2019 gave us a lot of great games to play through, creating even more excitement for what’s to come in 2020. It’s almost inevitable that each year will give us games that’ll stay with us. So, to celebrate the amazing games of 2019, we’ve compiled a list of 10 games we enjoyed most.
10. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the first story-driven Star Wars game we’ve received since The Force Unleashed II ten years ago. It is something that Star Wars die-hard fans have been longing for and despite worries that they would never receive one following Electronic Arts’ polarizing management of the celebrated IP with Battlefront and Battlefront II, Fallen Order was a hit.
Respawn Entertainment created something different from what we expected in a Star Wars game. It can best be described as a mixture between the creative traversal of the Uncharted series and the difficulty of Dark Souls with an emotionally inspiring story that’s reminiscent of the original Star Wars trilogy.
They showed that they understand that hope is always going to be at the core of the franchise even when the odds are stacked against you and you are utterly alone like protagonist Cal Kestis was at the start of the game.
9. A Plague Tale: Innocence
A Plague Tale: Innocence truly captured the essence of a brother/sister relationship and created a dangerous world for the two siblings, thus allowing players to experience a golden tale.
France, in the year 1348, is a grim time. The Black Plague, like the Hundred Years War and the Inquisition, has settled in. The world created within A Plague Tale: Innocence feels as though there’s no end to the horrific tragedies and the corpses that are left rotting on the streets are beginning to pile up.
What is crucial to understand with A Plague Tale is that it’s not like many games in this era. Focus Home Interactive made sure to create a single-player experience that created a true sense of connection to the protagonists. Both Amicia and Hugo are beautiful characters with real depth, feeling all too real to what a teenager and a child are like in real life.
8. The Outer Worlds
From Obsidian Entertainment, the developers behind Fallout New Vegas comes The Outer Worlds. Of all of the RPGs this year, The Outer Worlds is perhaps one of the most underrated which wasn’t helped by the game’s release date or its exclusivity on the Epic store.
While The Outer Worlds may not necessarily do anything new or innovative with the genre, it is still something worth appreciating. It is a callback to the earlier Fallout titles and a time when RPGs weren’t riddled with excessive microtransactions.
You could just turn on your console and create your own character, pick their role, and what attributes they should have before escaping into a world of adventure where your choices matter. No one outcome will be the same for everybody, heralding back to the RPGs of old.
7. Borderlands 3
After a seven-year wait since Borderlands the Pre-Sequel, Gearbox Studios has finally given us the much anticipated Borderlands 3.
Many of the fan favourite characters make a return along with some new additions, both good and bad. The four new Vault Hunters are fun to play albeit meaningless to the story, and being able to change up abilities on the fly is a nice touch. Every Vault Hunter has three unique specials and you can choose which one to use in a moment’s notice.
The main reason that anyone buys a Borderlands title is the looting – they weren’t kidding when they said there was a lot in Borderlands 3 and the gear seems more distinctively different than in previous titles.
6. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
As one might expect from a From Software game, Sekiro is a challenging experience. However, where this differentiates itself from Dark Souls and Bloodborne is in mobility. The overall pace is faster, you don’t take an eternity to heal, and you even have a grappling hook for vertical traversal.
Another new feature that’s the shtick of this title is your first death isn’t the end per se. Shadows Die Twice has added the ability to revive once upon dying.
Couple all this with a good story and you have yourself one of the stand-out titles of 2019.
5. The Division 2
Despite its commercial underperformance, The Division 2 is still a worthwhile looter-shooter experience delivered by the team at Massive Entertainment. It nailed the formula to a T.
Whilst it may lack in the story department, it makes up for it with an abundance of loot that can be obtained as you progress through the ravaged streets of the American capital city. After all, loot is at the core of games such as this, Destiny 2, and Anthem.
4. Resident Evil 2’s Remake
Resident Evil 2 quickly earned its place as one of the best games of 2019 and stayed there following release. What Capcom captured extremely well was the feeling of looming doom. You’re almost always running out of ammo or don’t have enough healing items. In a game that’s already intense, this kind of gameplay amplifies that intensity and horror-aspect.
Gameplay and graphics are fantastically recreated to fit modern-day standards and tension benefits from this heavily, but also by the outrageously well-crafted sound design. Simple, yet horrific groans of monsters/zombies are haunting and seem inescapable in Resident Evil 2’s Remake.
3. Greedfall
If you’re looking for a spiritual successor to old Mass Effect and Dragon Age games, look no further than Greedfall. Made by French Developer ‘Spiders’, Greedfall was one of those titles that seemingly came out of nowhere and really surprised everybody.
The defining aspect of the game is its story. Multiple endings and lots of meaningful choices give a wide array of replayability. There are also companions that you can meet and your actions can drastically swing their relationship towards you.
As for the gameplay itself, combat is good but not too deep. There are even some turn-based elements to it like being able to pause the action to make your next decision, and you can use a mix of melee, ranged and magic attacks.
2. Code Vein
From the company who published Dark Souls comes a title so outrageous it’s actually amazing. Code Vein is very akin to Souls title but with a far less serious atmosphere.
Starting off, it has great characters that you can fight alongside with who are very well voice acted. Amidst the awesome NPC’s your own character can have some outrageous customizability which can make co-op all the more amusing as your almost guaranteed to not look anything alike. The overall aesthetic is very anime but with a large amount of realism which honestly looks great as it’s based in an alternate reality of Earth.
The gameplay is also a strong suit of Code Vein. As you’d expect from a Souls-like game, this one can be quite difficult as you will die a lot. However, your deaths will almost always be from a mistake and not a BS overpowered boss move.
This is certainly one of those titles you didn’t think you needed to try until you’ve played it. One of the most unique games of 2019, and certainly one of the best.
1. The Outer Wilds
The story of Outer Wilds focuses on an alien space explorer who is setting out to solve a lost civilization’s riddle. An indie sci-fi that focuses on deep storytelling, as well as remarkable exploration.
You’re forced to discover hints concealed in a sequence of loops and resets as to why the time-loop is occurring. The game doesn’t hand-feed you the answers, so much as it tries to hide them from you with mysterious visuals, and unusual gameplay-style. The Outer Wilds is definitely one of the most stylistic, interesting and mind-boggling games of 2019.
