Look, you and I both know calling something "the best" is really just a way of jumping up and down and shouting to get your attention. It's shameless, I know. But now that you're here, let's dispense with the semantic bait..
Qt3ers, half the year is over! @tomchick likes lists just as much as we do, I am sure he is working on his mid-year list as I type this! (I sent him a message a few days ago.) He is the best at making lists!
Behold the 2019 thread, because lists are important!
But first have some recaps: 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2015 (can’t find any via search)
2016 (can’t find any via search) 2017 2018
I believe the rule of thumb is that the game must be released in 2019 (or ported in 2019, Nintendo Switch ports everywhere.gif) and it must be version 1.0 , so no early access stuff.
And with half a year over, here are my top 10 for the first six months of 2019.
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
Slay the Spire
Far Cry New Dawn
Anno 1800
World War Z
Days Gone
A Plague Tale: Innocence
Void Bastards
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Apex Legends
Other big games released during the first half of the year, which are on my radar but haven’t played yet, as they might end up on my end of year list:
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2
Crackdown 3
Metro Exodus
RAGE 2
Generation Zero
Outer Wilds
Total War: Three Kingdoms
Quick reference to help jog your memory, not all 2019 releases are noted:
Hmm, in terms of 2019 games I’ve only played DiRT Rally 2 and DOTA Underlords (and Slay the Spire, if it counts). For various reasons I wouldn’t be prepared to put any of them on a best-of list.
Wishlist-wise I’m planning to eventually get Supraland, Anno 1800, Conan, and Void Bastards, but I don’t see a lot else from 2019 that’s piqued my interest (whereas 2018 is still a rich seam of largely untapped goodness). I’m looking forward to AoW: Planetfall come August and I’m sure there are some interesting fall releases that just haven’t sprung to mind.
Woah, what the hell is NITE Team 4 and where did it come from?? I’m definitely intrigued enough to try the demo. Since playing Observation (and their previous game, Stories Untold) I’m totally fascinated by games about learning to use a UI. Most hacking games sail over my head, but we’ll see.
Next to that one dark horse, I’m glad to see the clear candidates from my list on yours, Tom: One Finger Death Punch 2 and Outer Wilds are clear stand-outs for me. Not sure anything will even remotely challenge them this year, but I’ll be happy if something does.
Observation will likely also be on my list. The one that I just can’t decide what I think about it is Heaven’s Vault… It might be amazing? It might be fatally flawed? Apparently it’s worth playing New Game +, so I might do that to see if I can resolve this Schroedinger’s Cat of an opinion.
Kenshi is the only game I played for any significant length of time this year (300+ hours). [ed. Oops! Kenshi was released last December.] I haven’t started Battletech or ATOM RPG yet, either. Too busy with other hobbies!
There hasn’t been a lot in the first year that I’m crazy over, but there are some things. I think I’ll have a much easier time filling up slots at the end of the year.
Here are the noteworthy games for me so far (in no particular order):
Metro Exodus
Sekiro
Pathway
Anno 1800
Slay the Spire