2019 was another stellar year for games. Each year we move on the list of available games becomes more diverse and easier to experience. While no game I loved this year was perfect they each brought something interesting to the table. Many of the best games this year were plagued with performance issues, bugs, and other issues that some people would say would keep them out of their top games but this is my list...so...yeah.
This game blew me away and brought Remedy back to the stuff I love. When Quantum Break was released I wasn't huge fan but I appreciated what they were trying to do. With Control I found they came back to what I loved and they also diversified the combat way more than in Quantum Break, Alan Wake, or Max Payne. The story, the side stories, the world itself, and the characters all added up to an experience that I am still thinking about. I hope some of the more elaborate and crazy parts of the lore and story work out for the best in their planned DLC. The worst thing I can say about Control is that I can't experience many of the game's moments for the first time again. Also, the music is killer.
I haven't finished DE but what I have played is super impressive. The footprint of the game's world is small but the ambition is huge. I can't see many bigger games adapting all of the stuff DE does right but in a smaller, tighter environment I would love to see games take the character creation and dialogue pieces and adapt them to future titles. The fact a brand new studio with so few developers and so little time pulled off something this great.
This should be the gold standard for remakes (alongside Ratchet & Clank on PS4). They took an old game and made it feel modern, new, and for the most part consistently fun. Some aspects, like Mr X, feel slightly cheaper when you realize how to break them but until that moment (if you even experience it) the tension and horror works.
TD2 got a bad break this year. For whatever reason it apparently didn't sell well or at least to the expectations Ubisoft had for it. No matter, this is a solid follow up to the original. D1 had issues as soon as you reached the endgame but the developer was able to put their heart and soul into the updates to really bring that game to a good place. D2 started off strong with an amazing amount of content (took me 40 hours just to complete all the content up to the end game) and every update is FREE to any player who owns the game. The enemy AI is much better than before and the weapon variety and abilities really made me enjoy getting into firefights. I had some hiccups with matchmaking and I still think a straight competitive PVP mode is a needless distraction but this game really was a solid title for 2019 and beyond.
APT:I is a simple game on its face: a stealth puzzler with a great story. I can confirm it is all three of those things. While I think the game won't be great for replay value I had a tremendous time going through the story. I never felt I was being cheaply manipulated and the emotional times really did hit me. This game sort of came out of nowhere even though I remember seeing previews for it all the way back in early 2018. They have a sequel announced and I will be there for it day one.
Metro: Exodus is both annoying and amazing. I had several major bugs in my playthrough, one was temporarily a game breaking bug, and many other ones that negatively impacted my play. Still, I found the game to be both striking and the story was certainly more compelling than either of the previous Metro games (which I both liked). I do wish they had a bigger budget to pull off better QA testing and more but what they do right they really do right.
Like several other games this year this one was fun but riddled with bugs and glitches. My playthrough wasn't as bad as the earlies adopters of the game since the game had been patched several times by the time I got around to playing. The story has been praised by some as really good but I would argue its fine...nothing special but as far as a video game about Star Wars and Jedi it is certainly the best since KOTOR2. While so much of the game is serviceable I still found a enjoyment in the progression, abilities, and souls-like combat and exploration.
This was a fantastic battle royale that has had consistently terrible season passes and monetization. They did a good deal of great things with the UI that I hope other games steal, even non-BR games.
Great soundtrack
Great look
Great game
it would be highly derogatory for me to say this was just another Borderlands game except it has a crap story and minimal quality of life updates. Well...this is just another Borderlands game except it has a crap story and minimal quality of life updates. I did enjoy my time with the game but much of it felt like it was an incremental update to Borderlands 2 which is kind of crazy given how long its been since the last numbered Borderlands game. The story is legitimately bad and the villains should have been so much better. I actively think I hate the story and its complete excising of your character and your role but whatever. The gameplay is fine but, as always, it excels in co-op.
