Best games of the past six years (2019-2024)

[Raghar]

Aliens: Dark Descent - Surprisingly good tactical shooter.

It's based on board game, and also it's surprisingly difficult.

 

[Humanophage]

My top 10 for games released in 2019 or later:
1. Thea 2: The Shattering
2. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
3. Colony Ship
4. Field of Glory: Empires
5. Disco Elysium
6. Knights of the Chalice 2
7. Jagged Alliance 3
8. Conquest of Elysium 5
9. Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind/Lights Going Out
10. ATOM Trudograd

Recently started Old World so it's too early to tell, but it's pretty good.

Not counting add-ons (Underrail). Haven't played Archolos and Rogue Trader yet but they're probably very good. For small games, Suzerain, Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, and perhaps Last Spell are nice.

 

[KafkaBot]

Most of the games I'd mention have already been brought up, so I'll stick to some that have been overlooked.


Thief: The Black Parade
Intravenous 2
Antonblast (get this one if you like Pizza Tower, mentioned earlier in the thread)
ASTLIBRA Revision
Chrono Ark
Mullet MadJack
Islands of the Caliph
System Shock Remake
Chants of Senaar
Rise of the Golden Idol
Neon White
Void Stranger
Golden Light
Bloody Spell
Touhou Artificial Dream in Arcadia
Citizen Sleeper
Demon's Roots
Yuppie Psycho
Outer Wilds
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Beautiful Desolation
Pixel Pulp Trilogy (Mothmen 1966, Varney Lake, Bahnsen Knights)
Lamentum
Touhou Luna Knights
Murder House
Vomitoreum
Hedon: Bloodrite
Powerslave Exhumed

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

RPGs other than Tactical
Outward (2019) - An attempt to add survival aspects to the Open World RPG subgenre, by a promising new developer, now working on a sequel
Operencia (2019) - Competent though fairly easy Wizardry-like from a Hungarian pinball developer
Elden Ring (2022) - Open World Action RPG Souls-like by the actual Souls developer, Codex GotY 2022
Salt & Sacrifice (2022) - Sequel to Salt & Sanctuary, a 2D Souls-like RPG, that falters due to fundamental design decisions but still fun for fans of predecessor
Dragon's Dogma II (2024) - Open World Action RPG based on Codex GotY 2016, upcoming Codex GotY 2024

Tacticool Renaissance
Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children (2020) - Squad-based tactics game with incredibly-complex character customization/progression and excellent battlemap/encounter design, in the superhero subgenre, by a new developer now working on a sequel
Wasteland 3 (2020) - Tactical RPG with extensive C&C by a long-time developer in a long-established IP, Codex GotY 2020
Dungeon of Naheulbeuk (2020) - Tactical RPG with a pre-generated party, still with some good customization and encounter design, with a French sense of humour
Solasta (2021) - Tactical RPG emulating Gold Box games but with much less exploration, based on "D&D 5th edition", by new developer now working on sequel, also has two later campaigns over the following two years
Wildermyth (2021) - Simplistic Tactical RPG except with an attempt at procedural story-telling based around character personality traits and player decisions
Urtuk (2021) - Bizarre grimdark setting for squad-based tactics game with RPG elements
King Arthur: Knight's Tale (2022) - Grimdark version of Arthurian mythology for squad-based tactics game with RPG elements
Jagged Alliance 3 (2023) - Worthy successor to fabled series of squad-based tactics games, Codex GotY 2023
Forgotten but Unbroken (2024) - Historical WWII setting for squad-based tactics game

Other
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019) - Metroidvania with extensive RPG elements
Spacebourne (2020) - A single person created a fun game focused on spaceship combat, now working on a sequel
Suzerain (2020) & Suzerain: Rizia (2024) - CYOA political simulators in a world different from but similar to our own in the 1950s, with the sequel having an actual wargame attached
Ghost of Tsushima (2020) - Open World action game in historical setting, with the drawbacks commonly found in this type of game, but still fun and has pretty graphics
Black Book (2021) - Historical setting in turn-of-the-century Russia except with extensive fantastical elements drawn from local Perm mythology and Christian folklore, but also a focus on card-based combat
Praey for the Gods (2021) - Inspired by Shadow of the Colossus and worth playing though can't live up to its predecessor

 

[mondblut]

Kenshi is 10 days past being 6 years old, but it's still the best game to come out during this kali yuga of gaming.

