This has been a pretty stacked year for amazing video games. If you’re looking to get a loved one a great video game this holiday season, then look no further. Let’s take a look at some highlight releases from this year.
Borderlands 4
Every time I think I’m out of the looter-shooter genre, Gearbox drops a new Borderlands and pulls me right back in. Gameplay-wise, Borderlands 4 is more of the same, which is actually a massive compliment. You begin your campaign by picking one of four super-powered vault hunters that all come with their own vast skill trees and unique abilities. Each character has three separate skill trees that they can level up freely throughout their playthrough. You can choose to focus on one specific tree to go for a specific build, or you can mix and match between the various trees to make a highly specialized and unique character. With seemingly infinite builds between the playable vault hunters, Borderlands 4 truly feels endless when it comes to replayability.
Spending hours upon hours grinding a boss fight to get their rare 0.5% drop is as entertaining and dopamine-producing as ever. The storytelling tone has really been kicked up compared to the previous game in the series. Gearbox’s trademark blend of cringe and comedy is definitely on display, but it’s not in your face as it was, and I actually found myself getting attached to the characters this time around. Riding around the massive open world on your Hover Drive keeps exploration interesting throughout the whole story. This is also a game that doesn’t feature the fan-favourite villain, Handsome Jack. Losing such an iconic villain meant that there were some pretty big shoes to fill, but the main antagonist really earns his place as a very competent and compelling villain. Borderlands 4 is the best mainline game since Borderlands 2, without a doubt.
You can order Borderlands 4 here.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Ubisoft finally gave fans what they had been begging for for nearly two decades – an Assassin’s Creed game set in feudal Japan! Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes place during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, which just so happened to be the final stage of the Sengoku period, a time when Japan was at a constant internal war. The main protagonists both bring a unique flavour and gameplay experience to the table, totally flipping the traditional Assassin’s Creed formula on its head. While Naoe is closer to the previous protagonists in the series, she’s got enough to set her apart from everyone else. As a ninja surrounded by much larger samurai warriors, she navigates through combat using fast-paced strikes and shinobi tactics that bamboozle the enemies. Yasuke, on the other hand, couldn’t be further from what you’d expect in an Assassin’s Creed game. He is a massive brute force on the battlefield. His overall gigantic stature means that while he can clear a dozen bad guys without any issue, he cannot climb a high wall. Basically, he’s entirely focused on combat, while Naoe is more of a jack-of-all-trades type character.
Japan is a beautiful setting that allows Assassin’s Creed Shadows to shine (pun intended) in every moment. There are so many stunning vistas that halted me in my tracks. I’d often just take a moment to absorb the set-pieces Ubisoft achieved in the open world. I’d also highly recommend playing this in the story’s canonical languages, primarily Japanese and Portuguese. Learning about Yasuke’s past as a slave and how he was traded to Japan by Portuguese traders is seriously interesting and immediately hooked me. Naoe’s struggle to kill everyone involved in the killing of her father is also a deeply gripping story. This is a gift for the open-world-loving history buff in your family!
You can order Assassin’s Creed Shadows here.
Silent Hill f
While we’re on the topic of Japan, I think we’ve gotta talk about Silent Hill f. For the first time in the entire Silent Hill series, we are taking a massive step away from spooky small-town USA and into the streets of 1960s Japan. You play as Hinako, a high-school student who should only have to worry about focusing on homework and making friends, not killing scarecrow monsters. Hinako was brought up in a family that was ripped apart due to her father’s abuse. Her parents’ fighting causes her to flee home and meet up with her closest friends. Seemingly out of nowhere, her town is swallowed by fog, and creatures flood the streets while the rest of the population seems to have vanished.
Silent Hill f‘s graphics are seriously stunning. There is just a thick coat of dread across every colour used in the game. There is an overabundance of greys, reds, and blues that give the game a distinct visual identity, making you feel like you’re never safe. As in the previous entries in the series, the way the protagonist experiences Silent Hill differs from how the other characters do. The people you meet across your journey are all a little off in their own way, which constantly had me questioning just what motives they had and what they were capable of. Silent Hill f proves that sometimes taking a massive swing is totally worth doing. If you’ve got somebody in your life who loves dark and brooding horror, this is for them!
