This is going to be a lot more work than
last year. 2019 was a good year for games and a good year for me, so I played a lot of good games.
I’ve broken the games down into the Okay, the Good and the Great. I also had to add a category “I haven’t played enough” because that’s a thing that happened this year.
The I Haven’t Played Enough
Wargroove
I only played a little bit of
Wargroove because I bought it the same day (or just before) I bought Fire Emblem Three Houses. I really enjoyed the little bit I played, but it was mostly (totally?) in the tutorial levels, so I was lacking a little bit of a feeling for how the whole game plays out.
The Okay
Super Mario Maker 2
I haven’t played
SMM2 since the recent big update, so I may have to take this back later. Generally I enjoyed Super Mario Maker 2, but I found at the end of the day that it lacked a little bit from the first one. I think this is an effect of the game providing more and better tools and the established expertise of the fan base. It left the game feeling a little lifeless for me, but hopefully at some point it’ll catch me a little bit more.
Luigi’s Mansion 3
I’m enjoying
Luigi’s Mansion 3, it’s charming and fairly fun. I find that it’s a little bit of a drag to pick up and play because it’s hard to remember what the objective is, and they are somewhat convoluted. I also find the controls awkward, although that’s getting better as I play more.
The Good
Dragon Quest XI S: Echos of an Elusive Age
I have a real fondness for
Dragon Quest VIII. It hit me at the right time with the right amount of depth that travelling the world solving people’s problems was a lot of fun. I’ve started replaying it a few times.
Dragon Quest XI feels a lot like a revisit to Dragon Quest VIII. I’m finding it generally fun, but a little bit slow and grindy. I heard a review that complained that the version for the switch ground to a halt for reasons in the middle of the game and I found that to be true, but the first half of the game was pretty engaging.
Euclidia
I didn’t play a ton of
Euclidia, but enough to know that I’ve largely forgotten how to do geometry and that doing geometry from first principles is rather fun. (I’m also not 100% sure it’s a 2019 game)
Tetris 99
Tetris 99 is a lot of fun and it’s nice to be able to quickly drop into a game. My skills are a little old school, so there are things like t-spins that I’m not able to do properly and generally I find I’m a pretty middle of the pack player. I do wish the UI was a little more organized and that the matchmaking was a little faster (but secretly I really just want an awesome quick single player Tetris).
The Great
Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the Necrodancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda
This is a great game. I was going to put it in the good category and then that was the first thing I wrote about it, so clearly it must be great. I really enjoy the Zelda-lite mechanic of a game that doesn’t have a huge story but does have all of the feeling of a Zelda game. I really like the style the developers chose. The music is, of course, amazing and while I’m not sure the game exactly needs the actual Crypt of the Necrodancer beat mechanic, it’s certainly fun.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
I didn’t expect to like this
game. Looking at the trailers before the game came out, it felt a bit like it would be too Hogwarts the War Game. As it turns out it *is* Hogwarts the War Game and I actually like it. The developers streamlined and restructured the relationship mechanic from their recent games so that it feels reasonable and not nearly so fan-servicy. The combat mechanics are nicely streamlined, and when played on hard are pretty fun. It is a bit long if you want to see all four endings, but the quality of the deeper story seen when you do play through all four seems to be worth it.
