I like to do at least one dedicated favorite games list thread per year. It's just a fun way to get to know each other a little better. Traditionally, I've asked people to list their favorite game from each year that they have a library from. This year I thought I'd change it up by focusing on games released in the last five years to get a bigger picture of what newer material we're into. What are your five favorite games from each of the last five years, as in beginning with games released in 2016 and concluding with games released in 2020?

(If you don't recall a game's release year, just like Google it or something. Also, if you don't own five games originally released in a given year, you can just list the games you do own from that year in your order of overall preference. Also also, you have the option to list your five fave games from this year as well if you want, but including games from this year isn't required since the year's only half-over.)

My picks are not objective. They reflect my personal biases. Anyway, for me...

2016:

1) Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
2) Ittle Dew 2
3) That Dragon, Cancer
4) Pony Island
5) The Last Guardian

2017:

1) Butterfly Soup
2) What Remains of Edith Finch
3) Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
4) Night in the Woods
5) Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

2018:

1) Celeste
2) Donut County
3) Return of the Obra Dinn
4) Alwa's Awakening
5) God of War

2019:

1) Knights and Bikes
2) Death Stranding
3) A Plague Tale: Innocence
4) Gato Roboto
5) Untitled Goose Game

2020:

1) The Last of Us Part II
2) Spiritfarer
3) Hades
4) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
5) ScourgeBringer

2021 (so far):

1) It Takes Two
2) Returnal
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3) Oddworld: Soulstorm
4) The Medium
5) Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

I've used a dividing line for my 2021 selections to denote the fact that the first two entries are likely to remain in my top five picks for the year indefinitely, while the other three are pretty likely to be booted out of the top five by titles I'm anticipating later this year, like maybe Cris Tales, Where the Heart Leads, Psychonauts 2, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Lake, 12 Minutes, Metroid Dread (needless to say), Deathloop, and above all by the likes of Stray, Solar Ash, and Goodbye Volcano High if those last two games come out this year. Yeah, I liked Returnal. Also...

Honorable Mention: Kentucky Route Zero

I'm giving this one a special mention because it's among my favorite games ever, but it was released in chapters over the course of many years, with the last one released last year, so...technically kinda sorta compatible with the format here, but not totally.

Anyway, your turn next person!

Thanks, VersusEvil!

Inside, Stardew Valley, and Uncharted 4 are great picks for 2016! All those came close to making my 2016 list too.

Cosmic Star Heroine and Little Nightmares are also a couple picks from 2017 that I liked a lot too! 2017 was one of the best years in gaming history, IMO. I could list 15 games from that year that that I absolutely love. Such an expanded list would include NieR: Automata, Dream Daddy, Sonic Mania, Star Fox 2, Metroid: Samus Returns, and so many others!

I was somewhat curious about Flipping Death back when I saw a trailer for it, but forgot all about it. It's that good?

2016:

1) Uncharted 4
2) Dark Souls 3 
3) Tales of Berseria
4) The Last Guardian
5) Owlboy

2017:

1) Nier Automata
2) Hollow Knight 
3) Horizon Zero Dawn 
4) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 
5) TLOZ Breath of the Wild

2018:

1) Monster Hunter World
2) God of War
3) Hades
4) Dark Souls Remastered
5) Celeste

2019:

1) Sekiro
2) Astral Chain
3) Bloodstained
4) Devil May Cry 5
5) FE Three Houses 

2020:

1) FFVII Remake
2) The Last of Us part 2 
3) Ghosts of Tsushima
4) Nioh 2
5) Ori Will of the Wisps

2021 so far:

1) MH Rise
2) Crash 4 its about time... 

Best year: 2017, im still missing some great games that year that would make my list of favorites.

Worst year: 2019, very slow year. 2021 is so far being slow as well. 

I'm going to do this based on the release date of the platform I've played it on, just to keep it simple on myself.

2016
1. Dark Souls 3 (PS4)
2. Uncharted 4 (PS4)
3. World of Final Fantasy (PS4)

2017
1. Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
2. Puyo Puyo Tetris (Switch)
3.  Axiom Verge (Switch)
4.  Mario + Rabbids (Switch)
5.  Arms (Switch)

2018
1. Dead Cells (Switch)
2. Octopath Traveler (Switch)
3. West of Loathing (Switch)
4. Spider-Man (PS4)
5.  Dragon Quest Builders (Switch)

2019
1. Wargroove (Switch)
2. Cadence of Hyrule (Switch)
3. Untitled Goose Game (Switch)
4. Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch)
5. Dragon Quest XI: DE (Switch)

2020
1. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Switch)
2. Super Mario 35 (Switch)
3. Streets of Rage 4 (Switch)
4. Final Fantasy 7 Remake (PS4)
5. Shantae and the 7 Sirens (Switch)

For me it was really hard to fill out years 2016 and 2020.  In 2016 I was mostly doing retro gaming, and for 2020...well I still have a pretty good sized backlog.  In a year or two I might have more 2020 games to list.  On the other hand I had to leave several great games off of 2018.  Broken Age, Valkyria Chronicles 4, and Smash Bros are all great games that I would rank higher than the bottom game of any of my other years.

