This game had me hooked for a week and a half. Outside of Zelda, there's not a lot of games that have managed to make me this curious. It's truly something that you can only experience once, but the joy of unraveling the mystery is unparalleled.

Sly is one of my favorite mascot platformers, and Sly 2 is easily one of my favorite games in the series. Every mission builds up to a fun heist, and it's willing to try out fun and exciting ideas. Each map feels like a jungle gym, making traversal with Sly's abilities feel really fluid. Playing as Murray and Bentley helps to break up the gameplay, and it has a great narrative focus.

It's got the great combat and enemy AI that is synonymous with Bungie's Halo games. But it also has such an impactful narrative stacked on top of that. The missions are pretty iconic, and the locations looks incredible.

This game is really easy to get into, but the depth of the writing is incredible. Every sidequest has plenty of outcomes, and you truly feel like the Mojave is yours to shape. Exploring each locale and reading deeper into computer logs and dialogue is the way to play. It's not the greatest immersive RPG, but it's so accessible that it's the perfect stepping stone into the genre.

Some of the greatest level design and combat in any game ever. There are so many different ways to play this game, and no playstyle takes precedent over the other. The abilities all work really well with one another, and it's got a great length for replayability.

Super Meat Boy is incredibly challenging and demands a lot from the player. It has really tight controls and physics, and the quick respawns make it really exciting to push your own limits. It's tough and doesn't hold back any punches, but it's really an enjoyable grind.

Tears of the Kingdom has some of the coolest mechanics in a game. I really enjoyed realizing how I could fuse my items or build new vehicles or better move around the map. It feels familiar in a sense, and lacks some of the sense of discovery from Breath of the Wild, but it also feels so creative in terms of combat. It's a really great complementary piece to the foundations of Breath of the Wild.

This game has an insane amount of depth to it. So many different classes, weapons, bosses, biomes, etc. It's the type of game that I constantly have to reference the wiki for, but the grind never feels overly tedious or unfun. It's the kind of game that gives you a power trip over how high you can get your DPS to be.

It takes everything that's great about Portal and amplifies it to another level. It's really witty, fun, and the puzzles feel incredibly fresh. The base game alone would have been enough, but having an additional co-op mode with all new ideas is incredible.

I know this probably isn't the greatest beat'em up game, but it's one of the most fun beat'em ups to play with friends. The visual style is crude, but charming. And unlocking characters is really fun and encourages multiple playthroughs.

Pizza Tower feels so fluid to play, and the process of learning mechanics and each stage to go for a P rank is a unique level of satisfying. It's art style and music is so unique, and there's really not much I can compare this to as it's entirely in its own lane.

Breath of the Wild applies the principles of a Zelda game to an incredibly expansive and open environment. A lot of effort went into exploration, and you will spend hours upon hours uncovering all sorts of shrines, items, quests, towns, and chests. It does lack a bit of depth for the puzzles, but it makes up for it in terms of how expansive the game feels. Everything feels satisfying to find, and it encourages you to explore and complete quests at your own pace.

I love the concept of the time loop. A lot of the puzzles revolve around learning when you need to get somewhere, and how you can efficiently get there. The mask system is a really cool approach to quests and items, and the NPCs make things feel like a liveable place. Clock Town and Termina feel like lived in spaces, and that's really awesome.

It's got incredibly tight controls and a great challenge to it. The mechanics are really polished and refined, and the skill ceiling feels boundless. It constantly pushes you to learn more mechanics and take on more challenging tasks.

SSX Tricky oozes with style, but it's design is what really stand out. Every track is filled with alternative routes, grinds, and multipliers. Every level is begging to be replayed and it's so awesome.

It's less of a rhythm game and more of a dodging game with incredible music. I really love the goofy cast of characters and vibrant neon battles. I love the grind to learn each song and pull of no-hit runs. It's also really fun to try for high scores on each song.

It's simple, but there's a beauty to that. The idea of going from small to big is incredibly intuitive and satisfying to pull off. I love Katamari!!

Incredibly simple concept that is pushed to its limit. Every inch of the map is filled with some secret or challenge. Even every screen has a name. It's so replayable and fun to get better and better at this game.

I really love the time travel mechanic here and the way it factors into the puzzle design of the levels. This game has a big focus on figuring out where you can reach top speed, and I think that's really cool. It also has really great music and incredible visuals.

Being able to play all of the Rockband 1 tracks means everything. This is genuinely one of the greatest multiplayer experiences. I like the look of Rockband's UI more than Guitar Hero, and having four distinct players is really great. Playing the marathon setlist with my roommate is one of my favorite memories ever. I love playing this while pregaming for parties.

Really tight levels, with great stage design. There's so many little touches to the visuals and gameplay that I forget that this game is on rails. It feels a lot like an arcade game, and its length makes it perfect for replaying again and again.

It's been talked about to death, but this game is so awesome. Learning how moves are telegraphed, developing weapon strategies, and improving reaction time all come together to make each victory feel so satisfying.