Gaming When would you say was the last year games and gaming culture was good? Are the Games of the Year a good metric?

[FrothySolutions]

If you ask me, a thing stops being good and starts being bad when a particular line is crossed, a crossing you can't forgive, a thing done when you decide "That's it, I'm out, I'm not a part of this anymore." I know what year that was for me, how about you?

If you don't, I've listed every game that was voted "Game of the Year" by every publication that lists that kind of thing, and sorted them by year of release. Because the games that win "Game of the Year" are a reflection of the ideas that prevailed in that year. If you hate "wokeness" and a "woke" game wins Game of the Year, it's a sign that "wokeness" is prevailing in gamer culture. From these, pick the year where gaming was officially dead to you. I don't mean "Well I don't like this one game or these couple of games," I mean the year where you can look at all this and say "I can in honest conscience throw all this out. Even if some of these games are good, I consider gaming dead this year."

Or maybe gaming never died for you. Maybe some of these latter titles are just too good to impugn the state of the industry as a whole.

I know when I got out. It was when I could no longer consider myself a part of the community. When I was no longer excited to talk to anyone about these games. 2014 was the first bad year for video games for me. 2014 was the year I hung it up.

---

1978: Space Invaders

1979: Asteroids, Superman, Galaxian

1980: Pac-Man, Star Raiders

1981: Lady Bug

1982: Tron, Demon Attack, David's Midnight Magic, Pole Position, Q*bert, Ms. Pac-Man, Zaxxon

1983: Lode Runner, Jetpac, Star Wars, Space Shuttle, Ultima III: Exodus

1984: Knight Lore

1985: The Way of the Exploding Fist, Gauntlet

1986: Dragon Quest, Out Run

1987: Dragon Quest II, Mega Man, Darius, Operation Wolf, Thunder Blade, Double Dragon

1988: Dragon Quest III, Speedball, Gradius II, Final Fantasy II, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Tetris

1989: The Untouchables, Kick Off, Strider, Final Fight

1990: Dragon Quest IV, Rick Dangerous 2, Kick Off 2, John Madden Football

1991: Final Fantasy IV, Sonic the Hedgehog, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior,

1992: Street Fighter II Dash (Champion Edition), Mortal Kombat

1993: Disney's Aladdin, Samurai Shodown, NBA Jam

1994: Donkey Kong Country, The King of Fighters '94, Virtua Fighter 2

1995: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Twisted Metal

1996: Super Mario 64, Sakura Wars, Diablo

1997: GoldenEye 007, Final Fantasy VII, Total Annihilation, Darkstalkers 3

1998: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Grim Fandango, Soulcalibur, Psychic Force 2012, Pokémon Yellow

1999: Final Fantasy VIII, Doko Demo Issyo, Gran Turismo 2, Unreal Tournament, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, EverQuest, Pokémon Stadium, Chrono Cross

2000: The Sims, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, MediEvil 2, Deus Ex, Diablo II, Phantasy Star Online

2001: Halo: Combat Evolved, Grand Theft Auto III, Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Ico, Serious Sam: The First Encounter

2002: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Final Fantasy XI, Battlefield 1942, Taiko no Tatsujin: Tatakon de Dodon ga Don, SMS Chess for the Sony Ericsson P800

2003: Call of Duty, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Madden NFL 2004, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,

2004: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, Dragon Quest VIII, Monster Hunter, Doom 3, World of Warcraft

2005: God of War (2005), Resident Evil 4, Kingdom Hearts II, Shadow of the Colossus, Guitar Hero, Psychonauts, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!

2006: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Wii Sports, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Final Fantasy XII, Gears of War, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Ōkami, Monster Hunter Dos

2007: Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Fit, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Portal, BioShock, Monster Hunter Freedom 2

2008: Grand Theft Auto IV, Fallout 3, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Mario Kart Wii, LittleBigPlanet, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Left 4 Dead

2009: New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dragon Quest IX, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Borderlands, Demon's Souls

2010: Super Mario Galaxy 2, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, Alan Wake, Mafia II

2011: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Portal 2, Monster Hunter Tri G, Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Family Farm

2012: Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Mass Effect 3, Far Cry 3, The Walking Dead (Telltale Games), Dishonored, Journey, Fez, Gravity Rush, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Guild Wars 2, Botanicula, Dead Trigger

2013: Grand Theft Auto V, The Last of Us, Super Mario 3D World, BioShock Infinite, Monster Hunter 4, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Yo-kai Watch, Papers Please, Gone Home, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle, Lums: The Game of Light and Shadows, Arma 3

2014: Dark Souls II, Mario Kart 8, Destiny, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Hearthstone, Yo-kai Watch 2, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Tales from the Borderlands, Dex, Monzo, Coraabia, 80 Days, Bayonetta 2

2015: Splatoon, Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Super Mario Maker, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Rocket League, Prune, Her Story, Medieval Engineers, Rememoried, Czechoslovakia 1938–89: The Assassination

2016: Overwatch, Dark Souls III, Pokémon Sun and Moon, Doom (2016), Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Titanfall 2, Hitman (2016), The Last Guardian, Owlboy, Factorio, Samorost 3, Inside, The Witness

