Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

So, just like every year since I first played it, the #30 spot goes to Hades... II?

...Yeah. The spot regularly occupied by Hades on these lists is now taken by its sequel - which means the original Hades finally moved from its spot!

I admit, though, I played Hades II for roughly 40 hours and spent a majority of those hours thinking I would rank this higher - if not much higher - than its predecessor. This game feels like such a huge upgrade over the original, really: the weapons and their aspects feel much more varied in gameplay, there's new charge attacks for every move, the gameplay is way more diverse with two whole paths you can take each night, the artstyle was somehow made even more beautiful, the soundtrack kicks just as much ass if not more, and the story felt way more ambitious with much more at stake.

So, what happened? Well... maybe Supergiant bit off more than they could chew. For most of those 40 hours, I was eagerly looking forward to seeing how things would conclude, how they were going to wrap up such a thrilling story whilst still keeping the door open for more gameplay, since this is a roguelike and all. I had maybe a blind faith that they were going to find a way to write a satisfying ending, but the reality is, they didn't. They couldn't write a good ending without compromising the roguelike nature of the game, so instead, they compromised the story - and that's considering I saw the post-patch version of it! (Yes, the original ending got so much backlash, they reworked it within a month of the game's release.)

I didn't think the ending would bother me that much, but since seeing the credits roll, to the sound of this awesome song, I have barely played Hades II, and even thought about replaying the original from the start to see how that story fares in comparison. The sad reality is, for as kickass as this game is, it just feels a little off after seeing the ending. I'm sure I'll get over it at some point and continue to enjoy it for everything else it does right, but I'm not sure I'll ever fully shake off the disappointment of seeing such an amazing game fumble it at the last hurdle.

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Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

As I sit here writing this, possibly less than a week away from getting my hands on Metroid Prime 4, itself so largely criticized for being overly linear and handholdy with a robot that keeps telling you what to do, I can't help but think of the strong parallels with Metroid (not Prime) 4. Fusion was long criticized for pretty much all of the exact same things, and even despite it being more widely beloved nowadays, I still see that kind of criticism towards it at times. Now I'm not saying Prime 4 will be nearly as great a game as Fusion is, but well, I'm going into that with an open mind. I went into Fusion with an open mind and found an incredible game I will always love. And for the time being, it remains my favourite out of the "non big three" Metroid games.

...You know what those "big three" are. I always rank them near each other towards the end of this event.

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Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

Every year-end here on VGC, I end up making one of these Top 50 lists. And every year, when time comes to write about these games, there's one that makes me go "what the fuck happened here". This year, Astral Chain is the prized one.

This is a game I absolutely fucking love, and have recommended to so many people over the years. A game I've spent dozens of hours into and genuinely enjoyed every single one of them. A game I consider by no means perfect, yet will always be near and dear to me. A game I keep wishing for a sequel to, one that seems unlikely to ever come.

Since it came out in 2019, Astral Chain has made my Top 20 four times, with it going even as high as #14 when I replayed it during the pandemic. The simple reason as to why it's been going down since then is just... I haven't replayed it. And I'll be real, the main thing keeping me from replaying it is that framerate. PlatinumGames somehow made it work, but 30fps for a game like this is just sad. Come on Nintendo, give us the Switch 2 patch already.

Anyway, that's a lot of words I just wrote without saying a thing about the actual game. What do I have to say about the game, though? It's awesome. It has the most fun gameplay I've ever gotten my hands on. Everything about it feels raw, visceral, flashy and punchy. And it plays unlike anything else I've ever played. The world and setting is super cool, I wish we'd got to see more of it. The story is a bit cliché anime stuff, but still hits hard at times. I don't know man. Astral Chain rules, and it needs more love. I'm sorry for ranking it so "low" this year, but hey, I still love it.

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Guessed by @drbunnig

If Astral Chain was my "what the fuck happened here" for this year, then A Link to the Past would be the equivalent of that but over the last few years. This used to be my unequivocal favourite game of all time before I played through Skyward Sword in 2013. Since then, and in my first many years of doing these lists, it was a shoe-in for a Top 10 position, only dropping barely out of it to #11 in 2020 - and after that, it only dropped more and more and more.

I don't know what happened, I guess my nostalgia for it just... ran out? This game strongly marked both my young childhood and my teenage years. It was my first experience with a more "story-driven" adventure videogame, and even back when I was a little kid who barely understood a word of English, it sparked a sense of wonder other videogames just didn't come close to. It taught me that this was always going to be the kind of game that resonated with me. The kind that makes you believe in a make-believe world, in make-believe characters, in make-believe stories. The kind where you just lose yourself in a world of fantasy.

I'll always cherish A Link to the Past for being that game for me, even if I don't hold it in as high regard as I used to.

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Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

As I write this shortly after The Game Awards happened, I recall that it was that show that first introduced me to Ori and the Blind Forest. It was nominated for best art direction that year, and I just remember seeing the shortest snippet of gameplay during the nominations, and I was immediately enamoured by it. It won the award of course. I was at a friend's that night, but when I came back home, the first thing I did was to try and get my hands on this game.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for good-looking games.

I didn't expect to be turned into a deeply emotional mess within the first 10 minutes, though.

