a junior employee, who then crafted it into an uncompromising lesson in perseverance that rewards exploration and subverts expectations. Bleak, brutal and beautiful. Pretty much perfect - Dark Souls legacy & impact cannot be overstated.
Red Dead Redemption
An enormous world, wonderfully fleshed out with great writing, characters and tonnes to do. Incredible production, varied gameplay and fun as hell. Manages to explore the setting and tropes without being tacky.