This year, we wanted to find those ongoing games that always had something up their sleeves for the fans who kept coming back, the games that refuse to bask in previous triumphs and always offer something new to coincide with the change in seasons and fan attitudes. We think we found a couple of great nominees, as well as one heck of a winner.

It may not be as massive today as was in its heyday, but the strategy game genre is far from dead. On the contrary, it’s a genre that feels better and more alive than ever before, thanks to new technology and ideas resulting in grander conflicts and better storytelling while still asking you to flex your brain muscles and work out strategies on the fly. So requisition some resources, set up your units and prepare to march, as we look back at the best strategy games of 2018.

Video games are more than their just their visuals, but there are times where a certain game can deliver a 4K haymaker that’ll knock you out of your shoes. With the gap between virtual and reality visuals becoming narrower every single day, here’s a look at the games which made that graphical gap even smaller in 2018.

Indie games are a vital part of the video game eco system, and 2018 saw more than one such game rise to the top of the food chain. Here’s a look at the best of the best, from the indie darlings that we just cannot get enough of.

You could say that every game is an action game technically, but for this category? We’re talking about the games that had a very specific kind of action. The games that swung swords, gave the richest of explosions and landed the most devastating haymakers possible were what we were after this year, and 2018 didn’t disappoint.

Video games may be a visual medium, but without any audio they’d just be a collection of good-looking shells that were hollow inside. Music creates an atmosphere, it tells a story and pushes players in the right direction when a game needs to pick up the pace. They’re the subliminal prods that keep the momentum going, but there are times when a game’s soundtrack can stay with you long after the end credits have rolled. Here’s a look, at the video game soundtracks that defined 2018.

If you were looking for games that gave you glorious gung-ho action and plenty of weapons with which to deal out some old-fashioned justice, then 2018 was a great year for the shooter genre. From experiences that saw players take on well armed cults of personality to the far reaches of space, here’s a look at the best that the year had to offer for any action junkie who was looking for quality, fun and mayhem.

For a franchise that was knocking on death’s door a mere decade ago, fighting games have certainly come a long way in the last couple of years. 2018 may go down in history as one of the finest year’s for the genre, as the pickings may have been slim but the games on offer were benchmarks in two-fisted action. Here’s a look at the best that the genre had to offer, as well as 2018’s overall king of the ring.