Binary Messiah - Reviews for Games, Books, Gadgets and more!

Game of the year is the hardest category to choose and I often think about this throughout the entire year. While there were so many great runner-ups, like there is every year, the one that makes it to the top for me is the most memorable. It’s not a mathematical score of what game received the most awards or had the highest score, but what was the most fun and memorable. A game has to leave something with me and resonate. A game that needs to be discussed and admired and something even revolutionary or groundbreaking.

Resident Evil 2

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

Not only is the RE Engine one of the best game engines out there, but RE2 checked all the boxes this year. Groundbreaking visuals, hyper realistic zombies, fantastic animations, and the best remake of a game ever created. This is how you do it folks. RE2 literally morphs a 20 year old game and makes it current without losing character or style. While other games this year were just downright amazing, RE2 pushed envelopes and made people think.

Runner-Ups

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Mortal Kombat 11

PC – PS4 – Xbox One – Switch

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A Plague Tale: Innocence

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Disco Elysium

PC

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The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Switch

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The Outer Worlds

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Super Mario Maker 2

Switch

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Death Stranding

PS4

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Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Switch

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Pokemon Sword/Shield

Switch

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A story is one of the most important parts of a game. Sometimes without a story a game is nothing or boring. Not every game needs a story to be good, but if a developer is going to put one in make it memorable and worth sitting through.

Disco Elysium

PC

Disco Elysium’s story is the best of the bunch this year due to the sheer amount of detail and lore set within the game. The characters are not only well written, but add to the story and make the entire journey worth finishing and it’s something you will remember and contemplate long after the game is finished.

Runner-Ups

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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The Outer Worlds

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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A Plague Tale: Innocence

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Death Stranding

PS4

Sound design is all about immersing the player into the world. It’s not about quality but about how the sound is implemented and how much care is put into it. Do the developers use the same footstep sounds through the whole game or different steps for each type of terrain? That’s the type of detail we’re looking for.

Resident Evil 2

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

Resident Evil 2’s sound is both eerie and unbelievably engaging. From the sounds of opening doors, the moans of zombies, and footsteps in empty halls. Even the rustling of clothes is present and it’s all enough to create one big sound design package that helps suck you into the atmosphere of RE2.

Runner-Ups

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Mortal Kombat 11

PC – PS4 – Xbox One – Switch

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A Plague Tale: Innocence

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

Indie titles have really taken off over the last decade, and going into a new one we will see more indie game top the quality of some AAA titles. I have some indie games under my belt as some of my all time favorite games. They don’t have the time constraints and corporate oversight that larger budget titles do.

Disco Elysium

PC

Nothing screams top-notch indie developer like ZA/UM Studios. They came out swinging in the top-down RPG genre that’s ruled by companies like Obsidian, Beamdog, and Larian Studios. Disco Elysium has everything a AAA title has without the nonsense. Great voice acting, art, story, and characters.

Runner-Ups

Life is Strange 2

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Untitled Goose Game

PC – PS4 – Xbox One – Switch

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A Plague Tale: Innocence

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Arise: A Simple Story

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

Voice acting isn’t just tied to AAA titles, but many indie games have fantastic voice acting as well. It’s also not just about not sounding like you’re reading a high school play in boredom, but delivery of character, and selling the character to the player and drawing them in.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

Jedi: Fallen Order doesn’t just have great voice acting, but the actors sell the characters and it most importantly feels like it could be an actual Star Wars film. There has been bad voice acting in Star Wars games before, but Fallen Order is by far the best yet next to Battlefront II. Every character feels and looks like their voices and it helps sell the entire game as one cohesive top-notch package.

Runner-Ups

Control

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Gears 5

PC – Xbox One

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Death Stranding

PS4

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

The best graphics in a technical showcase are less about the art and more about pushing shaders and GPUs. Usually the best technical game is a masterclass example of a brand new graphics technology or just a game that can define a generation even.

Metro Exodus

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

Metro Exodus is a gorgeous game, but what really pushes it above the others is the use of Nvidia’s new ray tracing technology to bring lighting to life. It’s one of the few games that does it well and is only available on the latest RTX GPUs from Nvidia.

Runner-Ups

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Resident Evil 2

PC – PS4 – Xbox One

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Death Stranding

PS4