14 DAY TRIAL // Surprisingly, 2019 has been a very good year for the gaming industry, even though it's the last year before a new generation of consoles comes out. The looming shadows of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, which are expected to arrive at the end of 2020, deprived us of major console releases, but 2019 remains a prolific year when it comes to the number of game releases.
So, let's take a look back at some of the games we've played throughout the year and point out the best in each category. Even if not all of the titles you'll see below received a review, we've played them enough to be able to judge them.
You'll find below all of Softpedia's picks for the best that the gaming industry had to offer in 2019, including the award for Game of the Year 2019. Without further ado, here are 11 of the best games we've played in 2019, along with their runner-ups.
Best Action Game
Winner: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a beautifully realized next step in the evolution of From Software’s staple genre, the game might prove too much even for some Souls veterans thanks to the the renewed focus on combat mechanics and increased difficulty level. However, if you keep at it, the game’s world, level design and story (not to mention the nicely done nods to previous Miyazaki games) make the effort more than worthwhile.
Runner-up: Devil May Cry 5 offers the complete package – compelling story, exceptional combat mechanics, amazing graphics, and great characterization, without any compromises. Devil May Cry 5 interbreeds pure action and exceptional storytelling with a commendable ease, but above all else it captures all the elements that fans enjoyed in the previous games, makes them better, and removes the rest.
Best Action-Adventure Game
Winner: Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order isn't original when it comes to gameplay, as it borrows from various other genres. If we forgo the lightsaber, we could make a weird analogy and say that it sometimes feels like a mix between Tomb Raider and Dark Souls. It's not as punishing as Dark Souls, but it follows the same recipe.
Runner-up: Control is just inches away from being a masterpiece, but the game perfectly captures the eerie, tense atmosphere of a sci-fi thriller. The compelling story and incredibly well done combat system, along with the amazing art style and deep characterization turn Control into a trippy experience full of surprises and lots of mind-bending, Inception-like moments.
Best Adventure Game
Winner: Outer Wilds is the easiest pick for this year's best adventure game category. It's not an easy game to get into and the road to the end might be dotted with frustrations, but, overall, it's a well-paced adventure that keeps you enthralled through major reveals throughout the journey.
Runner-up: Pathologic 2 is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, hence the critic reviews that are all over the place. The complexity of the game is only matched by the ruthlessness of its survival mechanics. The suffocating atmosphere and barebones gameplay mechanics are probably the main reasons why it's not liked by many reviewers, but no matter how inconsequential it might be, it's quite rewarding for those who manage to embrace the masochistic experience.
Best Puzzle Game
Winner: Manifold Garden is a game made by a single person where you have to navigate an abstract series of structures that might or might not repeat into infinity, while solving mind-bending puzzles that become harder as you progress the game. It's a game that features different physical laws than our world and where you can manipulate gravity to help you solve the puzzles.
Runner-up: The Sojourn, a puzzle game that tells an interesting story through imagery is a rare thing these days. The game developed by Shifting Tides manages to come up with some cool mechanics that complement each other throughout a series of beautifully-crafted levels.
Best Shooter Game
Winner: Gears 5 is an incredibly fun and polished game, a testament that the series is once again heading in the right direction. Gears 5 offers more variety than the previous games and a thrilling experience from start to finish. The rich multiplayer, lengthy campaign and impressive visuals make Gears 5 one of the best titles in the series.
Runner-up: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is one of the best games of shooter games launched this year, as Infinity Ward was able to refine the formula once more to offer enthusiasts an experience worthy of a CoD series title. Although the campaign feels really short, overall, it's quite enjoyable thanks to the more serious approach that break social taboos and blurs the boundaries between good and evil.
Best Role-Playing Game
Winner: Disco Elysium is a quirky RPG where you play an alcoholic detective who wakes up in a pool of his own puke with no recollection of what happened. With more than one million words, Disco Elysium is a “game of words,” so be ready for a lot of reading and less combat action.
