GAMES OF THE YEAR
OUR TOP TEN GAMES OF THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS
1. Outer Wilds
It’s not often that leftfield games with quirky premises top lists of games of the year, but Outer Wilds is such an outlier that it wouldn’t be very far off the top five games of the decade. Outer Wilds’ story is delivered to you in 22-minute chunks, largely of your choosing. You see, you are an astronaut who has a very limited amount of time to explore nearby planets before the star in the middle of the planetary system promptly enters into its supernova stage and explodes, killing you and all life within the map. A premise steeped in brilliance, and a game that greatly appreciates and rewards the most curious and cunning, makes for an experience most deserving of this being named the game of the year.
3. The Outer Worlds
In some ways, The Outer Worlds feels like a demo for what the Fallout series could have been, had Bethesda allowed Obsidian to take the helm. The Outer Worlds wears its influences proudly on its sleeve and, first and foremost, comes the Fallout series. So many of the game’s features will feel familiar if you have played the aforementioned series, but The Outer Worlds has an air of refinement and polish that is absent in Bethesda’s latest effort.
5. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
FromSoftware are known for punishing difficulty, vague storylines and just general quirkiness, gathering quite a cult following since Demon’s Souls was released a decade ago. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice appears to be the ultimate refinement of a formula that the developers have been tweaking throughout Bloodborne and their Dark Souls series. Shadows Die Twice is just as punishing as Dark Souls but is a far more focused experience – one of beauty and frustration in equal measures.
7. Apex Legends
To say that nobody expected this game would be an understatement. With no fanfare whatsoever, Apex Legends entered the market and almost instantly became the de facto head honcho of the Battle Royale genre. While this may no longer be the case, there can be no denying that Respawn’s famously polished touch is evident in every facet of the game. Potentially the biggest gaming surprise of 2019, but what isn’t surprising at all is how polished and complete the entire experience is, a hallmark of one of the best developers around at the moment.
9. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
An oft-maligned franchise, partly due to it now being a household name and partly because it perhaps went a touch off the rails in the past five years, Call of Duty is nevertheless a game that most people would secretly be happy to see return to form and the latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is exactly that. Online has seen a much-needed revamp, while the return of the campaign sees Infinity Ward develop their most impressive performance yet in the venerable series.
2. Borderlands 3
Clearly an astonishingly deep labour of love, the reputation of the developer should have meant that Borderlands 3 wasn’t so surprising in its absolute completeness and attention to detail, but nevertheless Gearbox Software still manage to pleasantly astound. The sheer amount of content and outrageous fun packed in to one of the most gorgeous games of the year should make this an instant-buy for any looter-shooter fan.
4. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
The Fire Emblem series has been long-renowned for its brutal strategy, but no strategising has ever been so brutal in a video game than being part of your student’s life on a day-to-day basis and then finding yourself on a different side to them in a war later on. Three Houses is a vast but exquisitely crafted game and one that pulls no punches when it comes to the sometimes all-too-harsh realities of war.
6. Mordhau
It was a difficult toss-up for the positions of Apex Legends and Mordhau on this list, but in the end Mordhau just pipped its FPS counterpart. What sets Mordhau apart from its competitors is the fact that it nails sword combat far more effectively than any other game in its genre – ever. The intricacies of Mordhau’s combat are so deep that each kill will leave you baying for more blood, with the developer striking a millimeter-perfect balance between risk and reward. Oh, you can also play a lute in the middle of a medieval battlefield.
8. Devil May Cry 5
Despite Capcom amping up the production factor dramatically throughout their later iterations of the Devil May Cry series, never has a game so utterly completely and solidly lain beneath the garish charm that now defines the venerable action games. While narrative and character development have been pushed to the forefront, Devil May Cry 5’s greatest achievement is in its combat, which now stands head and shoulders above every previous game in the series – no mean feat, considering the company.
10. Untitled Goose Game
It may not reach the lofty production heights of many of the other games on this list, but credit must be given to the developers for capturing the hearts and imaginations of millions of players with the most charmingly menacing representation of geese ever conceived. Untitled Goose Game is jazz in a video game guise – a tangled shoelace here, a confused gardener there and a peppering of harmless misdemeanours in the heart of a quaint British village all come together to form a cacophony of ideas that find harmony in this brilliantly crafted title.