Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

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bmoc
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Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

Post by bmoc »

As 2019 comes to a close, I'm starting to see these lists pop up everywhere. I thought it would be fun to post my own list and see what everyone else's lists are. I'm going to go with my favorite game that was released each year but don't feel like you have to do the same. Make your own lists however you see fit. Rereleases, remakes, and remasters are fair game too.

2010: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (PS3)
This was Spider-Verse before Spider-Verse was a thing. The story was pretty bare bones but the gameplay was fun and the voice acting was top notch. Each Spider-Man was voiced by someone that voiced Spider-Man in a TV series. You had 80's Spider-Man as Spider-Man 2099. 90's Spider-Man as Spider-Man Noir. Neil Patrick Harris as Amazing Spider-Man as well as the voice actor from Spectacular Spider-Man (2008). This the only game that I cared to get a platinum trophy for.

2011: Mortal Kombat (PS3)
This was my first Mortal Kombat since Mortal Kombat Trilogy on the N64. They went back to a 2D fighter style and retconned the events of the first three games in a way that surprisingly made a lot of sense. This game is still the gold standard for fighting game story modes in my mind.

2012: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)
Xenogears is one of my all time favorite PS1 era RPGs. I was sooo close to hacking my Wii and importing the European version of Xenoblade but Operation Rainbow came through and raised enough awareness to get GameStop and Nintendo to bring this one west. For me, Xenoblade was a lot like playing a single player MMO. Having quit MMOs two years prior due to the birth of my son, this scratched the itch and had a great story as a bonus.

2013: Killer Instinct (Xbox One)
Killer Instinct (94) and the first three Mortal Kombats were my bread and butter in the 90's arcade scene. It is no surprise that Killer Instinct (2013) resonated so well with me. I didn't actually play it until season 2 came out. I waited until Microsoft ditched the whole required Kinect thing before getting an Xbox One. Eventually, every previous KI character saw a reimagining and was included in the game. The game's original characters are all good too. Hisako especially (even if I am not good at playing her). Every character is viable in my opinion and KI still has some of the best netcode around.

2014: Halo: The Master Chief Collection (Xbox One)
I skipped the Xbox 360 so this one let me catch up on the games that I missed and revisit some old friends (Halo and Halo 2). I wasn't concerned with multiplayer so the game's multiplayer bugs didn't affect me. Oddly enough, my favorite games from the series ended up being the ones that did not focus on Master Chief - ODST and Reach.

2015: Ori and the Blind Forest (Xbox One)
Ori and the Blind Forest is just a gorgeous game to behold. The visuals are amazing. The story is fairly compelling and the gameplay is satisfying. I'm very much looking forward to the sequel that comes out in a few months.

2016: Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE (Wii U)
I took a big chance with this one when I purchased it. Having never played a Shin Megami Tensei game or a Fire Emblem game (shame on me), I wasn't sure what to expect. I was surprised at how good it was. The battle system is really solid. The story is packed full of tons of anime tropes but if you don't mind that, Toyko Mirage Sessions #FE is one of the best RPGs on the Wii U.

2017: Breath of the Wild & Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Nintendo Switch)
Every once in a while, a year in gaming stands out above the rest. For a long time, I thought 1996 would never be beat. 1996 saw the release of Mario 64, Mario RPG, Resident Evil, Diablo, Quake, and more. I had a lot of trouble picking a winner for this year and I just couldn't settle on one. I'm giving this one to both Breath of the Wild and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Monolith Soft had a hand in both so I guess it should come as no surprise that I loved both. I have hundreds of hours logged into each game. Honorable Mentions: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, Cuphead, Super Mario Odyssey, Horizon Zero Dawn, Neir Automata, Dragon Quest XI

2018: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo Switch)
I don't know what I can say about this that hasn't been said. It is without question the best Smash Bros game ever made. All of them have been fun but this one is heads and shoulders above every other version. (Sorry Melee fans).

2019: Resident Evil 2 Remake (PS4)
This is how you do a remake. Every thing about Resident Evil 2 was improved upon. All the changes and additions made sense. I've never like a Resident Evil more than the first one. I think this one has finally taken the top spot. I'm excited to see how they improve upon RE3.
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Sload Soap
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Re: Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

Post by Sload Soap »

Nice list. I think thr last decade was very good for gaming with lots of variety and some absolute classic titles released. I've slimmed it down to five I've enjoyed the most or were the most important to me.

Bloodbourne: Even though it took me a while to get into I am a big fan of the Soulsbourne series and consider them among the best and most important of the last gen. I prefer Dark Souls overall but Bloodbourne is the best singular entry in the dynasty.

Overwatch: My favourite online game of this last decade. I went for this over Battlefield 3 as I feel it has the same easy to pick up play hiding a deep metagame but Blizzard have done a great job of pacing out updates to make the game much less disposable than your average Activison/EA release.

Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed: I love a good racing game and this is a great racing game. Simultaneously one of the best kart racers ever and a love letter to all things Sega. Not an especially important game in the grand scheme but one I really enjoy.

