By: Tyler Miller

The 2010’s are coming to a close and a brand new decade of gaming is on the horizon. With that being the case, I thought it would be fun to look back on this past decade and pick out ten of my favorite games from this decade.

(If you would prefer to watch the video I made for this post, you can go ahead and do so right here!)

Making this list was a tough task because there are so many games that I’ve played and I love a large number of them. But there can only be ten that reign supreme over the others. My one rule for this list is that the games have to be ones that were released between 2010-2019. No game that I played during this time frame that was released prior to 2010 is allowed on this list. I’m going to rank these games in order from least favorite to absolute favorite, so strap in and get ready. It’s going to be doozy. First, let’s start with the Honorable Mentions.

Honorable Mentions

I have six Honorable Mentions to go through before we get into the main list. Some of these are games that totally would’ve made the list if it wasn’t for my rule about having to had come out after 2010. I got my PS3 on Christmas in 2009, so I ended up playing all the games from that generation during the 2010s, but rules are rules unfortunately.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the first game in the franchise that I owned and it is to this day still my favorite in the entire series. It’s campaign is great and filled with so many iconic moments. It’s a campaign that I replayed numerous times because of how fun it is. The multiplayer was the real star of the show though and the one that set the rest of the series on the course that it’s been for the past ten years. All of the maps were memorable, the kill streaks powerful and fun, and the gameplay was addicting. I would love to have a remastered version of this game so I could relive it all over again.

Bioshock Infinite was one of my favorite games of the year when it came out in 2013. While the game took on a very different tone from its predecessors and was far more action oriented, that didn’t keep me from loving it. The city of Columbia was beautiful and one of the more unique worlds I had ever visited in a game. Booker and Elizabeth were characters that I took a strong liking to, and the story kept me hooked from start to finish. Don’t even get me started on that mind trip of an ending. It had me shook for days after I finished the game. Hopefully we get another game in the franchise that’s just as good if not better than this game was.

Tales From the Borderlands is one of my favorite games from Telltale. I had heard that it was one of their better games, but didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. The writing and characters were on point from the moment the game started. Switching between Fiona and Rhys and seeing how they each interpreted different events throughout the story was a fun and interesting hook. I even found myself caring about the characters a lot more than I ever did about any of the characters from the main Borderlands series. The game also had some absolutely hilarious moments such as the finger gun shootout. I also need to shoutout the opening to the final episode. It’s beautiful and heart wrenching, and I love it so much.

Mirror’s Edge is without a doubt one of my favorite games of all time. The pure joy of just running and doing parkour around the environment was something that I didn’t know I needed until I played this game. Sure the story isn’t the best, but the gameplay is some of the most fun I’ve ever had in a game. It caused me to replay the story from start to finish over and over again, and look up speed run glitches/tricks to try and make my runs through levels even faster. It’s too bad that the sequel didn’t live up to the greatness of this game.

I’m a huge fan of the Super Smash Bros. series. I jumped into the series with Melee and became a major fan with Brawl. I never had a Wii U, so I really didn’t play Smash 4 aside from the few times I played with my brother on his Wii U. So Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was a big return to the series for me and it’s been such a blast to come back to the series. While I wish the single player adventure mode was more like Subspace Emissary, the World of Light mode was fun for what it was. Other than that I don’t really dabble in any modes outside of just normal versus mode, but that’s fine with me. I have so much fun just playing against the computers and getting better as the characters that I play as. Ultimate isn’t a game that I find myself playing all the time, but it’s a game that I do find myself playing for a long time whenever I do play it.

My final honorable mention is Grand Theft Auto IV. I lived and breathed this game for years until its sequel came out. Part of that was because it was the first GTA game that I owned, but it was mostly because the game was mind-blowing to me. The story of Niko trying to achieve the American dream but being dragged into the criminal life was absorbing and so much more mature and serious than I had ever really experienced in a game before that. Liberty City itself was also a revolution for me, especially since I’m a New Yorker. It was so detailed and true to life that I felt like I was playing around in my backyard. I remember going on rampages through the city using the weapon and health cheats until I got bored or felt like starting all over. It was the source of so many good times for me throughout my high school years and I’ll honestly never forget it.

Now with the Honorable Mentions out of the way, it’s time to get into the main list!

10. Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V brought the last generation of consoles to an explosive end, all while pushing them to their absolute limits. It became clear just how hard it was pushing them when it was re-released for the current generation of consoles in 2014. The game was jaw dropping from a graphical standpoint, bringing the city of Los Santos to life in a way that GTA IV wishes it could’ve done for Liberty City. Rockstar also pushed the envelope and the open world genre as a whole with the whole three-protagonist concept for the story. Being able to switch between Michael, Trevor, or Franklin at any given time during the game was fascinating on paper, but seeing it and actually doing it was mind blowing. Each of them had their own lives and personalities that shined whenever you played as them. This concept transitioned over to the story well too as it was implemented in some of the missions in really fun ways.

The heists were the big attraction of the story though and not one of them disappointed. They all required smart planning and execution in order to achieve the most success, meaning that you couldn’t get cold feet or panic during any of the high intensity moments that they provided. I also loved the story and how it all played out. It’s a game that I happily played through more than once because it was just so much fun and a great story as well. GTA V set such a high bar for the open world genre that only Rockstar themselves could pass, which of course they would do later in the generation (but we’ll get to that later).

9. Just Cause 2

Just Cause 2 was a game that I was completely enamored with. The story was silly and didn’t take itself too seriously, but it still managed to have some stakes to it that I actually cared about. The final mission sees you fighting the boss on a missile! You don’t get much sillier than that. There were so many times where I would just go around the world and try to cause chaos in the most insane ways possible, and it was a blast.

I remember all the times where I would take a helicopter as high as I could into the sky and then jump out and free fall while trying to grapple back into the helicopter before it crashed. It was a stupid challenge, but it was fun. There was a purpose to everything that I did, and it was fun every step of the way. It’s one of the few open world games where I actually tried to 100% complete everything the world had to offer. Later games in the series haven’t been able to replicate the fun of this game at all. They only make me wish I was playing this one instead. At least they added a cool wing suit to the sequels. That’s always nice.

8. Sayonara Wild Hearts

What can I say about Sayonara Wild Hearts that I didn’t already say in my review of the game? It’s a game that oozes style and and coolness from every angle. From the art style and action that takes place, to the music, every facet of this game is filled with so much personality that it’s easy to get caught up in it all and just enjoy the ride. And what a ride it is! The game is constantly throwing out new ideas in each level which caused me to always look forward to what was in store next. The music is such a key part of this game. So key in fact that everything about the game really revolves around the music. The way that everything happening on screen and what you’re doing intertwines with the music is just perfect and helps make each level that much more fun.

Speaking of the music, it’s absolutely incredible. I’m a big music lover, so from the second this game started up I just knew I was going to love it and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s filled with upbeat Pop/EDM songs that get the blood pumping and my body jamming to the beat. The lyrics also do double duty conveying the message and story of the game. I’ve played this game a lot of times and I’m still trying to fully understand the story, but it doesn’t really matter in the long run because it doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the game. It just gives me an excuse to keep on playing through this absolutely amazing game.

7. Journey

Journey is a simple game. Just go towards the mountain. But part of its beauty is that simplicity. The game doesn’t overtly tell you anything that you need to do or the backstory of what happened to the world. It largely leaves it all up to your interpretation. The reason being is that it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. What truly matters is the journey (no pun intended) that you take. It’s one that’s fraught with danger, but also fun. I’ll never forget the first time I played the sand surfing level and was sliding my way up, down, and all around the sand dunes alongside the anthropomorphic scarf creatures. It was a moment of joy that I wish could’ve lasted forever.

There’s also the fact that you can play the game with another player, but you never know their name and can only communicate with them through sound cues in the game. It’s a perfect way to avoid griefing and encourage communication and cooperation with a stranger that’s trying to achieve the same goal as you. I found myself becoming emotionally connected to my partner during the journey and actually feeling sad when I lost them and couldn’t find them. We made the trek easier for each other, so not having them was a major blow to me. Then there’s the music. Austin Wintory’s score for this game is pitch perfect. The song “Apotheosis” is one of the best tracks I’ve ever heard in a game, and is the best song to end the game on. Before I played Journey, I knew that Indie games were good but generally didn’t play them. After playing this game though, my eyes were opened to just how impactful and amazing they could be and my gaming palate has been changed for the better.

