Your Games of the Decade

[duskvstweak]

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 .

Perhaps Nioh?

[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 .

Perhaps Nioh?

Yeah, perhaps.

I’m in no real rush to try again at the moment though to be honest.

I just find it interesting that so many adore these games and yet it just doesn’t snap into place for me.

[Alex79]

Bloodborne? It seems to be a lot of people's 'in'.

[Suits]

Bloodborne? It seems to be a lot of people's 'in'.

Well, I actually have that but have never played it.

[stvnorman]

Love a list! Did a quick check on the release dates and I think I’m about right...

2010 - Red Dead Redemption
2011 - Batman: Arkham City
2012 - Journey
2013 - Resogun
2014 - Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
2015 - Rocket League
2016 - Stardew Valley
2017 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2018 - Gris
2019 - Baba is You

[Chopper]

Stardew Valley buds!

@Jon - yeah that could be your project for 2020, buy a PS3 and do the Demon’s platinum. Demon’s knocks Dark into a cocked hat so I guarantee a good time

[duskvstweak]

I haven't played it yet, but a bit surprised the Witcher 3 is only making it on one list so far!

[ColinAlonso]

It's on 2, Josh's and Alex's.

I haven't played it either and picked Rocket League for 2015, which is on 3 lists. That's the thing with this, it really depends what people get around to.

[Magical_Isopod]

2010 - Xenoblade Chronicles
2010 was a pretty weak year all-around, but Xenoblade stands above the pack by being a really damn compelling fictional universe that still has interesting stories to tell throughout its 100 hour run time. Has a ton of difficulty spikes and grind walls though that make it hard to approach.

2011 - Portal 2
One of the few games I love with a comedic tone, Portal 2 is just well-written and well-made. What else can be said? It received rave reviews for a reason.

2012 - Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
Another so-so year, and this one comes with a caveat... I didn't like this game on the 3DS. At all. But when the HD remaster came out for PS4, it finally hooked me. I have a love-hate relationship with Kingdom Hearts, and I think this one is the only game in the series - aside from the first one - I actually really enjoyed. Sora is one of the worst-written protagonists in video games media, so the focus on Riku and his much more interesting character arc really helps this game. I really loved this one.

2013 - Metro: Last Light
The Metro games have achieved an incredibly rare feat - 10 years and 3 entries, and every single one phenomenal. Last Light is a compelling examination of human tribalism and spirituality, framed in a desperate Post-Nuclear war Russia. This is a very Russian series, and it's not ashamed of it. If you haven't played these games, just do it. They're on Game Pass.

2014 - Freedom Planet
Another rather weak year for games, but Freedom Planet stands out as an incredibly ambitious and well-made Sonic clone, although that description does it a disservice. It started as a Sonic fangame made by a single Danish dev, in an era where Sonic Mania hadn't come out yet. At the time, Freedom Planet was the Sonic game everyone wanted and Sega wasn't making -- but it also does enough differently that it can stand on its own feet. I also want to commend the high quality of the voice acting, provided by dozens of fans of the project. There's a passion in every corner of this game that's endearing as heck.

2015 - SOMA
SOMA is one of the single most important games to me, because it fundamentally changed the way I see my place in the world. I've mentioned a few times that I work in the industrial automation industry, and this game came out at a really weird time in my life. The amazing philosophical themes of nature vs. machine, of "coin toss" diverging outcomes, of human consciousness... I dunno, it did something to my brain. I can't adequately explain why this game is so great, because my memories of it are visual imagery, are nebulous ideas, are staring off the edge of an undersea cliff... It's #3 on my Top 100 Games list.

2016 - Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Ys VIII is probably the best JRPG of the 8th console generation. And by a pretty wide margin. This game is something real special, telling an amazing story with stakes that keep increasing beyond what you even think possible. It starts on a really damned interesting premise of a group of completely unrelated people becoming shipwrecked on a cursed island from which people never return. And from there... I'm not even gonna spoil it. The dual protagonists of Adol and Dana make an amazing dynamic of two different people on two different journeys - are the two connected? What secrets does this island hold? Pair it with a great gameplay system and an amazing soundtrack, and tons of meaningful side activities that aren't just meaningless bloat, and you have, genuinely, one of the best games ever made. Every plot revelation will make your jaw drop - I found myself legitimately cheering several times. Aesthetically, it's anime, but it constantly subverts tropes. Even if you're not into JRPGs, give this one a chance.

