Game of the year: the best games of 2019 – The Verge

The 10 best video games of 2019

2019-12-20T09:00:00-05:00

It's never easy narrowing down a list of the best games of the year, but 2019 seemed particularly difficult. There wasn't a single blockbuster that dominated the conversation, games along the lines of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or God of War that everyone seemed to have on their list. That doesn't mean it was a bad year for games - in fact, the depth and breadth of titles was impressive. During the voting process, The Verge staff called out 45 different games as ranking among their favorites.

After a lot of discussion - and a bit of arguing - we've managed to whittle that down to the 10 best games of the year. Check them out be …

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Why Devil May Cry 5 is my game of the year

2019-12-20T08:00:00-05:00

If you want to understand the magic of Devil May Cry 5, look no further than V. The game's newest lanky boy addition is one of three heroes to play as throughout Devil May Cry 5's winding narrative. Unlike the game's beloved demon hunters Dante or Nero, V doesn't get his hands dirty directly, but rather stands back and lets summoned beasts take care of the fighting. He has a blowout befitting of Adam Driver on his best hair day, paired with tattoos that I can only describe as aggressively tribal. He reads poetry out loud and wears leather pants with sandals. Everything about V is remarkably stupid and yet ironically cool. I love him more tha …

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Why Pokémon Sword and Shield are my games of the year

2019-12-19T08:48:40-05:00

Pokémon Red is the first game I can remember playing myself. And while revolutionary for the time, the rudimentary, 8-bit graphics of the series left a lot to the imagination. Pretend this grass hides wild pokémon. Imagine this pokémon is wielding vast elemental powers. Picture an epic gym battle for the right to be the champion of the entire country. The Game Boy classics could never live up to the dream they were selling. With Pokémon Sword and Shield, though, you don't have to imagine. For the first time, developer Game Freak has brought the world of Pokémon to life in a way that the pixel-art of Red and Blue never could.

Sword and Shie …

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A short list of the best short games of 2019

2019-12-18T10:00:00-05:00

The idea behind the Short Play column was to recommend games that anyone could finish in a weekend, because people finishing games turns out to be a surprisingly rare occurrence. And the longer a game gets, the more difficult it becomes.

We've recommended 26 different short games over the last year, but if you are looking for the best of the best, here are six games that have stood out from the rest for one reason or another. And they're short enough that you might even be able to finish them all before the end of the year. (Unless it's December 31st, then I can't really guarantee that.)

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Video games have long tried to adapt techniques …

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Why Fire Emblem: Three Houses is my game of the year

2019-12-18T08:00:00-05:00

There is no multiplayer in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, but it certainly lends itself to being social. I have a running text thread with two friends about the game, and I have a couple more I message. Nicole and Christina send me Three Houses tweets and memes. Sarah chronicles her playthrough on the game's toughest difficulty setting, "maddening," which is proving appropriately named. Andrew has advice about "min/maxing" characters, though I haven't had the heart to tell him I have no idea what that means. Basically, I've been talking about Fire Emblem for the better part of the year.

Three Houses is a rare feat in that it's a legacy franchis …

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Why Fortnite is my game of the year… again

2019-12-17T09:00:00-05:00

There were a lot of great games this year. Pokémon Sword and Shield, Death Stranding, Control, Untitled Goose Game, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Baba is You all hit in 2019. But when I had time to play a game, I usually opted for another drop in Fortnite instead.

At this point, I've been hooked for nearly a year and a half, ever since Fortnite came to the Switch in June 2018. My first goal was to get that elusive first win, but the game keeps pulling me back with its frequent updates, seasonal events, and addicting battle passes. The improvements and changes in the newly released Chapter 2 have made the game even better. There's always so …

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Why Hypnospace Outlaw is my game of the year

2019-12-17T08:00:00-05:00

If you've frequented certain older web forums, someone may have once told you to "lurk more." The command admonishes newcomers to immerse themselves in a strange new digital environment until they understand its quirks and topography - to become part of a culture specifically by not participating in it.

Hypnospace Outlaw is a game for lurkers.

In Hypnospace Outlaw, you are a new user of the super-futuristic '90s Hypnospace network, a virtual world that is accessed through a headband while dreaming, yet is effectively composed of GeoCities pages. You're not an ordinary user; you're a moderator hunting down pirated music, malicious software, …

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Why Control is my game of the year

2019-12-16T08:00:00-05:00

There's a moment near the end of Control that is so unabashedly thrilling, joyous, and decadent in its design that it would make most roller coaster creators reflect on their life decisions. To say much more about the Ashtray Maze would be to spoil the giddy surprise. But it's worth noting that, when it's over, protagonist Jesse catches her breath and offers her analysis of the mind-blowing events that just transpired:

"…That was awesome."

It's not something you'd expect the normally stoic Jesse to let out, given her predicament. Control is a game about navigating a paranormal US government agency in an attempt to find out the truth about …

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