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GamingBolt’s 30 best games of the decade list

Deleted member 58846

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GamingBolt's best games of the decade list is up. It's split into two videos, which I've embedded here. The full list is in spoiler tags, but if you want to see more about how and why the games were selected, you can check out the videos.





30. Forza Horizon 4
39. Celeste
28. Journey
27. Telltale's The Walking Dead - Season 1
26. Mario Kart 8
25. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
24. Portal 2
23. Undertale
22. Horizon: Zero Dawn
21. Batman: Arkham City
20. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
19. Grand Theft Auto V
18. Marvel's Spider-Man
17. Red Dead Redemption
16. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
15. Divinity: Original Sin II
14. Overwatch
13. Resident Evil 2 (2019)
12. Hollow Knight
11. Super Mario Galaxy 2
10. Persona 5
09. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
08. God of War (2018)
07. Mass Effect 2
06. Dark Souls
05. Bloodborne
04. The Last of Us
03. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
02. Red Dead Redemption 2
01. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
 
Dest

Dest

Has seen more 10s than EA ever will
Coward
Jun 4, 2018
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Work
all these GOTY and GOTD lists missing Disco Elysium is a crime.
 

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The One Who Knocks said:
GamingBolt's best games of the decade list is up. It's split into two videos, which I've embedded here. The full list is in spoiler tags, but if you want to see more about how and why the games were selected, you can check out the videos.





30. Forza Horizon 4
39. Celeste
28. Journey
27. Telltale's The Walking Dead - Season 1
26. Mario Kart 8
25. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
24. Portal 2
23. Undertale
22. Horizon: Zero Dawn
21. Batman: Arkham City
20. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
19. Grand Theft Auto V
18. Marvel's Spider-Man
17. Red Dead Redemption
16. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
15. Divinity: Original Sin II
14. Overwatch
13. Resident Evil 2 (2019)
12. Hollow Knight
11. Super Mario Galaxy 2
10. Persona 5
09. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
08. God of War (2018)
07. Mass Effect 2
06. Dark Souls
05. Bloodborne
04. The Last of Us
03. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
02. Red Dead Redemption 2
01. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
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Why did you put the list in spoiler tags and in the reverse order?
 
Rouk'

Rouk'

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Jan 10, 2018
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It's not a bad list at all but it's a really safe/boring one, not much to talk about
 
OP
OP

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CloseTalker said:
Yeah, pretty much. Not saying a list needs an indie game quotient, but this is very much a list of the best games that have been for sale at Wal Mart.
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It's got Celeste, Hollow Knight, Journey, The Walking Dead, and Divinity OS2. It's hardly lacking in indie games, lol.
It might seem "safe" because it's literally a list of the best games of the decade in the most agreeable order.
 
Yan

Yan

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,477
Sony must be happy with 5 first party games in the top 20.
More than any other publisher.
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
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The One Who Knocks said:
It's got Celeste, Hollow Knight, Journey, The Walking Dead, and Divinity OS2. It's hardly lacking in indie games, lol.
It might seem "safe" because it's literally a list of the best games of the decade in the most agreeable order.
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Dark Cloud said:
What? There's plenty of indie games on there.
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I guess? It's certainly not a bad list, those are 30 great games. I just think it's a bit boring, but it's their list and their opinion, so whatever!
 
Hanbei

Hanbei

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Nov 11, 2017
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Why is everyone making their "top games of the decade" list when said decade ends on december 31st 2020 and not 2019?!
 
ASilentProtagonist

ASilentProtagonist

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Very solid list, but I definitely wouldn't put Spider-Man, Uncharted 4 in the top 30. The top 15 is nicely put, even though i'd rank those games differently.
 
Hanbei

Hanbei

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Nov 11, 2017
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The One Who Knocks said:
That's not how decades work haha
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You sure? I tell you, next decade starts on january 1st 2021. Go check some information if there is any doubt.
Decades work like centuries. 20th century started on january 1st 1901, not 1900. 21st century started on january 1st 2001, not 2000. Last time I checked, there was no year 0.

Or you're just trolling me, in that case, good job.
 
Se_7_eN

Se_7_eN

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,720
I think Forza should be removed and Death Stranding should be added.


(Raises shield)
 
shinobi602

shinobi602

Verified
Oct 24, 2017
8,327
Great list. Just about half of those on mine I'd say.

CloseTalker said:
Yeah, pretty much. Not saying a list needs an indie game quotient, but this is very much a list of the best games that have been for sale at Wal Mart.
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I've seen this sentiment every so often when it comes to lists and I can't understand thinking like this. I mean, besides the fact that there's a decent amount of indies on there, should they include indies or similar just for the sake of it? Or to be 'different'? Or to avoid being 'too mainstream'? It's what they felt were the best games they'd personally played, and those are all great games...
 
AllChan7

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Overall the list is pretty good. Although some might say its too mainstream, I don't think many would disagree with the picks for their top 30
 

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It's a bit AAA heavy for my liking.

