
There was Kind Words, which was always there for you if the news became a little overwhelming. There was a Star Wars game that could be mistaken for a Tomb Raider game. Outer Wilds mixes the expected influence of the past few years into something completely new, while The Outer Worlds brought familiar design into a brand-new galaxy that served as a pointed critique of capitalism.

While next year will have new consoles and likely many new entries in huge, tentpole franchises, this was a year with many experiments and unexpected surprises.


2019 was a very strange year for games, and that sense of adventure is clear in our list of the top 50 games of the past 12 months.
