2019 is more than halfway complete, but it’s already provided us with games worthy of the Game of the Year moniker. Let’s take another look at these 2019 game of the year contenders released so far before the holiday season goes into overdrive and throws this list for a loop.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
Intelligent Systems has managed to develop one of the most accessible Fire Emblem games ever with Three Houses. Mixing together social elements and deep turn-based strategy-RPG mechanics, Three Houses is simply the creme de la creme of the franchise.
Making the player choose between one of the three houses in the game is one of the hardest decisions in gaming this year and it’s not just for show.
Each of the three houses has a totally different narrative to see through, with a roster of interesting and relatable characters that shine ever so brightly throughout the 50-60 hour campaign.
And that’s just the average game time for one of the houses by itself. If you want to see every path that the game has to offer, expect to spend at least 200 hours of game time.
Our reviews editor, Zhiqing, thoroughly enjoyed this entry in the series, and you can read more about it right here in her review.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
The developers at FromSoftware are known for creating some of the most brutally difficult, yet rewarding, action-RPGs of all time. Yes, we are talking the Dark Souls series and the PS4 exclusive, Bloodborne.
In order to progress at all through these games, you will have to perfect avoiding enemy attacks by keeping your finger on that dodge button at all times. But, what Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice does differently is punish the player for dodging instead of promoting the use of it.
Instead of the game putting you in the shoes of a really heavy character like in Dark Souls, Sekiro changes up the formula and is unlike other SoulsBorne games by turning you into an agile ninja.
He has a grappling hook that provides a ton of verticality, and the combat focuses on parrying and posture instead of rolling around like a baby.
It calls back to FromSoftware’s Tenchu series, which also has you playing as a ninja, but that series focused on stealth more than action.
FromSoftware has blended the high level of difficulty of Dark Souls with an older series in the developer’s library and it makes for a pretty great recipe.
Devil May Cry 5
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
A series that seemed somewhat stagnant after a luke-warm reboot from a different developer, Devil May Cry has been in a weird place as of late, but thanks to the astounding critical reception that Devil May Cry 5 has seen, the sexy and stylish action franchise seems to back in good hands.
I don’t know if it’s the way that the game shines graphically, or if it’s the change of having three different playable characters, but Devil May Cry 5 is one of the best-looking action games to come out in a while, and it also just feels so good to play.
The excellent combo system that grades you on every single battle pushes the player to step out of their comfort zone and try new abilities and weapons to achieve that super sexy stylish high score.
The heavy metal and rock soundtrack also add a lot to the battles, creating an effect of badassery that can be hard to create, but Capcom truly nailed it.
Resident Evil 2
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
It may be strange to see a remake of 20-year-old game pop up on an early game of the year list but, trust us, Resident Evil 2 truly revolutionizes what a remake should feel and look like.
More than just a simple remastering, Resident Evil 2 perfectly captures the sense of dread when Mr. X bursts through a wall to then punch you in the face, causing you to waste all of your bullets into his spongy decaying body.
Playing through this remake, it felt so familiar to the PlayStation classic but also felt like an entirely new experience. Seeing all of the memorable boss fights, varied locales, and the main cast of characters in glorious high-definition was such a treat.
Technically being a remake might hurt its GOTY chances in some circles, but it’s certainly well-polished, and fun enough to be considered, that’s for sure.
Apex Legends
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
As soon as we thought that Fortnite was the king of all battle royale games, Apex Legends comes in and changes the game, bringing with it an awesome ping feature, easy to learn controls, and an interesting cast of characters to play as.
EA and Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall) dropped Apex Legends onto online stores at a drop of a hat without much anticipation but fans just ate it up anyway, a testament to how great this game actually is. It even ended up having the best launch month of any free-to-play game in history, which is saying something.
It brought with it a ton of fun and innovative features such as revival and classes into the battle royale genre, and that made it especially easy for newcomers to jump in.
Apex Legends managed to take Fortnite out of the conversation, if even for a short amount of time, and for once, there was a different battle royale to talk and hear about.
Kingdom Hearts 3
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
Kingdom Hearts 3 managed to close up the Xehanort arc that’s been going on for almost 20 years with a nice red bow.
Of course, fans were left with a lot of unanswered questions about the future of Sora and the other Keyblade wielders but the game still provided fans with at least a little bit of closure until we see the next game in the Square Enix and Disney crossover series.
Kingdom Hearts 3 gave us several new worlds to swing our Keyblades around in and, and for the first time, lets Sora switch his Keyblades on the fly, providing players with a whole new way to customize their battle styles.
