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7 Wonders - everyone working all the time passing and tracking cards with so many moving parts that work in a relatively quick game. It’s deep, strategic, not light on things to do and also accommodates a lot of players well. Marvelous.
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Elder Scrolls Skyrim - suddenly open worlds and seeing that castle in the distance, actually being able to go there and check it out is a thing. Whether gamers love or hate Open World ideas, this game really put it on the map for everyone.
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Stardew Valley - a number of people thought the farming / life simulation died with the fall of Harvest Moon and was just for casuals anyway. Nope. 10 million copies sold, frequent updates including MP, and now available on multiple platforms makes this a gem and a reminder you do not always need giant teams an triple A budgets to move units.
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Dragon Age Origins - varying Origin stories, and references to it years after Bioware has made other games, and just as much conversations about relationships tells you this was not a minor entry into the RPG space. It did well and for a good reason. At the time, there was, once again, talks about RPGs in general kind of being dead, or at least this style of it… nope.
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Azul - It’s a beautiful game with a simple concept that requires strategy and long-term planning. This is a great testament that simple, beautiful and clean gameplay can still win over gamers even with the lots of stuff games doing so well.
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Monster Hunter World - I know, I know, it’s not the perfect game, and it has some issues and annoyances with basic attempts to just group with your friends and family, but you know what this game did that the others before it didn’t, it bridged the Monster Hunter world for a whole new crop of fans. And lest we forget how hard that is, we’re talking about a very, very well-known franchise that just didn’t do that before this title. Capcom made a good go with Tri, and aren’t we all fortunate they didn’t know how to quit. Maybe we’ll stop seeing how Japanese games are dying… no, no probably not. We’ve got as much chance of that as we do people to stop claiming PC gaming is dead or dying.
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XCom Enemy Unknown - X-Com had been a long time if old, very old, favorite with some not so successful attempts to revisit the concept. Enemy Unknown comes along and it… works. There are some debates about how much it captured the old magic and whether or not it sacrificed too much in the strategy department but there is little debate about how many game we’re seeing with like battle map combat… they often call them XCOM like. Maybe the old one started it but the one spawned more than a few fans.
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Red Dead Redemption 2 - you look at the games above, and there just isn’t much showcasing the from a single character point of view where you don’t really design anyone and just get to go through a story you barely have much control of. With its beautiful world to explore, some minor events you do get to make choices about, even if the overall story doesn’t hugely change, and attention to small details like stellar horse work and even releasing it on PC before the cobwebs set in on it, this game sure hits a spot many didn’t know was itching. In a time when we see so, so many games released every day, who knew a middle-aged guy in a western could leave that kind of an impact? Apparently really, really good voice acting and building out interesting characters still works. Good job Rockstar.
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Lords of Waterdeep - IPs are often seen as little more than a means to grab cash, regurgitate existing habits and just cater to fans. This is actually a good game, and there have been a few IP based games that have have followed. It’s a fun theme with greater worker placement mechanics, with a digital version available, some expansions that aren’t needed but add fun and a pretty tight game too. Did I mention this is a great way to get people who managed to avoid all things DnD most their life to finally ask what it is?
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Don’t Stave / Don’t Starve Together - What do you do after you tell all your players you will never, ever, ever make your game multiplayer, well make it multiplayer of course! Seriously though, survival games seemed to be stuck in a FPS kill everyone else mode and then this one showed up to not only reminded everyone that drawn graphics in interesting style can go a long way but hey, you can play with your friends against the world and still die just fine.
Runner-Ups / Honorable Mentions
11 and 12 are, well, they’re Kickstarter games that are pretty imperfect in their implementation but man Kickstarter is leaving a big footprint on the industry today, but even before that, one was really early in taking that risk and the other, well it’s been a few minutes since someone complained about Gloomhaven’s place on BGG.
Zombicide - This was one of the early Kickstarter games fully of minis that also had a game attached to it. It became wildly successful with plenty of use of stretch goals and is a dream or a nightmare for folks who just want the complete set. They even freshened it up a bit with a medeival option.
Gloomhaven - is it the cleanest game with the best components and tight rules, nope. Is it a Kickstarter darling that highlights shifts in the board game industry that many people love or love to hate, yep. It made a splash, and a not a minor one either. I’m sure gamers will be bitching about it’s inclusion and once top spot on BGG for years to come and long after anyone cares.
Fornite - I beta’d the game, fond it okay, but the Battle Royale wasn’t there and PVP is just not my thing. I can’t avoid putting this game on the list because nothing has done what Fortnite has done, the mania, the age bridging, online personalities all over this one, dances and skins… this is a phenomenon. It does nothing new really but what it does do, even gets accused of stealing form more creativity individuals, but what it did manage to do was offer a fairly tight experience while giving players a means and want to personalize it. Plus, you can’t get more accessible than free. Like it or hate it, this game will be talked about a long time, and for a good reason.