There have been a lot of great games for the PC this year. As such, and contrary to all previous years, we’ve decided to share with you today our Games of the Year 2019. In this list, you’ll find the games that DSOGaming’s writers enjoyed the most. Do note that this isn’t our “Top 10 Most Optimized” and “Top 10 Worst Optimized” lists; these lists will be published next week. So without further ado, here are our best PC games of 2019.
Chris Kountouras – Red Dead Redemption 2
My game of the year is Red Dead Redemption 2, simply because the game wipes its ass with every other open-world game out there. This Western ‘simulator’ provided me with a grand array of feelings throughout its very long single player story, and what a glorious story it was. Arthur Morgan might be the best developed character I ever played.
I laughed, I raged, I robbed, I saved, I killed and I died, time and time again. I lost my way an infinite number of times in this game. Going from A to B had never been so hard in a game before. There are so many things to do, that sometimes you even forget what you were suppose to do in the first place.
And now having the game on PC is a bless. Playing the game on sixty frames feels almost like a completely different game. The perfect gift for Christmas!
Happy holidays and merry Christmas DSOG readers.
Pieter Naude – Mortal Kombat 11
When thinking about the games I played this year, I noticed that most were either sequels or remakes for pre-existing franchises. Honestly, I wanted to choose my GOTY from new IP’s since our industry desperately needs some freshness with this sink or swim climate. As such, I decided that this had better be a sequel or remake that took its franchise to new levels. It had to sustain its longstanding identity, and yet improve on every single aspect from visuals to gameplay. There was only one such candidate for me in 2019: Mortal Kombat 11. Ed Boon and his team had made, in my opinion, their best fighting game ever. The fatalities had never felt more visceral, the story provided the perfect excuse to reintroduce some old-school MK, and the mechanics introduced a playing style that focused more on strategic fighting than lighting-fast reflexes. Truly an excellent accomplishment for Netherealm, and without any doubt the best I played in this year.
I’m selecting Reach as my Game of the Year, it’s new on PC and the fact is this is absolutely how this game was meant to be played. A couple years ago Sega’s Rez came out on VR and I said it felt like Tetsuya Mizuguchi had designed this Dreamcast game as a VR title long before VR was an actual mass consumer product — but VR added so much to the experience that it made that title feel reborn.
It’s the same story for Halo, this is a franchise that has belonged on PC since its inception but was limited by the console hardware that hosted it so that Microsoft could use the strength it lends as an IP to move hardware. Understandable! But not so great for us PC gamers! Well thankfully Microsoft has decided the IP would be better off coming to PC as well as its Xbox line of consoles. Reach is the first arrival from the Master Chief Collection, which will include Halo CE, 2, 3, ODST, 4 and Reach.
The addition of mouse controls adds a fluidity that was never there on a dual analog gamepad and it feels like the premiere modern FPS franchise has come to occupy its rightful position on the premiere FPS platform.
The PC release, much like the MCC isn’t perfect. The compilation suffered from issues on Xbox One and I imagine it will on PC but it cannot be argued that these are some of the strongest games on offer in this industry and that this compilation is one of the best gaming values out there, ever. Some of the issues I’ve noticed on PC for Reach: muffled audio, crouch doesn’t seem to work correctly and occasional front end menu crashes.
In time I’m confident these issues will be ironed out but in the meantime this is a playable and definitive version of one of the best FPS games released in the last 10 years. Mouse aiming is a revelation, the multiplayer is excellent and the campaign is depressing and somber making you feel vulnerable and doomed even as a Spartan war machine. At the end though, Reach is reborn in our world as well as 117’s.
Here’s to Halo on PC, keep it coming.
Given the limited time I had to play games in 2019, my game of the year choice is less about a definitive selection and more about my personal slice of gaming. Therefore, the 2019 release I loved the most was Anno 1800, and my 100+ hours of playtime proves it!
I’m a long-time Anno fan, and 1800 was a homecoming for the franchise. It delivered the hallmark mix of soothing city-building, vast empire management, and complex economic simulation while also being the most graphically astounding and technically impressive entry in the series.
