Post about new gaming experiences you had in 2018. Did you try to spice things up and try something different ? For example if you played a game in a genre you never tried before. Maybe you played a indie game after only playing AAA titles. Maybe you started playing multi-player games this year. Maybe this is your first year as a PC/console/mobile gamer...

For me it was The Hunter Primal. I never played a hunting game before, so this was a new experience for me. The game also has some survival elements, and even though this type of game is popular in the last several years I never played modern survival games. The game has no goals, you just hunt and try to survive, so I had to make my own goals to keep the game interesting. It has a great atmosphere and you never know are you a hunter or the prey for the dinosaurs, it can get quite intense.

While I did enjoy the new experience unfortunately it is very obvious the game was abandoned by its developers and was never finished, so it doesn't fulfill its potential, it could have been improved in many ways. The last update actually breaks the game and the developers didn't even bother to fix it, even though the community found a fix themselves. That was also a new experience; playing an abandoned game like this. Don't give money to these developers, Expansive Worlds.

Mine is actually Civilization IV. The reason being, I've never played any of the Civilization series until the late 2018. Wait, nvm. My very first introduction to the Civilization series was actually from Civilization V which I probably played less than two hours. I actually don't remember any other reasons as to why did I stop playing the game so quickly apart from the fact that I had a very low-end laptop back then and how I thought that the game had quite a steep learning curve for me to get used to. *whispers* I actually pirated the Civilization V game. Shhhh..

Going back, before proceeding with the tutorial for Civilization IV, I mustered up the courage to learn from what the game has to offer. Although the tutorial didn't exactly explain all the features that the game has, the turn-based mechanic of the game allowed me to take the time to learn and understand every single aspect of the game in between turns. In the end, I managed to understand a sufficient amount of information on how the game works for me to enjoy the whole gaming experience. One thing that I'd like to say about the game however, which I think only applies to a minority portion of players from the whole Civilization series fanbase, is that I always find the midgame to be boring. Probably it's due to the fact that I often find myself aimlessly researching stuffs with no real endgame objective in mind. Again, this opinion of mine would probably change the more I play and get accustomed to the game.

P.S.: Worry not, the Civilization IV I play is straight from GOG.

I think that's a Kynseed & Gwent

Subnautica, I guess? Regarding the setting, I had already played Abzu, but in terms of gameplay, I don't think I've played anything like it before, even though these base building sandbox / open world crafting and survival games are a dime a dozen now, but I think it was the first game of this kind that I tried (at least for longer than half an hour) and actually played through. I guess it was the combination of the beautiful and intriguing setting, graphics and sound design (underwater + alien world), relaxingly forgiving difficulty and motivating exploration fueled by story bits and ultimate goal. I can imagine playing something similar again in the future, but I fear it would be hard to find, because most of the games in the genre don't look like they have the same qualities as Subnautica.

Other than that, the only 2018 games I've played were Chuchel (similar to other Amanita Games or Daedalic's Fire), Hero-U (somewhat unique, but also reminiscent of Quest for Glory and Princess Maker type of games) and Overcooked 2 (a sequel of which I already knew the predecessor).

EDIT: Oh, wait, I misunderstood - it's not just about games released in 2018, but games played in 2018. In that case there's also Superhot and Slime Rancher.

Darkwood

Don't think I've ever played anything like it before, and it was incredible. Loved the unique horror setting as well. Highly recommended.

Getting over it

Would not recommend.

Judging by the screenshots, the developer or whoever was assigned to take them had probably never even finished the first 1/4 of the game.

I bought Secret Little Haven (from itch.io) this year, but haven't yet gotten around to playing (if "playing" is the right term) it. It would be best categorized as a visual novel, so it focuses on story at the expense of gameplay (though there is one puzzle), which is the reverse of what I'm used to and generally prefer.

Also, I tried a web game called "Project Ice Puzzle"; while not entirely foreign to me, I don't generally play pure puzzle games of this sort. Furthermore, the game currently has only 10 levels, as it is not complete at this time. (Actually, I don't remember if I tried it this year or some earlier year.)

Sex.

Congrats, I guess..

Oy, I haven't played that game since 1996.

Sunless Sea / Zubmariner. Exploration / weirdness-horror / survival / resource management?

Sword of the Stars: The Pit. Turn-based exploration and combat with permadeath. Don't think I'd played that type of permadeath game before.

Rocket League, which is also one of the best games I've played this year (the other one is Mafia II).

...

RiME. It was different in the way it told its story. I cannot go into details without revealing spoilers, but I can sat that despite first impressions, in the end the message is delivered, even if it's not what I initially expected.

And all of this without dialogues.

Into the Breach. I'm a big Subset Games fan, and I think they deconstructed the turn-based strategy game in a brilliant way.

If you haven't played it, basically a turn goes like this - the enemy readjusts positions, and you see where they will attack. Then you can move - knock them into a different tile, block their attack with your mech, move an enemy into their attack path, all of these are valid tactics. By the time you hit "End Turn" you know exactly what will happen. It's like watching a row of dominoes fall, but with giant bugs, robots, and cities.

It turns each turn into a puzzle in a way that most TBS games don't. There isn't much randomness in the game (to contrast with FTL), and you often can figure out a brilliant move if you think for long enough. It's so satisfying to pull your way out of an impossible-seeming situation.