That's a lot of doubt for 3 perfect guesses :D

lmao I was confident in 25 and 23, but ive never played Stanley Parable, but its the only game I know with a "Stanley" in it 

#24

Change YoY: NEW!   My Rating: 9.3 / 10

By far my most anticipated game of this year, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth more than lived up to the hype as far as I'm concerned. I mentioned when I talked about FFVII Remake that I was cautiously optimistic about the game prior to its launch, and my feelings here were much the same, but for a different reason. This time it was a matter of picking up where the previous game had left off and carrying on without fumbling the ball, and while there are some minor issues to be found, Rebirth is an absolutely brilliant game, and is currently my GotY and the overall second best gaming experience I had this year with a new release, the other being an expansion to an older game.

From the moment you set out into the open world and start to slowly realize just how much content there is in this game, it hooked me and never once lost me. The battle system from Remake is back with some nice improvements, the visuals are just fantastic, and the soundtrack is my favourite of the whole year. Add to that an excellent story that follows many familiar beats from the original, but changes just enough to keep even fans of the original guessing what's going to happen next, and some brilliant character development that fleshes out the main cast even further from the original and adds details that make them wonderfully compelling to follow as the story progresses. Every member of the main cast gets a chance to be in the spotlight, and I never got tired of learning more about them. In addition, I loved the recreations of locations and scenes from the original, and the way the game kept the spirit of those things intact while expanding on many of them in various ways.

The biggest issues I have with the game are the excessive number of minigames for seemingly every occasion, which feel like the developers throwing every single thing they could come up with in the game and just hoping some of them will stick, and the very final section of the game, which I thought was way too overdone in terms of number of battles you needed to fight. The impact of the scene immediately preceding that series of fight was greatly diminished in my mind because you had to spend such a long time fighting one boss fight after another, not to mention if you happened to lose at any point and had to repeat any of them. I know in the original that same scene was followed by a boss battle, but there was only one, and the game made absolutely certain you could not forget what had just happened with its music choice while in Rebirth you just had to focus on far too many things to let the big moment really sink in. There are some other minor issues and strange choices that occasionally show up, but otherwise I enjoyed nearly all of my 100+ hours I spent playing this game. Admittedly, the game didn't need to be that long, but it didn't bother me too much in the end. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is an absolutely incredible game that I will go back and replay at some point, it's just one that has some blemishes on it as well.

So, this year I never had the time to really participate like I used too, but here's a short bit on the first half of my list this year.

Honourable Mentions include (Mostly because I was getting sick of putting the same franchises in over and over again or were just beyond the 9.5 score I use to cut-off this list):

Final Fantasy I, II, III, IV, V - The Pixel Remasters were all phenomenal and held up well. First time beating II, III and V and they all earned their spot)

Demon's Souls - The Remaster helped and I love all of the Fromsouls games except Dark Souls II

Terraria/Minecraft - Not the same game but I had similar experiences with both and they tickled my creativity at the time

The Messenger/Axiom Verge - Pair of indies I loved a LOT when they came out and still do but haven't felt compelled to return to them

Rock Band 1, 2, 3, Lego, Green Day, AC/DC - Rock Band 4 collects all those songs into the most polished version (Sans Pro charts and Keyboard)

Mega Man X4 - Loved it a lot but its bad story/dubbing hurts it a LOT

Mega Man 9/11 - I loved them both but they just barely missed the mark

Assassin's Creed Ezio Trilogy - Loved them all but Black Flag stood out and couldn't decide between II and Brotherhood

Grand Theft Auto Vice City/San Andreas - Loved them both but they're really hard to go back to and the remasters suuuuuucked

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Twilight Princess were omitted because I already had four Zelda games on the list

All the other Pokemon and Ratchet & Clank games were omitted because I already had three of each franchise on the list

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - I love this game more than most but it was replaced by Mario Wonder which is even better

Donkey Kong Country Returns - It is almost tied with Tropical Freeze but I already had 4 DKC games on the list

There are also some games I anticipate will be on next year or the year after if I ever get around to beating them such as Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth, Baldur's Gate III, and Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West. I also expect with repeat play-throughs Elden Ring might actually rise even higher since I'm well over 1,200 hours into that and still wanting to try out new builds and the DLC helped wedge it comfortably in my top 5. 

wrong thread...

No it isn't. I posted the list in the official thread and copied it here specifically for the discussion elements. One for documentation, one for discussion. 

I knew what IW as doing.

If you have not yet tried it out I recommend playing a Link to the Past randomizer. It breath fresh air to the game and for some reason making the games greatness even more apparent. 

#31 The Elder Scrolls 5, Skyrim

This was the first game I played of the modern open world games and also the last one of the genre that I liked. I had a shack near a mountain with a friendly dog where I collected books. Each time I got heavy and could no longer run fast I found my way back there and emptied any new books that I had found. Watching that pile of books that I never read, just collected gave me a strange feeling of wounder for just how much content the game held. 

Today I have come to the realization that I prefer more linear games. Even if I have tried multiple other games where you can go around and explore, taking on so much side-quests that I forget what the main objective is, no other game was fun to me the same way Skyrim was. I have seen no reason to return to the game in ten years, but I did spend a couple of hundred hours collecting books and riding horses up steep mountains. And that counts for something. 

#30 It takes Two

Being able to play games with your wife is special in itself. Being able to play such a fantastic, Co-op focused, varying and innovative title is bliss. Each section offer something unique gameplay wise and the whole game feels unique in the way it designs puzzles completely around teamwork. 

In a world where multiplayer more and more moves away from the couch to the chair for one over the internet, getting this multiplayer game playing from the sofa felt like a rare event. That the gameplay is really good doesn't hurt.