Music recommendation: This is a longer article, so I recommend tuning in to SOMA FM’s Defcon radio channel, they‘re usually playing mint tunes any time of day (they even have an app!)

Well guys, who saw this one coming? We’ve entered into a new decade, so it’s time to look back and determine the best games of the 2010’s. My approach was to think of the best games I’d ever played, and see how many of them came out in the last 10 years. More came out than I had expected!

Side note: while I play lots of games, I don’t play EVERY game, so there might be some curious omissions.

Evil Within 2

My first survival horror game was the first Evil Within, which sucked imo. I played it cause there wasn’t really anything else to play on the PS4 at the time. It was poorly optimized, so framerate was all over the place, but more importantly its take on horror was boring, and terribly cringey.

The only scary thing to come out of the first Evil Within was Laura, which was terrifying. I didn’t end up beating the first Evil Within cause I got bored.

Fast forward a few years and I’m in Spain for a short trip. Evil Within 2 had just released… and it was already being discounted by 50%. It wasn’t selling well. I picked it up on a whim since it was a new game, and super cheap. I guess my expectation were low, since the first game sucked, but the trailers were cool, so I was excited. And man, did this game deliver.

The opening of the game is terrifying, with perfectly timed, unnerving jump scares. It was already scarier than the first Evil Within had ever been. But more importantly, its approach to horror was novel. The pace was excellent, the ambiance was cozy (in a silent hill 2 kindof way, so very unnerving), and the gameplay was appropriately stressful.

The main gameplay loop involves exploring small open worlds and gathering resources, always making risky decisions about whether you’re ready to enter an ominous building or not. Ammo is limited, every missed shot hurts. You always feel vulnerable, because there are few checkpoints, and if you die you usually have to reload your previous save. Exploration is always rewarding, and always dangerous. Drinking coffee (which refills your health) feels sooooo good.

I forced a buddy of mine to play it, and he couldn’t beat it because it was too stressful. I was trying to explain to him that that’s something you WANT in a survival horror game, but he wasn’t convinced.

Progression is excellent, you’re always meaningfully leveling up your character or his weapons (of which there are many). The game has a comprehensive crafting mechanic that always forces you to choose between ammo and health (and you always need both).

Between the open worlds are linear, story focused, dream-like sequences, which culminate in a boss fight. The story introduces MULTIPLE antagonists, has many twists and turns, and takes you to loads of varied environments (both open and linear). Speaking of, this game has more enemy types, boss encounters and characters than it has any business having. IT IS BURSTING AT THE SEAMS WITH CONTENT! (I should be a marketeer). They even updated the game to support playing in first person!

The poltergeist is fucking horrifying. The original song it awesome.

This game is a survival horror masterpiece, and it’s terrible that its sales were so low. Luckily, the studio behind the game, Tango Gameworks, is still around, and (as of this writing) are working on a new game called Ghostwire Tokyo, which I’m OBVIOUSLY keeping a close eye on. The ex-director of Ghostwire Tokyo is this bubbly, Japanese lady with a bombastic personality, but she stepped down for some reason? It doesn’t bode well for the project, but I’m crossing my fingers Ghostwire Tokyo ends up being a commercial hit, the studio really needs it

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Yes yes YES, this IS my favourite video game genre! Immersive sims are objectively the best!

Immersive sims specialize in emergent gameplay, and provide you with many different ways to achieve your objective. Let’s say you have to enter a club, but you aren’t on the guest list. In an immersive sim, you could sneak in through the vents, or bribe the security guard, or even beat the security guard up, all of which are valid solutions to getting into the club. Popular examples of this genre include System Shock, Deus Ex, Prey and Dishonored

I remember seeing the gameplay trailer for this game when I was in high school, and thought it was goofy that you could drag a body around but still have both of your hands on the gun. But it was goofy in a good way. The game came out and the reviews were excellent

At it’s core, Human Revolution is a stealth game, my OTHER favorite genre. Just like Evil Within 2, the game is divided into small, dense open world environments, with linear missions in between, culminating in a boss. Unfortunately, the bosses in this game aren’t good, one of the few things they got wrong. Since I relied heavily on stealth, I rarely leveled up my firepower or health stats, so when I had to fight a boss I was terribly under powered, and kept dying until I figured out the boss’ attack pattern. Boss battles are frustrating, but apparently they’ve been “fixed” in the director’s cut of the game.

