Best of the 2010s - Video Games

The last decade was pretty huge for video games. Game streaming services became big all too quickly, Sony and Microsoft attempted to make consoles that contain similar specs to gaming PCs and sort of succeeded, Nintendo started bad but ended good with their line ups and so much more. Also in this decade, a new generation of gaming started with 4K becoming the next big thing for graphics as well as the idea of tablet based gaming. Mobile gaming also took off and companies like Google also wanted a piece of the action while companies like Disney made the bold move to license out their properties to focus on mobile games (i.e. Star Wars with EA). So yeah a lot to talk about. So as I mentioned in the monthly update on Monday, this list is looking at the ten best games of the decade (one per year) with runner ups so that no great game misses out. Obviously I have had to play said games and think really positively of them. Also apart from those with significant changes (i.e. gameplay and graphics), I will not be including any ports, remakes or compilations. So let's get this thing started:



2010 - Mass Effect 2

2010 was a year that saw a number of great games get released. Not just that, but it was a time when Humble Bundle (a place to buy bundles of games for a reasonable price with all the money going to charity) started up, Microsoft and Nintendo entered the motion gaming scene to compete with Nintendo and a newer version of the Xbox 360 was released and the PS2 was still going. The games were all pretty good (with some stinkers and okish games), but the one game I really enjoyed playing that came out that year was Mass Effect 2. This game followed a trend when the second game of a trilogy or series of games, was arguably the best game and there are many reasons why that is. Despite the game serving as build up to what would be Mass Effect 3, it was among the first games to be able to transfer saves from the previous game so that all decisons made in that game would carry over. It also had a big empathsis on getting ready for the big suicide mission at the end so players would have to ensure that all squad members (the line up of which was the biggest in the series so far) are loyal, the Normandy ship is all upgraded to the best of its ability and that you take it onto yourself to ensure that everyone survives. Now when I did my first playthrough, sure there were a few people that died in the mission, but I was successful. Later playthroughs I would get it right and everyone would survive. A big ask I know, but it was a fantastic game that totally set the stage for Mass Effect 3. Plus I have to admire the characters who are all very memorable and after the game's release, they all became very popular characters. So yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed playing this and I suggest you give it a try too. But of course also try the runner ups too for each of the years.

Runner Ups

• Limbo
• Red Dead Redemption
• Super Mario Galaxy 2
• Super Meat Boy
• God of War III
• Heavy Rain
• Donkey Kong Country Returns
• Mafia II
• Fable III
• Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
  

2011 - L.A. Noire

2011 was a big year for games. Many of the games that came out, people are still playing today and new fanbases were formed with them too. Also this year, the blue blur that is Sonic the Hedgehog celebrated his 20th anniversary, Nintendo innovate again with the "no 3D glasses required" Nintendo 3DS, Jak and Daxter celebrate their 10th anniversary all the while the earthquake of Tohoku delays many releases and causes some servers to shut down which is probably out of respect for the fallen. Now you are probably wondering why out of all the games this year did I pick L.A. Norie as my personal favourite of that year. Well its really down to the technology that was used in making it. I mean yes nowadays any developer can put a real face to characters in a game, but while 2010's Heavy Rain was considered an interactive film per say, L.A. Norie was a full on game with all the usual tropes of a Rockstar game despite the huge empathsis on being a 1940s police detective in Los Angeles. Being a detective in this game was actually pretty fun. Lots of investigations done, knowing if a person is lying or not based on  their facial expressions and yeah it was a really great game. A shame that a then new IP like that never got a sequel (which was down to arguments between Rockstar and the actual developers in Team Bondi), but it did get a re-release in later years as well as a VR experience so at least it was never gone to waste. Also what Rockstar learnt from this game, they would go on to use in their later games. So yeah may not have been as big or iconic as some of the runners up below, but it did what many thought was impossible in giving a real face to not just some characters, but all of them and paying attention to detail with giving us an experience unlike any other.