2017 - Horizon: Zero Dawn
Listen to the podcast episode on this one for my complete thoughts on this game, but holy shit, this game is important. It's a masterpiece of sci-fi environmentalist commentary, and much like Ys VIII, it's a much different experience than surface-level interpretations can provide.

2018 - Valkyria Chronicles 4
This one is a close call between VC4 and Iconoclasts, as both games are fantastic for different reasons... But Valkyria Chronicles had my attention for over 80 hours. It suffers somewhat from budget constraints - lots of recycled music and assets, a lot of the dialogue really drags due to cheap visual novel-type presentation, but the gameplay here is just phenomenal. The added Grenadier class changes the game so much from the original that it alone makes it the better game in the series. But add in a great story scenario and some wonderful character moments, and this is a really special game. It's really a treat to see this series back on a proper console, as the PSP entries do suffer from technical constraints.

2019 - Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus absolutely blew me away. I've frequently described it as the single best road trip in gaming, but it's more than that. Exodus is an incredible commentary on Russia and the former Soviet. Each new locale is themed after a different social issue - one highlights the struggle of indigenous Central Asian peoples vs. the imperialist Russian oil barons, one makes commentary on Paganism and appeal to nature east of the Urals, one makes commentary on religious conservatism... It's the most quintessentially Russian game out there. But on top of that, the gameplay is great, the character moments are great, the world is expanded in fascinating ways... The only real knock against it is that several plot elements from 2033 and Last Light are dropped completely, but the devs have hinted that these elements may return in future. The games media seems to have completely ignored this one, which is a shame (I personally blame western bias, if anything) - but it was the single most successful game for Deep Silver this year, and made its entire budget back in 2 months. So this won't be the last in the series.

Best Remaster/Remake - .hack//GU: Last Recode
.hack//GU is, in my opinion, the best JRPG of all time. And I didn't feel this way until the remaster (remake?) came out. Last Recode is a really weird, because it's not just a remaster or port. The core mechanics of the game have been completely retooled to modify it from a "series" of three volumes into a single, cohesive game. In other words, they cut out the bullshit made to pad what's essentially one game into 3. They rebalanced the leveling curve, completely eliminating the need for grind (which completely destroyed the momentum of the story in the original), they added a whole new epilogue chapter exclusive to this release... And it's genuinely an outstanding story. Much like Ys VIII, it just hooks you, and keeps presenting these jaw-dropping moments. Again, a must-play. Everyone ignored this one, and wrongfully. It's not just anime trash like a Tales game or a Atelier whatever - it's so much greater than that.

[Jon Cheetham]

Chopper, Ksubzero and Alex79UK, I'm so sorry I missed all your replies! Yes that's absolutely what happened, I always thought these games would just frustrate me. I couldn't resist Sekiro's setting though, and it meant I spent months going through some of the best games I've ever played. I did Bloodborne then the Dark Souls trilogy.

And yes I've never had any impulse to play a game competitively, but Dark Souls 3 just feels so damn incredible in the hands I wasn't done with it. I got addicted to the rush of beating another player in the arena, respeccing to optimise my Pyromancer and form strategies to take down the two-hander monster meta players I encountered. I must have added 25hrs to that save file just doing an hour in the arena a night in the autumn. Did a couple of invasions as well. So much fun

Edit: Chopper, already got my eyes out for a cheap PS3... I'd love to play Demon's!

@Stanshall thanks for the recs! I patronise the Duckfeed guys and probably listened through most of their Bonfireside Chat episodes twice by this point while I was playing and replaying the From games. Twin Humanities are awesome as is Vaati the man with the audio chocolate voice, haha.

Have you heard the Don't Give Up Skeleton and Sinclair Lore podcasts? About people's experiences with the games and the lore respectively, Sinclair Lore now includes Richard Pilbeam who did all the Bloodborne Up Close videos back when it came out. Been listening to these even while playing other games recently.

[Stanshall]

Hehe, good stuff, you've gone right down the rabbit hole!

