It’s been a heck of a year for videogames. We’ve navigated the ruins of Greece, trekked through ancient Midgard, ran down trains in the wild west and even raced through the cobbled streets of Britain. But which games have really stood out to us this year?

It’s been a hard task, but the TechRadar team has put their heads together and thrashed out which games we believe were the best this year. At times it got vicious and downright dirty, but we did it for you. So without further ado, here are TechRadar’s games of the year.

Best Virtual Reality Game

Tetris Effect

Think you know Tetris? Think again. It’s been re-invented many times over the years, but by bringing the game into the realm of virtual reality, Tetris Effect is revelatory. 

Taking its cues from the VR port of Rez, Tetris Effect magically pulls together astonishing visual effects and an incredible soundtrack to make Tetris a multi-sensory experience more closely akin to a rhythm action game. It’s a joyous addition to the PSVR’s growing library.

Honorable mention: Astro Bot: Rescue Mission.

Best Mobile Game

Pokémon Go 

We know Pokémon Go didn’t release this year, but the mobile game showed no sign of slowing down in 2018 - if anything it’s getting even bigger. 

With the release of Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee/Pikachu, players now have even more versatile ways to play Go. Not to mention the continually popular community events, the release of the Trainer Battles feature and the unveiling of the mysterious Meltan. We will be trying to catch them all for a while yet it seems.

Honorable mentions: New Star Soccer Manager and Florence.

Best Action Game

Hitman 2 

There wasn’t a huge amount of hype about Hitman 2 before its release but, much like Agent 47 himself, the game sneaked up on us. 

Although Hitman 2 doesn’t do much to drastically change the series’ formula (except for the introduction of multiplayer Ghost mode), we found that that’s precisely what we love about it - plus, assassinating drug lords in Colombia with poison is always a recipe for a good time.

Honorable mention: Far Cry 5.

Best Action/Adventure Game

Marvel’s Spider-Man

If Batman Arkham Asylum proved that superhero games could not only be good, but be great, Marvel’s Spider-Man showed that they could rival the big-screen adaptations of our comic book heroes too. 

Dazzlingly pretty, wonderfully fun and full to the brim with jaw-dropping moments that would make the late Stan Lee proud, ol’ webhead had a truly great adventure this year.

Honorable mention: Red Dead Redemption 2.

Best RPG Game

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

We’ve come to expect a certain calibre of game when it comes to the Assassin’s Creed series: history, assassinations and a stunning open-world to explore. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey does not disappoint on any of these fronts, providing a vast environment and tantalizing story that truly captures the essence of Ancient Greece. 

Also, you can finally play as a female lead character in a game that will keep you busy for at least 100 hours. Talk about value for money.

Honorable mention: Octopath Traveler.

Best Online Multiplayer Game

Fortnite 

So, here’s the thing – Fortnite actually released back in 2017, and got off to a shaky start as it focused on its base-building, AI-wave battling campaign mode. No-one really cared all that much, but developer soon started turning its attention to the free Battle Royale mode of the game it was offering all players. And, over the course of 2018, it became a phenomenon. 

It’s improved dramatically over the past year, and has grown to become one of the most popular games, well, ever. Find us a kid that isn’t playing Fortnite, and we’ll show you a kid that doesn’t like playing online games with their pals. And so, it would be impossible to crown any other title king of the online multiplayer hill this year.

Honorable mention: Sea of Thieves. 

Best Sport/Racing Game

Forza Horizon 4

Forza Horizon 4 is undeniably stunning, letting you race through the winding countryside and cobbled cities of Great Britain. However it’s not just the graphics that made Forza Horizon 4 our favourite sports game of the year. 

Playground Games’ series continues to push the limits of the racing genre - creating an open-world racing title like no other. 

Honorable mentions: Madden NFL 19 and FIFA 19.

Best Fighting Game

Super Smash Bros Ultimate

It’s been quite a year for fighting games but there’s only one that we felt deserved the title of the best: Super Smash Bros Ultimate. We’ve been waiting for Ultimate since Nintendo announced it at E3 2018 and it certainly didn’t disappoint. 

The Ultimate roster includes more characters, stages and modes than ever before, and finally introduces an online competitive mode. Nintendo have even promised more characters are on the way. It’s not hard to see why Super Smash bros Ultimate is our King of the Ring. 

Honorable mentions: Dragon Ball Fighter Z and Soulcalibur VI.

Best Narrative Game

Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 was arguably the biggest, and most eagerly anticipated, game of 2018. Sometimes boarding the hype train means that you’re greatly disappointed when the title releases and you need to disembark, but luckily this wasn’t the case with Red Dead Redemption 2. 

