My Top Ten Favorite Games Of 2019

2019 may have been a quieter year with the next generation PlayStation and Xbox consoles on the horizon, but it was also refreshing and satisfying thanks to the variety of games that were released. Nearly all of the games I played were of strong quality and had interesting unique factors to consider that proved hard to weigh against each other. As always, this is a list of my favorite games of the year, not necessarily the best, and since there were at least fifteen strong contenders my top ten list was not easy to shape. 

I reached my goal of beating forty games this past year and thirty of them released in 2019. Only one of those thirty is ineligible for my list, The Link’s Awakening remake, since aside from the quality of life changes and new graphics it is basically identical to my favorite Game Boy game of all time. Like last year, I will share all of the games I finished in 2019 at the end of this blog.

I do have a few honorable mentions I’d like to address ahead of my list. First is Judgment (PS4) a game that was originally on my list since the familiar Yakuza gameplay is so fun and satisfying and the story and characters are brought to life by a wonderful English dub. It fell off as my memories of Judgment blurred together with the other Yakuza games, but’s it’s well worth playing. I also want to shoutout Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) which had an awesome single player campaign I blitzed through. I didn’t get into making courses quite as much as I expected, but I’m looking forward to putting in more time soon now that you can use buttons in handheld mode. Finally, I want to give an honorable mention to the visual novel My Girlfriend Is A Mermaid!? (Switch, PC) I want more visual novels on Switch so I put money towards the kickstarter in 2018. I enjoyed the story and characters and it was fun figuring out how the choices you make affect the story since there were no guides online.

Now let’s dive into My Top Ten Favorite Games of 2019!

10: Baba Is You (Switch, also on PC)

When I sat down to write my list Baba Is You was relegated to the honorable mention category, because even though I beat the game and cleared over 100 puzzles, many puzzles still haunted me. As I poured my heart out writing about it, I felt I had made a mistake because Baba Is You is truly an incredible puzzle game unlike anything I’ve ever played. I decided to return to Baba Is You and after clearing The Big Puzzle the game builds towards I felt accomplished and more at peace with the game. Baba Is You is essentially a box pushing game as you slide objects around to solve puzzles, however you are frequently rearranging words to rewrite the rules of the puzzles on the spot. When you form simple sentences by connecting words together, like “rock is push” or “water is hot” they become the rules for the puzzle and by sliding out a word that rule becomes deactivated. For example, if you slide the word “is” out of the phrase “wall is stop” suddenly your character can walk through walls. More astounding than the gameplay, Baba Is You truly understands how far it can take that premise to create amazing puzzles that make you feel like a genius when you conquer them. I loved that I could share puzzles I was stuck on with my friends and family, regardless of their skill with video games, because the ideas behind the best puzzles all had clear logic behind them. Even though I have a long way to go until I truly complete the game, I can’t recommend Baba Is You enough. (Except the puzzle Evaporating River. I solved it, but it broke me.) 

​9: Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Switch)

I always had a fondness for the original Luigi’s Mansion as it was one of the launch titles for the Gamecube, the first console that was truly mine. Luigi’s Mansion 3 however is truly a standout game. Luigi is tasked with exploring a haunted hotel and rescuing his friends and family trapped within with the help of Polterpup and a new Poltergust vacuum. While the hotel is divided into themed floors, you are never kicked out of the action like in Dark Moon. Most remarkably, Luigi is armed with far more abilities than the original game including a stomp, a plunger that he can use to pull things apart or toward him, and Gooigi, a gooey clone of Luigi that can slip through grates and tight spaces to reach places Luigi can’t and with careful coordination can help increase his suction power. While defeating the boss ghosts is the highlight of the game, I also really enjoyed exploring the hotel since there are gems tucked away to discover on each floor. With one odd exception, you have all the abilities to solve the puzzles of the mansion from the start so it is a matter of poking around and figuring out how all the pieces of the puzzles come together.

8: Box Boy and Box Girl (Switch)

I’ve always been a huge fan of Box Boy and his latest game is his best yet. There are three campaigns in the game and while I enjoyed conquering Quby’s solo campaign and the tall box Qudy’s campaign (who can rotate himself to create horizontal and vertical rectangle boxes), the true standout campaign is the tragically short co-op campaign with Quby and Qucy. It’s so fun to solve Box Boy puzzles together with a friend and even though the levels are generally short, they all are interesting challenges that require smart coordination. After I beat it once with one of my best friends, my other best friend and I tackled the same campaign again the next day. This second time we engaged with the scoring system that’s only present after beating the game and in one late night session we S-Ranked every single level and set new high scores on the levels that had already been S-Ranked. The quest for S-Ranks transformed Box Boy from a low-pressure puzzle game into mad dashes through every level where we would rigidly reset if we felt we could cut down our box usage. That second run was a total blast and easily my favorite co-op experience of the year.

