The Top 8 Games of the Year So Far

Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! This week, I’m here to talk about the best games of the year, so far at least. We’re a little over the half-way point of the year, so I wanted to talk about some of the best games I’ve played so far. One game on this list was from last year, technically, but I played it this year since it came to the PS5. Let’s begin:

#8: Capcom Fighting Collection 2

While I have mixed thoughts on the actual edition picks of the games, at least four of the games in this thing are easily worth playing. Those being Alpha 3, Power Stone 1 & 2 and, of course, Project Justice. Capcom vs. SNK 2 is also solid but not of my particular interest. I still wish it was an overall, better package, but for the price you pay for it and the games you get, it’s not bad at all.

#7: Sniper Elite: Resistance

Honestly, the breakdown is for this is, “It’s more Sniper Elite.” It’s largely the same game as Sniper Elite 5, which was largely the same game as Sniper Elite 4, which was largely the same game as Sniper Elite 3. I haven’t played 1 or 2, but I’m sure at least 60% of the DNA is the same as well. This one does have a new lead character, but it’s a largely incidental change in the realm of “Who cares?” The reason this is still on my list though is because it is still fun to splatter Nazi’s brains against the wall, and to go through some fairly big levels, just clearing them all out of enemies.

#6: Split Fiction

I wanted to like this game more than I did, but just didn’t. It’s well made but the story is as predictable as it possibly could be. There are some brief flashes of creativity, notably the pig/farm level, but most of the levels go on for far too long or are just kind of boring. It’s weird, it just seemed like it was going through the motions a bit, or just missing the spark that It Takes Two had. I still liked my time with this game, and I’ll be curious if that movie ever gets made so we’ll see.

#5: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Honestly, Indiana Jones reminded me a lot of the old 2004 Riddick game. A generally melee/stealth focused game where you can do jobs for people to get upgrades, new areas, etc. Outside of one or two, specific, sequences, I never used a gun at all in this game, opting to just use my fists, or just throwing stuff at enemies. There were a few things in the game that didn’t 100% work, namely some of the most action/running sequences, and the fact the map is woefully inadequate, but these were minor things. This was a game that made you feel like you were actually in an Indiana Jones adventure and that was mighty impressive.

#4: Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Reunification Wars

I’ve always loved Suikoden 2, but I never actually played Suikoden 1 before. So playing it in this collection was a new experience. It really showed the evolution from 1 to 2, because Suikoden 1 is a good but fairly linear game. Not a lot of the characters have personality, the strategy game is more primitive, the battle system is simpler and so on. Suikoden 2 actually ironed a lot of this stuff out, like giving you multiple magic slots for some characters, and a good chunk of the characters being memorable. Plus, I actually saw more in my playthough of Suikoden 2 this time, like the whole chef mini-game, the dancing mini-game, doing Clive’s subquest and more. I got the full platinum trophy in this game and it was an experience.

#3: Death Stranding 2

The fact that I was able to play/beat this game puts it WAY over the first one. I bounced off pretty hard from the first Death Stranding, but this one is better. They give you the tools a lot earlier, like a gun or the motorcycle, so getting around and basic combat are better. The game isn’t quite up its own butt about certain topics as well, the story is still insanity but you can/should largely ignore it. I find it a more relaxing experience also, just driving across the Australian road system that I re-built, dropping off packages like an Amazon driver. I’ll likely try to get the platinum trophy in this game also, it just takes forever, since you have to max out the level with all the survivor bunkers/bases.

#2: Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Assassin’s Creed remains one of the most uneven, on-going franchises. The previous game can be superb but the current one can be garbage. Then they come back with yet another great game. This pattern fits with the last three AC games, Valhalla (good), Mirage (bad) and Shadows (good). Shadows isn’t the best AC game ever, but it is still an extremely solid game. I’m not sure if the whole dual-protagonist system was a good idea, I stuck with Naoe for 90% of the game and only played Yasuke when I had to, but I still enjoyed them as characters. It would be really nice if they were able to build off this game and continue a plot thread, but given the instability of Ubisoft, that seems like a pipe dream, these days.

#1: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

I only have one criticism of this game which I’ll get into a bit below. But really, what a breath of fresh, French air. The turn-based combat is rewarding and challenging, the characters are well-defined, the story is interesting, the game looks superb, the soundtrack is incredible, and so on. Really, not enough praise can be heaped upon Expedition 33 and how fantastic it is. EXCEPT. For when the developers nerf a skill/way to play the game, which forced me to go out and buy a physical copy of the game, to get Maelle’s Stendhal skill back to full power. I can understand patching a skill or ability if it doesn’t work right, but if it works “too well”, that everyone is using it, who cares? Especially in a single-player game. But I digress, Expedition 33 is amazing, and it’s even better with a disk, so you can play the original 1.0 version, like I did.

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For comments, list your best games of the year so far, and why.

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Top 8 Second-Tier Platformers