It’s the absolutely disturbing yet overly beautiful world of mysticism that is portrayed in Nioh that will enrapture players as they go through this surprisingly lengthy RPG. Taking down monsters from Japanese folklore, William as a character isn’t the biggest draw to the game, but his real-life encounters with Japanese figures puts an interesting twist on the blend of fiction and history. It may be similar to Dark Souls in its formula, but it’s actually far more original than it appears.

While they’re primarily known for fast-paced character action games and bodacious fighters, the studio perfectly altered things for a post-Dark Souls world. Team Ninja really hit it out of the park this year. It was a hard-fought battle, but without further adieu, here’s our top 10 games: Both the nominees and winner were not taken lightly, having to exemplify the best of gaming to be named. That’s right, it’s the end of the road folks and time for us to award our greatest honor: Game of the Year. Kratos will never be the same – and neither will the series.After revealing our rewards during the past several days, the grandaddy of them all has finally come. Five years in the making, God of War marks a fresh start for a franchise that now has the potential to go anywhere. With a narrative that made grown gamers weep (thanks, Matt Sophos), director Cory Barlog reinvented the game - from the open-world setting to the very fighting mechanics - and brought humanity to a character forever reconciling with his (and the series') inner demons. To honor his late wife, Kratos vowed to spread her ashes from the highest peak, kickstarting an odyssey across lush, mythic realms with his son, Atreus.Ī giant World Serpent, vengeful Gods, and Hannibal-istic visions of antlered dark elves satiate the player's battle thirst but never taint the story's emotional center: that of a father struggling to keep his child untouched by the evils of his own past.

Burying his chained blades - a symbol of a savage history - the antihero faced his biggest battle yet: fatherhood. Where previous games featured overt misogyny and controversial quests, this next chapter served as a soft reboot for the Ghost of Sparta, transplanting Kratos from Ancient Greece to the land of Vikings. The God of War franchise confronted its troublesome past this year and delivered the most unexpected console entry of 2018.

The best games of 2017 2018