AllTheDinos' Favorite Games of 2019

2019, huh? If there is a consensus on this year in games, it’s that it’s been a weird one. As the calendar marched on and high profile releases seemed to be in short supply, it looked increasingly likely that Doom Eternal would tower over everything else. And then that game was delayed to… March 2020, when seemingly every huge game is slated for release. Perhaps it’s the weirdness of 2019 that has everyone’s lists so varied. Personally, I’ve enjoyed reading what people loved and why, what they were disappointed by, and everything in between. And for me, this was a very good year for gaming, with many favorites coming as complete surprises.

Of course, the single greatest impact on gaming (and non-gaming) for me this year was the birth of my first child. I found games that had no pause button to be basically inaccessible to me starting in August, so I watched as some intriguing games came out without the ability to play them. Dropping off a game at a second’s notice became a necessity. Because of this, I wasn’t able to check out Remnant: From the Ashes or Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, two games that are extremely up my alley. I wanted to pop open a marathon 50 wave Horde session of Gears 5, but instead I found myself lucky to get 20 waves in a single sitting. As such, my list reflects the inability to play certain games, and how much more a short but dense gaming experience was to me compared to previous years.

Before I jump into it, there are some notable omissions that I have no good reason for. Beyond the two games I just mentioned, I just never got around to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Hypnospace Outlaw, or Disco Elysium for various reasons. I should also note that my available systems are a PC and a launch Xbox One, so no Playstation or Switch exclusives are on my list. I wasn’t sure how to count Slay the Spire, but I already made it my pick for 2018’s Game of the Year so including it here seemed silly. I didn’t pick up Control until last week, and I definitely need to play more than a couple of hours to rank it. Finally, I put some Honorable and Dishonorable Mentions at the bottom for games that deserved a special shoutout (for good or for ill). With all that out of the way, here are my 10 favorite games of 2019:

10. Observation (PC)

From the moment I saw the David Fincher-esque credits sequence in the Quick Look, I knew I’d like this game. I’m also grateful I stopped watching after that, because the QL ends on one of the most genuinely surprising and terrifying sequences I’ve seen in a recent game. I played it in three sittings, which made it feel like an excellent horror miniseries. The meticulous rendering using near-future tech to establish the setting made Observation stand out from lots of games this year. Gameplay was fairly limited; you’re either switching between stationary cameras or navigating a zero-gravity probe. The progression is through a series of minigames that weren’t necessarily challenging but did emulate checklist operations, which enhanced the mechanical feel of the AI protagonist. They helped build anticipation in a way I felt enhanced the game, which made it emerge from a crowded pack and land on my top 10.

9. Later Alligator (PC)

Speaking of minigame-fueled narrative games, I found Later Alligator to be utterly charming and engrossing. The art style and music stood out with their uniqueness and attention to detail; I particularly enjoyed a DDR-style song homage in the background at a bar. As the GB crew has stated, humor is very tough to pull off in games. For me, every joke in this game worked, and it gave me a world I wanted to return to. There was just enough challenge in the minigames that I occasionally failed. I enjoyed the story in my first playthrough enough that I immediately started another day to mop everything up. If you do play the game, I highly recommend getting every family badge to unlock the hilarious “best” ending. Overall, it’s an incredibly endearing game I found myself unable to shut up about for weeks.

8. Outer Wilds (Xbox One)

If you had told me this game wouldn’t make my top 5 a few hours after I started it, I would have told you that you were insane. The first two-thirds of the game were an amazing mixture of exploration, sleuthing, wonder, and terror. I couldn’t wait to begin cracking into a new area, and the star system was so well crafted that every spot felt rewarding to poke around in. Unfortunately, the game did wear out its welcome for me in the final third. Waiting 10 minutes for a certain condition to manifest in order to close out missing items in my log, only to botch a jump or boost and have to start over, got extremely frustrating. There were a couple of puzzles that I needed to look up hints to solve. And while the finale was cool, I had already soured on the game somewhat by the time I reached it. All that being said, the music in the game is tremendous and something I find myself humming even today. No matter its flaws, it’s worth playing all the way through.

7. Wargroove (PC)

Disclaimer: I never played Advance Wars, so I have nothing to measure Wargroove against. But I do know that I greatly enjoyed Wargroove and found it nearly impossible to put down. The game limited dice rolls to a pretty narrow effect, meaning my strategy had a greater impact on how things went than in many similar games. I liked the characters a whole lot, particularly the majestic Caesar. My only complaint for a while was that the long combat animations made every mission take a very long time, but the developer patched in the ability to turn those animations off. It seems like the perfect game for a commute or while watching stuff on your TV, especially if you grab the Switch version. In any case, I highly recommend it.

