Early access makes this so weird. You could put 50 hours into something, love it, then never play the 1.0 version.

So you then can't vote for it this year and then if you vote for it next year you might not even have played it in the year your voting for it in.

I'm going to bed.

I was going to vote in the game of the year section but to be frank - I've only really played Gears 5 in terms of proper 2019 software. Everything else that I've come across has either not grabbed me to play beyond a few bits (most recent DMC5 and Dirt Rally) or is from a few years back (Ori, Forza 4, Titan fall 2) So.... Gears 5 is the only game I can honestly put forward at the moment. And there's nothing I'm eager to really grab between now and the end of the year. Hopefully that will change.

Best ongoing game released before 2019 (anything that received further support, a major expansion/update etc. this year)
1. Street Fighter V - As much as there are faults I still find this engaging to play online (most of the time) and I've liked the new fighters released this year- although I've yet to purchase them, they've provided some fun variation online. 
 
Best game you played this year that didn't come out this year
1. Ori and the Blind Forest - a hidden gem to me on the gamepass system. Started playing it and loved every part of it. 


Game of the Decade
I've given my reasons in the original thread and I'm still pretty happy with my choices.

1. Batman - Arkham City2. X-com: Enemy Unknown / Within (Enemy within if its allowed)
3. Mario Kart 8 - Switch version specifically
4. Into the Breach
5. Red Dead Redemption 
6 .Titanfall 2
7. Ori and the Blind Forest
8. Darksiders
9. Forza Horizon 4
10. Far Cry 3

Apologies, don't know what happened with the font there.

lol love all the extra categories, appeasing everybody.

My game of the year is strongly skewed by things i've actually played that came out this year, which isn't lots.

Please let me know i've done the template paste thing wrong

Hue, eh? It gets woe a spread of reviews, I quite enjoyed it others seem to find it rather meh

Ah yes, by "others" I meant "morons"

i loved it. *shrug*

And Shenmue III, obviously.

Game of the Year
1. Noita.

Bear with me, this is a journey through space... I have incredibly fond memories of Exile on the Amiga, I read the review in Amiga Power and it sounded (and looked) perfect. I saved my money for months and eventually mail-ordered it. It took six long weeks to arrive. By that point I'd read the review dozens more times and built it up in my head. Luckily, it was incredible. In many ways it still is. 

The sound design was something else, I can still think of the birds, switches, or monkeys and hear the noises they made. The graphics had charm and character and impressive animation. The physics were amazing and made the world feel real, holding rocks to walk through strong winds or sink to the bottom of a lake, trying to carry a flask of water to put out a fire, holding it level to prevent it spilling.

These are moments that remain among the strongest gaming ones I have. A long battle with a robot, a chest of drawers sandwiched between us. Mushroom spores making me immobile, just like in real life. Monkeys stealing my only grenade, which luckily I'd already primed. Dodging meteors on the surface. It's an all-time great for me, I spent dozens of happy hours in that world.

All of which brings me to Noita, which feels like a spiritual successor to Exile to me, or perhaps what Exile made me dream games could one day be. Don't be put off by the (beautiful) pixel graphics, the technology and moment to moment gameplay here is amazing. It isn't as complex as Exile but that's fine, I can no longer dedicate hours to games and Noita is perfectly bite-sized. It loads instantly and saves wherever you quit, and games are seldom more than twenty minutes or so. 

I imagine I'll never complete it, but that also doesn't matter. Alongside a jetpack what it shares with Exile is a wonderful atmosphere, a sense of mystery and exploration, and amazing physics that permeate everything. It's a wonderful world to inhabit, and there are dozens of great moments every time you play it.

The first two levels have the strongest Exile vibes and the procedural generation means they're different each time, and always enjoyable to explore. As I descend through the tunnels no oil lamp is left unbroken, because I could watch the way the fire spreads forever, it's truly mesmerising. A grenade in a tank of acid is a true joy to behold but even better is a tank of oil, a pile of gunpowder and a stray spark. 

It's all so reactive and the world ticks along without you, so you can stumble across corpses in pools of acid or caves which are ablaze. You hear the echo of distant explosions as the monsters fight among themselves, spot eyes glowing or the glimmer of spreading fire in the dark. It's the interplay between the systems that makes it so amazing, though. I could rhapsodise about them but there's real joy in discovering things yourself. It's exactly what I'd hoped for and completely compelling. My GOTY by a mile, and it's improving every week.

2. Untitled Goose Game

It's a wee bit shonky but it deserves to be here purely for the way it makes my children laugh. And the amazing ending. HONK.

3. Control

I've dragged myself through a fair few big name games in the last year or so (hello Days Gone) and this is like a breath of fresh air in comparison. It's atmospherically unique with some great touches and also a really satisfying shooter. 

There are some difficulty spikes but the art design is brilliant and the way it plays with scale, symmetry and shape is something too few games experiment with. It's pleasantly surreal and genuinely funny at points, and the pacing is great, with stretches of calm between battles. And it's beautiful, too.

Like Noita, the physics are a generation ahead of most games and mesmerising. You can grab and throw the world at any point, and it's incredibly freeing. I'm not a massive fan of shooters but once Control clicks you have the freedom to pull off some impressive moves, instinctively taking to the sky to hurl a filling cabinet at a goon. It's all very empowering, and surveying the wreckage afterwards is extremely satisfying.  I suspect I'll be firing it up for months to come, just to break some chairs. 

4.

5.
 
Best sound Design
1.
2.
3.

Best visual Design
1.
2.
3.

Best writing
1.
2.
3.

Best character
1.
2.
3.

Best ongoing game released before 2019 (anything that received further support, a major expansion/update etc. this year)
1.
 
Best game you played this year that didn't come out this year
1. GTA IV (still)
 
Game of the Decade
1. Noita
2. Mirror Drop
3. Inside
4. Fez
5. Streets of Rogue
6. Breath of the Wild
7. The Last of Us 
8. Proteus
9. Control
10. Red Dead Redemption 2

Very quick - you can make a fridge run!

Less quick - it's really great, in some ways it's a top down Deus Ex, but more wildly creative, and your actions ripple out in interesting ways.

It's funny and fun and I've bought it full price on PC and PS4 just to support the developer as it's basically one man's work. I must have gotten 50 hours out of it, at least.

Streets of Rogue not Streets of Rouge.

Yossarian wrote:

Streets of Rogue not Streets of Rouge.

Wins. Very good!

Not enough time on your hands anymore?

Thanks, Eric. You're in for a real treat with Control! (And with Noita)