My Top 15 Games of the Generation

 Since new consoles are out now it felt like the right time to do my favorite games of the generation list. Turns out, I've played a lot of games this gen and a lot of them have been great! I still think the Xbox 360/PS3 gen is the best gen of gaming but this one has been close. I honestly think some of the best stories in gaming happened with some games on this list. We got to a point that the graphics and storytelling of games really hit a high point this gen in my opinion. There were so many times with games on this list that I felt I was getting exactly what I wanted and that's a rare feeling. I get that some games on this list people will disagree with and that's fine. I love it when games take chances and cause discussions for months after it comes out. I did leave some big name games off this list and that's because they just didn't connect with me like they did with others. I did want to start with some honorable mentions and some of them are in there because they are great games. I tend to like fun over anything else lately and that shows with some of my picks. I love a great story but if the game was a drag to get though then I can't reward it for that. So I think that's enough for the intro. Here are my top 15 games of the generation! 

Side Note: I will be talking full on spoilers with these games. 

Honorable Mentions: Rise of the Tomb Raider, Days Gone, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Control, Bloodborne, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Red Dead Redemption 2, Overwatch, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Forza Horizon 4, Borderlands 3. 

15. Batman Arkham Knight 

If you know me then you know I love Batman and to me this is one of the best Batman stories I've ever experienced. I get that some people were disappointed with this game but I loved it. I thought the new telling of the Jason Todd story was cool and him being the Arkham Knight was very awesome and made so much sense. I thought the bat mobile was super fun to use. Was it in the game too much, maybe but it was so damn fun that I didn't mind it. The thing that worked the best in this though was the Joker stuff. This game is the shining example of why Batman and Joker co-exist with each there. We get to see that many ways they are similar and dive deep into what makes them who they are. I also think this is Mark Hamill's finest performance as the Joker. This is the best playing/looking game in the series and a perfect way to close out the Rocksteady trilogy! 

14. Death Stranding 

I've been a fan of Kojima since I played MGS2 (Yes that was my first Metal Gear game and I know I'm weird) and I've been on board with everything he's done since then. I was very excited to see an original game from him but I didn't expect it to be this good! The story and characters in this game are astonishing and some of the best in gaming. Yes the overall plot can be a lot and yes it's all over the place but I loved it. There's such a raw emotion you get here that most games haven't gotten to yet. Not just the facial expressions or lines but the passion in the ways they talk and act. The gameplay is the one thing that can be controversial because you are basically just delivering packages the whole game. There is combat but not much of it. The online features in this game are amazing in that the stuff that you can build and the people online have built totally change the way you play. I got saved by so many recharge stations and ladders! I don't think this is Kojima's best game but it's damn close and I desperately want more from this franchise! Awesome use of music as well! 

13. The Last of Us Part II

This game delivers one of the best stories I've ever seen in my life, game or anything else! It's hard to write how many emotions I went though while playing this game. The choices Naughty Dog made were so risky and so many people hated them but fuck man they were so good! Like having the guts to kill Joel that early and have you play half the game as the person who killed him! Ellie is such a great character in this game and I felt ever ounce of her passion for revenge. The final chapter of the game will go down as one of the best final chapters of any piece of entertainment I've experienced. The pure loneliness and nothingness of what she does is astonishing. I also loved Abby! She's probably my favorite character in the game because I understood her motive right away once you play as her. I'm also a sucker for the classic you think someone is a bad guy until you actually see their side thing and this game does that so well. And yeah, the gameplay is better in this one than the first as well. The guns feel good and the stealth in this game I feel is under appreciated. I think the risks and payoffs in this game are huge and they all work! Just me though. 

12. Ghost of Tsushima 

I'm not really into the classic Japanese movies so when I first heard about this game I wasn't sure. Once I saw gameplay though I had a feeling this game would be special and I was very right. My God everything in this game just works! The story, the characters, the amazing combat, and the world all fit so well together. Jin is such an interesting character with a lot of depth and shows a lot of compassion. It's rare to get a main character that deeply cares as much as he does and it was nice to see that. The combat is king in this game and man does it feel good! Doing a stand off and slicing though like 4 dudes never got old and I'd go out of my to do it as often as I could. I also want to point out the wind mechanic and how cool it is. It basically works as a navigation point and you flick the touch pad to use it. Not only is it cool to see the wind blow in the direction you need to go but it's nice that Sony ended this gen effectively using the touchpad! I also can't stress enough how awesome the ending to this game is! I had chills with how perfect it was! They have also added some free co-op focused dlc but I haven't checked it out yet. Maybe when I get a PS5 I will. 

