Supraland

There are surprisingly few successful 3D interpretations of the Metroidvania format, and that’s even despite those astonishingly good 3D Metroid Prime games. You might think this is because such an endeavor would require an enormous team and vast resources to successfully deliver. I certainly would have. Until I played Supraland

This enormous, gorgeous first-person action adventure, taking place in the miniature world of a backyard filled with toys (a literal sandbox game), was created by just one person, almost single-handedly putting the rest of the games industry to shame.

Two warring races of plastic figures—red and blue—have territory across a huge garden. The reds, of whom you are a member, discover their water supply is cut off, and you’re tasked with venturing into the contested territory to find out why, bringing you into a Metroidvania-focused world of puzzles and combat.

As you progress, you gain new weapons, powers, abilities and so on, that allow you to explore previously unreachable areas, but this time all from the perspective of an FPS. The result is bright, cheerful, and extremely funny, and I contend the best game of 2019

Last year saw a similarly brilliant sequel, Supraland: Six Inches Under, with an even larger, full-team follow-up to come called Supraworld