Arc Raiders
My unexpected smash hit of the year. The team that brought us The Finals and Star Wars Battlefront II showed up in style with Arc Raiders. The movement is fluid, the sound design is masterful, and the gunplay is magical. Arc Raiders not only knocked my socks off, but it came into my house and destroyed all of my other socks as well.
Shapez 2
One of the first games released this year. Shapez 2 strutted out confidently and nailed the landing. Shapez 2 is the best factory game ever made in my opinion and will be the title I go back to whenever I get the urge to make a maze of conveyor belts.
Lumines Arise
For the uninitiated: Lumines is a puzzle franchise built off of music. Inspired by Tetris, the game has you stacking shapes into squares rather than lines. I was hesitant to give it a shot. Its puzzle looked much harder than Tetris, but I trusted the team behind Tetris Effect to deliver an amazing experience anyway. I was not disappointed.
Dune Awakening
Dune Awakening was one of my most anticipated games to come out this year. I begged and pleaded with the developers for a review copy—with no success. I still bought the game of course, and I was delighted with how “Dune” everything felt. I got to live out my movie fantasy while dodging sandworms and building bases with my friends.
Rift of the Necrodancer
Another game on my “most anticipated” list is Rift of the Necrodancer. I love rhythm games, especially those that don’t heavily feature anime characters. The team that made this started off strong with Crypt of the Necrodancer, then went on to parnter with Nintendo of all companies to make Cadence of Hyrule. This game combines rhythm mechanics and puzzle elements for a very satisfying rhythm pie.
Rift of the Necrodancer on Steam
Split Fiction
If you’re looking for a solid co-op experience to play with someone close, there’s no better option than Split Fiction. The story is not the most original, especially not compared to the studio’s last game It Takes Two. The game makes up for it however, through sheer spectacle. The variety of worlds and gameplay is light enough to chat while enjoying the game, but just challenging enough for the best players to die a few times.
The Precinct
While we wait for GTA 6 to release, like trying to catch the end of a rainbow, you should definitely try The Precinct. The Precinct adopts the aesthetic from the original GTA games, with their birds-eye perspective of the world. What sets this game apart is playing as a cop. It still retains the arcade nature of GTA with fun driving and shooting, but with the added bonus of getting to pull people over and give them speeding tickets.
Skate Story (Honorable Mention)
My honorable mention for this year is Skate Story. I’ve been waiting for ages to get my hands on this grunge skate kaleidoscope. The Demo released about a month ago and I loved every second of it. Skate Story tragically hasn’t come out yet, but I’m sure it will end up on this list when it finally releases.
*Ok so the game came out while editing this article, but I haven’t had time to play it yet so it still gets to be an honorable mention.