6. Resident Evil 2: Remastered (PC)

A long time ago, I rented the original Resident Evil 2 from Blockbuster. I don’t remember how far I got, but I didn't make much progress. When I saw how good the remake looked, I was very excited to finally play the game in full. It’s a testament to how incredibly well designed the game is that it met my high expectations. The sound design may be the best I’ve experienced in a game. I started playing with headphones partway through, and that further enhanced my enjoyment. The movement controls were fully modernized, and activities that felt bad even in stronger Resident Evil games (like aiming and shooting) were handled perfectly here. Graphics are not usually that important to me in games anymore, but the sheer skill involved in rendering everything was impressive. I had considered Resident Evil 4 the best game in the series for years, but this remake is now my undisputed favorite.

5. Gears 5 (Xbox One)

Coming off the middling-at-best Gears of War 4, I met this entry in the series with a lot of skepticism. The little I heard about the campaign made me sort of dread playing it, particularly with how tired the usual formula felt in 4. And with the aforementioned limited time for Horde, I questioned how much I’d end up enjoying the game. Fortunately, all my fears were quelled within minutes of actually playing it. Shooting in the series has never felt better, and the campaign was possibly the best of all six games. There’s been a lot of criticism of the open world portions, but I loved them as a break from sprinting through corridors of chest-high walls. I would have liked to see more environmental hazards in these areas (which happens near the end, and only once).

As for the other modes, I spent very little time on Escape and Versus. Escape was fine, but it felt inferior to the other modes in every way, so I had little incentive to play it. Versus Arcade has some really neat game types I’d like to dig more into someday. But as always, Horde reigns supreme. Being able to play with bots was a boon for my inability to devote time to online gaming. The good parts of Gears 4’s stab at Horde were simplified, and the Tour objectives and rewards make Horde feel more meaningful than a never-ending slog to get free loot boxes. I particularly enjoyed the different characters having unique loadouts and abilities. New characters dropped at a rate I couldn’t keep up with, so there’s plenty of reason to return for in-game rewards. Gears 5 will have a long life in my household, which is all I ever really wanted.

4. The Outer Worlds (Xbox One)

Since it’s impossible to talk about this game without mentioning the Bethesda-era Fallout games, I’ll get it out of the way. I am pretty dissatisfied with where that franchise is going, and Fallout 4 is one of the most disappointing games I can remember. At the same time, I’ve been getting fatigued of all open world games, so I didn’t exactly look to The Outer Worlds as some potential savior of the genre. With my expectations thusly managed, I have to say that I greatly enjoyed this game. Your character choices mattered for the dialogue in ways that were always entertaining thanks to great writing. Yes, you often ended up in the exact same place quest-wise, but it never felt like that negatively impacted my experience. Items were far more restricted to what was most important, so I rarely ever felt like I needed to take a while to manage my inventory. The skill point-based leveling made a welcome return, although I wish they hadn’t enforced a level cap at 30.

And playing the game felt great! Gunplay handled extremely well, and it was certainly an improvement over Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. I found a variety of weapons I enjoyed using and, thanks to the Tinker function, my preferences stayed viable well into the late game. Mods didn’t receive a whole lot of use in my game, but that’s more my aversion to spending my precious horde than any in-game limitations. The only part of the game that felt like it dragged was Monarch, which was also the largest open area. I didn’t immediately hop into a second playthrough after beating the game, but that’s because I wanted to clear out my backlog for GOTY. I will return to the game eventually and use one of my several ideas for a new character. Lastly, I think the relatively small amount of glitches was a rarity for open world games, especially when you remember New Vegas. “Dead” companion aside, I experienced no game-breaking or major bugs.

3. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw (PC)

I put off playing this game for months because I wanted to play Rebel Galaxy first. While it came highly recommended, it didn’t grab me. When I gave up on that requirement and just started playing Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, I wondered how I waited so long. The gameplay loop is relatively simple, but the ability to fast travel and skip animations made it far more rewarding than any other radiant quest-style game. The setting appealed to the former Starcraft nut somewhere inside this aged husk, and the flight controls reminding me of TIE Fighter tickled my nostalgia in a way that never felt pandering.

I primarily played with a controller, and this never negatively impacted my experience. You could switch between targets and rebalance your ship systems with a couple clicks, all seamlessly enough to never be a distraction. My personal favorite feature allowed me to hold a button to match speed and course with my target, letting me focus on not getting blown to bits. Space dogfights were further enhanced by the outstanding soundtrack, which was as deep as it was high in quality. Beyond the regular gameplay, there is also a fantastic pool simulator I spent a lot more time in than I’m proud to admit. It’s a game I keep going back to, and I have a feeling I’ll be playing a lot more of it in 2020.

2. Planet Zoo (PC)

As someone who spent over 100 hours in Planet Coaster, I was excited enough for this game that I bought the deluxe edition. After a few hours of the beta, I was ready to name this my second-favorite game of the year already. I’m happy to say that the full release only enhanced my opinion of the game. The animal physics in the game capture real behavior better than any game I’ve seen. I spent lots of time in the animal viewer mode just watching them run, swim, eat, and play. Every time a notification came up that a new baby animal was born, I stopped whatever I was doing and just watched it for a while. Even after all the objectives had been completed in career mode, I would spend a lot of time zipping around and enhancing every animal’s welfare rating so I could leave with all critters at their happiest.

