Fire Emblem: Three Houses!
2019 rivaled 2017 in my opinion.

The Outer Worlds for me, followed by Jedi: Fallen Order, neither of which are poll options. Out of the poll options I have to go with Res 2 Remake; though I don't believe remakes truly deserve GOTY, it is still an incredible game and better than the other poll options I have played.

Fire Emblem 3 houses for me

I often feel a similar way. There are still a few games that manage to hook me in - probably a couple each year - but nowhere near as many as during my 20s.

I feel the same for the period 2019-2022, at least on the AAA side (with some exceptions of course). It’s hard to know if it’s just about me getting older. 2023 is better and I have a decent wishlist for 2024, but still it feels somewhat lacking.

I accidentally voted for Sekiro, until I realized Death Stranding is a 2019 game (I thought it was a 2020 one, but evidently not). Death Stranding gets my vote: It's not perfect, but it tries to do something different, and I personally liked the game a lot despite its flaws. I can totally get why it's divisive though. Needless to say, other strong contenders for me include Sekiro, and less obviously Total War: Three Kingdoms, which is mainly hurt by its abruptly ended support (it also has its flaws, but it seems to have brought some nice improvements to the series). I haven't played Disco Elysium yet, but it sounds like something I might be able to appreciate a good bit (enough to mention here).

Honourable mentions to 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim and The Outer Worlds.

13 Sentinels is a really unique game with a beautiful art style, accessible RTS gameplay, and one of the most entertaining stories of any game I've ever played. It's a love letter to science fiction and as a big nerd I was in heaven.

The Outer Worlds was a well rounded and charming RPG with a fun satirical tone, likeable characters, deep gameplay, and excellent writing.

I'll concur with those who characterize as a weaker year in gaming history, especially on the AAA side of the spectrum. The only "major" game I really enjoyed in 2019 was Death Stranding, mostly because it was something very different, thoughtful, and prescient. Hideo Kojima unleashed is definitely more interesting to me!

Still, a larger list of my favorite titles from the year includes some smaller titles ranking above it anymore:

1. Knights and Bikes
2. Gato Roboto
3. Untitled Goose Game
4. Death Stranding
5. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night <-- My favorite "Castlevania" game.
6. Cadence of Hyrule
7. Control
8. Astral Chain
9. Mutazione

It was a great year for games about animals! Gato Roboto, which is Metroidvania with black-and-white Game Boy-inspired graphics starring a cat named Kiki who dons a mech suit on a mission to rescue her owner and is also my favorite kitty cat-centric game. Cats are the best. They just are. A big part of what makes Kiki an especially endearing cat character is the fact that she doesn't speak English. She responds to everything said to her simply with "Meow" like a real cat and that just makes me laugh. Untitled Goose Game, meanwhile, has you playing the role of a mischievous goose out to ruin everyone's day with hilarious pranks that I don't get tired of. (Here, take a gander.) It wasn't the only game I played that year that included a goose in a major role though. The other was my overall favorite of the year, Knights and Bikes.

Knights and Bikes takes place on the fictional British island of Penfurzy in 1987 (so amidst the recession of the time that hit the British islands especially hard). It starts out with island residents Demelza and her dad, who owns a miniature golf course on the island, spying a mysterious, super-cool newcomer named Nessa. The two young girls become fast friends and (together with a goose!) spend the game searching for a mystic cursed treasure that legend has it is hidden somewhere on the island so that Demelza can save her father from having to sell and move off the island and Nessa can have a home there with them.

You control either Demelza or Nessa and can choose either a single-player mode (where you have the ability to swap out which character you control on the fly while the AI controls the other) or cooperatively with a friend either locally or online. The game is truly meant to be played cooperatively, but thanks to the basic intelligence of the AI, it works well either way. It's an action-adventure game in terms of genre. You explore the island (substantially on bikes, as the title suggests), solve mostly simple puzzles, defeat small hordes of foes, buy upgrades and decor for your bikes, and develop the girls' friendship as the self-proclaimed Penfurzy Rebel Bicycle Club. Demelza's real struggle though goes deeper. She's lost her mom not terribly long ago and neither she nor her dad have really moved on. He's turned to drinking, forcing her to live separately from him in her own trailer and is otherwise just not very present in her life. She desperately needs a friend.

What this game does especially well is capture what childhood felt like in the pre-internet days. Bike riding was the most popular hobby for kids when I was young, somewhat above playing video games. Back in the 2D gaming era that seemed to be the case. And if you were like me, you might've had a rather stressful household environment and spent a lot of time in imaginary worlds with imaginary friends. This was also the game that really pioneered the watercolor visual style and it just feels right for its whole kiddie punk vibe. It's certainly not a perfect game, but it conjures up too many fond memories and feelings for me to rank in any worse.

I think it may also be worth mentioning Cadence of Hyrule for being IMO the best of non-canonical Legend of Zelda franchise spin-offs. Building on the foundations of Crypt of the NecroDancer just makes for lots of fun! I thoroughly enjoyed getting to jam my way through Hyrule as a dance-fighting Zelda. (It figures that the titles where you can play as her are non-canonical ones that typically don't have her in the name.) Soundtrack's not quite as awesome as that of Crypt of the NecroDancer though, so a few points off for that, but still quite good.

I think that covers what I want to say of the year.

Sekiro is "Game of the Generation" material.

I was wondering why Pico Park had received no mention, but then I realised it was a 2016 Windows game on Steam that got a 2019 Switch release and a 2021 re-launch that featured online multiplayer. Some games are just confusing to keep track of for voting! Still I recommend people that like multiplayer platformers have a look at Pico Park. I’ve played short bursts of it most weeks for the past couple of years.

Anyway after discussing Untitled Goose Game and Luigi’s Mansion 3 with my partner my vote goes to Untitled Goose Game.
That breath of freshness at the right time, that music inspired by Australian kids show Play School. That intelligence to know when your idea has run its course and giving it a good ending to bring the whole thing full circle. Excellent fun for the course of things for a wide audience.

Baba Is You gets another honourable mention.