Correct on all, 36 is Monster Hhunter World.

Correct.

#43

Change YoY: -3   My Rating: 9.1/10

There was a time once when real-time strategy was perhaps my favourite genre of video games, with series like Command & Conquer, KKND, Age of Empires, Starcraft, Warcraft, Total Annihilation, and many others occupying much of my gaming time. Out of all of them, the two that always stood out were Command & Conquer and Total Annihilation. They were the ones I spent by far the most time playing, and the ones that I still go back to play every once in a while. In terms of gameplay, Total Annihilation feels decidedly old-school today, but that's a large part of why I like it so much. There's still some level of complexity to it, but not too much to the point that playing becomes exhausting and focused too heavily on micromanaging everything. The music by Jeremy Soule is also excellent, creating just the kind of epic atmosphere perfectly suited for galactic warfare. 

In some aspects, Total Annihilation does show its age, the graphics are naturally dated by today's standards considering it was released 25 years ago and it was one of the first games of its genre to go full 3D, and the AI can be quite frustratingly stupid at times, but unlike so many other games of the era I can still go back and play it without issue and have a fun time.This is especially true if you have others to play with you, as these multiplayer matches can result in some of the most ridiculously massive battles I've ever seen in any RTS game, especially if you've installed some mods that raise the unit limit into the thousands per side. When you have five different players launching their attacks on each other at about the same time, the resulting chaos is something quite amazing to behold, and almost impossible to control, and nearly as difficult to survive.

Somehow I missed a couple of days, so here's #45 thru #42 in rapid succession.

45. Pokemon Snap (N64)

It's an on rail shooter for pacifists, with the photography focus being a good way of making players experiment with multiple playthroughs on the admittedly low number of courses. The game also deserves credit for bringing many Pokemon to 3D for the first time and having them act and react to stimuli in a believable fashion.

44. Hyrule Warriors (Wii U & Switch)

A good slice of fan service built on a foundation of addictive Warriors gameplay and with a massive amount of content to work away at. Tying most of the game's content to retro-styled World Maps is a great way to help visualize one's progress. Play it on the Switch to get the 200+ hours of bonus content.

43. Civilization IV (PC)

This game would have been rated higher a few years ago, but my taste in strategy games has changed a bit. Nevertheless, this is a solid turn-based strategy game that is fairly approachable for its history coat of paint, yet deep enough to play for years.

42. Batman: Arkham City (Wii U & PC)

I don't often play open world action-adventures, but I like this one's relatively condensed world, fairly fluid movement, and beat em up gameplay. A great use of the Batman IP.

Strongly considering restructuring my list midway through for the first time. I feel like I half-assed my theme of nostalgic games (the top 40 is pretty much an ordinary list) which feels a bit unsatisfying since I probably won't be making a list like that again. Not sure I'll have time for as big write-ups as usual either so would be nice to at least make the list unique. If I do restructure I guess I would leave the guessed games guessed wherever they end up and otherwise start from the bottom with my hints.

Just do what works for you.

I'm getting some good work done on my graphics (finally!) and should hopefully manage to do the big post tomorrow. Just before that, someone needs to guess my #43! (and I'll throw in a hint for #40 too, since it's coming up)

#43 - This sidescroller was much maligned for forcing you to constantly stop, wait, and press X.
Hint 2 - The next game by this studio kept this mechanic (but fine-tuned it) for their next entry, which became a beloved game in this series.
Hint 3 - Like the original, this remake has you exploring deeper and deeper into a cave system, killing all 40 of a specific creature inside.

#40 - She has nightmare eyes!

Thanks

43) Ahh that kind of press X! Metroid Samus Returns. I actually liked it though it was perhaps a bit overdone, not every enemy needed to be "counterable"

#42

Change YoY: NEW!   My Rating: 9.1 / 10

The two A Plague Tale games have been one of the biggest positive surprises of recent years, at least to me personally. The first game certainly looked very promising from the moment it was first revealed, but I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did, as it was in my top 50 up until last year. Then the sequel, which I finally got around to playing earlier this year, turned out to be even better. It continues the story of Amicia, Hugo, and their friends and allies during the time of the Black Plague in France, as they begin to further unravel the truth behind the rat infestation and Hugo's powers, all the while Amicia begins to struggle more and more with her morality as the actions she must take lead her further and further down a path that will only lead to further suffering.

