For brief understanding of what kind of video games I enjoy, I'm basically an old gamer soul that appreciates retro style gaming. I am not a fan of the modern day design of gaming so it's extremely rare that one makes it to my Top 5 of the year. I will also mention games that I have played released this year after the Top 5.

1. Elden Ring - Truly an outstanding work of art and majorly revolutionary for gaming and open worlds in general. I have been playing these games since Demon's Souls in 2009 and it's astounding how they manage to keep it fresh after all of these years. I will play Elden Ring as long as I'm a gamer and I see nowhere near a sign of stopping as well for the previous From Software titles. The infinite amount of replay from these games from pure love and design gives me thrill whenever I think of even a minor change in how I could create an character. Elden Ring may offer the most convenient tools in the series for players however I'm just happy that it's encouraging others to simply experience this incredibly unique game and the difficulty is easily the highest it's been due to the core design being absolutely brutal at low levels and restrictions.

2. Frogun - I can't stop recommending this PS1 style title with inspiration from games like Crash Bandicoot. The level design is probably the best I've seen this year even beating Elden Ring in that department only slightly. The developer was incredibly reachable because I did experience quite a few problems with bugs however the developer fixed as fast as possible. I really hope to see this concept expanded on in the future.

3. Nobody Saves the World - I currently haven't finished a playthrough yet however with the few hours I have spent I can already tell it's an experience I will not forget. This developer also created a game I adore which is Gaucamelee so there was already high respect for the this team. This game reminds me of Guantlet so I'm wondering if that was intentional or not but either way the game has nostalgic aspects that I haven't felt in a very long time in gaming. The game can get grindy however it doesn't really bother me because of the formation system that keeps things surprising and satisfying to learn.

4. Lego Bricktales - This is another title I haven't finished but after all of the standard Lego titles containing the same formula this was so refreshing and once again nostalgic due to it's familiar 90s gaming design like it was a fully remastered. The building aspect can drag a little bit and could have used more interesting motivations. The rest of the game which is basically exploration and fetch quests is very addicting surprisingly however doesn't quite get old because it simply isn't an open world game where it would definitely get tiresome.

5. Terror of Hemasaurus - Basically a remake of Rampage that I was waiting for and it most certainly delivers for the most part. This is mainly a game that displays how the Rampage concept could be fresh for today's standards. The biggest flaws is that the dialog gets a bit preachy and you can't unlock any monsters throughout the game but other than that the destruction aspect was handle amazingly well.

Games that I played and finished this year.

Stray - I was extremely disappointed with this game. I was hoping for satisfying platforming as a cat however it delivered a bland prompt jump gameplay experience with kindergarten level puzzles.

God of War Ragnarok - I'm personally still surprised this type of gaming design is appealing. This series no longer fits my preferences for gaming due to it's cinematic padding, extreme hand holding and mundane level design that had me rushing just to finish the game hoping it would get better. I really wanted to love this game however it ended up causing me to lose entire interest in the series as for future games. I'm still very hurt over the decisions made in the design however if most players love then I simply have to move on.