After all the effort that the gaming industry and forward thinking that the gaming industry has accomplished what do we think of the last year of the 2010s? Meh! There were more games to be announced for 2020 than it ever were releases or surprises for 2019. This year of gaming was more of the same IP’s of yesteryear and much less of a leap forward in gaming. The old news of filthy big name developers continue to stoop themselves lower than before like how Bethesda made a charge of $100 a year for their Fallout 76 Subscription service. The lack of integrity shows how withdrawn and intolerant we are with new releases and nothing has changed with consumer’s war with paying more than paying full price games. Plus we’re moving onward from this okay-ish decade of gaming; one that I don’t think many of us are going to miss as much. After all the gamergames, war on loot boxes, and many once beloved companies falling from grace it makes me intrigue to see where is this going rather than to revisit old controversies. As the final year of the 2010s, lets look at the ten best releases.
Number 10. – Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Now we all just happy that there’s finally a kickstarter project that didn’t go to ruin, despite how long we all had to wait. We all had to worry about new IPs from teams that worked on famous series like Mighty No. 9 and Yuka-Laylee from taking our money only to go further than disappointment. Thankfully Bloodstained wasn’t the next in line of this awful streak of kickstarter games. Though it can never be better than the original Castlevania series, at least this game is a continuation after the Konami debacle happened. The new adventures of Shardbinder is all to familiar yet a bit of a breath of fresh air. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night isn’t a perfect game, but it’s very much a worthy successor to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. We live in an age where indie-made Metroidvania games are ten a penny, but Bloodstained stands out because Igarashi’s influence is obvious in the way it looks, sounds, and plays. It feels good to move back into the castle, despite the presence of a couple of crumbling walls and broken windows.
Number 9. – Untitled Goose Game
One of the few games that came out of nowhere in 2019 and blew us away with its silly concept! Despite being categorized by many as a stealth , puzzle , adventure , or a goose simulation game all of the combinations from different genres mixed up into a hilarious experience. House House encouraged us player to just simply have fun. The humor of Untitled Goose Game is built into the mechanics and animations; seeing the goose waddle along, honking and flapping its wings, is inherently amusing and satisfying even before you start causing mischief because of how perfectly evocative it is of a real bird. The clean, colorful visual style is also a treat. But the reactive soundtrack is what really sells the goose’s charms. Wishing that it was longer speaks to how much fun I had with it. There’s nothing else quite like Untitled Goose Game; it’s charming and cute despite being mean, and both very silly and very clever. It’s also probably the best non-racing game ever to feature a dedicated “honk” button.
Number 8. – Super Mario Maker 2
How is it possible to top the original Mario Maker (and bury LittleBigPlanet further down to the ground)? Even though Nintendo can sometimes be the worst control freaks a video game company can be, but when they allow the player to have freedom you know it’s going to be fun, easy to use, and memorable. While making and playing user levels is an important part of Super Mario Maker 2, Story Mode is the biggest addition. One of the main reasons why I liked the Nintendo 3DS version of the original were the courses made by Nintendo. Those Nintendo-created levels are now placed into a structured adventure. Mario is on a quest to rebuild Princess Peach’s castle and he needs coins to do so. Completing courses leads to more coinage that can be used to build new parts of the castle Those construction projects take up a few courses to be made, thus creating a constant, involved gameplay loop. Every time you start a building project, harder stages open up until it all comes together in an adorable finale.
Number 7. – Mortal Kombat 11
At this point in time, you should already expect that NetherRealm Studios is the only gaming company where they make both good narratives and gameplay in their fighting games. It is a long, long time since any fighting game came up with a new idea so engaging that the whole genre was forced to take notice. But before you raise your eyebrow into an even more elevated state of ‘quizzicality,’ we should make it clear that Mortal Kombat 11 is no different on that count. It may well be that there are no more big new ideas to have, so all a new game can try to do is up the ante in terms of presentation and content – and fit in smaller refinements where it can. That’s the approach taken here and even with a few missteps it’s still as compelling as ever. Mortal Kombat 11 may not do anything new, in fact it revels in bringing back the old, but sometimes there’s a good reason why some things never change. Other concerns aside, Mortal Kombat 11 is as good as the series has ever been and has a number of elements that are better than any other fighter.
Number 6. – Metro Exodus
In sum, Metro Exodus takes the best elements of 2033 and Last Light and adds a major evolutionary component with open world exploration and crafting. A potent balance is struck between the claustrophobic atmospheres of previous games alongside the new design of expansive open world areas. The blend of full-on action with stealth and survival horror is nicely done as well. I found Metro Exodus to be a more engaging and hard-to-point down experience than I anticipated, and whether you have played the series before or not, Exodus is well worth checking out. The expansion of Metro’s world has brought an incredible amount of variety to Exodus. The gameplay veers between open-world survival RPG to fast-paced corridor shooter, taking you from Fallout style wastelands to bandit controlled deserts, and it all works excellently. One moment you’ll be crashing through mutants in a rusty old mini-bus, and the next you’ll be slinking through the shadows of a lake-side bandit camp, crossbow in hand, approaching it like a classic base infiltration, but ten times the size.