Speaking of career mode, the added narrative was an extremely welcome addition from Planet Coaster. You spend the first few levels guided by a couple of characters in a desperately-needed tutorial, and by the fourth mission you’re ready to be plopped into its sandbox. You get to see some pretty advanced zoos in action, and then further levels contain soft tutorials (babies! managing overcrowding!). And in one of my favorite story beats of the year, the park is taken over by a slimy hedge fund manager (hmm) that gets extremely cheap on expenses (hmmmm) and liquidates any staff who disagree with him (hmmmmmmm). While not intended to coincide with real life events that happened within a week of release, it gave my doting on the animals a unique sense of purpose. If I didn’t watch out for them, who would?

I spent some time in the other modes as well. Sandbox mode and challenge mode are identical to those in Planet Coaster. The real standout is franchise mode, where you can create multiple zoos under a single banner around the world and trade animals with other people. It was a good feeling to make a special place for a red panda that someone else raised in their own zoo. The game has a long gameplay loop, but it never once felt tedious to me. I will definitely be playing this game for years to come. My only complaint: NO PENGUINS! Hopefully Frontier adds some in future DLC.

1. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PC)

It’s a rare occurrence that I play a game as early as March, stick it at #1 on my list, and then never move its position for even a moment. I loved the Souls series (and wish I could play Bloodborne), but none of them ever made it to #1 on my list the year they came out. Sekiro stuck with me because it’s the first time I felt like I wasn’t succeeding in spite of the game’s difficulty; I was succeeding because of it. The first full Genichiro fight was a eureka moment that I can’t recall experiencing in any other game. My usual circle-strafe-and-dodge method imported from the Souls games began to finally fail me; even Darkeater Midir couldn’t break me of that habit. But adopting a more aggressive style paid immediate dividends and changed the way I looked at FromSoftware games. Now I don’t know if I want to go back.

The game’s bosses are probably the highlight, but I want to give credit to the level design and environments. Tenchu-style sneak and destroy is the focus for much of the game, as even an advanced character can be taken down by a small game if you get careless. I loved the beginnings in a more mundane realm, which made the aberrations like huge men and huger snakes stand out. As you progress, the familiar theme of undeath begins to come into focus. FromSoft has always had great meditations on this theme, and the introduction of Infestation shed new perspective on it. The antagonists of the game are all chasing various forms of immortality, while Wolf’s goal is to end the cycle that grants you said immortality. As you abuse this power, you see the people you meet in the world suffer. It’s an intriguing concept that pays off throughout the story.

The further you progress, the more fantastical everything gets. Whether you fight giant angry apes, enormous koi, or a dragon in the dang clouds, you always feel like you’ve seen the most the game will throw at you. Then a dead man carves his way out of his grandson and shoots you with a gun. As stated earlier, the boss battles in this game are my personal highlight. I thought about that Genichiro fight for months after beating him, and the twist in the Guardian Ape battle is my favorite moment in gaming of the year. Taking on small enemies in burning castles or in close quarters always offered a different type of challenge, and being killed by them always felt fair to me. And holy hell, the hitbox in the game is the sharpest I think I’ve ever experienced. For as much as I died during the final boss, I never once blamed video game bullshit for my failure. After beating the game, I immediately started a new game plus playthrough, which I returned to throughout the year.

The reason Sekiro is my personal favorite game of 2019 is because of that enduring appeal. It’s the game I thought most about, wanted to play most, and also anticipated the most before it came out (even more than Doom!). I had the loftiest expectations for it, and the game exceeded even those. Beyond that, FromSoft has shown that they can accomplish even more than they already have, and what they’ve done is some of the decade’s best games. Sekiro is one of the finest games I played all decade, and I can’t wait to see what Elden Ring and their next games bring to the table.

Honorable Mentions: Dicey Dungeons satisfied my desire for a quick roguelite builder game. It became one of my go-to games to play while listening to podcasts… Speaking of roguelite builders, Griftlands was a solid deckbuilder and adventure game in one package… Untitled Goose Game let me live my best bird life… What the Golf? amused me greatly during 3 AM baby feeding sessions while I waited for my child to settle down… Pikuniku and Baba Is You were full of charm and made me very happy... Lastly, Merlin Sleep Suits allowed me to actually play games for more than 30 minute stretches again, so shouts out to those and their magic baby sleep powers.

Dishonorable Mentions: The ghosts in The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan were scary, but not nearly as scary as the input lag. Not great for a QTE- based game… I encountered game-breaking bugs in Mortal Kombat 11 that forced me to repair my Steam files multiple times while trying to complete the otherwise excellent story mode… I expected the awful writing of Borderlands 3, but the gameplay felt terrible to me as well. I picked up the trial version on a free weekend and bailed after 90 minutes. Perhaps it gets better later on; I have no desire to find out... Finally, thumbs down to cats vomiting inside keyboards.

That’s my list, thanks for reading! If you think I missed something that sounds up my alley based on the top 10, I’d love to know about it.