So, I have not actually played Stardew Valley yet. I intend to do it, but other things and other games always come in the way. And when I’m about to actually play it it always seems like a new big update is on the horizon. But I have played My Time At Portia and it’s a great game.

The game is true to the Harvest Moon genre. You tend to your garden, you socialize with the villagers, you dig for minerals in the caves, you fish in the river, you make different kinds of dishes and there are holidays when special occasions happen. The thing that puts My Time At Portia apart from the rest is that growing crops is not the big thing here, it’s actually not necessary at all. First and foremost you are a builder that crafts things for the other villagers in town.

A big heart is of course the most important element in this genre and few games I have played have had a bigger heart than this one. Entertaining and addictive gameplay, wonderful characters, good romantic options, and I just can’t stop playing this. My Time At Portia is one the few games where every single detail makes sense and inspires my to keep on playing. I’m forty hours in now, and it’s been forty wonderful hours. This is a game that will follow me into 2020 and make 2020 a great year in gaming too.

Last year Forza Horizon 4 was third on the list, and this year it has managed to climb up to number one. A bug in the game that stops me from completing the Lego expansion has been very irritation (to say the least), but other than that this has been a year of wonderful online racing in Forza Horizon 4. I just can’t get tired of the game. This is one of those games that I sometimes have to stop myself from playing, because if I play as much Forza Horizon 4 as a I’d like to I would have no time for any other game. And playing just one game is not an option for a game writer after all...

Astral Chain is one of those games that looked really good in advance, but still managed to be much better than I had expected it to be. The action is great, the characters are wonderful and the graphics is just amazing. Astral Chain is one of those games where everything just works and everything feels great. I played so much Astral Chain the first two weeks that I felt psychically ill in the end. But I plan to finish the game in the beginning of next year, giving 2020 a great start too!

The Switch disappointment of the year was undoubtedly Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very good game with lots and lots and lots of content, but it’s not near as entertaining as the hype made it look like. The Switch surprise of the year on the other hand was ARMS.
A fighting game where it’s fun even when you lose?! A fighting game where just walking around is fun?! ARMS was the game that finally showed me the greatness of motion controls. I just want to keep on punching, punching punching, and jumping, all day long.

Checkpoints. Grand Theft Auto with checkpoints. Yes! Yes! Yes!

The addition of Role Queue (there are always two DPS, two tanks and two support in both teams in every match) brought me back to the game, and made me more obsessed with the game that I can remember that I have ever been with a game. The obsession was not to last however. First the game put me much lower on the rankings than I usually play. Then my PS4 started to disconnect me before matches started, and I sky-dived even deeper on the rankings as a punishment. And if that was not enough Blizzard made complete fools on themselves by kissing dictatorship ass, killing all interest in the game. At least be all know now that it’s time to “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time.”

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 wants to be Left 4 Dead in a fantasy world and it sure manage to live up to that promise. A bit repetitive of course, but that comes with the genre. The wonderful progression system, the tasty action and co-op with three other players online more than enough makes up for that.

The summer was almost all fighting games in search of the answer to the question “Can a lousy fighting game player with lots of training at least become a decent fighting game player?” The answer was unfortunately “no”. But this is still a great game and the addition of Lucia and Poison made the game even more enjoyable for me.

Finally I played through Batman: Arkham Asylum. Even though I didn’t enjoy the game as much as a lot of other player have, it’s still a great game. I was a bit uncomfortable in they way the game didn’t know if it was a metroidvania or a linear game, but as I played it I really felt like I was Batman and that’s what most important after all.

On last year’s list Splatoon 2 was number one. It doesn’t mean that the game has gotten worse since then, just that I have played it less this year. The problem with these kinds of competitive online games it that they are an all-or-nothing affair. Either you play ten hours every week or nothing at all. Because you need training and you need to learn and remember how the maps works. Playing for three or four hours a week doesn’t work that well.