It was hard to narrow down my top seven for 2019. I managed to finish more games in 2019 than the previous year—total games completed was 31. There were a lot of games just on the fringes, competing for a place among the stars. But tough choices needed to be made.
7. METRO EXODUS: The newest Metro is bigger and more ambitious than the previous game in the series. It has two main large open areas that play out more like STALKER than anything else. In between those open spaces are a few more linear moments, like the series has done before. I enjoyed exploring the snowy region around Volga because the pacing is relaxed. The story bits on the train in between the various levels, involving characters (e.g. Anna) were a nice way to tie everything together, and the different endings might make it worth replaying at one point.
6. AGE OF WONDERS: PLANETFALL: Triumph studios have followed up Age of Wonders 3 with a great sequel. It takes the fantasy series into the sci-fi realm with a few tweaks. You can see the similarities in the different factions (space dwarves) and the game plays out largely the same with a bit more emphasis on world control and taking cover in turn-based combat. It is so easy to lose hours and hours playing one game against AI forces. Building an army and then steamrolling the enemy is satisfying, even if it takes a while.
5. RESIDENT EVIL 2: I only ever played the original RE2 briefly (on PlayStation), so most of this game was completely new territory. And for me it was a brilliant mix of managing resources, exploring creepy locations, and shooting various enemies. It even tosses in a few puzzles to change up the pacing. Looks superb and runs excellently. CAPCOM have been doing great things lately and RE2 is well up there.
4. A PLAGUE TALE: INNOCENCE: Chalk this one up as a fantastic story-driven game from a relatively unknown studio. The developers have a lot of talent when it comes to pacing and taking players on an adventure. Plus it’s neat to have swarming rats be a main enemy and using light to prevent being eaten. Ultimately this game is just an enjoyable experience with quite high production values.
3. CONTROL: Remedy brought back the weirdness from Alan Wake in their newest game. Control is packed full of tremendously satisfying combat encounters where you use powers and a couple of weapon types. The way the environments crumble during battle just adds to the style and speed. Plus I really loved some of the characters (Dr. Darling gets a special mention for his Dynamite song). Looking forward to see what Remedy can handle next now they seem to have shifted back to delivering consistent and plentiful action.
2. THE OUTER WORLDS: Obsidian went back in time with this delightful planet-hopping space adventure. It’s a bit like Fallout: New Vegas and I loved that game. The worlds you explore are not huge but they are large enough and packed with interesting places and people. You take command of a small team of different characters that have their own backgrounds and skills. Slow-motion combat works better than the VATs style in the Fallout 3+ games. One of the greatest things about The Outer Worlds is how it bends and adapts to player choice. You can kill people, bribe them, sneak past, disagree, or just convince them to do something. It all adjusts so well that I was genuinely surprised by how polished it was versus the competition (Deus Ex, Bloodlines, Fallout). It would be fantastic to see a sequel or another game with a similar setup.
1. TRINE 4: THE NIGHTMARE PRINCE: No other game made me smile so much as the fourth game in the Trine series. Every new scene just had me grinning ear to ear and it was almost hard to leave to the next zone. It is a beautiful experience to traverse these stunning 2.5D environments and solve puzzles and meet fantastical characters. Going back through levels to find the vials I missed was calming and fulfilling. It’s even a bit longer than the second game in the series, so it provides good value at a budget price.
Trine 4 does everything it sets out to do and has whimsical fun doing it. Frozenbyte have recovered well after their unfinished and overly ambitious third game. Hopefully they can now continue making great platformers of a similar style. Trine 4 is technically top-tier, artistically accomplished, musically mesmerizing, and pleasingly puzzling. And that is why it gets my top billing for 2019.
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Honorable mentions
Apex Legends: Battle Royale games are not really my thing but Apex is probably the first one that I’ve really enjoyed. Part of this is because it gives you a chance of coming back after death and there are also a few other teamwork related features (like pinging) that cut a lot of the “fat” from the sub-genre that is pretty crowded. I have not played it much since launch, and the microtransaction side of things is bad, but I still enjoyed my time with it.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: The latest COD is pretty solid. It’s not far off being one of the best in the series. The campaign was dependable and varied. Multiplayer changes some things just slightly, to bring back that feeling from the older games in the series. It needs a bit of work on performance and the spec ops mode is disappointing. I generally like the gameplay online though, aside from a few bad maps that don’t quite have the structure that I think works.
2020 looks to be pretty crazy with releases. The new consoles are probably going to be a bit different than previous gens because I can see them being more like PC “upgrades” which will mean more cross-gen hoopla and back compatibility. Hopefully developers can get the most out of the different platforms.
There are plenty of games I’m looking forward to in 2020: Cyberpunk 2077, Last of Us 2, Wolf Among Us 2, Dying Light 2, Doom Eternal, Atomic Heart, Vampire Bloodlines 2, and GTFO.
Thanks for reading (this is my 100th blog).