Super Adventures Games of the Decade: 2010-2019

This week on Super Adventures, one final article for 2019. It's the end of a decade, so I felt like I should probably write something about that.

I've done a 'top games' post once before, but I cheated by using page views to rank the games on my site instead of picking my own list. This time though it's the real deal, my favourite games from the last ten years, and not just for games I've written about on Super Adventures. I did think about doing a specifically 'Best of Super Adventures list', but then I realised that the site's 9 years old, so I'd be an idiot not to save it for next year. Actually a 'Best Screenshots of Super Adventures' post sounds easier, I should do that next year instead.

Anyway, the trouble with 'best of' lists is that they're all wrong. I mean they're all just someone's opinion, and that person likely hasn't played every game released on every system. Plus chances are they don't love all genres and gameplay gimmicks equally either. But I've come up with an ingenious and innovative solution to this problem! I'm going to give you three lists simultaneously: one with my favourite AAA game from a certain year, one with the my favourite indie game from a certain year, and one with the game I should've picked instead. That way I've got all my bases covered and everyone's happy.

Note: for the purposes of this list I'm roughly defining 'indie' as meaning 'doesn't look like the end credits would last for literally half an hour'. Also I couldn't quite capture all the screenshots I needed this time, so I'll warn you now that a tiny handful of the images will be... less than ideal. You'll see what I mean.

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2010

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2010	GAME I'D BE YELLED AT FOR NOT INCLUDING
	Fallout: New Vegas
Huh, Fallout: New Vegas didn't make my proper list? But that's the really good one! It shouldn't feel too bad though, as Fallout 4 didn't make the AAA list either, neither did Skyrim. Not because I think there's anything wrong with them, it's just that I can only choose one game from each year and they weren't it. So New Vegas is here to represent all the games I love and have put hours into, but couldn't include. All the second and third place games that could've been first if I'd been in a different mood. Other games I should've picked from 2010: Alan Wake, Bayonetta, Demons' Souls, Red Dead Redemption, Super Mario Galaxy 2, StarCraft II, Vanquish.

2010	BEST INDIE GAME
	Little Inferno
My favourite indie game from 2010 is Little Inferno! Because it's a lot easier to get through than Super Meat Boy or VVVVVV. But also because it's weird and fun and has a more interesting story than you'd expect from a 'burn all your stuff' simulator. Runners up: Super Meat Boy, Super Scribblenauts.

2010	BEST AAA GAME
	Mass Effect 2
Here's how good Mass Effect 2 is: you have to spend ages playing this bloody pointless probe minigame to upgrade your stuff, and it's still my favourite game of 2010. It does have its flaws, as it's the least RPGy of the original trilogy mechanically, and the third game has more refined combat, but I love it regardless. It's not as epic as the other two maybe, as it's all about hanging out with your space bros in the seedier parts of galaxy, sorting out their problems and kicking ass, but that's cool with me because I'm all about that as well. I did miss driving the Mako though. Runners up: BioShock 2, 007: Blood Stone, Alpha Protocol, Dragon Quest IX.

2011

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2011	GAME I'D BE YELLED AT FOR NOT INCLUDING
	Minecraft
I think I've given Minecraft more chances to win me over than any other game. But after spending a few hours digging a huge hole, roaming the landscape, and building some giant tower I could use as a landmark to find my way back, I always got bored and frustrated and turned it off. I love Terraria's freedom to go wherever and make whatever you want and I get on just fine with Dragon Quest Builders 2's first person block building, why can't I find the fun in Minecraft? So I've chosen Minecraft to represent all the games that other people might have put on their own lists that I just couldn't get into at all. Games like Crusader Kings II, Dead Rising 2, FTL, The Sexy Brutale and the modern Call of Dutys. Other games I should've picked for 2011: Ghost Trick, The Witcher 2, Catherine, Uncharted 3.

