Game of the Decade Special

Click here to listen while you read...

Game of the Decade Overview

• Well everyone, we have made it through a decade worth of games! In this decade, we hand a ton of great games that came out, so we decided to rank our top 10 games.
• Keep in mind that these are our own personal lists. Not only that, but we only include the games that we have played. So, if you don’t see a game that you think is deserving of being on this list, then chances are we haven’t played it or we didn’t like it as much, and that’s okay!
• Not only that, but our usual Sweet Geek Nick will not be here this week due to an ongoing family emergency, so we will have our good friend Kevin Bui stepping in for him to give his own personal list!

Tyler’s 10th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Batman: Arkham City
• Discuss:
  • While Batman: Arkham Asylum set the tone for the super hero beatem up games, Batman: Arkham City perfected it. Arkham City brings the open world style of gameplay and brings it into the Batman Universe, giving life to an amazing creation. Arkham City gives a lengthy story with plenty of side content to give the player plenty of bang for their buck. If you are a fan of Batman or a fan of beatem games, this game would be perfect for you.
  • The reason it falls where it does on this list is that other games give more content, replay ability, and a bit better of a story. While the story of this game is fantastic, I personally feel that other games had a bit of a better story.

Kevin’s 10th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Warframe
• Discuss:
  • Warframe, while released back in 2012, has established a dedicated, loyal fanbase of players who continuous play and promote the game. It’s the game that Destiny should have bee. The developers are constantly updated the game and players are continuously falling in love with the game. The team behind the game is a group of approximately 170 people yet they can achieve greater results than other AAA games with huge budgets. The game has its own convention (TennoCon) in celebration to the game and a thank you to players that love their game. There is so much ambition that is put into this game and it is a game you should be paying attention to in the gaming industry.
  • Warframe is an incredible game but definitely appeals to a group of players that love to grind and collect loot (aka Destiny). If you are not into looter shooters, than this game is not for you but I urge anyone to pick this game up because it has its own style that sets it apart from the rest.

Tyler’s 9th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Grand Theft Auto V
• Discuss:
  • While this might be higher on the list for other people, this is the perfect spot on the list for me. Grand Theft Auto V tells an amazing story with three fantastic characters, providing plenty of content and an open world environment. Not only that, but this game created great phenomenon that is GTA Online, which is still updated frequently and played to this day.

The reason I have it lower on this list is because the online content to me gets a little boring after a while. Not only that but I feel like other games have more enjoyable stories than GTA as well as more enjoyable online. Grand Theft Auto is a great jack of all trades game but doesn’t do one specific thing perfectly

Kevin’s 9th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Overwatch
  • Despite the ups and downs Overwatch has had throughout its life, with stale metas, overpowered characters being introduced, etc, Overwatch made an impact on the FPS industry
  • Taking inspiration from TF2, Overwatch revitalized the character-based shooter with every character being unique
  • Started the Overwatch League and influenced Activision to restructure the competitive Call of Duty format to a city-based tournament
  • Other games tried to emulate what Overwatch is and failed
  • Because Overwatch is such a hard game to get into, you will be flamed by your teammates for not knowing what to do. The community is great but at the same time toxic af. Just like LOL, CSGO, etc

Tyler’s 8th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Overwatch
• Discuss:
  • This game came out only a couple of years ago but has made a major impact in the gaming community since its release. Overwatch instantly made headlines and became one of the most loved Esports games and still is to this day. Other Esports games, such as League of Legends and CSGO had small starts but grew into major Esport games. Overwatch on the other hand started with a major stadium and is now having arenas made specifically for this game. The game alone is fantastic, but the impact that it has made outside of the game is more than worthy of a spot on this list.
  • The reason I have it here is because it is just an online game. While they do add multiple game modes and release videos to give more depth into the lore, at the end of the day it will always be online. Online games mean that your fun can be completely determined by what your team is doing. Sometimes even one person can completely hold your game hostage and make it not fun to play. That alone keeps it from breaking higher into my list.

