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The Best Games of January 2018

Honorable Mention: Dragon Ball FighterZ

Starting with a couple of honorable mentions, check out the Twinfinite’s Staff picks for our best games for February 2017 which includes of course, our Game of the Month!

Features Editor David Lozada: Dragon Ball FighterZ was made to tap into the hearts of both new and old fans of the anime series, offering them one of the best fighting games this console generation has seen so far and arguably the best Dragon Ball game ever made. The brilliance that is Aksys Games’ gameplay design makes it easy for genre newcomers to pick up a controller and enjoy FighterZ, while an added level of complexity can be found by experimenting with manual combos that take up much less meter in the heat of battle.

Indeed, the game has the foundations it needs to usher it into the echelons of some of today’s premiere tournament-worthy fighting games. A robust arcade mode and neat online component ensure that fans will be blasting off Kamehamehas across the screen for quite some time, if only to finally get a chance to trigger one of FighterZ’s stunning Dramatic Finishes that serve as perfect homages to the show. It’s a crazy, chaotic, and fun experience that will no doubt satisfy the anime’s most loyal fans and simultaneously serve as an entry point for people to finally understand what all the yelling is about.

Aside from all that, witnessing Dragon Ball FighterZ’s entire cast dissing on Yamcha first hand is easily one of the best things you could ever do in a video game. What more could you want?

The Best Games of January 2018

Honorable Mention: Monster Hunter: World

Reviews Editor Zhiqing Wan:  It took a few years, but Capcom has finally given the Monster Hunter series a much-needed facelift. Enter Monster Hunter: World, the biggest and baddest entry in the series yet. Just on the surface, World already looks leagues better than its predecessors. With a new graphics engine and the added power of current-gen consoles, Monster Hunter: World looks crisp, and its environments are truly a sight to behold. The 50 hour-long main story has you traveling to a variety of locales, each packing their own distinct look and ecosystem. The locales themselves are fantastically designed, with tons of verticality for you to play around with. When you consider the fact that World’s locations no longer have segmented areas with loading screens, the exploration becomes that much more immersive and enjoyable.

Monster Hunter: World is also the most newbie-friendly the series has ever been. The combat system is still deep, and crafting and augmenting is a whole other complex beast on its own, but Capcom’s also made the effort to ease in newcomers with the basics. You can get by with just the bare essentials, and it’s up to the player how deep they want to get into Monster Hunter’s intricacies. Just like the entries that came before it, World is best experienced with friends and other online players. Monster hunts are long drawn out affairs, but they’re often exhilarating, and tracking a beast together with other players provides a multiplayer experience like no other. A gunlance wielder could stun a monster easily, while another player takes the opportunity to launch a mounted attack. With the weapon variety available in the game, the hunting possibilities are endless in the online multiplayer. If the idea of hunting down tough monsters and grinding for rare monster parts to craft cool-looking fashion sounds appealing to you, play Monster Hunter: World.

Reviews Editor Zhiqing Wan: Celeste is brutal, and it doesn’t hold back. The game challenges players with intricately designed levels and you’ll need to give it your full attention if you’re to have any hopes of making progress. Despite that, Celeste is also the warmest and most welcoming precision platformer we’ve ever played. The world design and 2D art are gorgeous in a timeless kind of way, the music is repetitive but catchy, it’s calming and it makes an effort to keep you breathing properly. Literally. It’s Super Meat Boy without the metallic soundtrack that can get abrasive and grating over time.

Developer Matt Makes Games also provides a very well-implemented Assist Mode for players who might not be as skilled at platformers, allowing you to adjust the game’s difficulty however you want it. You can change the speed, adjust your invincibility and the number of air dashes you can do, and it’s accessible to basically everyone. But the story is the real reason why you should give Celeste a go. Though the premise is rather simple, there are no words to describe how uplifting and feel-good it is. Celeste’s protagonist, Madeline, struggles to make peace with her demons as she climbs the mystical mountain, and the dialogue is so well-written and relatable for anyone who’s ever had to deal with bouts of anxiety or panic attacks. Celeste doesn’t make light of these issues, but presents them in a somewhat stylized but authentic manner that makes you care for the story and its characters.

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That does it for our January 2018 Game of the Month. Congratulations to Celeste! What do you think were the best games from last month? Let us know in the comments.

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