What cements this game as one of the best of the decade is how fleshed out and real the world is. The wealth gap has widened, corporations have more power than the government, and the world is literally run by shadow organizations akin to the Illuminati. It’s classic cyberpunk. The game dabbles with themes of renaissance; maybe human augmentation will have such a profound impact on humanity that it will start a second renaissance? I don’t know, but lots of ppl wear goofy outfits.

Cities can be explored at your leisure, and it’s where the game really shines. The cyberpunk cities of Human Revolution are cold and oppressive, themes reflected in the advertisements that plaster the walls, and especially in the conversations you overhear. Cities are dirty and armored cops are everywhere.

The music compliments the aesthetic of the game perfectly. It is brooding, suffocating, oppressive, grand. The soundtrack conveys the feeling that man is on the cusp of something important, and dangerous, something that might maybe totally destroy humanity. The story is also excellent, introducing memorable characters and a conspiracy that reveals itself layer by layer.

The gameplay is polished (and most importantly fun). The augmentatiosn are meaningful, and all guns can be upgraded with cool attachments. The tranquilizer rifle has an awesome augmentation that anticipates an enemy’s movement, thereby helping you aim better. The hacking mini game is really cool, and can be made easier by using single-use viruses/wormholes/software that the player finds throughout the game. There’s even a social mini game where you select different dialog options to try to convince an NPC to give you something peacefully. All these different branches of gameplay (stealth, shooting, hacking and social) can be upgraded according to each player’s preferences.

The marriage of excellent gameplay with awesome world building categorically makes Deus Ex Human Revolution the best immersive sim to come out last decade!

Dark Souls

This is the only From Software game I like!! After Dark Souls it’s been pretty downhill imho. Dark Souls 2 was hella dumb, Dark Souls 3 was all castles and flaming swords, and Bloodborne had a confusing “story” (if you could even call it that). I didn’t try Sekiro cause it’s insanely hard apparently.

Anyway.

The first person to recommend me this game was a coworker at the factory I worked at during summer. He said it’s super hard but super satisfying. I wasn’t convinced though, cause you die all the time and I didn’t need the frustration.

Around a year later, a buddy of mine named Rogue (not really his name but that’s how I write it) also recommended it. He said it’s super hard but super satisfying BUT THIS TIME I actually gave it a shot and it really WAS super hard and super satisfying. Luckily Rogue was there to walk me through the beginning of the game, since the game does a terrible job of explaining its mechanics, or how to equip spells or bows etc.

Anyway.

The game is excellent, hard but fair, with awesome weapons, armor, spells, bosses and environments. However, my favourite thing about this game has nothing to do with gameplay or visuals, but with its approach to storytelling. Yes. The lore runs deep in Dark Souls, but you wouldn’t know that from how little information the game gives you. Every item you pick up has a short description, meaning you very slowly uncover the story as the game progresses.

And I loved it. I remember reading lore while at work in the summer (I was back at the same factory but working in the quality assurance department, so I had access to a computer with internet). I was obsessed. The world of Dark Souls is portrayed in an oddly nostalgic way, like everything is a memory, and it really struck a chord with me.

The bosses are unique, and their designs are excellent. Many are optional, which is DOPE because it makes the game highly replayable.

