One of the beautiful things about video games is how the best moments can take shape in such a variety of ways. When I look back at my favorite moments each year, some are boss fights, some are plot moments, some are set pieces, and most have a little bit of everything. These are the moments that make video games stand alone as an artform, and that is why it is one of my favorite lists to compile each year. I will have more lists in the coming weeks, but this one means enough for me to have it stand alone.
FULL SPOILERS AHEAD.
10. Starfield: In Their Footsteps
One of the few plot twists this year that had me doing an audible “whoa”. This moment happens soon after you lose one of your party members in the “High Price to Pay” mission. When you finally go to meet the Starborn that have been chasing after you throughout the main story, you find out that one of those Starborn is your party member that just died. However, they are different, as it is a version of them that has been going through countless other universes before getting to this one. It was fascinating watching the Sarah Morgan I knew, who was one of the biggest sticks in the mud in gaming history, actually have a bit of an edge to her, and it made logical sense given the circumstances. More reveals are also made about your character as well, and from this moment I was pretty much all-in on seeing the main quest through to the end before doing anything else. I’ll have more on Starfield in future posts, but I will say that this was easily the most interesting main story of any of the Bethesda mainline RPGs to me, and this moment played a massive role in that.
9. Cyberpunk: Phantom Liberty: Roulette
I’m a sucker for going undercover in a video game. And going undercover at a fancy party just hits all the right buttons for me. The constant tension of stealth, but mixed with a crowded environment is positively thrilling if done right. Phantom Liberty does it perfectly when you crash the main villain’s party in order to gather info on two of his netrunners. This leads to an exciting scene where you play roulette, and try to keep a conversation going with them. You have support in your ear that does a great job of talking you through the stakes, and the dialogue options keep you on your toes, with no obvious correct answers in several parts. One of the characters you are talking to is one of the most compelling in the entire game too, with a mix of danger and romance, and an awesome French accent. Everything here had me totally immersed. It’s the kind of cinematic scene that CD Projekt Red has totally mastered, and I loved every second of it.
8. Hi-Fi Rush: Roquefort Boss Fight
The licensed music in Hi-Fi Rush hits perfectly in every boss fight, but a random Beethoven remix came in out of nowhere to set the tone for my favorite boss fight in the game. You get it all here, great music, a really cool boss transformation, and a 3-part boss fight, all with different backdrops, including a fight in a vault on top of piles of gold. Everything here hits perfectly, and it’s the fight I would use to show someone everything this game does well, from the combat, to the art direction, to the music.
7. Final Fantasy XVI: Titan Boss Fight
Pretty much every boss fight in Final Fantasy XVI could conceivably be in the running for this list. Every Eikon fight is about as epic as any final boss fight you’d get in any other video game. Of all the big fights though, the Titan fight stood out the most for me, and is the one I was still thinking about months later. First off, I thought the build up to this fight is the best in the game. Hugo is hyped up early as a serious threat, and you quickly know you will have to take him on down the road. So when it’s finally time to fight him, there is added anticipation. The fight is something like 30 minutes, and the most memorable element is when you climb up the massive Titan as you dodge attacks from him. You also have a long sequence where you both fight while literally falling into an abyss. It’s about as epic as it gets in a game that is consistently epic.
6. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor: Flying Setpiece
Respawn has obviously drawn a a lot of inspiration from Uncharted when making their Star Wars games, and this setpiece was one where I believe they surpassed anything that Naughty Dog ever did with Uncharted. This sequence has it all, as you get a new air dash skill, which also gets combined perfectly with wall running, and a “flying” ability from Merrin, all while a giant robot attacks you to create a cavalcade of thrilling moments. The game even sneaks in a kiss scene between Cal and Merrin to give the sequence extra plot importance too.
5. Sea of Stars: Garl’s Death
Easily the saddest moment of the year, and I’d say it has to be up there for one of the saddest of all time.
First off, Garl is easily one of the most likeable video game characters of the year. He is a loyal friend that waits years and years for his friends to return from training. The game constantly showcases how selfless and good Garl is.