Runner Ups:

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Portal 2
• Minecraft
• Rayman Origins
• Batman: Arkham City
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
• LittleBigPlanet 2
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• Dead Island
• Infamous 2
• Sonic Generations
  

2012 - TellTale's The Walking Dead

In the wake of us learning that the world could end in December of 2012, we got a line up of games that to sum up were not as we were expecting. The much anticipated Mass Effect 3 ended up being a great game with a terrible ending that made all the choices we made prior to go to waste. Hitman: Absolution while also a good game, became too non liner than its predecessors and caused one particular lady to think that you have to kill females to pass through, but the truth of the matter is you don't need to. And Assassin's Creed III gave us a good experience, but some characters that are just not as lovable as Ezio (well apart from Connor of course) and a slow pace to start with. But enough negativity as this year also saw the 25th anniversary of Mega Man, Street Fighter and Metal Gear. The Wii U and the PlayStation Vita both came out this year and as we all know, they were both complete flops in the end. And SEGA made some questionable changes to their western market. So yeah, not the best year, but we still had a few good games to play. So TellTale at this point had already made a few games, but needed some kind of recognition to compete with other companies. So they went and gave us an episodic series based on the ever so popular The Walking Dead and it sold like hot cakes and won several awards. As is their name sake, the story is original and is set within the comic book universe over the TV universe, itself a prequel to the comic book series. The game's focus is on one Lee Everett, a convict who was on the way to serve his sentence moments before the walker outbreak. Being among those who weren't affected, he then meets a little girl called Clemintine and works to protect both of them from the dangerous world that they now live in while meeting fellow survivors along the way. It was a great but simple game that really showed how well TellTale can do the story telling and helped them put themselves on the map. They would then go on to make sequels and other games with great story telling until they closed down in 2018 during the development of the final game in this series. Its a really great game and one worth playing if all you care about is the story and want a break from Rick and the gang. The best game of 2012 in my opinion, but despite some issues with most of the other games released then, its not the only good game to come out in that year.

Runner Ups:

• Journey
• Mass Effect 3
• Assassin's Creed III
• Hitman: Absolution
• Fez
• Sleeping Dogs
• Resident Evil 6
• LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
• Street Fighter X Tekken
  

2013 - The Last of Us

In a year largely dominated by newer gen consoles like the PS4, Xbox One and Nvidia Shield (all released in 2013 too), it was good to see that seventh gen consoles wanted to go out with a bang and so they did. With the Wii U already been revealed (and would eventually flop as previously mentioned), more games for that console came out and towards the end of the PS3 era, Naughty Dog gave us The Last of Us. Just when we thought we all figured out what everyone's top favourite PS3 game is, out came this game that gave us a realistic attempt at a zombie apocalypse and it was really good. Great survival based gameplay, a great cinematic feel all around and performances that were really a major step up. It truly was the best game of the PS3 era and just like the Uncharted games, it too still looks great today with its PS4 remaster/port making it all the more better. I am really glad that it is getting a sequel because it is such a great game. Has a lot of heart pounding moments, but nevertheless a great game as are the list below.

Runner Ups:

• Flappy Bird
• Papers, Please
• The Stanley Parable
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Super Mario 3D World
• BioShock: Infinite
• Tomb Raider (2013)
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Saints Row IV
• DmC: Devil May Cry
• Rayman Legends
• Injustice: Gods Among Us
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• LEGO Marvel Superheroes
• Tearaway
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Beyond: Two Souls
• Dead Rising 3
  

2014 - Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

2014 was a pretty busy year for gaming. Atari entered the Social Casino market after emerging from bankruptcy, Sony announced their streaming service (as did EA) and a VR incentive for PlayStation customers, Microsoft acquired Mojang and the Gears of War franchise for a huge amount of money, Nintendo released a newer version of the Nintendo 3DS while also shutting down the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection servers (EA did something similar), Facebook acquired Oculus and GamerGate was hit with controversy. All that plus a bunch of other things too that saw 2014 as probably the busiest year for gaming yet. So ever since the Middle-Earth films came out, we have all been wanting that huge triple A title set within that universe and this year we would get just that. Set at an undisclosed time between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings films, we would get this game about a revived captain of Gondor who alongside the spirit wriath of Celebrimbor, goes out to form an army of orc like creatures in an attempt to avenge his family while allowing the wriath to enact revenge on Sauron. As the game that it was, it was more or less like most open world games and used some elements seen in the Batman: Arkham series and the Assassin's Creed series. But it was really good. An open world Middle-Earth to explore that's full of lore, collectibles and plenty of orcs to kill, challenge and make a leader out of. Really didn't get any better than that, but a few other games to try out too are below.

