Mine will just be games from this year, for the sake of not having 4 games from the same series be my top 4

10. Pillars of Eternity 2
Follow-up to the great Pillars of Eternity, in some ways it's even better. This would've been higher on my list, but I just wasn't a big fan of the sailing (keeping the ship stocked and repaired, fighting other ships and having a huge map where you can just go anywhere right off the bat, which sounds great but i prefer some linearity in this type of game)

9. Darksiders 3
In Darksiders tradition, this game is in many ways different from its predecessor. This time they went for something more Dark Souls-esque, where 1 was more like Zelda and 2 had a loot system akin to Diablo and Borderlands. I liked this game a lot, just not enough to make it higher on this list. I also would've liked it to be a bit longer.

8. Dragon Quest XI
Easily my favorite Dragon Quest, this has pretty much what you'd expect from a DQ game. Do yourself a favor and play it on PC though, for better performance (maybe, depending on the PC) and a mod that inserts orchestral music instead of midi music
Great as it was compared to other DQ games, I'm still not a big fan of the basic, classic gameplay, which is why this isn't higher on my list.

7. Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Follow-up to last year's Assassin's Creed Origins, this one goes all the way into RPG territory. More stats on equipment, dialogue choices and branching stories in both sidequests and main quests. This is basically Ubisoft looking at Witcher 3 and going "We should make an Assassin's Creed game like that", which is not a bad thing.
I had a blast with this game, but near the end, Ubisoft open world fatigue did set in a little bit. The branching story also felt a little clumsily implemented.

6. Yakuza 6
I love Yakuza games. They're basically JRPGs with "Beat 'em up" gameplay. The new engine is great, allowing more interaction with the environment than ever. It also looks pretty damn great.
The story's on about the same level as other Yakuza games, lots of twists and turns. Sadly the new engine did mean less variety in combat than usual.

5. CrossCode
A little gem that came out of nowhere for me. It had been in early access for years already, I just didn't hear about it until its actual release, and it is a blast.
Fast-paced top-down action RPG with a lot of platforming to be done, this is right up my alley. It's also a pretty huge game, probably because the setting is an MMORPG (similar to .hack and Sword Art Online games, it's not actually online but the game "acts" like it's an MMORPG)

4. Yakuza Kiwami 2
The other Yakuza game released this year, a remake of Yakuza 2. Made in the Yakuza 6 engine with a ton of new extra things to do.
Not much to say here that wasn't already said for Yakuza 6, this one is ranked higher because the combat was expanded and it has some other things that weren't in 6 (cabaret club!)

3. Celeste
Simply the most satisfying platformer I've played in years. Every segment was stressful yet so great.
Not sure what else to say here, my only complaint was that it ended.
Even then, the game was pretty long for an indie platformer at this price tag.

2. Monster Hunter World
I have a history of trying to get into Monster Hunter and failing because the games just felt so dated, clunky and ruthless.
Cue Monster Hunter World, the game that finally got me into it. Everything is streamlined with a lot of quality of life changes, and the game just ended up being addicting.

1. Sen no Kiseki 4 (or Trails of Cold Steel 4, when it gets released in the west)
I'll start here by admitting I am an utter and complete Kiseki/Trails fanboy. This year I finally got around to playing the games that weren't localized, thanks to knowing just enough Japanese to get through gameplay and menus and such, and a handy translation sheet for the actual dialogue.
I haven't actually finished this game yet. I'm more than halfway through it, though, and that gave me enough reason to put this on the #1 spot. This game is gigantic, a culmination of not just the 4 Cold Steel games, but also of all 9 games thus far.
Having returning characters from 8 previous games makes other people say it's bloated, but I love this kind of stuff. All the build-up, all the characters, leading up to this entry, it's the payoff that I like just as much as the slow burn.


Games that would've been my 2, 3 and 4 if I included games I merely played this year, rather than what released this year:
Zero no Kiseki, Ao no Kiseki, Sen no Kiseki 3 (though not in that order)

Honorable mentions:
Octopath Traveler and Shadow of the Tomb Raider