Multiplatform games are more likely to have been played by more people. I certainly played most of my list on console, but they happen to be multiplatform. The exception is Forza Horizon series and The Last of Us. I saw quite a few votes for The Last of Us, I hope it at least gets into the top 20.
I was surprised to see so few vote for Horizon: Zero Dawn, even those that made it the Qt3 Game of the Year a while back. I haven’t gotten to that one yet, I’m still at the start.
Edit: And I didn’t include Bloodborne because I felt Dark Souls was better, and was already my number 1.
Sure, I didn’t say there aren’t any (some of which are on my own top 10 list), but there aren’t that many when you boil it down and really look at it. Especially in more recent years.
Getting my votes in, although I may move stuff around
Crusader Kings 2
Mount & Blade: Warband
RimWorld
Portal 2
Return of the Obra Dinn
Stardew Valley
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Jackbox Party Pack - I’ve played these games with my friends more than I care to think about
Gone Home - The only “walking simulator” I think I’ve ever really enjoyed
Honorable Mentions (almost made the list): FTL: Faster than Light, Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim, 3030 Deathwar Redux, Kerbal Space Program, Towerfall: Ascension
Honorable Mentions: The Wolf Among Us, Fallout: New Vegas, Disco Elysium, Battlefield 3, American Truck Simulator, Age of Decadence, L.A. Noire, Return of the Obra Dinn, Red Dead Redemption, The Witcher 2, Batman: Arkham City, Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Lamplight City
I, too, have gotten a ton of play out of these the last year or so at parties, but never on my own console/pc, so it felt “wrong” to vote for them, lol. But very, very fun with the right group.
It’s basically async Win, Lose, or Draw or Pictionary, so yes, it’s a game with legs! :D
I love me some Quiplash. I think it may be my favorite as well. Problem is if you play it with people who don’t feel very clever they get tired of it really fast. That’s the awesome thing about having 6 Jackbox Party Pack games though, you can just move on to a different fun experience with a bunch of people.
There are 2 or 3 people on the forum who enjoy pointing out that this is an adult, PC-focused forum. When they decide to mention it, there’s never really any desire to have an interesting conversation about the subject at hand, which is the games themselves.
I had two on mine from the PS4, and close to as many boardgames as PC games. It’s a pretty good mix, and I saw a number of others who have MHW and RD2 on there and board games too. I know i remarked board games missing earlier, but some of those i just didn’t realize were board games at the time.
I was also just curious what some thought were missing.
This was an epic undertaking; I don’t know how some of you folks got this done so fast. A little surprised with the slightly homogeneous top three. I’m pretty happy with where I ended up.
Bloodborne [2015, FromSoftware] A game without peer. The moment to moment gameplay is refined and beautiful. The storytelling is ambient and raw. I could lose myself forever in this horrific world.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [2017, Nintendo] This idiosyncratic open world reimagining of Zelda deeply resonated with me.
Runner up: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [2015, CD Projekt Red] This game both delivers an almost perfect simulation of an itinerant monster hunters’ life, and the best videogame family I’ve seen. I love how confident CD Project Red are in their storytelling.
Magic: the Gathering Arena [2019, Wizards of the Coast] Magic: the Gathering is my favourite game of all time. So, when the evil overlords at Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast decided to make a digital version of the game with all the friction removed. Well I basically didn’t play any other videogames for eighteen months. God forbid they add drafting against humans, I’m just dead at that point.
Runners up: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Overcooked
Total War: Three Kingdoms [2019, Creative Assembly] And just like that, Creative Assemble land their masterpiece. A game that makes all other strategy games redundant.
Brogue [2018, Brian Walker] Lots of games these days are described as being ‘Roguelikes’ without actually having any similarities with the game Rogue. Here though is a game which has taken the design of Rogue, deconstructed it to its base elements, then build something new and beautiful from its foundations. Every run of this game is a joy for me.
Runners up: Dwarf Fortress
Opus Magnum [2017, Zachtronics] I very much enjoy the Zachtronics puzzle games, but this one felt particularly delectable. The game has an animated gif export for your solutions, and they are immediately captivating even to people who have not played the game. This allowed me to share my love of this game much further than I usually can. Which only makes me love it more.
Runners up: TIS-100 and Into the Breach
VVVVVV [2010, Terry Cavanagh] This game changed me. There is a person before Veni Vidi Vici, and there is a person after Veni Vidi Vici. My concept of what is difficult and valuable was altered. Without this game I’m not sure I would have been ready for many of the other games I enjoyed this decade.
Runners up: Baba is You and Stephen’s Sausage Roll
Disco Elysium [2019, ZA/UM] I only just finished this, so it’s possible there’s some recency bias at work. But this game is both incredibly familiar and breathtakingly fresh and different. And delivered with such panache. It’s hard to believe I won’t still be thinking about it for a long time.
Runners up: Dragon Age II, Mass Effect 3 and Control
Kerbal Space Program [2015, Squad] Simple and complex. Build a rocket, launch an idiot into space, build a bigger rocket to save idiot. But with real rocket science. Every failure in this game is a delight.
Runner up: Minecraft and Euro Truck Simulator
Of the 61 games I considered for my list, when were they released?
I love this, even though I played some Switch titles that might have ended up on this list… actually, no, probably not - I can’t think of any game on another platform that would have broken 125 hours, not even Breath of the Wild, now that I think of it. So this should be very accurate for my top 10 by hours of the last decade (it helps I haven’t gotten into MMO’s in the last decade or more).
Daaaayum. I forgot about Fallout New Vegas, I guess I better update my top 10. Sorry, Dragon Quest XI, you are awesome but you are no Fallout: New Vegas.
