Shacknews Top 10 Games of the Year 2018

The team at Shacknews has joined forces with our Chatty community to count down the Top 10 Games of 2018. Please take a look.

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#4 Game of the Year 2018 - Dead Cells

Dead Cells one part side-scrolling action and one part rogue-like. It is a combination that has been done to death over the last few years of the indie game resurgence, but Dead Cells simply does it better than all the rest. From its rock-solid controls to its surprisingly deep itemization, the game manages to take what is objectively a short experience and expand it into countless hours of joy. It has a pixel art style, but runs and looks as smooth as the best 3D games. Enemy designs are as unique as the selection of tools you have to dispose of them. Dead Cells allows players to inch along, carefully working their way to the final confrontation, while simultaneously offering incentive to speed run the levels. It rewards all types of approaches and ways to progress, resulting in one of the most rewarding gaming experiences of 2018.

-Chris Jarrard

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group. 

From The Chatty
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    December 31, 2018 2:00 PM

    Shack Staff posted a new article, Shacknews Top 10 Games of the Year 2018

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      December 31, 2018 2:16 PM

      Yes! I'm da best!

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      December 31, 2018 2:19 PM

      Tetris Effect was robbed.

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        January 1, 2019 5:32 AM

        How is Tetris Effect PS4 GOTY and then a different PS4 exclusive becomes GOTY?

        CAN’T EXPLAIN THAT

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      December 31, 2018 2:35 PM

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      December 31, 2018 2:37 PM

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        December 31, 2018 2:48 PM

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        December 31, 2018 2:50 PM

        Yeah, looking back it was a pretty shit year for pc gaming. Then again I don't play any mp shooters, so that's like half the AAA releases right there.

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          December 31, 2018 3:58 PM

          the best pc game not making the best overall game is kinda sad. btw, have I missed the free Subnautica deal like an idiot? :(

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            December 31, 2018 4:12 PM

            Each staff member submitted their top ten games and we are including the collective list from our Chatty community as another ballot in our vote. These votes were made outside of all of our other awards this year.

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              December 31, 2018 4:28 PM

              Not faulting the shacknews list, more the state of things. I'll just have to give the developer some money for it.

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              January 1, 2019 4:33 AM

              Ahh, that makes sense, was wondering how the list was decided. Thanks!

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        December 31, 2018 3:14 PM

        Shack staff don't make enough to own a PC.

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        December 31, 2018 4:26 PM

        The only PC exclusive I'd put up this year is MtG: Arena, and that's if I break my "no eternal multiplayer games on my GOTY list" rule. Forza Horizon 4 is the only 2018 game in my top 5 that I played partly on PC, and I reckon most people are mostly playing that on Xbox. Hollow Knight, Celeste, and Dead Cells are on PC but I played those entirely on Switch.

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          December 31, 2018 4:29 PM

          There's room in the game news cycles for a few "Top 5 Ongoing Games of XXXX" lists, methinks. That category is now wide enough to sustain it,, rather than a single winner i.e. Game Awards.

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            December 31, 2018 4:35 PM

            I like that TGA has that as a category now, very smart. I have a hard time putting games like Dota 2, Overwatch, Hearthstone, etc, in a GOTY list because it will never be associated with the year it came out, nor will it remain as this static thing. All of those games are nearly unrecognizable from the states that they launched in.

            Its the same reason Smash Ultimate isn't in my list even though its one of the best games I've played this year, its pure joy and a fantastic fighting game

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              December 31, 2018 4:41 PM

              I included it on mine as I'm playing it almost entirely as a singleplayer game. And I think though a game may evolve over time, those perpetual games are worth considering in the year they came out if they're up to that bar. Part of that for me is that it can be hard to draw the line between how the game is and how it will evolve. Smash Bros. is how it is today, and is great. But we have no idea how it'll evolve with updates and such. Artifact, same way. But I think there's major achievement in launching strong enough for GOTY consideration, and ALSO achievement in evolving your game to that level. I think games can be worthy of both.

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                December 31, 2018 5:01 PM

                Certainly. I just stick "eternal multiplayer" games in their own slot. For me its Smash Ultimate followed closely by MtG Arena.

                Arena also gets my "I can't believe Wizards made a great PC game" award. They didn't make something that's "great for Wizards", they made something that is great Full Stop. After the disaster that is everything they've ever released I still can't believe it.

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        December 31, 2018 4:47 PM

        If the shack staff paid more attention to PC in general they'd likely have found a lot of their favorites from this year earlier. Fine either way but a lot of great indies come to PC first as early access titles.

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        January 1, 2019 3:02 AM

        Such a strange attitude to have. What does it matter?

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      December 31, 2018 2:42 PM

      Sea of Thieves? Really?

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        December 31, 2018 3:10 PM

        Yea, I wouldn't think this belongs on the list, so many better games! Oh well,opinions!

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        December 31, 2018 3:16 PM

        They must really like both types of skeletons.

