Honestly, looking back at it now, 2018 felt like a fever dream for anyone who actually likes video games. It wasn’t just a good year. It was the kind of year that ruins your sleep schedule and makes your bank account weep. We weren't just getting "sequels." We were getting massive, industry-shifting monoliths that redefined what a console could even do before the next generation arrived. But when people talk about the game of the year 2018, they usually aren't talking about Spider-Man or Celeste, as incredible as those were. They are talking about the heavyweight title fight between a bearded, grieving father in Midgard and a dying outlaw in the American West.
It was Kratos versus Arthur Morgan. Sony Santa Monica versus Rockstar Games.
The Game Awards that December felt less like an awards show and more like a coronation ceremony where nobody knew who the king was until the very last second. When God of War took home the top prize, it sent shockwaves through the community. Some people were thrilled. Others? Well, let's just say the "Red Dead was robbed" crowd is still vocal on Reddit today, nearly eight years later. But why does this specific year carry so much weight? Why do we keep coming back to it?
The Impossible Pivot of Kratos
Nobody expected God of War to be what it was. Seriously. If you’d asked a gamer in 2015 what a new God of War would look like, they’d have described a button-mashing gore-fest with fixed camera angles and a protagonist whose only personality trait was "very loud screaming." Instead, Cory Barlog and his team at Santa Monica Studio gave us a "no-cut" cinematic masterpiece.
The technical feat of a single continuous camera shot for a 30-hour game is still mind-boggling. It didn't just look cool; it forced you to stay intimate with the characters. You couldn't look away from Kratos’s stoic grief or Atreus’s childish curiosity. The combat changed too. It became heavy. Deliberate. Every hit of the Leviathan Axe felt like it had weight, thanks to some of the best haptic-style sound design and animation timing in the business. It wasn't just a game; it was a meditation on fatherhood wrapped in the skin of a Norse myth.
Why Red Dead Redemption 2 Felt Like a Simulation
Then there’s the "other" game of the year 2018 contender. Rockstar didn't just make a sequel to Red Dead Redemption; they built a living, breathing, agonizingly detailed simulation of the end of the outlaw era. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a slow game. It’s a stubborn game. It’s a game that makes you manually pick up every individual can of beans and watch a three-second animation of Arthur skinning a deer.
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For some, this was "tedious." For others, it was the peak of immersion.
The level of detail was, frankly, borderline insane. Horses' coats would get matted with mud. Arthur would lose or gain weight based on what you ate. You could spend four hours just fishing or playing poker in Saint Denis without ever touching the main story. But the heart of it was Arthur Morgan. Roger Clark’s performance brought a level of nuance to Arthur that few digital characters have ever achieved. By the time that final ride happened, half the planet was in tears.
The Critic’s Dilemma: Polish vs. Innovation
When the voting bodies had to decide on the game of the year 2018, they were basically choosing between two different philosophies of game design.
- God of War represented the "Perfect Loop." It was tight, focused, and didn't have a single wasted frame. Every mechanic served the story.
- Red Dead Redemption 2 represented the "Infinite World." It was messy, sprawling, and sometimes clunky, but it offered a sense of place that felt realer than reality.
Usually, the more "playable" game wins. God of War is arguably more "fun" in the traditional sense. You’re always doing something cool. Red Dead 2 asks you to exist in its space, which involves a lot of riding across empty plains. That friction is exactly why it lost some of the top votes, even though its technical scope was objectively larger.
The Indie Revolution Hiding in the Shadows
We can't just talk about the big two. If you look at the nominees for the game of the year 2018, you see Celeste.
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Celeste is a game about climbing a mountain, but it's actually about anxiety and depression. It’s a pixel-art platformer that managed to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with $100 million blockbusters. It proved that tight mechanics and a vulnerable, honest script could win over the hearts of critics just as easily as high-fidelity graphics. Then there was Return of the Obra Dinn. Lucas Pope created a 1-bit style mystery game that made you feel like a genius for noticing a tattoo on a sailor's arm. It was a year where the "middle" of the industry—the AA and indie space—was firing on all cylinders.
Even Monster Hunter: World broke out of its niche Japanese shell to become a global phenomenon that year. It brought a level of accessibility to a notoriously difficult franchise without losing the depth that veterans loved.
The Controversy of the "Winner"
Let's get real. Does it matter who won?
In the long run, no. But the "snub" of Red Dead 2 is still a major talking point in gaming history. If you look at MetaCritic scores, Red Dead Redemption 2 sits at a 97. God of War is at a 94. In almost any other year, Rockstar would have swept every single category. But 2018 was different because the "prestige" of Sony's first-party output had reached its zenith.
People were starting to value the "Sony Style"—over-the-shoulder, narrative-driven, third-person action—above the open-world sandbox style that had dominated the previous decade. God of War was the ultimate version of that style. It was the moment the industry decided that "direction" was more important than "freedom."
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What We Learned from 2018
Looking back, the game of the year 2018 taught us that players are willing to forgive a lot if the emotional payoff is there. We forgave the somewhat repetitive boss fights in God of War because we loved the boy. We forgave the clunky cover system in Red Dead 2 because we loved Arthur.
It was also the year that "Live Service" games started to show their cracks. While Fortnite was becoming a cultural black hole, the conversation around the best games was still firmly rooted in single-player, finished-at-launch experiences. It was a victory for the "old way" of making games, even as the industry was pushing toward battle passes and microtransactions.
Hard Facts About the 2018 Race
- God of War won Game of the Year at The Game Awards, DICE, and BAFTA.
- Red Dead Redemption 2 won more total awards across all categories (Best Narrative, Best Score, Best Audio Design).
- Spider-Man (PS4) sold faster than both of them initially, proving the power of the Marvel IP.
- Celeste was the first indie game to be nominated for the main GOTY award at The Game Awards.
Actionable Steps for the Modern Player
If you missed out on this era or you're looking to revisit it, here is how you should handle these titles today.
Play God of War (2018) before Ragnarök
Don't skip to the sequel. The emotional beats of Ragnarök land with half the impact if you haven't lived through the "boy" era. If you're on PC, the port is fantastic and supports ultrawide monitors, which makes the "no-cut" camera feel even more cinematic.
Give Red Dead 2 more than five hours
The biggest mistake people make is quitting in Chapter 1 (the snow). The game doesn't actually "start" until you reach Horseshoe Overlook. If you find the controls sluggish, go into the settings and turn the "Dead Zone" down to zero and the "Acceleration" up. It changes the game entirely.
Check out the "Other" winners
Go play Return of the Obra Dinn. It’s a masterclass in deductive reasoning that hasn't been replicated since. Also, Monster Hunter: World still has a very active player base even in 2026, so it's never too late to start your first hunt.
2018 wasn't just a calendar year. It was a high-water mark for the medium. Whether you're a fan of the "Axe" or the "Revolver," the reality is that we were all lucky to be playing games when these two titans collided. The debate over which one is better will probably never end, but that's only because both of them are essentially perfect versions of what they set out to be.