Can't say any of these are bad games but it's a bit bland. Maybe it's a great list if you only play AAA games and a few of the indie titles that get really really popular but I'm not jiving much with it. Feels like I could have just looked at metacritic.
The One Who Knocks said:
It's got Celeste, Hollow Knight, Journey, The Walking Dead, and Divinity OS2. It's hardly lacking in indie games, lol.
It might seem "safe" because it's literally a list of the best games of the decade in the most agreeable order.
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They're not exactly unknown games - in fact, they're all pretty well known and regularly championed. I'd expect at least one wildcard on a best games of the decade list as everyone has their own tastest but there's nothing here that shows that.

Also, 'the most agreeable order'? 🙄
 
OP
OP

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doodlewhizz said:
It's a bit AAA heavy for my liking.

Can't say any of these are bad games but it's a bit bland. Maybe it's a great list if you only play AAA games and a few of the indie titles that get really really popular but I'm not jiving much with it. Feels like I could have just looked at metacritic.

They're not exactly unknown games - in fact, they're all pretty well known and regularly championed. I'd expect at least one wildcard on a best games of the decade list as everyone has their own tastest but there's nothing here that shows that.

Also, 'the most agreeable order'? 🙄
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I'm saying if people find it boring, it's probably because there's not much to take issue with, lol. As in they agree with it more than they don't.
I'm not saying this is the universal standard for the games of the decade or anything.
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

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shinobi602 said:
I've seen this sentiment every so often when it comes to lists and I can't understand thinking like this. I mean, besides the fact that there's a decent amount of indies on there, should they include indies or similar just for the sake of it? Or to be 'different'? Or to avoid being 'too mainstream'? It's what they felt were the best games they'd personally played, and those are all great games...
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lol, as I said
CloseTalker said:
It's certainly not a bad list, those are 30 great games. I just think it's a bit boring, but it's their list and their opinion, so whatever!
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Version 3.0

Version 3.0

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,155
Decent list. Mostly quite popular games, but a scattering of fan favorites as well. Other than whining about your favorite game being missing or too low, not much to discuss.

Hanbei said:
Why is everyone making their "top games of the decade" list when said decade ends on december 31st 2020 and not 2019?!
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I'll bet you know the answer already. Because nobody cares about what's technically correct. Society has overwhelmingly chosen to use the tens column number change as the indicator. Same thing happened in 1999. Everyone was having "end of the millennium" parties. Presumably you boycotted and had your own party a year later.

It may be wrong, but it's the consensus.
 

t26

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Missing Dragon Quest, Death Stranding, Devil May Cry, or Yakuza 0. Or VR games like Astrobot.
 
WestEgg

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Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and Xenoblade are missing, but otherwise I could get behind this list.
 

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shinobi602 said:
Great list. Just about half of those on mine I'd say.


I've seen this sentiment every so often when it comes to lists and I can't understand thinking like this. I mean, besides the fact that there's a decent amount of indies on there, should they include indies or similar just for the sake of it? Or to be 'different'? Or to avoid being 'too mainstream'? It's what they felt were the best games they'd personally played, and those are all great games...
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I definitely wouldn't say anyone's opinion of their favourite games is wrong or should have token games added for the sake of diversification.

For me it's a bit dull as I use these lists to find hidden gems or games that were modestly successful in their genre that I may have missed and this list just doesn't do that. They're all massively popular games, even the indie titles - I kind of expect at least one wildcard given how tastes work (and the amount of games that publications in this industry have to try out) but that seems to be lacking here.

It's definitely a me-not-them problem but I still find it a bit bleh
 
Hanbei

Hanbei

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Version 3.0 said:
I'll bet you know the answer already. Because nobody cares about what's technically correct. Society has overwhelmingly chosen to use the tens column number change as the indicator. Same thing happened in 1999. Everyone was having "end of the millennium" parties. Presumably you boycotted and had your own party a year later.

It may be wrong, but it's the consensus.
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Precisely.
 

Mudo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,115
Tennessee
Shockingly good list and order!
I almost always disagree with these top lists.
Missing are Xenoblade, Outer Wilds, and Disco Elysium.
BOTW deserves #1 and is quite possibly my favorite game of all time, not just this decade.
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
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shinobi602 said:
I still don't see what makes it boring other than many of those games being popular. And I don't feel being popular negates a game from being an excellent game, or being indie automatically makes something interesting lol. I don't know, that's how I look at it anyway.
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I suppose what I mean -- and to be super clear none of my thoughts are meant to undermine the validity of their opinions or the quality of these games -- is when i see this, my gut reaction was "oh, you really didn't take the time to play much of anything that wasn't spotlighted on the front page of IGN".

Do they need to have a selection of super small obscure games to be valid? No, not at all. Are these games inherently less deserving because they're (almost) all pretty successful? No, not at all. But I suppose for me, when I try to make a list like this, which is already a pretty vain and egotistical thing to do to at least a small degree, one of the things that I actually find quite fun to do is to try to really think about which games to spotlight, and can I think outside the box a bit (we're talking about an entire decade here) to speak to a couple games people might not have seen yet. That doesn't mean those are "pity votes" and it doesn't mean I'm budging more deserving games out to make room for smaller ones just for the sake of it. It just means I prefer my lists like this to be a snapshot of not just overall quality, but genres, and play styles, and platforms, and yes, visibility.

That's the best I can try to explain it, I hope it does at least something to shed light on my thinking.
 
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