Top Five games of 2019

[Lord Golbez]

1. Link's Awakening - Never played the GBA game, but now I can somewhat understand the hype. Almost as good as Link to the Past and in some respects better (I still prefer LttP).
2.

2. Yoshi's Crafted World - What can I say? It's another game in the vein of Yoshi's Island - my favorite 2D platformer. Sure, the formula may be getting tired, and the gimmicks they add to keep it fresh aren't that great (Woolly World wa better), but they still bring enough new along with hewing close enough to the fantastic formula of the original to dependably deliver a fun experience.

3. Life is Strange 2 - I really liked Life is Strange and this continues some of the good narrative aspects of that game. The gameplay hook was never quite as good or interesting as the first game and I don't totally like the way it ended (which is probably partially due to my choices), but it's still a decent story that grapples with important current issues.

4. Pokemon Shield - I'm not very far into this, but enough to see it' a decent game. Maybe it would get pushed out by other games I've played this year, but for now I'm sticking to games actually from 2019 that I've played and I haven't played many.

These are not all the top games I've played this year. If I were going to choose my favorite game that I've played this year it's a bit of a surprise for me given past experience with the series, but Assassin's Creed Odyssey. I enjoy the more open world RPG style here and while combat is still kind of awkward and not great, stealth kills and bow hunting make up for it.

I'd probably say Yakuza 0 would go on my top 5 played for the year. Again I'm not ranking it, since it's not actually a 2019 game. It would probably go below Link's Awakening though, but likely push out Pokemon, if only because I haven't finished the latter game.

So the mixed games I've played in 2019/games actually released in 2019 list is:
1. AC Odyssey
2. Link's Awakening
3. Yakuza 0
4. Yoshi's Crafted World
5. Life is Strange 2
The plus side of this list is it only includes games I've already or nearly completed (I'm over 3/4 through Link's Awakening which is enough to determine it's proper spot on the list)