#GOTY2019

[heroponchris]

Finally a game that gives gamers what they want - the ability to honk aggressively and terrorize suburbia as a cute little goose gal

[deffyismyname]

[crescybun]

My Games of the Year 2019

aka A List of ‘Personally Meaningful Experiences’ Which I Don’t Genuinely Even Recommend Getting/Buying At All But Anyway:

The Caligula Effect: Overdose

Ciconia When They Cry - Phase 1: For You, the Replacable Ones

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Crystar

I expect SaGa Scarlet Grace - Ambitions to take the fifth place but who knows.

Honourable mention: the console-port of The House in Fata Morgana - which would be in the list otherwise but I already mentioned its Steam-version last year.

Note: If the list is missing notable games 1) I haven’t played them 2) I don’t own the right console(s) which is a shame [read: I don’t own Nintendo Switch], or 3) the other potential choices got, somehow, ‘outplayed’ by these 4-5. Furthermore, the reasoning behind my choices will remain an unfathomable mystery.

[sekaaliart]

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND PLAY KATANA ZERO RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!

[jcomaeda]

Congratulations Sekiro for Game of The Year 2019! Reshare my fanart which I did this year. I hope I had time to do proper one :') #sekiro #gameoftheyear2019 #goty2019 #sekiroshadowsdietwice #okami #wolf https://www.instagram.com/p/B6AOqv2ndOx/?igshid=1kk51iqy7c6a3

[thegame-r-boy]

The 3 top Game(s) of The Year (GOTY) of 2019 - Nintendo Switch only!

It is time to write something about my top 3 GOTY games for the Nintendo Switch from the year 2019. Let’s start from number 3! 3.) Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

One of the greatest adventure games of all time, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch tells a story of a boy, who lost his mother and now he is searching for her in an imaginative world. The sheer amount of good, relaxed music and the kind of cell-shaded graphics are immensely great for such a game. The only downside I have with this game is it’s longevity and difficulty. In my 20 hours of playtime, I came to a point where the game gets quite tricky, and to know that there is at least double the playtime left, I still have a long way to go. But still, it is a game that I’m glad I own! 2.) GRID Autosport 

This game give you the most for your buck! For about 35 Euros, you get a really realistic driving game. In most cases, you can adjust the difficulty you are playing, choose the cars, the tracks and the style you’re playing as (Street, Drift, etc.). It’s by far the best racing game on the Nintendo Switch. The graphics are really stunning and the sound of the engine gives you real goosebumps. Not to mention that in the latest update, you can play 2 player split screen, which is quite good for a driving game. The worst part is that I only played for like 5 hours altogether, just because the tracks are quite long, but still, just the feeling of sitting in a car, driving it up, hitting the pedal to the metal, is really astonishing! Honorable mentions: *Spyro Reignited Trilogy - playtime: 3 hours * River City Girls - playtime: 4 hours *Pokemon Sword - playstime: 10 hours *Shakedown Hawaii - playtime: 17 hours *Mortal Kombat 11 - playtime: 20 hours

1.) Super Mario Maker 2

With over 140 played hours in this game alone, Super Mario Maker 2 (SMM2) is by far my personal Game of The Year (GOTY) of 2019. It has it everything: single player, multiplayer, user-created maps, speed runs, etc - you name it! You get the most for your cash in this game. The campaign last alone for about 30 - 40 hours. And all the creativity that is made by the users, by their maps! Wow! I mean, you would need A LOT OF TIME to play ALL THE 9 (!) MILLION MAPS that are available in it! This is one of those games that you could literally play forever - as long as the servers would be open. Not to mention, it came out only 6 days after my this year's 30th birthday, so naturally that it must be the GOTY of 2019. I would recommend it to anyone who has played Mario in the 90′s and wanted to make their own levels to share them. It is really cool!

[xb-squaredx]

B-Squared’s Top 10 Games of 2019!

