The Qt3 Top 10 Games of the Decade Voting Thread

The “Ultimate Edition” of DA:O came out on the consoles in 2010, so it could theoretically count.

@Scuzz Would you please put an * in front of each entry, and then bold the game titles?

Like this:

image

etc.?

Behold, a list!

  1. Kerbal Space Program - I’ve spent more time on this game than any other in the past decade. And it’s informed my interests and outlook more than any other game.

  2. Dark Souls - Not much to say here. You know why it’s ranked highly.

  3. Hitman - (I’m counting Hitman 2016 and its sequel as one game because they are.) I’m not sure how I forgot this on my first iteration of this list. The best sanbox murder simulation/puzzly stealth game/exploding rubber ducky ever. I have put a couple of hundred hours into its gloriously constructed locations and murdered my targets in many many many many amusing ways.

  4. Hadean Lands - Yes, this is a text adventure. It’s also probably the most glorious puzzle game to come out in the past decade. It rekindled my interest in interactive fiction, which is the most inventive, interesting, and forward looking genre of computer-based gaming.

  5. TIS-100 - I kind of wish I could just put “Zachtronics games” here because I love all of them. I know that Infinifactory is many peoples’ favorite, but I’ve always loved the stripped down essense of a programming game that is TIS-100.

  6. Portal 2 - One of the slickest, most instantly enjoyable games ever. It just goes down smoothly. Also, some of the best, most ingenious co-op puzzles ever designed.

  7. Horizon: Zero Dawn - If I have to pick one open world game, this is the one. Best environments, best combat, best world building, best protagonist.

  8. Saint’s Row 3 - “Anthony. Anthony. Anthony… Saint’s Row 3.

  9. The Witness - Prior to release I anticipated this game more than any other in the past decade. And it largely lived up to my expectations.

  10. Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture – It’s a walking sim! Gorgeous, melancholy, emotionally turbulent. Also the greatest soundtrack in any videogame ever. The soundtrack is what edges What Remains of Edith Finch out of this spot.

Used to be on this list until summarily pushed off by other games I originally forgot:
Inside - No UI. Gorgeous, endlessly inventive and surprising iterations on its side-scrolling milieu.
Factorio - This game scratches an itch. Oh my yes it does.

Honorable mention: Minecraft. I don’t think there’s any question that Minecraft is the game of the teens. But though I’ve put many hours into this game, and my kids still play it constantly, it’s not among my favorite games, so it’s not on this list.

Second honorable mention: Tabletop Simulator. Is it a game or a platform? Whatever it is, I spent a couple of hundred hours with it both playing and creating board games on my computer screen.

Looking at this list, I must really really like puzzle games. I might edit the list a couple of times before the deadline, but I’m pretty satisfied that it accurately reflects my gaming interests and playtime over the last 10 years.

  1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - I’ve got 1500 hours into the most immersive game ever created. Mods certainly help.

  2. Pathfinder: Kingmaker - I’ve got 500 hours into the best BG2 sequel ever.

  3. World of Warcraft: Legion - The best and most epic of WoW, sadly, never again to be eclipsed.

  4. The Witcher 3 - A great game, but I’m a bit hesitant. I like to replay great games (and re-watch great movies). But I’ve tried several times to replay The Witcher 3 and I always give up eventually. It’s too single-threaded.

  5. Fallout 4 - A terrible Fallout game, but a great game nonetheless. Bonus for modding.

  6. Far Cry Primal - The Best Far Cry.

  7. XCOM 2 - Waaay better than Phoenix Point. Mods also help a lot.

  8. Saints Row 3 - Ridiculously awesome. I enjoyed 3 over 4 because it was more grounded.

  9. Dishonored 2 - Fantastic levels and options.

  10. Conan Exiles - My first 20 or so hours into Conan Exiles was filled with joy, discovery, and wonder not unlike the first time playing EQ or WoW. It managed to recapture that magic we all look for.

Is that so??? Hmmm…I wonder if my laptop will run this.

