We all love our established sequels and franchises, but we also need something new and fresh to come along to revolutionize a genre, refresh old ideas, or introduce something completely new.

Hogwarts Legacy

Hogwarts Legacy faced a lot of backlash and controversy due to the franchises’ author’s terrible words, but the game was celebrated thanks to a developer who truly loved the series for what it is. Exploring Hogwarts and the grounds was magical and evoked memories from the books and movies abound.

Runner-Ups

Hi-Fi Rush

Lies of P

Sea of Stars

Cocoon

Games can be highly anticipated sequels or remakes. Sometimes the hype is bigger than the game itself, or a long dormant franchise makes a triumphant return. This year saw many exciting sequels finally see the light of day.

Alan Wake II

Alan Wake wasn’t considered award worthy or ground breaking back in the day, but Remedy’s storytelling has grown immensely in the last decade and a half. Alan Wake II has a rich narrative full of secrets, surprises, and many twists and turns. It feels like a completely different game.

Runner-Ups

Baldur’s Gate III

Diablo IV

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Mortal Kombat 1

While console exclusives are slowly dying this category will never disappear. Some games may remain console exclusive one year and then go multi-platform. Some are just designed that way in the beginning. This allows all gamers to play a game and share the experience.

Alan Wake II

Alan Wake II is a treat of a horror game on any system. It’s one of the few true next-gen games that leaves the older consoles behind and it shows. This is one game to show off your high-end PC, Xbox Series X, or PS5 including those fancy options on your TV or monitor. This is about as high tech as games get right now.

Runner-Ups

Baldur’s Gate III

Diablo IV

Resident Evil 4

Dead Space

Being least evolved doesn’t always mean bad. Sometimes it can be a good thing as if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But, that’s not the best approach to a sequel and can be considered lazy or phoned in. There were a lot of games this year that had sequels that didn’t change much from previous games or stepped back in some places.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III

This was a mere cash grab. The effort and love that went into 2019’s game is clearly gone and evaporated. Terrible maps, a boring and rushed single player campaign, and what feels like just something to add-on to the Warzone 2.0 multiplayer suite. This series is back to being really bad again.

Runner-Ups

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Platformers have mostly been ignored by AAA publishers outside of the occasional first-party release. Indie developers have been advancing the series for the last decade and we got a huge variety of great games this year. Many 2D, some 3D, and all a ton of fun.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Super Mario Bros. Wonder may not be revolutionary, but it’s damn fine fun with tried and true Mario platforming and charm. The new power-ups and transformations add just enough new flavor and multiplayer is as fun as ever. There’s not much to hate on Wonder for outside of not raising the already insanely high bar that the series has set.

Runner-Ups

Blasphemous II

Vernal Edge

Laika: Aged Through Blood

Planet of Lana

Single-player games are making a huge comeback and this has probably been the strongest year for them in the last decade. Publishers are seeing the numbers and single-player only games with no microtransactions are selling well. Whether it’s a remake or a new IP people want them badly.

Alan Wake II

What makes Alan Wake II one of the best single-player games ever made is the incredible story, writing, crazy gameplay, and the single best visuals we have ever seen in a video game to date. With a mix of awesome live-action cut-scenes and trippy horror scenes Alan Wake II is replayable and offers everything a single-player game should.

Runner-Ups

Resident Evil 4

Dead Space

Baldur’s Gate III

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

With streaming at an all time high, the best multiplayer games are usually the ones that are overall just the most goofy and fun and less competitive. This year had a large variety of multiplayer games from co-op RPGs to insanely hard Souls-like games.

Bang-On Balls Chronicles

What is Bang-On Balls really? It’s a hit game that really came out of left field and became a smash hit on Twitch. You just run around exploring, having fun, and adventuring with up to four players or solo. It’s goofy, light-hearted, and the kind of game that won’t break your friends up. A lot of multiplayer games are insanely competitive and serious (which is fine) but when a game comes around like this it needs to be celebrated.

Runner-Ups

Diablo IV

Counter-Strike 2

Remnant II

Risk of Rain Returns

Adventure games are literally thriving! The genre has made a massive comeback in the last few years and this year has so many great games that include both fun gameplay and incredible stories and characters. This is one of my favorite genres and one of the very first video game genres.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood

The Cosmic Wheel doesn’t just have an incredible narrative, but it has imaginative gameplay and gorgeous artwork. You’re hooked from the very start and don’t know what to do with yourself once the game ends. This is one of the best adventure titles ever made and should be experienced by anyone who loves reading or enjoys a good story.

Runner-Ups

A Space for the Unbound

Jusant

Viewfinder

The Invincible

Another weak year for the racing genre. There were your usual suspects. F1, WRC, Forza, some sort of effort from Ubisoft, etc. The racing genre has stagnated for the last few years, but with a Forza game in the mix the winner had no competition.

Forza Motorsport

With Microsoft rebooting the Forza series there was a lot of excitement and buzz. This title shares the same as the original game released in 2005 on the original Xbox. Forza still remains the best racing series around and this title not only looks amazing, but has the usual fun gameplay that still separates it from its open world brother, the Horizon series.

Runner-Ups

F1 23

Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbo Charged

The Crew Motorfest

This was a solid year for fighting games. Less anime only games and more overall variety. Of course we hit a year of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter releasing in the same year so there wasn’t much competition. Fighting games have scaled back quite a bit over the years and the genre doesn’t seem as popular as it used to be. I would like to see more original IPs pop up or old favorites make a come back. Only time will tell.

Mortal Kombat 1

Well there’s no competition here. While Street Fighter 6 is the best the series has ever been it had a small roster, weak new characters, and an awful adventure mode. These are things Mortal Kombat was criticized for years ago and grew out of. There are no new characters in Mortal Kombat 1 but we get new favorites that haven’t been around in years. The adventure mode is also pretty lame in this one, but we get a solid core fighter and that’s something Mortal Kombat hasn’t focused on in years. Less extra content sucks, but let’s hope it means a bright future.

Runner-Ups

Street Fighter 6

Nickelodeon All-Stars Brawl 2

Pocket Bravery