2019 was a year full to the brim of GREAT games, and as is the custom at the end of the year, people love to rank their favorites, so…I’d like to do the same! Of course my own tastes might be different from yours so if you don’t see a thing on here that you liked, chances are I didn’t like it…or more likely, there’s just too many great games out this year, and I couldn’t get to everything. I’d like to stress to that the rankings don’t really matter all that much, especially the farther down we go. Everything on here is an easy recommendation. Without any further ado…let’s take a look at my Top 10 Games of 2019~

#10 - River City Girls

I love action games, but 2D beat-em-ups never really clicked for me. They were largely before my time and I was thinking that it’d be impossible to get me into one in the current era of gaming. And then I saw Marian’s redesign for River City Girls and bought the game. What can I say? Abs are a great sales pitch. But seriously, getting Wayforward on the helm of a beloved classic franchise is already a great way to pique my interest, and while there’s SOME aspects of this game that I don’t quite gel with, it’s a fun, colorful romp through a ridiculous universe that I’d LOVE to see more of down the line. Featuring a role-reversal, with the girlfriends saving the boyfriends this time, River City Girls has gorgeous pixel art, an AMAZING pop-synth soundtrack that’s worth the price alone, and it’s a game that clearly had fun with the concept and that fun rubs off on you. From the stylish animated boss intros, to the co-op fun that can be had with a friend, everything in this game is brimming with charm. Basic NPCs have great designs in their own right, being able to recruit enemies as assists is a neat idea, and it all adds up to a fun, bite-sized adventure with a bit of depth under the hood if you’re willing to give it a look. Can the character designers get a raise for this game, please? And let Megan McDuffie just do all the songs from now on. ALL OF THEM.

#9 - Astral Chain

Most people assumed if we were going to get a Switch exclusive game by Platinum this year, it’d be Bayonetta 3 but instead Nintendo surprised us with Astral Chain, the anime cop action game we didn’t know we wanted. The game boasts great visuals and is probably the most content-rich Platinum game ever made for starters, but for me the true draw is in the combat. Playing as your police officer in tandem with an alien creature known as a Legion, this tag-team action game is unlike pretty much anything else on the market. While the game starts off very simplistic, the Legion itself moving and attacking with no input from the player, over time more and more options unlock and things get considerably more complicated. By game’s end, you’re drowning in options, and once things clicked, combat was always a treat. With plenty of enemies to practice with, Legions to master and a gigantic post-game filled with challenging encounters, I had more fun with the combat in this game than I did with a lot of other games this year. That said, I do feel that Astral Chain could have benefitted from trimming some fat or rethinking its overall structure. For being a new IP with some bold ideas, I’m willing to accept these as kinks that can hopefully be ironed out in a sequel. Oh, and add Lappy to Smash already. You know you want to, Sakurai.

#8 - BABA IS YOU

Puzzle games are hard sells for me, since I don’t like the frustration that often comes from being stuck. You feel dumb, you get embarrassed and turn the game off in shame, or at least that’s my experience. But then sometimes you get a game so clever, so…weird, that you can’t help but be sucked into it. BABA IS YOU is a block-pushing puzzle game, with the twist being that the “rules” of a particular stage are often physically present in levels and are in fact blocks that can be pushed and manipulated by the player. ROCK is PUSH, WALL is STOP, FLAG is WIN and BABA is YOU. But what if you can’t touch the flag because the wall is in the way? Well, make it so WALL is PUSH to move it aside, or maybe make it so that BABA is WIN and you become the win condition itself. As the game goes on, more modifiers and rules are slowly introduced and absorbed into your own internal logic of the game, logic that increasingly has to be broken and remade to suit your needs. It’s a very empowering experience when the solution clicks and the results can often be hilarious and surprising. This game also GOES PLACES the further you go in, and I’d rather not ruin that surprise for anyone who might be looking into the game. Definitely one of the most innovated titles I’ve played in a LONG time. BABA is GOOD.