You can order Silent Hill f here.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
I envy you if you haven’t played this game. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 absolutely blew up in the gaming zeitgeist in ways that developers can only dream of. This French RPG about the value of life and a shrinking human population took me on a roller coaster unlike any other video game I’ve ever played. The main gist is that there is a cosmic being known as The Paintress. Every year, she writes a number on a monolith that overlooks Lumière, the city in which this game takes place. Any person who is older than the number on the monolith is wiped from existence, an event known as Gommage. The citizens of Lumière send out expeditions full of the strongest and bravest citizens who are currently of the age on the monolith. Each expedition is tasked with the duty of killing The Paintress and putting a stop to the Gommage for good.
There were seriously pivotal moments in the main story of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that I will never forget. The way the game’s incredible OST (9 hours long by the way) just enhances every single scene with beautiful orchestration and vocals makes the game feel more cinematic than some movies do. Gustave, the game’s main protagonist, is voiced by Daredevil’s very own Charlie Cox. According to Cox, he spent only a few hours in the booth recording the game’s dialogue. His performance is so nuanced and perfect that I just have to believe that he is some other-worldly being who can conjure a performance like that in a few mere hours. Andy Serkis plays Renoir, the game’s main antagonist. His presence is so commanding, and you truly feel like he is an unbeatable force. Personally, he’s right up there with Ganondorf and Sephiroth for me as one of the all-time best villains in gaming. Serkis proves that, in a career as long as his, he is still able to play roles that could arguably be his best.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has some of the finest turn-based combat in any game of its kind. In combat, you can dodge, parry, or jump over the attacks coming at you. If you are able to parry an enemy’s entire combo chain, then you get to hit them for a massive chunk of damage. Achieving that is easier said than done. There are a ridiculous number of bad guys that you’ll come across, and they all have unique combos and rhythms that make each fight fun to play and learn. Each playable character has a unique trait that sets them apart. You can have an active party of three at any time, and it’s always fun to mix them around to find what team works best for you. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has some of the greatest stories ever told in a video game, one of the strongest OSTs I’ve heard in years, and a gameplay loop that will be stolen and used in many games to come. I seriously think that this is a top 5 game of all time, and everyone should play it. You should buy this for someone you really love.
You can order Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 here.
Megabonk
Megabonk was a game that I did not see coming. I’ve had a Steam Deck for a little while now and have loved it. I often find myself playing my old favourite PS2 games on it more than actual Steam games, so I’ve been yearning for something to take up all my free time. Megabonk did that in a way that felt unhealthy (complimentary.) 91 hours later, I’ve realized that this is one of my favourite gaming experiences in a year stacked with incredible games. It’s basically Risk of Rain 2 meets Vampire Survivors. There are a ton of unloackable characters and items and passive abilities that completely change how each run is played. Across each run, you will kill thousands of enemies literally with whatever weapons you want to use. Each time you level up by collecting the experience that falls out of dead bad guys, you get the option to pick between three different items that are either weapons or tomes. You only use a maximum of four weapons and four tomes, so you want to choose your build wisely. The items scale to level 99 and can greatly impact your run.
While there are a ton of unique characters, each with passives only they can access, there are also a ton of wacky unique weapons. For instance, you can use a couple of revolvers, some bananas, fire, ice, wind, pure masculine aura – the possibilities are endless. You can use tomes to increase your passive abilities, such as weapon size, speed, and cooldown rates. You can also get tomes that impact your movement speed and overall luck to pull stronger items. Megabonk was made by a single person, so it’s a wonder that it works as well as it does. He’s working on the game’s next major update, and I know Megabonk will once again consume my life. Megabonk is a digital-only title on Steam, so while you can’t get it physically, you should definitely gift it to the Steam lover in your life!
You can order Megabonk here.
