The A.V. Club’s favorite games of 2019

Every year, we here at The A.V. Club’s Games section get together in December to reflect on another big bushel of days gone by. (Although not Days Gone; that one didn’t crack our list.) Games are discussed, highlights are mused, feelings are explored. Numerical rankings are eschewed—they’re great, we love them, if you’ve got one, please share it in the comments—on account of them not being exactly our style. Instead, we’ve assembled a list of those games that stuck with us for whatever reason in 2019, and one strong, specific reason why we liked them. Some of these games appeared on our mid-year list; most of them didn’t, as 2019 continues to toss up welcome surprises in its latter half. If there’s a theme to the list, meanwhile, it’s that these were the games we just couldn’t get out of our heads. Whether walking through the wilderness of the United Cities Of America, trudging the streets of somber Revachol, or just obsessing about a beloved K-pop group, these were the titles that took up residence in our brains and refused to vacate in 2019.
As always, feel free to offer up your own entries in the comments, using our beloved “I liked X because Y” format. We’re looking forward to seeing what your gaming in 2019 was like.
Apex Legends
I liked Apex Legends because it’s the first online shooter in a long time that I want to stick with for as long as possible. I play Call Of Duty every year, I tried Overwatch for a while, and really enjoy PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds when I’m in the right mood to handle something so uniquely stressful, but none of them have really clicked with me in the way that Apex Legends has. It’s a game I want to keep playing for as long as I possibly can, learning the new characters as they’re introduced and keeping up with the ways that the developers at Respawn try to shake things up. My big concern earlier in 2019 was whether or not Apex would be able to hold onto its early buzz with meaningful updates throughout the year, and Respawn has definitely pulled that off. My favorite thing that they’ve zeroed in on is the game’s personality, moving past each character’s specific gimmick in favor of skins and voice lines that lean more into who they are than what they do. [Sam Barsanti]
BTS World
I liked BTS World because it was an impressive bit of fan service that didn’t make me rotate my phone. If you’re planning on creating a mobile game that centers on arguably the biggest boy band on the planet, the pressure to create an experience that will satisfy its fandom has to be immense. Instead of buckling, Netmarble, South Korea’s largest mobile-gaming company, teamed up with BTS to make an immersive simulator that shines a very human light on the band and its arduous path to success. As you stand in as the group’s manager and navigate its rise to fame, it’s hard not to marvel at the amount of time that both the developers and BTS must have dedicated to this project in an effort to make it as realistic as possible. Mounds of taped footage, voice work, side stories, and music work together to help players get a full sense of how their efforts “affect” this very real group of men. (There’s even one instance involving a simulated video call that had me unconsciously fixing my hair.) And while not having to switch my phone to landscape mode might not sound like a major deal, it does speak to the overall user-friendliness of an interface that allows you to slide in and out of the game with ease. BTS World is a thorough thank-you to the BTS ARMY and some first-rate fun for even the most casual of fans. [Shannon Miller]
Control
I liked Control because it made me happy to see an under-appreciated studio get a win. Remedy—the studio behind Control—made the old Max Payne games and got a huge push from Microsoft for the overly experimental Quantum Break, so it’s not like the developers have been languishing in obscurity. But it seemed like Remedy’s last few games struggled to hit that level of general recognition that they’ve deserved. With Control, it’s like seeing a band you really like stick to it for a handful of albums and then finally hit the charts with a record that is not only surprisingly popular but that also fully embraces the charm and personality that made you like the band in the first place. Control is just as weird and clever as other Remedy games, like the criminally underrated Alan Wake, but the studio finally managed to put that weird cleverness together with a game that feels good to play, has a strong story, and just looks really neat (instead of just having maybe two of the three). [Sam Barsanti]