7: River City Girls (Switch, also on PS4, Xbox One, and PC)

Back in 2010 I absolutely adored the Scott Pilgrim Vs The World game that was heavily inspired by River City Ransom. When I saw Arc System Works was teaming up with Wayforward to make River City Girls, I knew their collaboration was going to be awesome. I’ve beaten the game three times now, once in single player and twice in co-op, and I can’t get enough. The street brawling feels snappy from the start and I especially love trying to maximize damage with air juggles and nailing perfect parries. While beating up the world and getting experience and money to level up your characters is the main satisfying hook, what I didn’t expect walking in was how funny the game would be. The two main characters are hilarious loose cannons and the weird characters you meet all exude personality. The humor extends into the gameplay too whether it is Kyoko’s thunderous dabbing finishing move, reviving your knocked-out friends by stomping their escaping souls back into their bodies, and attacking foes with the weirder weapons including lightsabers and oversized fish. The bosses all make big impressions (Misuzu, Yamada, and Abobo are my favorites) and I adored the soundtrack so much that I rushed to iTunes after only hearing a few tracks. I really hope River City Girls gets a follow up, but even if it doesn’t, like Scott Pilgrim it will live on fondly in my heart. It’s a classic.

6: Ai The Somnium Files (Switch, also on PS4 and PC)

Ever since 999 released on the DS, I’ve been a huge fan of Kotaro Uchikoshi and his games. Like Zero Time Dilemma before it, I was once again at the first unveiling of his latest game at Anime Expo and I even got to meet him and get his autograph afterwards. Even so, Ai The Somnium Files kind of snuck up on me. At first blush Ai appears to be a very serious story about a serial murder investigation. The most rewarding threads of the game all revolve around that mystery and the key players in it including the main character Date and his roommate Mizuki. Yet it also is incredibly odd all the same when Date and his partner Aiba regularly exchange dumb sex jokes, lame puns, and video game and anime references, and as Date becomes more acquainted with some of the bigger personalities like Tesa and Ota. The lighter and more bizarre elements make the darker material stand in stark contrast and once you begin to start to understand how pieces of the mysteries begin to connect you are in for a wild ride. While the story is the main attraction, I really enjoyed the Ace Attorney style investigation sections that represent the majority of the gameplay and how nearly all of it was fully voiced (Greg Chun gives an awesome performance as Date). The Somnium gameplay which involves walking around strange dream environments and clicking on things is often a drag, but some of the most interesting and memorable intersections of the story happen inside Somnium. After an awesome finale where it all comes together (not to mention the incredible Grand Finale), I can’t wait to see what Uchikoshi will make next.

​5: Control (PS4, also on Xbox One and PC)

I was a huge fan of Alan Wake, so I was excited to check out Remedy’s latest game, Control. Right from the start Control makes a strong first impression thanks to the stark architecture of the Oldest House contrasted against the deep red of the Hiss that twists spaces and corrupts the people within (incidentally, the Hiss is one the dumbest names for evil enemies in a video game). While I wish it was ultimately a little weirder and had more sections that weren’t gunplay driven, I enjoyed exploring the Oldest House and discovering all of the weird objects and stories stored within. That said, the tight gunplay really made Control so much fun to play and it only became better as more movement options are introduced including the dash and hover not to mention the absolute best implementation of telekinesis in a video game. I’m glad the way Control is structured you never truly conquer the Oldest House as new enemies respawn to let you challenge them again and again. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how much I enjoyed the live action elements especially the flashbacks with the former director of the Bureau, Trench, and the video logs left behind by Dr. Darling (Dynamite is the best!). I also have to share how much I thoroughly enjoyed the Ashtray Maze where the gameplay and presentation beautifully comes together to make you feel as awesome as possible. I ultimately enjoyed Control so much that I claimed the Platinum Trophy and I can’t wait for the upcoming DLC to continue the story.

​4: Magia Record (iOS, also on Android)

The hardest game to place on my list was Magia Record, a side story to my favorite anime of all time, Madoka Magica. Magia Record is an RPG gacha game, a genre I thought I was forever done with after I swore it was time to put Kingdom Hearts Union X down after logging in for over 1,000 days. Magia Record encourages a similar daily login commitment, but it couldn’t be more different in terms of actual quality. Magia Record prioritizes story above all else and has never altered its rock-solid gameplay fundamentals. By putting in time you can be just as good if not better than the whales and since the ceiling of stats has never been raised every character and accessory is always relevant. In battle your team of five magical girls fights monsters or other teams on small 3 x 3 grids. Executing each turn is simple, you pick three of five attacks somewhat randomly presented to you (ordering and positioning matters), but as fights drag on you can “Connect” to share attacks and buffs and choose when to activate abilities and devastating Magia attacks. Good decision making is important in most fights, so the simple combat remains engaging. Growing and developing your team is a slow, satisfying process as daily missions encourage and reward you to engage with all of the game systems.