[Simonsloth]

@Magical isopod: I’m surprised you found 2010 tricky as for me that was one of the hardest as there were so many incredible games released that year!
Bioshock 2, Dead Rising 2, Danganronpa, Deadly Premonition, Fallout:New Vegas, Ghost Trick, God of War 3, Halo:Reach, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2, Peace Walker, Red Dead Redemption, Rock Band 3, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Meat Boy and NIER. (I skimmed through the Wikipedia entry for games released in 2010 as I struggled a lot with that year). Not all to everyone’s tastes but there’s plenty of variety there and for me it looks like an outrageously good year.

@Jon - if you decide to give it a go take a look at the Demon’s Souls thread as there’s a legacy server someone has made and put a kickstarter out for. There’s only about 10 or so people on nowadays when I login but I’d be glad to give it another go. I plan to finish it but need a bit of a nudge to get started again.

[Alex79]

I'd be very surprised if we don't hear about some sort of Demon's remaster in the next year though, so may be worth holding out?

[Alex79]

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.

I had to go and look that up because I just couldn't believe that was a 2010 game! Mind blown, if you'd asked me I would have said 2006 or something!

[Stanshall]

I like the format, I'm in. Here we go.

2010 - Super Mario Galaxy 2

Spoiler: show

My first year back in the UK and as much as I associate the Wii with life in China, this game makes me think of the first weeks back home, playing it with my bros after probably a decade or more of no gaming together. I didn't follow gaming as closely then as I do these days but I still got this the day it was available (my chipped Wii wouldn't actually play retail discs so I pirated it, to be frank) and it was exactly what I wanted: More of the same with less preamble. The first Galaxy completely blew my mind and while this could never have the same impact, it was like an amazing after party which you remember as fondly as the main event.

2011 - Skyrim

Spoiler: show

Dark Souls is my favourite game ever for many reasons. I still play it now and I still love it. For a good while, between the release of Bloodborne and the arrival of the Switch, I did wonder whether I didn't really like games that much, besides Souls games. I've played hundreds and hundreds of hours across the various titles and explored the lore and builds and thought and read and listened to so much media around the series. And despite that, I'm choosing Skyrim. This sounds like absurd hyperbole but...How does a game have soul? The story is packed with cliché. The gameplay is pure jank. The mechanics have no depth. And yet, I don't think there's ever been a world I've felt so consumed by in any game. I can feel it now. I can feel that atmosphere, the sense of place, of empty space, of exploration, of freedom. It captures a sense of adventure like nothing else, even Breath of the Wild. The music is up there with Final Fantasy VII for me as something beyond my analysis, something which I can't deconstruct and which continues to blow me away and surprise me years on, after hours and hours of listening to the same themes. I still play it regularly in bed on the fairly crap Switch version and it's as transportative and wonderful as ever.

2012 - Far Cry 3

Spoiler: show

This was a game changer for me at the time and it was probably the first game where I did virtually everything, all the collectibles, reset both islands, unlocked everything, all the crafting, all that stuff that was completely new to me and which seemed like depth at the time. It was the first open world game I'd played and a true playground. I remember I kept saying to my then-girlfriend the old favourite "see that mountain/lake/forest, I can actually just go there" and then I'd jump off a cliff with the glider and start going "look at this, look at that" and she would humour me. The stealth felt great, the guns were satisfying, the chaos was always exciting. The first AAA game I played on the PS3 and an enormous leap from the Wii years.

2013 - The Last of Us

Spoiler: show

This is the reason I bought a PS3, though. That early E3 footage blew me away. It was the first time I ever really cared about a story in games. The first characters I felt I knew. I got deep into the lore, the comics, the soundtrack and when I eventually played Left Behind (once only), I couldn't believe their audacity with the walking sim-type half of the game which made me feel at the time that games and movies were being melded together in a wonderful way. I don't feel that any more, really, and going back to TLoU now, I do find the gameplay frustrating and repetitive and clunky, but I can't forget the impact of the story and characters and most of all the environmental storytelling and the incredible details which brought that world to life.

2014 - Dark Souls 2

Spoiler: show

Not the first Souls game I played (Demon's), not the best (Dark) but the first I properly became obsessed with and which I completed and replayed time and time again. Then Scholar came out and I went back for a whole load more. Scholar could almost be my fave game of 2015 but I digress. In trying to find out more about the game, I discovered the now-defunct The Dark Souls Two podcast, which eventually turned me onto Bonfireside Chat which turned me onto Twin Humanities which led me to Cane and Rinse, so it's got that going for it, too! Majula is perhaps my favourite area in all Souls, a place to retire as much as Whiterun, and with much cheaper rent. A beautiful, often misunderstood game with incredible depth and sadness to it. Listen to CJ on the C&R issue for a fantastic, heartfelt expression of many of my own thoughts and feelings.

