This is easily the latest I have ever written one of these lists.
Last year was so jam-packed with big releases, spread so wide across multiple genres, that it was honestly overwhelming. So much so that I was fairly sure I would not be able to make a significant enough dent in the backlog to write a list like this and be satisfied with it; I had basically resigned myself to not bothering.
Then 2020 happened. And suddenly I had enough time to get through those remaining 2019 releases. Funny how that worked out.
Anyway — games in 2019 absolutely ruled. It felt like a year that took nothing for granted, with a lot of my favourite games this year presenting fresh ideas — like, really fresh ideas! Not just refinements on existing genres or series… I mean, sure, there was plenty of those too, and that’s great. But as I look up and down my list of played games this year, debating in my head what order I was going to organise everything in, I was really pleased to see so many truly unique ideas brought to life in last year’s big releases.
Before I jump into the HYPER OFFICIAL, DEFINITIVE NUMBERED LIST of 2019’s games — here is a list of honourable mentions. I enjoyed all of these to various degrees and some of them have been on and off the numbered list right up until the point I hit ‘publish.’ I recommend them all, they’re all winners folks!
- ApeOut
- Baba Is You
- CTR: Crash Team Racing (remake)
- Disco Elysium
- Gato Roboto
- Katana Zero
- My Friend Pedro
- The Outer Worlds
- Super Mario Maker 2
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
- Void Bastards
- What The Golf?
And now for the actual list.