11. Persona 5 

I'm a big JRPG person and this is probably one of if not the best one I have ever played. I haven't played Royal yet but I will at some point. The animation and style this game has is unlike anything I had played when it came out and it hasn't been matched yet. Even the damn menus are oozing with style in ways that are so unnecessary but so cool. The story and characters really make this game and they are all fantastic. The overall story is very good and goes full on JRPG by the end and I loved it. The characters are so well realized that I felt like I knew each of them by the end and really I haven't felt that way about characters since the Mass Effect trilogy. The combat is, you guessed it, quite good and you do a lot of it! I like that they stuck with the traditional turn based when it seems like games are going away from that. This game is super long with it taking around 100 hours just to finish the main story but it's worth it! I'd say give this a shot even if you don't normally like these kinds of games. 

10. Destiny/Destiny 2 

This was the first MMO like game that I ever got into and I still play Destiny 2 to this day! I included Destiny 2 in this because it seems those games are coming to become one now but this is more about the first game. I figured I'd like this game since I'm a big Halo fan but damn I didn't know I'd fall in love! Destiny has the best shooting in any game I've ever played and it still owns that title in my opinion. Yeah the story wasn't even really good but the world was so interesting and shooting shit felt so good that it didn't matter. I spent so many hours grinding for weapons and armor in the first game that I easily had over 1000 hours into it by the time D2 came out. To me The Taken King era of Destiny is as good as it's ever been. There was just something about the state of the game then that isn't there anymore even though D2 is in a very good state. This is my choice as my forever game that I'll keep playing as long as they keep making content! 

9. NieR: Automata

Man...what a special game. I remember when I fully finished this game I had to take a few minutes to gather myself because I had never experienced anything like it before. By the time I started the route C play though I was in awe of the opening cinematic. The music and dialogue in that scene is something I will never forget. Seeing the commander's red eyes and knowing the journey wasn't over was fucking amazing! So the combat in this game isn't anything special but it is fun. I'd say the reason I'm in love with this game is the world and characters. I'm such a sucker for exactly what this game does in that it starts simple but becomes such an emotionally heavy story by the end. I love that you get to play as all the main characters and they do all feel different. I'm also a fan of how this game takes chances in the different styles of play like it basically turning into a bullet hail game and side scrolling beat em up. It also takes chances in storytelling like literally giving you the option to delete your save file at the end of the game! God it's so good. It's one of those games I played to completion once and I'm not sure I want to play it again because it would almost feel wrong. 

8. Kingdom Heats III

I'm a big Kingdom Hearts fan and this game was literally everything I wanted it to be. I watched a good bit of videos on this game after I beat it and I still can't understand how so many people were let down with this game. It's the best playing/looking game in the series and puts a nice bow on the Xehanort Saga! This game wraps up everything that lead up to it while also giving us an open ending so the franchise can continue. I really liked the worlds and I'm not gonna lie when you go to the Frozen world and pretty much the entire song "Let it Go" is played I had the goosies! The combat feels so fast and, yes, it is on the easy side but I liked that. They did add a tougher difficulty later on so people can punish themselves. It's really as simple (and clean) as this to me, I go exactly what I wanted from a story and combat perspective in this game and it was my game of the year last year because of it! 

7. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Hot take right out of the gate here: Kiefer Sutherland is the best actor to play Big Boss in the franchise! His voice was different in MGS4 and David Hayter voiced him in MGS3. His voice should have always been different than Snake's in my opinion. I wanted to get that out there cause that was a big thing coming into this game. I love this game so much! It's the best playing game in the series and is a great open world game on top of it. I get that the actual storytelling in this game is different from all the other games but I liked it for that. Boss doesn't have a ton to say but when he does talk in a cutscene then it's important. Also big ups to this game for looking amazing still and running in 60 fps on the base consoles. Skullface was a cool villain and I'll defend Quiet as a character. She's really interesting and not just a sex object. Her final mission was amazing. I think this is the second best MGS game (right being MGS2) and the fact that you can dump over 100 hours into his game and still not do everything is so cool! 

