Top 15 Favorite Games from Gaming Christmas

The Best from the Weekend

Summer Games Fest weekend / Gaming Christmas is over. While I do expect a Nintendo Direct sometime soon, I’ll go ahead and reveal my top fifteen favorite games from the weekend of reveals. Now, if I left a game out that you liked, it doesn’t mean I have no interest in it; it just didn’t make it to the top fifteen. Also, I want to note that hype for games can change, last year I was feeling Expedition 33, but wasn’t at the hype level many others were. Today, Expedition 33 is my current favorite game of the year as of this writing. So, let’s get the hype train rolling.

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15 - Aniimo

Do not adjust your screen; yes, I’m genuinely pretty hyped for this one. Why? Well, I’m a sucker for this kind of art direction and cute animals and I think this could be a perfect game to play with my daughter. I worry that I might sour on it, like I did with Infinity Nikki, which looked cool but quickly became apparent that it wouldn’t be a great experience for my daughter to watch or attempt to play. This looks like an anime gocha game, so the worries are there, but until reality sets in, I’m getting hyped for it.

14 - ILL

Holy graphical hardware pusher. We have a visually stunning survival horror title, and it appears to have a lot of potential. I like to keep my eye out for games that could come out of nowhere and get great reviews and awards talk, and I think ILL has a good chance to be one of those. I will say, as great as it looks, I need to see more to get fully on board. Just because it looks pretty doesn’t mean it will play great, but I have one foot in.

13 - Stranger Than Heaven

Of course, a history nerd like me is going to be interested in a game set in 1940s Japan. While I haven’t yet played a Yakuza game, I expect this one to play similarly to those games. From what I can gather, it’s set in 1915 and 1943, so potentially two different stories? We don’t know much beyond that, but the hype meter keeps rising every time I see something about this one.

12 - Sword of the Sea

I legit thought this was Journey 2 when I saw the trailer. Instead, Sword of the Sea is like that classic title, but with a hoverboard! With beautiful art direction and gameplay that looks fun, this one has winner written all over it. I just know this will have a subtle yet powerful story and have a strong chance of making my end-of-the-year list. Surprisingly, it's out in just a few months, so I’m hoping to grab it.

11 - Beast of Reincarnation

I’m a sucker for any potential soulslike title, but a soulslike game by Game Freak?! Game Freak has worked on a few side projects, mostly mobile games. This will be the first major AAA non-Pokémon game the studio has worked on in a long time. It looks good from a graphics standpoint (unlike the recent Pokémon games), and considering their history, I expect it to play well. It is going to be crazy booting this up on my Xbox Series X next year and seeing the Game Freak logo, but then again, everything is an Xbox.

10 - Mina the Hollower

I have never heard of this game; however, this is not a new reveal. This is from Yacht Club Games, which developed the Shovel Knight games, which I unfortunately have never had the chance to play. But this one looks fun, and the art direction and 8-bit style caught my attention during the trailer. This is another one that’s releasing soon, so I’m going to try hard to see if it fits in a reasonable time due to my strict finances.

9 - The Outer Worlds 2

I played about the first hour of The Outer Worlds and just never got back to it. When the sequel was announced a while back, I didn’t think I would try to play it. However, I saw the direct after the Xbox Showcase and it pretty much sold me. I had a lot of fun with my time with Avowed and Obsidian hits more than misses. The first game initially disappointed me, as it received numerous Fallout comparisons, and I didn’t think it measured up. However, as time has passed, I now think calling this Obsidian’s Starfield is a more fitting comparison. The delay of Grand Theft Auto VI opens up the holiday games, so it fits into the schedule now.

8 - Super Meat Boy 3D

I missed out on the peak of Super Meat Boy’s popularity, so when this showed up at the Xbox Showcase, I realized this was my chance to jump in and see what all the fuss is about. I know pretty much almost nothing about the franchise and characters, but considering I’m a sucker for mascot-like characters I’m sure I’m going to have a lot of fun with it. It helps that it’s a Game Pass title as well. Like I said earlier, I like to keep my eye out for games that can be surprise hits, and I feel like this one could be one of those next year. I’m really looking forward to this one.

