Welcome to September, fellow Otaku & Metalheads!
Normally with this month I talk about what are my highest viewed posts, as well as some other stuff I feel fits the moment. This year, I wanted to do something a bit different. Over the years on this blog, I’ve talked about what I considered to be the top 5 games, movies, and albums. To this day I still stand by what I selected, but in an effort to challenge myself I came up with an idea. What if I were to take the number 1 pick of each list from 2014 to 2019, and put them on a list of their own?
So that what I did! Over the course of this month, I’ve taken the number 1 game, movie, and album, and ordered them on a list. My opinion on some of these have changes over the years, while some of the others has more or less stayed put. To start things off, let’s talk about the number 1 games of 2014 to 2019. Where do they rank, and has anything changed? Let’s find out!
6) Hellgate: London (Trailer)
I confess in hindsight Hellgate was the number 1 game of 2018 due to sheer nostalgia. Though it was somewhat of a janky/buggy thing in 2007 & 2008, there was an odd charm to it at the same time. When I found out it came back nearly 2 years ago, I was genuinely surprised by it’s return. After watching some footage on Youtube, it seemed like things were fixed, and after a bit I bought it on Steam......that may have been a mistake.
If anything, it may have even been a more buggy experience than it was in 2007 & 2008! The gameplay was improved, thanks in part to it being the revised version used in multiplayer....but for whatever reason it just wouldn’t hold onto my saves! I was absolutely furious because of this, and yet that late 2000s nostalgia came back every time I played, and pretty hard if I’m being somewhat honest. So, due to said nostalgia it made my no. 1 on the 2018 list, but the jankness gets it to no. 6 here.
5) Resident Evil 2 Remake (Trailer)
I’ll be talking about Resident Evil a little later down the list, but I must say that as someone who’s not always a horror guy.......I genuinely loved Resident Evil 2!
I do admit there are some small things that keep me from putting this higher up: resources sometimes seem too scarce, sometimes you’re forced to use up resources, and while Mr. X definitely provides some scares & can be a great antagonist for the player, there are times where it seems all too convenient that he’s nearby. However, those nitpicks do not ruin what in my mind is a fantastic survival horror game. Not only that, but it helped restore some prestige to the Resident Evil franchise, and brought back some old-school fans who may have given up when things became too action-oriented. Definitely a game to check out!
4) Heroes Of The Storm (Trailer)
I feel pretty bad for Heroes of the Storm. Despite coming onto the scene towards the end of the MOBA craze, it managed to entice players with it’s quirky premise & more relaxed take on the genre. Pulling in heroes from across Blizzard’s various IPs (As well as 2 OCs), and creating some of the best battlefields to wage war on, HotS managed to get pretty popular. It even managed to have a big e-sports scene, and it seemed like all was right with the world. Then 2018 came, and things changed: e-sports scene was eviscerated, developers were moves to other games (Diablo: Immortal anybody?) and a skeleton crew is all that’s left, & due to the reduced team updates became significantly slowed. However, there’s still many players to this day, and getting into a game isn’t hard at all. Even with Heroes no longer being in Activision/Blizzard’s eye, it still manages to be a game that’s separated from the rest of the MOBA genre, and that’s a-okay in my book!
3) Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Trailer)
Even more so than the RE2 remake, Resident Evil 7 is proof positive that Survival Horror is still a force to be reckoned with in the gaming world. Though the use of first person was seen as odd at first, it actually made the horror even more impactful. There was no over the top action, and there sure as hell were no horde of zombies or other mutated freaks. It was just you, 3 diseased rednecks, mold monsters, devious traps & puzzles, and most importantly......Survival Horror! You weren’t a walking tank like you were in RE5 & 6, but instead just a normal guy looking for his wife, and instead were plunged into a situation that was way beyond anything you’d ever imagine. Resident Evil 7 brought prestige back into the franchise, and it got a new fan in me.
2) Overwatch (Trailer) & Shadow Warrior 2 (Trailer) & Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary Edition World Tour (Trailer)
1) Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls (Trailer)
Let me say this right now.......Reaper of Souls saved Diablo 3. People who got into it in recent years may not know about the rough times back in 2012 & 2013, when things weren’t quite as well received. Legendaries weren’t always great, some skills & passives were more overpowered than others, difficulty spikes were scary, hacking was somewhat rampant (I got hacked at one point), some of the monster affixes were overpowered, and in general the game was a bit of a grind and not always fun to play. For a little bit it looked like D3 was going to be abandoned, but then Reaper of Souls came out in 2014....and things were going to be okay.
Reaper of Souls did some pretty significant stuff. It killed the often reviled Auction House, revamped items, skills, and affixes (As well as removing certain monster affixes), revised the difficulty system, added an alternative game mode, a brand new episode, and for anyone who weren’t fans of the more bright look/feel on the base game....the dark gothic tones of Diablo 1 & 2 came back with force. There was still an issue or two (Mainly the always online thing), and there was some further updates later on down the road (The Necromancer class pack as an example), Reaper of Souls was proof that game companies sometimes do care about the products they put out.....and the gamers that buy what they make.
And those were my top 6 games from 2014 to 2019. Definitely some top games from those years, and it was interesting to order them here. Join me in the middle of September, when I’ll take a look at the no. 1 movies of those years. See you then!
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