2017: Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Dragon Quest XI, Nier: Automata, What Remains of Edith Finch, Attentat 1942, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Fortnite Battle Royale

2018: God of War (2018), Red Dead Redemption 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Monster Hunter: World, Beat Saber, Tetris Effect, Celeste

2019: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Pokémon Sword and Shield, Resident Evil 2 (2019), Outer Wilds, The Outer Worlds, Control, Disco Elysium, Untitled Goose Game, Pilgrims

2020: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, The Last of Us Part II, Half-Life: Alyx, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, Creaks

2021: Resident Evil Village, Halo Infinite, Monster Hunter Rise, Metroid Dread, Forza Horizon 5, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Psychonauts 2, Deathloop, It Takes Two, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, Inscryption, Returnal, Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Unpacking

2022: Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarök, Vampire Survivors, Immortality

2023: Baldur's Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Alan Wake 2

 

[PersonalityChimp]

2006 was the last truly good year. All downhill from there.

 

[FrothySolutions]

2006 was the last truly good year. All downhill from there.

So 2007 was the first year you said "No more, I'm done hanging out with you gamers?"

 

[-TheRinku127-]

2008-2011
if only one year then it's 2008

 

[PersonalityChimp]

So 2007 was the first year you said "No more, I'm done hanging out with you gamers?"

Yes.

 

[FrothySolutions]

2008-2011
if only one year then it's 2008

So 2009, you were done? Even if there were good games in 2009, the culture was something you didn't want to be part of?

 

[Caelus]

2017. It was all downhill from there.

 

[Caelus]

2006 was the last truly good year. All downhill from there.

When would you say was THE best year tbh? I think late PS2 and PS3 eras (2005-2006 • 2010-2011) were prime. Too bad most zoomers have barely played any of the good ones.

 

[FrothySolutions]

When would you say was THE best year tbh? I think late PS2 and PS3 eras (2005-2006 / 2010-2011) were prime. Too bad most zoomers have barely played any of the good ones.

I'm guessing it was God of War that killed it for you?

 

[PersonalityChimp]

When would you say was THE best year tbh? I think late PS2 and PS3 eras (2005-2006 / 2010-2011) were prime. Too bad most zoomers have barely played any of the good ones.

1998 probably. So many good games came out that year. Half-Life, Crash 3, Ocarina of Time, Sonic Adventure, F-Zero X, Banjo-Kazooie. In general the late 90's to early 00's were the peak

 

[Caelus]

I'm guessing it was God of War that killed it for you?

I wanted to actually self-harm when I was playing that game. Seriously, fuck whoever made it and fuck Sony.

 

[bruhwtf]

damn fromsoft goty streak

 

[-TheRinku127-]

So 2009, you were done? Even if there were good games in 2009, the culture was something you didn't want to be part of?

Not really, 2009-2011 were just as good as 2008 but 2008 had one of my favorite games such as Fallout 3, GTA IV, and Left 4 Dead. Gaming communities and forums at that time were far more chill and closed-knit compared to the mid-late 2010s

2008 was the peak for me in gaming. That's why I stated 2008.

 

[Gott _mit _uns94]

2004 was the best year then it slowly went downhill till 2015 when most games are trash.

I legit think witcher 3 was one of the last good games that were released.

 

[CroatianManlet2]

After 2014-2016 shit got really bad in gaming and leftist scum started inserting their fag politics into games more and more.There are still some good games coming out though like elden ring

 

[FrothySolutions]

While we're on the subject of when gaming culture died...

Not really, 2009-2011 were just as good as 2008 but 2008 had one of my favorite games such as Fallout 3, GTA IV, and Left 4 Dead. Gaming communities and forums at that time were far more chill and closed-knit compared to the mid-late 2010s

2008 was the peak for me in gaming. That's why I stated 2008.

I'm not looking for when gaming was best. I'm looking for the year right before you decided to quit being a gamer because gaming, as a culture, was not something you could call yourself part of.

 

[RegularManlet]

I dont think anyone will say anything beyond 2016-2017 that was the final good year for me.

 

[FrothySolutions]

I dont think anyone will say anything beyond 2016-2017 that was the final good year for me.

God of War was the canary song?

 

[Max Doltman]

would say around 2011. too much buying shit after game releases.

 

[Cha0tic]

While we're on the subject of when gaming culture died...





I'm not looking for when gaming was best. I'm looking for the year right before you decided to quit being a gamer because gaming, as a culture, was not something you could call yourself part of.

2016 was the beginning of the end.

 

[Pixycel]

2016. There's been a few good games since then no doubt but most of the big releases have been trash.

 

[iRespectWoman]

2010: Super Mario Galaxy 2, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, Alan Wake, Mafia II

You forgot Bioshock 2

 

[FrothySolutions]

You forgot Bioshock 2

It wasn't voted Game of the Year by any publications, was it?