2011	BEST INDIE GAME
	Terraria
Did I mention that I love Terraria? I was a little surprised to find that the game came out in 2011, because for some reason I thought it would've been released too early to make the list. Maybe because the characters look like they're from a SNES RPG. If these games were ranked on playtime then Terraria would walk away with first place, as I've played it three times longer than anything else in my Steam Library, but it's definitely not flawless. In fact it's a pain in the ass at times and I'm not looking forward to building an arena and fighting those bosses again. But to me it feels so much more developed than Minecraft and it's been getting massive free updates for years that have turned it into a far more rewarding and interesting game to explore than it was at launch. I don't play a lot of multiplayer games these days, but when my friends set up a new Terraria world, I'm in.

2011	BEST AAA GAME
	Portal 2
I'm beginning to get the impression from these old screenshots that I hadn't quite moved up to widescreen yet by 2011. Portal 1 was blessed with an abundance of good design choices and one of them was the choice to get it all over with before the gimmick got old. Then they made a sequel! But Portal 2 isn't just more of the same thing, it's a lot more, and following on from a short and sweet 3 hour experience with a 9 hour endurance run could've ended up as a bit of a cock up. Fortunately they pulled it off with style, thanks to some innovative puzzle concepts, JK Simmons, and a ball that never shuts up. Plus they actually had new material, instead of beating all the old jokes and memes from the first game to death! It was painful though, picking this over all the games I'm about to list in italics. In fact I'm starting to have second thoughts. Runners up for 2011: Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, Saints Row: The Third, Bulletstorm, Rayman Origins.

2012

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2012	GAME I'D BE YELLED AT FOR NOT INCLUDING
	Diablo III
I really love Diablo III's UI. All of its menus are incredibly pretty, with some of the most beautiful virtual buttons you'll ever see. It's the kind of game where I want to level up just as an excuse to visit the level up screen again. The rest of the graphics are pretty nice as well, plus I thought the gameplay was pretty decent. But I'd never buy the game. Games like Diablo III and Hitman 2 have one thing in common (besides having a six letter title with a number next to it), and that's always-online DRM. I refuse to pay for games which require an online connection and that's why you'll not see any in my best games list. It's not just that I don't want to encourage them, it's that I have a crappy time with them! Here, take a look at some of the fun and varied disconnection messages I saw in my brief time playing Diablo III. I was trying to collect all 315,300 of them but I ran out of time in the end. To be honest I got these screenshots from the beta, so you'd expect some server issues. But it's not the only always-online game I've struggled with, it just had the prettiest error messages. I mean I got kicked back to the menu due to a connection error in a bloody Need for Speed game recently. It's a bad trend and it should go away forever (at least from the games I want to play). Other games I should've picked from 2012: Dark Souls, Dishonored, Crusader Kings II, The Walking Dead.

2012	BEST INDIE GAME
	Hotline Miami
There's a lot of things I love about the Hotline Miami games, but perhaps their greatest gift to me is that they've given me two examples of bastard hard games that I actually like and have finished. They're proof that I can stick with a challenge and persevere once I've gotten sufficiently hooked, so I know now that when I give up on other games it's because they've failed to grab me or because I feel like they've been wasting my time. Or they're just really bloody hard.

2012	BEST AAA GAME
	Sleeping Dogs
It feels a bit weird to me that Sleeping Dogs made my list and Arkham City didn't, but that's a side effect of picking one AAA game from each year. That doesn't explain why it's ahead of FarCry 3 though. I prefer Arkham's fighting and FarCry 3's got far better shooting, but those games have something Sleeping Dogs doesn't: sequels. I could pick almost any FarCry game, but Sleeping Dogs is its own unique thing, with a complete story, and it's also really bloody good. Runners up: FarCry 3, Forza Horizon, Counter-Strike: GO, Max Payne 3, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

2013

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2013	GAME I'D BE YELLED AT FOR NOT INCLUDING
	The Last of Us
The Last of Us, that's a title you're definitely going to find on some 'Best Games of the Decade' lists. Unfortunately it's been disqualified from mine on account of the fact that I haven't played it much yet. It seemed pretty good though! So I've put it here to represent all the titles that could've been real contenders if I'd only found the time to play the bloody things. I don't own the boxes featured in this photograph, but they're all games from this decade that I haven't really gotten around to. Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption, Dishonored 2, Shadow of Mordor, Dishonored 1... I've got a bit of a backlog. Other games I should've picked: Metro: Last Light, Don't Starve, Rayman Legends, Gran Turismo 6.