Kevin’s 8th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: The Outer worlds
  • After not being allowed to make another Fallout, Obsidian Entertainment nailed it when making The Outer worlds
  • Its everything you love from the open-world RPG genre but done so well
    • Great gameplay
    • Music
    • Story
    • And loveable side characters
  • A great game that fills the void of open-world RPG games that Fallout 76 couldn’t fill

 

Tyler’s 7th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Super Mario Odyssey
• Discuss:
  • Mainstream Mario games like this have always been fantastic each time that they come out. If there was one game that did everything right out of the Mario games, Odyssey is it for me. While I absolutely loved Super Mario Galaxy, Odyssey just hits every mark for me of what makes a great Mario game. Each level is jam packed with replay ability to make you want to find each Moon. You can spend hours in one level trying to find all of the Moons and feeling like you’re making great progress, just to see there are so much more in just that level alone. Not only that, the art style and music are some of the best any game has to offer.
  • The reason I have it hear on my list is because I feel like I enjoyed the stories and gameplay of the other games more. While I wouldn’t have changed a thing about Super Mario Odyssey, I personally just enjoyed other games more than Super Mario Odyssey.

 

Kevin’s 7th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Persona 5
  • You never saw it coming. This game has been a great welcome back into the series
  • The game has hours of gameplay
  • You play as Joker, the leader of the Phantom Thieves, enter the Metaverse to steal people’s corrupted hearts within their own dungeons
  • The metaverse contains the main gameplay and action but everything you do in the real world impacts the ease of clearing these dungeons
  • Having a greater friendship with one of the members of the Phantom Thieves will help deal more damage in fights, save time being stealthy, or end fights before the even begin
  • The reason Persona 5 is not high on the list is because this game is essentially an anime and if you don’t like anime you probably wont like Persona 5
    • If you do and want the game, wait until March for Persona 5 Royal which has more content and added to the base game

 

Tyler’s 6th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Discuss:
  • Another Nintendo game released in the year of Super Mario Odyssey, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild still stands as my all-time favorite Switch game. While some people might switch the placement of Odyssey and this game, I feel this is the perfect spot for it. Breath of the Wild creates and amazing story, a fantastic open world, amazing combat and puts it all into one complete package. Not only that, but you can play this game in any order that you want and still be making progress.
  • The reason I have it here on my list is I found myself enjoying the other games more. It’s hard to give any other explanation at this point other than “I liked this game more.” Every game on this list from here on out can easily be number one for people based off of their own opinions of the games and how much they enjoyed them.

Kevin’s 6th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: The Elders Scroll: Skyrim
  • If there’s a hall of fame for video games, Skyrim belongs in it
  • So many playstyles you can do
  • Multiple story arcs you can complete and how you can complete them
  • Hours upon hours of gameplay with large replay value
  • Although this game isn’t higher up on my ranking, that shouldn’t stop you from playing Skyrim. You can play it on an platform to the point it’s a meme to play it on amazon echo 

Tyler’s 5th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
• Discuss:
  • The most recent winner of Game of the Year also happens to be my 5th favorite game of this decade. I have always been a fan of From Software games and their insane difficulty, making me want to be better as a gamer. Sekiro does something that no other game has made me do, find the perfect balance between offensive and defensive. In fact, it punishes players who do not learn that balance fast enough. All of that mixed with great bosses, great art, and amazing story easily makes it one of my favorite games of all time.
  • The reason it isn’t higher on the list is just off of the simple fact that I enjoyed the story of the other games more. Maybe over time I could find myself moving this higher on the list, but the other games have had such an impact on my life as a gamer that I couldn’t put Sekiro any higher than this.

Kevin’s 5th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: The Witcher 3
  • The Witcher 3 is amazing on so many levels
  • Great boss fights
  • Memorable story arcs
  • Large replay value
  • The same points as Skyrim but more of a third person action game
  • The reason its higher than Skyrim is because I personally felt the characters were more likeable and memorable than the characters in Skyrim
    • Geralt is a wholesome guy
    • Ciri develops a lot through the small moments she has in the game
    • I can go on but the characters is what I felt Skyrim was missing 

Tyler’s 4th Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: The Last of Us
• Discuss:
  • 30 minutes. That’s all it took for me to get absolutely hooked on this game and make me cry. This game has one of the best stories gaming has to offer and that is something that can not be argued. Not only that, the third person shooting gameplay mixed with the survival horror style feel makes for an unreal experience. For what this game doesn’t have in length, it more than makes up for with an absolutely amazing story. Not to mention, the online for this game was actually very good for a game that didn’t put much focus on it.
  • The reason I don’t have it higher on this list is because I enjoyed the story and gameplay of the next three games more than The Last of Us. There is nothing I would change about this game and it is perfect in every sense of the word, I just personally enjoyed three other games more than this game.