Moreover, now is the best time ever to play Anno 1800. The developers deserve kudos for steadily releasing significant patches to improve the game and add free features like a day/night cycle and much better empire statistics screens.
Another reason to jump in now is the Season Pass content is now completely released. I’m morally opposed to paying early for promises, but just last week I’ve purchased the Season Pass at half-price and look forward to enjoying the three excellent content additions to the game.
In conclusion, there’s a time and place for high-energy, scripted story games, but Anno 1800 is my fallback game when I need to sit down for a couple hours and do nothing more than leisurely expand my empire-wide bread production chains. Ah, it’s good to taste life’s simple production pleasures!
PS: As far as other “could have been GOTY if I’d played them” titles, I will mention Control, Disco Elysium, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. All three seem outstanding and worthy of consideration!
John Papadopoulos – The Outer Worlds
2019 was a great year for PC gaming as we got a lot of amazing games. And, to be honest, it was pretty difficult deciding my GOTY 2019. I really loved Resident Evil 2 Remake, Gears 5 and Devil May Cry 5. A Plague of Tale: Innocence was also a stunning title, and Metro: Exodus was awesome. Still, there was “something” missing in these games.
Ultimately, I was left with three candidates. These three games were: Red Dead Redemption 2, Control and The Outer Worlds. RDR 2 is Chris’ GOTY 2019 so I believe I should choose another game.
So, The Outer Worlds or Control? To be honest, I enjoyed both of them. The Outer Worlds is a great RPG which even lets you kill anyone you want without receiving a “Game Over” screen, and avoid combat via the dialogue tree. Contrary to Fallout 4, its combat mechanics are amazing and it was a truly amazing experience. Yes, there are some shortcomings here and there, but I really, really enjoyed it.
And then there is Control. I’ve always been a huge fan of Remedy’s games and despite a lot of players, I really enjoyed Quantum Break (I love “time travel” so give me more of these ideas/scenarios please). Control is easily one of Remedy’s best games to date. Not only that, but it’s pretty fascinating witnessing its older IPs, like Quantum Break and Alan Wake, appearing in the very same universe. It’s a game you should definitely play as it has a lot of special moments, like the Ashtray Maze or what happens to Jesse towards the end of the game. However, its ending did not satisfy me ( it’s obviously building towards a sequel). And perhaps this is something in which The Outer Worlds excelled at.
When I finished The Outer Worlds, I felt a weird satisfaction. I didn’t get any “The game ended? That’s it? It was really short. But what about this?” feeling. The game felt complete. Moreover, the game allowed me to play the way I wanted. I was a total asshole with some characters and a really good person with others. It was my experience. Not only that but while writing all of this, I was constantly recalling my experiences in The Outer Worlds rather than in Control. Therefore, my GOTY 2019 is The Outer Worlds.
Merry Christmas everyone and happy holidays!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
Contact: Email
Happy Holidays for everyone 🙂
You too!
While you are entitled to your personal opinion, I felt many of these games (RDR2, The Outer Worlds and MK11) were too heavy handed in their political ideology for me to enjoy. With RDR2’s gender and racial revisionism to the Outer Worlds’ insistence about asexualism to MK11’s Jax ending and “Make Outworld Great again”, I felt that these political slants took me out of the experience.
Personally, I prefer it when a game has not absent or missing politics, but one whose political message is subtle and not merely posturing to a certain audience.
Thank you for sharing your opinion.
I grabbed The Outer Worlds for free, even then I just couldn’t be bothered to finish it. It is best described as a mini FO4 with no challenging game play.
started off feeling like it was GOTY status and then half way through the game i lost interest and uninstalled it.
and cringe dialogues and awful character designs, but alt east it has choices.
happy christmas and all that my nibbas
also i tired Halo Reach but its just not for me … the gunplay and the whole thing feels meh .
and i wanted to know is the original 2003 Halo Combat Evolved is better ? and for me yes its still good . gunplay is good you got droped in the action fast and its fun to play . give it a try . its like 600mb
The gameplay and mechanics are just too old now.