6. The Walking Dead (Season 1)

Before playing Telltale’s The Walking Dead, I had never played any game like it. An adventure game where the gameplay is all about talking with people and making choices? I never would’ve played a game like that before The Walking Dead came around, but I’m happy I gave it a chance because it was probably my favorite game of that year, and it’s become one of my all time favorite games. The story was firing on all cylinders here. Trying to take care of a little girl and be a positive role model for her in a world where that is a good way to get yourself killed was such a great way to get me invested in the story and characters. I truly cared about everyone, even the ones that I hated (*cough* Larry *cough*). I tried my best to be the voice of reason and keep everyone alive and level headed. Seeing the way that my choices affected the story and the way that other characters perceived me, specifically Clementine, was powerful and made me really think twice before making a decision.

By the time I got to the end of the game and that final conversation between Lee and Clementine happened, I was actually in tears. This was the first game to ever make me cry, and at the time I couldn’t believe it. But it was happening. Partly because of the fact that I loved those two characters and was so invested in their relationship. It was also partly because I have a younger brother who at the time was around the same age as Clementine. As I watched the scene play out, I just saw the two of us in the same predicament and it tore me to pieces. The fact that the game was able to do that still amazes me to this day. While subsequent seasons of the game have been great, I don’t think any of them are better than this first season in regards to its overall quality and impact.

5. Red Dead Redemption II

Remember how earlier I said that GTA V created a bar so high that only Rockstar themselves could manage to surpass it? Well with Red Dead Redemption II they did that by a long shot. I admit that the game isn’t for everyone due to its slow pacing and controls, but the game is a masterpiece of world design, story telling, and gameplay. Rockstar created a fantastic cast of characters that are some of the most realistic video game characters to date. Every interaction with them feels like interacting with a real person, not a computer controlled character. Being able to actually have real interactions with every person in the game if you so choose is simply revolutionary and something I would’ve thought of as being impossible a few years ago. But here comes Rockstar showing everyone that it can be done and done well at that. The world itself is massive and dense, filled with things to see and do. Sure it may take a while to travel across the world or do just about anything, but it’s deliberately like that. It’s all in service of making you be as immersed in the world as possible, and it works incredibly well.

I’ve yet to say much about the story, but hot damn is the story amazing. It’s seriously one of the best I’ve ever experienced in a game. When I first played RDRII, it took me quite some time to really be hooked onto the story, but once it happened I was in it for the remainder of the game’s 60-hour story. Every member of the Van der Linde gang is deeply layered with their own personalities and motivations, but Arthur Morgan is one of my favorite video game characters ever. He’s a good man that’s done a lot of bad stuff over the course of his life, and he’s forced to face it all throughout the game’s story. It’s a story that I knew could only end one way, but I was still hoping I could find a different way for it to all go down. I also have to mention real quick that this game is a technical marvel. How it even runs on the current generation of consoles is beyond me. It’s such a beautiful game that is leaps and bounds above GTA V and has me excited to see what Rockstar’s next game is going to look like, especially since it’ll be on the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

4. The Last Of Us

Naughty Dog was a developer that I had loved since the PS2 days with their Jak and Daxter series. Moving onto the PS3 with the Uncharted franchise, I continued to be impressed by the games they made and the stories that they told. It wasn’t really until The Last of Us though that they cemented themselves as one of my favorite developers in the gaming industry. It’s a game that stands in stark contrast to anything they had previously made. A far more mature and serious game that was the exact opposite of their usual family friendly stuff, The Last of Us helped show that games could be art and tell more emotionally resonant stories. Whenever I think about The Last of Us, I don’t think about the gameplay. I instead think about the many story moments in the game and just how impactful it was for me from start to finish. It’s a game that isn’t necessarily super fun to play, but its story is incredible and worth playing through. That’s not to say that the gameplay is bad, but it just doesn’t hold a candle to the story that Naughty Dog tells.

Traveling across the country with Joel and Ellie, two of my favorite characters in gaming, and dealing with the many hardships that they encountered really endeared them to me. I grew to care about them more and more as the story and their relationship progressed. The way in which they would chat with each other while just walking through an environment, revealing new tidbits about each of their personalities was something that I really liked since it made their character development seem so much more natural. Then seeing how the different events that transpired throughout the game effected them and brought them closer together just made their relationship seem even more real than you would typically expect from a video game. The Last of Us raised the bar for storytelling in games when it came out in 2013, so my expectations are sky high for The Last of Us Part II when it comes out next year.

