Best Games Of The Decade

OptimusTractor · 04-01-2020 2:29am

Glebee wrote: »

I was the same with witcher 3. Gave it a few goes and just found it ok. Then all of a sudden it just clickdd and wow. Masterpiece. All games are sort of ruined for me now after the witcher, none can compare.

Once you get passed the drunk Baron the game really opens up. But man one of the worst gaming characters I've ever come across.

Nijmegen · 04-01-2020 2:56am

I’m finally getting to the Witcher 3, and it is pretty amazing.

Spider-Man on PS4 is a triumph. Definitely in my games of the decade. Pick up and play and have fun, and if you like your comics then this version of Peter Parker is probably one of the best to be put on a screen.

On playtime Hearts of Iron 4 has a lot from me. I love the series. It’s more of a scenario than Paradox’s sandbox games like Crusader Kings 2, which appeals to me.

PUBG because it made me game with my mates online again for the first time in a long time. Never enjoyed the COD energy drink driven multiplayer shooters. This got me back to the good old days of slowed down tactical romps with mates. Only game over the decade that had me sharing screenshots of my accomplishments with others.

Mass Effect 2. All the feels for those characters.

Kerbal Space Program. Started playing it as a fun explosions sandbox. Ended up learning for reals about orbital mechanics and going on some pretty epic and rewarding DIY missions. In awe of seeing a plan come together and arriving in the sphere of a planet as it looms large, only to use it and one of its moons to slingshot me to another faraway planet I’d land on. Wow.

I’ve been becoming less connected to gaming over the decade and so missed or just couldn’t get into many of the “classics” (GTAV, Zelda, etc), but they are some standouts that spring to mind.

corks finest · 04-01-2020 2:59am

Mw3

Xenji · 04-01-2020 3:29am

Radiant Historia
Darkest Dungeon
Bloodborne
Overwatch
Slay The Spire
Trails of Cold Steel
The Last Of Us
Stardew Valley
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-

Encrypted Pigeon · 04-01-2020 4:14pm

No particular order, my picks are:

Rocksmith - has taken me from being a ***te guitarist to an Ok guitarist and made it fun to keep practicing.
Darksouls - Frustrated the hell out of me but constantly drew me back. I knew I could beat it and eventually did, what a moment it was.
Celeste - Like the above, a special game that drew me back despite it at times seeming like it was insurmountable.
The Last of Us - I think I enjoyed this more for the story and cinematic's than the game play but it was still awesome to play.
Kerbal Space program - Have followed this game for some time, it is fun and educational, wish I could dedicate more time to it, some people have absolutely mastered it and done crazy stuff in it.
The Last Guardian - Loved this, getting your buddy to do what you wanted at times was testing, but the story and ending was special.
Life is Strange - The end to the story left me a little shell shocked, not often I experienced that and haven't quite found anything that replicated that since.
Skyrim - I mean you just go walking in the night, you stop and look up at the sky and music kicks in and you go wow!
Batman Asylum/City - I cant decide, both felt great to play, the controls were really tight, I was at one with the bat.
Bloodborne - Feels strange picking this as I haven't finished it but it was the reason i bought a PS4, love the atmosphere and the music composition is amazing.

Honorable mentions: Horizon : ZD, Gone home, Senua's Sacrifice, What remains of Edith Finch, To the moon, Brothers - A tale of two sons, Papers Please, Beat Saber. The mentions could go on for while but will stop there.

Penn · 04-01-2020 4:36pm

OptimusTractor wrote: »

Once you get passed the drunk Baron the game really opens up. But man one of the worst gaming characters I've ever come across.

I actually liked the Baron by the end. It took me a few tries to get into TW3, but I did enjoy it a lot by the end. The main questline in Novigrad f*cking near killed me though. Talk about stretching out the storyline... It really killed a lot of the enthusiasm I had for the game and I didn't get it all back by the end either. Really sullied the entire thing for me, and as I've said elsewhere before, only for I wanted to meet new characters to get new Gwent cards, I may have given up.

73bc61lyohr0mu · 04-01-2020 4:41pm

Alien Isolation was one of my favourite games of the past decade. Being a huge Dead Space fan I craved a similar game. Granted AI is a tad too long but the atmosphere, story and setting more than make up for it.

Weepsie · 04-01-2020 5:19pm

Witcher 3. Bought on a whim. Took a while to get into it, but months and hours later I'd been hooked. It's a masterpiece to me, favourite game of all time I would say.

Last of Us. Others have put it better than I.

Zelda : A Link Between Worlds. A great throwback to the SNES era games with some brilliant ideas thrown in and typically high quality even bu Zelda standards.

