The best games of 2019 (so far)

That game had caught my eye a few months back, but I wasn’t sure what it really was. I want to read your impressions!

Looks like the only game from 2019 I have purchased is Islanders, which is a jolly fine game. Hopefully the second half of the year will be a bit more interesting to me than the first, although I do fancy picking up Outer Wilds when it turns up on Steam.

1. Resident Evil 2.

I’m a late convert to the Resident Evil series - my first RE game was 4 on the gamecube, which I liked a lot. I dipped back in with 5 a couple of years later which was…ok, but between VII and playing the remaster of the first game for the first time last year, I was finally sold. When this series puts you in a contained space, forces you to travese it time and again, to learn it, to weigh the needs of moment to moment survival against the long term goals, it’s so damn good. And this is everything I like about the series firing on all cylinders.

This game possessed me for a couple of weeks. It is so fucking tight.

It’s so good that I bought Resident Evil 6 during this steam sale, against my better judgment.

2. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

3. DUSK

Well,sure, technically it’s a 2018 release, but anything released in December should be eligible for next year’s best of list.

4. Void Bastards

5. A Plague Tale: Innocence

I like these list threads because it forces me to remember what the hell I played from this year. It’s not much!

  1. DMC 5
  2. Sekiro
  3. One Finger Death Punch 2

There are a few more games coming out this fall. We’ll see how it goes.

Well let’s see - as best I can recall, the only games I’ve played so far that we’re actually released this year are Crackdown 3 and Operencia, so I guess those are the best games of 2019 so far.

But! I recently picked up Observation recently, and I’ll probably grab Obra Dinn and Heaven’s Vault before the steam sale is over. I’m sure they’ll be good.

Oh wait, I played Anthem, was that released this year? If so that’s probably another best of 2019.

Now that I’ve put some thought into it, there really aren’t a lot of 2019 titles that I’ve enjoyed so far.

  1. Slay the Spire - I forgot this was a January release. It felt so complete last year, but I guess it slipped out of early access this year, so it’s officially in.

  2. Apex Legends - My love affair with this game was brief but intense. Eventually, I just couldn’t keep up and called it off. While it lasted, it was sweet and memorable.

  3. Observation - Sometimes clunky and while the writing wasn’t quite as good as it needed to be, the unique premise carried the day. Getting to be HAL was a great concept.

  4. Far Cry New Dawn - More Montana open world shooter shenanigans? But with a post-apocalyptic skin? Yes, please.

  5. Wargroove - It’s an unashamed Advance Wars ripoff. That’s all I wanted.

I played a few other 2019 games, but didn’t much like them.

Anthem
At the Gates
Sunless Skies
Rage 2
Crackdown 3
Trials Rising
Generation Zero
Tropico 6

Special mention goes to Harry Potter Wizards Unite for being hot garbage.

Thanks for this. I was wondering if I should install that on my phone.

For 2019 releases, Sekiro, Slay the Spire, and Judgment have occupied most of my gaming hours so far.

My top release of 2019 thus far is They Are Billions. I know some people have struggled with the campaign and I can understand why, but I have had a great time with it.

I believe that most of my gaming hours this year have been taken by TaB, Battletech and Anno 1800.

You know , I totally forgot about They Are Billions, and that just hit 1.0 a week or two ago. The disappointing campaign took all the wind out of its sails for me.

You’re beating me.

1. Outer Wilds
2. Void Bastards

This part of Tom’s write up:

In the case of World War Z, I couldn’t change the game’s resolution. In the course of troubleshooting the issue, I Googled solutions, edited .ini files, rolled back graphics drivers, and waited on Focus Home Interactive’s non-existent technical support. Eventually, I resorted to the nuclear option: a full uninstall and reinstall. That’s how I discovered the Epic Games Store doesn’t have cloud saves, and furthermore Focus Home Interactive’s online servers can’t be bothered to store a 4kb user_progression.dat file that tracks all your progress, but only exists on your hard drive. Without that file, the server thinks I’ve never even played. I guess Focus Home Interactive expected me to back it up on a 5 1/4 floppy.

@rei was a victim of lack of cloud saves for this game also.

I lost “only” 6 hours and 5 levels but still.

I knew the industry was only scratching the surface of what’s possible in the micro-transaction space.

I’m itching to see where they go from here.

Sorry.

Sorry, that was a typo. Meant “live.”

No, no, no, please don’t apologize. I knew exactly what you meant,but I couldn’t help myself.

I haven’t played too many games that released in 2019. I’d rank them in this order. Pretty sure I didn’t think things though since Dirt Rally 2 is probably the only one in the list that is top ten worthy.

  1. Dirt Rally 2
  2. OOTP Baseball 20
  3. Operencia: The Stolen Sun
  4. Imperator Rome
  5. Production Line

If I was able to open up the list to games I played for the first time in 2019, my list would get much better.

  1. God of War
  2. Dirt Rally 2
  3. Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
  4. Sky Force Reloaded
  5. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  6. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
  7. Super Mega Baseball 2
  8. Uncharted 4
  9. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Launch
  10. OOTP Baseball 20
  • Battletech may crack the top ten but I haven’t played it enough yet.

Accidentally bought “Observer” instead of “Observation”, didn’t get the 2001 comparisons…

So is there a Best of the Decade list based on the winners from these?

I think you mean the Best of the Decade of games that were released in the first half of their year of release.