I've seen a lot of people doing their top games of the decade since we are at the end of the 2010's in a few weeks. I wanted to do one and it took me a while to get a group of ten. Turns out, I've played a lot of games in 10 years and a lot of them I really liked. I've noticed that it's been a mix of people choosing a game a year and just straight up picking the 10 they want. I made this initial list with choosing a game a year but it just didn't look right cause there were a few years that a few games came out that I considered one of the best games I'd ever played. So I went the route of just choosing 10 I wanted. Over the past few years I've slowed down on playing all the new games that comes out in a year so there are some games not on here that might have if I played them. Like, as an example, if I had played Death Stranding it might have made this list because it seems like a game I'm going to love. Alright, let's get to this list! I want to mention a few Honorable Mentions first though!
Honorable Mentions: Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010), Super Mario 3D Land (2011), BioShock Infinite (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015), Bloodborne (2015), Overwatch (2016), Nier: Automata (2017), Horizon Zero Dawn (2017), Assassin's Creed: Origins (2017), Spider-Man (2018), Death Stranding (2019)
10. Batman Arkham Knight (2015)
I get that some didn't like this game as much as Asylum or City but this game means a lot to me. It's the culmination of everything that happened in those other games and Batman has to answer for the decisions he's made. Yes Scarecrow and The Arkham Knight are the main villains in this game but Batman is fighting with himself more than he is them. The open world feels so good and I loved the stuff with the Batmobile. The new suit looked amazing and traversing the city feels the best in the series. As dark as the other games felt this one managed to go even darker and it earns its M rating by the end. As a lifelong Batman fan I appreciated the updated telling of a classic story and every time the Joker was on screen I was captivated. This game is just as much about Batman dealing with the death of the Joker as it is stopping the new enemies and I loved it for that!
9. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)
This is the best playing game in the MGS series and I'm not sure that's even an opinion! The open world is so good and smart for this being the first one in the series. I get that it's basically 2 different open areas and not a true open world game but still, it's impressive. Finally getting modern controls for an MGS game was so welcome and it was so smooth to do what you wanted with all the weapons. Now, I get that some didn't care for the story overall but I did. I thought it was captivating and the most cinematic of 2015. Snake didn't speak much but when he did it was with purpose and it meant something. It doesn't have a conventional way of telling a story but by the end it's def a Metal Gear game with how insane it gets. The scene where Snake has to take out his people on Mother Base make me a wreck! It's a shame that it was technically not finished and it never will be but it's still an amazing game!
8. Destiny (2014)
This game was the first MMO like game that I ever got addicted to! I know that it's a looter-shooter mixed with MMO but still. At one point I was dumping 7-8 hours a day into this game just grinding to get all the weapons and level as much as I could. I mainly played solo but I did the occasional Raid and those were something unlike anything I'd never done before. Yeah the story was bad in the original version but The Taken King changed all that and has been solid in that department ever since. The thing that kept me playing though was the gunplay. This game and D2 has the best gunplay of any game I've ever played. It's so damn smooth and all the weapons do exactly what you expect them to do.
7. Final Fantasy XIII (Released in the US in 2010)
Yes you read that right! This is my second favorite Final Fantasy game and it's fine that most people are super turned off by this game. I really connected with the characters and story. It was so personal and had such an amazing ending! Lightning is probably my favorite FF character with how complicated she is. She has trouble showing emotion to anyone but her lover for her sister is something so pure. This game still looks amazing in 2019! It's backwards compatible on Xbox One and it's the best looking version of the game you can currently play. The thing that puts this game here though is the combat. It's so fast paced and one of my favorite combat systems in any JRPG I've played. It seems really simple at first but once you get to the third act it gets very complicated and you need to pay close attention. I love this game regardless of what others think of it!