 

[ars]

Different for me with every game. Generally speaking, I've noticed some modern trends which I've really disliked, i.e. the shift towards brighter colors and soft edges a lot of games go for, eg. LoL. They vastly deviate from their original design philosophies. If I didn't know better I'd say they try appealing to a more mainstream audience that doesn't really like a darker more dangerous looking theme as if they couldn't embrace the idea of any real adversity/struggle/adventure in their life (typical normie trait). The cherry on top is they don't even allow private servers for those who want to play old versions of the game.

Another trend I've seen is information bloat. I've noticed it in LoL, Yugioh and WoW. Every champ has like 5 passives and 10000 weird interactions with everything, every card text reads like a page of an instruction manual, every boss requires a PhD and 10 addons to kill. I find it weird that developers expect players to invest that much time learning these games. I mean I'd argue the main purpose of WoW, LoL and Yugioh is to fulfill a certain combatant/hero/summoner fantasy and not to be overly technical to the point that this overpowers the games' core fantasies.

I hate what they've been doing with Pokemon for the last 2 gens. I've certainly been bored by every game post gen4. The monster designs look more and more bloated and childish. Even Ash became younger looking in more recent seasons even though he should be ~18 considering how much time has passed in the series. The graphic is looking worse than gen 4 (which is 14 years old) because in gen 5-7 they tried doing more than what the hardware was capable of with their weird angles (gen5) and their attempt at 3d in gen 6-7. All post Gen 5 games just used these lifeless computer-generated-looking 3d models with barely any details. Pokemon seems like something fabricated at this point rather than genuine.
Btw, if you enjoy Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee or the Diamond/Perl Remakes you're a .pdf file. Just wanted to put it out there. You know who you are and can consider yourself lucky if they haven't gotten any information on you yet

1998 probably. So many good games came out that year. Half-Life, Crash 3, Ocarina of Time, Sonic Adventure, F-Zero X, Banjo-Kazooie. In general the late 90's to early 00's were the peak

odd that it's a year with such underdeveloped graphics

I wanted to actually self-harm when I was playing that game. Seriously, fuck whoever made it and fuck Sony.

why

 

[FrothySolutions]

Different for me with every game. Generally speaking, I've noticed some modern trends which I've really disliked, i.e. the shift towards brighter colors and soft edges a lot of games go for, eg. LoL. They vastly deviate from their original design philosophies. If I didn't know better I'd say they try appealing to a more mainstream audience that doesn't really like a darker more dangerous looking theme as if they couldn't embrace the idea of any real adversity/struggle/adventure in their life (typical normie trait). The cherry on top is they don't even allow private servers for those who want to play old versions of the game.

Another trend I've seen is information bloat. I've noticed it in LoL, Yugioh and WoW. Every champ has like 5 passives and 10000 weird interactions with everything, every card text reads like a page of an instruction manual, every boss requires a PhD and 10 addons to kill. I find it weird that developers expect players to invest that much time learning these games. I mean I'd argue the main purpose of WoW, LoL and Yugioh is to fulfill a certain combatant/hero/summoner fantasy and not to be overly technical to the point that this overpowers the games' core fantasies.

I hate what they've been doing with Pokemon for the last 2 gens. I've certainly been bored by every game post gen4. The monster designs look more and more bloated and childish. Even Ash became younger looking in more recent seasons even though he should be ~18 considering how much time has passed in the series. The graphic is looking worse than gen 4 (which is 14 years old) because in gen 5-7 they tried doing more than what the hardware was capable of with their weird angles (gen5) and their attempt at 3d in gen 6-7. All post Gen 5 games just used these lifeless computer-generated-looking 3d models with barely any details. Pokemon seems like something fabricated at this point rather than genuine.
Btw, if you enjoy Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee or the Diamond/Perl Remakes you're a .pdf file. Just wanted to put it out there. You know who you are and can consider yourself lucky if they haven't gotten any information on you yet

There's trends you don't like, but I'm talking about the point where you're like "Fuck this industry, fuck this community, I have no friends here."

 

[iRespectWoman]

It wasn't voted Game of the Year by any publications, was it?

No. But it was objectively one of the best that year, for sure.

 

[FrothySolutions]

No. But it was objectively one of the best that year, for sure.

Probably, but this is a list of games that were voted Game of the Year.

 

[ordinaryotaku]

Golden age was 1998-2007, but games really started to take a nosedive in quality after 2014. Games started to become more and more pozzed.

 

[Frat Link The Chad]

2012 from your list I’d say was when the decline really started to show itself frothy muh boy.

Its pretty much been downhill from there save for a few bright spots such as Stardew Valley and the upcoming Haunted Chocolatier.

 

[kay']

Idk the exact year but when microtransactions with paid DLCs and mobile gaming became a thing.

So i guess on the release of the first battle royale H1Z1

 

[iRespectWoman]

Probably, but this is a list of games that were voted Game of the Year.

Exactly.

"Are the Games of the Year a good metric?"​

The answer is no.

 

[FrothySolutions]

Exactly.

"Are the Games of the Year a good metric?"​

The answer is no.

Then what is the metric to check if bad ideas are prevailing in the industry?