Shovel Knight: There had been an absolute glut of indie 8-bit styled games and while a lot are pretty naff there has also been a lot of great stuff. Standing above them all though is Shovel Knight a bang on mix of old skool aesthetics and modern sensibilities.

Mass Effect 3: I love the entire trilogy but I've plumped for ME3 as I think it has the series' best presentation, gunplay and character beats. I also understand the criticism that it's basically not a RPG anymore so I won't say it's the best one. I've also gone for ME3 as I think it had a bit of an unintended effect on the gaming landscape after the backlash to its rubbish final 20 minutes. I don't think this was necessarily a positive thing and claims of fan entitlement were not entirely unwarranted (though also not completely accurate) but it did show that narratives in games had reached a point where people could become so invested we saw the sort of public outcry usually reserved for bad Star Wars films. Again not saying it's a good thing but I do feel somehow important.

There are so many great games I could've gone for though.
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Re: Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

Post by PartridgeSenpai »

This has been so fun to think about! I didn't do a very good job of keeping track of what I played before I started on Racketboy, and I also didn't play very many games as they were new this decade, so I'm just gonna use my Games Beaten lists to scope out my favorites that I've played that came out this decade. I'm gonna keep it narrowed down to a list of 10 favorites in a simply chronological order, because otherwise this list would be far far too long :lol:

Blur (2010): My favorite kart racer I've ever played. Any one I've played since I've just thought to myself "damn, I could be playing Blur right now" XD. The game has SUCH a great sense of speed along with the bright cars and dark racing tracks, it really brings the feeling of a blur to how you play. The power-ups all having 2 uses makes none of them ever feel useless, and ones like the mine can really be essential to later tracks in getting good at throwing it in front of you. I'm not sure I've ever had this much fun with a kart racer, and I don't think I ever will again. Even just typing about it here makes me want to rush out and go buy it so I can play it again XD

Crusader Kings II (2012): I've technically played more Civ 5 (like 350 hours more of civ 5), but 820-ish hours in CK2 is still a lot! XD. Along with the tons of time I've sunk into watching my kingdoms grow and trying to secure the best heirs, this game really helped nurture my love for world history. It helped me learn so much geography and has helped me connect a lot better with people around the world because of it. It's also given me tons of incredible stories of my favorite rulers to share (like my insane pirate king of Ireland who died on a doomed quest for immortality). If I had to pick just one big strategy game with maps I played a ton of this decade, it'd have to be CK2.

Octodad (2014): One of my favorite multiplayer games ever, easily. The number of times I've used Octodad to bond with family and friends who don't even play video games very much (if at all) because of its wacky humor, simple premise, and awkward controls is too many for me to even count. Even with so many other brilliant, casual local co-op games released this decade (like Super Mario Party and Overcooked), Octodad takes the top spot for me.

LISA: The Painful (2014): One of the most brilliant RPGs I've ever played. Not just the story it tells, but how it tells it, weaving together narrative with mechanics, is a high bar that other games should strive to reach. It's a game with a weird sense of humor, despite its heavy subject matter, and it's not something I can recommend to everyone. That said, I can think of very few RPGs that I've engaged with so thoroughly that I've played them back-to-back 3 times.

Magicka 2: Learn to Spell... AGAIN! (2015): Where Octodad was the game I played with more casual friends, Magicka 2 was what I played with friends more used to playing video games. The controls take some time to get used to, but once you have them down this game is such a blast to play. We played through this game, must've been 4 or 5 times this decade, and I was so incredibly excited when we actually managed to beat it on very hard mode. This game has a lot of wonderful memories for me, and I'd be very remiss to omit it from a list like this.

Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016): Let's not forget the BEST Paper Mario game came out this decade! X3. Taking all the good ideas from Sticker Star and making it into a game with combat that mattered and some of the best, silliest writing a Nintendo game has ever had, this game blew me away when I played it earlier this year. Easily one of my favoritest RPGs, and it easily made this list among some very stiff RPG competition.

Yokai Watch 3: Sukiyaki (2016): Speaking of amazing RPGs that blew me away, Yokai Watch 3! I was already a fan of Yokai Watch before I played this one, but clocking in at 214 hours, I played 3 more than the other 4 games in the series combined. For once we had an actually good narrative (or at least a cohesive one) full of fun pop culture references and characters that had me constantly grinning ear to ear. It introduced a totally revamped battle system that took the confusing yet still too simple system of the first two games and combined with with the 3 Kingdoms tactics game to make something actually engaging and meaningful. And to top it all off, it added the Yokai Treasure Busters mode, a Diablo-style side game with an absurd amount of detail and content that by all means could've been its own stand-alone game (and eventually was). Pokemon wishes it could ever have a game as good as Yokai Watch 3, and I'm not even sure the Yokai Watch series will ever have a game this good again.

Hollow Knight (2017): A long series of excellent indie Metroidvanias (that still continue to come out) has a masterpiece above all others, and that game is Hollow Knight. It brought to the table an incredibly huge map paired with an enemy variety that makes for an experience rivaling the decadence of Symphony of the Night. It has a really tight combat system and lots of awesome bosses, and overall just feels great to play. A great, fluid art style helps bring to life a dreary world with a somber narrative. Its difficulty definitely keeps it from being the most accessible game in the world, but damn if it isn't a great 2D action/adventure game.