7 - Keeper

This was a surprise as I didn’t expect Double Fine to be working on what seems like a small AA game that looks and plays like an indie title (and I mean that in all the best ways). My guess is that this isn’t the only project they’re working on, and this is a smaller-scale passion project the studio has been hard at work on, similar to Obsidian’s Pentiment. You play as a sentient lighthouse, and the press release says the game will have no talking. That sounds like a bold idea and I’m excited to see how Double Fine makes it work.

6 - Resident Evil: Requiem

The game I would consider the MEGATON/OMG game of the weekend, Resident Evil’s ninth entry, is going to have a lot to live up to. After a down period and a polarizing action-oriented direction, the series has had a major comeback thanks to remakes and solid seventh and eighth entries. I’m interested to see what new ideas they have, because werewolves and witches were something I always wanted to see, and RE8 tackled it. It seems we have a new hero in this one as well, but rumors persist that Leon will make an appearance, either as a second playable character or in an important role. Either way, I’m ready for another Resident Evil story.

5 - Mouse P.I. for Hire

As someone who’s watched several 1940s and 1950s Hollywood classic film noir films, I’m all over this one. The addition of Troy Baker as the lead role pretty much sets expectations for the performances. I dug the Cuphead art direction, but I wasn’t into the boss rush style of the game. This one has that cool old-school cartoon look, but it’s a game with a story and levels. I have a feeling I’m going to come away smiling from this one when I get to play it. The release is still listed as 2025, so there is a chance it will be silently delayed.

4 - Mixtape

I have this one pretty high despite the chance that I can come away a bit disappointed by it. It’s a game that revolves around teenage girls, and I don’t relate to that. I do try my best to observe and play stories from different types of people and genders, but when you’re doing a coming-of-age story, it’s a little harder for me to relate for apparent reasons. I had that experience with Pixar’s Turning Red, a movie that’s not bad but took a good while to warm up to because it was hard to relate to the goals of the main cast of teenage girls. That being said, everything I’ve seen from this game looks good and I have a feeling there’s an excellent story in here. The lack of a release date is frustrating; this one seems to have been internally delayed a few times, but hopefully, we will get something solid sooner rather than later.

3 - Clockwork Revolution

Look, I was sold the moment Pissed-off Doll was shown on screen. This game is part BioShock and part something new. The art style, the dialogue, the characters, and what I’ve seen of the gameplay all look great. I think there’s going to be choices and different ways you can approach missions, which I’m all about. The time mechanics look interesting and I want to see what ideas and concepts they come up with using that when playing. I’ve heard great things about InXile, and this will be my first game from them. First thing I’m going to be obsessed with when I boot this up is finding Pissed-off Doll, I need him the entire game.

2 - 007: First Light

I love James Bond films (Skyfall is the G.O.A.T.), and 007 Goldeneye is one of the more important games I played in my gaming life. So, when I heard the franchise was getting a new AAA video game adaptation from Hitman creator IO Interactive, I was instantly excited. I was wondering how this would look and play and now we know after this weekend. We’re getting a game that looks to be part Uncharted and part Hitman, which is fine by me. We’re also getting an origin story, down to the game’s slogan “Earn the Number”, which I want to see what IO comes up with from a storytelling standpoint. There’s a lot to Bond that has aged better with the recent Daniel Craig films (specifically his treatment of women), and I expect to see that rather than the older films’ perspectives. I’m pretty pumped for this one. I fully expect to have a lot of fun with it.

1 - There Are No Ghosts at the Grand

There’s a criteria for games that I like to call “Me” games. These are games that just about hit every video game bone of my body and I have one of the most awesome video game experiences I could have. These games lately tend to be indie titles (outside of some Nintendo IP like mainline Zelda and Metroid), and they tend to have quirky interesting characters, a unique story, a solid soundtrack, and a focus on the small things instead of realistic graphics. There Are No Ghosts at the Grand is the very definition of a “Me” game.

You take control of a hotel and have been tasked with renovating it and helping the community. However, it seems that there are some paranormal occurrences taking place, and music and unusual characters are all part of it. The weapon you use is a renovation gun? Which is crazy. Plus, there’s some cartoony character helping you through the game and a cat that keeps staring at you weird, as if it knows a lot more than anyone in the community. It’s also going to be cool to get a more family-friendly game for Halloween time, other than Luigi’s Mansion (which isn’t a diss, I love those games). Seriously, I just cannot wait to play this one, and I have this penciled in on my calendar the moment they announce the release date.

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Be Nice to All