How on earth did Rebellion come out in the past decade. (Googles it). Oh I see. It’s also the name of a board game!
I’ve never heard of this. This must be a board game too.
Done! I forgot at some point between reading the instructions and when I submitted my final list :)
(Yes, we know the truth. How do we convince the rest of the world something terrible has happened, now!)
Thanks!
I thought I’d be all gung-ho about ranking the top 10, but after going through the process, I definitely feel a kinship with those who wanted to stay away from that whole part of it.
- Darkest Dungeon
I will be on my deathbed saying that Darkest Dungeon wasn’t too hard, every other game has just trained people to expect “too easy” from anything with JRPG-style combat.
- Persona 5
My pick for best JRPG of the decade. I wish they’d come out with these more often, but I’d rather have the last three main-line Persona games than any of the FF games in the last 20 years (as much as I like IX and XII), so it’s hard to complain too much.
- Slay the Spire
Silly card game claims a couple of hundred hours because it’s well-designed, has a great gameplay loop, and takes just the right amount of time for a playthrough. If the playthroughs tend to come in half-dozen increments, that’s hardly the game’s lack of impulse control.
- Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
A PSP remake of a PS1 port of a Super Famicom Game, in the '10s? Sure, when it’s that freaking good. I would be completely okay if we were just debating remakes and updates of this vs. FF Tactics for the next few decades. I may not be objective when it comes to those two games.
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC
If Persona 5 was the best JRPG of the '10s, this was the best series, and it’s not especially close. Six games released for the first time in the US, above-average quality for the genre throughout, and the peaks (of which this game is the highest) hang with the best in the genre.
- FTL
I think the Crystal/Ancestry quest drops this down, like, two or three spots. Won’t stop me from putting the soundtrack on tonight now that it’s in my head, and definitely won’t keep it off the list.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses
I went back and forth quite a bit between this, Fates, and Awakening. Each of the three has their strengths: Fates and Three Houses lean maybe a bit too hard into the multiple paths, hundreds of hours thing; the school/relationship stuff in Three Houses was fine but will probably be better next time; the default and even hard difficulties in Three Houses being so easy are a real problem; Awakening might just be the tightest design of the three. In the end, though, they’re all excellent, so I’ll go with the modern polish and hope the next one is even better.
- Tales of Maj’Eyal
This was technically a 2012 release! It wasn’t on the Wiki page but it felt kind of relevant, so I looked in up on a lark, and I would have believed anything as early as, like, 2004. My favorite of the true roguelikes, with a combination of exploration and structure that hits the sweet spot.
- Guild Wars 2
A thoroughly excellent single player MMO, where you can do virtually everything by interacting with the rest of the player base exactly how little or much as you prefer to. Maybe not a recommendation for the genre that it’s moved so far in that direction from what it was, but almost a decade in, I still go back to GW2 when I’ve got the time, because it does it so well.
- Gloomhaven
Sometime it’s hard to separate a game from its circumstances. I know that I really like Gloomhaven because (if it’s not obvious by now!) I like tactical combat, I like building persistent characters, and I like working through a story. I also know that it’s not as tightly tuned as it could be and that I’ve got a bunch of areas where I hope the sequel will be a little better. But most of all, I’ve had a running board game group for the last 2+ years that has largely been driven by Gloomhaven, and the fact that it was able to get everyone to the table for the first year-plus of that all on its own is pretty awesome.
Honorable mention (in no particular order): OOTP Baseball, Bastion, Saints Row: The Third, One Way Heroics, a bunch of other Fire Emblem and Trails games, Into the Breach, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Quest XI, and Disco Elysium.
Most hours played without getting particularly near this list: DOTA 2, Diablo III, Rift
Year that I started seeing games that could conceivably have made this list but I haven’t gotten around to playing them yet: 2014 (Hi, Might and Magic X: Legacy!)
Sad that I couldn’t put a Civ game or any other 4x on or even really near the list. Easily the genre where I’ve dropped off the most between last decade and this one, in no small part because of the last two Civ entries.
Thanks to everyone putting this together and running it!
Note to self: play games that Kyrios likes.
Could you unbold the numbers in the list (just leave the titles bolded)?
Done, not sure how I get it right on the annual one but screw it up here, but there you go!
I just went back and looked at your post again, and I’m mildly annoyed to be reminded that I own the 2013 Sim City, and frankly that it exists at all.
(Hopefully you have the time to play something that I like at some point, and that it is good! A version of me that got more into tabletop than PC 15-20 years ago would have been all over the various modules you’ve written about in your GenCon writeups, for what it’s worth.)
Thanks
The things we liked that we overlapped on felt like they were often liked for similar reasons, and your explanations for the ones I haven’t tried or played yet grooved with my brain. I’ve got my fingers crossed for Persona, Legend of Heroes, and Fire Emblem in particular.
Games I really should finally get to, especially after the reminders in this thread:
Life is Strange Episode 2 onward, Fallout New Vegas, Red Dead Redemption 2, Saints Row: The Third, more Assassin’s Creed games, Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2, FTL, Kingdom Come, Nier: Automata, Outer Wilds, VVVVVV, Stardew Valley, Return of the Obra Dinn, Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons, Oxenfree, Dragon Quest XI, Dishonored 1 and 2, Prey, Mafia 2 and 3, Alpha Protocol, Rock Band 3 and 4, Disco Elysium, Outer Wilds, Control, and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.