God of War (2018): I never would've guessed that it'd be Sony who'd make the best 3D Zelda-style game to date. A complete re-imagining of a classic series, Dad of War came out and changed the face of the franchise in a way I don't think anyone could've predicted. A sincere reflective story on what the series has been gives a really wonderful narrative on two people growing to love each other despite their differences with some really unprecedented pacing for a video game story. Combat is so visceral and fun to play, I was sad when I was out of optional extra bosses to fight. The game looks gorgeous and sounds great on top of that. Definitely a game you'd expect to come out at the end of a generation and stand atop its console's library in quality.

La-Mulana 2 (2018): This is another fairly personal one for me. I don't think that La-Mulana 2 is a better Metroidvania than Hollow Knight, although it is definitely one of the better ones out there. A Let's Play of La-Mulana is one of the first things that got me into gaming outside of just AVGN videos on Youtube. It's, effectively, one of the reasons I'm part of so many of the communities online I am today. I played through the first game's remake eventually and adored it, but was a little sad that I'd never get to try and solve La-Mulana's many cryptic puzzles on my own. I was absolutely shocked when, on one of the last times I went on Kickstarter, a game I never thought would or could exist was on it: La-Mulana 2. I waited patiently for years for it to come out, and jumped right in the day it finally did. A whole new ruin, a whole new story, better controls, and so many new bosses: It was better than I ever really could've hoped for. I wasn't able to figure out ALL puzzles myself, but being able to try was what I really wanted most, and that's what I got. La-Mulana 2 is the culmination of a lot of feelings about video games and my time with them online, and it will always hold a very special place in my heart because of that <3
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Re: Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

Post by prfsnl_gmr »

I don’t play a lot of new games; so my list is a little weird...

2010 - Dragon Quest IX
2011 - Rayman Origins
2012 - Hotline Miami
2013 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
2014 - South Park: The Stick of Truth
2015 - Yoshi’s Wooly World
2016 - Pokémon Go
2017 - The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild
2018 - Minit
2019 - Dr. Mario World
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Re: Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

Post by sevin0seven »

...Likewise (above comment); but here's what I enjoyed (personal favorite/taste) during that span that I can remember:

Tetris 99 - NSW (2019)
Wonder Boy Returns Remix - NSW (2019)
Horizon Chase Turbo - NSW (2018)
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon - NSW (2018)
Tetris Effect - PS4 (2018)
Super Mario Odyssey - NSW (2017)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - NSW(2017)
Sonic Mania - NSW (2017)
Mario Kart 8 (Deluxe) - Wii U/NSW (2014, 2017)
Forza Motorsport 6 - Xbox One (2015)
Super Mario 3D World - Wii U (2013)
NBA 2K14 - PS4/PC (2013)
NBA Jam On Fire Edition - PSN (2011)
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - PS3 (2010)
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - Xbox Live (2010)
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bmoc
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Re: Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

Post by bmoc »

prfsnl_gmr wrote:I don’t play a lot of new games; so my list is a little weird...

2010 - Dragon Quest IX
2011 - Rayman Origins
2012 - Hotline Miami
2013 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
2014 - South Park: The Stick of Truth
2015 - Yoshi’s Wooly World
2016 - Pokémon Go
2017 - The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild
2018 - Minit
2019 - Dr. Mario World
Lots of great games here. Not weird at all. I'm glad to see one of the new Rayman games on someone's list. I greatly enjoyed both Origins and Legends. A Link Between Worlds was my runner up pick for 2013.
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PartridgeSenpai
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Re: Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

Post by PartridgeSenpai »

bmoc wrote:Lots of great games here. Not weird at all. I'm glad to see one of the new Rayman games on someone's list. I greatly enjoyed both Origins and Legends. A Link Between Worlds was my runner up pick for 2013.
Had I been keeping record of what I'd played longer, one of the Raymans might've made it on my list. I played those much earlier in the decade and those are REALLY good.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
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Re: Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

Post by prfsnl_gmr »

My choices were pretty limited. I don’t play many new games; so, for some of those years, I only had two or three games to choose from... :? I’ll start catching up as we move into the 2020s. :lol:
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Re: Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

Post by noiseredux »

This thread has been a great read. I need to do some more thinking before I can post a thoughtful list myself, but spoiler... Overwatch is my favorite game of the decade.
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Re: Your Top Games of the Decade 2010-2019

Post by Flake »

Oh man. Let's see what I can do. I'm digging everyone's year-by-year format so I'll try that.

2010 - Tatsunoko Vs Capcom
2011 - Mass Effect 2
2012 - New Super Mario Bros 2
2013 - Fire Emblem Awakening
2014 - Hyrule Warriors
2015 - Splatoon
2016 - Batman: The Telltale Series
2017 - Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2018 - Diablo III: Eternal Collection
2019 - Fire Emblem: Three Houses


...this was not an easy way to tackle this list business.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
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