3. Final Fantasy XV

I’m prepared to get a lot of hate for this placement, but I don’t care. Final Fantasy XV is an amazing game. There I said it! I get that there are a good amount of people that have issues with the game. They didn’t really like the story; they thought the combat was boring; they didn’t like the characters and that you could only play as Noctis. For each of those complaints though, I have a retort. The story was great from start to finish. It wasn’t confusing at all and made perfect sense. The story of Noctis journeying with his friends to try and save the world from demons and an evil empire, all while he struggled with his newfound position of power and destiny was captivating from the moment the game started. I truly didn’t want the story to end because it was so good and I was having so much fun in the game and with the characters. The combat was exciting and a blast to engage in. Whenever there were enemies, I would go up and fight them simply because of how much I enjoyed the combat.

And the characters were deeply layered people that I truly cared about and felt like I knew personally. The relationship between the core set of guys is one of the best friendships to ever be in a game. The way that the guys banter with each other while driving around, or the things that they say to each other during combat goes a long way towards making their relationship seem true to what we’re being told it is. Once I reached the end of the game, it felt like I had really been on a long, harsh journey with my best friends and I didn’t want to say goodbye to them. And sure it would’ve been nice to be able to play as the other members of the party at launch, but it was Noctis’ story, so I feel like it just makes sense that we only play as him. Besides, the release of the DLC chapters only served to prove that Noctis is the best one to play as, and playing as anyone else is really only a novelty. I absolutely loved my time in the gorgeous world of Eos. It was a lot of fun and it’s an experience that I wish I could have wiped from my mind so I could play it fresh and have that same experience all over again.

2. Kingdom Hearts III

Yet another game that I won’t be surprised to get hate for due to its placement. But as a diehard fan, there’s no way that Kingdom Hearts III wasn’t going to make it onto this list. I admit and acknowledge that the game wasn’t perfect. I said as much in my review of the game. Even still, it is my second favorite game of the decade for two reasons. First is the fact that the game came out and was as good as it was. After such a long wait for this game, it could’ve been so much worse than it ended up being. But it was a great game! The combat is the best the series has ever had, the worlds are really well designed, and the graphics are just out of this world. And the story wrapped up just about every thread that had been dangling in as neat and satisfying a manner as possible. I was so happy with the way that everything ended that I couldn’t help but have a stupid smile on my face as the final cutscene played.

My second reason for this being my second favorite game of the decade though is the fact that I had some of the most fun of my life playing this game. The whole time I was playing the game, I was just enamored with every aspect of it and having the time of my life. It was like I had been transported back to when I was a kid and playing the first two games on my PS2. I wanted to do nothing but play this game when it came out. While I managed to take one day off work to play the game, I wish I could’ve taken off more just so I could stay home and not have to worry about anything except enjoying this game. Nothing else mattered except playing Kingdom Hearts III and basking in its glory. Are there better games on this list that were placed lower? Absolutely. But this list isn’t called “My Favorite Games from the 2010’s Based On Quality.” That would probably be a very different list. At the end of the day, none of the games that came before this one can take its place because I love me some Kingdom Hearts and the time that I spent with this game just simply can’t be replaced or wiped away.

1. God of War

What can I say about God of War that hasn’t already been said? This game was simply phenomenal in every way imaginable. To quote my own review of the game, “God of War is not the game I was expecting it to be. I was expecting it to be a great game, but what I got instead was a straight up masterpiece.” It was a game that had me hooked from the moment it started, and continued to impress me over and over again throughout the course of its story. It’s gameplay was impeccable, the story was emotional, the characters were realistic and made me actually care about them, and the world was a sight to behold.

This was a game that I simply could not get enough of and did not want to stop playing. I remember being at work and thinking about playing this game some more when I got back home. More importantly though, it’s a game that has stuck with me ever since I finished it. A year and a half removed from its release I still find myself thinking about moments from it every now and then, and remembering just how amazing this game was. It’s damn near perfect! There have been a lot of games that I’ve played over the past ten years, but none of them can surpass God of War as my favorite game of the decade.