Its fun….
This was a pretty average year for gaming. That’s what happens when Sony delays their FIRST PARTY games. We’re stuck with multiplatform mediocrity. Thankfully, they will go out with a BANG next year when they release The Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima.
we dont care at all at your console games.
Yeah, it’s probably better to completely put them out of your mind and not care instead of suffering because you can’t play them.
no ty. i love my RDR2. kek
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/402/484/767.jpeg
no thanks.
“Ghost of Tsushima”
Sekiro and Nioh already covers that niche.
“The Last of Us 2”
I’m not into lesbian soap operas, thanks…
At least Nick picked a good one. 😀 Have a good Chrimbo guys!
Well, you win some, you lose some. I’m glad you liked my pick…it would have been funny to pick Fallout 76 though (joking), just to see the comments! 😉 Merry Christmas!
Pretty bad year then if that’s the best you can come up with.
some reason they ignored sekiro.
I wasn’t a fan either.
A lot of other games worth mentioning, like Resident Evil 2 and Sekiro. But these were *our* Games of the Year. That said I think we’re in something of a lull due to the impending next gen impacting dev cycle/release lists outside of Nintendo’s on Switch.
I was happy with the games I played this year.
Total War 3 Kingdoms by far my favorite this year. 1st DLC was okish waiting for the next.
I havent even installed RDR 2 yet and i uninstalled Outer worlds midway. I was hoping that i would scratch my Elex itch but alas it didnt and i dont think it was even close to that. It was a 6.5game and i dont know if DLC’s will fix that.
Similarly i was hoping Phoenix point would do that with my XCOM2 itch but it will take some super fantastic mod to fix this game because i dont think the developer.
Mercenaries 5 is good but not goty unlike Battletech which is amazing (Roguetech is a must mod).
lmao no sekiro get out here man.
Sekiro is my ‘true’ GOTY. ?
That is one miserable list. Halo Reach? A re-release of ~10 year old game, with a minor facelift as GOTY? MK 11? SJW fighter of the year maybe. GTA in the old west? Anything from Ubisoft? Fallout – Lite?
RE2 Remake before anything on this list, and RE2R isn’t a worthy GOTY either, but that says something about this list.
Duke 3D is one of the best FPS games of all time, still, 23 years later. Not seeing how 10 years is a problem dawg.
RE2 Remake is still a remake so maybe the year is really bad.
That is one miserable list. Halo Reach? A re-release of ~10 year old game, with a minor facelift as GOTY? MK 11? SJW fighter of the year maybe. GTA in the old west? Anything from Ubisoft? Fallout – Lite?
RE2 Remake before anything on this list, and RE2R isn’t a worthy GOTY either, but that says something about this list.
I was hooked on Halo Reach when it came out on the 360. I even played it on Legendary difficulty and then all this time later… it comes out on pc… and it sucked me in and I did it all over again. I never play games on hard. I just play games to have fun. I don’t like re-doing things over and over… but I don’t mind it in reach. 2019 wasn’t a mindblowing year for incredible games. But I did play quite a few good ones. I found the most hyped games ended up being letdowns and games there werent really on my radar and decided to try a bit after release were better then i imagined.
GOTY: Halo Reach
Other games I loved this year: Division 2, Factorio, RE: 2 Remake, Planet Zoo, A Plague Tale, Rage 2
Thanks for the positive comment. I’m a big fan of the IP and I’ve been waiting years for it on PC. Reach is the one game I hadn’t beaten yet, I’d played some multi but I largely skipped 360.
So for me it went Halo CE, 2 > I did beat 3 with a friend in co-op > wait until Xbox One X > play MCC (and finally ODST, 4, and 5) > No reach in MCC 🙁 > Reach in MCC! And on PC!
I’ve beat them all on xbox but Reach is by far the best one imo. Altho that space ship level is a pain in the a*s on Legendary. I do have fond memories of Halo 1… we would hook up 4 xbox/tv’s and play 16 player matches back in the day. That was an amazing experience!