My list, including some also ran’s that may change places with the official list closer to the deadline. Most of these games I am still playing regularly, years after they came out.

  1. Minecraft This game is it’s own genre. The amount of time I’ve spent over the years playing, modding, playing online is staggering. It never gets old.
  2. Kerbal Space Program Thousands of hours, a new appreciation of science and technology, and a healthy amount of learning about orbital mechanics while shooting frogs into space! sign me up.
  3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim On the short list of still playing after several years. VR mode, runs on everything, mega mod community. A lot to love here.
  4. Dark Souls III I love all the Souls series from Demon Souls on to Sekiro. All of them are awesome. I limit one to my list to keep up some diversity and number 3 takes the cake for me.
  5. Borderlands 2 One of the few games that I’ve bought DLC for, and actually finished all the DLC and the game several times over. The best in looter shooters.
  6. The Long Dark I don’t expect to see this game on many lists but for me, it just clicked. Over the years the developer has continued to pour resources into it, and evolve the formula in new and interesting ways. This game is a slow burn but truly immersive.
  7. Subnautica I wasn’t expecting to love this as much as I did. This game always gave me fear, wonder, and excitement. Even after I knew the story and what was to come, I was still a sucker for exploring the deep alien oceans.
  8. Stardew Valley I was never a huge fan of harvest games until I met this little game. Add to that an enriching story about the developer and his love for the project and this game always finds a place in my heart.
  9. Divinity: Original Sin 2 I was weaned on gold box games, but over the years they lost their luster for me until I met this game. Now I’m back in the saddle and it’s all thanks to the brutal, challenging game play and interesting story lines of this game and its NPCs
  10. Persona 5 Just when I had given up on the JRPG genre entirely, along came this breath of fresh air that was fun, snappy, challenging, grindy in a good way and with a fun sound track. Reminds me I need to finish that NG+ run!

My also ran’s are all wonderful as well. I wish I could put in votes for them, but I imagine many of them will get votes anyway. Some of them may swap places in my list after it ferments a bit:
Red Dead Redemption 2
Mount and Blade: Warband (It’s Stand alone DLC released in 2010 so that counts right?)
Civilization 5
X-Com 2
The Witcher 3
Ark: Survival Evolved
Grand Theft Auto 5
Demons Soul, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, Bloodborne, et al

Out of the list above, the games I have still installed right now are Minecraft, KSP, Skyrim, Long Dark, Stardew, GTA 5, subnautica

  1. Europa Universalis 4 as if it could be anything else. My most played game ever. It dethroned Metroid Prime as my favorite game of all time. Sprawling, deep, varied, and just a perfect game for me. If you were to tell me I could only pick one video game to play for all time, this is hands down it. I love maps, and I love history. And both from a young age. As a grade school kid I would go in my room and spend hours reading the atlas. No, really, I would trace out routes between cities, how geography impacted growth, the namings and so on. So map simulator 1444 is exactly my kind of game. Johan, thank you.

  2. X-wing Miniatures I have spent more time boardgaming than with video games over the last 5 years or so, and this is a big reason why. The tactics, list building, variability, competition, the fact I just get to shoot the shit with friends pushing Star Wars ships around for 90 minutes at a crack. This game is so tailored to me, and 2.0 relaunch improved the mechanics and balance so much that it really lives up to the promise. Roughly 3/4 of my gaming budget over the last few years has been in this game. (Of course 3/4 of the remainder has been Paradox), and I regret nothing.

