My Favorite 8th Gen Games of All Time

I’ve been gaming for as long as I remember, with my journey beginning at the 3rd generation, starting with Super Mario Bros, Duckhunt and Wild Gunmen as my three first games I’ve ever played. I’ve since moved on to the Mega Drive, then the PSX, followed by the PS2 then continued by a very shaky relationship with the 7th gen that I later managed to reconcile with.

Beyond all this, we arrive at the 8th generation, the gen I’ve had the hardest time bonding with if we’re strictly talking only its original games. While the PS4 and Xbox One are phenomenal systems for re-experiencing old games, I can’t quite feel the same about them in terms of their original library (or lack thereof).

We all made jokes at the expense of the 7th gen for being the generation without any original ideas, but keep in mind it’s the same gen that had inFamous, GTA IV, GTA V, Call of Duty 4, BioShock, Dishonored, Uncharted, Vanquish, Binary Domain, 3D Dot Heroes, Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6, Dead or Alive 5, Dynasty 7&8, Warriors Orochi 3, Valkyria Chronicles, Yakuza 3-5, Battlefield 3, Demon Souls, Dark Souls and I could go on, but you get the idea.

While we can definitely argue about the validity of this argument, even if you feel like dubbing the 7th gen as the sequels gen, then the 8th generation would be “the sequel sequel generation”. They often say the third installment of anything is the most underwhelming one, at least in movies, and this seems like an apt way of describing my experience with the PS4 and Xbox One, two consoles with many a great title, but far too many ones that felt lacking here and there.

Never the less, I’m here to also reconcile with this gen just like I did with the 7th. My good friend @Aziamuth did a fantastic list of PS3 games he owns that you can find here. Do check it out! We will be listing PS4/Xbone games here meanwhile as I lack experience with Nintendo consoles to make a valuable list. Without wasting anymore time, onto the list!

9- WWE: 2K23​

This beginning is somewhat cheating, but I gotta let myself indulge a little since we finally got a good wrestling game after lord only knows how many years. The last good one was like what, 2011? Geez! This one doesn’t do anything special besides y’know, being good. Which is apparently a lot to ask for from this and the 9th gen.

8- Uncharted 4​

We continue things off on a somewhat downer note, but that should only further highlight my feelings about this gen. I try to find the good in the bad, and Uncharted 4, despite its many missteps, remains an ultimately great ride with fantastic gunplay and really innovative additions to the Uncharted formula. While I consider it a weak link due to its story and occasionally questionable level design, it’s still the standard Uncharted affair, a series that wasn’t exactly high brow to begin with, so being itself is still more than enough.

7- Call of Duty: Black Ops III​

Being the only Call of Duty on PS4 that I have any real attachment for, this was an easy pick. While the series has already peaked with the previous Black Ops games, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and Ghosts. This one has a great story with its Alice in the Wonderland allusions, and is likely the last good Call of Duty… ever? A hotly debated topic, but that’s where I weigh in on the matter. On that note, however…

6- Battlefield V​

How appropriate that we move on from one franchise’s final good outing to another. Battlefield V can be described in one sentence, “as good as it gets”. Both CoD and Battlefield were high caliber, and arguably the best FPSs on the market as we speak, and while I tend to prefer CoD on a general basis, I’d argue Battlefield has higher highs as this is the game that would come out on top for me if we stacked all games from both series side by side. But enough needless comparisons, because V is a masterpiece of a historic shooter that stands decently enough on its two legs without needing to be compared. One of the most beautiful and smoothest shooters ever produced. A fantastic experience from ear to ear.

5- Yakuza 6: The Song of Life​

The last remanent of Yakuza’s original soul lies in this adventure. While it’s certainly a flawed game in its own right, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life brings enough of its own heart to justify being remembered. Onomichi and fully voiced substories brought a lot of life to this game, and it was nice seeing series protagonist Kiryu Kazuma for one last hurrah.

4- Dead Rising 3​

Make no mistake, Dead Rising 3 is fully deserving of its divisive reputation for just being so damn odd at times! But looking past all of it, this is not only one of the most impressive games on the hardware, but a really fun and unique adventure too! Certainly a weak link in the legendary Dead Rising series, but Nick Ramos brought some zest here.

Some criticism is fully deserved, such as the PC port being allegedly awful to spite PC players angry at its exclusivity, which would explain this game being lower on people’s list of favorites. An understandable concern, but one that’s likely been resolved with recent patches. Give it a spin when you can!

3- InFamous: Second Son​

Possibly the first game on this list I had incredible hype for, one that was unfortunately met with disappointment later on, only for me to recently reconcile with this game and realize its strengths when stacked against similar but newer games. We truly did not appreciate what we had here. While I’m not a native to Seattle, the depiction of it here has been so beautiful, it makes me wanna visit the real city. Making this for a phenomenal piece of virtual tourism!

2- Dark Souls III​

Easily the most important game for me on this list. Dark Souls III has helped me through tough times, and is easily the game I’m most emotionally attached to on this list. It is unfortunately impossible to verbalize how large of an impact it has left on me and it could even be my favorite From Software game under the right circumstances, but it is ultimately held back by largely ignorable albeit minor setbacks. Never the less, I could not be happier to have played it and its easily deserving of its placement on this list.

1- Persona 5: Royal​

Persona 5: Royal may as well be the poster child for surprise sleeper hits on my backlog. A franchise that I had no real exposure to outside of the equally stellar Persona 4 and a game that was seemingly heavily mocked by my RPG and SMT peers and enthusiasts alike, P5R was not shaping up to be a slam dunk it seems, so you can only imagine how I felt when I unknowingly spent 14 obsessive days in a row playing nothing but Persona 5.

Now normally spending this amount of time leaves me with some element of regret, but P5 felt fresh and rich in both its story and gameplay that I only came out feeling fulfilled. At first, I thought my love for this game was something that was not meant to be, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It has now become one of my favorite games of all time alongside the also similarly legendary Persona 3: Reload, I also dipped my feet into SMT V and came out loving it! So this is merely the beginning, let’s not forget its incredible soundtrack!

Final notes ?️​

? Please understand this is a personal list, and as such it would be dishonest to include games I have not played. With that said, I hope everyone had a good time! Ramadan starts tomorrow, so I wanted to leave on a good note. If you have any favorite games from the 8th gen, let us know!

Take care, everyone!

 

[DaxterDotEXE]

SO... MUCH... MID