 

[Wasteland]

Good thread. According to my Steam Library, the only games I've played that were released between 2019 and today are:

• Spacebourne 2
• Distant Worlds 2
• Elden Ring

I also played Cyberpunk 2077 quite a bit, via GoG, and Daggerfall Unity (which officially released in December of last year ).

If I had to rank those games, it'd go something like:

1. Spacebourne 2
2. Daggerfall Unity
3. Distant Worlds 2
4. Cyberpunk
5. Elden Ring

I'll get shit for ranking ER last here. It's a good game, but just isn't my cup of tea. I think the open world was a real detriment. After 20 hours or so I just couldn't bring myself to continue.

Anyway, it's interesting to see how few new games I actually play. I came into this thread ready to rave about games like X4: Foundations and KCD, but they both launched in 2018.

 

[SixDead]

No love for Vagrus - The Riven Realms?

 

[Ahnx]

Red Dead Redemption 2 PC
Disco Elysium
God of War Ragnarok
Ace Combat 7
Ghost of Tsushima
Forza Horizon 5
Days Gone
Tetris Effect
Resident Evil 4 Remake

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Thief: The Black Parade

Forgot about mods and such, because then I'll immediately add Thief: Mysteries of Tolham.

It's a single mission-affair, but it is so chock-full of taffing goodness that it nearly broke me as a Thief-player. I needed months away from the game after having played this.

 

[Kabas]

If mods are allowed, i would like to mention Amber Island.

https://mightandmagicmod.com

Amazing standalone adventure for M&M7 on a island choke-full of content.

 

[Ash]

Thief: The Black Parade

Forgot about mods and such, because then I'll immediately add Thief: Mysteries of Tolham.

It's a single mission-affair, but it is so chock-full of taffing goodness that it nearly broke me as a Thief-player. I needed months away from the game after having played this.

Strange psychology? If a game experience is so damn good I clamor for more of it, not less. Seems a natural and logical response to something good. Unless you mean it is so damn good that everything else Thief-related pales in comparison and that makes it hard to swallow, I guess?

I am also skeptical a game experience so short (one standalone mission) can be so damn good, as I am a strong believer in game quality being tied to length for a wide variety of reasons that will make plenty sense if I were to explain them, but at the same time I keep an open mind. Goodness can stand alone, I just don't think it is possible to achieve the same level of goodness a full-length experience can. At the end of the day I've simply not played this mind-melting mission though, so what do I know...

 

[Machocruz]

Shit I forgot Quasimorph, the other recent game that hit big with me. Technically it's not out yet, it's early access and still has balance issues. I've shelved it for now, but it was just what I was looking for at the time with its grungy Doom-like/Shadowrun-like (Genesis version) style, top down perspective, and visceral tactical gun play. I think you said it looked interesting when I mentioned it in another thread.

 

[PsihoKekec]

Jupiter Hell
A Legionary's Life
Heads Will Roll: Reforged
SKALD: Against the Black Priory
Atom RPG (technically it still fits into six years)
Jagged Alliance 3
Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance

 

[Jaedar]

5 years eh.
Off the top of my head:
Sekiro
Outer wilds (not worlds, wilds)
Factorio
Neon White
Owlcats pathfinders (if dnd3.5/pathfinder is your cup of tea)

 

[Gostak]

5 years eh.
[...]

Indeed, was also wanting to start with:
"Best games of the past six years (2019-2024)" So, you consider 2024 to be practically over already, eh?

Anyway:
Star Dynasties
Streets of Rogue
Shadows of Doubt (for trying and the generated cities are cool with their simulated people going their merry ways, just not a longevity or quite the gameplay burner unfortunately)
Star Racer (only released into EA as of yet, needs to cook some more but I like the demo and dev so far, though not picked this up myself yet!)
Barotrauma (even if I gave a disappointed thumbs-down review on Steam - that also praised it in parts - it's also a technical marvel and a SS13 very-lite)
And a cheaty entry: Cortex Command Community Project (so a re-release hah!)