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        December 31, 2018 4:49 PM

        I was so looking forward to SoT but it just didn't have any depth when I played it. Maybe it's filled out some since launch, I hope it has but I haven't really heard that it has. Great foundation to build on if nothing else. If thet don't make it I hope someone else copies the idea and runs with it.

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        December 31, 2018 6:20 PM

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        December 31, 2018 6:31 PM

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      December 31, 2018 3:04 PM

      Best PC game of the year doesn't even make it on the list when Sea Of Thieves does... lol

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        December 31, 2018 3:05 PM

        Which is also available on consoles. Doesn't make sense.

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          December 31, 2018 3:46 PM

          Cross platform is real. Makes exclusives that much harder to pinpoint.

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            December 31, 2018 4:51 PM

            Which is a great thing for the market in general. I'm just always confused why so many game journos turn their nose up at PC especially if they have the hardware. Just means less articles I'm interested in unfortunately since I likely heard about or played the games months or years earlier when they launched on PC.

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      December 31, 2018 3:09 PM

      That's an interesting first choice

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      December 31, 2018 3:10 PM

      I was surprised by the number 1. I didn't think there were too many people that held Spider-Man in such high regard.

      I was also surprised to see no shooters on the list. That's indicative of the year, though.

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        December 31, 2018 4:28 PM

        The sequel to 2016 GOTY DOOM is out in 2019!

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      December 31, 2018 4:16 PM

      Good list. A little surprised spiderman was #1 instead of God of War, but i'm okay with that. I just picked it up and am excited to start playing it!

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      December 31, 2018 4:26 PM

      Great list! Looks like your staff and I line up fairly well. Kind of surprised not to see more indies on there--this was a banner year for the small dev--but everything on there feels worthy of inclusion!

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        December 31, 2018 4:32 PM

        Indies killed it this year, IMHO better than the majority of AAAs that came out.

        The indie category at The Game Awards was absolutely loaded. Celeste, Dead Cells, Into The Breach, Return Of The Obra Dinn, The Messenger, all bangers.

        Of that list the only one I didn't care for is The Messenger, and that's entirely on me because I know a lot of people enjoyed that game. Celeste and Hollow Knight set the bar unfairly high this year so I reckon The Messenger suffered in my eyes for that.

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          December 31, 2018 4:37 PM

          Most of the hype I saw around The Messenger died a week after release as people got to the second half of the game. I haven't played it, but I know about it in vague terms. I also saw a bunch of articles recently highlighting how much people loved the first half, but fell off for the second. Its exclusion feels pretty justified at this point, even if it may be a great game regardless.

          Either way, yeah, this year has been stupidly good for indies. Almost all the AAA games were variations on open worlds, some far better than others, so it seemed like it was up to indie games to make something that felt focused and resonant.

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            December 31, 2018 4:40 PM

            My problem is that I didn't care for the first half either. I didn't see what everyone else saw in it so my opinion was lower than most right off the bat. Oh well!

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              December 31, 2018 4:43 PM

              It's all good. I mean, I hated RDR2 by about the 4th act, and it's on plenty of lists (though with some surprising omissions). Different tastes!

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                December 31, 2018 4:49 PM

                I hated Red Dead 2. The longer I played it the more I hated it. Maybe Rockstar should do a Netflix show, it seems that's what they want to do.

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                  December 31, 2018 4:52 PM

                  Amen. RDR2 was like a 3-season TV show carelessly stretched out to 8, with an entire run of DBZ's sawdust filler thrown in for good measure.

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                  December 31, 2018 5:21 PM

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                    December 31, 2018 5:31 PM

                    I liked RDR at the time, mainly because of its lovely setting and how hard it leaned into aping Leone and Peckinpah. I'd have no patience for it now (because its yet another Rockstar game) but at the time it was an interesting change from GTA.

                    Its the same thing with Uncharted 2. At the time I liked it because of how hard they went with its presentation. Now that the novelty is gone all that's left is Naughty Dog's shitty gameplay. I hated Uncharted 4 and I sure as hell don't like RDR2

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          December 31, 2018 4:53 PM

          PSA: The Messenger is still free on twitch prime for the rest of the day FYI

          I just started playing it today because of that.

          https://blog.twitch.tv/twitch-prime-holiday-surprise-get-seven-free-bonus-games-with-the-devolver-digital-holiday-pack-d5b0b3100415

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      December 31, 2018 4:46 PM

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      December 31, 2018 4:52 PM

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      December 31, 2018 5:01 PM

      Not my list but that's okey dokey, Dead Cells, RDR2 and Tetris are all solid and I'm looking forward to trying out Spiderman when there's a good sale price.

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      January 1, 2019 12:29 AM

      Excellent list!

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      January 1, 2019 3:04 AM

      Great list and good year for video games.

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        January 1, 2019 3:14 AM

        Each site has a different GOTY. EG said Tetris Effect, EG Readers and IGN God of War, PC Gamer Into the Breach... I consider that a great sign, both that it was a strong year but also that amazing indie games can get enough profile and recognition to go toe to toe with big publisher-funded games.

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