The Best Games of 2019
The best part about gaming over the past few years has been the pure breadth of experiences. Want something comforting and entirely up your alley? It's right there. Want something completely different, that challenges and surprises you in ways no other game has? No worries. AAA, indies, single person developers and thousand+ people teams - all producing incredible experiences simply to bring us joy.
Here's eight of those experiences that stuck in my mind more than any others throughout 2019.
Baba Is You
Games with truly new ideas are hard to find these days, but the premise of Baba is You is unlike anything I’ve ever played. While the game thematically lines up the most with The Witness, the incredibly simple gameplay is wholly unique.
Every level is infuriatingly difficult, until half an hour of staring at the screen reveals an incredibly simple (yet incredibly brilliant) solution. The joy of finding the solution to each puzzle is unmatched in making you feel like a genius.
Without spoilers, the late game stuff can get wild. If you’re one for chewing on complex puzzles, don’t skip out on this one.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
A Fire Emblem game lives and dies by its characters, and as Transientmind from Kotaku has already pointed out, if a tweet is all it takes to know who you’re talking to, it's doing something right.
The solid tactical gameplay is as good as it needs to be (if a little easy) but the real game lies in the matchmaking. The complex web of deep connections between all the characters is a joy to delve into, with hours of character building and conversations being your reward for forcing your students to fight side by side.
I’ve been an FE fan for many years now - Radiant Dawn on the Wii is a personal GOAT - so you know when I say “this might be one of the best Fire Emblem games”, I mean it.
Oh, and one last thing: Black Eagles for life. *drops mic*
A Short Hike
What a wonderful little experience. In what could quite easily be called Zelda BOTW-lite, this little romp around a small mountain is charm dialed up to 11. As you make your way up to the peak, there are plenty of distractions to bring you little joyful experiences - most of which center on helping others out with their day. Whether that’s trading a small spade with a shovel so someone can build sandcastles, helping someone find their camping permit or simply encouraging a young artist with her work, it’s all just lovely.
For such a small game, clocking in at 3 hours or so if you do absolutely everything, there is so much surprising depth in mechanics and interactions with the world. You can climb, fish, run, glide, even play stick volleyball. It’s just a wonderful experience from top to bottom, where nothing is wasted and everything is just nice.
Anodyne
First released in 2013, Anodyne’s 2019 Switch release really put the spotlight on this hidden gem of a game. Though relatively short, This 2D Zelda-like positively drips with atmosphere.
The vague nature of your adventure; the quirkiness of a broom being your weapon of choice; the shocking variety of the locations you visit; a truly clever and unique post-game - all this adds up to a wonderful little experience from a clever team of two.
Best of all (for me), Anodyne (particularly that post-game) nostalgically calls back to a very specific childhood memory - squeezing hundreds of hours out of Pokémon Gold on Gameboy, using an Xploder cheat system to break the game in fascinating ways.
Sayonara Wild Hearts
A pop album as a game - what’s not to love?
The way this small yet beautiful game pulls in new mechanics, only to discard them immediately for new ones, is electrifying. In the same way you might lie down and listen through a concept album with a nice pair of headphones, Sayonara Wild Hearts is a game to sit down with every now and then to enjoy start to finish. There’s nothing quite like it.
I don’t really do score attack games, but when you’re cruising along a wild stretch of road, snapping between realities in perfect sync with the beat? *chefs kiss*
The Outer Worlds
Where most games on this list are praised for being different, this game is so great because it just isn’t. With every entry, the Fallout franchise morphs further away from its satirical origins. Enter The Outer Worlds, a game that is more than happy to dish up that nostalgic plate of comfort food for us New Vegas fans.
The true stars of this adventure are your eclectic bunch of crew members. Parvati and Nyoka were outstanding sidekicks, Felix and Ellie were a delight and though he was a little under-utilized, SAM gave us a few laughs. And of course, I could never get enough of Max’s hilariously devastating special.
The best part of The Outer Worlds is the potential it holds for a sequel. This proof of concept was pulled off nicely, but it’s easy to see a future game with more interesting off-the-beaten-path areas, a more compelling villain in the vein of the notorious Mr House, and even tougher moral choices to make you squirm.
Outward
Outward is probably the freshest, most interesting open world game I've played in the last five years. It's pitch: you live in a high fantasy world, but are simply a regular Joe. You have limited inventory space in the form of a physical backpack. There is magic - but it takes skill, preparation and sacrifice to use. Not only do you have to manage your health and stamina, but also your temperature, hunger, thirst and much more. It’s got that euro-jank feel. It’s on a budget, but it’s got heart.
In Outward, you will probably die - a lot. You can bleed to death. You can be taken down by chickens. You can catch a cold (and get hypothermia, and die). What makes Outward cool however, is that death is never the end - it is instead the beginning of a new adventure.
After a few hours of coming to grips with the combat system, I headed out into the world for the day, confident. I had managed to slay a few chickens, a troglodyte or two and a couple of wolves, all one on one. As I ventured further, I caught the attention of two wolves at once... and it did not go well. Within a few hits, I was down - only to then wake up in the wolf den my body had been unceremoniously dragged to. I quickly gathered my things and ran to the exit, as the mother wolf nipped at my heels. I exited the cave, and... had no idea where I was. Did I mention that Outward’s map is simply a physical piece of paper (ala Far Cry 2/Firewatch) with no marker indicating where you even are?
There’s so much I haven’t even mentioned - the intriguing politics of the various regions and powers; the three completely different faction quest lines following three sides of the same events; the way the creatures and world of this game feel wholly unique. I feel like Outward is the anti-Assassins Creed of open world games.
No game has ever made me feel like more of an adventurer, where just about anything could be around the corner.
Outer Wilds
There’s very few games in my life I’ve ever played where, mid-way through, I think to myself, “this game is truly something special. I’m going to treasure this memory.” Outer Wilds didn’t just meet that expectation, but blew it out of the water by the finale.
Exploring the 22 minute loops of Outer Wilds, slowly unraveling the literal secrets of the universe, was such a pure joy. This game tells a story on a scale no other game has, and pulls it off in the most satisfying ways.
For those that have already played Outer Wilds, I was lucky enough to chat with Creative Lead Alex Beachum about the game’s development, which was an absolute delight. Please only read through if you’ve played the game!
If it sounds like I’m being vague, that is deliberate – the entire game is all about discovery; about learning. To say anything about the contents of the game would be to potentially spoil something magical/terrifying/awe inspiring. I’ll simply say this – if the idea of exploring a clockwork solar system, where when matters just as much as where as you explore and discover, sounds intriguing to you, give this game a shot. You won’t be disappointed.
For me, Outer Wilds isn’t simply the Game Of The Year – it’s one of the best games I have ever played, period.
---
There’s only so much time to play games, so here’s a breakdown of honourable mentions that more than likely would be on this list if I’d got a chance to check them out: Total War: Three Kingdoms, Control, Greedfall, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, Astral Chain, Disco Elysium.