That internal conflict within Amicia is often at the centre of the game's story and drives many of its themes, as she desperately tries to hold on to her humanity while constantly being forced to do increasingly horrible things to survive and keep her brother safe, until eventually the question begins to emerge, is she actually being forced to do these things anymore? Charlotte McBurney's voice performance as Amicia is vital in conveying all of these aspects of the character, and had I played this game back in 2022, I would have without question considered her performance as the best of the entire year in any video game. Of course, there's more to the game than just Amicia's story.

The first game, for all its triumphs, definitely showed the limits of its budget at times. As impressive as the visuals were at times, it was still clearly an indie title, not that I really mind. It's greatest weakness was the combat, which culminated in the final boss battle that was the absolute nadir of the whole game. In the sequel Asobo Studio has made some significant improvements in pretty much every department, or at the very least held up the high standards of the first game. Visually Requiem looks gorgeous, the gameplay has been expanded and has a lot more variety than before, and many of the locations are far more expansive and open than before, though this is still not a proper open-world game. There's really only one section in the game I found to be overly frustrating due to its instant death condition if you get caught, otherwise I enjoyed the vast majority of my experience. The soundtrack is largely of similar quality to the first game, but that just means it's great. 

 Still, it is in its setting, story, and characters that A Plague Tale: Requiem truly shines. The story of the De Rune siblings against the backdrop of a nation suffering through a horrible disease is wonderfully told, and it's the seeming inevitability of tragedy that gives the game its most powerful moments, both joyful and sad, beautiful and bleak, and no moment showcases this in Requiem as well as its ending, which I will not spoil.

We're on day 41 I believe so...

No. 44. Monster Hunter Rise/Sunbreak

MH rise on it's own is spectacular but with Sunbreak it's phenomenal. Insane amounts of content and good content at that, MH as an arcade type experience really works despite it's limitations over world and frankly it was nice to be able to maneuver so fluidly over the tankiness of World. Great game.

No. 43. Granturismo 3

While there are more content filled GT games and GTs with better physics and driving like GT7 I think this is the GT that topped it for me, I spent so much time in this games campaign and it was the last GT campaign I think did the series justice, everything gets messy after this title from putting in two levels of detail on cars in one game to ripping the campaign out entirely in Sport. It never did reach the heights of PS2 and particularly this game despite it being the smallest GT game in scope. 

No. 42 StarCraft

A game that on it's opening level alone would make this spot, which I've replayed many times over the years. Not much to say but that it's the best RTS I've played only rivaled by Warcraft 3 and it is so addictive and content complete that games these days can't even follow it. 

No. 41 Horizon Zero Dawn

Incredible emergent gameplay that at launch was technically well above the system it released on and impressive in almost every regard, even the ubisoft map design felt premium with just enough content and the story while a little predictable still hit well and was paced perfectly. A game that made me think lesser of BoTW as I played this one first. It's sequel can't even compete with it even though it ups the technicals in every regard. A special game that could easily be seen as generic at a glance but manages to excel on areas well enough to make it quite unique, particularly the emergent battles between machines and the joy that higher difficulties bring to those battles. Great Platinum too. 

Finally finished my list! First round of clues:

#50 - This hack-and-slash game picks up where its predecessor left off -- on a literal cliffhanger

#49 - The best Japanese-Spanish collaboration on Switch

#48 - This beloved shmup added the ability to "capture" mid-level bosses, a mechanic that was elaborated upon in the next game

#47 - This 7th gen fighting game has been surpassed in several areas, but not when it comes to its adventure mode

#46 - This game became the most popular title on Xbox Live, until it was unseated by Gears of War

#49: Metroid Dread?

#47: Super Smash Bros Brawl?

50 also feels familiar but can't place it right now.