1. RE2 Remake - I'm a bit pretentious, at my best and worst, but this was easily my favourite game of the year and it's dumb as shit. Loved it. Talk about respecting the player's time, this was a blast from the first minute.
2. Void Bastards - another one where the fun ran pure and, even when it began to outstay its welcome, the way it is designed means you can mainline to the end pretty fast. Extremely satisfying gaming.
3. Control - Remedy games are right on my sweet spot and this is their best one yet. Good shooting for the first time ever, an outstanding set of powers, and an overall vibe that is absolute. Hot favourite for best styyyyyyyyyyyyyyle, surely?
4. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden - this came out in December 2018 which, as far as I'm concerned, is 2019 for awards purposes and I hope Emperor Gerstmann agrees. Loved the characters, second only to Control in styyyyyyyyyyyyyyle, the tactics were nicely challenging (if a bit same-y), and the story was good enough to keep me moving forward for the duration. Dux4Life.
5. Metro Exodus - flawed in many ways but at its best (and its best was quite frequent) I was in the zone, felt like I was searching for scraps at the end of the world, which made the basic loop (approach point of interest, scout, devise a plan of engagement, execute) truly rewarding. It's a shame that one of the acting performances jarred with the overall tone of the story but the characters were good and, come the end, I realised I was fully invested.
6. DMC 5 - enjoyed the combat a lot (significantly more than Star Wars which doesn't make my list) and the story was stupid but the characters made it work. First time I've really tried a DMC game and I've no idea if Dante is always this much of a tool but I would have enjoyed it less if he was less of an arsehole.
7. Man of Medan - it's no Until Dawn but this formula works so well. Some of the edits that happen at certain moments (when meaningful choices were made and/or when changing the controlled character) were jarring but otherwise solid fun.
8. Judgment - never played a Yakuza game and I'm not sure I want to because there was so much wrong with this title, especially the never-ending random street battles, and yet... and yet... the story was overblown but I liked the dense plotting using a wide range of characters and it kept me wanting to spend time with the game, even if a lot of the mechanics were dull or frustrating.
9. Slay the Spire - first ever card game and it was very easy to grasp the basics and had that classic one-more-turn thing going strong.
10. The Division 2 - for a variety of reasons I didn't do much multiplayer this year but, when I did, it was mostly this. Looked very good and, when you're playing with a couple of friends, the fun was very easy to find. Squeezes out Apex which I liked but didn't play half as much as this.
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