6. Persona 5 (Released in the US in 2017)
From one RPG that I love straight into another one! Until I played this game Persona 3 was my favorite game in the series but this is my new favorite. The characters in this game feel like real people and, I feel, that's the highest compliment I can give a game like this. It's about a 100 hour game to just do the min story so you are with these characters a lot. It does that thing that the Marvel movies pulls off so well and that's striking an amazing balance of serious with funny. The comedy doesn't feel forced, it just comes natural. The gameplay in this game is also on point with the same awesome combat the series is known for. It feels so good to find weakness and either take down enemies or capture them to use in combat. It's simple but gets deep when needed, like boss fights. The story is so good and feels so epic by the time you get to the end! I also have to talk about the look of this game. It's dripping with style and one of the coolest feeling games I've ever played. Even the menus look so damn cool! It's one of the best JRPGs I've ever played and in contention for my top 10 of all time!
5. The Last of Us (2013)
I consider the story in this game to be one of the best in any form of entertainment! It has the best opening to any game I've ever played and sets the tone in a perfect way. To this day I'm not sure I've played a game with better top to bottom performances. The pure relationships that build in this game and the manner in which some character die is so brutal but realistic. The gameplay is good but it's not the main reason to play in my opinion. I also feel like this is a game that's meant to be played on harder difficulties though. I normally don't feel that way about games but I do with this one. The world is so hard and I feel the difficulty should be as well. I feel the same way about the ending as I did the beginning. It has one of those endings that comes so sudden but it's perfect! It's a game that I think even people who normally don't play games should check out.
4. Mass Effect 2 (2010)
As much as I loved the first game, this one perfected everything the first one missed on. The character relationships in this game are unreal how deep they get, and you care so much about them. There were so many times that I had to stop and think about a response and be like "Are they gonna be happy with this answer?' and that's a testament to the writing/acting. This is very much a second game of a trilogy so the story kind of presented more questions than answers but man did it have some damn interesting questions. And the gameplay is so tight! I loved the shooting and the way you could change ammo to set people on fire, just awesome. But really, the draw of this game is the different ways you can interact with the dialogue. You can be the nicest person ever or an evil asshole, it's totally up to you and I love that! Your look even changed based on those choices. I'll defend the ending to Mass Effect 3 but this game will always be my favorite in the series!
3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)
This game was the reason I got a Switch and, to me, it's still the best game on the console. I've played a ton of open world games but this one just felt different. I felt a sense of wanting to explore everywhere and I hadn't felt that since like GTA 3 or Fallout 3. It's not like there's a ton of combat or side quests or anything but the world is full of places to explore and shrines to find/solve. The shrines were so fun to do and some were really tough! A goal of mine is to do them all and get all the seeds at some point but man, that's a lot! Yeah there are only 4 dungeons in the game but they are all meaningful to the story and well done. Speaking of the story, it has a good one with voice acting that was amazing! This game has my favorite version of Zelda, I loved her in this game! And Ganon looks awesome and the final fight with him is great! It's my favorite Zelda game and a game I will come back to over the years!
2. Grand Theft Auto V (2013)
I've played through this game like 4 times and I loved every play though! I put the story and characters in this game in the same vein as all the great crime movies, I might even put it higher than some. Third-person open world games are my favorite type of games and this is as good as those games can get. I love the updated combat and the driving. It was so bland before but they did an entire overhaul here and the shooting felt so good! The heists in this game are amazing and it's worth playing the game multiple times to see how they can play out differently. So if you pick a weak driver or something you might lose money or someone on your team could die. I also love the 3 main characters so much! They all complement each other well and the acting is off the charts! It has that Rockstar polish to the script and they all come off as natural and none of them do anything that would go against the characters they were trying to build thought the game. I also want to point out that I never played much GTA Online so this game is on here strictly for the single player. Amazing game!
1. God of War (2018)
I think this game is perfect! I loved the other 3 God of War games but this one does something that the others never even attempted, making Kratos relatable. I know that The Last of Us was inspiration for this game but it's on a different level than that game to me. The combat is the main thing that puts this game above a game like that. I love the change up with having the over the shoulder look and making each hit count, kinda like the Souls games have. The ax felt so good to use and once you get the blades they are amazing to use. But let's be real, the story is where it's at with this game. There were so many moments in this game that I got very emotional and that's thanks to the acting/writing. Plus the amazing motion capture and graphics! I love the world and mythology they explore in this game and it's a fascinating story from start to finish. I know that naming this my game of the decade is a big thing but I feel this game deserves it! I got the platinum trophy and I'd do it all over again!
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