Risk of Rain 2
Risk of Rain 2 has been a major player in the online gaming landscape for a while now. Since it was released in early access back in 2019, it has been able to consistently have thousands of people playing it at any given moment. That still holds true to this day! Risk of Rain 2 just came out with its third major DLC, “Alloyed Collective.” Players are clearly loving the new content because they have maintained a consistent 15,000 – 35,000 concurrent players over the last couple of weeks. That is seriously insane for a game that has been out for six years.
If you’ve somehow never played Risk of Rain 2, I’ll give you the basic rundown. It’s a third-person action-roguelike that has you killing swarms of alien creatures that see you as a hostile threat to their planet. You start with two playable characters and slowly get to unlock the other 16 by completing challenges, reaching the ending, or buying the DLCs. Each character pilots differently and has unique gameplay elements that make them each stand out. There are over 100 items to collect in the game that greatly impact how your run will play out. You can mix and match items to create interesting builds that might be overpowered or completely awful! Games like Megabonk exist because Risk of Rain 2 exists. The DNA that is found in Risk of Rain 2 has left its mark on the roguelike genre, and it’s easy to see how so many games were inspired by it. Risk of Rain 2 was fun when it came out in 2019, and now that it’s been updated countless times with no signs of stopping, it’s even better.
You can order Risk of Rain 2 here.
Donkey Kong Bananza
The Nintendo Switch 2 was released earlier this year alongside Mario Kart World. While that game is great, it didn’t feel like the boundary-pushing, worth-of-a-console-purchase type of game that Nintendo went for. Obviously, that didn’t really affect the console’s sales, since it broke records. But I think a lot of people were waiting for something that truly felt like Nintendo flexing its muscles. Fittingly enough, a game about a giant ground-punching ape did just that. Donkey Kong Bananza brought the beloved ape back to the world of three-dimensional spaces. Donkey Kong Bananza brought a new design for the icon, and introduced a seriously innovative design philosophy – what if you could just break everything?
Donkey Kong Bananza takes the creative aspects of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom and applies them to the world of Donkey Kong. Every level has moments of “how can I get up there?” and “what if I just punched through the wall instead?” In the way that you could make different vehicles in TOTK to clear puzzles, you can find a myriad of ways to bust through puzzles and environments in Donkey Kong Bananza, making it extremely satisfying to mess around. It feels like a true playground in ways that very few games do. Getting to see DK and Pauline come into a father/daughter bond feels truly heartwarming and wholesome. Much like DK, I would protect Pauline with my life. The way the game uses music to tell the story works so flawlessly. Honestly, Donkey Kong Bananza is the first absolute must-own on the Switch 2 and one of my favourite 3D platformers.
You can order Donkey Kong Bananza here.
Ball x Pit
In a world of sequels, remasters and remakes, it’s refreshing to come across something that is truly original. Ball x Pit did to Brick Breaker what Balatro did to poker. The concept is simple – you play as a large group of heroes who live in the great city of Ballbylon. After a catastrophic event that leaves a massive hole in the ground, you must plunge into a seemingly never-ending pit to get the city’s hidden fortune. To fight the creatures below, you use a ball and a paddle. You can use many different types of balls that allow you to do various things. You can focus on a build that uses balls that fire laser beams. You could get a poison ball build going, or maybe a nuclear bomb build going. You can even fuse the balls together to create some truly wacky combinations.
There’s also a really in-depth city-builder aspect to Ball x Pit that kinda blew my mind. You collect blueprints throughout the various levels. Each blueprint allows you to build a new building that can upgrade your passive damage and health, as well as buildings that unlock characters. But you need resources in order to build stuff, so you can plant trees or place rocks to gain wood and stone. When you place materials and buildings in the city grid, you fire your heroes into them like they’re a bunch of pinballs. You construct buildings by smacking into them – same with collecting materials and resources. I had to watch some YouTube videos showcasing the best ways to lay out your city so you can optimize buildings and collect resources, and I found it extremely satisfying. Ball x Pit was a major surprise to me, and you should get it for somebody in your life who likes repetition and a good challenge!
You can order Ball x Pit here.
