Argyle's Top 10 Games of 2019

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argyle
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Argyle's Top 10 Games of 2019

Post by argyle »

I completely expected to struggle filling out a top 10 list this year. I mean, I knew I had played some great games but I just didn't think there had been quite ten of them. So when I went to look back over my list of completed games I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had the opposite problem - I had a really hard time narrowing the list down to only ten! Not only that, once I had my ten putting them in order proved more difficult than usual. I know I usually say that my top 3 or 4 could probably be interchangeable, but this year just about the entire list outside of I'd say number 1 & number 10 could be shuffled and I would be happy with it. Honestly, everything on this list gets my highest recommendation. Oh and before I forget, The Outer Worlds didn't make the list because I still haven't finished it. Got sidetracked, but I expect to wrap it up soon-ish and I imagine it will end up on my 2020 list. ;)

Also, if there was any doubt before - and there wasn't really - this year solidly confirmed my love for the Switch. Exactly half of this list is made up of games I played on the Switch, the other half being PS4. And it would have been 6-4 in favor of the Switch if the Bloodstained port hadn't been so bad. The Switch is hands-down the best console Nintendo has ever put out.

Anyway, with no further delay, here's my top 10 for 2019:


10. The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince - A charming little game from early in the year that I almost forgot about, but one that definitely belongs on the list. The puzzle/platformer gameplay manages to stay fresh throughout the game and the graphical style and general storybook feel give it a real modern-day fairytale vibe that works great. This is one I'd definitely like to revisit.


9. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - While I've played every console Zelda game (no, I'm not counting the CD-I travesties...) there are still several of the portable games I've never played. Link's Awakening was one of them. The Switch remake looks amazing and the classic gameplay still holds up very well. The only reason it's a little lower on the list is because it has some design decisions that are a little obtuse that are just relics of when it was made. I still had a blast with it from beginning to end, and I hope Nintendo looks into other Zelda remakes (I'd love to see the Oracle of Seasons / Ages games get this treatment).


8. Luigi's Mansion 3 - Luigi's Mansion is one of my favorite Nintendo series, and the third one was definitely the best yet. A few small gameplay additions and tweaks (the biggest probably being "Gooiugi", Luigi's slime doppleganger that you have to use to solve some puzzles) and environments that end up going far outside of what you would think of from a hotel work together to elevate the game to a new level. The amazing animations don't hurt either, along with a stellar soundtrack and the usual Nintendo polish that you would expect. The only nit-picks I have with this one are some unnecessary backtracking and a little too much trial-and-error in the boss fights.


7. Adventure Pals - Until I looked back over my completed list, I could have sworn I played this game in 2018. Nope, it was just early last year - that says more to how long last year felt to me in general than anything else. Regardless, this is one of the best 2D platformers I've played in years, indie or not. Another game with an insane amount of charm, a great sense of humor and just spot-on gameplay. I did absolutely everything there was to do in this game and was still sad to see it end. If you care anything at all about platformer games, you need to play this.


6. Resident Evil 2 - I thought for sure this one was going to end up higher on my list, but here we are. I never played RE2 back in the day, so I was looking forward to giving the remake a go. I didn't expect to love it as much as I did, however. The charm of the old-school gameplay elements - those kookie RE style puzzles, for example - are still in tact. And of course the graphics look phenomenal. But the real magic is in what they chose to *change* with the game, the elements that they subtly modernized to turn this into the model for remakes to come. This isn't just RE2 with a fresh coat of paint. Because of this game, the RE3 remake has become one of my most anticipated games of 2020.


5. Pokemon Sword - One of the perks of working for a college is that I get a long break at the end of every December. Around the family time, chores, etc. that I pack in during that time there is usually a decent bit of gaming done as well, and often there is a single game that hooks me that gets my attention. This year, that game was Pokemon Sword. I started it about a week before my break, so by the time my break started I was fully hooked. I proceeded to sink a ton of time into it over the past two weeks. Technically, I finished the story early on the morning of the 1st (the credits rolled on the 31st, but the story continued just a little bit longer). There was a lot of controversy around this game that you guys may have heard about - the removal of a ton of the old Pokemon (or "Dexit" as it became known on the 'net), the graphics won't blow you away, apparently they re-used animations from the old games. But even tho I played some of the old games I never got THAT into any of them past the first ones, so most of those complaints were lost on me. Almost all of the Pokemon seemed new to me, and the graphics look good enough - they aren't the point anyway. What I always wanted from the series was to be able to play a full-fledged Pokemon game on the TV, and this delivered that. This is the first game in the series that I finished, and I feel like I'm now a Poke-addict.