Not only did Red Dead 2 look spectacular but its intertwining emotional storylines (and side quests) had us deeply invested in Arthur Morgan, the Van Der Linde gang and the changing west. We don’t want to spoil anything, but have some ice cream ready to fill the void Red Dead will leave when you finish.

Honorable mention: God of War.

Best Party Game

Overcooked cemented its place as a much-have party game when it released in 2016, so it’s no surprise Overcooked 2 followed suit. Introducing more characters, more madcap levels and new recipes, Overcooked 2 has built on what the chaotic game so much fun - absolute anarchy. 

Overcooked 2 may have destroyed office friendships but we feel that it’s completely worth it.

Honorable mention: Super Smash Bros Ultimate.

Best Indie Game

Two-Point Hospital

A spiritual successor to Theme Hospital, Two-Point Hospital injected us with nostalgia and dosed us up with tongue-in-cheek humor. The hospital sim proved a hit among newbies and old hands, with its chaotic characters and illnesses such as Bloaty Head, Mock Star, and Jest Infection. It’s a modern twist on a classic and we can’t get enough.

Honorable mentions: Celeste and Into the Breach.

Game of the Year

God of War 

It was a hard one to pin down, and Red Dead Redemption 2 almost had it, but we decided that God of War was our deserving winner of Game of the Year. Between the emotionally captivating relationship between Atreus and Kratos, powerful visuals, intriguing mythological world and action-packed combat; it’s hard to pin down what it is we value most about God of War. 

Although God of War’s gameplay strays from its predecessors, we felt that the heart of the series’ newest addition made it truly spectacular.

Honorable mention: Red Dead Redemption 2.

Most Excited About

Cyberpunk 2077

We’ve been spoiled by ProjektRed’s Witcher RPGs over the past decade, but with Geralt’s story coming to an end, it’s time for something new. Cyberpunk 2077 looks set to take the free-roaming, narrative-heavy direction of the Witcher series, but thrust it into an all-new first person futuristic world. 

Imagine a BladeRunner film that you can play, and you’re pretty much there. We’re incredibly excited about Cyberpunk 2077… but will we really see it in 2019? It seems so ambitious, we’re starting to think this one may be destined for the Xbox Two and PS5 of the future.

Honorable mentions: The Elder Scrolls 6 and Ghost of Tsushima.

• Best PS4 games 2018: essential PlayStation 4 releases
• Best Nintendo Switch games 2018: must-have games at home and on the go
• Best Xbox One games 2018: essential Xbox One releases

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One of the tallest buildings in the world, Taipei 101’s New Year’s Eve fireworks have become an iconic celebration since the first show at the end of 2004. But despite being a major tourism draw, the fireworks haven’t been immune from criticism.

Over the past couple of years, as poor air quality becomes an increasingly serious issue throughout the country, the show has been targeted by Taiwanese environmental groups. The major of Taipei City, Ko Wen-je, said at the beginning of this year that the fireworks show should continue and other, more permanent measures against air pollution should be taken. “There are 365 days in a year,” he told reporters. “But the firework display was only 300 seconds, so we need a long-term plan to solve this problem.”

As one of the tallest LEED-certified buildings, however, Taipei 101 often serves as a case study for how landmark skyscrapers can reduce their carbon footprint, and it has been taking steps to reduce pollution from the show while keeping it a spectacle. A couple weeks ago, a group of bloggers and reporters was invited to take a look at this year’s preparations. (All photos in this story, with the exception of the one at the bottom featuring last year’s show, are by Garret Clarke.)

A technician with some of the fireworks that will be part of Taipei 101’s show.

16,000 fireworks will be used in this year’s show and preparations are usually finished by Dec. 28.

Over the past couple of years, the organizers of Taipei 101’s fireworks show have taken several measures to reduce pollution. Starting with last year’s show, the number of fireworks was reduced from 30,000 to 16,000. To add oomph to the reduced pyrotechnics, a 55-story-tall mesh screen made up of 140,000 LEDs, called a T-Pad, was installed by Taipei 101 fireworks contractor Giant Show on the north side of the skyscraper. The LED screen overlooks the plaza outside of Taipei City Hall where a New Year’s Eve concert is held every year and showcases animations that coordinate with the music and fireworks.