And when the game kills him off, it isn’t just some fast shock. Garl gets marked for death, which then sets off a whole quest, and then another whole sequence where he helps his friends one last time, reminisces with them about the past, and then one last dragon ride where he wishes them goodbye, with pitch perfect depressing music playing. It’s absolutely agonizing, and still makes me well up with emotion just thinking about it. Pulling this off in a 16-bit style game, with no voice acting, makes it even more impressive in my book too. There are a lot of famous gaming deaths and Garl’s death stands with any of them for its execution (pun uhh, not intended).
4. Baldur’s Gate 3: Goblin Camp
There are many ways that Baldur’s Gate 3 impressed me outside of its combat right from the start of the game. The dice rolls, the dialogue options, and the difficult choices that hit you immediately are all pretty amazing.
CRPGs aren’t really my thing though, so the combat was the big missing equation there, and while I can’t say I was ever 100% in love with it, the goblin camp is the moment where many people like myself can at least say “OK, I get it”.
The Goblin Camp takes place in Act 1 of the game, and you have to take out three different bosses within this camp. My first go at it, I alerted the whole camp, and was quickly swarmed by foes. I realized I needed to really plan this one out, and suddenly, I had to use all the tools at my disposal to get by, and it turns out, the game has some very fun tools. Most memorable for me was managing to push several goblins into a spider pit, with spiders I then befriended, who then helped me take out the rest of the camp. I also took out one boss in a stealthy way that almost felt like I was playing a Hitman game. You can also talk to all the bosses, and avoid suspicion with the right dialogue choices. There are some other fights in the game that felt more “epic”, but the Goblin Camp has the most creativity of any encounter in the game, and even if you don’t care for this kind of combat, there is a lot of fun to be found here.
3. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor: Darth Vader
Star Wars: Fallen Order was masterful with its use of Darth Vader, and Jedi Survivor takes things to another level. Darth’s appearance is late enough in the game, that it caught me a bit off guard when he does show up, and elicited an audible “OH SHIT” from me. From there is my favorite boss fight of the year. It perfectly walks the line of being very difficult (on hard at least), but not overly frustrating.
It then ends with a perfect shot where Cere seemingly lands a fatal blow, only for it to be revealed that it was actually Cere who was struck. It’s a devastating blow to lose Cere, and is an amazing emotional capstone to a very intense fight.
2. Final Fantasy XVI: Accept the Truth
I kind of can’t believe this isn’t #1. This moment absolutely blew my mind, and just like many of the moments on here, beautifully combines narrative with gameplay.
Throughout the early game, it’s pretty obvious that Ifrit, who “killed” Clive’s brother early in the game, is in fact Clive himself. Of course, he doesn’t realize this, or perhaps doesn’t want to realize this. Finally, after some great build up, he does face himself and his past, and becomes stronger for it. The game gives you an actual button prompt to “accept the truth”, which in retrospect is absolutely hilarious, but in the moment is so damn cool and captivating. From there, some of the most badass music in the game hits, and you suddenly have more power than you’ve had before with the very fun “limit break” system. And then to top it off, the game gives you a juicy Ifrit vs. Ifrit battle that has serious Godzilla vibes.
It moves the narrative in a significant way, has character development, you gain power in the actual gameplay, and then the best music in the game hits. This is pure mastery.
1. Alan Wake 2: “We Sing”
Full disclosure, I almost put off playing this level. After playing the opening Saga and Alan levels, I vastly preferred Saga. I hate the shadow enemies in the Alan levels, and I preferred the case board mechanic in the Saga levels. But I wanted to keep an even split between who I played, so I went forward with the next Alan level, begrudgingly.
And man, things changed fast.
I was quickly taken in by this talk show episode, that turned into a music video, with probably my favorite video game song of the year “Herald of Darkness”. The atmosphere, the perfect music, the general weirdness, and then the fighting in the second half all create one of those rare moments where I felt compelled to pause the game so that my wife could see what was happening. I think everyone playing Alan Wake 2 had a sneaking suspicion something special was about to happen as the music started to hit, and sure enough, it was my favorite video game moment of the year, and probably the favorite of most people who played it.
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