Runner-up: The Outer Worlds is almost a masterpiece. Sure, it could use some work here and there, but it's a perfect delivery system for the hungry human imagination that longs for the stars. If Obsidian plays its cards right, we might be witnessing the birth of a great franchise.
Best Platformer Game
Winner: Super Mario Maker 2 makes creating levels as exciting as playing them. This is another Nintendo Switch essential and one of the best Mario games of all time. It's also the most accessible game design tool ever created for Nintendo enthusiasts.
Runner-up: My Friend Pedro is breezy fun and a brilliant arcade game that tries to emulate Hollywood's most epic action movies. Excellent combat moves are leading the way with My Friend Pedro, a game that borrows from kung fu movies, Max Payne and Matrix.
Best Strategy/Tactics Game
Winner: Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a hallmark of excellence that kept me connected to the world of Fodlan more than any other game this year. The social and combat aspect of the game, supported by a solid story and memorable characters, make Fire Emblem: Three Houses one of the best games of 2019. If not for the disappointing graphics, it wouldn't have been very close to perfection.
Runner-up: Total War: Three Kingdoms is essential for fans of the series and Chinese history. The game focuses on individual people as it builds interpersonal drama, but can immediately switch into all-out war the next turn. It's by far the best Total War game to date, even though it doesn't get the same attention as Warhammer, which continues to receive new content almost every month.
Best Horror Game
Winner: Resident Evil 2 Remake comes in 2019 in all the glory you'd expect from such a mammoth franchise, bringing players new and old the same magnificent story but with spine-chilling new graphics and mechanics that will make even those of you with nerves of steel to experience the occasional lift-off from your gaming couch.
Runner-up: Song of Horror, a psychological horror game with a twist, allows for multiple playthroughs. Players might get different results each time they play due to the A.I. adapting to their play styles. It's an interesting approach that make the episodic horror game a unique experience for fans of the genre.
Best Fighting Game
Winner: Mortal Kombat 11 is the best game in the series thanks to the incredibly deep combat mechanics, customization options and addictive extra activities. Not the mention that the game brings new meanings to the words “bloody” and “gore.”
Runner-up: Samurai Shodown stands out nicely in the crowded field of fighters, despite some shortcomings. It's a unique fighting game thanks to the emphasis on precision attacks and punishing the opponent for high damage rather than going for long and complicated combos. It lacks a good story mode, but you'll want to play Samurai Shodown for the great multiplayer.
Best Sports/Racing Game
Winner: Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled manages to preserve the game’s atmosphere to the point where you’d look at the calendar and see whether it is 1999 or 2019, and that's in addition to the updated visuals, online multiplayer and the kart customization features. The game as a whole looks great, it is funny, it is frustrating to lose at it and it is an overall great experience that any player, young or old, should try.
Runner-up: eFootball PES 2020, the latest entry in the PES franchise is one of the best releases so far, offering a lesson in how sports sims should feel and play. The game manages to improve with each new generation, and somehow not destroy what was already built, only to fix it later with patches. The ball control and physics are top-notch, and the animations are finally looking as they should, although they weren’t all that bad before.
Best Ongoing Game
Winner: Monster Hunter: World is gorgeous and exciting and the folks at Capcom are making sure that players are have something new to hunt every two or three months. The amount of new content the game gets for free every once in a while is staggering, which is why we believe it deserves the title of “Best Ongoing Game” this year.
Runner-up: No Man's Sky is continuously evolving with major update that grow and expand the universe with new ways to play. Today, No Man's Sky is a completely different game than the one launched three years ago, and that's thanks to the amount of updates it received during all this time. If you haven't played No Man's Sky since launch, we highly recommend it.
Game of the Year 2019
Winner: Disco Elysium is so-well written that it hits on almost every mark it sets out to achieve. The game mixes elements of noir-detective fiction, traditional pen-and-paper RPG and … a lot of drinking. It's a weird mix with difficult to describe results, but one that's very easy to recommend. Suffice to say, Disco Elysium is a masterpiece, albeit an intoxicating one, that goes straight to the hall of fame of RPGs.