2013	BEST INDIE GAME
	Fez
It's been a while since I played perspective-shifting puzzle platformer Fez, but according to my notes it's a "low-stress, light-hearted platformer with a lot of charm". It's also got a clever gimmick where you can completely shift the 2D world you're jumping around in by rotating the view 90 degrees. Fez is here because it's really good, but it's also here to represent all the countless indie platformers that didn't make the list. Rogue Legacy, Super House of Dead Ninjas, Spelunky, Dust: An Elysian Tail... and those are only the ones from 2013! Runners up: GeoGuessr, The Stanley Parable, Gunpoint.

2013	BEST AAA GAME
	Saints Row IV
There's no way I'm leaving the Saints Row series off my list, I love these games. I'm a bit torn on Saints Row IV though, as it's a bit hit and miss with its humour, and its story, and everything else. When it's good it's great, but its virtual setting means that everything is either meaningless or abstract and all the conversations about what you're doing pretty much boil down to "I'm a hacker, so trust me that if you do the thing something good will happen." On the other hand, it goes out of its way to give all the characters closure, there's tons of customisation options, and it's somehow one of the best superhero games I've played. Runners up: Tomb Raider, Batman: Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist

2014

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2014	GAME I'D BE YELLED AT FOR NOT INCLUDING
	Alien: Isolation
Alien: Isolation is an incredible game that everyone loves. Well, except for me, I barely got a couple of hours in before I got sick of that alien stalking me. He didn't even catch me, I just hated the tension. But I wanted to explore that amazing 70s style space station so much that I started it again on that extra easy difficulty they patched in, with a mod that made the xenomorph harmless. I never cheat, I hate reaching the end of a game and feeling like I didn't earn it, but when I finally finished Alien: Isolation I was left with zero regrets about turning off that son of a bitch alien. And not just because the game's long enough without hiding in lockers and replaying sections over and over. Turns out I just hate horror games no matter how well made or easy they are! So Alien: Isolation is here to represent all those scary games like Amnesia and Soma where you have to hide from the monsters. There are enough terrifying things in real life, I don't need to be stressed out and powerless in games as well. Other games I should've picked from 2014: Mario Kart 8, Divinity: Original Sin, This War of Mine, Destiny.

2014	BEST INDIE GAME
	Shovel Knight
Shovel Knight is a pretty decent platformer with an amazing soundtrack, plus it's about as NES as you can get without losing out on sensible features like widescreen graphics and extra colours for better skin tones. But I can't help thinking that there must have been another indie game in 2014 I would've liked more if I'd played it. Not necessarily a better one, just something that's more my kind of thing. Something I wouldn't have quit a third of the way through. Runners up: Uh... I really should've played more indie games made this year. I mean there is one I can think of, but my friend worked on it and it doesn't seem right for me to mention it.

2014	BEST AAA GAME
	Far Cry 4
For one brief moment I did consider it, reinstalling FarCry 4 to the Xbox 360 just to take a photo of the intro on the TV, but my laziness won out this time. This is one of those sequels that mostly iterates as opposed to innovates, but I've got absolutely no problem with a better version of FarCry 3. Way more appealing to me than another FarCry 2, with its malaria pills and its endlessly restaffed outposts giving me constant grief whenever I tried driving anywhere. Runners up: Wolfenstein: The New Order, Dynasty Warriors 8, South Park: The Stick of Truth.