Without question what elevates Magia Record is the heavy focus on the story. Simply put, I love the core cast of characters, I’m invested in the story, and I love how it regularly develops and utilizes the ever-growing extended cast of characters. When you boot up Magia Record you are greeted by your favorite character and have access to the main fully voiced campaign, the Another Story campaign focusing on the five original Madoka characters, lengthy individual character episodes, and regular events that are packed with story. The game strikes a happier overall tone than the original Madoka, but the story is still serious with some brutal cliffhangers. My favorite characters are definitely Iroha (my favorite protagonist of the year), Tsuruno, and Alina and I’m most happy I got Nanoha and Fate on my team during their crossover event and finally have Madoka on my team as well. I’m excited to see the story continue to play out and I’m super excited to be watching the anime right now as well (Shaft’s still the best!). It was over five years since Rebellion came out and I didn’t think I’d ever reconnect with Madoka quite like I have here and that is what makes Magia Record so special.

3: Devil May Cry 5 (PS4, also on Xbox One and PC)

There’s no question the best playing game of the year is Devil May Cry 5. I was already loving the game playing as Nero and V, but the moment you get control of Dante everything changes. Dante has access to four separate styles of combat and multiple weapons you can swap between from standard swords and dual guns to more wild weapons like dual rocket launchers and a motorcycle you can ride and essentially split into two chainsaws. Even playing as Nero and V you feel in total control of any battle as you string together massive combos, but with Dante you truly feel you can make combos your own. While there were a few games on this list I played multiple times, it’s rare when I finish a game that I’m eager to dive right back in, but with DMC5 I immediately played the game again on Son of Sparda because I was not finished yet. I also really enjoyed the Bloody Palace mode that was added after launch because it was just wave after wave of exciting combat encounters and only the best of the awesome bosses to fight. The combat is definitely the main focus of the game and even though I’ve never played a mainline Devil May Cry game before, I really enjoyed the beautiful and crazy over the top cutscenes (Nero and Dante are awesome characters) and the amazing soundtrack (Devil Trigger is my favorite song of the year). I can’t wait for more Devil May Cry after how awesome DMC5 was, so I hope Devil May Cry 6 will happen sooner rather than later.

2: Trails of Cold Steel III (PS4, coming to Switch and PC in 2020!)

If I have to pick one game series that defined the past decade of video games for me it is 100% Falcom’s Trails series. The soon to be ten game strong series are lengthy RPGs that most remind me of the amazing SNES RPGs I grew up with and are amazingly all deeply and directly connected with one another. I was very nervous about Trails of Cold Steel III, the eighth game in the saga, since NISA would be taking over localization duties after they infamously botched Ys VIII’s localization, a relatively simpler Falcom game, across multiple releases (thankfully Ys VIII is finally in good shape). I made my peace with it well ahead of launch, but I was delighted to find it was up to par with XSeed’s stellar efforts where it counted most. I’m also glad the awesome voice cast was almost entirely reunited since they add so much to the experience.

Trails of Cold Steel III once again follows Rean Schwarzer, wonderfully voiced once again by Sean Chiplock, but a few years have passed following the end of Cold Steel II. Rean finally graduated from Thors Miltary Academy and now he assumes the role of a teacher at the newly opened branch campus. Rean is soon put in charge of a new Class VII Special Operations composed of Altina Orion and new characters Kurt Vander and Juna Crawford. Over the course of the game two more characters join the class, the troublemakers Ash and Musse, and you’ll be joined by the original Class VII members and an awesome array of guest party members from Trails in the Sky, the Crossbell games, and the other Cold Steel games. While moving the story forward is important, seeing the constant stream of reunions with playable and nonplayable characters was always delightful and it was amazing just how well the game juggled everything it set out to do over 100 hours. Exploring Erebonia again, this time with a focus on the western half on the country, and seeing all of the factions at war with each other was another highlight of the game.

The gameplay in Trails of Cold Steel III is once again built on solid fundamentals, but Falcom went a little too wild with all of the various subsystems as they give you way too much power. The new Brave Orders system regularly gives your whole party wild buffs, but even more powerful is the Sub-Master Quartz system since you can share some of the most powerful abilities between party members on top of the powerful effects of equipment and accessories. For example, I made sure Kurt, who by default has wildly powerful counter attacks, would have one of the highest evasion rates in the game. Enemies would miss attacking him about 50% of the time and when they did Kurt would counter with 400% percent damage (often enough to one shot standard enemies and wipe out a full eighth of a boss’s health) and by the end of the game he also had a 30% to freeze enemies with every hit which paired well with his many special attacks that hit multiple enemies. Even more absurd I always made sure my party had incredible speed and strong breaking power which led to long stretches of the game where no one could hit me which is boring.

