Honestly, looking back at what games came out in 2018, it feels less like a single calendar year and more like a massive tectonic shift for the entire industry. It was a weird time. The "Battle Royale" craze was reaching a fever pitch with Fortnite, but simultaneously, we saw the release of some of the most polished, narrative-heavy single-player experiences ever crafted. Think about it. We got a Cowboy simulator that was so detailed you could watch horse manes grow, a deicide-themed father-son road trip through Norse mythology, and a version of Spider-Man that finally made swinging through Manhattan feel right.
It wasn't just about the big hits, though. 2018 was the year the "Indie" label started to feel a bit redundant because the quality was just so high. Games like Celeste and Return of the Obra Dinn weren't just "good for small teams"—they were arguably better than the AAA stuff clogging up the shelves.
The Heavy Hitters: Red Dead and God of War
If you ask anyone about the year, they’ll probably point to the slugfest between God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2. It was a brutal year for any other game trying to win an award.
Rockstar Games released Red Dead Redemption 2 in October, and it was... a lot. It’s a slow game. Intentionally slow. You have to clean your guns. You have to brush your horse. You have to eat so Arthur Morgan doesn't look like a skeleton. Some people hated that. They found it tedious. But for others, the level of immersion was unparalleled. I remember spending three hours just hunting a legendary elk and not feeling like a single minute was wasted. It sold over 23 million copies in its first few months alone, proving that players were hungry for that kind of methodical, "prestige" storytelling.
Then you have God of War. Santa Monica Studio took Kratos—a character who was basically a one-note personification of rage—and turned him into a grieving, stoic father. It was a gamble. Moving the camera to a tight over-the-shoulder perspective and introducing the "Leviathan Axe" changed the DNA of the series. The game famously used a "no-cut" camera technique, meaning the entire experience felt like one continuous shot from start to finish. It’s still a technical marvel.
The PS4's Golden Age
While Sony was busy with Kratos, they also dropped Marvel's Spider-Man. Insomniac Games understood something vital: the movement is the game. If the web-swinging sucked, the whole thing would fail. It didn't. They also gave us a Peter Parker who felt like a real human being dealing with rent problems, not just a superhero.
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The Indie Revolution of 2018
You can't talk about what games came out in 2018 without mentioning Celeste. Developed by Maddy Thorson and Pedro Medeiros, it looked like a simple pixel-art platformer. It wasn't. It was a metaphor for mental health, anxiety, and the grueling process of self-improvement. The difficulty was the point. When you finally climbed that mountain, it felt earned in a way few games manage.
And then there was Return of the Obra Dinn. Lucas Pope, the guy who made Papers, Please, created a monochromatic murder mystery on a ghost ship. You play as an insurance inspector. Sounds boring? It’s terrifying and brilliant. You use a magic pocket watch to see the exact moment of someone's death and then have to deduce who they were and how they died among a crew of sixty people. No hand-holding. Just pure logic.
- Dead Cells brought the "Rogue-lite" genre to the mainstream with incredibly tight combat.
- Into the Breach proved that you could make a strategy game as deep as chess but playable in ten-minute chunks.
- Gris showed that games could be living, breathing watercolor paintings.
What Most People Forget About 2018
People remember the triumphs, but 2018 was also a year of massive controversy and "oops" moments. Does anyone remember the launch of Fallout 76? It was rough. No NPCs, a world that felt empty, and bugs that would make your skin crawl. Bethesda has fixed it since then, mostly, but that launch remains a cautionary tale about "Games as a Service."
Similarly, Sea of Thieves launched in early 2018. At the time, critics slammed it for being "wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle." Rare stayed with it, though. They turned it into a massive success over the next few years, but that initial 2018 reception was lukewarm at best.
We also saw the beginning of the end for the Telltale Games style of narrative. While they released The Walking Dead: The Final Season, the studio actually collapsed during production. It was a heartbreaking moment for the industry, reminding everyone that even "critical darlings" aren't safe from poor business management.
The Battle Royale Dominance
While technically released in late 2017, Fortnite became a cultural phenomenon in 2018. It changed everything. Suddenly, every developer wanted a "Battle Pass." Every kid was doing the "Floss" dance. Epic Games' success forced Sony to finally allow cross-play, a move they had resisted for years. 2018 was the year the "walled garden" of consoles started to crumble.
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The Nintendo Switch Finds Its Groove
After a massive 2017 (Zelda and Mario), the Switch needed to prove it wasn't a flash in the pan. 2018 gave us Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. "Everyone is here" wasn't just a marketing slogan; it was a promise. The game featured 74 fighters at launch. It was a love letter to gaming history.
Nintendo also experimented with Nintendo Labo. Cardboard. They sold people cardboard. It was weird, and it didn't really take off long-term, but it showed that Nintendo was still willing to be the "weird" kid in the class.
Why 2018 Was Different
We saw a shift in how games were critiqued. Diversity and representation became front-and-center conversations. Assassin's Creed Odyssey let players choose between a male or female protagonist, and more importantly, it let them pursue whoever they wanted. It was a year where the industry started to feel a bit more grown-up, even if it still had its fair share of "gamer" drama.
The hardware was also being pushed to its absolute limit. The PS4 Pro and Xbox One X were finally being utilized. When you look at the lighting in Detroit: Become Human, another 2018 release, it’s hard to believe that's running on decade-old architecture. Quantic Dream pushed facial animation to a level that still looks incredible today, even if David Cage's writing remains... polarizing.
Important Releases You Might Have Missed
- Monster Hunter: World - This was the year Capcom finally made Monster Hunter a global hit instead of a niche Japanese obsession.
- Among Us - Weirdly, this game came out in 2018. Nobody played it. It sat in total obscurity for two years until the pandemic hit and it became the biggest game on Earth.
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance - A hyper-realistic medieval RPG without any magic. It was buggy as hell, but deeply ambitious.
- Subnautica - The best underwater survival game ever made finally left Early Access.
Moving Forward: What You Should Play Now
If you’re looking to dive back into what games came out in 2018, don't just go for the big names. Yes, play God of War. Yes, play Red Dead 2. But if you want to understand the soul of that year, play Celeste or The Messenger.
The real legacy of 2018 isn't just the graphics or the sales numbers. It’s the fact that it was the year the "middle" of the market started to vanish. You either had these $200 million behemoths or these tiny, hyper-focused indie masterpieces. The "AA" game—the $40 middle-ground title—seemed to be dying out, though it’s made a bit of a comeback recently.
To get the most out of these 2018 classics today, consider these steps:
- Check for Next-Gen Patches: Many 2018 titles like God of War and Spider-Man have 60fps patches or "Remastered" versions for PS5/Xbox Series X. Don't play the base versions if you have the new hardware.
- Look for Definitive Editions: Games like Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (another 2018 gem) often have all DLC bundled now for a fraction of the original price.
- Don't Ignore the Indies: If you have a Steam Deck or a Switch, 2018's indie library is perfect for handheld play. Dead Cells is still getting updates years later.
- Follow the Creators: Many of the teams that peaked in 2018 are releasing their follow-up projects right now. Following the lead designers of Celeste (Maddy Makes Games) or Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope) is a great way to find your next favorite game.
The industry has changed a lot since then. We have more subscriptions like Game Pass, and "microtransactions" have become even more aggressive. But 2018 stands as a reminder that when developers are given the time and resources to actually finish a project, the results can be legendary. It was a high-water mark for the eighth generation of consoles, and honestly, we're still living in its shadow.