I will get to the list shortly, you don't need an explanation. But aside from my honorable mention, I have not gotten the chance to play Baulders Gate, and won't for some time. So if you wonder why it is absent here, that is why. One day I will get to it, but it will be well into next year at the earliest. With that, my Honorable Mention and list proper.
Honorable Mention – One Piece Odyssey
This is here because the game includes spoilers for portions of One Piece. I have not caught up on One Piece, having finished Fishman Island and not later, so I stopped playing because I didn't want things spoiled for me. That said, I largely enjoyed what I played. Had I made it farther I'd probably place it on my list.
Best -
10.) Sea of Stars
If you saw me talk about this game a while back, you'd know I was a lot harsher on it than most other people. I felt the writing lacked luster, the combat was okay, and the visuals were really good.. Overall it was a good game, and worth picking up. Just not his masterpiece I think a lot of people built it up. So long as you go in looking at it like a fun retro call back with just enough of its own flavor to not feel stale.
9.) Super Mario Wonder
This is one of those hard games to talk about because I think almost everyone knows what to expect from a Mario game. And this game gives you exactly that. A lot of fun and tight side-scrolling goodness, and just enough unique and interesting power-ups to keep it feeling different from past Mario side scrollers. For me, that isn't enough to get me to love it, but if you love the formula you're going to love this one.
8.) Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicant
This is low simply because this isn't my kind of game. It has some fast and intense mech-based combat, a lot of different ways to build your mech giving you some incredible variety. Even the same missions can be interesting when you go back and try them out with a different build It's hard to even find a notable flaw outside of the multiplayer. I'm not a PVP guy though, so if you want to know about that I am not the guy to come to. If you just want a game where you can build mechs and blow shit up, you really can't go wrong here.
7.) Moonstone Island
This is my indie game of the year. It takes a genre I enjoy, the farming sim mixed with combat, but rather than the more action RPG-oriented combat of games like Rune Factory or Stardew, you gather spirits like Pokemon and fight with three of them at a time in turn-based combat, but using cards.
Each Spirit has its deck, and the cards are mixed when you fight. You have three energy (Things can affect this) to play cards from your hand. A spirit is temporarily downed, and cards in hand from their deck are unusable. You build their stats and decks to your liking.
Dialogue and story are kind of lacking here, you can build relationships like any other game of the genre but they do feel a bit shallow. But being able to build your farm, set up your home, and collect these spirits is a really fun and unique combat system I think it more than makes up for it on the mechanical front. Give it a go if you either like or want to get into the genre.
6.) Super Mario RPG Remake
This is pretty much everything you want out of a remake. It took games whose graphics have aged somewhat poorly (I do still think the original looks good, but always had a waxy look to it that I never liked), we got a US translation that is more accurate to the original, and some additional content added it. I do think the combo meter was a bit much, made the game easier with no real increase in enemy difficulty, but it was never a hard game to begin with.
You also get some minor quality-of-life alterations. Beyond that, I'd just be going over how good of a game the original is, but at this point, I don't think you need me doing that. It's a great remake of a classic, it's worth your while as a newcomer or veteran alike.
5.) We <3 Katamari Reroll
Once again a game that is hard to talk about. I have been loving we are getting the Katamari games remade, because they are some of the goofiest games I've ever played. This game, the first sequel, had a premise I had never seen for a game before. The in-game explanation for why this game exists is so many people liked the first one, they wanted to do more.
And, as with any other Katamari game, you can roll a ball of screaming children into other children. It's just an absurdly goofy premise with some really fun mechanics, offering a pretty solid challenge if you want to try to get a high score.
4.) Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
When Breath of the Wild first came out, I was one of the harsher critics of it. While it was fun, I ranked it fairly low about other Zelda games. With Tears of the Kingdom, I do still rank it lower than most but it was overall a big improvement to the last title. The additional areas of the sky and underworld were fun, dungeons were far more interesting and a lot more of what made the first game so good.
I've been having fun with this direction of Zelda, and while I have no clue if they will keep it up for future titles, I wouldn't be disappointed if they did.
3.) Lies of P
I would go as far as to say Lies of P is probably the best Souls-like game that isn't Dark Souls. It also has its fresh take on the genre that does more than enough to have its own identity. The game has a wonderfully dark atmosphere and you always feel on edge.
And if you want to see me praise the game, I'll repeat what I said in my review, the game is borderline perfect. There are so few flaws, and even those aren't going to be game-breakers for just about anybody. This game is pretty much for anyone who already enjoys, or is at least interested in the Souls-Like genre.
2.) Rune Factory 3: Special
There was no way this was not going to make it this high on the list unless they screwed up the remake, which they didn't. Rune Factory 3 is my absolute favorite of the genre. It has my favorite characters of any Rune Factory, the best story, and a lot of really strong mechanics and so much charm.
It is another great example of how you should handle a remake, much like Mario RPG earlier in the list. The game kept all the charm of the original while giving it a nice upgraded visual presentation. There isn't anything else you could have asked for.
1.) Octopath Traveler 2
Even though I think it was a mistake to double down on character abilities outside combat, one of the previous games' worst executed aspects, this game improved on the first in most regards. New additions to combat do a lot too keep it feeling unique despite the system itself pretty much being Octopath 1 all over again.
We continue to see some fantastic visuals, interesting and engaging stories, and more than its share of emotionally impactful scenes. I am happy I picked Osvald to start the game because he ended up being my favorite, very closely followed by Throne and Temenos. Throw in a far superior end-game setup than the previous game, and I really can't recommend this one enough.
Honestly, I'm not convinced the order of my top three is what I am going to think it should be down the line. It was a fantastic top three to make gaming this year feel worthwhile for me.
That said, there will be no worst games list, because honestly I didn't really play as many games this year as I would have liked, and of the ones I didn't enjoy it's largely they were just boring and not really worth talking about.