2015

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2015	GAME I'D BE YELLED AT FOR NOT INCLUDING
	Bloodborne
Probably not a screenshot of Bloodborne I've never played Bloodborne, or watched anyone else play it, but I had to include at least one Soulsborne game in my 'games other people would choose' list, because the things dominated this decade. Even I have to admit that these are probably the best 3D Castlevanias, but something about the way they move the boss rooms miles away from the save rooms and put utter gits in between them winds me up. Plus I'm impressed with how much weight and presence everything has, and that you need to use deliberate considered attacks instead of failing around, but I'll never get my head around having a stamina bar. Half my memories of Dark Souls are of getting killed because I didn't have the stamina to hit anything or roll away. Though to be fair I didn't know that wearing heavy armour was weighing me down. Other games I should've picked from 2015: Life is Strange, Soma, The Witcher 3, Splatoon.

2015	BEST INDIE GAME
	The Beginner's Guide
I picked this instead of Undertale? Really? The Beginner's Guide is the token walking simulator for the list, but it's also something that really drew me in, despite basically being a series of unfinished one-level non-games stitched together. It's halfway between a GDC talk and a commentary track, so that got my attention from the start. I like listening to people explain what a game's doing and the choices made during development, it aligns with my interests. But then it turns out to be less about the games, and more about game criticism and analysis, so you can imagine how that hit home for me. It got me thinking about things like how a critic can assume that studying a piece of art will give them a window into its creator's private thoughts and feelings. How a critic's choice of what parts to focus on and what to skip over will distort the image they're painting of someone else's work. How a person can feel a sense of ownership over a piece of work and believe they know better than its own creator about what it should be. And right afterwards it got me checking forums and YouTube videos to see what everyone else was saying about it. Indie game runners up for 2015: Undertale, Hotline Miami 2, Broforce, Dropsy. I feel bad about not writing nicer things about Dropsy.

2015	BEST AAA GAME
	Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
I've always wanted to love the Metal Gear Solid games more. I mean I don't hate them, not until I'm a few hours in anyway, but they've never clicked with me in the way they have with other people. Until this one. I don't care that The Phantom Pain has a blatantly unfinished story or annoying boss fights, because I love the game so much. It's a strong contender for my favourite game of the decade and if I'd played it more recently I'd be able to list all the reasons why. Though I'd imagine that the main reason I like it more than the other Metal Gears, aside from the open world, is that it lets you use predator stealth and clear out a whole base one person at a time, and the penalty for failure is some slightly less satisfying third person shooting. I'd rather increase my fun by playing well than suffer for playing poorly. Runners up: Batman: Arkham Knight, Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Pillars of Eternity.

2016

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2016	GAME I'D BE YELLED AT FOR NOT INCLUDING
	Pokémon Go
Artist's impression Here's another game I've never played and know next to nothing about. Is it even a game? I don't know! Pokémon Go's not just here to represent the Pokémon series, it's here to represent freemium mobile games. They're entirely absent from my list because I just don't ever play the things. Well okay I played Fallout Shelter and that was surprisingly addictive in a 'well I've done two things today, guess I'll check back on it tomorrow' kind of way, but that only worked for me because you can actually ignore the microtransaction crap entirely. Also I played it on PC, with a nice comfortable mouse. Other games I should've picked for 2016: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Dark Souls 3, Dishonored 2, Final Fantasy XV.

2016	BEST INDIE GAME
	Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley is a pain in the ass. I've read comments saying that it's pretty relaxed, but it is not. The days are so short that it had me running around like a lunatic to get all the crops, fish, loot, friendships, coffee etc. needed to pass the goal within the deadline, and that was with a co-op player handling half the work! I had to make a bloody chart of everyone's birthdays and favourite gifts to maximise my friendship-making! But the game got me. The way you have to sleep to save means that my brain went into 'go through morning checklist' mode right afterwards, so then I'd go harvest the crops and have to play another day. And another one. And I think I enjoyed it? I put enough hours in so I better have enjoyed it. Runners up: Superhot, The Witness.