  3. Kerbal Space Program what EU IV is for my love of maps, KSP is for my love of space. And like EU, I learned so much from it. Apogee, perigee, inclination, prograde, retrograde, why rockets launch the way they do, how to go faster in orbit requires you to slow down. This game taught me more about astrophysics than all my college courses. I was learning god damn rocket science here. I always was fascinated with space, but now I understand it more. Side effect: it ruined so many movies for me. But ones that do it right? Yes! Use real physics please! This is a game that not only tapped into my interests, but made me feel smart and accomplished when I figured out how to do things. It won’t hold your hand, and in fact the games ambivalence to things like direction, teaching, goals, hand holding turn many people away. But the fact it says ‘here is space, do what you want, if you are Kerbal enough to figure out how’. Man I dig that. Let me try, fail, and learn from failure. Getting to the Mun with only a scant fraction of remaining fuel, then winging out a launch angle and timing, hoping that by launching at that point in rotation would give me just enough delta V to clip Kerbin’s atmosphere? And then doing it with .2m/s left? What a rush! The hybrid Neil Armstrong-Gene Kranz simulator is a singular achievement that only exists because digital distribution.

  4. Napoleon: Total War stand in for the series in some ways. My personal favorite due to setting, the satisfying cannons, and strategy. But the series is the only one that can compete with EU for hours played this decade, so it needed a nod.

  5. Unity of Command elegant design, challenging maps, and a game I played where it perfectly fit my time. Played it on my tablet while a sleeping baby lay on my chest. Hard to top that.

  6. Harry Potter Hogwarts Battles a game by USAopoly in my top 10? Yes! I am as shocked as you are, but this is a legitimate co-op deck builder. Ranks this highly because the mechanics are solid, the Book 1-7 progression system is interestingly done (almost a semi legacy game really), thematic as hell, my wife loves the series, we played it together a ton. So yeah, a game I played with my wife more than all but a few light games has to get on the list somewhere.

  7. Bastion Spectacular sound design earns it this spot. The music and narrator elevate an otherwise pretty and solid game into exceptional. Zia’s song in particular is a stand out, as is the closing song. Logan Cunningham should voice every game ever.

  8. Xcom a tremendous revival. Loved my time with it, and got multiple play throughs, which is a rare enough thing.

  9. Mass Effect 2 pretty much copy what @ArmandoPenblade said above. I like the first one better, because it is better space opera. But even if I dislike some of the directions this game took, the companions were fantastic, and some of the missions are second to none.

  10. Minecraft I mean do I really need to explain why this deserves to be in a top 10? My time with it came and went, but it left an impression. It is undeniably influential, and the fact it broke the drab brown shooter stranglehold was a plus. Undoubtedly we see more game variety today because of Minecraft.

Oh, I may need to swap out a game for that.

  • Overwatch
  • Hearthsone
  • Dark Souls
  • Ascension
  • Slay the Spire
  • Injustice
  • Super Meat Boy
  • Portal 2
  • Super Mario Odyssey
  • Heroes of the Storm

I may need to think about this some more. The golden age of indie games should probably have a little more representation on that front.

  1. Mass Effect 3 - Not even joking. I’ve explained it on Qt3 before, not going to again.
  2. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - 2011, but I’ve been playing it this week. It speaks to me.
  3. Red Dead Redemption 2 - So nice I played it twice (in a row).
  4. Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate - The AC series died to me after this. The twins were so much fun.
  5. Hearts of Iron IV - Remember when Communist America conquered the world? I do!
  6. Civilization V
  7. Star Trek Online
  8. Journey
  9. Euro Truck Simulator 2
  10. Star Wars: The Old Republic

Honorable Mentions: Grand Theft Auto V, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Tomb Raider (2013), Saints Row 3, Cities: Skylines, The Witcher 3, World of Warships, Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Crew, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2, Stardew Valley, Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I mixed hours played, times replayed for heavy story games (I can’t count how many times I’ve played ME3 anymore), and if it was awesome or not. Pretty good criteria, right? I think so.

If The Witcher 3 hadn’t corrupted my save 35 hours into it, it would probably be in there somewhere. Someday I’ll try again.

Could you break those up into two separate entries, giving one a higher rank than the other would be optional. You only liked 2 games in the last decade?

  1. Bloodborne
  2. Dark Souls
  3. Horizon Zero Dawn
  4. Divinity: Original Sin
  5. Astro Bot Rescue Mission
  6. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
  7. Mark of the Ninja
  8. The Last of Us
  9. Rocket League
  10. Salt and Sanctuary

Bottom five not really sorted.

