TOP 10 Best Games of 2019 (Topic)

2019 was the most like the calm before the storm of 2020 in the gaming industry, which promises to bombard the expected blockbusters with enviable regularity. The past year does not look so impressive against his background, but he was able to give us more than a dozen of at least good games, which many of us will fondly remember for more than one year. And about the most significant of them, we will tell you in the top 10 best games of 2019.

Read also TOP 10 Cool Games of 2019 that you may have missed.

10. Devil May Cry 5

The next chapter in the life of the agency for fighting demonic forces, Devil May Cry, opens the top games. Dante, Nero, Lady, Trish - all the familiar heroes over the past 11 years have not changed their roles in Devil May Cry 5 and gush with jokes, turning every screen moment into a real feast of style and swagger, for which many players fell in love with the series. If you need to take a break from everyday work and experience an adrenaline rush to the brisk cuts of heavy metal - Devil May Cry 5 is best suited.

And especially suitable for those fans of the series who value the gameplay most of all in slashers and, practicing fine motor skills of their fingers, knock out colorful combos. It was in the combat system that the charge of Capcom's creativity reached its climax, allowing Nero to fly on a rocket, and Dante to fight with a hat and skid on a motorcycle straight over the faces of demons, turning their already not very pleasant faces into mush. For such moments, I want to forgive everything Devil May Cry 5 - and an ordinary plot, and even nondescript levels that came to us as if from class B slashers.

9. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a phenomenon game. And not at all because it will enter the category of the best games in history (this is unlikely), but due to the confluence of, at first glance, mutually exclusive factors. Before us is the first in a long time a single game from Electronic Arts, no loot boxes, only a story story for a dozen hours. And even here, the developers could have taken the easy path, creating a cinematic action game ala Uncharted, but instead they chose the path of metroidvania with elements of Souls games, where already at the average level of difficulty, a sloppy Jedi can become an easy whipping toy.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order looks especially advantageous against the backdrop of the final part of the Disney epic. The creation of Respawn Entertainment, although it also does not shine with plot delights, but it feels like a much more logical work, honoring the canons of "Star Wars". Among other things, the game has enough problems, but if you are a fan of smart action games and dreamed of trying yourself as a Jedi, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order can take a place for you in the top three of the list of the best games of 2019.

8. Metro Exodus

The time machine seems like a pipe fantasy, but, oddly enough, the Ukrainian developers from 4A Games managed to invent it by releasing Metro Exodus. Thanks to its slowness, not the most responsive shooting, a dumb hero and a number of other, both controversial and appropriate decisions, the creation of Metro Exodus reminds of shooters of the 2000s and, most importantly, of STALKER Yes, the desire of developers to push the boundaries and release the player into the open the world doesn't always work perfectly. However, thanks to the filling of the world with small secrets, the vastness of destroyed USA will delight you with unexpected discoveries more than once.

But the most important victory of Ukrainian developers is that, even taking into account the post-apocalyptic setting, they managed to release, perhaps, one of the most humane games of the past year. Despite the caricature of some of the characters, many of them can be easily believed, imbued with their personalities and, to the accompaniment of Tsoi, become infected with hopes for a better fate for a fading world.

7. The Outer Worlds

"Fallout in space" - this is how the gaming community has dubbed The Outer Worlds since the first gameplay trailer, which was facilitated by the developers themselves, who had a hand in the creation of Fallout: New Vegas and the legendary dilogy. And fortunately for us, the game has lived up to its nickname, which is especially valuable in light of the latest ruthless experiments Bethesda on the half-dead body of the Fallout franchise.

Freedom to be whoever you want, an abundance of black humor, retro-futurism and irony on topical topics are the main pillars of Fallout, which perfectly suited the creation of The Outer Worlds. Of course, not all elements of the game Obsidian Entertainment managed to implement at the same good level: the imbalance of the combat and economic system, the abundance of the same loot, and even the election system sometimes hides only the illusion of non-linearity. But despite many challenges, The Outer Worlds will be able to present dozens of exciting hours for players whose pulse is rapidly in need of a new dose of good RPGs.

6. Control

Remedy can do two things perfectly: adrenaline-pumping gameplay (Max Payne's dilogy) and dashingly twisted mystical plots (Alan Wake), but they have never managed to cross all the best aspects of their own skill in one game. At least until Control exits. This time, a team of talented Finns under the leadership of Sam Lake managed to create a symbiosis of a plot full of absurdity and symbolism with blood-boiling gameplay, where each level turns into dust after a tense battle.

But not even the mysterious characters and the plot, written with an eye on the work of David Lynch, is the main thing in Control. And not even local battles, which, with the help of an abundance of special effects and the presence of Jesse's paranormal abilities, turn into a chaotic and mesmerizing spectacle worthy of Hollywood blockbusters. The main victory for Remedy is the constantly changing Old House, those four walls that surround us throughout the game. The federal headquarters, despite its angular design in the style of brutalism, is like a living organism constantly changing and in almost every new room it is ready to throw surprising surprises for the player.

