Best of 2019

EGM’s Game of the Year 2019: Control

Weird is hard. Even defining what makes a work of fiction “weird” can be a bit slippery. It’s more than just building a world full of the impossible and unfamiliar, since that could just as easily describe boilerplate fantasy or science fiction. The difference, I think, is that true weirdness has to unfurl from the…
EGM’s Best of 2019: Mollie L Patterson’s Picks

If 2018 was a year in which I had games that I liked but maybe didn’t exactly love, 2019 has provided me way too many choices when nailing down my top five. From major big-budget releases, to smaller indie hits, to plenty of stuff in between, there were just so many titles that caught my…
EGM’s Best of 2019: #2 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice might be the most zen game FromSoftware has released, and that’s not because it features motifs of meditation and Buddhism and the other various nods towards spirituality and religiosity that comes with its immaculately realized Sengoku period Japanese setting. It’s zen because it overtly recognizes death, beginning with its title. When…
EGM’s Best of 2019: Josh Harmon’s Picks

Reasonable folks can disagree, but 2019 struck me as a definite off-year for video games, with plenty of slightly above-average games and very few true greats. Truth be told, up until a mad rush in November and December to play through a bunch of stuff I’d missed out on, I didn’t even have a full…
EGM’s Best of 2019: #3 Resident Evil 2

When loading a save file in the original Resident Evil, players would see a slightly strange message displayed on screen: “You have once again entered the world of survival horror.” While it certainly wasn’t the first game that asked players to survive in a world filled with horrors, the game—and that simple line of text—would…
EGM’s Best of 2019: Michael Goroff’s Picks

When I first started at EGM, I was excited to make my Game of the Year list. I was an intrepid critic, eager to quantify the unquantifiable and rank the unrankable, extracting and sculpting just a tiny bit of order from all the chaos. Why appreciate things on a holistic level when we can rate…
EGM’s Best of 2019: #4 Death Stranding

From the moment Hideo Kojima first forced us to gaze upon the bare ass of CGI Norman Reedus, it was clear Death Stranding would be destined for greatness or madness. As subsequent trailers piled on cryptic image after cryptic image, it began to seem like there was no possible way that all these strands could…
EGM’s Best of 2019: Marc Camron’s Picks

While there were plenty of great games to play in 2019, the year lacked the flood of content that exhausted reviewers over the last few years. This isn’t uncommon at this point in the console cycle. By this time next year players will be connecting their shiny new PS5s and Xbox Series X systems and…
EGM’s Best of 2019: Matthew Bennett’s Picks

2019 has been an interesting year for gaming. We had Bungie splitting from Activision, Reggie Fils-Aime retiring, the birth of a new battle royale powerhouse with Apex Legends, and both Sony and Microsoft announcing their next-generation consoles. However, in terms of games, I’d have to give the edge to 2018. That doesn’t mean that 2019…
EGM’s Best of 2019: #5 Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Fire Emblem’s tactical-RPG gameplay is world renowned. Its permadeath feature has prompted countless level replays over the years, and its difficulty tests even the most strategic of minds. And after finding a foothold here in the States following immense popularity in Japan, the series has proven to be a surprising powerhouse for Nintendo. This year’s…
EGM’s Best of 2019: Ray Carsillo’s Picks

As we near the end of this console generation, it’s understandable that we’re starting to see, in my opinion, more very good games and less great games. Publishers are saving their best games to help launch new boxes, and developers are focusing on the new toys they have to make the best games possible with…
EGM’s Best of 2019: Best of the Rest

From today through the start of the new year, we’ll be posting our picks for the best games of 2019. Unlike in previous years, we’ve opted not to go for one big, ranked countdown. The truth is, there are so many incredible games nowadays that no one person could be expected to play and weigh…