Mostly I’m annoyed at myself at not having gotten around to Fallout: New Vegas yet, given that it’s gotten so many votes, and I’m currently enjoying Outer Worlds a lot, by the same developer, and that’s not even in the game of the year conversation, let alone game of the decade. I think this thread is a good reminder that I’ve got New Vegas waiting for me next.
I’m also surprised by the lack of votes for the original Red Dead Redemption here. I know that personally speaking, it’s the Mexico section of that game that kept it out of the conversation for me. But the first and third act of that game are so good, so different from anything else I’ve played, narrative-wise. The only thing that compares with it in terms of some of the writing and the camera-work and voice work is probably Batman: Arkham City. So even though they’re very different kinds of games, I chose Batman instead.
Arthur is a far more interesting character, and perhaps just better portrayed by the actor voicing him than John was in RDR1, at least for me. Hence why I went with RDR2. :)
Also RDR1 never had fishing, which is like 60% of the game for me in RDR2. :)
God I hate you so much right now.
Where are my flight sim peeps?
-
Kerbal Space Program (2011) Spent sooo much time fooling around with this. 100% in sandbox mode. It’s a space nut’s dream game.
-
IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles (2013) That’s the name of the series, which is esentially a base game with scenarios that add new battles and planes. If we gotta pick one, I’d say Battle of Stalingrad, since it was first. The immersion of flying these WW2 planes in VR in this game is absolutely amazing.
-
Digital Combat Simulator (2011) DCS World is essentially an engine you can drop fighter planes (or the occasional aerobatic bird) into. It has its flaws, but it’s an amazingly detailed simulation of the real thing. Flying the F-18C in DCS is harder than flying an F-15 in the real world.
-
Mass Effect 2 (2010) A sci-fi fan’s dream RPG and the most solid title in the ME series.
-
The Witcher 3 (2015) Redefined the expectation of RPG storylines. No Fed Ex quests, or if there are any, Fed Ex explains why they had to hire you and the repercussions if you don’t deliver in time. Great storyline, beautiful graphics, and a wonderful adaptation of the source material. The combat’s kind of meh, but really, who plays RPGs for the combat? (Some of you do, I’m sure, but I don’t.)
-
Just Cause 2 (2010) Rico! Chaos! SOOOO MUCH FUN! It’s a shame JC3 and 4 didn’t quite capture the magic of 2 for some reason.
-
Halo Reach (2010) Great missions and an engaging storyline. Multiplayer was enjoyable, too, with more variety than the Master Chief-based games.
-
Forza Horizon 4 (2018) The entire Forza series is a blast. But I love the open world design, and the joy of the LEGO scenarios puts FH4 over the top. Plus it has my Fiat 124.
-
Portal 2 (2011) Do you know who I am? The man who’s going to burn your house down with the lemons.
-
Minecraft (2011) So simple. So many hours of fun building.
Honorable Mention:
Fallout New Vegas (2010) The peak of the Bethesda formula
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) It’s no Witcher 3, but I did finish it and enjoyed it a lot.
Bioshock Infinite (2013) Well, I’d give it to the first BioShock, but that came out too early, and Infinite was fun too.
Peggle 2 (2013) 1000 gamerscore and I still play it.
Batman: Arkham Knight (2015) Hard to pick on the Batman games. But this one was native on next-gen consoles, so winner.
That’s how Skyrim made a lot of folk’s lists.
I pretty much agree with all of this, but RDR just made more of an impact on me, largely by virtue of simply coming first. I gave the first one my vote.
I ended up with a few games in my list that ended with the number 2.
My list:
-
The Witcher 3
-
The last of Us
-
Grim Dawn
-
XCOM 2
-
Mass Effect 2
-
Skyrim
-
Mass Effect 3
-
Valliant Hearts- The Great War
-
Karmaka
-
Botanicula
As it turns out, most of these are picked not just because the gameplay was fun or the story was great, but also/mostly because they hit a nerve, emotionally. Because they, to me, were more than just a game. The Witcher 3, The Last of Us, the entire Mass Effect series thanks to Fem Shep, Valliant Hearts, Botanicula: they rank so high because I very much remember those special moments, not just the gameplay. I haven’t played Ori and the Blind Forest yet, otherwise that one might be in this list as well, I suspect.
Others, like Grim Dawn and XCOM 2 and Skyrim are there based mostly on replayability: I just keep returning to those games (particularly Grim Dawn: so many options, so many viable builds!).
Finally, Karmaka is on my list because it’s a great boardgame: the design is beautiful and it’s fun to play. The fact that it was the first Kickstarter I ever supported may also have helped…
- Dominions 5
- Disco Elysium
- Dragon Age: Inquisition
- Mass Effect 3
- MechWarrior Online (Deeply deeply flawed game, but surprisingly enjoyable)
- Hearts of Iron 4
- Total War Warhammer 2
I don’t think there’s anything else I loved enough to put it on the list.
If there’s anything this thread has taught me, it’s that I really need to try The Witcher 3. Having purchased but became bored with the first two, I avoided the third. Apparently, a mistake.