#7 - Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid

OK, so…hear me out. Power Rangers was a franchise I was obsessed with as a kid, and while I don’t follow it anymore, there’s still some love for it flowing in my veins. So when a small, no-name studio puts out a Power Ranger fighting game that takes the simplified controls of Smash Bros. and the tag-team craziness of Marvel vs. Capcom and slaps it all together for a cool twenty bucks or so? Well you got yourself a purchase and it ended up being WAY more fun than I expected. Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid is far from the best looking fighter on the market, it’s single-player content is lacking, and it’s roster, while interesting, isn’t as big as a lot of the competition, but damn if it isn’t fun to play. With characters taken from across the franchise’s long history, from the live-action movie reboot to the comic books, each choice has been inspired and resulted in an incredibly varied cast. With no crazy inputs for special moves, combined with a tagging system that lets you cycle through your three-Ranger team quickly, the game is the best kind of chaotic fun, but true masters can command that chaos and channel it into cool combos that make you want to say “Morphinominal!” Considering it’s a budget title, it’s also received a fair amount of updates throughout the year to pad out the roster with both free and paid DLC fighters, a full story mode and improvements to the netcode and overall presentation., so if you passed on it at launch, it’s much improved now. It’s not gonna be a fighting game on everyone’s radar, but I’d rather support it than the grind-heavy slog Mortal Kombat has become…Now just hurry up and add that monster that baked the Rangers into a pizza!

#6 - New Super Lucky’s Tale

If your name isn’t Mario or Sonic, 3D platformers are effectively dead. That said, there’s been a few up-and-comers in recent years that are trying to revive the genre. Hat Kid from A Hat in Time, the duo of Yooka-Laylee, and now Lucky from the folks at Playful Studios. The cute fox has quite the history, starting from the Oculus Rift title, Lucky’s Tale, to a full-fledged platformer on the Xbox One X, Super Lucky’s Tale and now the enhanced port/reimagining New Super Lucky’s Tale on Switch. Halfway between a full-blown sequel, and enhanced edition, the game takes assets from the Xbox original game, tweaking and refining everything from visuals to controls to level layouts. The result is a game that is incredibly well-polished. It looks great, Lucky is a treat to control as he moves from jumping, burrowing and sliding around fluidly, and the variety on display keeps things interesting. We’ve got full 3D levels, 2D levels, auto-runners, and even some marble maze levels and puzzles thrown in for good measure. It’s not a hard game, but it IS incredibly fun, and well made. We don’t get many 3D platformers these days, so cherish what little comes of the genre. I hope Playful and Nintendo continue to collaborate, as they really seem more at home here. Just…maybe don’t add more words to the title of the next game, guys.

#5 - Katana Zero

There’s no nice way to say it: there’s too many pixel-based, side-scrolling indie games out there, so the ones that DO stand out deserve to be celebrated. Katana Zero has a real ‘80s flair for starters, using bright neon, TV and VCR visual effects, and a synth soundtrack to give it some real style. When a game kicks off with you slowing down time and reflecting a bullet back at an enemy with your katana, you make a good first impression! Add in the trial-and-error that is planning the perfect route through a stage, the satisfying slicing and dicing of enemies, the unique, challenging boss encounters, and you have a game that was on my radar for a while, before I finally got into it at the end of the year. Its storyline is pretty interesting too, with some slight variances in how events unfold depending on your words and actions, though it ending on a bit of a cliffhanger is a bummer. That said, when a game leaves you wanting more, there’s worse problems to have. At the very least, there’s some DLC hinted at that might be interesting, as well as the implications that this is the merely the first in a trilogy, and at this point I’m game for whatever developer Askiisoft has in store.

