Best of Their System
These are the one game I’d recommend you check out and hopefully play all the way to the end.
Xbox One
The Witcher 3
A dark role playing adventure that takes you down roads most games shy away from. How you interact with your words is as important as how you wield your sword. Excellent visuals, acting, and storytelling aside it has one of the most satisfying endings I’ve ever come across in a videogame.
PlayStation 4
Spiderman
Your neighborhood friendly superhero lands in the best videogame the genre has ever seen. The sensation of swinging through the city has never been better than it is here in this game. A good fun adventure is mixed with all the highs and lows you’d expect Peter Parker to experience.
Nintendo Switch
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Decades after we first moved that small 8bit sprite around blocky tiled dungeons, comes this game where finally the sense of exploration that Shigeru Miyamoto felt as a boy is now unleashed upon the player. Explore a ruined world, discover the secrets of the past to save the present, and maybe just maybe you’ll see Princess Zelda again.
Xbox Series X
Cyberpunk
When a lost soul meets a rebellious legend, the unforgiving Night City they call home will never be the same. First person shootouts, towering skyscrapers, a bustling world, engaging quests, and unbelievable digital performances bring this world to life in a way few others can match.
The expansion, Phantom Liberty, is also not to be missed.
Playstation 5
God Of War: Ragnarök
Few videogame stories ever tackle violence as anything other than a button for the player to press. The cycles of violence, the betrayal of parents, and the cost of revenge are all addressed head on all before you reach the last scene.
Nintendo Switch 2
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
It may have launched on the prior generation hardware, but the game shines brightest with the Switch 2 Edition. Continuing the exploration focus of the last entry, this game adds creation. No puzzle, no battle, is truly defined. If you can imagine it, then you can probably build it.
My Favorites By Genre
Roguelike
Hades
Family drama getting to be too much in the underworld? Try and escape. Die. Come back to the underworld. Chat with your fellow dead people. Try and escape. Die. Come back to the underworld. Chat with your fellow dead people. Each time you learn a bit more. Each time you get a little bit stronger. Maybe next time you’ll make it out?
Action
Control
Visual styling that stands out in any crowd brings fast fluid combat to your finger tips. Dive deep into a mysterious facility that riffs on the best of X-Files and David Lynch as you try to figure out what is going on. Wield a shapeshift gun, develop telekinetic powers, and fill out reports for the new boss. What’s not to love?
Driving Fast
Forza Horizon 5
Any of the Forza Horizon games could have gone here, but the best of them so far has been this one. A huge expansive open world with multiple types of roads to race on awaits you. More than any other “racing” game this one feels like a love letter to cars and what it is to drive one. No matter what you like to do in a car, this game has it waiting for you.
Star Wars
Jedi: Fallen Order
There have been so many videogames set in the Star Wars universe that I’d consider it a genre at this point. This one picks up after the infamous Order 66 led to the destruction of the Jedi Order. Left on his own Cal will have to find a new path forward. Fun lightsaber and force power combat is expected, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the deep Metroid inspired exploration and discovery that forms the bones of the journey.
Puzzle
Death Squared
Incredibly simple mechanics. Instant restarts when you fail. Fun dialog. Great things in a puzzle game, but where the fun really starts is that the whole game can be played cooperatively with two people. How good is your relationship?
Narrative Experience
What Remains of Edith Finch
What do the people left behind do with the pieces of lives lived by other people? Explore a house and discover the tragedy, triumphs, and duldrums of the family you never knew you never knew. Visually stunning, clever beyond measure, and heart wrenching many times over before you reach the last room.
Role Playing
Mass Effect Trilogy
A simple soldier becomes the universe’s last hope as ancient forces begin to move again. Three games where your choices carry weight all the way to the last moments. Will you be a bright light of unity or a dark path to victory? The choices are yours alone.
Multiplayer
Sea of Thieves
No other online game forces people to work together so much. No other game has so many moments of chaos and unpredictability. Play a jaunty tune and see where the wind takes you.
Transmedia Experience
Quantum Break
It’s a videogame. With a TV show that weaves in-between the chapters. Both parts are stronger together. A unique blend that you won’t find anywhere else.
Movie Tie-In
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Thrown into prison you’ll have to find your own way out… by going deeper. You won’t find much hand holding here, but you will find a vibe that perfectly matches the film that inspired it.
Hundred+ Hour Adventure
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
You and Kassandra will roam across many Greek islands before the sun sets on your final adventure, assuming you have the stamina. Dozens of hours becomes a hundred before you know it, and that’s before you step off into the two multi hour story expansions. One of the biggest, longest, games I’ve ever experienced.
Sci-fi Universe Simulation
No Man’s Sky
Many have tried to build a universe wide simulation, from the pebbles under your feet to the sun over your head. Only this game has delivered something that feels right. Rebuild a broken ship, take to the stars, travel across a galaxy and discover what is out there.
Twin Stick
Vampire Survivor
Roguelike mechanics meet a twin-stick auto-shooter that boils the elements down until there isn’t actually a second stick involved. All you have to do is move. Strategically.
Japanese
Neir: Automata
Storytelling that would be at home in an anime. Gameplay that criss-crosses multiple genres near and dear to Japanese gamer hearts. This is the ultimate expression of what a Japanese videogame can be. It’s also a damn good game that weaves a story reason to play through it more than once.
First Person Shooter
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Blood, guts, gore and heart that won’t stop. The rare story that’s willing to have you lose big and ask yourself why do you keep going? Well, as our hero would say, “Cause I just can’t stop killing Nazis.”
Melding of Music, Visuals, and Gameplay
The Artful Escape
Cross the stars to become the musician you were always meant to be… But is that musical the one everyone wants you to be, or the one that lays deep inside you? A meld of music, visuals and gameplay that you won’t quickly forget.
Cozy
Unpacking
You unpack a life. One stage at a time. Through good moves and bad moves. A story told through the items we carry with us from home to home.
Cooperative
Split Fiction
Building up on the gameplay loops of the studio’s last release, this game nails the narrative. Giving you and your partner an engaging game to play and experience.
Bethesda Style RPG
Avowed
The best Bethesda style open world first person role playing game wasn’t made by them. It was made by the team at Obsidian. Stripping all the fluff, leaving only the best parts of the experience makes for something far more fun to play. Then they delivered a story that hits deeper by touching upon themes including Gods, religion, and colonization.
Ubisoft Open World
SW: Outlaws
This is the game where the many gameplay loops you normally find in an Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry finally feel like they fit together into something greater than the parts. Top it off with gorgeous visuals, a great storyline, fun combat, and solid stealth mechanics.
RossWeisfish.com 