Runner Ups:

• Mario Kart 8
• Shovel Knight
• South Park: The Stick of Truth
• Watch_Dogs
• Sunset Overdrive
• Infamous: Second Son 

2015 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

This was another busy year for gaming. The Nintendo Switch (formally known as the NX) and PlayStation VR (formally known as Project Morpheus) were both in production, several corparate shake ups were happening, beloved game developer BioWare celebrated its 20th anniversary, Windows 10 got released and a lot of other stuff too. But also this year, the gaming industry lost the legend that is Satoru Iwata who died so young, but will live on forever in the gaming world. So in a year of all of that, the game I pick as my top favourite just so happens to be based on a book series and recently became a series on Netflix starring Superman himself, Henry Cavill. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt is probably considered to be a game that comes ever so close to perfection. With great narration, great gameplay and a fantastic open world to explore, this game really was as close to perfection as we are going to get. Its got monsters, RPG elements, magic, lots of Gwent games to play and even something for the male players that is often considered controversial in gaming (despite nearly every known form of media having similar content but is never questioned for it). A great fun game that is worth every penny it gets as are the runner ups below.

Runner Ups:

• Super Mario Maker
• Undertale
• Rocket League
• Fallout 4
• Batman: Arkham Knight
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Until Dawn
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
• Mortal Kombat X
• Just Cause 3
• Guitar Hero Live
• Minecraft: Story Mode
• LEGO Dimensions
• Mad Max
• Yoshi's Wooly World
• Disney Infinity 3.0
  

2016 - Stardew Valley

In what was arguably considered one of the worst years in this decade, we still got a few good games and the collected renevue of games also went up. As well as that, this year saw even more corporate shake ups, EA gave Windows its new online subscription service, Steam got loads of competitors who all try to match them, Pokemon and Resident Evil celebrated their 20th anniversaries as did Tomb Raider, production of the Xbox 360 was shut down, Disney decided to focus on licensing out their properties over self publishing titles, beloved gaming press website GameTrailers was shut down with IGN acquiring most of its assets, Sonic celebrated his 25th anniversary, THQ was reborn into THQ Nordic and more stuff happened as well. But the biggest thing that happened this year was the launch of VR gaming with the release of the original Oculus Rift by Facebook, the HTC Vive by Valve and as previously mentioned the PlayStation VR by Sony (obviously). 4K gaming was launched within the newer PS4 and Xbox One consoles that were released this year as well. Plus Nintendo started to make retro games relevant again with the release of the NES mini. In terms of gaming, we got lots of new entries to well established titles as well as the innovative Pokemon Go that became the first Pokemon game to be like the games but in real life and using your phones. But out of all the games to come out this year, the one I enjoyed the most was Stardew Valley. Sure it wasn't a massive game or the game everyone wanted to play at first. But it was a very nostalgic game that managed to combine elements from several gaming franchises with the most notable one being Harvest Moon minus the time limit. So you play as a farmer who has left the big city to start a new life in the titular Stardew Valley in which you farm, battle monsters in the caves, interact and possibly fall for some of the inhabitants and basically everything else that you can think of when you play a game like Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing. Its great fun, very relaxing and quite nostalgic too with no limits. Plus with it now being multi-platform, this means now everyone can play and not just those with a PC. So yeah give this a try and also check out the others below.

