Red Dead enough said.

Other: Wreckfest.
Leaving “Early Access” in 2018 counts as a 2018 release right?

A lot of the games I enjoyed from 2018 I can’t particularly recommend for preservation in these polls.
However Wreckfest really is something. The mobile and Switch ports are pretty darn good too!

It has a simcade feel to it that I found fun with a mix of gravel and tarmac surfaces. The Rally Trophy and FlatOut pedigree shine through for a fun banger racing game with good variety of tracks, vehicles and some derby arenas.
It’s great for a laugh when the physics system does something unexpected without breaking the game and you get a spectacular crash or a little man punted 9 metres/30 feet off his lawnmower. Really shines in online multiplayer with friends.

Other: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Official voting is now over for 2018.  The 2018 Game of the Year is Super Smash Bros Ultimate and the runner up is God of War.

Voting was extremely close for 2018 with SSBU just barely edging out God of War.  God of War was recognized by the gaming community in 2018, but I think SSBU was ignored largely because it was a December release.  (Some Game of the Year awards don't even consider December releases.)  However, looking back it should be obvious just how monumental SSBU is.  I personally think Ultimate is the right word for it, because I think it has surpassed every previous Smash game, and I also think Nintendo is going to have a hard top creating another fighting game that is equal to or better than SSBU.  I would not be surprised if it remains the go to fighting game for most fighting game fans for many years to come.

Hey, remember a couple days ago when I promised to expand on my take on 2018 in gaming? Well I'm finally getting around to it this evening. Sorry about the delay. 'Twas Christmas-related, ya know how it goes.

I remember 2018 as the year when the Switch started getting a TON of indie games and I quickly amassed an extensive library of such ports, including a number I'd missed before, like Hyper Light Drifter and Transistor. In terms of actual new games though, Celeste was really something special.

Celeste is a puzzle-platforming game about navigating depression and anxiety; conditions that I've lived with varying degrees of for the vast majority of my life and were acutely pronounced at the time with the passing of my mom months earlier. In the game, main protagonist Madeline has set out to climb the mysterious Celeste Mountain in order to regain self-esteem. Along the way, she meets a range of characters who symbolize various challenges she's confronting along the way: the spirit of the mountain itself, her social anxiety, and, perhaps most significantly of all, a manifestation of her own depression in the form of a doppleganger the internet has dubbed Badeline. Badeline, who claims to represent the "pragmatic part" of Madeline, tries repeatedly to stop her and discourage her progression in cruel ways, hurting others around her in the process.

The game is not subtle about its message, but it is very honest and deeply caring, in large part, I think, because it reflected the lead developers' own concurrent experience with depression and anxiety rather than the consultation of experts on the subject or something.

BPD defines much of my own struggle for mental wellness. It's almost always caused by childhood trauma and what it feels like to me is like being 75% of a person. I never feel completely whole. It's like there's always a part of me that's supposed to be there, but just isn't. It just never got developed, so I never fully grew up. I need someone else there to fill in the gaps in my personality. That's what it feels like anyway, and it's a condition that doesn't lend itself to much self-confidence, though it can and has led me to some pretty reckless risk-taking for lack of a sense of purpose or direction. Depressive tendencies are a natural outgrowth. The toughest part of it all though is accepting the reality that you can't just go back to the way you were before, but have to learn to live with and manage where you are now. You have to forgive yourself for being depressed and (the real challenge) learn to love and accept your whole self, not just the pretty parts. Easier said (and portrayed in a video game) than done, but Celeste is a journey that marries its challenges to this thematic direction in such an organic way that it magnificently captures the feel of Madeline's climb toward better mental health. Accomplishing things you doubt your ability to will indeed shift your perception of what you can do. And then the next day you may feel like you've fallen all the way back to square one and just want to give up. But the fact is that that good day you had is progress!