#4 - Luigi’s Mansion 3

The GameCube was an odd era for Nintendo, as they attempted to innovate and try new ideas rather than rely purely on their old standbys. Case-in-point, rather than launch the console with a new Mario platformer, his second-banana brother Luigi got his first starring role in what would become the Luigi’s Mansion series. While not making QUITE as big of a splash as maybe Nintendo hoped, it’s garnered a decent fanbase, and when a sequel was announced for 3DS, people ate it up. Considering the gap between the first and second games, I think many people were surprised at the relatively quick turn-around for the third installment. I was also surprised at the overall quality and how much I enjoyed digging into it. For starters, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is easily one of the better-looking Switch titles, boasting some great lighting and particle effects, with some fun physics implemented for just about everything in the massive mansion. Luigi and company are animated with a lot of expressiveness that never gets old, and the music sets the tone perfectly too. From a gameplay standpoint, the toolset Luigi gains gives him ample options to poke at every nook and cranny, with the slimy doppelganger Gooigi being the clear stand-out. Some of the floors of the Last Resort hotel that Luigi must ascend are particularly massive and intricate too, some floors feeling like Legend of Zelda-style dungeons. While not a particularly challenging game, it’s still really satisfying to poke and prod at everything in sight, sucking in all the coins, gold bars and stacks of paper bills you can handle, not to mention slamming the ghosts around like the Hulk does to Loki. There’s also multiplayer! That I…haven’t really touched but…hey! More bang for your buck, surely!

#3 – Dragon Quest XI S

I don’t consider myself a huge fan of JRPGs. Or at least that’s what I thought before I tried out the Dragon Quest XI demo on Switch. I ended up falling for the game hard and bought the full release, carrying my demo data over and not stopping until I hit credits. Despite having never touched a Dragon Quest game before, outside of an hour or so of VIII, I was overcome with this feeling of nostalgia when it came to this game. That’s because Dragon Quest is THE quintessential JRPG game, the originator of all that we take for granted today. It was nice to feel right at home with a simple, effective combat system, rather than having to watch games re-invent the wheel in an attempt to stand out from the pack (sorry Xenoblade), and the story itself, while predictable and a little basic at times, was told well and told earnestly. It really nailed the feeling of going on a grand adventure, with enough twists on the formula to keep things interesting. The turn-based combat was elementary, but always presented me with fair challenges and lots of ways to solve the encounters laid before me, with enough quality-of-life features added in to minimize grind and make things more convenient. The Switch version of Dragon Quest XI featured a bunch of new content on top of a game that had more than enough going for it, and it’s clear a lot of work was done to make this port as faithful as could be, and it stands out not just as a great port on a system known for some shoddy ones, but as a title that’s brimming with as much polish and quality to rival first-party Switch titles. Don’t ban Hero in Smash and don’t miss out on this game if you haven’t taken the plunge already!

#2 – Devil May Cry 5

The Devil May Cry franchise has had its share of ups and downs over the years. For every game that’s considered a success, you have another game that doesn’t quite measure up. For years many thought the franchise was dead in the water after the attempted reboot, DMC: Devil May Cry failed to grow its audience, but when Microsoft’s E3 2018 show revealed to us a new installment, fans were ecstatic. Devil May Cry 5 boasts crisp visuals, deep combat and trims the fat, removing the wonky platforming and puzzles of earlier games to create a high-octane action experience that ultimately exceeded fan expectations. Its storyline firmly plants Devil May Cry 4’s Nero as a main character in his own right, wraps up the story of the Sparda brothers neatly, and if this ended up being the last title in the series, I think it’s that rare ending that ends up being totally satisfying. Combat is the real draw here though, the game giving players three distinct characters to learn and master. Nero’s robotic Devil Breaker arms allow him a decent amount of variety, while having a balanced, beginner-friendly combat style for new players. Dante remains the king of variety, having more weapons than ever before combined with his signature style switching, though the game is actually designed with all these options in mind so he doesn’t end up breaking the game like he did in 4. Newcomer V ends up being a breath of fresh air, controlling up to three demonic summons at once, forcing players to really think more strategically. The music is incredible too; Nero’s own theme, Devil Trigger, has been stuck in my head since last year and I don’t see it leaving any time soon. All things considered, Devil May Cry 5 might be the best game in the franchise, and a worthy contender for game of the year personally. Now if only we had a special edition with Vergil and the ladies playable…

