I probably don’t need to tell any of you that 10 years is a long time, so picking just 10 games out from a literal decade of awesome stuff took some real thought. There are of course the games you instantly remember, but ot all of those were great experiences, you know? Sometines you can have all kinds of fun with a game and it’ll wind up getting swallowed up by time until something reminds you of it. Even so, I’ve managed to get together a list that I think best represents my favorite games of the past 10 years. There’s no particular order or ranking here, just a bunch of games I think are just plain awesome!

Nier: Automata

A game about sword-wielding androids fighting goofy-looking robots doesn’t sound all that interesting on the surface, but it is. Nier: Automata blew me away not just with it’s solid combat and huge variety of gameplay, but it also got me super invested in the story! This game is an emotional rolloer coaster with both absolute gut-punches and rapturous highs! It even got me teary-eyed in the end! Only two games have ever managed that and this is one of them.

Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is just an absolutely fantastic platformer. Hallownest is an endlessly intriguing place to explore, and everything (and I mean everything) builds on this forlorn sense of long-lost splendor. Every place you visit and every character you meet reinforces the idea that Hallownest was once a marvel to behold, and that what you’re seeing now are merely what remains: the last flickering embers of a once brilliant and beautiful flame. Everything else, including the excellent boss encounters, haunting music and cool characters just add to that.

Celeste

Celeste surprised me. I was expecting a simple platformer, but what I got was something different. What I got was a game with fairly deep mechanics and challenging level design; stuff one could spend hours trying to optimize and master. On top of that though, I got a really heartfelt, feelgood story about facing your demons and coming to terms with yourself. Absolutely fantastic!

Super Mario Odyssey

I’m pretty sure I don’t need to sell you on Super Mario Odyssey. For that matter what is there to say about it that I couldn’t say about any Mario game? Super Mario Odyssey is and was peak 3D Mario in a more open (but still level-based) format, and it’s absolutely fantastic. Honestly, I think I need to get back on it sometime soon!

Persona 5

It’d been a while since I’d paid much attention to turn-based stuff like Persona 5. I dunno, I think I was just into more action games at the time. Whatever the reason though, Persona 5 reminded me why JRPGs are fun. It was fun getting to know its characters, the music was fantastic, the combat had some depth to it, the story was actually interesting and the dungeons were actually fun to explore. The game absolutely dripped style too, which also helped. A solid experience through and through.

Signalis

I talked a lot about Signalis over the past year or so, and really is because I think it’s a fantastic game. It’s not so much for the gameplay, which is decent if you like classic Resident Evil-style games, but for the story and world that it presents. There are layers upon layers to everything shown in Signalis; everything has a deeper meaning to it that just makes it all so fascinating to dive into. Once you realize what’s going on (or at least a version of it), it won’t leave your head either.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Fire Emblem: Three Houses out more focus on the characters than ever before and that made it a blast of an experience. Yeah the whole school thing was a little silly, but it was a good excuse for the gameplay and unit development systems, so it was fine. Same with the story; it wasn’t exactly groundbreaking, but then that allowed us to put more thought into the characters. Couple that with some great development in the actual combat gameplay and overall presentation and it’s no wonder that the game is hard to forget.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring was the first soulsborne game I ever played all the way through. Part of the reason why was its relatively more forgiving penalty for death (since its an open world game), but for the most part I think it was because it was an absolute joy to play with friends. For days after it released, I’d get online with my buddies and we’d just go exploring. We’d play separately too, then compare notes and show each other all the cool things we’d found! It was just…excellent. Oh, and the combat felt great and was a lot of fun to (haha).

Destiny

I don’t think I have ever been, or will ever be again, more hyped for a game than I was for Destiny. It was going to be the successor to Halo, the biggest and best multiplayer shooter ever! It didn’t exactly work out that way, but that didn’t stop my friends and I from enjoying everything about it for a good three years or so. Destiny wasn’t everything we’d hoped it would be, but it was a blast nonetheless.

Metroid Dread

Before this game came out, it had been forever since the last real, full-scale, Metroid game, and it was absolutely worth the wait! Nintendo reminded everyone that nobody does Metroid like it does and did it in a big way. The robot encounters are genuinely scary, Samus’ moveset is smoother than anything else out there, the music is on point and the world is just plain cool! Definitely a game that I’ll be revisiting again and again for years to come!

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While all of these are favorites, I’m almost certain that I’m still forgetting some great ones. What can I say? This is gaming and remembering everything you’ve played ain’t exactly easy, especially after years have passed. Will I remember all these after another ten years? I hope so. Just like I hope that Virtual Bastion will still be alive and kicking then too. On that note, please let me know what some your favorites are below and stay tuned as our tenth anniversary celebration continues!