Ok, so I’ve seen XCOM listed as XCOM and XCOM 2, and XCOM2 WOTC.
To me all of these are the Firaxis released series of the 2010’s.
Is everyone listing them by these various titles referring to the same series?
Or do I have to commit to one, for example XCOM2 WOTC specifically?
This is one of those consensus things. If peeps want to get together and vote on the series, then go ahead and decide on a name for it and change your vote to the same thing. I’d say either just vote the first in the series (XCOM) or else vote explicitly for “XCOM Series”.
I imagine you may have some people here just argue that you should vote for XCOM 2 since it’s the best in the series or something.
For unique situations, I can add a synonym to the sheet to count XCOM, XCOM2 and that standalone XCOM 2 expansion all as the same game, but I’d want some explicit consent from the folks voting before I do something like that.
I’d be fine if we agreed on voting just XCOM 2. But guess I’ll just wait and see what if anything anyone else has to say about it.
It’s not who wins that matters when you vote, it’s your expressing your opinion.
I think you’re on the wrong forum if you think the score doesn’t count! :D
Of course, I’m half joking.
I am playing Kingdom Come:Deliverance now and enjoying it much more than I thought I would. Maybe because it is set in a time so much different than your average game, maybe because combat is not a given, I don’t know. But I do think it is a great play. Probably by the time I am done I will think it should be on this list.
I am sorry. But I used asterisks as he showed. Just delete me if it is a problem.
Aw man, why’d you delete your votes?
I loved it for few main reasons:
Immersiveness factor - the way gameplay mechanics help it - playing on hardcore mode there is no character map marker nor fast travel, so I had to orient myself like I would in real world, by landmarks, sun position…and sometimes simply get lost in the woods, particularly at night. The addition of having to sleep, eat did not feel annoying, but simply grounded me in the world. Running away from a fight when facing multiple stronger opponents. Gorgeous change of day and night plus weather. Characters living their lives, having various schedules, not being quite as static as they are even in masterpiece like Witcher 3.
Difficulty and character progression was enjoyable, perks are interesting and every skill level is felt.
Enjoyable writing. Most of the people Henry interacts feel like people and not caricatures, the quests are interesting and very rarely feel like generic fetch quests, plus they fit the time period and use it well. Story itself is not extremely original, but is well executed - genuinely funny at time, heartfelt at others.
The world of Kingdom Come is one of the most gorgeous in gaming, joy to explore. It is very different in look to, say, RDR2, but I put these games with TW3 on equal footing, loved exploring all three.
Last but not least, it is set in my homeland with Czech guy as a protagonist, and how many of those have we had in games? So that is a nice bonus.
Btw if you do not have the DLCs…I must insist on, at the very least, Woman’s Lot. It features one of my favourite questlines in any game (helping Johanka against heresy accusation).
You used too many asterisks. It’s a single asterisk, then a space, then the title in bold (surrounded by double-asterisks).
You are doing this:
when you should be formatting it like this:
Honorable mentions
Biggest disappointments
Great to see all these lists because they also reminds me of games I need to go back and play: Dishonored.
Sorry I deleted my votes, couldn’t figure how to edit something and got frustrated. Trying again:
Then a big fall off. I feel like this would actually have been better as a top 7.
The beginning of Darkest Dungeon would be at least 8 or 9 on my list, but it’s dragged down by the very grindy mid-game, and I presume the end game, which I never saw.
The X-COMs are good, but I hate the strategic layer. And the voice acting in the strategic layer is just so campy, it really took me out of it.
I played a whole lot of Stellaris and Football Manager this decade, but it’s possible that neither game is really that good. Both require you to use your imagination to fill in a whole lot of gaps. But I had a lot of fun with both.
Oxygen Not Included is another game with an absolute gangbusters beginning, but then it gets overly complex and fiddly for me, and kind collapses under its own weight. If it has just a few more signposts to suggest what you’re supposed to do later in the game, maybe I would have stuck with it?
Hearts of Iron 4 is a terrific game, but it never grabbed me the way the other Paradox games did, I think because the horrors of war it’s simulating are too recent. All the evil things you do as a player in EU4 and Victoria 2 feel like History, whereas in HOI4, it all feels very real and present, and in the back of my head I’m thinking about the genocides and firebombings, and when my government type is fascist, it gives me pause. Fantastic game, can occasionally make me feel slightly yucky. Maybe that makes it the best game of all! Don’t know.
Lots of games that are beloved here I bounced right off because they had too many cut scenes. I can’t be bothered. How is Borderlands 2 on my list then? It’s possible it was so long ago, that the healing hands of time have smoothed over the trauma of watching all the cut scenes? I don’t know. Maybe its cut scenes benefitted from a certain lightness of touch that comes with being very stupid. The Borderlands 3 cut scenes, though, hoo boy, terrible. They demand that you Feel Things.
I’m sure I’m forgetting some console titles.
It’s kinda going to suck when the worst company around has Qt3’s game of the decade.
This is how I pretty much felt. I also don’t think some of the stuff that can be built was very intuitive.
I have owned that game forever and have yet to play it. I keep thinking I will and then some other shiny bauble gets in my way.
Honorables
Batman: Arkham City - Most fun I’ve had while wearing a cape. (in game, of course).
Minecraft - Definitely a genre defining game, but ultimately became boring solo, and I don’t like MP for this.
Logistical - Probably my 2nd most played game of the decade, but it’s more of a time waster, something I can play while working on my other PC. Also, it’s graphically challenged.
Slay the Spire - I was late to this party, actually just stated playing in 2020, and it could have made the top 10, but it’s too soon to tell for me.
Papers, Please - great game. One of my top games of the year in 2013 I believe.
Dark Souls 3 - Love the game. It was very close to making my 10.
No Man’s Sky - Tons of credit to the devs for improving on it to this day, but it started and remains as a game I love to start, but never seem to finish.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Another great RPG, and probably deserves a spot in the top 10. What keeps it off for me, was that it was just a bit too long.
Stardew Valley - I thought at first this game would be in top 10, but as I debated my own list, it came down to the fact that while I love my first play through of this, I haven’t been able to stick with a 2nd play through because it’s just so task heavy.
Games I didn’t play, but want to now, thanks to other’s lists above:
The Witness
Kerbal Space Program - Especially thanks to the @CraigM write up about it.
DQ 9.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.