The LED screen is used during the rest of the year for promotions, advertisements and holiday messages

Andy Yang, head of corporate branding and communications for the Taipei Financial Center Corp., Taipei 101’s owner, told TechCrunch that this year’s show cost a total of about NTD $60 million (about USD $1.96 million). It will also include 16,000 fireworks, installed from the 34th to 91st floors of Taipei 101, and animations on the T-Pad. The team that plans the show includes 10 to 15 designers and about 50 pyrotechnicians who install the fireworks on the exterior of the building. Preparations are typically completed by Dec. 28.

Andy Yang stands in front of the scaffolding that leads up to Taipei 101’s 55-story-tall LED mesh screen

Yang says Taipei 101 has been decreasing the number of fireworks used year by year. The LED screen is currently only on one side of Taipei 101, but Taipei 101’s management is exploring the possibility of extending it to other sides of the building.

Taipei 101’s fireworks show at the end of 2017, with the LED screen in view. (kecl/Getty Images)

Taipei 101 also instates an “all lights off” policy, turning off all exterior lights before and after the show in order to reduce carbon emissions. The LED screen not only enables Taipei 101 to reduce the number of fireworks used, but also enables the integration of pyrotechnics, animations, music, and lights into one show, “which brings more design and content opportunities and possibilities for Taipei 101 and Taiwan,” he says.

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If you’ve gone down the rabbit hole with Netflix’s latest Black Mirror release, there’s (at least) one more easter egg out there. As some intrepid Reddit users discovered, you can actually visit two different versions of fictional software company Tuckersoft’s website and… spoilers ahead.

On the regular Tuckersoft site, discovered through a QR code embedded in the show itself, Tuckersoft advertises its game lineup including Bandersnatch, a “revolutionary game from Stefan Butler.” In this timeline, Tuckersoft released both Nohzdyve and Bandersnatch and Stefan eventually eclipsed his gaming idol Colin’s own fame, driving the company forward. As the site notes:

“While Colin Ritman was Tuckersoft’s leading man, it was Stefan Butler’s 1984 release, Bandersnatch, that catapulted the company to new heights. The innovative narrative and gameplay transformed interactive entertainment forever.”

If you visit the Tuckersoft site but strip out the www., the company never released Colin’s game due to a tragic incident. If you’ve seen the episode, you can probably guess what that was. This version of the site includes the following text:

“A bleak turn of events would lead to the abrupt cancellation of Colin Ritman’s highly-anticipated game, Nohzdyve, and the end of Stefan Butler’s promising career.

“Metl Hedd remains a classic, but the world will have to wonder what Nohzdyve was like. Rumour has it, an early version of the game is somewhere out there, waiting to be played for the first time.”

Black Mirror fans will note that the fictionalized site for Colin’s other major title, Metl Hedd, depicts the BigDog-like robots that terrorized humans in season four’s particularly harrowing episode “Metalhead.” Tuckersoft’s other games contain plenty of references to Black Mirror episodes too.

In the timeline in which Colin was able to finish Nohzdyve, the game’s sub-page has a download link for a file called nohzdyve.tap and the instructions to “Play Nohzdyve on your ZX Spectrum emulator.” Apparently, the file works and if you run Windows and you’re willing to install an emulator (like Speccy) for the obscure British 8-bit console, you can actually play Colin’s rather prescient release. We’re told it might work on a Commodore 64 emulator too, but haven’t tested that out (yet).

So far it doesn’t look like Bandersnatch is playable anywhere, but given that the episode itself is a game and the game itself results in certain horror, that’s probably for the best.

Netflix releases a trailer for ‘Bandersnatch,’ the mysterious new episode of ‘Black Mirror’

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When you’re trying to build one of the best gaming PCs, to take advantage of the best PC games, you shouldn’t forget about the best PC gaming chairs. You don’t want to walk away from your gaming session crouching over like Igor from Young Frankenstein. With the best PC gaming chairs, you can bring your gaming and sitting experience to a new level. Because, at the end of the day, if you’re immersed in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, saving the world from some cult, you should be comfortable while you do it.

That’s why, now that the year is coming to a close, we decided to make a list of the best gaming chairs of 2019. Some might end up looking like your dad’s office chair, with all-black ‘real leather’ designs – others fully embrace the gamer aesthetic with RGB lighting and loud, clashing colors, making you look like futuristic race car driver.

We will help you find the best PC gaming chairs on the market, so you can spend more time sitting down and less time shopping around. Because – let’s be honest – we do our own fair share of sitting, and we’re very familiar with the best PC gaming chairs. 

