Video games have been a part of my life since I was old enough to hold a controller.

(Shout out to my uncle for introducing me to them!)

As a woman, the gaming community isn’t exactly ideal and I’m being generous with that description. Despite that, it’s something that I strongly enjoy and the chance to dive into another reality is always welcome. It’s a break from the real world and a chance to immerse myself into something that’s not as stressful. Everyone has welcomed that in some form or another.

And what I love even more than video games, are video games with creativity and representation. So without anymore delay, let’s jump right into it.

In no particular order:

Watch Dogs 2

Unpopular opinion: I actually enjoyed the first Watch Dogs. It still stands that Aiden Pearce is one of the most boring protagonists ever, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the game overall. The supporting characters were what carried the whole damn plot. Essentially, Aiden Pearce was a poor man’s Batman: pretty dull as a stand-alone role, but everyone else around him is what keeps you coming back. This brings me to why I’m so excited for Watch Dogs 2.

Marcus Holloway is the complete opposite. He’s energetic, optimistic, and his motive isn’t driven by a cliché revenge story. He just wants to do the right thing by taking down a corrupt establishment. Let’s not forget the obvious: he’s a Black hacker and his most admirable traits are his intelligence and hacking skills. His hacking skills far surpass that of Aiden’s and this lessens the chances of repetition. In Watch Dogs, you could only hack a limited amount of objects. Ubisoft definitely listened to the criticism and upped the ante in the sequel with a dash representation for their Black gamers.

Black characters are rarely portrayed as highly skilled, tech-savvy hackers. This is some positive representation that many Black nerds and gamers will definitely embrace. Let’s hope this lives up to the hype!

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I had played other games before the Legend of Zelda franchise, but Ocarina of Time was the first game that really got me addicted. The atmosphere, the music and the sense of adventure LOZ gives you is what makes the franchise stand out so well. I remember being so immersed in OOC, that I’d spend hours of my Saturdays trying to get past that migraine-inducing water level. Once the trailer for Breath of the Wild dropped, my love for LOZ was instantly resurrected.

If you haven’t watched the trailer, I highly encourage you to go check it out. This game is absolutely gorgeous. I’m not one to focus on graphics too much, as graphics don’t necessarily make a game enjoyable. However, the beautiful music and environment definitely pulls you in only in the way a LOZ game can successfully do. It can be pretty risky to have super high expectations. Nobody wants to be disappointed by something they spent months looking forward to, but I highly doubt this is going to happen. I’m probably putting all my eggs in one basket, but the story and open world is going to be just as captivating!

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

My love-hate relationship with this series is just as alive when it scared the shit out of me with Resident Evil 2. I remember being to scared to play RE2 on Nintendo 64, so I always begged my uncle to play so that I could watch him play. It was like watching a horror movie that he controlled. Then, there was the time he made me play it in the dark. Yep, that happened. So ever since then, I’ve loved/hated this series.

There’s been a lot of criticism towards the RE franchise for straying from horror and leaning more towards action. Being an action game isn’t a bad thing, but if you built your game on horror, it’s probably best to stick with what attracted your audience. And RE 7 is doing just that, stripping itself down to what made the series so special.

This game features an entirely new protagonist with no combat or self-defense skills. This means you’ll be playing entirely survival horror with little chance of defending yourself. There may be little to no presence of guns or blunt objects. I don’t know about the rest of you, but the scariest gameplay is when you can only run from it. And it looks like this is it.

Honorable mention:

Nintendo Switch

Yes, I know it’s a console and not a game, but how the hell else am I going to play Breath of the Wild? I haven’t been this excited for a Nintendo console since Gamecube! And that was in 2001. 15 years ago. It’s finally time for me to go back to being a Nintendo fangirl and appreciating my favorite thing about them: the innovation.

Nintendo is always trying something different with their consoles. It’s pretty obvious by looking at the changes just in the controllers alone. This company is always looking for newest thing and the Nintendo Switch is just that. It’s like there was an argument in the conference room between making Nintendo Switch a regular console or a handheld console. Then, one genius in the room went:

And that was how the Nintendo Switch was born.

Dishonorable mention:

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

Call of Duty… Yikes, how far this series has fallen. I remember the first time I fell in love with Modern Warfare 3 and it trickled over to Black Ops. Playing COD was how I bonded with my husband when I first met him. Video games were the first thing we had in common and while we were initially friends, we spent half our time playing COD. However, it’s been declining in quality with every release. I think we all saw it coming, but we weren’t ready to believe it. The games simply aren’t revolutionary anymore. It’s nothing that hasn’t been done already and people are starting to catch on. Not to mention the prices:

The average new and unused video game will cost you about $59.99 plus tax.

Just looking at the trailer, it doesn’t resemble the past games at all and it doesn’t remind the audience why we fell in love with the franchise. But it also isn’t doing anything captivating as a new release. There’s nothing that evokes the old love for the COD franchise, but there’s also nothing new to capture attention. It seems to have finally reached its peak. The like/dislike ratio on the YouTube trailer shows a mob of dissatisfied customers. The worst part? A remastered Modern Warfare is offered, but it comes bundled with Infinite Warfare. There is no separate sale. Therefore, if you enjoyed Modern Warfare, you would have to order Infinite Warfare if you want that remastered version. Good luck.