My Top 10 Games of 2019
2019.
That sure was a year, huh? You know what years tend to have? Games. What kind of games? Usually the ones of the video kind. Let's talk about them in a numerical order.
But first:
Honorable Mentions:
The “Oh God, I Shoulda Put More Time into This, What Did I DO with My Year?!?” Award
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
I'm ready to face the consequences of my actions: There is absolutely zero reason why I put Bloodstained down after two hours, especially because I played through Symphony of the Night in preparation for it.
Every time I peeked in to see others play it, just about every wacky element to the game, whether it be the enemy design, the weapons and movesets, or the gear to dress up Miriam for little stat boosts, I think this shoulda been 100% my jam in the midst of when it came out.
And yet, real life and other games got in the way and my attention, regrettably, slipped away from it. I did get to the part where I fought the David Hayter not-Snake character for the first time and enjoyed the challenge so far. In the coming months, I'll set aside time to get this game finished, but just know that my absence in getting involved with it in my circle of friends was on me, not the game.
The “Honorable Mention to End All Honorable Mentions” Honorable Mention
I haven't finished the Hideo Kojima hiking game yet, as of the writing of this list, but I'm confident in saying that my thoughts on it won't change when I do inevitably see the end.
The odd thing about Death Stranding is that describing the main loop of the game, out of context, would have pushed me away from it, with its animation/physics/momentum-driven traversal. It's the sort of thing that made Red Dead Redemption 2 feel like a long-term drag and question the purpose of games with this sort of open-world package.
But somehow, turning the traversal and delivery aspect into a core part of the gameplay was strangely absorbing for me and had me thinking several steps ahead for the routes I plotted out. It made me consider the physical limits of Sam, the player character portrayed by Norman Reedus, and how parcel delivering is damn hard and lonely at times.
The online features where players can create structures to assist all the other Sams through the world compelled me to put aside my hard-earned materials if it meant helping others work around the rougher edges of the game. You may have found and used the highways or ziplines I made if you were plopped in the same server as me. I never considered doing it for the “Likes” system and boosting my numbers: the fact that the game made me feel good for giving a hand to others, I feel, is something special.
But then there's the rest of Death Stranding. In this case, the story.
There were always complaints of the quality of writing and dialogue padding that surrounded the cutscenes in Kojima games before, and it felt even more apparent here than ever. Usually I can bat off my own intruding thoughts, that exposition dumps feel repetitious and long-winded, but the fact that the game had two separate cutscenes to explain the exact same plot point with almost no variation solidifies Kojima as the kinda guy who would lock any and all editors in a room and as far away from his material as possible.
Also, I shouldn't need to go in three times to skip a single shower cutscene.
And some other Honorable Mentions: Apex Legends, Tetris 99, Ape Out, Baba Is You, A Plague Tale: Innocence, Super Mario Maker 2, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Gears 5, Untitled Goose Game, Concrete Genie
Cool? Cool. Onto the list now.
10. The Outer Worlds
I still haven't finished any Bethesda open-world RPGs.
Maybe it had to do with the staggering amount of items and loot I can find, that there are too many characters inhabiting the worlds to feel fleshed out or coherent, or just the vast number of side quests to dedicate myself to. I always feel overwhelmed with these kinds of games and believed that they just aren't for me because I get exhausted poking at their “hundreds of hours of content”. That is, until Obsidian's not-Fallout, not-Mass Effect hyper-capitalist nightmare game arrived and proved me wrong.
Along came The Outer Worlds and the way it distilled the best parts of the lengthy western-developed role-playing games into an easy-going 30-ish hours, depending if you want to see most of what it offers, was such a breath of fresh air. I had a blast cruising through all the areas and knocking out the story content while playing a character doing their best to manage their sanity under a corporation-controlled system, which gave me grand plans to smash into little bits.
It's high on this list because, eventually, the combat component felt like it stopped getting interesting or rewarding as it went on, with my character becoming competent enough to sneak or speak their way through most encounters. I was sitting on a goldmine of guns and ammunition by the end and didn't think I shot a single one in my final hours. Maybe it's indicative of the sort of character I was rolling with, but I do feel like could have ended with a stronger finale with how it built itself up.
Still, there's no denying that The Outer Worlds is a pretty special thing to experience. Go in and do your darndest to kick capitalism's teeth in!
9. Metro Exodus
Alright, I'll admit this one's on here just for me. I love the Metro series, and this one is no different.
While it traded in the bullet currency system for a more open-world structure, it still felt pretty true to the the franchise as a whole. No longer scrounging in the dilapidated tunnels of the previous games, Artyom and his friends now take a train across the post-nuclear ruined world of Russia in a train, holding onto each other through the thick of it all. I never felt more at home than the traveling sections on the locomotion machine before. Even though it could get a little long-winded, all it took was me stepping outside of the moving vehicle to realize that dang this game has a wonderful atmosphere.
