GOTY 2019
For a few years now, I took the habit of mentally reviewing my video games year when the next one start. It’s mostly a mental exercise really, just a way to take a step back and think of what I played in the last 12 months. What i liked, what I disliked and what moved me.
I like to refer to this particular mental exercise as “GOTY” (short for Game of the Year) but really, most of the time the most impactful games of the year are just outdated one I happened to play in the past 12 months. Also I don’t really have any criterion except: when all is said and done, what are the game that left me a lasting impression. That is to say, if you expect objectivity,thought-out analysis and criterion, you can just pass your way.
For the record, I am keeping track of this since 2015 now and my GOTYs goes like that: 2018 was Hellblade, 2017 was Nier:Automata, 2016 was Life Is Strange and 2015 was The Witcher 3. All of those games hold a very special place in my heart and all went beyond being simply a piece of entertainment. Each in its own way.
With that out of the way, it’s still a fun thing to do and to be perfectly honest, a perfect opportunity for a early year article. A way to say: “2020, this is what you have to top !”.
Unfortunately, I feel like 2019 isn’t really up to the challenge. Admittedly, I played less this year (because of real life getting in the way) so by no means you should see this as a critic of the overall quality of what has been released this year. I probably missed a few gems I will discover in a few years and scratch my head wondering how in hell did I miss those games when they released.
Nonetheless, if I think back to what I played this year, there are three games standing out: What Remains of Edith Finch, Disco Elysium and ShadowBringer.
ShadowBringer because it unexpectedly made me playing a MMORPG again, after many years of never really sticking to one. It was unexpected and started as “yet another one to try, for my culture” and ended up being the revival of my interest in the genre. It’s the quintessential theme park MMO experience and personally, it ticks all the boxes of what i want to see in an MMO. It even feel hilariously outdated in its business model, being one of the very few games out there sticking to the subscription model of the early MMO days. Cherry on the top, ShadowBringers shines with its story that honestly easily tops most single player games.
Disco Elysium came out of nowhere this year, at least for me. It felt like one day everybody suddenly started to talk about this game and praise it in ways that I haven’t seen since Undertale released. In the end, Disco Elysium is a great game, albeit nowhere near perfect than some reviews might let you think. It’s an indie title, it’s a bit rough around the edges and it’s not for everyone. On the other hand, Disco Elysium is a game with a personality. Because it is small scale and indie, it can be controversial and opinionated, both in its story and design. Disco Elysium is politically engaged, sometimes at the cost of player’s sense of agency, and its gameplay is about one and one thing only: dialog. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing, few are the games that equal Disco Elysium’s deep conversation system. But if you are looking for more than that, you won’t find it there.
What Remains of Edith Finch is from 2017 and it is one of those game I just happen to discover many years later, slightly confused that I never gave it a shot before. The game premise is very simple: explore a house that was built across multiple generation and learn the tragic story of the family that inhabited it. Edith Finch’s recipe is devilish simple: one room, one person, one story, one gameplay experience; but it is executed masterfully and the overarching family drama always push you to go further and learn about the next person in the family tree. There is beauty in this simplicity and not a single room failed to hit the mark. It always was surprising, insightful, intriguing, emotional and fun. At some point you visit the room of a teenager that lived here around 2005 and honestly, it felt like someone took a snapshot of my bedroom at that time(or one of my friends’ bedroom) and put it in the game. It’s maybe the strongest suit of Edith Finch, it feels authentic !
This year GOTY is a tough choice. All the games above are objectively very good and I couldn’t argue for one over the other. Yet, at the same time, not a single one managed to reach me on a personal level like any of games of the past years. If I have to pick, I would probably go with Edith Finch, because it’s the one that came the closest to that. Though it is a personal choice above all else and I would be hard pressed to recommend one rather than the other to anyone that is not me.