That's interesting. Let's see.

2016:

Bravely Second
Star Fox Zero
Deus Ex Mankind Divided

2017:

Zelda Breath of the Wild
Super Mario Odyssey
Arms
Doom
Xenoblade Chronicles 2

2018:

Super Smash Bros Ultimate
Mega Man 11
Octopatch Traveler
Kirby Star Allies
Pokemon Let's Go Eevee

2019:

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3
Daemon X Machina
Dragon Quest 11 S
Astral Chain
Zelda Link's Awakening

2020:

Streets of Rage 4
Paper Mario Origami King
Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity
Trials of Mana
Super Mario 35

2021:

New Pokemon Snap

2016
1) Persona 5
2) Civilization VI
3) Stardew Valley
4) Darksouls 3
5) Final Fantasy XV

2017
1) Hollow Knight
2) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild
3) Horizon Zero Dawn
4) Super Mario Odyssey
5) Splatoon 2

Damn it, what a strong year I could make a top 10 with this one

2018
1) God of War
2) Octopath Traveler
3) Deadcells
4) The Shadow of Colossus RE
5) And Honorale mention is Astrobot, I only played it nonstop for about 3 hours because I myself don't have VR but this guys is the Mario Bros of VR games, probably will be my number 1 once I have enough money to get a PSVR for myself

2019
1) Fire Emblem: Three Houses
2) Resident Evil 2 RE
3) Kingdom Hearts 3
4) Ring Fit Adventure
5) Crash Team Racing RE

2020
1) The Last of Us 2
2) Final Fantasy VII: RE
3) Animal Crossing: New Horizons
4) Hades
5) Ori and the Will of the Wisps

As for 2021, I haven't played anything meaningful releases this year except Little Nightmares 2

I'm also not including ports from older systems, only new-released remakes, that's why Crash TR and The Shadow of Colossus are allowed, but Pikmin 3 and Dragon Quest XI for Switch are not  

Alright, let's see then. I'll go by original release dates in the west, so remasters are out, but I'll include full remakes.

2016:
1. Dark Souls III
2. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
3. Uncharted 4
4. Final Fantasy XV
5. The Last Guardian

2017:
1. Horizon Zero Dawn
2. Nier: Automata
3. Hollow Knight
4. Yakuza 0
5. Tales of Berseria
(This is a difficult year to rank. I'm already leaving out games like Trails in the Sky the 3rd, Gravity Rush 2, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Breath of the Wild, all of which I love.)

2018:
1. Shadow of the Colossus Remake
2. God of War
3. Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
4. Celeste
5. GRIS

2019:
1. Trails of Cold Steel III
2. A Plague Tale: Innocence
3. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
4. Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
5. Indivisible

2020:
1. Final Fantasy VII Remake

Haven't played any games released in 2021.

2016:
1. Final Fantasy XV
2. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
3. Doom
4. King of Fighters XIV
5. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir

2017:
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2. Super Mario Odyssey
3. Xenoblade Chronicles 2
4. Resident Evil VII: Biohazard
5. Persona 5

2018:
1. Valkyria Chroncles 4
2. Octopath Traveler
3. Smash Ultimate
4. Ni no Kuni 2
5. Celeste

2019:
1. Dragon Quest XI S
2. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (are you surprised about this one?)
3. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening HD
4. The Outer Worlds
5. Astral Chain

2020:
1. Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
2. FF7 Remake
3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
4. Trails of Cold Steel IV
5. Sakura Wars

2021:

Shin Megami Tensei III HD Remaster for the Switch, SaGa Frontier HD Remaster for Switch, and VF5 Ultimate Showdown on PS4 are the only 2021 releases I've played so far, and VF5 is my favorite fighting game of all time, but there are four games I want coming out in July including MH Stories 2, Disgaea 6, and Skyward Sword HD,  a couple more in August and September, and then SMT V in November.

You know, normally I'm against cancel culture, but this is just unacceptable. Please go back and edit this selection out.

No way. I even go a step further and say that from the three games I've listed from that year Star Fox Zero is easily the best by a comfortable margin.