Red Dead Redemption 1 & 2: Waited a long time to get a decent western game, and the first was great. The second was even better though and I can just dip in and out of it and never feel like it's much of a drag.

Uncharted 4: At the time of its release was one of the best looking things ever on a console. Didn't change the formula in anyway, was not as good as Uncharted 2 but better than 1 & 3 and just fun to play through a bit mindlessly.

Doctor Nick · 04-01-2020 6:51pm

I stopped gaming from 2009 to 2016 due to personal circumstances. The games that really drew me in when I returned were:

Arkham Trilogy. I'm in the minority but I feel these improved on each new release. I loved the linear story driven Asylum but felt the move to a more open world in City was a great move by Rocksteady especially as it allowed the devs to introduce a lot more villains for Bat's to take down. Then Knight took that to a whole other level. I understand people's frustration with the batmobile and I found it initially very frustrating. Was grand once I got to grips with it. My only disappointment with Knight was the lack of Bosses.

God of War. This one nearly went under my radar as I had no interest in the older ones. My nephew annoyed me enough to try it and wow, what an experience it was. A perfect divide between gameplay and narrative IMO. Absolutely loved it.

Resident Evil 1 and 2 remakes. Also Resident Evil 7 in VR. I honestly don't know how I missed the RE series back when they released originally. Silent Hill 1 to 3 were my favourite games from the PS1/2 era's as were the Project Zero games so survival horror was a genre I loved yet I never played these genre defining games! When I played RE1 remake it really took me back and made me remember why I loved the genre. Resident Evil 2 remake IMO is really bringing survival horror into the modern age. Fantastic game. RE7 VR was another level entirely. Almost **** myself getting chased by a mad man with a chainsaw.

Finally, every single From Software game from this decade. These are probably my favourite games in my lifetime not just this decade. From the frustration of spending hours trying to get past the first area of Bloodborne before rage quitting and trading it in (then spending months thinking about it and buying it again and finally beating it) to taking down Owl (Father) in NG+3 in Sekiro. No other games have got under my skin like these ones. No games have brought so many emotions throughout my time with them. From frustration, to anger to pure rage followed by heart pounding adrenaline, joy and elation. No other games have battered me so much yet made me want to come back and keep trying before finally succeeding. Absolutely fantastic games. Hope it continues with Elden Ring.

Retr0gamer · 06-01-2020 1:09am

Dark Souls

Always going to be a Soulsbourne game on this list. It was between this and Bloodbourne but this wins out because the PC release isn't crippled by awful framerates and broken online.

I'd say it's quite simply on of the most important games of the last 20 years but think Demon's Souls deserves that credit. However it took what made Demon's Souls great and expanded upon it. At a time when big release games were boring me to big fat salty tears it was great to have a series of games that actually trusted the player to learn and explore it's systems and world.

Shin Megami Tensei 4

I just didn't enjoy any RPG this decade as much as this one. I loved the world and story. The battle system was excellent. If there's one negative it's that the game is way too easy after the first two boss fights and the world map is terrible to navigate. Also a contender for the best soundtrack this decade.

Atelier Ayesha

I love the gameplay of the Atelier games but the stories often fall flat. Ayesha though was an exception. Ayesha's search for her missing sister was handled beautifully with real emotional pay off. I heard Escher and Logy is better but not played that enough but this stands out as the best I've played of the series and it's getting a rerelease in a few days

Journey

Took me way too long to play this game. I hated flow and hated flower with it's awful motion controls. Journey however was.... a mesmerising journey. One of the few games outside dark souls that did something new with multiplayer. I've only played this the once but feel another play through would sully what was a perfect experience.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Triple A games are ****e. Even worse are Triple A games that use the Ubisoft formula. They're garbage skinner box busy work.

Thankfully Breath of the Wild came along to show people how it should be done. BotW's main innovation is like Dark souls, it trusts the player and lets them explore it's world. It's so much more satisfying to discover a worlds secrets yourself than to have a map full of bloated busy work.

What's even more exciting about BotW is that it's not perfect. There's plenty of areas that it can be improved. I can't wait to see what Nintendo do next or what other developers try after learning from BotW. Frankly since BotW exists it's now a crime to release a bland open world game ala Days Gone or whatever Ubisoft release.

X-Com 2

I loved the first X-Com from firaxis but this game improves on it immensely. And even the bits I'm not wild about can be fixed due to just how moddable it is.

Xenoblade Chronicles

This one surprised me. It sound be horrible with all the MMO style side quests but it makes everything so much better with one simple change; you don't have to turn in side quests. It means you can happily accept anything and just organically complete them while exploring the massive gorgeous areas.

