When people talk about gaming in the 2020s, there’s a lot of doom and gloom these days.
Development takes longer than ever, so it takes 4-5 years to get games in the same franchise. Developers are facing a level of layoffs that probably hasn’t been seen since the 1983 gaming crash. The increased costs have made AAA games more risk-averse, so we are less likely than ever before to see AAA studios take big swings. Many big developers have also poured way too many resources into live service games that ended up bombing.
But despite all of that, and despite some cranks that claim otherwise, gaming is still very damn good. I’d say without a doubt that the 2020s have been the deepest gaming decade of our lives. There are more great games to play than ever before. And as I look at my top ten games of the 2020s only a little over halfway through it, I think this has the potential to be the best decade in terms of the games at the top as well.
The following are my top 10 games of the 2020s so far. When I look at this list, I honestly think it’d be a pretty damn good list as it is for an entire decade. Any game I play that makes this list from this point forward is going to be something really special. It gets me excited just thinking about it because it’s inevitable that at least a few more games will work their way onto this list over time.
This is a list that brings me great happiness to look at because with each game on here, vivid memories come back to me from playing all of them. These games exemplify why this medium is by far my favorite of any artform. Enjoy the list!
10. God of War: Ragnarok
My anticipation for this game was insanely high, as the 2018 reboot was likely in my top 5s for the 2010s.
God of War: Ragnarok did not disappoint, despite that massive hype. Ragnarok continues the story and the journey of Kratos beautifully. It’s a game I really connected with as a new father when I played it. The game also makes small tweaks to the gameplay that all work really well. This series is one of the best out there at making me feel the impact of every strike. I feel powerful when I play it, which is exactly how it should be. It also has one of the most touching endings that you will see in a video game. There were a few elements of the gameplay and story that didn’t quite click with me as much as the first game, which is why I rate it lower than that game, but this is still a tremendous experience.
Kratos is a character I didn’t care about at all in 2000s back in his heyday. But this game made me more eager than ever to see how his journey ends. If it were to end here, I also think it concluded on about as good of a note as it possibly could have.
9. Final Fantasy XVI
If I were to just take the first half of this game, I think it would probably come in as my #4 game of the decade so far. The first half of this game is a freaking tour de force. The politics are intriguing. The Devil May Cry inspired combat feels amazing, and it has some of the best characters in Final Fantasy history (Clive would be my #1). Oh, and every boss fight in the game is more epic than a final boss would be in most other games. It’s really something else.
Sadly, the second half of the game loses some (but not all) of its momentum for me. The politics kind of get discarded, and the combat just gets way too easy (and there were no difficulty options on a first playthrough when I played it). But it still has some tremendous character moments, and the combat is still a lot of fun. Final Fantasy XVI is a weird game because I truly think it’s an awesome experience, that’s why I gave it game of the year in a very good year of games, but damn, it honestly could have been even more.
8. Hades
I’ve been a roguelike/roguelite guy ever since playing Spelunky in 2008. As time went on, I began to love the genre even more as it shifted more towards roguelites, and I was able to upgrade my character between runs. Hades feels like the peak of the genre from a gameplay perspective. It felt so damn good to play. It had multiple different weapons that really changed the way each run went. It had great decision-making for builds in each run, excellent enemy design, and a really well-made progression system that made it so I never felt like I wasted time on a failed run.
But the other thing that Hades did that no roguelike I had played had ever really done before was build a really compelling story into the experience as well. I was very invested in Zagreus dealing with his daddy issues throughout the experience, and the game delivers in every way with its conclusion, too. Five years later, no roguelite has come all that close to touching this as an overall experience for me. It might take Hades II to be the one to finally surpass it.
7. The Last of Us 2
The one thing that annoys me about all of the Last of Us 2 discourse out there is that it is all completely about the plot. Obviously, the story is a huge part of the game, and The Last of Us had one of the best gaming stories of all time. But that’s not the only reason why this series is so special. The gameplay is also incredible in both games. This is third-person survival horror-ish perfection. The balance with ammo management is perfect. Fighting with the infected is super intense, and fighting humans is also really well done, with excellent enemy AI. The overall combat in this game is some of the best in both 3rd person shooters and survival horror. That’s a big deal!