Number 5. – Terminator: Resistance
Why wasn’t this game released decades earlier? I mean setting a video game from the Termiantor movie franchise should of been a good idea from the very start. It has been many of our dream video game to be good and despite nearly all the Terminator games failing to capture James Cameron’s original vision of the series, there’s finally a game that did it well done. And above all developers, it was developed by the same team that made the god awful Rambo game! Just how did they manage to make a night an day difference between this and their previous game?! Effort and love for the material is what matters. Yes, I know that other post apocalypse games (except for Fallout 76) have done it better, but instead of just giving this a ho-hum reaction, it’s more of an appreciation towards something that was already a good idea to adapt into a game made for fans by fan of the Terminator franchise. And look you don’t need to throw in Arnold Schwarzenegger to make a sell (cough…chough…Dark Fate) but maintain the atmosphere, presence and purpose of what made the franchise good to begin with. And isn’t that’s what makes a good adaptation into a video game?
Number 4. – Luigi’s Mansion 3
Oh how fools we all were by not taking the original series seriously because we expected a Mario platformer to be the launch title of the Gamecube back in 2001. This was a refreshing take by Nintendo by bringing Luigi’s characteristics that’s different than Mario’s bravery and fit that into a scene that works. It was the ultimate ghostbusters game and one that still does it better. Now 18 years later, the two Luigi Mansion games is so widely beloved and the 3rd game was on popular demand. Everything in Luigi’s Mansion 3 comes back to the Poltergust, a spectral vacuum that Luigi can use for a multitude of purposes. Sucking up everything that’s not nailed down is a good way to get some coins, but your real reward comes when you discover something unique, like pulling sheets off of beds, or revealing some hidden pathway. Despite some clunky controls, as has been standard for the series, there’s something viscerally enjoyable about entering a room and using the vacuum to just go crazy. Coins and rewards pop up everywhere, leading to a satisfying haptic vibration in the controller. But then when you stop and look at the layout to determine where you might need to apply your abilities, which include blowing air, sucking up objects, and shining a flashlight or blacklight, that’s when the puzzles begin to reveal themselves around every corner. Though the game fall in a bit too short and doesn’t offer anything new on the table, at least this is another installment of the series that will keep Nintendo fans begging for a sequel for a while.
Number 3. – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Ever since the release of Demon’s Souls on the PS3, From Software has become synonymous with challenging Action RPGs; ‘Souls-like.’ The titles following its release followed a similar formula with tweaks here and there to keep things fresh, while still managing to have a sense of familiarity as you move from game to game. Their newest game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a clear departure with a heavy emphasis on stealth and posture-based combat, although a brutal sense of challenge is still embedded deep within its DNA. Sekiro’s level design is reminiscent of Dark Souls and Bloodborne. It has a large interconnected world full of sprawling twists and turns that lead to hidden treasures and mysterious secrets. Verticality plays a much bigger role in the overall design thanks to the ability to quickly grapple though the environment with your prosthetic arm, unlike past titles in which you could barely even jump. It gives a great sense of freedom to be able to zip to branches and ledges when you run into trouble or to get the drop on an unsuspecting foe. It could easily double the amount of planning and design work (and budget) necessary to implement a difficulty scale, or figure out how to align players with their best difficulty option. I get it, I just wish I could share it. There is no satisfaction in immortality. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice proves its thesis by matching the resolve of its protagonist with the potential of its player in a performance choreographed by agonizing lessons and industrious rehearsals. When it’s showtime presentation seems instinctive and proficiency feels powerful. Sekiro demands immense competence, but, once its needs are met, the payoff is irresistible.
Number 2. – Resident Evil 2
There is clear difference between remakes and re-imagining. Capcom just re-imagined one of their most iconic video games in their catelog and made a game that’s completely up to date. The frustration of going back to the series and face fixed cameras n’ tank-controls is forever a thing of the past. You have to be 100%, completely nostalgia blind to still regard the original RE2 better than the remake because that’s just excusing all the technological achievements that this game has made. Since the abomination of RE6, never again has Capcom ever made their series become another fall from grace. Resident Evil 2 on PlayStation in 1998 was one of the most enjoyable survival-horror games ever released. The remake continues that tradition and improves on all the aspects that made it great, and the result is what could be the best Resident Evil ever made. It may even be the best horror title ever made just going by the sheer level of craftsmanship and detail. Is it the scariest? It is scarier than the 1998 original, but on current platforms such as PlayStation 4, one would be hard-pressed to find anything that’s even half of its caliber. This is one that keeps on giving; highly repayable and full of interesting ways to keep playing, even after completing two campaign variations.
Number 1. – The Outer Worlds
This game couldn’t come out at a better time. While Bethesda continues to make a mockery out of themselves by making broken games and steal money from consumers by paying more than nessessary, Obsidian wanted to return to the series so badly. What happened to them on Fallout: New Vegas was a travesty and an ultimate screwjob by Bethesda, despite how well made the whole game still is. Though they may never return, the best thing they can do is to make their own IP with a bunch of similarity and familiarity. The open world, multiple choices and outcomes, and freedom of playing the way you want to play seen from old CRPGs remains all here. The Outer Worlds, much like a solar eclipse has blocked out the rest of the genre with it’s excellent systems and setting. Obsidian have delivered one of the best games of the year and in my opinion the best RPG of its kind in years. From it’s jaw-dropping visuals and design, to the hilarious world and its colorful cast of characters, The Outer Worlds represents the new benchmark for the genre and is a masterclass in player choice. If you hold even a passing interest in RPGs, stop everything you’re doing and play it right away. This is a very special game that deserves all of the recognition I’m sure is coming. The whole circumstance is just like the original release of Fallout: New Vegas; not many are able to realize this game’s magic until years later. Soon enough The Outer Worlds will be seen as not only the game we want, but rather the game we needed.
The Top Lister 