Top that off with one of the few real time battle systems that actually requires some tactical thinking and a strangely effective and moving sci-fi story.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

I could have put Mario 3D world or Odyssey here but put the one I enjoyed the most it. Just pure platform gaming perfection the only way Nintendo knows how to do.

Pikmin 3

While everyone was raving about Last of Us, a chest high wall simulator with a decent story, I was enjoying Pikmin 3 far more. Criminally ignored because of the platform it was on, Pikmin 3 really is one of the very best games this generation.

La Mulana 2

Loved the original despite it's sometimes too obtuse puzzles. La Mulana 2 fixes a lot of flaws with the original but still keeps a focus on puzzle based exploration. Still the only series that makes you feel like an actual Indiana jones esque explorer. Not for everyone as you need to take actual notes in this game and can get horribly stuck at times.

Axiom Verge

In terms of indie metroidvanias this is probably the best. The glitch gun changes up the game in interesting ways that manages to differentiate it from other metroidvanias that would be considered for my list.

I feel I'm forgetting a lot of indie games here.....

sweetie · 07-01-2020 5:03pm

Bloodborne
Dark Souls series (inc dlc)
Sekiro
Hollow Knight
Alien Isolation
Breath of the Wild
Celeste
The last of us
Dishonered series (inc dlc)
Last guardian

honorable mentions: Nioh, Shadow of Mordor, brothers, inside, RE2, far cry 3, dead space 2

08-01-2020 9:13am

No love for Starcraft 2 and it's expansions ffs
One of the greatest RTS campaigns ever created

Mr.Fantastic · 08-01-2020 9:52am

1. Breath of the wild
What a game , was absolutely blown away when i first booted it up and climbed my first mountain in the distance. Nintendo really captivated the joy of exploration.

2.The Witcher 3
I had just bought my ps4 in 2015 and this was the second game that I was able to get. For me this was true next gen, was already a fan after completing the witcher 2 on xbox 360. Picked it up used by chance in gamestop.

3.The last of us:remastered
Didn't reinvent the wheel but was really impressed with the story beats and the action set pieces. plus loved the ending what a gut punch.

4.Bloodborne
When I first got this it kicked my ass, but perserved and conquered it a few times. Still have one playthrough to get the plat.

5.Mass effect trilogy
Less said about the last one, the better. Highpoint for me was the second one.

6.Sekiro
Again another masterclass fromsoftware. The parrying system in this is addictive. It does hand your ass to you a few times but the learning curve is not as steep as souls.

7.God Of war
Great story, great gameplay. Was unconvinced when I first heard this , but I got a lend of it and I did not regret it. Amazing.

8. Bioshock
This might be a bit dated now but that twist still holds up.

9.Darkest dungeon
Lost many hours to this game strategizing on the best party to bring into the dungeons. Also loved the stress mechanic even if it was a tad infuriating at times.

10.Control
Just finished this recently but from the gameplay and the weirdness of the story. Was a hit for me, loved alan wake back in the day and this is even better.

Notable mentions

Dead cells
Cuphead
Hyper light drifter
Firewatch
Hotline miami
The messenger
oxenfree
Nioh
Resident evil 2

Atlas_IRL · 08-01-2020 10:18am

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate - Literally have 600+ hours into this. My friends who don't play games or own consoles are obsessed with it and we'd play 8hrs straight on the projector without batting an eyelid.

B.A._Baracus · 08-01-2020 10:25am

Battlefield 3 (Mainly the multiplayer) Spent many hours playing that game.

Homelander · 08-01-2020 10:37am

For me, it would have to be Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4. Not without their faults, but what amazing worlds to get lost in for 100's of hours.

Multiplayer wise, Battlefield 4, Halo Reach and Overwatch. Good shout to Apex Legends as well.

FortuneChip · 08-01-2020 10:56am

The Last Of Us - Just a cinematic joy, with brilliant characters and story, and the least annoying "escort mission" I've come across in gaming.

Dark Souls - Perfect graduation from Demon's Souls, unlocking the labyrinth, diving into complete unknown areas to arrive back at the Firelink Shrine always put a smile on my face. Tough, but fair, and incredibly rewarding.

XCom 2 - I hate that this game made me grow attached to 2D characters that could die at any moment, and then repeating the process again and again. Wasn't massively sold on the final missions and could be a bit buggy on PS4, but all-in-all, I loved this game. It was so rewarding to complete a mission flawlessly, or unlocking a new tech, or surviving a near death experience.

