Your Games of the Decade

[duskvstweak]

Your favorite (emphasis on favorite) game of each year of the decade.

I'm so behind on games, I feel like I'll have to come back to this list in another ten years. As the years got more recent, my choices got fewer and fewer! Ah, well. Here's my list. If I don't have your favorite, just assume I didn't play it. Or that I didn't like The Last of Us that much.

2010 - Pac-Man Championship Edition DX
I wanted to give it to Alan Wake but, really, I've spent so much time playing Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, and while continue to do so that it couldn't go anywhere else. VVVVVV, Red Dead Redemption, Starcraft 2 and Mass Effect 2 were the other runner ups.

2011 - Limbo
While To the Moon actually made me cry and Bastion's soundtrack is one I still listen to, Limbo is the game that stuck with me the most. Played it in one sitting and then had to take a long walk afterwards. The Binding of Isaac and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 were runners up, and so was Jurassic Park: The Game, but that was mostly from personal bias. It's not REALLY a game.

2012 - XCOM: Enemy Unknown
No other game would have come close. And there were some great games. But, the amount of time I put into XCOM and how cool and game changing it was for me, I loved it. I loved the world. I want to play it right now just talking about it. If XCOM hadn't existed, it would have been between FLT and Mark of the Ninja, thought The Walking Dead would have gave a run for its money. And Plague Inc. if only because of time spent. And Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP for the music.

2013 - Thomas Was Alone
I loved it the whole time. Thought it was such a fun, cool, endearing little puzzle game with great music and I enjoyed the narration, despite itself. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was also close. In another time in my life, it would have gone to Tomb Raider 2013.

2014 - Shovel Knight
I wanted to give it to Transistor but Shovel Knight is just too good. It's the most successful 8-bit inspired game out there, at least of what I've played. And while I love Ultra Street Fighter IV and Shadows of Mordor, neither of them came close to Shovel Knight's joy.

2015 - Rocket League
Ori and the Blind Forest would be my more traditional pick, but Rocket League is too perfect of a concept that also makes me feel like a kid again. And I loved Prison Architect but haven't played too much past the campaign mode.

2016 - DOOM
How much did I want to give this Civilization VI or XCOM 2? I put way more time into those games. But, DOOM 2016 is some of the most fun I've had in a video game in long time. Being a double jumping death machine has never felt so good. Special shoutouts to Firewatch and Darkest Dungeon, and especially Stardew Valley for making reconsider some life choices.

2017 - Nioh
Nioh had such a cool presentation and design. It was brutal at times, but I never was not having fun...well, maybe one or two boss fights. But, near the end, I felt so much stronger than I would have imagined in the beginning. And, sure, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would be a runner up.

2018 - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
It seems crazy to choose this quick little appetizer the win but I loved every minute of it. If it wasn't for this game, Dead Cells would have won, for sure. Northgard was in the running for making the RTS genre feel fresh and Jurassic World: Evolution because of, again, bias.

2019 - N/A
I haven't played any game released in 2019!

[Combine Hunter]

2010 - Bayonetta (EU release date. Also, 2010 was stacked with all timers, this was hard)

2011 - Dark Souls (2011 was stacked with all timers, this was hard)

2012 - Spelunky (the new version)

2013 - The Last of Us

2014 - Shovel Knight

2015 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Bloodborne a close second)

2016 - HITMAN

2017 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

2018 - Red Dead Redemption 2

2019 - Outer Wilds

[Chopper]

Boy, if I'd had the gaming taste I have now, back in 2010, there would have been very little for me! Interesting looking through the years though - XBLA! The Ouya!

2010 - Deadly Premonition

2011 - Dark Souls

2012 - Hotline Miami (but most likely OOTP13 if that was the year I started playing it)

2013 - Beyond: Two Souls

2014 - The Wolf Among Us

2015 - SOMA

2016 - I feel like it should be Firewatch, but I played Stardew Valley obsessively

2017 - Prey (2017)

2018 - Prey: Mooncrash

2019 - Return of the Obra Dinn (Slay the Spire)

[KSubzero1000]

I'm always struggling with these lists on account of how much time I spend playing and replaying older games. Quality titles usually end up blurring together in a delicious mix of evergreen goodness and I often cannot remember when a particular favorite of mine even came out! But sure, I'll play along. I'll use the official EU release date as opposed to when I first played them. (Ports and re-releases not included.)


2010 - God of War 3
Not even my favorite in the series, but a stellar achievement regardless. Sumptuous presentation thanks to its impeccable camera design and epic soundtrack. Visceral, meaty combat. As juvenile as it is satisfying. The pacing and story-telling are lagging a bit behind, however.

Runner-up: Vanquish - The best TPS gameplay on the market, coming soon to a PS4 and Xbox One near you.


2011 - Dark Souls
It's Dark Souls, what more can I say? It comes together so well that I am more than willing to forgive that Blighttown framerate and barely-stitched-together final third of the game. So many great locations, characters and bossfights. One for the ages.

Runner-up: Portal 2 - First-person puzzling brilliance, although I think I prefer the less meandering first installment.


