The DeanBeat: My favorite games of 2018

Games got bigger than ever in 2018, with revenues expected to grow 10.7 percent to become a $134.9 billion market, according to research firm Newzoo. People are getting paid to play games as esports, and watching gaming has reached new heights. It was, of course, a good year for the business models of free-to-play and new categories of trivia or hyper-casual games. Retro games on remade consoles from years past soared back into the mainstream.

But to me, 2018 was the year that traditional narrative games like Red Dead Redemption 2 came roaring back. They blended the elements of open worlds with hubs that gave you a choice about which part of the story to do next. But they were more like games with strong stories rather than open worlds with a bit of a tale. That was refreshing at a time when some people were predicting the death of single-player games. I was so happy to see some long-term bets come through and pay off — like the first three titles on this list. They showed that cooking games beyond the normal cycle can still pay off when the games finally ship.