Rocket League - Simple concept, perfectly executed. I've pumped more hours into this in the last decade than any other game, by a distance. So easy to pick up and play.

Diablo 3: Reaper Of Souls - My first Diablo game, and it's set a high bar. Just good hack & slash fun with tonnes of looting. Always felt like you were progressing.

TitianGerm · 08-01-2020 12:10pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Dark Souls

Always going to be a Soulsbourne game on this list. It was between this and Bloodbourne but this wins out because the PC release isn't crippled by awful framerates and broken online.

I'd say it's quite simply on of the most important games of the last 20 years but think Demon's Souls deserves that credit. However it took what made Demon's Souls great and expanded upon it. At a time when big release games were boring me to big fat salty tears it was great to have a series of games that actually trusted the player to learn and explore it's systems and world.

Shin Megami Tensei 4

I just didn't enjoy any RPG this decade as much as this one. I loved the world and story. The battle system was excellent. If there's one negative it's that the game is way too easy after the first two boss fights and the world map is terrible to navigate. Also a contender for the best soundtrack this decade.

Atelier Ayesha

I love the gameplay of the Atelier games but the stories often fall flat. Ayesha though was an exception. Ayesha's search for her missing sister was handled beautifully with real emotional pay off. I heard Escher and Logy is better but not played that enough but this stands out as the best I've played of the series and it's getting a rerelease in a few days

Journey

Took me way too long to play this game. I hated flow and hated flower with it's awful motion controls. Journey however was.... a mesmerising journey. One of the few games outside dark souls that did something new with multiplayer. I've only played this the once but feel another play through would sully what was a perfect experience.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Triple A games are ****e. Even worse are Triple A games that use the Ubisoft formula. They're garbage skinner box busy work.

Thankfully Breath of the Wild came along to show people how it should be done. BotW's main innovation is like Dark souls, it trusts the player and lets them explore it's world. It's so much more satisfying to discover a worlds secrets yourself than to have a map full of bloated busy work.

What's even more exciting about BotW is that it's not perfect. There's plenty of areas that it can be improved. I can't wait to see what Nintendo do next or what other developers try after learning from BotW. Frankly since BotW exists it's now a crime to release a bland open world game ala Days Gone or whatever Ubisoft release.

X-Com 2

I loved the first X-Com from firaxis but this game improves on it immensely. And even the bits I'm not wild about can be fixed due to just how moddable it is.

Xenoblade Chronicles

This one surprised me. It sound be horrible with all the MMO style side quests but it makes everything so much better with one simple change; you don't have to turn in side quests. It means you can happily accept anything and just organically complete them while exploring the massive gorgeous areas.

Top that off with one of the few real time battle systems that actually requires some tactical thinking and a strangely effective and moving sci-fi story.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

I could have put Mario 3D world or Odyssey here but put the one I enjoyed the most it. Just pure platform gaming perfection the only way Nintendo knows how to do.

Pikmin 3

While everyone was raving about Last of Us, a chest high wall simulator with a decent story, I was enjoying Pikmin 3 far more. Criminally ignored because of the platform it was on, Pikmin 3 really is one of the very best games this generation.

La Mulana 2

Loved the original despite it's sometimes too obtuse puzzles. La Mulana 2 fixes a lot of flaws with the original but still keeps a focus on puzzle based exploration. Still the only series that makes you feel like an actual Indiana jones esque explorer. Not for everyone as you need to take actual notes in this game and can get horribly stuck at times.

Axiom Verge

In terms of indie metroidvanias this is probably the best. The glitch gun changes up the game in interesting ways that manages to differentiate it from other metroidvanias that would be considered for my list.

I feel I'm forgetting a lot of indie games here.....

You forgot Ace Combat :pac:

Homelander · 08-01-2020 12:13pm

I think he's saving it for the 1,000 page hardback book he's working on

jones · 08-01-2020 2:57pm

So many good games...in no particular order (PS4):

The Last of Us (story telling perfection?)
Witcher 3 (knew nothing about it when i got it after about 3 hours LOVED IT)
Mass Effect 2 (so so good - peak of bioware's powers?)
God of War (I loved the original and was not expecting much from this - how wrong was i)
Bloodborne (far superior to Dark Souls IMO)
Farcry 3 (the decent into madness is so well told and crazy open world)
GTA 5 (Game is still top of the selling lists incredible)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (not without its issues but what an open world)
Horizon Zero Dawn
Spiderman