2016	BEST AAA GAME
	Doom (2016)
And the the first straightforward first person shooter in the list is Doom 2016! Though it won't be the only one. I loved racing around in this game, blasting away at enemies until I could punch them to death, leaping up onto ledges to avoid the retribution coming my way, strafing around incoming fire, it's a proper old school shooter! Except prettier. The biggest flaw of this game is probably that the cutscenes drag on a bit, and they're not even that long! Also I suck at hard mode and playing it seriously damaged my self respect. Runners up: Tyranny, Fallout Shelter.

2017

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2017	GAME I'D BE YELLED AT FOR NOT INCLUDING
	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
It says 'Breath of the Wild' up there, but what it really should say is 'every Nintendo exclusive of the last two generations'. I respect Nintendo's decision to hoard all their games on their own platform, and it's certainly helped them maintain their distinctive brand of family friendly fun, but it sure makes their games hard to find on Steam. I've never been that keen on Zelda games, but I feel like the open world Breath of the Wild would be the one I actually really liked, if I could find a way to live with the weapon degradation. Maybe they'll get rid of it for the sequel... which will be also for a system I don't own. Other games I should've picked: Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier: Automata, Super Mario Odyssey, Slay the Spire, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

2017	BEST INDIE GAME
	Faerie Solitaire Remastered
I know this screenshot's from the wrong Faerie Solitaire, but I haven't got a lot of shots of the remastered version lying around I'm afraid. (Honestly I just wanted to show off what happened to the money counter.) Faerie Solitaire came out in 2009, but fortunately the developers realised that this would disqualify it for my chart and came up with a Remastered version in 2017. It's just solitaire with some extra stuff around that I ignore and a story about fairies that I skip, but this game had me hooked. Between the two versions I've put 50+ hours into clearing screens of cards, mostly because it's something semi-mindless to do when I'm listening to podcasts. But also because I like it. Runners up: West of Loathing, What Remains of Edith Finch, Hollow Knight, Thimbleweed Park.

2017	BEST AAA GAME
	Prey (2017)
I wish I'd known I was going to be writing about the game before I uninstalled it, I would've put the graphics settings up and taken a more interesting screenshot. The trouble with games like Tomb Raider (2013), Doom (2016) and Prey (2017) that just reuse an old game's title and don't even add to it, is that they often turn out to be good and then I have to write about them a lot. It took me a while to really get into this one though. Every time I'd encounter a regular phantom it took some serious effort and resources to get rid of them and I felt like I was playing the game wrong. Which is weird, because you're supposed to be able to play any way you choose. Then I realised that I wasn't meant to be preparing for some epic boss battle, these guys were the threat I was supposed to struggle with, and I started to feel better about it. Also finding the shotgun helped. Runners up: Need for Speed: Payback, Mass Effect: Andromeda. Okay I haven't played a lot of AAA games from 2017, but Andromeda gets too much hate.

2018

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2018	GAME I'D BE YELLED AT FOR NOT INCLUDING
	Marvel's Spider-Man
Amiga version I chose Breath of the Wild to represent Nintendo exclusives so it's only fair that Sony exclusives get a turn as well. I won't be choosing a Microsoft exclusive though, because I can play those. Those ones actually show up on PC eventually! (Also there's an Xbox One sitting next to me). The annoying thing about exclusives, is that they often turn out to be really good games. Proper well-produced single player experiences that generally aren't infected with all that microtransaction and 'games as a service' crap, because they exist to sell consoles not lootboxes. Unfortunately this only benefits people who have that console, so no Spider-Man for me. No God of War and no Horizon: Zero Dawn either. I do get Forza Horizon 4 though! Other games I should've picked: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Red Dead Redemption 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Return of the Obra Dinn.