The game is depressing, but it isn’t in your face about it. All the characters you meet turn crazy, or die, or end up as assholes (that you then have to kill). The world is dying, as are the gods. You’re character is already dead. It’s always cloudy, and probably cold. Anor Londo is a lie. Kingseeker Frampt is a shill. Most players will end up dooming humanity to another cycle of servitude.

But.

Even though everything sucks, your character continues to progress, and better themselves, even though the world is burning down around them. Maybe it’s a metaphor for the real world (or something), about how even if the world sucks you can still get better and become useful and beat the bosses and feel good. Personally, I never bought into the whole “the world sucks, life is suffering” mentality, the world is actually awesome bro, and objectively getting better every day, but for those of you that think life kinda maybe sucks, maybe Dark Souls will kinda help.

Witcher 3

Who didn’t see this one coming?!

Witcher 3 is the best RPG I’ve ever played, and the only Witcher game I’ve ever played. Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way: the graphics are great, the combat is wonderful (though many don’t like the combat, but they’re wrong), the locations are awesome and the story is fun.

But the real reason I love this game is because of the writing. Before Witcher 3, I was content doing silly quests wherein I had to collect 3 bottles of wine, or kill 3 chickens or whatever. This game however raised the bar for what constitutes a “quest”. Now I need new characters and tough decisions between equally shitty outcomes to even consider a side quest.

I’ll give an example:

One of the first side quests you do in the game involves finding out who burned down some dwarf’s forge. You find the guy, some 20 year old who got too drunk and wasn’t thinking. He implores you not to tell on him, but like, he burned down someone’s business! He should be brought to justice!

So you report him, and soldiers come and are like “yeah burning down the forge is treason so we’re just gonna kill him lol” and then they take him away and ~gasp~ kill him.

And you’re probably thinking like, “wtf I didn’t want him to die!!!” But he DID die, a consequence of YOUR decisions. What’re you gonna do, reload your save? NOT report him? The guy burned down the dwarf’s garrison because he hated non-humans, he was a racist! But ALSO he didn’t need to die! The game is filled with these kinds of difficult decisions, and are what makes Witcher 3 the best written game I’ve ever played.

I’m a bit of a noob when it comes to classic RPG’s (in that I’ve never played any), so maybe Witcher 3’s writing quality is nothing NEW, but it was new FOR ME. But back when Witcher 3 came out, I would’ve never considered playing an isometric, old-ass RPG. Witcher 3 took the writing quality of a classic rpg and added it to a open world game with a not-boring, not-turn-based battle system. Why hadn’t anyone thought of doing it before??

Well, probably because it’d be super expensive to create a game with as many characters, animations, quests and dialogue as Witcher 3. Luckily, Witcher 3 was made in Poland, where I’d estimate video game development costs are around 30-40% cheaper than in USA, or France.

This game has significantly raised awareness of Polish culture worldwide, and CD Projekt Red’s success with the Witcher franchise has propelled Poland’s video game industry into a huge and thriving one, which employs thousands of people! It’s big, and important, and proves that the highest quality games can be built in Eastern Europe. Now, after Poland’s success, many countries in eastern Europe are becoming game dev hubs. I myself currently work as a video game programmer in Prague! The quality and success of this game validates aspiring game devs in eastern Europe; they too can pursue their dream career without having to leave their home. For an eastern European like myself, that’s invaluable.

Portal 2

The first Portal sucks. One of the late game puzzle elements was this floating energy ball that you had to guide into a slot, but it was IMPOSSIBLE to tell where the ball was in 3D space since it didn’t case any lights or shadows?!?! It was an extremely frustrating mechanic that luckily got scrapped in Portal 2.

Luckily, all the new puzzle mechanics added to Portal 2 are great. I loved the gels, lasers and light bridges.

I love lore, and this game has it in spades. From the very beginning, there are mysterious murals that kindof explain events that took place long ago. There are even ties to the Half Life series (which isn’t completely dead!). The antagonist, just like the first Portal game, is an evil, wonderfully written robot named GLaDOS.