#1 - Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I got into the Fire Emblem series with Awakening and really liked it a lot, however Fates, the next installment, left a bad taste in my mouth. I couldn’t really get into Echoes, itself a remake of the second game in the series, and I began to wonder if this franchise was really for me. I was willing to give Three Houses a shot, but I was not prepared for the game to blow past all my expectations. Fire Emblem: Three Houses isn’t just a good game, it’s a game that’s redeemed a franchise that’s stumbled a bit in recent years, and it likely cements Fire Emblem as a core Nintendo franchise for years to come. It has class, depth and real heart...with only minor creepy or pervy elements! Making a grand return to home consoles after more than a decade on handhelds, it goes big and it ultimately paid off, on track to become the best-selling entry in the series. The school setting might seem weird at first, and I wondered how well I’d adjust to it, but being able to instruct your units and influence their growth in battle was worth the learning curve. Things are introduced slowly enough that the flow of the game becomes relatively easy to manage, if a bit time-consuming overall. With four distinct storylines you can explore, TONS of character interactions and some interesting tweaks to the strategic gameplay the series is known for, I’m confident in saying that Three Houses is well-worth a purchase for newcomers to the franchise. Divine Pulse is a great quality-of-life addition that lets you undo mistakes, rather than force you to start over from scratch, and overall the UI and layout of the game gives you enough information to make informed decisions without overwhelming you. Makes me wonder how we survived before the games showed us who enemies would target on their turns before now. Admittedly, some aspects of the progression have some issues, especially at endgame, and visually the game really is not up to par most of the time, but these end up being tiny blemishes in the long run for me. They certainly weren’t bad enough to prevent me from starting a new path the instant I finished my first route. If I have one request…just make Claude a gay option. Give the people what they want, Nintendo!

Honorable Mentions

I’d like to add on some honorable mentions here before we close things out, though most of these are things I didn’t even get a chance to play, but they certainly might have made this list. For one, Resident Evil 2 Remake seems like a high-quality reinterpretation of the survival-horror classic, but I can’t do horror so I’ll likely pass it up. It’s also for that reason that I might not get to Control but I might try jumping out of my comfort zone for that one. The confusion surrounding both The Other Worlds AND The Outer Wilds is funny, but they’re both space-based games I’d be keen on getting to at some point down the line; the former is a great Western RPG by the folks who made the GOOD Fallout games, while the latter is an interesting space-faring puzzler with some interesting mechanics I’d rather not spoil for those not more in-the-know. Indie titles Sayonara Wild Hearts and GRIS definitely caught my attention with their great visuals, and in the case of the former, its soundtrack, even if the gameplay wasn’t quite there for me, and the weird fighting-game-but-kinda-RPG that is Indivisible demands my attention sooner or later. Bloodstained is the Castlevania follow-up I keep forgetting is out, and I hear great things about Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. The team behind the Yakuza series recently made a spin-off of sorts, Judgment that hit the West this year and while I like the Yakuza series for its quirky tone and fun combat, there’s still six other games I’d have to sift through, so going with Judgment, which is set to possibly begin a new franchise, seems like a good alternative. And how could I forget the likes of Shovel Knight as we finally receive the last expansion that’s been years in the making? I haven’t touched the King of Cards expansion yet, but I have the upmost faith in anything Yacht Club makes, so that’s surely a game of the year contender. 2019 was crazy good! Glad to close the year out with so much quality, and tons of great stuff to add to the ever-growing backlog.

Hope you had some good gaming memories made this year!

-B

[marie-graceg]

My friend got Blaire White and she and my jly doll are dating. We like dressing them up in matching time period outfits.... They're time traveling lesbians. Here they are in some Edwardian/Victorian garb. I love the springy vibes ahhhh

[ultravideogameaddict180]

DAYS GONE TRAILER. . . . So who’s ready for this game y’all. . . #daysgoneps4 . . . #gamers a #game . .#goty2019 . ! . . . #trialsrising #ubisoft #trials #motox #nintendoswitch #ohyeahyeah #pumptracknation #xbox #ps4 #nintendoswitch . #stadia #nintendoswitch #cuphead #cupheadgame #castlevaniagame #april2019 #gamerelease #xbox #ps4 #pcgaming #mk11 #mortalkombat #edboon #noobsaibot #netherrealmstudios #yourenext #fights #fatality #warnerbrosstudios #kombatkast https://www.instagram.com/p/BwsEg_0l0IZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=wkuwszqs4nhu