2018	BEST INDIE GAME
	Deltarune: Chapter 1
Oops I accidentally used a gif from Undertale! I couldn't miss out Undertale, so I decided to put it together with Deltarune: Chapter 1 and get them both on the list that way. The combat might be different but they're very similar games made by exactly the same creator. They also share something else in common, as they're probably the only two games that have gotten me to watch people streaming them afterwards. I have to be honest, I wasn't 100% won over by Toby Fox's sense of humour, but there's just so much charm and weirdness and cleverness and dread and heart to the games that I was dying to see how other players reacted to them. Plus it was an excuse to listen to the music some more. They've ruined classic JRPGs for me though. I put them on and wonder why the dialogue's so flat, the pacing's so slow, and the combat's so repetitive. Runners up: Unavowed, Subnautica, Celeste.

2018	BEST AAA GAME
	Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance
I've heard people claim that Disgaea 5 somehow isn't the best game in the series, and maybe they're right! I rarely delve too deep into the post game, I'm not into grinding, so I can't judge that side of any of them. I can judge the main game though, and to me this is Disgaea with the good bits improved, the bad parts made less awkward, and icing on top. And I love Disgaea.

2019

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2019	GAME I'D BE YELLED AT FOR NOT INCLUDING
	Baba is You
Why does Baba is You get to be the final game I'd be shouted at for not including? Because it's representing all the other indie games that everyone else loves but I haven't really played yet. That game with the goose, the simulator with the goat, Return of the Obra Dinn, Papers Please, Kentucky Route Zero, Subnautica, Heat Signature, Her Story, Journey, Firewatch, Inside, Sayonara Wild Hearts etc. You want them to be here and thanks to this entry they actually are! Disco Elysium, there's another one. Other games I should've picked: Devil May Cry V, Pokémon Sword and Shield, Resident Evil 2, Death Stranding.

2019	BEST INDIE GAME
	Ion Fury
Everyone knows that new games are better than old games, so as the newest indie game on the list, Ion Fury is officially the best indie game ever made! Okay fine, it isn't, but Duke Nukem 3D's been one of my favourite games for a long time now and this is like that except better. I've already written why I like it so much, but I've replayed half of it since then to get all of the secrets and I'm happy to report that I still like it, and I plan to continue liking it for the foreseeable future. Even if the developers continue trying to find new ways to put people off liking them. Runners up: Indivisible. All those other retro first person shooters that came out recently but I haven't played yet. Though actually now that I think about it Dusk and Amid Evil were both released in 2018.

2019	BEST AAA GAME
	The Outer Worlds
The Outer Worlds, seriously? This is seriously my best game of 2019? A year that gave us Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Devil May Cry V, Apex Legends, Super Mario Maker 2, Resident Evil 2, Control, Metro Exodus, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Death Stranding? Well I haven't played all those games yet, have I! You think I'm rich or something? To be honest I get the feeling this still might have been my favourite even if I had played them, because flawed at it is, it's got all the ingredients of my ideal video game. Mostly because they took Mass Effect and Fallout: New Vegas and put them in a blender. It doesn't excel at anything (even the menus are surprisingly awkward), but I had enough fun with it to immediately start a second playthrough to try some different choices.

DECADE REVIEW: WHAT HAPPENED WITH VIDEO GAMES BETWEEN 2010 AND 2019

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Okay, the lists are done, but I feel like this won't really be finished until I've written something about what happened with video games between 2010 and 2019. I mean I'm sure you already know, you were there too (unless you weren't; shout-out to all my future readers born in 2020), but sometimes it's interesting to turn around and look at all the distance you've covered.

Like most decades, the 2010s lasted for 10 years, contained 522 Tuesdays, and made a lot of people very miserable. It was pretty good for games though... for the most part.

It was the decade that mobile gaming finally defeated handhelds, or at least Sony thought so, as they killed both of theirs off and never came back. The PS Vita finally became the PS Mortem in March 2019. Nintendo, on the other hand, turned their console into a handheld, and seem to be doing quite well with it. Better than they did with the Wii U anyway, which was the only major console to be born and die during the last ten years... except for the OnLive and the Ouya. Stadia's technically still alive so it just missed the deadline.

