For me this is my GOTY for each year. It was tough as there are games in each of these years I loved almost as much.
2010-VanQuish-The best TPS ever made and I keep rebuying it.
2011-Xenoblade- One of the best RPGs ever made and become one of my fave RPG series.
2012-The Last Story. I almost chose Kingdoms of Amular another overlooked fantastic RPG but TLS hit me in a more personal way and means more now that to date really is The Last Story Sakaguchi ever told on a home console.
2013- Dragon's Crown. I own this game 3 times. Vita, PS3, and PS4. I love this game and as a spiritual successor to one of my fave arcade games with Dungeons & Dragons Tower of Doom. I love Vanillaware and this is my fave game of theirs, even edging out Princess Crown on Saturn.
2014- Strider- a fantastic return to form for Strider series. I think it's up with Strider 2 as best in series. Double Helix did a fantastic job. Shame they were bought out by Amazon soon after and now they don't even exist. A close second was Bayonetta 2. I adore Bayo 2 but I had been wanting a Strider sequel forever.
2015-Xenoblade Chronicles X-ONe of my fave open worlds to explore. I also get mechs. My avatar is from this game. The story was lacking but I spent hundreds of hours exploring this massive world. I love the OST minus a few tracks. This needs a Switch port.
2016-Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE-I love the Persona series. I am a sucker for games that use a similar setting and style. Digimon Cybersleuth, TMS and more. Is this the perfect blend of Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei? Not really. However, it feels unique unto its own. It's lighthearted. Fun. Colorful. Great UI and music. Fantastic dungeons. One of the best turn-based battle systems ever. It's Persona lite as well. No social links but the other beats are there.
2017-Yakuza 0-Perfect introduction to the series. Never played a Yakuza game? Perfect place to jump in. Prequel to the rest of the series. It also might be the best in the series. One of the best video game stories ever told. 2017 was such a tough year to pick with Nier Automata, Persona 5, Xenoblade 2, BOTW and more. Y0, however, remains my favorite.
2018-whew oh man. This one is really tough. I loved the Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise, Xenoblade Torna, Ruiner, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and others very very much. I think I will go with Spider-Man on PS4. The game is not perfect as it has some dated Ubisoft open-world problems but it's still fun with a solid story and characters you care about. I still played it for a couple of weeks after I finished the story doing just random whatever.
2019-Astral Chain. Another tough year with Daemon X Machina, Hardcore Mecha, DMC5 and so many more amazing games. Astral Chain stands above them all. Platinum tried something a little different from an unproven director and they delivered. Their take on Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cyberpunk is a masterful game. I look forward to more games from this new director and esp an Astral Chain 2. Best game of 2019 that dealt with an Astral Plane.
Bite my shiny metal cockpit!