Kevin’s 4th Best Game of the Decade

• Nier Automata
  • This game, according to Skill Up on Youtube, is a masterpiece no one will play, and I whole heartedly agree with him
  • This game has some of the most fluid and stylistic combat topped with some of the best sounds tracks I’ve ever heard
  • The story is about Androids, sent by humans residing on the moon, to eliminate all machine life on Earth to retake the planet
    • The game questions autonomy and what it means to have free will
    • Meant to be played three times as each playthrough is its own chapter or act
    • The ending put you through an extremely difficult sequence where other players help you. After the sequence is over, the game will ask if you would like to help others. In order to help other players, you must delete all you saved memory of the game.
  • The reason its not higher on the list is because, if you are not into Eastern style games (Japanese), you will probably not be too crazy about this game from a stylistic prospective. 

Tyler’s 3rd Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Fallout: New Vegas
• Discuss:
  • This was the first ever RPG that I was truly exposed to and was it a great one. Fallout has always been known for having an amazing story filled with hours and hours of content, both main and side. Fallout: New Vegas is the best Fallout game that the series has to offer and will always feel like a classic that everyone should play. You can easily spend 100 hours in this game and still have a ton of content to do, and that’s not even including the DLC content.
  • The reason I have it here on the list is because this game has had so much impact on my gaming life that I had to include it in my top 3 games. The only reason it isn’t the best is because one game has a story that I enjoyed more and the other game does everything Fallout: New Vegas does but just a bit better in my mind.

Kevin’s 3rd Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: The Last of Us
  • There is nothing bad you can say about this game
  • This game did zombies differently what the plant-based disease affecting people and turning them into clicker
  • Non-infected people were the biggest threat and the game made sure to tell the player that humanity is twisted and desperate for survival
  • Most impactful gameplay mechanics, gripping story, and believable characters
  • Reason it is not higher is because I believe there are greater games that took an extra step to be number one

 

Tyler’s 2nd Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: God of War
• Discuss:
  • This game is absolute perfection in my mind. The combat, the art, the voice acting, the character development, the story, everything is absolutely perfect in my mind. This game has plenty of content to go with all of these amazing qualities. It’s hard to actually put into words how great this game really is. What really makes this game an absolute seller for me is the perfect story between father and son, giving a perfect ending to a perfect game.
  • There is only one thing that keeps this game from being the best game of the decade in my mind. That thing is how often I find myself coming back to the game. While I have played it through several times just off of how much I enjoyed the game, the gameplay was always the same. There is nothing wrong with that at all, the gameplay is absolutely perfect. It’s just that this next game does everything that this game does and provides a different style of gameplay every time I got back to it.

Kevin’s 2nd Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: Red Dead Redemption 2
  • This game was greatly anticipated and had a lot of expectations.
  • The game introduced new mechanics that make the game more immersive that impacted gameplay and the way the world treats you
  • Had a lot to prove considering they were introducing a new character while fans wanted to play John Marston one last time
  • Arthur Morgan is the actual GOAT. CHANGE MY MIND!
  • Online play is fun what hold this game back from being number one was that online play at launch didn’t exist and, when it launched, it was lack luster with nothing to do in the big wild west

Tyler’s Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Discuss:
  • Call me a sell out or picking the “easiest” option of any of the games I could’ve picked from, but it real was just the best game that came out this Decade. The game has everything, great stories, plenty of side content, a massive open world, different styles of combat, replay ability, literally everything anyone could want out of a game. Personally, I have never had a game make me want to not only play through a 200-hour game multiple times, but actually purchase it not once, not twice, but three different times.
  • In my mind this was the obvious choice for Game of the Decade. Many other games had amazing qualities that more than make them worthy of Game of the Year for their respective years, but nothing has made me enjoy going back to a game like Skyrim has.

Kevin’s Best Game of the Decade

• WINNER: God of War (PS4)
• Discuss:
  • From the moment this game was announced at E3 2016, this game had very high expectations from fans and new players who never got the chance to play to origin God of War games. On top of taking chances, Cory Barlog, creative director of the game, also took a chance with rebooting the game with a new setting and new gameplay that is foreign to old players. The over the shoulder camera had many players skeptical of the direction of the game especially after President of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Shuhei Yoshida, playtested the game and leaving the studio speechless and stating to a friend “I was horrified.” God of War has delivered an excellent story and new gameplay mechanics that are reminiscent of the older games all in one package where, at the time, free to play battle royales, loot boxes, and microtransaction and run rampant on the videogame industry where game publishers questioned the success of a single player game. With that question in mind, God of War released and proved everyone wrong with over 10 million copies sold.