CrankyHaus · 08-01-2020 3:14pm

Fallout New Vegas - 2010.
Buggy AF on release and surpassed in graphics and mechanics by the successor FO4 the brilliant writing of this game is its saving grace. Compelling characters in a world of moral grey where opposing ideologies of governance clash against a retro future spaghetti western backdrop. Even now I can't play it without laughing at the dialogue options, especially the "remedial" ones you get if you play at level 1 Intelligence. The later iteration with the bugs fixed and enormous modding upgrades available still holds up as a quality game.

mrmorgan · 11-01-2020 12:26am

GTA 5 has to be, it's something else.

the detail on the online map is just crazy

tjhook · 14-01-2020 4:38pm

I could only come up with these off the top of my head. They're not for everybody :P

In no particular order:

Hellblade - Senua's Sacrifice (I played in VR)
DCS (Digital Combat Simulator)
Elite Dangerous (Again, in VR)
Red Dead Redemption
Minecraft (I didn't play it, but I recognise the impact it had on others, particularly encouraging younger people to code)
XCom - Enemy Unknown
Kerbal Space Program
FIFA 16 *
Limbo
Rayman Origins

(* Not Really, just checking if you're paying attention)

H3llR4iser · 16-01-2020 2:02pm

No "list of the games of the decade" can be complete without Skyrim, folks. Imagine all the "I was an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee" memes and jokes we'd be missing out on. Which gets me thinking "it's time for TES VI!", but I digress.

As a big fan of the first Deus Ex game, I appreciated Mankind Divided, even if it's not on par with the very first game.

I am another rare person who doesn't get the love for The Witcher 3 - but maybe in my case it's the fact a game like that doesn't "feel right" with a pre-designed player character. I guess I'm pretty much too used to the Ultima/TES model.

tjhook wrote: »

Hellblade - Senua's Sacrifice (I played in VR)
DCS (Digital Combat Simulator)
Elite Dangerous (Again, in VR)
Red Dead Redemption
Minecraft (I didn't play it, but I recognise the impact it had on others, particularly encouraging younger people to code)
XCom - Enemy Unknown
Kerbal Space Program
FIFA 16 *
Limbo
Rayman Origins

The three I've put in bold there are awfully underrated games, probably suffering from their "niche" approach; DCS filled a gigantic gap that existed in terms of military flight simulators - people were basically still playing Falcon 4.0 before that.

Xcom...well it's XCom - while it doesn't instill the sheer terror of the original.

Kerbal Space Program...what other game will teach you orbital mechanics while shooting green dumb beings to space?

Retr0gamer · 16-01-2020 2:39pm

Except Skyrim isn't that great. Plenty of far more deserving RPGs and when the Witcher 3 and fallout new Vegas exists it doesn't deserve a look in in a Best Western rpg competition.

B.A._Baracus · 16-01-2020 2:52pm

Mankind Divided was amazing.
One the best looking cities i've ever seen. Reminded me of first play City 17 in Half Life 2.

Sonics2k · 16-01-2020 3:04pm

If there was a category for Love/hate Award, I'd give it to Skyrim.

Skyrim's combat is just so insanely average, barely improved from the older Elder Scrolls games. Quests aren't so much buggy as they are just plain broken, quite often conflicting quests don't correctly cancel each other out.

Hell, for years you couldn't alt+tab out of the game without it breaking the mouse pointer in the game, forcing you to restart the game.

There's also like 5-6 different voices in the game, which is pathetic for when it was released.

But on the other hand it's also extremely immersive, and with some decent mods it becomes a truly incredible experience.

GhostofKNugget · 16-01-2020 3:22pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Except Skyrim isn't that great. Plenty of far more deserving RPGs and when the Witcher 3 and fallout new Vegas exists it doesn't deserve a look in in a Best Western rpg competition.

It must win some sort of prize for most remasters and re-releases...

gimli2112 · 16-01-2020 4:20pm

Sonics2k wrote: »

If there was a category for Love/hate Award, I'd give it to Skyrim.

That's not a bad idea for a thread. Maybe it's just because I recently completed Control which gave me that vibe. Battlefield 4 is one though that I've loved and hated like few others. Hate is wrong for it actually but it drove me insane at times.

Sagats_knee · 16-01-2020 4:20pm

Few I can think of -

Amnesia - The dark descent
Alien isolation.
Kingdom come, deliverance (better than Skyrim IMO).
Crusader Kings 2 (once the decent DLC is added).
Life is strange.
Hellblade; Senua’s sacrifice.
Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Honourable mentions

Arma2 Dayz mod, (absolutely broken but had immense fun playing solo before the hackers ruined it)
Elite Dangerous.
Battletech.
Rimworld.
Prey.
Soma.
Doom.

Best Games Of The Decade

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