Alex's Games of 2023

We're doing things slightly differently this time. For various reasons that I'll soon get into, I was in an odd place when it came to games in 2023. So instead of the standard list of ten games, I'm going to take you through my year in gaming roughly chronologically - but don't worry, along the way I'll share some recommendations, and you'll get that top ten by the end.

Alex's Top Ten Games of 2022

Thought you were going to get away without hearing about my favourite games in the past year? Think again.

Alex's Top Ten Games of 2021

...And here we are again. Whatever may have gone on in your past year, rest assured that as always, I have played some video games, and at least ten are worth rambling about! Let's get straight into it.

Alex's Top 10 Games of 2020

 

Well... that was fast. Perhaps I can tempt you into reading on by promising this opening to be the last reference to 2020's C-word. One way or another, I had ample opportunities for playing games this year - here are ten of my favourites.

Arjun's Game Awards 2020: Best Football Game

Despite barely watching any football or caring too much about it beyond how Leicester City are doing, I find football games to be perfect to play in the background while listening to a podcast or watching something on another screen. But this year has changed us all.

If I were to give this award every year, it would go to FIFA for the last seven. I could have switched to Pro Evolution Soccer if it weren't for FIFA 17, 18 & 19 providing a large narrative campaign called the Journey which involved Alex Hunter and followed by his half-sister and on-again-off-again friend/rival. While it wasn't anything groundbreaking, it made you feel somewhat invested.

This was replaced by a street football campaign of Volta which felt more like some cutscenes between picking which region of the world you were going to win with flip-flaps and step-overs while meeting famous street players like *checks notes* Jayzinho?! 

Ultimately, it didn't carry the same human-interest that The Journey had. With continuing drive towards FIFA Ultimate Team's loot box driven play and Pro Evolution Soccer also taking a year off with only a roster update 2020 may point to a nadir in football games in recent history. 

Until...

Alex's Top 10 Games of 2019

Well, here we are again. Another year passed, insert your "I feel so old" anecdote here. It's been an interesting year in gaming for me. The previous couple of years had so many quality titles, I've spent quite a lot of my time catching up on gems I didn't get round to in the year of their release - however, as you'll see in the list below, I didn't spend 2019 living completely in the past.

Speaking of which, this is of course also the conclusion of a decade - I'll have some retrospective thoughts on that in a separate update quite soon (that's right - two blog posts in the same year).

Alex's Top 10 Games of 2018

Here we are again. Another year has passed and, unsurprisingly, I have at least ten games to talk about. Let the (discussion of said) games begin!