As for the story, I wasn’t quite as riveted as the first game, but this is still a top-tier narrative. I love how much this story challenges you and makes you think about your own actions. I love how it doesn’t always make things easy. It’s a game that made me feel extremely uncomfortable in ways that most games don’t. It has some absolutely insane moments as well. I also really enjoyed that it somehow made me like a character that I did not want to like at all. Yes, it makes a few questionable decisions, but this was still a very worthy sequel to one of the best games of all time.
6. Final Fantasy 7 Remake
I’ve only beat the original Final Fantasy 7 once, but I’ve beaten the Midgar section of the game something like four times. I’m not great with replaying games, but the start of that game is just so well done and paced so perfectly that I’m always able to at least make it through that before flaming out.
As much as I thought it was odd that Final Fantasy 7 Remake would just be Midgar, I was also excited to really be able to dig into that section of the game and see how they could expand upon it.
I don’t think Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a great game purely off nostalgia, but getting off the train at the start of the game, seeing Barrett and Cloud, and having some of the classic music playing hit me in ways that games rarely do. I had chills. Luckily, the game is so much more than that. First off, the characters and story are highlights as you would expect. The game actually does some really cool things to expand the story with Jesse, Biggs, and Wedge. It also goes in an unexpected direction with its finale that was legitimately exciting.
But more than anything, I freaking love this combat system. It had a few small issues that made particular enemies a pain to fight, but I felt like it was the perfect way to honor the past while being an awesome action system in its own right. It’s one of my favorite combat systems in gaming. I might talk a little more about this series a little later.
5. Metaphor: ReFantazio
I love the Persona series. Persona 5 is one of my favorite games of all time. But deep down, I had been yearning for the series to go in a direction that allows for more adult characters. My main thought process was that it would be nice to have a Persona game in college. The Persona formula within a fantasy epic was not on my radar, but they really pulled it off.
Metaphor’s story is expertly told from start to finish. I love how they handle the characters in the game in particular. They introduce them early and make them all a big deal without always hinting that they will become part of your party. So getting each new recruit ends up being really exciting, Also, pretty much every character in the game is awesome (especially Heismay). The classic social link system is as strong as ever, and the battle system is refined in a lot of ways that I really love. The game also touches on many of its themes beautifully.
Start to finish, I was engaged with this game, and now I think that I might be anticipating a Metaphor 2 more than a Persona 6 because this is that good.
4. Chained Echoes
For a long time, I considered Chrono Trigger to be the best game of all time. That title was finally relinquished in 2020 to a game we will get to later. But at the very least, it was still my favorite turn based RPG ever.
Nothing had even really made me question that until I played Chained Echoes. Eventually, I still decided to stick with Chrono Trigger as my #1, but the fact that Chained Echoes made its way into the conversation says a whole lot.
This game is made by one man, yet it somehow has a killer battle system, smart exploration, and a great story. It just doesn’t seem possible for one man to have this much talent. The soundtrack is the only thing not done by Matthias Linda, and it is also excellent.
This was my favorite game of 2022. The fact that one man is able to make something that I love more than many games that had 100s of developers and many millions behind them really speaks to what makes art amazing
3. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
About 2.5 years after Chained Echoes came close to surpassing Chrono Trigger as my favorite turn based RPG, Expedition 33 came along and finished the job.
Almost every element of this game is elite in my view. It’s one of the better turn based battle systems I’ve ever played. It might have my favorite video game story ever. The art and the music are both unbelievably good. I love almost every character, and I definitely love every performance.
I don’t think it absolutely nails the exploration, which is the one thing that holds it back from being #2 for me. But that still doesn’t take all that much away from this masterpiece. I still randomly think about this story months later. And I’m pretty sure that will still be the case years from now. What a special game.
2. Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
I have thought so hard about the battle between #2 and #3 here for months. I know it sounds silly, but it’s just how my warped mind works. Whenever I’d think about how much I loved Expedition 33, I couldn’t help but try and figure out if I liked it more than my 2024 game of the year, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.
After a whole bunch of reflection, I’ve finally settled on Rebirth.
From a plot perspective, Expedition 33 is easily better. But Rebirth just has a lot of little things that put it back ahead for me.
First off, it’s just a little more fun to play. I know they get flak for having Ubisoft design, but I still love all of these open worlds. They are so diverse, so vast feeling, and they all have their own little gimmicks that keep things interesting. The combat is also some of my favorite in any game ever. It has some great tweaks from Final Fantasy 7 Remake that really enhance it.
This game is weirdly kind of the inverse of Expedition 33. It’s an action game with turn based elements instead of a turn based game with action elements. It’s a really close battle, but Rebirth’s combat comes just ahead for me.
I also freaking love the minigames. Queen’s Blood, the piano, Chocobo Racing, and more were always just a nice distraction if I wanted a break from everything else. And they often have their own awesome standalone moments, too.
Rebirth can have very, very sad moments, but it also also kind of the inverse of Expedition 33 in terms of mood. Expedition 33 is a sad game with a few funny moments. And Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is a funny game with some sad moments. I personally prefer the vibe of Rebirth.
Rebirth also has some amazing character arcs and big moments that continue to stick with me. My daughter actually asked me to play “Promises to Keep” today since she loves that song, and seeing Aerith perform it literally brought me right back to the emotion of watching it the first time. There’s so many moments from this game that I can watch over and over again, almost like how I will watch highlights from my favorite sports team if they have an especially epic win. It’s just fun to relive all of these moments, even some of the sad ones.
It sounds simplistic, but the joy and the fun in Rebirth just put it on another level for me, in addition to how well it executes on so many of the things it wants to do. Just writing about it gets me all excited about experiencing it again down the road. I love this game, and I will fight to the freaking death for it!
1. Cyberpunk 2077
Despite all the love I have for the other games on this list, I gotta say, nothing has even come close to touching Cyberpunk 2077 for me. It is on another level. It is solidly my favorite video game of all time.
My first playthrough of this game was on an Xbox One at launch. Almost every gamer knows that the game was an absolute disaster on the Xbox One and PS4 at that point. There were constant visual glitches. The art direction was clearly fantastic, but it had a hard time showing that through all of the bugs. There were bugs with progression on multiple quests. Every time I drove, I would get locked into first person driving like 50% of the time. I had to play exclusively with stealth and hacking because the slowdown during action elements was ridiculous. I could go on.
Even through all of that, I still loved the game. The stealth and hacking are both top-notch and a lot of fun, so it didn’t bug me as much that I was kind of forced into using them. I was so into the story, the characters, and the side quests that I just pushed through if I had to reboot the game because of a crash or deal with some other glitch. The good parts of the game were so good that I had to push through. I had to see it to the end. I couldn’t wait to keep experiencing it, even if it was clearly many steps below where it eventually would be with patches.
Those side quests, in particular, constantly blew me away. They go in so many different directions, and a lot of them are more memorable than the main stories of a lot of games.
Not super long after I played it originally, I replayed it with an Xbox Series X and was blown away all over again. I was also able to play it a third time before the DLC came out. I hate replaying games, yet I’ve played this one three times in 5 years. That may not sound like much for many people, but that shit is unprecedented for me.
I think the Witcher games are great. I think Witcher 4 will likely be phenomenal. But I wish it wasn’t happening and that we were getting another Cyberpunk game faster instead. I’m sure many will strongly disagree with that, but for me, Cyberpunk 2077 is that damn good. Maybe this game will finally get passed up when that sequel comes out because I genuinely think this one has a chance to hold on to the top spot for as long as Chrono Trigger did for me. What a game.
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