4. The Witcher III - Some games I just have to be in the right mood to really get into to. I'll pick them up and dabble with them, sometimes several times, before I finally dive into them and let them fully grab me. But as The Witcher III goes to show, that is not a reflection at all on the quality of the games. Once I finally let myself get pulled into its world I found it very hard to want to leave. Geralt's super dry sense of humor and perpetually put-upon attitude make him feel both unique and (to me, at least) very relatable . ;) Your typical open-world RPG elements are here - tons of side quests, a huge open world to explore, skills to gain, colorful characters to meet along the way. But everything is just done SO WELL that it feels much bigger & better than the sum of its parts. I was already hyped for Cyberpunk 2077, but finally playing through this just hyped me up that much more.


3. Days Gone - Speaking of "greater than the sum of its parts"... Days Gone sounds pretty dry on paper. It's yet another open-world zombie game. And we all know zombies are played out. So this game is pointless in 2019, right? Except that once you get into the game you realize the whole zombie thing is more of a backdrop. Yeah, it's part of the plot, but the driving force behind this game is the characters and the way they interact with each other in such a believable way. There is way more character depth in this game than you would expect from a video game. There were seriously interactions and major plot points that I questioned at first just because they didn't go the cliched way, only to stop and think about them and realize that that's probably exactly how these characters in this situation would react. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is rock-solid as well or else it wouldn't be on this list, let alone this high. The motorcycle is almost a character by itself, and the way you use it and maintain it is handled just right to add depth without becoming a nuisance. The fast movie zombie hordes are definitely interesting and require a lot of strategy to handle. And the side missions are just as well done as the main storyline. They are typically mini stories on their own that make up multiple parts and weave into and around the main story, and the game even gives you a cool way of tracking them since some of them are literally spaced out over the entire game. But at the end of the day, it's the characters that will stick with you from this one. I can't wait to see what this studio does next!


2. Dead Cells - This game is digital crack. It combines two of my favorite things - Metroidvania-style gameplay and a "rogue lite" random element - and adds in a TON of unlockable weapons, abilities, etc. All of this plus perfect controls (seriously, one of the Symphony of the Night gameplay devs played the game at a trade show & complemented them on the controls) and great pacing. And like most amazing games it has that elusive and hard to define quality about it that just kept me coming back. This was definitely my "one more game" game of the year. Dying rarely felt like a major setback, rather it was an opportunity to try again another way, do something different, work towards another goal. Just thinking about it now makes me want to fire it up again.


1. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - My number one was the easiest one on this list to pick & rank. A spiritual successor to my all-time favorite game made by the same designer, and it actually lives up to the hype? How could it not be at the top of my list? While I acknowledge nostagia and familiarity (seriously, I still replay SotN at least every other year) guarantee that nothing can ever surpass Symphony in my mind, Bloodstained came as close to matching it as it possibly could. It has that same sprawling design filled to the brim with things to discover. Challenging but never impossible boss fights. Tons of weapons and abilities that offer many different ways to play. An incredible soundtrack by the same composer that did Symphony's soundtrack. And a great gothic style that absolutely lives up to its Castlevania legacy. All of this, but it still manages to add enough personality of its own to mark it as the start of a great new franchise. I may very well never back another Kickstarter - the whole system is broken at this point IMO, and I could rant for a bit on why but I'll spare everyone. But this one project was one I never regretted backing, and it surpassed my expectations.

I'm only going to mention 3 Honerable Mentions - there are more I could point out, since I finished 24 games this year by my count, but these stood out above the rest.

Steamworld Dig 2 - I thought the first one was good but nothing to write home about, but this one improved on it in just about every way. If you're new to the series & interested, just skip to this one.

Spyro 1 Reignited - Another stellar remake, it was every bit as great as I remember Spyro being the fist time I played it - probably better. Maybe I'll get around to playing the other 2 remakes in this set this year.

Division 2 - I didn't expect to like this game at all, and only picked it up after watching so many videos about it that showed things that *sounded* like would make it my kind of game. It was. The only thing that really kept this one off the list is that I never finished it due to a very late game mission that seems like its nearly impossible unless you play with someone else.
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed
if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I
became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the
desire to be very grown up.” ― C.S. Lewis

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isthatallyougot
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Re: Argyle's Top 10 Games of 2019

Post by isthatallyougot »

Nice list argyle. Of what you played, I'm most excited to eventually play Bloodstained, Dead Cells, Witcher 3 and RE2make. I think those will all hit the spot for me.

Hopefully 2020 will be a great gaming year for everyone!
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Phaseknox
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Re: Argyle's Top 10 Games of 2019

Post by Phaseknox »

I always enjoy your top 10 lists of the year since they often bring games to my attention that I might have otherwise missed, or passed on. Games included on this list that I don't already have and want to get are The Adventure Pals, Dead Cells, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince and Steamworld Dig 2.
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