Still I tremendously enjoyed my 102 hours with Trails of Cold Steel III. I savored every bit of the adventure and I was incredibly thorough as I managed to claim all but six trophies. Cold Steel III ends on a wild cliffhanger so I’m excited to see where the series heads next.

1: Kingdom Hearts III (PS4, also on Xbox One)

If Devil May Cry V had my favorite gameplay of 2019 and Trails of Cold Steel III had my favorite story, Kingdom Hearts III was my favorite union of both story and gameplay. It had been nearly 13 years since my favorite Kingdom Hearts game, Kingdom Hearts II, and I was more than ready for another adventure with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Kingdom Hearts III is an oddly structured game, after exploring seven Disney worlds you head off to the Keyblade Graveyard for the final confrontation with Master Xehanort and the true Organization XIII. Leading up to the final battle you check in with three running plotlines each left unresolved from a previous game. Seeing everything come together is immensely rewarding for someone who has played every Kingdom Hearts game (and other Nomura games) even if the weird redemption arcs for certain villains are bizarre.

While I may have liked the main story to be structured a little differently at launch (imminent DLC will seemingly alter a lot of it), what really surprised me in this game is how excellent the Disney worlds were. The series has finally moved on from its PS2 design roots and has ushered in much larger worlds to explore brought to life with beautiful graphics. The Toy Story world and the Pirates of the Caribbean levels are my standout favorites. I loved exploring the huge toy store and going on a new adventure alongside Woody and Buzz and I couldn’t believe the Pirates of the Caribbean world was essentially a smaller version of my favorite Assassin’s Creed game Black Flag complete with many optional islands to explore and awesome ship battles.

While there is a great variety of gameplay in Kingdom Hearts III, my favorite element of the game might be the combat even if it was a little easy even on Proud mode. The game feels closest to Kingdom Hearts II, but as you attack enemies with your keyblade you’ll gain access to special abilities you can trigger such as extra powerful magic and most interestingly form changes for your keyblade that offer completely different combos like the altered states in Birth By Sleep. Combat is certainly never dull in Kingdom Hearts III as so many special abilities are being fired off and you tear through hordes of enemies. Once again, the numerous boss and event battles provide the most interesting scenarios (there is one fight entirely in the sky in the Pirates of the Carribean world that is super awesome), but I was really pleased to see how each Disney world also adds its own flavor to the combat. My favorite is once again the Toy Story world as there are various robots scattered around the toy store that you can hop in to decimate standard enemies and go toe to toe with other rogue mechs.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing Kingdom Hearts III from start to finish and I made sure to do everything possible to claim the Platinum trophy and see the secret ending. Even if it was a bit messy at times, the big emotional moments land and it feels so good to adventure alongside Donald and Goofy again. The final confrontation is so exciting to see play out as all of the characters continue to assemble and I could not believe how insane the secret ending was as director Tetsuya Nomura continues to drag Square and especially Disney along his wild ride. The thirteen year wait between mainline Kingdom Hearts installments was entirely worth it and I can’t wait to start tackling the ReMIND DLC alongside a fresh Critical mode playthrough. Kingdom Hearts III is my favorite game of 2019.

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That concludes my latest blog! I hope you enjoyed it! Definitely feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @JustinMikos to share your thoughts and what games you most enjoyed in 2019!

Below is the full list of games I beat last year in order. Until next time!

2019 Games I Beat

Kingdom Hearts III (Platinum Trophy)
My Girlfriends Is A Mermaid!? (100%)
Trials Rising (Level 50 and DLC)
Dead Or Alive 6
Devil May Cry 5 (Devil Hunter and Son of Sparda)
Baba Is You
Final Fantasy XV Episode Ardyn
Yoshi’s Crafted World (classic 100%)
Anthem
The Princess Guide
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes
Box Boy and Box Girl (100%)
Tetris 99
Puyo Puyo Champions
Gato Roboto (100%)
Magia Record
Super Mario Maker 2
Picross S3 (100%)
Umihara Kawase Fresh
Judgment
Control (Platinum Trophy)
Untitled Goose Game
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch)
Gears 5
Luigi’s Mansion 3
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle 2.0
Ai The Somnium Files
The Touryst (100%)
Riiver City Girls (Solo and Co-Op!)
Trails of Cold Steel III

Old Games I Finished In 2019

Megaman Legends
Dragon Quest XI
Super Smash Bros Ultimate World of Light
Octopath Traveler (All 32 Chapters)
Super Mario 64 (Replay, 100%)
Mega Man 11
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Fault Milestone One (Switch)
Super Mario Maker 3DS
Journey