2015 - Bloodborne

Spoiler: show

The Project Beast trailer appeared in the thick of my Souls obsession and I could not have been more excited. By the time the game was eventually revealed and various YT Souls celebs were invited to play the demo, I was refreshing forums all day every day. I bought a PS4 purely for this. I got my money's worth, having run probably a dozen builds to completion. Special mention for the Kirkhammer L1 'combo' (SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM) and the fully charged Stake Driver (no onomatopoeia comes close to that impact). I could not let the game go. I spent so long in the Chalice Dungeons grinding for gems that I started to feel held by a sickly obsession. I mean it. The themes of the game really got under my skin and increasingly made me feel a queasy existential dread. What was initially a brutal action game became something psychologically quite troubling as I understood the lore better and felt that I was giving this game too much space in my head. I started to feel depressed by the sickness and darkness of the world. I got the Platinum, got the cop out nice ending for the first time and walked away forever. An incredible experience, and one I have no interest in revisiting.

2016 - Forza Horizon 3

Spoiler: show

My first FH experience and one which I instantly fell in love with. Having never played anything like this before, I found the freedom thrilling and the environments consistently stunning. When the 4K HDR update came later for the One X, it didn't look that much more amazing than it had on my One S. While FH4 is one of the best looking games ever made, there's a lot more variety here and the blue skies and rusty deserts gave it more of an arcade feel which really appealed to me. Once I'd reached a certain point, I realised that much of the game is fluff and that it feels quite hollow and meaningless but it's all about the moments, rattling through a jungle with light flickering through the leaves and going into a massive slide as the paintwork gleams, the shrubs and fences get clattered and The Blue Danube swoons in the background as you suddenly launch off a cliff and you hold your breath. That's Forza Horizon 3.

2017 - Breath of the Wild

Spoiler: show

When I started to feel like I was losing interest in where gaming was headed, when I felt like I'd seen everything besides iterations on iterations, BotW (and the Switch) singlehandedly made me fall in love with games again. In many respects, my inklings were correct and the medium does often feel like it's eating itself, and nearly three years on this still stands as a beacon of imagination, creativity and tactile pleasure far beyond anything else in AAA gaming.

2018 - Rolling Gunner

Spoiler: show

Meanwhile, I started getting into shmups after stumbling onto a Dodonpachi Daioujou cab at Arcade Club at some point in early 2018 and nearly being knocked off the stool. While it took me until early this year to finally pick up a 360 and cram it with the best shmup action that Cave and others had to offer, including my own copy of Daioujou, I spent ages trying to recapture that excitement and intensity however I could on the Switch and PS4. While this meant hammering the likes of Ikaruga, Danmaku Unlimited 3 and the Psikyo games to try to scratch that very particular and intense itch, Rolling Gunner was the one to eventually hit the spot. No surprise that it was created by an ex-Cave dev and despite the cheapo graphics, absurd purchasing options for PC (import a physical CD-ROM from Japan) and numerous delays on Switch, it remains an absolute belter and always somewhere in my rotation. I can't wait to see what the Over Power DLC brings.

2019 - ESP Ra.De. Psi

Spoiler: show

I've played some games I've really enjoyed this year, with more detailed reflections to go in the 2019 thread but the vast majority have been very good rather than great, or even disappointing despite their strengths. Overwhelmingly, my year in gaming has been about shmups on the 360, and specifically by Cave, and more specifically Dodonpachi Daioujou Extra and Mushihimesama Futari Black Label. It's no surprise then that, recency bias notwithstanding, this absolutely blinding port/update of 1998's ESP Ra.De. is my GOTY 2019.