2012 - Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
One of the greatest stories ever told in the medium, full of twists and turns, laughter and heartbreak. Positively unforgettable characters and arguably the most clever use of the branching story-line concept to date. David Cage should sit down and take notes. And that music...!

Runner-up: Trials Evolution - Ride, crash, repeat.


2013 - Resogun
What can I say? I'm a simple man. This game does very little wrong and almost everything right within its own niche. Puts the neon green in 'evergreen'. I'll take it, all day everyday.

Runner-up: Papers, Please - I just started this two days ago, but it'll do. Anything to avoid having to put TLoU on here.


2014 - Bayonetta 2
I know it has its fair share of high-ranking detractors, but personally, I'm all in on this one. It retains most of the qualities of its predecessor but adds greater enemy variety and greatly benefits from its much more polished presentation. Getting Pure Platinum on all the Witch Trials remains one of my most precious gaming achievements.

Runner-up: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - The perfect appetizer.


2015 - Bloodborne
Like Dark Souls, but much more polished and set within one of the most captivating and memorable fictional universes ever created. Probably the best representation of Lovecraftian horror in gaming. One of the greatest games of all times.

Runner-up: Infinifactory - Yeah, yeah, I'll shut up already.


2016 - Overwatch
Online multiplayer squad based FPS isn't exactly my go-to genre, but I have to give credit where credit is due. This game is insanely well-designed in all the right ways. I had an incredibly fulfilling time with it, although I doubt I'll ever revisit it. “Heroes Never Die!”

Runner-up: The Witness - Devilishly clever puzzle game, some might even say too clever for its own good.


2017 - Nex Machina
More like... Hex Machina with how... bewitching it is. Arf, arf, arf.

Runner-up: Yakuza 0 - Top writing, ridiculously manly characters, the good kind of prequel, best in series.


2018 - Valkyria Chronicles 4
Beautiful art style, brilliant gameplay loop and map design. Tactical RPGs are an acquired taste, and this one arguably more than most, but it excels at what it sets out to do. Plus I wasn't able to shoe-horn any Fire Emblem game in this list, so it has to be here for representation's sake alone.

Runner-up: God of War - This is as good as modern western AAA gaming gets, so I have to give it credit for that.


2019 - ?
The most fun I had this year was with Devil May Cry V thanks to its im-pec-ca-ble, once-in-a-generation combat system. Sekiro being more than worthy of a mention as well. But I won't commit to either of them yet before finishing Death Stranding...

[Alex79]

God, I would have no idea for this off the top of my head. So, having looked up at some game of the year lists over the last ten years...

2010: Mass Effect 2
2011: Dark Souls
2012: Mass Effect 3
2013: Grand Theft Auto V (or Gone Home)
2014: Dark Souls 2
2015: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
2016: The Witness (or Uncharted 4)
2017: What Remains Of Edith Finch
2018: Red Dead Redemption 2
2019: Honestly, there's nothing I can name for this year.

But overall, my game of the decade is Red Dead Redemption 2.

[hazeredmist]

The release year wasn’t necessarily the year I played these but I’m comfortable with this list:

2010 Mass Effect 2
2011 Binding of Isaac
2012 Persona 4 Golden
2013 Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies
2014 Destiny
2015 Steins;Gate
2016 Titanfall 2
2017 Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2018 Night in the Woods
2019 Rolling Gunner

[dezm0nd]

I really like the idea of picking out 10 games from the last decade but I just started to do some research and my brain folded in half.

[Flabyo]

Yeah, just one game from each year is going to be tricky... I’ll give it a try when I get a spare hour or three to work something out.

[Flabyo]

I don’t think there were *actual* rules, it’s just that’s what people started with and I tend to do better with this sort of thing if you force me to stick to a format.

[Simonsloth]

Writing this list got easier as the decade went on as I took measures to work on my backlog rather than play new games. In fact this year I only played one game released in 2019 and last year only 2 games from 2018!

2010 Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
It had to be this! I plugged hundreds of hours into it and continued my progress on vita then ps3. I never did do all the missions due to the dwindling number of online players. 2010 was pretty amazing with honourable mentions for Bioshock 2 and Mass Effect 2 and Nier.

2011 Portal 2

2012 The Walking Dead
I’m not sure when to put this as the episodic nature means it was staggered but Wikipedia says it was 2012. It just pipped Virtue’s Last Reward to the prize. Honourable mention for Max Payne 3

2013 BioshockbInfinite
A close run race with The Last of Us. Honourable mentions for Rogue Legacy and Papers Please.

2014 Tex Murphy The Tesla Effect
A game I’d been waiting years for finally arrived on the crest of the Kickstarter wave ending years of the studio making casual card games and pixel hunt object finder games. Just wonderful. It cleaned house at the Adventure Gamers Awards picking up nearly every award and deserved it. honourable mentions The Wolf Among Us, Alien isolation and Wolfenstein new order.

2015 MGS5: Phantom Pain
It pains me that I can’t put Soma or The Witcher 3 but MGS5 would probably win any year it was released.