The game starts out pretty standard, with you entering a puzzle room and GLaDOS shit-talking you. Then you complete the puzzle, and end the level with GLaDOS talking even more shit (to you). The writing is stellar, and hilarious. In fact, the writing is SO on point that GLaDOS’ comments feel like legitimate rewards for completing a level.

Around a third of the way through the game however, the formula changes. Your character falls deeeeeeep underground, and has to work her way back up to the surface, while simultaneously exploring the history of Aperture science.

I loved Portal 2’s approach to storytelling in this section. The game takes a show-don’t-tell approach that greatly aids with the feeling of exploration. There’s a mystery to be solved! Who exactly is Cave Johnson?

Finally, the characters introduced on your journey are great, with completely fleshed out personalities. How do you do that when your characters don’t have faces?!

The characters in Portal 2 are proof of how far excellent voice acting and writing can go. Excellent, satisfying puzzles, wonderful storytelling and hilarious dialogue ensure you’ll have a smile on your face the entire time you’re playing Portal 2.

Titanfall 2

I loved this game. I’ve never played the first Titanfall, but it doesn’t have a campaign, and I’m pretty sure the multiplayer is dead now. If you haven’t played any Titanfall game, the traversal mechanics are insane: you can double jump, infinitely run along walls, and USE A GRAPPLING HOOK TO SWING LIKE SPIDERMAN!! It has wilder speed and traversal mechanics that even Doom! If you haven’t played Doom, stop reading this blog now.

Traversal never gets old! I wish that Apex Legends (a successful battle royale game set in the Titanfall universe) also had the same traversal mechanics, though the reasoning the studio gave for omitting them is understandable.

Anyway, the campaign is awesome, and the multiplayer is dope as hell. Seriously, this game has the best fps mission I played this decade (those that have played the game know the one I’m talking about). I won’t give anything away. There’s another cool mission that takes place in a massive factory that’s assembling entire apartment units. In said mission, you traverse topsy turvy, horizontal, diagonal, (orthogonal?) apartments. It’s disorienting, surreal, and hella fun.

The relationship you forge with your titan (giant robot) is way better than it needed to be. Said relationship is enforced through conversations you have with the titan, where you choose the reply, how often do you see that in an FPS! Speaking of, your titan fells very powerful, and the titan’s default weapon has crunchy, satisfying sound design. The titan unlocks various weapons/ loadouts that are useful in different situations, so piloting the titan always feels fun.

Finally, I actually understood what side of the war I was playing on (which is more than I can say about any Halo game). But this game also has awesome multiplayer!

I rarely play multiplayer games because most of the multiplayer fps games are either COD, Halo or Battlefield, and that’s BORING. But man, Titanfall 2’s traversal makes the gameplay far more fun than those other games. The traversal is super fast, so you don’t have to spend alot of time getting to an objective. The unlocks are great, the powers are cool, my only complaint being that there aren’t enough weapons.

As a match progresses, grunt enemies spawn, meaning even though a map is huge and a game is only 6v6, you always have something to shoot at. You can OF COURSE call in your titan in multiplayer, something you do around twice a match.

Furthermore, when a team wins, the losing team loses the ability to respawn, and attempts to escape in a drop ship. The winning team now hunts the losing team, or attempts to destroy their drop ship for extra points. These different phases add significantly to Titanfall 2’s multiplayer. Matches are never boring because the moment-to-moment gameplay changes around 3-4 times per match!

It’s a shame that this game, like Evil Within 2, also didn’t sell well. EA, the game’s publisher, decided to launch the game at the same time as Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty, and most ppl, predictably, bought Battlefield 1 or COD instead

I, and many others, were worried the Titanfall universe would get canned due to Titanfall 2’s poor sales, but Apex Legends, a game set in the Titanfall universe and developed by the same team has been a massive success. Here’s to hoping for a Titanfall 3!

That’s a wrap, thanks so much for reading everyone!