This has been so fun to think about! I didn't do a very good job of keeping track of what I played before I started on RacketBoy in 2016, and I also didn't play very many games as they were new this decade, so I'm just gonna use my Games Beaten lists to scope out my favorites that I've played that came out this decade. I'm gonna keep it narrowed down to a list of 10 favorites in a simply chronological order, because otherwise this list would be far far too long XD
Blur (2010): My favorite kart racer I've ever played. Any one I've played since I've just thought to myself "damn, I could be playing Blur right now" XD. The game has SUCH a great sense of speed along with the bright cars and dark racing tracks, it really brings the feeling of a blur to how you play. The power-ups all having 2 uses makes none of them ever feel useless, and ones like the mine can really be essential to later tracks in getting good at throwing it in front of you. I'm not sure I've ever had this much fun with a kart racer, and I don't think I ever will again. Even just typing about it here makes me want to rush out and go buy it so I can play it again XD Crusader Kings II (2012): I've technically played more Civ 5 (like 350 hours more of civ 5), but 820-ish hours in CK2 is still a lot! XD. Along with the tons of time I've sunk into watching my kingdoms grow and trying to secure the best heirs, this game really helped nurture my love for world history. It helped me learn so much geography and has helped me connect a lot better with people around the world because of it. It's also given me tons of incredible stories of my favorite rulers to share (like my insane pirate king of Ireland who died on a doomed quest for immortality). If I had to pick just one big strategy game with maps I played a ton of this decade, it'd have to be CK2. Octodad (2014): One of my favorite multiplayer games ever, easily. The number of times I've used Octodad to bond with family and friends who don't even play video games very much (if at all) because of its wacky humor, simple premise, and awkward controls is too many for me to even count. Even with so many other brilliant, casual local co-op games released this decade (like Super Mario Party and Overcooked), Octodad takes the top spot for me. LISA: The Painful (2014): One of the most brilliant RPGs I've ever played. Not just the story it tells, but how it tells it, weaving together narrative with mechanics, is a high bar that other games should strive to reach. It's a game with a weird sense of humor, despite its heavy subject matter, and it's not something I can recommend to everyone. That said, I can think of very few RPGs that I've engaged with so thoroughly that I've played them back-to-back 3 times. Magicka 2: Learn to Spell... AGAIN! (2015): Where Octodad was the game I played with more casual friends, Magicka 2 was what I played with friends more used to playing video games. The controls take some time to get used to, but once you have them down this game is such a blast to play. We played through this game, must've been 4 or 5 times this decade, and I was so incredibly excited when we actually managed to beat it on very hard mode. This game has a lot of wonderful memories for me, and I'd be very remiss to omit it from a list like this. Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016): Let's not forget the BEST Paper Mario game came out this decade! X3. Taking all the good ideas from Sticker Star and making it into a game with combat that mattered and some of the best, silliest writing a Nintendo game has ever had, this game blew me away when I played it earlier this year. Easily one of my favoritest RPGs, and it easily made this list among some very stiff RPG competition. Yokai Watch 3: Sukiyaki (2016): Speaking of amazing RPGs that blew me away, Yokai Watch 3! I was already a fan of Yokai Watch before I played this one, but clocking in at 214 hours, I played 3 more than the other 4 games in the series combined. For once we had an actually good narrative (or at least a cohesive one) full of fun pop culture references and characters that had me constantly grinning ear to ear. It introduced a totally revamped battle system that took the confusing yet still too simple system of the first two games and combined with with the 3 Kingdoms tactics game to make something actually engaging and meaningful. And to top it all off, it added the Yokai Treasure Busters mode, a Diablo-style side game with an absurd amount of detail and content that by all means could've been its own stand-alone game (and eventually was). Pokemon wishes it could ever have a game as good as Yokai Watch 3, and I'm not even sure the Yokai Watch series will ever have a game this good again. Hollow Knight (2017): A long series of excellent indie Metroidvanias (that still continue to come out) has a masterpiece above all others, and that game is Hollow Knight. It brought to the table an incredibly huge map paired with an enemy variety that makes for an experience rivaling the decadence of Symphony of the Night. It has a really tight combat system and lots of awesome bosses, and overall just feels great to play. A great, fluid art style helps bring to life a dreary world with a somber narrative. Its difficulty definitely keeps it from being the most accessible game in the world, but damn if it isn't a great 2D action/adventure game. God of War (2018): I never would've guessed that it'd be Sony who'd make the best 3D Zelda-style game to date. A complete re-imagining of a classic series, Dad of War came out and changed the face of the franchise in a way I don't think anyone could've predicted. A sincere reflective story on what the series has been gives a really wonderful narrative on two people growing to love each other despite their differences with some really unprecedented pacing for a video game story. Combat is so visceral and fun to play, I was sad when I was out of optional extra bosses to fight. The game looks gorgeous and sounds great on top of that. Definitely a game you'd expect to come out at the end of a generation and stand atop its console's library in quality. La-Mulana 2 (2018): This is another fairly personal one for me. I don't think that La-Mulana 2 is a better Metroidvania than Hollow Knight, although it is definitely one of the better ones out there. A Let's Play of La-Mulana is one of the first things that got me into gaming outside of just AVGN videos on Youtube. It's, effectively, one of the reasons I'm part of so many of the communities online I am today. I played through the first game's remake eventually and adored it, but was a little sad that I'd never get to try and solve La-Mulana's many cryptic puzzles on my own. I was absolutely shocked when, on one of the last times I went on Kickstarter, a game I never thought would or could exist was on it: La-Mulana 2. I waited patiently for years for it to come out, and jumped right in the day it finally did. A whole new ruin, a whole new story, better controls, and so many new bosses: It was better than I ever really could've hoped for. I wasn't able to figure out ALL puzzles myself, but being able to try was what I really wanted most, and that's what I got. La-Mulana 2 is the culmination of a lot of feelings about video games and my time with them online, and it will always hold a very special place in my heart because of that <3
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AuthorI'm an avid gamer who likes to detail their thoughts about what they play in the hopes it might aid someone else's search for a game to play. Archives
April 2024
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