We were playing on eighth generation console hardware for the most part, though the decade began in the tail end of the seventh gen era, with the veteran PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii systems putting out their prettiest games. PSP and DS too! But smart phones were in a rush to compete, as we were somehow up to the iPhone 4 in 2010, despite the first one coming in 2007. Mobile gaming existed before the 2010s, but this was the decade that it started throwing its weight around on 'highest-grossing games' charts with games like Clash of Clans.

The secret to the smart phones' success was free-to-play and microtransactions, as the cash they were making from freemium titles overtook regular games at the beginning of the decade. Valve decided they wanted in on this and added loot boxes to Team Fortress 2 in 2010 and we know where things went from there.

Speaking of Valve, according to their hardware survey, the average PC in 2009 had a dual core processor, 2GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive and a resolution of 1280x1024. So the transition to widescreen gaming happened this decade, for computer users anyway.

Valve absolutely dominated PC gaming in 2009, just like they absolutely dominate it in 2019, but they really had it all to themselves back then, aside from GOG. Though in the last decade we've had the introduction of EA's Origin in 2011, Ubisoft's Uplay in 2012, Humble Store in 2013 (first Humble Indie Bundle was 2010), itch.io in 2013 and Epic Game Store in 2018. Sorry, I forgot Discord for some reason. There was also the doomed indie game client Desura, which launched in 2010 and died in 2016.

Something else that started early this decade was twitch, which launched in 2011 and really kicked off a new trend of streaming games live. But Pewdiepie started his YouTube Let's Plays a year earlier, in 2010, which was fortunate for the developers of Amnesia: The Dark Descent as the game was released in September that year. It's hard for me to say whether YouTubers and streaming led to the rebirth of proper horror games, because that'd would involve me doing actual research, but it's probably fair to say that Resident Evil fans are happier with where their franchise is now. Adventure game fans are probably happier too, depending on what they feel about Telltale's effect on the genre with 2012's The Walking Dead, and survival games really took off after 2013's DayZ and Don't Starve. Plus there's all these procedurally generated roguelikes everywhere now! We also got a few new genres rising to prominence, such as battle royale shooters (like 2017's PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) and the very indie walking simulator genre (like 2012's Dear Esther).

To be honest I'm struggling to remember what indie games came out before 2010. Even Super Meat Boy and VVVVVV were this decade! The indie market is ridiculously oversaturated at this point and you can tell by the amount of amazing games we've had these last ten years (and the amount of dating sims and Minecraft clones and asset flips...). One of the things that's helped smaller developers get started is crowdfunding, which really became a thing this decade after Kickstarter was launched in 2009, especially once games like Broken Age and Pillars of Eternity got successfully funded.

Here's something else that got crowdfunded in 2012: the Oculus Rift VR headset. We finally got the Rift, the HTC Vive and PlayStation VR in 2016, though I think that VR may be more of a 2020s trend, depending on how well Half-Life: Alyx and Left 4 Dead VR do. The headsets go well with motion control, which finally escaped the Wii this decade, with the Xbox's Kinect and the PlayStation's Move, even if neither of them really took off either.

Plus now we've got Netflix-like game subscription services like Humble Monthly/Choice (2015), EA Access (2014), Origin Access (2016), Xbox Game Pass (2017) and Uplay+ (2019)! I hate to say it, seeing as I like owning things, but a service offering games isn't the worst idea. Definitely less irritating than that other 2010s trend, games as a service.

I feel like there's something else introduced this decade I'm forgetting, something important. Or at least relevant.

Oh right, at the end of January 2011, a new game website called Super Adventures in Gaming was launched, featuring screenshots with words under them. Nine years later and it still doesn't have a proper web address.

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Thanks for reading! If you want more words and more screenshots check back at the end of January and I'll hopefully have a new game for you by then. Until then I'll let you do all the writing, just use the comment box below. In fact there's comment boxes underneath every post, so go nuts... in a sensible, insightful and witty way I mean.

Also, Happy new year!