Yes.

I loved Empire.

Rome II now is good too, though the recent update, yeah there was a big update, kind of ruined it again because they messed with food production. Instead of it being distributed throughout you regions it now only counts for the region it's produced in as well as the adjacent one. This makes no sense obviously because in real life, Africa was the Empire's main source for grain and there'd be massive hunger in Italy whenever something was wrong with the supply because most provinces couldn't produce enough themselves. In fact, much of the reason for Octavian's civil war in reality had to do with him not directly controlling the African provinces at first. Obviously my saves are now screwed.

I do agree with you guys on Napoleon. I have it, but didn't play it much. It's scope was too limited, especially coming off the huge Empire. Never played Attila, still seems interesting and kind of want to play it, but I heard they're working on a new one set in an era they didn't visit yet, so can't wait to see it.

But anyway, yeah the first Rome is still the best.

The next set of hints after the write-up again. 

#23
Kingdom Hearts 2
Previous Year: #19

The best game in the series thus far, Kingdom Hearts 2 improved upon the original's gameplay in significant way, making it more fluid and fast-paces. This was also before the series storyline got way too convoluted for its own good. There were already signs of this present in this game as well, but for the most part the plot still stayed mostly coherent. The third game is finally coming out sometime in the next year or two, but I have to admit that my excitement for it has diminshed quite a lot due to the long wait. Still, the second game remains among my favourite games of all time.

#22
Command & Conquer
Previous Year: #17

This is the game that made me a fan of the RTS genre over 20 years ago. In comparison to many later games in the series the first C&C may be somewhat simple in comparison, but it's style and atmosphere is still my favourite in the franchise. Nostalgia naturally plays a role here as well, but I genuinely love the game's old-school gameplay that doesn't try to needlessly overcomplicate things. To me, this is the second best RTS ever made.

#21
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Previous Year: #20

Persona 4 contains some of the best characters ever created for a video game in my opinion. Practically every character in the game is exceptionally well written, likable and relatable. The story is also great, the music wonderful and unique for the genre, and the gameplay for the most part enjoyable. The only real fault in the game is that some of the dungeons are far too long and become a chore. 

Only two hints now as we're getting closer to the top:

#20: A JRPG originally released on the Sega Saturn. Later made the jump to the PS1 as well. First in the series. Also known for its rather poor voice acting.

#19: A game that for many signaled the beginning of the PS1's dominance over its competition. This series had previously been a fixture of Nintendo's consoles, but with this game made the jump to Sony's console.  

As guessed correctly by Liquid_Laser the next game is Borderlands 2. But while Borderlands 2 is good, it wouldn't have made the list without a DLC. The Tiny Tinas Assault on Dragon Keep DLC catapults the game into the charts, so great is it.

Yeah, a diamond horse. And not a statue, a living horse.

Borderlands 2 is a crazy shooter. Cool cell shading graphic, silly jokes, extreme weapons, crazy quests. This game is just cool.

As I said above, the DLC with the too long name to spell it again, puts that formula into overdrive. The DLC is a parody to pen&paper games, especially Dungeons&Dragons (in the game the characters play Bunkers&Badasses). As a player of D&D and other Pen&Papers I can appreciate this. But I think the crazyness is even admirable without knowledge of Pen&Paper-games.

In the game you play a Vault Hunter, one adventurer that comes to the planet Pandora in the Borderlands to search for an alien vault and hoping for treasures. But the Hyperion-corporation and their boss Handsome Jack have plans for the planet and he tries to assassinate you right at the beginning of the game. You meet then strange characters and are led through a rough story - all the time with Handsome Jack speaking to you on the communicator.

The gameplay is basically a shooter, but with strong RPG-elements. The player chooses between four character classes (more was added with DLC).

The DLC is placed after the story of the main game (so you should play through it first and let's the characters sit together and play a round of Bunkers&Badasses with Tiny Tina as dungeon master. This is exceptional hilarious.

This game released on PC, PS3 and PS4, X360 and Xbox One and probably some platforms more I'm unaware of. I played it on PS3.

Wikipedia, MobyGames, OGDB, IGDB

Hyper Light Drifter?

Yes.

#22
So a witch, a blonde dude and a monkey walk into a bar...
There's also a fox, a plumber, a ninja. They're all fighting.

#21
This is a multiplayer series that has showed up twice already on my list. This was the first time you could play online, or offline as usual (and you only needed one copy of the game!)

#20 Inside my tummy

#19 Dungeon crawling with a super side

#18 angels and banter

#17 a sea lion, an owl and a cat

#16 When the "upgraded" version is better than the remake of the original versions, especially in difficulty.

19 - Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon?

correct

Correct on all, dude calm down XD