Could also just bullet point them and give them equal points.

Maybe next time we can add a vote for best genres of the decade

  1. Dark Souls
    Not only the best game of the decade, it’s my favorite game period. I love everything about it. The rest of the games are fantastic as well, but this one still tops them all in my book.
  2. Yakuza 0
    This one really blew me away. I had dabbled with the series a few years ago with Yakuza 3 on the PS3, but it never really took hold. This one definitely did. Incredibly silly (in a good way) side missions combined with a really entertaining and dramatic main story and tons of additional content.
  3. Rocket League
    I’ve never spent more time with any multiplayer game. I’ve logged over 1,000(!) hours in the game since it was released and I’m still not particularly good given how much I’ve played it. Few other games can make time fly by like this one.
  4. What Remains of Edith Finch
    Easily my favorite “walking simulator”. Fantastic storytelling that made me laugh and cry and I loved every minute of it.
  5. The Witcher 3
    Amazing RPG. I really enjoyed the previous two Witcher games but this one topped both of them in almost every respect.
  6. XCOM 2
    In my opinion, XCOM 2 (with the War of the Chosen expansion) is the first game in the franchise to surpass the original XCOM. That’s saying something since the original is easily one of my favorite all-time games.
  7. Stardew Valley
    As someone who has always enjoyed the Harvest Moon games to some degree, this game easily trounced all of them. Incredible job by the developer and an obvious labor of love.
  8. Gone Home
    This would be my favorite walking simulator if it wasn’t for Edith Finch. Great, great stuff.
  9. Red Dead Redemption 2
    I liked the first Red Dead but this one was so much better. Incredible writing, acting and well… incredible just about everything.
  10. Minecraft
    I haven’t played this at all for several years now but I certainly did the first few years of the decade. An amazing game that became huge for a very good reason.

For my own amusement I’m kinda quietly tracking results and the current race at the top is surprisingly exciting!

  1. Dark Souls – I don’t really have anything to add to what everyone has said about this series, but they’ve been the best gaming experiences of the decade for me.
  2. Into the Breach – Perfectly tuned to create a never-ending sequence of intriguing and novel tactical situations.
  3. NieR: Automata – Story, music, and combat all working together perfectly.
  4. Nioh – An incredibly satisfying combat system that continually showed new wrinkles and kept me engrossed through each of its successive difficulty levels.
  5. Monster Hunter World – Torn between Generations Ultimate and this, but they’re both really satisfying learning experiences getting to grips with each weapon and monster.
  6. DmC: Devil May Cry – The game that opened my eyes to what has become one of my favorite genres. I don’t know how it would hold up if I went back now, but it
  7. Dark Souls 3 – Everything great about the series distilled and refined. The original gets the nod for blazing the trail, but this is the one I’m more likely to return to.
  8. Might & Magic X: Legacy – A perfectly-executed throwback to a classic era of RPGs.
  9. Age of Wonders III – A sandbox of toys to throw into engrossing tactical combat.
  10. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove – A bit of a cheat, as it’s grown to include multiple games, but whatever. They’re basically our idealized memories of 8-bit platformers brought to life with the benefit of hindsight.

Honorable mentions: Dark Souls 2, Bloodborne, Renowned Explorers, Cryptark, Galak-Z, Dead Cells, Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer, Summoner Wars, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Wonderful 101, Mario + Rabbids

I’m putting the over/ under of any of my selections being in the final top 10 at 2.

But I will be pleasantly surprised if both KSP and EU IV make it.

Hey now, that’s my drug you’re taking there. Watching the graph move and numbers fly around is awesome.

Quick formatting question for @arrendek: Should I only bold the games listed in the top-ten? I am planning on having some runners up and alternative selections, so I’m wondering if bolding those non-tope-ten titles messes up your program. I am assuming from what I’ve read above that the answer is “do not bold anything else.”