In many ways, this was the first great indie game for me. I had enjoyed other indie games before it, some of them quite a lot, but I always thought of them as simpler experiences, most indies seemed happy to just replicate a retro style of gaming that had long been forsaken by the industry, but they didn't used to bother much with creating a world or story you cared about. Ori was the game that showed me, yes, indie games can be that as well. They can immerse you in their worlds as much as they can give you fun oldschool gameplay. And in doing so, they can be something entirely new.

Nowadays, most of my favourite games that come out are independent, but that started with Ori. And hell, it even continued with Ori. This little spirit will always be in my heart.

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Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

In the year its sequel comes out, Hades finally moves out of its regular #30 spot, and five whole spots higher! I... didn't want to be ranking this higher than its sequel, but I think after seeing Supergiant fumble the sequel's story, I've grown a lot more respect for Zagreus' quest. And really, there was just something more badass about fighting your way through the underworld only to fight your father on the surface - knowing you were about to see each other again in the underworld. Compared to its sequel, this story felt much more focused on the beings of the Greek underworld rather than those of Olympos, and the narrative felt more cohesive as a result - as did the atmosphere as a whole. The gameplay is definitely not as varied, and certain areas get old after playing them for long enough, but I never tired of using the most broken builds on the Adamant Rail - god, what a fun weapon. I never tired of becoming a blade rift to kill my dad, heh!

I don't know man, this game was just wild. I think it'll stand the test of time better than its sequel, and it'll be remembered as a classic. If nothing more, I thank Hades - and Hades II - for making Greek mythology cool, something I used to think impossible.

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Guessed by @drbunnig

Ocarina of Time's position on these rankings has been a funny one. It's been hovering at more or less the same position ever since I started doing these, eleven years ago. So many games came and went while this firmly stood its ground. So much so, I went back through the lists and counted them:

A whopping 12 games that have been ranked higher than Ocarina of Time are now gone from my list entirely.
Another 11 games that ranked higher than it are currently ranked lower than it.

It's funny to think that that adds up to 23 games I've "regretted" ranking above Ocarina of Time, seeing as it now stands at #24. Shouldn't it be #1? Heh.

Seriously though this game is amazing, and has had real staying power in my head. Young me would consider it beyond sacrilegious of me to put this above A Link to the Past, as it always bothered me how much credit people gave to Ocarina of Time for things A Link to the Past had previously established. But I've grown to accept that, even if it's not as formula-defining for the series as it's made out to be, Ocarina of Time is still one of the best at executing that formula.

All that said, the first third of the game still sucks.

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Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

I've always said I don't have a strong feeling of nostalgia for the games of my childhood like other people do, but in recent years, I realized something: I do feel a strong nostalgia for games of the past, when I was younger, when things were simple. Only the time period I tend to feel nostalgic for was when I was a young adult, the mid 2010s, maybe because that was the time in my life when I truly got to choose which games to play, which experiences to put myself through, and really allow myself to decide my own tastes and opinions - because when I was a kid, I kinda just followed along with whatever my older brother liked. I think that's normal for younger siblings, right?

Anyway, one game my brother played a big role in getting me to experience was Pokémon - the first two generations, specifically. He traded our SNES for a GBC, which bothered me because it meant I couldn't finish A Link to the Past, but it meant I got to play Pokémon. I started with Red, which was so fun and is still nostalgic, but admittedly a patchy start for the series. Then, my brother borrowed Silver from a friend of his, and... yeah, it was an experience I'll never forget. This game blew my child self away, and in many ways it still does. It's hard to believe how much content and polish this has for the hardware it came out in - no small thanks to the late Satoru Iwata for that - and it truly felt like a big evolution for this series.

More than anything though, Pokémon Gold & Silver are the outliars in that they are games I still feel deeply nostalgic for, despite being from my young childhood rather than my young adulthood.

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Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

It may not seem it at first, but this game has so many parallels with a certain French-developed game... I'm not saying which! Spoilers and all.

In fact, I might as well not say anything about Nier: Automata at all, because it's almost impossible to talk about what makes this game great without spoiling it for those who haven't played it. Just rest assured, if you haven't tried it yet, you're in for one of the greatest stories ever told in this medium... and one of the greatest soundtracks, too! What more could I ask from a game, really.

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Guessed by @drbunnig

I've disrespected The Wind Waker for too long on these.

Sure, I think it's kinda silly how it keeps getting Top 5 on the overall results every year - and maybe having hosted the event for so many years, there was a sense of me trying to "manipulate" the results with my own list, like trying to make things look less biased, heh. And yeah, it's a little silly to say I "disrespected" it given it's not even that much higher this year compared to previous years, but this is the highest I've ranked it since 2017. And why did I rank it so high this time? Well, it's because... this game is amazing.

Well, I did watch a youtuber play through it earlier this year, and just like every time I ever see anything from this game, it kinda opens my eyes again to how incredible it is. I've long criticized it for having bad dungeons, and I still stand by that, the dungeons are crap, but this has an extremely strong art style, one of the most awe-inspiring soundtracks ever, and one of the best stories in the Zelda series, complete with an extremely iconic opening and ending. Despite how much I love this series, it's rare that they both start and end well, but Wind Waker does that. Sure, it flounders a bit in the middle, but who cares. I do take some issue with how Zelda is portrayed in this, but it's not a dealbreaker.

Maybe this ranks high on the overall results for a reason, yeah?

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