Forbidden West it is. I haven't played AC VI yet either.

You have done Mr Meat Loaf and Mr Jim Steinman proud and surpassed their hit - three out of three ain't bad

Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

Is it too early to call this a classic?

I feel like Metroid Dread cemented itself as one of the best games in the series pretty much from the moment it came out. Not gonna lie, making a follow-up to a 19-year-old beloved classic made by a different studio sounds like a truly thankless job, but somehow MercurySteam pulled it off masterfully, and people were very thankful (well, maybe not so much their employees, but let's not get into that now...). There were so many ways in which this could've gone wrong, or felt forced, which so often happens when fans of a series get to work on said series, but Dread never wastes time on self-indulgence. This is Metroid 5 and, apart from the massive technological gap between it and its predecessors, feels exactly like what a Metroid 5 developed by the same team in the 2000s would've been like. Everything just feels so right.

And like with every other mainline Metroid game, this also feels so unique. That's something I really adore about this series, all the games have their own unique vibe. This could've so easily turned out like a "Super Metroid spiritual sequel" in its tone, because that's the vibe people associate with the franchise the most, but instead it takes you in a completely different direction aesthetically, with the Chozo tech-heavy planet of ZDR not being "Chozo planet" enough to feel like Zebes and not tech-heavy enough to feel like the BSL Station. No, ZDR feels like its own place entirely, and the vibe when around the EMMI robots is genuinely so... cold. Really, the whole game feels cold. And let's not even get into the boss battles cause oh boy did this game get those right. The final battle fucking blew my mind.

Okay I'm just rambling. tl;dr: I love this game.

FULL LIST >>

Gonna drop a hint for tomorrow's game. Think I'll be doing them one at a time from now on, cause by this point in the list, every game deserves their own time in the spotlight

#13 - A beloved cult classic many thought was never getting a sequel, but just had a sequel announced on the day of its 10th anniversary.

Current list - https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread/248646/post-only-once-the-official-thread-the-15th-annual-greatest-games-event/4/#4

23 - Banjo-Kazooie
- One of the titular characters in this 3D platformer first appeared in another game of a different genre.
- This character can take flight in both this game and the other game mentioned above, although the method in which he does so is different.
- Both of the titular characters are named after musical instruments.

22
- The name of the NTSC version of this game is surely a reference to a legendary heavy metal album... I mean, after all, both this game and the front cover (and title track) of that album are based on Ancient Egypt.
- The recent remaster combined the name of the NTSC and PAL releases in quite a clever way.
- A ‘90s first person shooter that requires you to collect artifacts that enable you to reach previously inaccessible areas and level exits.

21 - Donkey Kong Country
- You can see the site of the final conflict draw closer and closer with each world you complete.
- Takes place on an island shaped like the head of the titular character.
- A reptilian foe has stolen the hero’s hoard of favourite fruit.

17
- This fan favourite got put back in the spotlight this year, exposing it to a far larger audience than when it was first released.

16
- This sequel is a more action packed, combat heavy experience than the first game.

15 - Yoshi's Woolly World
- This game was ported from a home console to a handheld system, with the title of the port adding the name of another character in the game.

#15

Change YoY: +1   My Rating: 9.4 / 10

Horizon Forbidden West is one of the best open world games ever made. I loved the first game already, the setting and characters it introduced us to, the beautiful visuals and excellent music, as well as the gameplay elements that allowed for various different ways of tackling combat encounters. In Forbidden West all of those elements are still in place, just ever so slightly improved and polished even further. Had it not been for another game released the same year, this would now be my new favourite open world game ever. Alas, just like the first game was sadly overshadowed by Breath of the Wild, Forbidden West suffered similarly thanks to Elden Ring, which I will talk about later. The setting remains one of my personal favourite worlds in any video game, the intricate history that is unveiled over time providing a wonderful backdrop to your adventure. This also felt like a fitting continuation to the first game, as the truths Aloy learned in Zero Dawn drive her to seek further answers in entirely new places and engaging with ever increasing threats.

Speaking of, the characters, Aloy first and foremost, are still great. I find Aloy to be one of my favourite characters in video games, and the rest of the cast is excellent as well, both the returning familiar faces and the new additions. I very much enjoyed spending time with them at various points in the game, whether during quests or just sitting back to hang around at their base camp to learn more about them as people. The gameplay also saw various new additions, with new weapons, many new enemy types, and more elements added to make it ever more varied than before. This is also an absolutely gorgeous game, and the soundtrack is one of the best of recent years.

While the first game felt like Aloy's journey to discover the history of the world and the truth behind what led to its current situation, as well as finding out about her own past, Forbidden West was much more about her learning to trust others and forging closer relationships with people, though still obviously also fighting to save the world at large. Just as much as the game was about tackling these dangers, it was about Aloy coming to terms with the fact she couldn't do everything on her own, that she had to trust others to help her. This is also a significant element in the game's excellent expansion, The Burning Shores, where most of the runtime is spend working together with another character who ends up becoming very important indeed to Aloy by the end of that story.

#14

Change YoY: +1   My Rating: 9.4 / 10

Final Fantasy VIII is probably the most divisive main entry in the whole series. While every game in the franchise has both its fans and detractors, there's usually at least some level of consensus when it comes to the general opinion the fanbase has on any given game. You can usually expect to see certain games at or near the top of any list of the best FF games, if not necessarily in the same order, regardless of who makes it, just with one common exception. Opinions regarding Final Fantasy VIII vary wildly from person to person, some considering it the best in the whole series, while others put it at the bottom of the list. I don't belong to either group, though obviously going by this ranking you can probably guess that I see it as an excellent game, though not quite the best in the series. I'd say it's roughly on par with VI and VII, and a little behind two others I'll be talking about later.

Final Fantasy VIII was the first game in the series I ever played, though I had seen someone else play VII before that, so I wasn't really sure what to expect from it. I was very new to JRPGs in general at the time, having only played a few of them on the SNES at one of my friend's, and none to completion. As a result, Final Fantasy VIII was very much like stepping into an entirely new world for me when it came to video games. From the moment the first notes of 'Liberi Fatali' hit and that opening cinematic started, I was hooked. I had simply never seen anything quite like it before, and to this day it remains one of my favourite intros to any video game. 

In general, the music was something that immediately stood out to me from the game. Each new track was just perfect for the moment and location it played in, hitting an early game crescendo with The Landing-cutscene, and only really improving from there all the way to the very end. The rest of the elements, from the story to the characters and gameplay slowly fell into place over time, and by the end it had became my then-favourite game of all time. Obviously, other titles have since overtaken it, but this is one of the games that I can still go back and replay without any problems whenever I feel like it, which is something I did just last year with the Remastered version. The game still holds up remarkably well, and with the improved graphics the remaster is a great way to experience the game, though it does have some minor issues that were not present in the original that bothered me slightly.

Slow couple of days here, I guess. I'll get started with clues for my top ten. Just two games at a time now, let's see if I can make these a bit more challenging.

#10

• Sun and Night in Okinawan

#9

• Night of the Black Knives

23: Banjo-Kazooie

21: Donkey Kong Country

15: Uhm.. Yoshi's Woolly World?

9 - Elden Ring!