[frankjs]

#GodOfWar #GOW #GodOfWar4 #GOW4 #SantaMonicaStudios #SantaMonica #Action #Sony #Playstation #SonyPlaystation #SonyPlaystation4 #Playstation4 #PS4 #SonyPS4 #GOTY2019 #GOTY #GameOfTheYear2019 #GameOfTheYear #Geek #Videogames #Gaming #Collector #Collection #PlatstationHits #AmazonPrime #Amazon (at Etobicoke) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIJW5KSga41/?igshid=mxfwee6sgck4

[deffyismyname]

GOTY2019 Sekiro. THE BEST GAME OF 2019.

[pinklovemoon]

Shining, shimmering, splendid! 💫 I love this outfit on Blaire! #americangirl #blairewilson #goty2019 #americangirlplace #aesthetic #aestheticedits #18inchdoll #18inchdolls #pennsylvania #agig #agiger #photography #photooftheday #photo #photoshoot #americangirlphotography #photographylovers #americangirlss #americangirlfan #americangirlnyc #photographer #activeagig #activeagiger #agigphotography #americangirlinstagram (at My Pretty Little Room) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9EpmoOHWAh/?igshid=hvh3drkd1epn

[t-prime85]

[pizzaplanet666]

GO LISTEN TO MY PODCAST. IT’S OUR GAME OF THE YEAR EPISODE FOR 2019. VIDEOGAMES RULE AND SO DO YOU!

[r3pl4ycom]

Game of the Year 2019

Time to produce a game of the year 2019. This GOTY list is not like other GOTY lists. The games doesn’t necessarily have to be released in 2019, just that I played and finished them in 2019. This is because I haven’t played all the games that were released over the year so I can’t tell which one is the best. What I can say, is what games were the best of the games that I’ve played.

I have only played 31 games this year. I will not list my top 10 like other lists, but I will list my top 3.

Third best game of 2019 is: Celeste

This game was released in 2018 but I was a bit late on the ball. When I started playing it I immediately clicked with it. From playing Towerfall Ascension I already had a love for Mat Makes Games, and the music in this game was just so good at setting the atmosphere.

The story was good, the characters strong and the mountain was bested. This is definitely one of the best games I’ve played ever.

Second best game of 2019 is: Detroit Become Human

I was not prepared for the emotional investment I would have in this game. It struck me like lightning and I fell in love with the world, the characters and the story. Every part of this game is so full of life and suffering and it makes my heart quench. Sadly I think this is a one time experience. You cannot recreate the feeling by replaying the game.

Funny thing is that I played Heavy Rain just after this one and hated that game. I’m glad that I didn’t play that one first.

Best game of 2019: Tetris Effect

Who would think that my game of the year 2019 would be Tetris? Not me. But this Tetris installment is magical. I have never really clicked with Tetris, but this is more of a visual and audio journey between different worlds, with Tetris.

Once you get to the end of the game it becomes quite hard. The Tetris blocks falls so fast you rarely have time to react, but then I remembered. My reaction times are much better in VR, so I strapped on the VR helmet and I completed those last tricky levels like a king.

That’s it. Here are all the games that I’ve reviewed during 2019. I hope that 2020 will be just as good year for gaming.

Excellent: Tetris Effect

Excellent: Detroit: Become Human

Excellent: Astro Bot Rescue Mission

Excellent: Steins;Gate 0

Great: Celeste

Great: Titanfall 2

Great: New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

Great: Yoshi’s Crafted World

Great: Hitman

Great: The Banner Saga 3

Great: Cities: Skylines

Good: The Messenger

Good: Unravel Two

Good: The Count Lucanor

Good: Tacoma

Good: Trials Rising

Good: Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap

Good: Iconoclasts

Good: Doom

Good: 198X

Good: Donut County

Good: Sayonara Wild Hearts

Good: Candleman

Okay: Dark Souls Remastered

Okay: Civilization VI

Okay: Shadow Complex Remastered

Okay: Virginia

Bad: North

Bad: Rise of the Tomb Raider

Bad: Heavy Rain