It’s no exaggeration to call the Noblechairs Epic Real Leather the best gaming chair. From the cross-thatched embroidery to the real leather of its namesake, if you’re looking for a no-compromises gaming throne, this is it. Plus, it’s surprisingly quick and easy to set up. And, once the set-up is complete, the Epic Real Leather is a dream to sit on – and you can customize your position however you want. Just do us a favor, and read the instructions while you’re setting it up.

If you want to play games all day in comfort, but you don’t want a chair that looks like you’re playing games all day, the Autonomous ErgoChair 2 is for you. Marketed as an office chair, the ErgoChair 2 has a very modern and stylish aesthetic to it that will appeal to anyone that doesn’t use RGB as a personality trait. It’s not all style either, as the ErgoChair lets you adjust basically every part of the chair, so that no matter how your body is built, you’re guaranteed to be comfortable while gaming.  

• This product is only available in the US at the time of this writing. UK and Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the Respawn 115 

Leather and fabric have their advantages, namely to comfort and texture, but sometimes a mesh office chair is best – especially if you live in a warmer climate, where breathability is of utmost importance. The Respawn-300 combines the racing-seat design and lumbar support and mesh material from some high-end office chairs. It really does take comfort to another level and is one of the best PC gaming chairs you can buy today. 

• This product is only available in the US at the time of this writing. UK and Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the Noblechairs Epic Real Leather. 

Corsair is known for making popular and high-end PC components and gaming peripherals. It’s only fitting, then, that they dip their toes into the gaming chair game – and they may have made one of the best gaming chairs yet. Covered top to bottom in breathable PU leather with neck and lumbar pillows wrapped in microfiber, you’ll be able to game both in comfort and style. And with its rollerblade-style wheels, you’ll be able to move it around on any surface without having to worry about scratching up your floor. 

Noblechairs is well known for crafting some of the best gaming chairs out there – and the Noblechairs Icon makes it clear why. While it’s more affordable than the flagship Epic Real Leather, it’s still extremely comfortable and one of the best PC gaming chairs out there. This is thanks to its nice lumbar pillow, which you can easily remove if you don’t like it.  

The Edge GX1 is a gaming chair that actively avoids the popular racing style that is increasingly popular with modern gaming chairs. The company behind the Edge GX1 goes as far as to say that racing-style bucket chairs actually negatively affect gamer’s performance, with their designs limiting movement and comfort. It sort of makes sense, as those styles of chairs are based off designs for racing cars, where limiting movement for the driver is a priority. Instead, the Edge GX1 aims to give an ergonomic experience where comfort is key, while also offering a premium gaming chair. And when we say premium, we mean it, with the Edge GX1 costing £800, a huge amount for a gaming chair. It’s hand-crafted in the UK, and there’s some great touches, such as inflatable lumbar support. It’s a huge asking price, but we’ve been using it for a while now, and it is very comfortable. You need to adjust it a bit to suit your needs, but once you have it set up just how you like it, the ergonomic benefits of the chair really help justify the price. This ships worldwide from the UK, but be warned that shipping costs will add to the price if you’re in the US or Australia.

You can only buy this chair direct from Edge

There’s a certain subset of the PC gaming community that needs to have the absolute best of everything, at whatever the cost. These people are going to be absolutely enamored with the Vertagear Triigger 350 SE. It features over 350 individual components with a mix metal, mesh, leather and high-end plastics to create the ultimate PC gaming chair. If you have the money to spare, and you can’t stand to have anything less than the best, you might want to give this chair a look. 

Another day, another Noblechairs gaming seat – and the Noblechairs Epic is the best gaming chair for the classier gamer. It features a faux-leather covering inspired by car seats, combining both comfort and a high-end design to make it one of the best gaming chairs you can buy today. And, if you’re the type that shies away from the ‘gamer aesthetic,’ the Epic’s subtle black design is far more elegant than some of the more brightly-colored seats on this list.

For the gamer looking for some extra room in their seat, the Vertagear Racing Series PL6000 is a must-have. Specially designed to provide both added width and height, this is the best gaming chair for anyone with a larger frame – no matter how tall you are, the adjustable headrest means you’ll never experience discomfort. However, this is a complicated chair to assemble, so use the buddy system to build this masterpiece.

The Nitro Concepts C80 is a gorgeous, comfortable gaming chair that could easily blend in in an office environment – it looks more expensive than it is. Nitro Concepts made one of the best gaming chairs by keeping the price down, while keeping compromises to a minimum – like using polyurethane instead of leather. And, no compromises were made in the build quality, either – this is an impressively sturdy gaming chair. Just make sure you get a friend to help you put it together – constructing this thing had us tearing our hair out.

• This product is only available in the UK at the time of this writing. US and Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the Noblechairs Icon 

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