Made this thread like a year too late for me mentioning at least two more. Oh, well.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Thief: The Black Parade

Forgot about mods and such, because then I'll immediately add Thief: Mysteries of Tolham.

It's a single mission-affair, but it is so chock-full of taffing goodness that it nearly broke me as a Thief-player. I needed months away from the game after having played this.

Strange psychology? If a game experience is so damn good I clamor for more of it, not less. Seems a natural and logical response to something good. Unless you mean it is so damn good that everything else Thief-related pales in comparison and that makes it hard to swallow, I guess?

The latter.

I am also skeptical a game experience so short (one standalone mission) can be so damn good, as I am a strong believer in game quality being tied to length for a wide variety of reasons that will make plenty sense if I were to explain them, but at the same time I keep an open mind.

The game tracks how long the (real-time) clock is running in-game. For my first playthrough of this FM it was 6+ hours. It takes roughly that long to play through Return of the Obra Dinn, for example.

 

[axx]

I'm completely out of the loop with modern games. One of the rare ones I've played and enjoyed is Noita.

 

[Ivan]

Amnesia: Rebirth

+1 Neon White
+1 Amnesia: The Bunker
+1 Outer Wilds

 

[Blutwurstritter]

No love for Vagrus - The Riven Realms?

I tried a while ago, but found it very dry. At times I thought they should have written a book, and not made a video game.

 

[duskvile]

Hogwarts legacy was one of the most successful games in 2023.

 

[Ash]

5 years eh.
[...]

Indeed, was also wanting to start with:
"Best games of the past six years (2019-2024)" So, you consider 2024 to be practically over already, eh?

Umm, I just checked my calendar and...yes?

Tacticool Renaissance
Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children (2020) - Squad-based tactics game with incredibly-complex character customization/progression and excellent battlemap/encounter design, in the superhero subgenre, by a new developer now working on a sequel
Wasteland 3 (2020) - Tactical RPG with extensive C&C by a long-time developer in a long-established IP, Codex GotY 2020
Dungeon of Naheulbeuk (2020) - Tactical RPG with a pre-generated party, still with some good customization and encounter design, with a French sense of humour
Solasta (2021) - Tactical RPG emulating Gold Box games but with much less exploration, based on "D&D 5th edition", by new developer now working on sequel, also has two later campaigns over the following two years
Wildermyth (2021) - Simplistic Tactical RPG except with an attempt at procedural story-telling based around character personality traits and player decisions
Urtuk (2021) - Bizarre grimdark setting for squad-based tactics game with RPG elements
King Arthur: Knight's Tale (2022) - Grimdark version of Arthurian mythology for squad-based tactics game with RPG elements
Jagged Alliance 3 (2023) - Worthy successor to fabled series of squad-based tactics games, Codex GotY 2023
Forgotten but Unbroken (2024) - Historical WWII setting for squad-based tactics game

So which of these is the best? Note: has to have ironman mode or some form of save restriction to be considered.

 

[Machocruz]

A few more I tried recently. All currently on sale:

Intravenous - Stealth Hotline Miami. Top down tactical sort of sim. Simple but challenging. A sequel came out recently, supposed to be even better

Demons Tilt and Xenotilt - video pinball inspired by the Crush series. Latter released recently. Cool art style, bosses, lots of fx

 

[Rieser]

Well this thread updated my .txt, that's for sure. All my favorites from the period have already been mentioned, so I'll add a few other games I nontheless enjoyed (this proved difficult, deleted half the games from my list because turns out they were mentioned too). No particular order.

Erannorth Chronicles
Songs of Syx
Tactical Breach Wizards
Titan Outpost
The Forgotten City
Path of Achra

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Tacticool Renaissance
Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children (2020) - Squad-based tactics game with incredibly-complex character customization/progression and excellent battlemap/encounter design, in the superhero subgenre, by a new developer now working on a sequel

So which of these is the best? Note: has to have ironman mode or some form of save restriction to be considered.

Troubleshooter is the best game of this entire period, in any genre, with its combination of tactical combat mechanics and intricate character customization. It also does not permit saving during missions, which can be quite lengthy.

 

[JarlFrank]

has to have ironman mode or some form of save restriction to be considered

gay