2016 The last guardian/Virginia
Difficult to split these so I won’t.

2017 Nier automata
Fantastic and will live long in the memory

2018 Shadow of the colossus
Was between this and Detroit. At the time I would have probably said Detroit but looking back I think this pips it.

2019 Death stranding
Of course. A close contender for game of the decade.

[Jon Cheetham]

Tricky one for me as I only got back into gaming in 2017, but thanks to my brother - whose recommendations for games are at the standard of Ron Swanson's for scotch - I have gone back to a great many classics, not least the From Software titles. There's lots of things I'll still go back and try for the first time, but just for fun I have cobbled together a list from what I did play.

2010: Off to a good start. Haven't really played anything from 2010.

2011: Dark Souls. What could I say that others haven't? It's all true. It's just immense.

2012: Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen. They're masterworks all, you can't go wrong!

2013: Again my library fails me. AC Black Flag is great but I preferred...

2014: Assassin's Creed Unity. Paris is beautiful, and all the glitches have been patched.

2015: Bloodborne. Maybe my favourite game ever. I've beaten it nearly four times now.

2016: Dark Souls 3. It got me into PvP, something I thought I would never have any interest in.

2017: Horizon Zero Dawn and Prey. I can't choose. I won't! "Good morning Talos..."

2018: Into the Breach. There's no bad mood this game can't dispel. Chess, but better.

2019: Sekiro. My first From game, my first ever platinum. Shout-outs to DMC5 and RE2make (Capcom yo)

[ColinAlonso]

I had to dig back into the old top 50 list and my games completed lists for this one. 2014 and 2016 were still a struggle, apparently I didn't have big standouts for those years whereas 2017 has loads.

2010: Red Dead Redemption
Such a great game that I even forgive the overlong second act in Mexico.
Runner up - Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

2011: Portal 2
Prefer it to the first actually. The more overtly comedic parts to the black comedy did it for me.
Runner up: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

2012: Journey
Played it once, don't want to ruin the experience by playing it again.
Runner up: Everybody's Golf Vita

2013: Rayman Legends
I love the sense of flow from the modern 2D Raymans. It feels like I'm doing loads but always have time to react. I left Oranges out of 2011 because its so similar to Lemons.
Runner up: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

2014: 80 Days
The writing is fantastic. I still keep it on my phone and do a round the world trip once in a while.
Runner up: Ori and the Blind Forest

2015: Rocket League
300+ hours off a simple idea executed so well.
Runner up: Yakuza 5

2016: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice
Wonderful end to this second trilogy. The series is hilarioulsy over the top at this point.
Runner up: very DOOM

2017 – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2017. The year large open world games finally got their claws into me. BotW seems to quietly encourge so much exploration that I played for 130 hours before finishing it.
Runner up: Horizon: Zero Dawn

2018 – Spider-Man
Love swinging around Manhattan, combat was fun.
Runner up: Valkyria Chronicles 4

2019 – Wargroove
The only 2019 game I've finished.

[Alex79]

2019: Sekiro. My first From game, my first ever platinum. Shout-outs to DMC5 and RE2make (Capcom yo)

I don't get it. You said Sekiro is your first From game, but you've played Dark Souls and Bloodborne?

[KSubzero1000]

2019: Sekiro. My first From game, my first ever platinum. Shout-outs to DMC5 and RE2make (Capcom yo)

I don't get it. You said Sekiro is your first From game, but you've played Dark Souls and Bloodborne?

I think he played them later this year after Sekiro. Retroactive GotYs.


EDIT: Yep, look:

I spent most of the year past April going back to older titles, and that's at least partly because of my game of the year - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

[...]

The reason it is such an important game to me is that firstly it "unlocked" the other From games - I thought, if I can do this one, then I can do the others - and I spent the next few months having the amazing experiences of first Bloodborne and then the Dark Souls trilogy. Bloodborne is now my favourite game ever.

[Alex79]

Jeez. Sekiro, then Dark Souls then Bloodborne 4 times all in nine months! That's a kind of madness I don't think I could handle! I love those games so much, but they're intense.

[Chopper]

Also, Dark Souls III and Dark Souls III PvP.

[Chopper]

2020 is going to be a bit of a come down.

[Alex79]

Also, Dark Souls III and Dark Souls III PvP.

God yeah I missed that one!

[Stanshall]

Souls

Hey, Jon. Great work with the Souls obsession. If you want some more stuff to chew over, I would massively recommend Bonfireside Chat and Twin Humanities podcasts, as well as VaatiVidya and Epic Name Bro on YouTube. You may already be familiar with them but BSC and Vaati are especially well structured and curated with discussion and lore insights. ENB is also fantastic but his stuff is more Let's Play kind of stuff and TH is best starting at the start because later stuff tends to bring in different interests. Also, Dark Calls by a couple of the TCGS lads is superb. Equally massive recommendation if you also listen to that show.

(And all the C&R eps, of course!)

Now you just need that Demon's remaster

[Suits]

I’ve tried a few times to get into From Software games, Dark Souls 2 & 3, then Sekiro.

They just don’t do it for me.

Bit gutted to be honest .