Rage 2? Division 2 F off with that bullsh.t….
Thought i blocked your dumb a*s before? Ok well cool. Blocking your annoying a*s again. Bye
John didn’t choose Resident Evil 2 Remake after all those articles he did about nude mods? Say it ain’t so!
Outer Worlds nude mods must be a lot better.
Dear DSOG, would you be kind to explain us why you was asking us for policy rules, when still get “Hold on, this is waiting to be approved bla bla bla” for comment that had word garbage inside! Please stop this hypocrisy, and let us talk by rules we voted all!
Agree. I’m tired of having my comment take 10 hours to be approved because I forgot about “the rules” and typed “sh!t” by accident, when racist comments are allowed with no issues.
You must pay the Patreon so John can ditch the word filter.
Resident Evil 2 for me. I don’t like RPGs (never could play any for more than a couple of hours) but I recognise how great Sekiro must have been (didn’t play it)
Excellent choice! I could have personally picked RE2 as well. I adored playing that game this year! Really great stuff! Looking forward to RE3 next year!
Sekiro is hardly an Rpg, more like an action game.
“Moreover, the game allowed me to play the way I wanted. I was a total a*shole with some characters and a really good person with others.”
Why though? They are all cringe millennial hipsters.
Anyway this year has been trash, it didnt have any amazing games it had some decent games but thats about it. NFS heat is the one i enjoyed the most because we havent had a good nfs in a very long time, control was pretty good too, destruction, combat, powers, the supernatural SCP setting. Metro exodus is the best post apocalyptic game iever played. Rage 2 had good combat but thats about it. Also terminator resistance and sniper ghost warrior contracts were 2 nice little games. Outer worlds is 25% of the features and 10% of the length at half the choices new vegas had and without the good mature writing, just millennial cringe. The shooting was servicable at best. Atleast it wasnt crappy like new vegas or super bulletspongy. Dmc5 was pretty good but not amazing, same goes for ace combat, re2 was awesome…what does it say that the best games this years were remasters or remakes? The industry is going to the trash.
“However where is Sekiro, didn’t play it though but the bosses and the game ”
Not here because when i saw it i said “oh cool a tenchu game, wow and its started the development as a tenchu game….and its another souls game” this is why i dont want them to ever make a new armored core, they probably gonna turn it into another souls game, sekiro would be better without bosses a s a ninja stealth game. I dont want another souls game. As for heat, when i replayed it , i skipped all the cutscenes, the game isnt about story, the story is short and simplistic, like an afterthought, who cares about the character designs anyway, you mostly gonna be racing around.
sekiro was the only great game this year.
yay another overated sh*t souls. Hard to give a f*k.
More patches will come, they’re already discussing their priority list. Xbox One MCC had so many issues on launch, there’s a lot of complexity in the bundle, not like a compilation of Genesis games where you can slap an emulator and a stack of ROMs on it and call it a day.
I think we’ll get there. MCC on Xbox One did.
No love for Sekiro 🙁
It wasn’t my cup of tea. The world and art design was brilliant, but the gameplay for me personally was just too repetitive even though I adore the Dark Souls games. But fair enough. Sekiro is clearly a wildly popular game.
Halo is an utter garbage! They was promising game without blur, and we got it with extra sh**ty unreal blurry artifacts and no options to disable it, not even in ini files! *at least I didnt managed to do after hour and half tinkering
Where’s YAKUZA?
2 of them this year.
That’s the GoTY for me.
Totally excellent choices NeonPanda! I adore the Yakuza games!! So you have a fair point! I think the reason why didn’t pick them is most of us didn’t play them, but everybody should! Yakuza is such an epic series!
I played Yakuza 0 on PlayStation, 2 years ago. 1 & 2 I don’t intend to beat because I beat them on PS2 way back when. Great games but there you go. Reach was a 90% new experience to me because it was the only Halo I hadn’t played *and* it benefited immensely from a PC release.
Lol Halo Reach didn’t even come out this year. It’s pretty much a “remastered” version of the original, same goes for Read Dead…