Some people feel pushed away from the survival aspect of these games, but the feeling I get when I slink away from most encounters by the skin of my teeth and most of my equipment in bad condition is a feeling I don't often get nowadays. More of that, please!
8. Void Bastards
This game starts with the narrator from The Stanley Parable rehydrating the imprisoned characters you play as, and it gets better from there.
No matter what I did, even when I was failing miserably, I felt like I was pushing forward and getting better, even when I wasn't looking at the progress of the crafting items I was on the hunt for. A rogue-like twist on the System Shocks of the world, this game had me pick my fights and consider every option available to me.
Void Bastards is also a really funny game at times, with the enemies and their occasional quips, unaware of me shooting toxic darts into them, or tossing a self-destructing catbot in their general direction, before exploding into a lovely representation of cel-shaded, static gore.
Abrupt ending notwithstanding, I never felt like I was ever wasting my time, even when I was chasing after optional, even pointless, equipment.
7. Devil May Cry 5
6. Hypnospace Outlaw
There is sometimes when a piece of media, no matter how silly and whimsical it portrays itself as, can catch you off guard hit a really specific personal note you had buried away. This year, Hypnospace Outlaw was one of those for me.
Taking place in a parallel 90s where the technology advanced further than where we currently are, while the internet didn't, Outlaw gives you the tools to play as a content moderation enforcer on a perpetual Netscape Navigator-like. While you spend the early parts taking down copyrighted characters from unassuming peoples pages, the jerks, the game takes a slow turn towards just how vicious the internet can be.
This game tickled me because, very loosely, it reminded me of the times I spent as a message board moderator, albeit with less consequences, and how wielding that sort of power at the behest of a larger company can demoralize somebody who may not even agree with every enforcement technique at their disposal. While I may have ended up okay after stepping away from that position, it was amazing Hypnospace Outlaw struck that one particular nerve rather playfully.
I'm glad a game like this exists to poke at some of the more painful memories in a lighthearted way.
5. Control
Sometimes, there is a game that comes along which feels like the real deal. For what was years now, I always wanted a game that took the ideas of the SCP Foundation and ran with them in real wild way, but those were mostly confined to experimental indie games that were kinda janky because of how small they were. Enter Remedy Entertainment's newest, third-person venture into the wild world of the Bureau of Control, where it feels like anything could happen.
There are moments and narrative beats in this game that feel powerful and bold in ways previous Remedy games hadn't. Going in, it still has the standard internal monologue, episodic-ish TV format, FMV collectibles, and quick stop and pop action the studio nailed down before, but Control felt special in a way that somehow grabbed me from the opening moments. I was in awe at how well it can make retreading the same space still appear fresh while making the combat feel like a frantic and chaotic ballet.
Every actor brings their A-game to this one, with one Dr. Casper Darling, played brilliantly by Matthew Porretta of previous Alan Wake fame, being the standout best character to watch as his arc unfolds through all the archive footage.
Control, in many respects, is the perfect power fantasy of overcoming waves of perplexing enemies, all while wrecking a bevy of office equipment. Who doesn't want to do that?
4. Resident Evil 2
This game did the impossible and made me like the ink ribbon/ limited save system.
After my initial playthroughs, where I did both Leon and Claire campaigns back-to-back, and then again in reverse order, I had paused on the main menu screen for several minutes before diving into the hard difficulty where regular and autosaves were turned off, and boy was it one of the most riveting experiences I had this year.
That playthrough made me draw mental, visual lines through the map, and consider every option and side area I had to visit and face the terrors of the game. Single zombies put a new sense of dread in me that the easier difficulty couldn't reach. Lickers may as well have been their own boss fights.
And then there was Mr. X. Hoo boy, Mr. X. Let's just say, even from the comfort of the safe room, hearing those clomping footsteps rooms, even floors, away was able to make me, a guy who doesn't really get spooked from horror games, into a shivering coward.
And yet I persisted, eventually earning that coveted S+ Rank that inspired me to tough out the biggest challenges contained within some of the best map and enemy encounter designs I've played all year.
Between Devil May Cry 5 and this, what can I say other than: Capcom is back, baby!
3. Disco Elysium
I wasn't expecting myself to like this game as much as I did after a fairly rough early, couple of hours, where it felt like was front loaded with some of the more controversial characters and moments.
It was around the second time I sat down to play when the game started working its magic and made me consider what this character would do rather than what I, myself, would do, and everything clicked into place: I never knew role-playing games needed a constant thought process going on in the head of the player character until this point. Of course, I thought. Why hasn't this happened yet? It's so obvious that this was the inevitable step up for narrative-heavy, choice-based games.
CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] They were always around. It wasn't until now that you realized how integral it was to this world, you rube.
Joking aside, it was fascinating having an amnesiac character, (again, not original but a amazing jumping off point) go out and make what he can of himself all while trying to solve a murder mystery with one of the most amazing straight-man partners you could ever ask for in the midst of a politically tense city block with a ton of history.
One of my favorite aspects of role-playing games is poking at small, little details that keep expanding if you so wish to choose. Disco Elysium offers this in spades. Too often does this game have a lot to shift through, thanks in part to the sheer amount of diverse situations and dialogues a player can find themselves in based on what stats they poured into at the beginning.
It's not a perfect game by any stretch. Do I think it handles all of the subjects with the right amount of finesse? No. Does it have a lot of rough spots in the pacing and prioritization of missions? Absolutely. Are there moments where I wished the game would clarify how long a particular side mission would benefit my long-term character goals? Sometimes.
But those complaints aside, Disco Elysium was host to many number a memorable moments with the people that inhabit Revachol. One of the final conversations that occurred as the game winded down, especially with a thing that happened in the midst of it, will stick with me forever.
Arguing with my own stats never felt so good.
2. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
In many ways, Sekiro was impenetrable compared to From Software's other Soulsborne games. This was a lot harder, less forgiving, and had a smaller window for learning its base mechanics. There's something bold about how this company keeps doubling down on the challenge of their games, and their latest feudal Japan entry is no different.
That being said, I probably felt a bigger reward conquering the intense challenges it threw at me than any other Souls-like From, or any other developer for that matter, put out. Maybe I jived with everything it had to offer a lot earlier than other people, but learning the intricacies of the combat and stealth rewired my brain in a way that I haven't felt since the original Demon's Souls.
There was something amazing about going off the beaten path, away from the direction that the game wanted me to go in, and round out the areas I didn't necessarily have to visit yet, only to return later on and take on a whole new meaning as the story progressed. The familiar places that gets retread with new encounters and situations was also a pleasant surprise, such as seeing the large palace turn from a guarded fortress to a compromised war zone, gave the game life that previous Soulsborne entries usually fumbled on.
I can go on at length about how I loved the parry and guarding mechanics, with keeping an eye on both health and posture meters in the flurry of sword strokes being a neat twist on the formula. Instead, I just want to give a shoutout to the horseman boss early on and how the voice actors, particularly the English one, threw everything into this small role.
For awhile, I told myself that if no other game this year did something more interesting and profound than Sekiro, I could see it topping my list. Disco Elysium came extremely close, but only one game, released not a couple months later, swept in and stole that spot.
1. Outer Wilds
Anyone who knows me knows this was coming. This was the title I spent every opportunity I could recommending to every person whenever the topic of it was brought up, prompted by me or someone else.
Outer Wilds had me glued to the screen for a good month, trying to piece together the mystery at the center of this galaxy and how the player-character Hearthian became entangled in the chaos of it all. No other game this year compelled me to turn over every rock and alcove quite like this miniature sandbox did. The fact that it had sharp writing to back up and contextualize its wondrous universe was the icing on the cake.
In Outer Wilds, death becomes a familiar friend, whether on accident by oneself or some extreme and terrifying outside force. I was crushed, pulverized, eaten, burned, and even ripped apart by what held reality together in my entire time with the game, yet none of it felt punishing or inconvenient in the slightest. Far from it. The fact that I kept dusting myself off from that beginning campfire area to try a section that may have taken a bad turn previously, spoke to how well curiosity was enough of a reason to go out and explore.
Despite the size of the solar system Outer Wilds gave me, which now that I think of it is a rather large miniature system, everything felt conveniently close enough to keep unraveling the story. Learning about the clockwork world and how everything within it interacts or relates to another thing elsewhere, where knowledge is the most precious unlock, is one of the most genius gameplay loops I've ever had my hands on.
I still think back to all the big moments and revelations I found over my time with the game. When it needs to, Outer Wilds becomes melancholy without ever really tipping its hand to its dark secrets. In the countless times I made a discovery, it opened up how the individuals in this universe were the way they are and added the right level of emotional weight.
Even when I was confident I found everything the game had to offer, I still made discoveries in the times I made little revisits to it, looking at a thing I never necessarily thought about or going to. It's the game that keeps on giving, despite its limited content. The exchanges between the unseen characters with their writings on the numerous walls gives new meaning, knowing what I already know about the ending, and how sad it makes me feel.
Outer Wilds may not be the best game in everyone's eyes because, honestly, it is a big ask to get into the groove of its setting and core fundamentals. But as an experience that encouraged me to find what there is to find and sate my curiosity in the most remarkable way, it's unlike anything I've ever played. In that respect, it became not just my favorite game of 2019, but one of my favorite games ever.