5. Outer Wilds

When we mention space, we imagine something unusually large, infinitely far from any frame and filled with numerous galaxies. Perhaps, the approach of No Man's Sky with faceless planets and an autogenerated universe is close to real space, but we would like to believe more that immense space is still remote, but reminds of Outer Wilds. A game in which each planet is full of unusual natural phenomena and keeps the mysteries of a once great race. A game in which space does not try to amaze with scale, but is replete with amazing events, reminding that nature can generate even more impressive wonders than any magic.

In addition, Outer Wilds manages to be an unusually attractive and cozy game, especially in between space flights. The unpretentious technologies of the Nomai natives, wooden rockets for space expeditions and atmospheric gatherings near a burning fire to the sounds of a banjo you will hardly forget in the coming years.

4. Death Stranding

Death Stranding is the most controversial release of the past year. The project, which has so often been presented in numerous reviews as "a game not for everyone", has managed to earn the largest number of awards in the category "Best Game of 2019" by the players and critics. A phenomenon that is unlikely to be characteristic of the "game not for everyone", which opponents of Death Stranding explain only as the insanity of players on the personality of Hideo Kojima.

Everything seems to us a little more prosaic. Death Stranding (as, in principle, any other game) is not created for all categories of players, it is even unlikely to appeal to many fans of the Metal Gear Solid series. And it's not even about walking mechanics, which are given a good 70% of the playing time. Primitive boss fights, chewing on the plot at the end of the story and an abundance of backtracking are clearly not what you expect from a legendary game designer. Despite this, Death Stranding manages to generate unique stories through gameplay, it has many unusual mechanics and features that distinguish Hideo Kojima's project from almost everything the gaming industry has to offer.

Death Stranding may not be the best game of 2019, but one of the most significant and capable of giving fresh emotions. This, in our opinion, is the reason for its popularity.

3. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

After the release of Demon's Souls, From Software studio became hostages of its own successful concept. And on this score they could be criticized, but like any talented creator, the Japanese manage to open new facets in the familiar formula, which is clearly seen in the example of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. At first glance, we have before us the same obscenely complex and demanding Dark Souls, only in the scenery of medieval Japan, with the presence of vertical levels, swimming mechanics, stealth and a more intelligible presentation of the plot.

But everything is much more complicated to check. When Bloodborne first started to move away from the concept of character customization, Sekiro went even further and lost many of the attributes of role-playing games. From now on, the method of investing thousands of experience points in health will not help to defeat the boss, the only way to victory is the way of a real samurai. Cunning, extreme concentration and sense of rhythm in fencing. Only when you can truly master the mechanics of parrying, only then will Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice truly open up in front of you and capture right through to the end credits.

2. Resident Evil 2

We do not believe in mysticism, but after being twice in the top 10 best games of 2019, Capcom sold nothing but the soul to the devil. However, when Devil May Cry 5 did not go without a number of offensive flaws, Resident Evil 2 turned out to be an almost perfect game that alone carries the banner of the only blockbuster in the Survival Horror genre in recent years. I don't even want to attribute the status of a remake to the game, because in reality we have a completely new project that reassembled every brick of the game twenty years ago and multiplied by the updated gameplay formula of Resident Evil 7.

Cinematic graphics, chilling sound design and branched levels - Resident Evil 2 will always have something to praise for. But the main advantage of the game is the feeling of real exploration, which can only be described as "terribly interesting", where both words describe the gameplay of Resident Evil 2 equally well, both in the form of a phrase, and separately. And do not forget about the immortal Tyrant, who, with a high probability, even after completing the game, will tirelessly pursue you. In nightmares.

1. Disco Elysium

The past year gave us a lot of pleasant gaming surprises, but even in our wildest dreams, we could not even think of such a gift for the sunset of 2019 as Disco Elysium. A role-playing game that has already managed to ascend to the pantheon of the best in history, and at the same time was created by almost a complete enthusiast to the unknown development team from ZA / UM. And it would be fine if we just got an intriguing story in the pixel art cover. But no, the city of Revanshol looks like a work of art, and hours of unrivaled soundtrack are more likely to stay in your player for a long time. Even in terms of bugs, Disco Elysium turned out to be an extremely polished game.

Whichever aspect of Disco Elysium do not approach - you will almost always notice the advantages of the game. You can resist the charm of RPG from ZA / UM only for three reasons - insufficient English proficiency, unwillingness to wade through half-hour dialogues and the opinion that thinking about existential issues, along the way arguing with numerous personalities in your own head and then die of a heart attack, trying to knock out the door is not the best way to play games.

Disco Elysium is not just the best game of 2019, it is one of the main projects in the RPG genre over the past ten years. Skipping it is a real madness, and if you are scared off by the lack of USA localization, then judging by the sales quite successful for a small studio and the developers' love of USA culture, we expect Disco Elysium to be released in USA this year.

The Topic of Article: TOP 10 Best Games of 2019.
Author: Jake Pinkman