If you couldn’t judge by our store’s name, we really like video games. Every year we get to enjoy more and more excellent games and we all have such different preferences on game styles, it makes picking our favorites from any given year tough!
Here are our favorite games we played in 2019. Do you agree or disagree with our picks?
In my adult life I find less and less time for video games, because of this I end up skipping or not finishing a lot of really good RPGs because of how long they take. Fire Emblem: Three Houses has made me make time for it’s amazingly compelling story and it’s (as always) solid gameplay. I haven’t quite finished but I’ve already pumped in 100+ hours and I plan to keep playing to get the full story. If a game can keep my attention for that long and keep me wanting to come back for more, it has to be my game of the year.
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In a year full of AAA mega-titles, this quirky little indie game stole my heart faster than the title character stole that gardner’’s keys. This game isn’t about the latest blast-processing graphics or online multiplayer battle royales...it’s just about a goose whose main objective is to annoy the heck out of the unsuspecting townspeople. The controls are simple, it’s easy to pick up and play, and solving the puzzle-based objectives is rewarding and satisfying. I’ve shared Untitled Goose Game with non-gamers, then quickly regretted it when I realized I was never going to see my Switch again. Untitled Goose memes still permeate the Internet, and I cannot think of a better representative of 2019 than an irritating Goose who steals all your stuff, pushes you into puddles, and struts away while honking at your misfortune.
The past few years hasn’t been that great for Star Wars games. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order changed that completely. It has an amazing story that is set years after the terrible Order 66. The gameplay is smooth for the most part other than some frame rate drops when entering different parts of some of the planets. But besides that it is a challenging game that truly tests your Jedi skills and allows you to create your own lightsaber in order to really make you feel like you are part of the Star Wars Universe.
Full disclosure: My pick was going to be Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition until the very last minute. I changed it to Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove after the release of it’s final expansions and found I had so much more to say about Shovel Knight.
Shovel Knights is possibly the best example of doing a crowdfunding game right. Even though it made it’s goal and was initially released years ago, they’ve been working on all the stretch goal expansions to life every since. Not only have they been free to backers, they’ve been made available to everyone for either a DLC-stand alone experience, or through free updates. With Treasure Trove you get everything and is an amazing value for you buck.
With the release of Showdown and King of Cards the complete edition of Shovel Knight is finally available. Every aspect of this game is made with such care and with reverence for the NES games of yesteryear. Charm is oozed from every pixel and you can tell this is an absolute labor of love from everyone at Yacht Club Games. And that’s just the base game!
The expansions really flesh out the world giving context and motivation to several of the games bosses and making seemingly insignificant background characters stars in their own right. The platform brawler Showdown has so much to unlock and and a surprising amount of depth, it will be in my party game rotation for years to come.
In case you couldn’t tell, I absolutely adore Shovel Knight and think it’s something any gamer should experience at least once!
Not just a simple port. Completely re-done from the ground up, with some new surprises added in.
