Many Welps

 

These lists are something I’ve seen around the internet in recent days. They got me thinking about all that’s happened in the last 10 years and all the games I’ve played that will hold a special place in my heart. It’s crazy to me when I think about how much things can change in just a year and even crazier when I think about the decade as a whole. In 2010 I had just graduated high school and was starting college in a different state. 10 years later I’ve somehow become a fully functioning adult with an actual career, an amazing wife, and a cat of my own. And through all of this, games have been a huge part of my life. So I wanted to take the time and go through games that have stuck with me over the past decade because I think lists like these are cool and because it’s a great way to take a trip down memory lane.

Here’s a quick top 10 list of the decade from me:

1. Journey
2. Monster Hunter Tri
3. Pokemon Sword and Shield
4. Trove
5. Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition
6. Oxenfree
7. SOMA
8. Elite: Dangerous
9. FFXIV
10. Monster Hunter: World

Here’s a longer list of everything played this decade. My process for this was looking through all the games released in a year (Thanks Wikipedia!) and picking ones that I a) actually remember playing and b) remember more fondly than “yeah I turned that on for an hour or two”. As a side note, I’m just looking at what came out I didn’t necessarily play it that year. The bolded games are the ones I had something to say about and don’t necessarily correlate to the above top 10 list.

2010

 

•  Monster Hunter Tri: I ended up playing this with my best friend the entire summer between high school and college. Some of my best memories of gaming are because of this one game

• MAG: Where I learned I was better at being a medic than playing Call of Duty
• Dante’s Inferno
• Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce
• Pokemon Heart Gold /Soul Silver:  I distinctly remember the guy at Gamestop not letting me
• APB Reloaded.
• Phantasy Star Portable II

2011

• Skyrim: I got this as a Christmas gift from my mom. I don’t think I left my room until I had to go back to school that winter break. Needless to say, I still haven’t beat it.
• Rayman Origins: The first game I ever played through with my wife.

2012

• Journey: As of right now, this is my favorite game of all time. You can experience so many emotions in just an hour and a half.
• Kingdoms of Amalur
• Lollipop Chainsaw
• Orcs Must Die! 2
• Guild Wars 2
• Persona 4 Golden
• Warframe

2013

• Pokemon Y
• Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
• Dragons Crown
• Battlefield 4
• Knack
• Final Fantasy 14: Not having a capable PC for a few years made this my go-to MMO for a number of months. I still haven’t gotten past ARR yet….maybe this year?

2014

• Diablo 3 Ultimate Evil Edition: I have put so much time into the PS4 version of this game. It’s still the only game I’ve ever gotten a platinum trophy. Surprisingly, I enjoyed this much more than the PC version.
• Tomb Raider
• The Wolf Among Us
• Elder Scrolls Online
• Rouge Legacy
• The Swapper
• Valkyria Chronicles
• Xeodrifter
• Elite: Dangerous: When I try to explain Elite it sounds so boring but when I’m in the mood to play it I get really into it.

2015

• Trove: You know that feeling you get when you check your /played in a game and it’s way more than you thought……626 hours in this game.
• SOMA
• Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
• Borderlands: The Handsome Collection: It literally took me and a friend 5 years to beat this game
• BloodBorne
• Pokemon Rumble World
• Dragon Quest Heroes
• Tales of Zestiria: As of this moment, my favorite JRPG of all time
• Fallout 4
• Helldivers
• Hatoful Boyfriend
• Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star

2016

• 7 Days to Die:  I have mixed feelings on this one. I played co-op with a friend and when it was good it was good. When we had to stockpile materials for hours it was unbearable. This is one game I have a lot of good memories with but will never play it again because I feel like I’ve seen all it has to offer.
• Darkest Dungeon
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• XCOM 2
• Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time
• Layers of Fear
• Rocket League
• Grim Dawn
• Stardew Valley
• BroForce
• Salt and Sanctuary
• Epistory -Typing Chronicles
• Enter the Gungeon
• Job Simulator
• Stranger of Sword City
• God Eater Ressurection
• No Man’s Sky: When this first came out this was everything I thought it would be and everything I wanted. It just turned out that what I wanted did not make for a very exciting game after all.
• Tales of Berseria
• Mad Max: I put 30 hours into this game when the save file got corrupted. Now I always save twice…always.
• Titanfall 2: Yes, the single-player campaign is THAT good.
• Killing floor 2
• Let it Die

2017

• Pokemon Duel
• YS Origin
• Rime
• Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
• Lego Worlds
• Fortnite
• A Hat in Time
• Oxenfree: I binged this game in a weekend. When I went to write about it and grab screenshots, I ended up playing through half of it again.
• Destiny 2
• Portal Knights

2018

• Monster Hunter: World: Funny enough I played this very little in 2018 but I’ve been playing it hard the last month and I can see that it’s the best thing to come out of 2018 for me.
• Laser League: I wish this game had become popular…I was actually good at it.
• Hollow Knight
• Forza Horizon 4

2019

• Pokemon Sword and Shield: This one snuck in there at the last minute but it’s my favorite game of the year. This game gives me the same feels pokemon red and blue gave me when I was 9 years old.
• Slay the Spire
• Apex Legends
• World of Warcraft Classic
• Spyro Reignited
• Borderlands 3
• Planet Zoo