It's a game I'd hardly played before because it wasn't ported to the 360 (or anything else) and because, frankly, it seemed a bit weird and finicky. Compared to the technicolor bedazzlement of Futari or the sleek military grit of Daioujou or Ketsui, it's curiously grounded with its Shopping Mall and High School stages, while its more scattered bullet patterns (and anime-style chatter) reminded me of Gunbird or Samurai Aces or some other Psikyo game. I didn't understand the various shots or why there was no autofire and I felt that its spiritual successors, the Espgaluda series, had made it largely redundant. All it took, though, was to give it a fair crack to understand what it was all about. The scoring/multiplier system with the secondary shots is basically genius. It gives the game a completely unique rhythm and one which gets under your skin in a big way. It's very satisfying and never feels as punishing as dropping a Daioujou chain, for example. It just feels great when you pull it off. It's exciting to me to have a 'brand new' Cave game to fall in love with and to compare high scores and strategies in 2019. Unlike Sekiro, Cuphead, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and whatever else, I'll be playing this for years to come.

[Simonsloth]

Haha. Dark Souls is your favourite game ever but doesn’t win your favourite game of the year! I completely understand your reasoning though.

[Chopper]

I like the format, I'm in. Here we go.

When you write your autobiography for 2011-2014, you can call it Stanshall: The Wilderness Years.

[Stanshall]

Haha. Dark Souls is your favourite game ever but doesn’t win your favourite game of the year! I completely understand your reasoning though.

I'm a cheat, basically. I do wonder though whether Dark Souls is now more my official favourite than my actual favourite. I'd say Skyrim and FF7 probably mean more to me at this moment, but I guess that says something about where my life is now compared to when I fell headlong into Dark Souls. At the very least, I'm understanding why C&R try not to deal in absolutes!

When you write your autobiography for 2011-2014, you can call it Stanshall: The Wilderness Years.

Hehe. Very good. Thinking back, it was all about Skyward Sword for late 2011 and early 2012 and then nothing for ages besides a bit of Goldeneye Wii against my oldest mate who'd come back to the UK for a bit as well. I saw the TLoU E3 gameplay whenever that was, it stuck in my mind and I bought a PS3 shortly before Chrimbo. FC3 was the last game in their 12 Deals of Christmas and after that I basically never had any money again.

[Jon Cheetham]

@Simonsloth, I did hear about that... if I get it fired up on an old PS3 some time, I'll join. I love those kind of community driven projects that orbit this series - like the Tomb Prospectors who just finished mapping every single possible chalice dungeon in Bloodborne.

@Alex79UK that would be ideal, and a renewed online experience would come with it. I've heard it's complicated in terms of who owns/ publishes/ gets veto on Demon's Souls as a product, which might be why they didn't do it for the PS4 with Dark 1 already. Still, holding out hope.

[Michiel K]

My list is heavily tipped towards action games of Japanese origin as that's what I've been into the last 10 years. There are a bunch of games I haven't spent enough time with though. For example, I have yet to play through a Dark/Demon Souls-type FromSoft game in full. So this isn't my final word until the end of times.

2010 - Bayonetta

Some damn fine over the top action games came out this year, among which Sin & Punishment 2, but none of them have the substance that the first Bayonetta has.

2011 - Hard Corps: Uprising / The King of Fighters XIII

Arc System Works beautiful redefinition of the 2D run and gun game vs. SNK's beautiful 2D fighter that might just be the game in the genre of the last 10 years that's the most satisfying to play. I can't call it.

2012 - Kid Icarus: Uprising

Unfortunately, I can't force people to overcome the uncomfortable (but otherwise apt) controls of this luxurious and rich 3D action game for a handheld system, of all things.

2013 - The Wonderful 101

Slightly marred by a rushed release and only a single major patch, this is otherwise 2013's true next step in PlatinumGames' pushed evolution of the 3D brawler genre and as joyful and as interesting a game in this genre has ever gotten.

2014 - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

A benchmark for modern 2D platformers.

2015 - DARIUSBURST: Chronicle Saviours

You want highly refined and honed horizontally scrolling 2D shooting with a modern lick of paint? How about some more? And some more? And some more? And some...

2016 - DOOM

Might stick out a bit in my list, but this as just as action packed and substantial and meaty as the games I've listed above.

2017 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

No ifs and buts about it. Truly a monumental game. EAD, with some help, have done it again, after Ocarina of Time and the original 1986 Legend of Zelda.

2018 - ???

Too early to tell. Currently leaning towards Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom.

2018 - ???

Too early to tell. Currently a toss up between Rolling Gunner, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Astral Chain.