Celeste is also outstanding just as a game too. The challenge is extremely stiff, geared to platforming veterans (which I would shamelessly consider myself), but also fair. The controls are kept simple and manageable and are also the most precise that I've ever felt in a platforming game before. Design-wise, I'd characterize Celeste, in fact, as the best-made platforming game I've ever played before. Best of all, the challenge consistently derives from a combination of puzzle-solving and actual platforming. The game doesn't recourse to cheaper options like just throwing more enemies at you as you progress. In fact, there are almost no enemy characters in this game at all...

There's also just something I find highly endearing about its adorable art style and delightfully retro-inspired graphics and ambient chiptunes-inspired soundtrack. It all makes for a delightfully comforting presentation.

The broader list of my 2018 favorites looks like this:

2. God of War
3. A Case of Distrust
4. Return of the Obra Dinn
5. The Messenger
6. Donut County
7. Florence
8. Deltarune (Chapter 1)
9. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The others here though don't quite make my personal top 50 favorites even though they're all very good games. Well, to be fair, Return of the Obra Dinn and God of War have in the past at least and fall close to that territory for me still.

Thank you for sharing your experience of BPD. I think that’s impressive that you can share it an understandable way.
I have my own frustrating mix of mental illness and difficulties, but I honestly don’t usually like talking about it.

I had a neighbour with experience of BPD and it was nice to visit her and her family when I was allowed to on her good days. I still miss those people. I shared a fondness for Super Nintendo and retro inspired side scrolling and isometric shooters with her partner. They were fun to play Enter the Gungeon with and I got them into Mighty Gunvolt Burst.

Thanks so much for you kind words! As someone who's been in close contact with somebody dealing with BPD before, you're no doubt aware of how important those can be.

And I hear you. We've all got our own ways of dealing with mental illness. When I was younger, I often found it easier to feign invulnerability, but have gradually gotten used to talking things out and found it cleansing to do so, at least in environments where it's safe to do so. (And it never feels truly safe anywhere somehow. It does always feel like one is taking a risk of facing unwelcome judgment everywhere. But safer is what I mean.) When I'm talking about humiliating experiences like rape or having to acknowledge the fact that I have selfish tendencies because my own problems feel so overwhelming and all-consuming that I just don't have much space left over to take on other people's needs too, it's difficult not to let pride get in the way and just avoid the subject and pretend to be well-balanced. And yet the truth is that I cannot honestly relay why I love certain games, for example, without being open about my mental illness. And that it's also an excuse to talk about what my brain registers as the most important subject in the world: myself and my needs.

I am sorry for always making things about me, by the way. I know that's something I do. I like to convince myself that I'm being compassionate by relating the struggles of others to my own, but the truth is that I always feel like I don't really deserve to exist and like I need constant reassurance to the contrary; a steady stream of attention, sympathy, and validation that's parasitic and not reasonable to expect of people. All I can do is try to stretch myself to be more fair and reasonable.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is thanks for supplying a listening ear. (Er, reading eyes. You get what I mean.) And it sounds like you have good taste in games.

In response to your critique of yourself I don’t notice you writing selfishly noticeably more than anyone else.
We all have our own little ways of doing it.

As far as gaming experience I’m still figuring out how to take part in it more again more with my presumably temporary nervous system disorder and other issues, but it’s still been nice to jump around the home screen in Pico Park to relax. Or enjoy the occasional Mario Kart night with auto-steer. Playing Tears of the Kingdom with my partner was really nice. Very special. I didn’t have the stamina for an epic, but I was there beside her for most of it as we figured it out. Mostly just occasionally taking over for little bits of combat that my experience with Breath of the Wild helped out with. Or being silly when she left the game alone for a bit and came back to me sticking tumbleweed statues together.
Good fun.

Pico Park sounds like a wonderfully calming game. I have a library of relaxation games myself just 'cause, yeah, sometimes you just need a stress-free experience. All the best to you in rediscovering how to enjoy gaming under the circumstances. *snickers* Sounds like you're starting to find some fun ways.