The Tangled, Frozen, Toy Story, and a slew of other Disney worlds gave us story plots from these worlds respective films and some of them, like Metropolis and Big Hero 6 for example, even gave us new a new story that’s original to Kingdom Hearts 3.
Kingdom Hearts 3’s audience is kind of an oxymoron. They are very niche, but also loud, large and vocal. It’ll be interesting to see how publications around the industry weigh its impact late in the year.
Super Mario Maker 2
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
Super Mario Maker 2 is one of the most well-polished and detailed level/game creation tools ever made.
Nintendo found a way to simplify the process of making your own Mario levels to the point where anyone can do it, but left in everything for expert-level creators to do some seriously amazing stuff.
New in this sequel are even more enemies, stage building options, and themes. Also, there’s a story mode that will help even the most creativity-devoid players think of some ideas to crib for their own levels.
Endless Playlist uses the world’s uploaded levels, and creates a gauntlet of stages for players to play through at various difficulties to try their hand at how many stages they can pass before tapping out.
Once again there’s a mode that even total Mario newbies can handle, and super-experts.
The one thing that held back Super Mario Maker 2 from scoring even higher than it did with us is that the network multiplayer, although a great idea in practice, lag is commonplace.
Still, in spite of that, Super Mario Maker 2 is one of the most complete, accessible, and comprehensive games we’ve seen come out in a long time.
Mortal Kombat 11
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
It’s kind of weird to think that Mortal Kombat, you know the series that is known for one of so-bad-it’s-good campy movies ever made is now arguably the genre leader when it comes to storytelling. But hey, here we are.
The story mode of Mortal Kombat 11 ties together the story of the games that came out since the soft reboot a few years ago, with the series’ legacy games. The MK series is whole once again, and the time-bending story that fuses past and present is extremely entertaining.
Also, perhaps, more importantly, it’s a tight fighting game with robust online features.
Towers of Time will give you single-player challenges for you to play through for rewards, and if you want to go head-to-head online, there’s of course pubic, and ranked Kombat League matches so you can confirm for sure that just because you beat your friends at your house doesn’t mean that you’re actually good at Mortal Kombat.
The one thing that would have put MK 11 over the edge would have been a more robust roster that included more classic fan-favorite characters that have appeared as recently as the last two games.
The Outer Wilds
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
The Outer Wilds is arguably one of the boldest, and surprising games to release this year that will make a serious push as a GOTY contender not only on this site, but other publications as well.
Two things, in particular, make The Outer Wilds stand out from just about everything else that has come out this year: it’s unique time-loop mechanic and the lack of combat with a focus on space exploration instead.
Every 22 minutes, the star you’re near goes supernova, and you’re blown to smithereens. You awake again – for reasons you’re trying to learn by playing – ready to continue your exploration and unraveling the mysteries of this section of space that you’re exploring.
It’s your choice on how you want to spend your time before you’re sent back to start, and the game is sort of rogue-lite in that way? Although not exactly of course.
Editor Chris Jecks goes more in detail in his review, but in any case, The Outer Wilds could be a sneaky GOTY candidate in a year that doesn’t have a clear cut favorite.
The Division 2
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
The Division 2 arguably faced the more pressure than any other game on this list heading into release.
Its main rival, Destiny 2, was still riding the wave of its successful expansion Forsaken and Annual Pass content, and other competitors in its genre such as Anthem and Fallout 76, crashed and burned.
Fortunately for Ubisoft, The Division 2 went the other direction and elevated itself to be part of the upper class of the looter-shooter genre.
Simply put, The Division 2 didn’t try and get cute with anything. They kept what worked from the first game, incorporated what they learned in the post-launch content of The Division 1, and then added new ideas, and more of the stuff people liked.
The result is a complete package that clicked right at launch that people will be playing for a long time.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
2019 Game of the Year Contenders
If you ask fans of gaming from the late 90s early 2000s what they think are the greatest games of all time, there’s a good chance at least a handful of them are going to Koji Igarashi’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Igarashi went to Kickstarter to fund a spiritual successor Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and for months and years, fans waited with bated breath to see if he would come through on delivering something that was worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as the PS1 classic or if it would be yet another Kickstarter disaster.
Spoiler alert: He pulled off. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was everything fans of the classic Castlevania game could have hoped for.
Not only does it feature the same style of gameplay that fans love, namely exploration, challenging combat, and backtracking, but also evolves all of those things that people have yearned for.
Published: Jul 10, 2019 11:03 am