6. Horizon Zero Dawn 

I think Aloy is the best new character this gen! I enjoyed every step of her journey in this game! It was so nice to see Gurilla step away from the Killzone franchise and make something new. I like the Killzone games but they really made something that can be a system seller for Sony for years. The world in Horizon is gorgeous and I love the look of the mechs. The way you can shoot off pieces of the bigger ones and it's so cool to see that since it was in the reveal trailer years ago. The combat is very smooth and they give you a lot of options with your bow. Like by the end you can shoot three arrows at once to deal massive damage. I love the mystery surrounding Aloy and her mom and how she was involved with Zero Dawn. It has a great payoff in the end and they set up a sequel nicely. I also want to give a shoutout to the Frozen Wilds dlc! Its a great addition and adds a lot of content! I love a good snow covered world as well! 

5. Marvel's Spider-Man

Spider-Man is my second favorite super hero and I feel like I've been waiting a long time for a game like this one! They captured the feeling of swinging around the city perfectly in a way that no other game had. Spider-Man 2 is close but this game does it so much better than even that game. This game is gorgeous, the combat is great, the story is very good, and the acting is very good! The combat is a different take on the Batman Arkham games but it has that Spider-Man speed to it. One of the coolest things to me is all the suits you can unlock. So many different suits and they all give abilities. The thing that puts this game so high on my list though is the story. I love that we have an older Peter who has been Spider-Man a while and we get to see the rise of Doc Oc! The relationship with Peter and Mary Jane is so good and we also get the Miles origin story thrown in as well. I just think this is a damn near perfect comic book game and I'm on board for as long as they go with them! 

4. Final Fantasy VII Remake 

Man...this game! The original FFVII was my introduction into traditional RPGs and is one of my favorites games of all time! This game does such an amazing job of retelling the story of the original while also making it its own thing. Yes this is only part one and only goes through Midgar but there is a lot of game here. They changed the combat to a more real time system and it feels so good. It's not full on Kingdom Hearts but more like a mix of KH and FF15. I think I prefer this combat system to most that I've played but that's just me. The visuals in this game are breathtaking! I played on a PS4 Slim and it looked amazing on there. I had a fear that they would put so much filler in this game for no reason but what it ended up being was this incredibly detailed story that takes its time. We got so much time with these characters in a way that wasn't possible on the PS1. And I really like the different direction they took with the ending and we are in some kind of universe where the original game happened and it's trying to happen again but Sephiroth is trying to stop it. It's a lot but it's very interesting! 

3. Resident Evil 2 Remake 

I love Horror and I have liked the RE games over the years but to be honest, I never viewed any of them as mind blowing outside of the RE Remake on Gamecube. Enter this game and I fell in love the moment I shot the first zombie at the gas station. This game looks so damn good and the way they made the entire game feel modern with the controls and shooting mechanics, so good and smart. There are some genuine creepy as hell moments in this game and half of them have to do with Mr. X! The fact that he can pop up anywhere at any time is such a cool thing and made me jump a few times! I also loved that you need to play this game through 4 times to get the full story and I felt like each play through was different enough to justify it. The story is honestly a big thing that made me love this game. They did such a great job of keeping the goofy RE stuff but also adding some serious moments sprinkled in. Not only one my favorite Horror games ever made but one of my favorites games of all time at this point! 

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 

I grew up playing Zelda and long considered Ocarina of Time to be one of if not my favorite game of all time! I was not prepared for how much I'd fall in love with this game! It's a perfect open world in my opinion and gave me the wonder back of just picking a direction and walking in that direction for hours. Plenty of games have open words but this one just feels different and even the areas where there is nothing I loved exploring it! The change to only have 4 traditional dungeons was something I wasn't sure I'd like but I did since they added the shrines. The shrines are the bread and butter in this game and they are so fun to do. I honestly think this game has my favorite version of Princess Zelda. She actually has a personality and the voice acting really help flesh her character out and there are some amazing cutscenes with her in this game. The fact that you can go for Ganon right off the bat is something that should be in more games like this cause that's amazing! This is probably my favorite Zelda game now and will be a game I want to come back to on a yearly basis. 

1. God of War

I consider this game to be perfect! They took such a big risk in basically changing everything about the gameplay and the way it tells a story. It's not a constant over the top action game but it has a lot of that in here. It takes a lot of things from The Last of Us and it just works for me. I never thought I'd be super emotionally invested in Kratos but I was in this game. The relationship with his son and hearing him talk about his wife just got me. The combat is slower but the hits with the axe feels so good and throwing it feels even better. The moment when you go and get the blades of chaos I cried a bit as the cutscene played out. This game does an incredible job telling a story and fleshes out things of his past but also standing on its own and paving a new path. It looks incredible, plays incredible, has interesting characters, and I want 4 sequels to it! I replayed it this year to make sure I knew this was my game of the generation and yup, it still is. New game + in this game is awesome as well!