Runner Ups:

• The Witness
• Pokemon Go
• Uncharted 4: A Theif's End
• Batman: The TellTale Series
• Mafia III
• Hitman (2016)
• Watch_Dogs 2
• LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens

2017 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This year marked a return to form for Nintendo with the release of the Switch which bought about full HD gaming and managed to become so successful that many of the major game publishers returned to make games for the console while also porting games that the Wii U missed out on. As well as that, even more corporate shake ups occur, we lose another beloved person said to be the founder of Namco, IO Interactive made the bold move to become independent while retaining rights to the Hitman franchise and another Call of Duty game causes some real life violence to occur. So the year saw a lot of nostalgia, dramatic changes to franchise traditions and loot boxes of all things. The best game this year just so happens to be the best game on both the Wii U and the Nintendo Switch even today. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a very good game that manages to turn Hyrule into a massive open world playground that is full of puzzles and surprises. It marks a new era for the franchise and also managed to do a lot of new things in an otherwise overly predictable form of game that has been done a billion times before. Its literally breath taking, difficult but easy to get to grips with and the game can be played for hours so Nintendo did really well here. It was also the strongest launch title for the Switch which kind of goes without saying and helped make the console as successful as it still is today. But of course its not the only good game to come out of 2017 as seen below.

Runner Ups:

• Cuphead
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
• Inside
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Assassin's Creed: Origins
• Injustice 2
• Crash Bandicoot N'Sane Trilogy
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• South Park: The Fractured But Whole
• Sonic Forces
• Sonic Mania
• For Honor
• Friday the 13th: The Game
• Mass Effect: Andromeda
• Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite
• Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
  

2018 - Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

This year saw lots of brilliant games come out. Many of which were further entries in already well established franchises and it was great. This year had even more corporate shake ups (which happens every year it seems), another case of real life violence but from an e-sports event this time and all these great games. Fighting Norse gods, cowboys, almost every known villain of Spider-Man and even for survival is nothing compared to quite possibly the biggest Assassin's Creed game so far. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is funnily enough a prequel and sequel to Assassin's Creed Origins and its past setting is that of Greek mythology. The game takes inspiration from other games like it to make it more of a player's experience in terms of choosing answers to certain events and how much stuff you can do which includes taking down Templar like forces, mythological beings and even the player's own brother or sister. Its a brilliant game and also the longest game I have played in the series so far (which must mean good things). So do check this one out as well as those below.

Runner Ups:

• God of War (2018)
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Marvel's Spider-Man
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Detroit: Become Human
• Hitman 2 (2018)
• A Way Out
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Jurassic World: Evolution
• Soulcalibur VI
• Spyro Reignited Trilogy
• Conan Exiles
  

2019 - Kingdom Hearts III

This was probably my worst year for gaming. With games getting ever so expensive and my wallet taking its toll, I didn't play as many games in the year that just ended. But this year saw many new entries to beloved franchises as well as the end to some franchises too (or rather well established stories within franchises). In addition, there were some more corporate shake ups, Google announced and released their console-less gaming platform Stadia (which had mixed results), EA sought to resolve things and announced that they would release games on Steam again, TellTale was revived as a brand new company under LCG Entertainment and Nintendo released a newer version of the Switch which had a mixed response. Of the very few games that I have played in 2019, the best one for me was Kingdom Hearts III. With a change of pace in almost every aspect compared to previous entries, this game marked the end of an era for the series and with it came some big worlds with something unique about each one while being based on a beloved Disney property. Pixar was also involved this time and with their help (which I have been told took years and years of back and forth discussions), the likes of Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Ratatoulie all made an appearance in some capacity. It still remains to be one of the biggest games of last year and I do hope it continues on into this new decade. But despite the greatness of this much anticipated game, its not entirely perfect. But its enough to give gamers and satisfactory experience that concludes the Dark Seeker saga while still being confusing as always with its story. Worth checking out as well as the runner up below.

Runner Up: Super Mario Maker 2


The 2010s has been an amazing decade that saw great changes in video games and here's hoping that the 2020s will give us even more great games and more great platforms to play them on whether it be in a physical medium or not. And do let me know what your favourite games of the last decade are in the comments below. Next up will be films.