The 10 best video games of 2019 so far

We’re six months into 2019 and it’s already shaping up to be a pretty dynamite year for video games.

While there have been some big, highly anticipated releases like Anthem and Days Gone, those aren’t really the games that have shined through thus far. The majority of the best games of 2019 so far come from smaller independent developers, managing to touch our hearts, challenge our minds, and dazzle us more than their big budget counterparts.

Of course, we aren’t forgetting the big games either — it would be unconscionable to ignore games like Super Mario Maker 2 and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Here are the best games from 2019 so far:

10. Tetris 99

Tetris 99 brought Tetris back in an interesting and innovative way, turning the iconic puzzle game into a battle royale-esque competitive multiplayer game. It’s unexpected but it’s great.

Aside from this added competitive element, the game remains pretty much unchanged. As you compete against other players, you can add trash rows to their boards and they can add trash lines to yours, pushing everyone closer to game overs that much faster. But besides that, Tetris 99 is just pure Tetris fun. You can’t ask for much more.

9. Devil May Cry 5

Devil May Cry 5 is a ridiculous game from start to finish. There are detachable weapon arms, murder hats, bike swords, blood fountains, and romantic poetry all over this game, and every minute playing feels like being at a rock concert turned battlefield. Even though it tells the story of three heroes attempting to take down an enormous tree, its compelling characters and buckwild action make it one of the most worthwhile hack-and-slash experiences recently published.

The Devil May Cry franchise is famous for iconic characters like Dante, Trish, and Nero, but even people who aren’t caught up on the game’s convoluted lore can pick up pretty much anywhere and kick ass with a cleverly mapped combo system and newly introduced Void training simulator. Somewhere between the sick guitar riffs, lightning fast jokes, and rampant demon murder is a game that oversatisfies every single neuron in your brain.

– Alexis Nedd, senior entertainment reporter

8. Kids

Art games can at times feel to pretentious to truly let you in. But not Kids, by the Swiss designer duo Michael Frei and Mario von Rickenbach, who are best known for their previous masterpiece Plug & Play. The two use minimalist yet telling design to zoom in on aspects of the human experience, with Kids spotlighting group dynamics. But it’s about so much more than that, capturing how we shape one another into a collective through nothing more than light puzzle and iOS touch mechanics.

It won’t take you longer than 15-30 minutes to finish this small game. But when you’re done, you walk away with a lifetime of illumination. 

– Jess Joho, staff writer

7. My Friend Pedro

My Friend Pedro is a side-scrolling action game all about finding creative ways to murder bad guys. You can activate slow-mo with a button press, and the more you do to make the most of your bullet time — by building your kill count, naturally — the longer you get to linger there. It’s a playground as much as it is a game. The trick to each combat sequence is finding the various ways you can use the surrounding environment to your murderous advantage.

There’s a madcap story in which you’re sent off on a quest for vengeance by a floating, talking banana — the Pedro referenced in the title. It starts off in a relatively normal manner, but the weirdness escalates as you progress deeper into the story. My Friend Pedro is like a playable Hollywood action sequence with a heavy dose of weirdness.

– Adam Rosenberg, senior entertainment reporter

6. Baba Is You

Baba Is You is one of the most interesting puzzle games of all time. Instead of having to work through the layout of the levels as the adorable little Baba, players get to rework the rules of the levels to their advantage. Each level has a set of rules, such as “Baba Is You,” which means you control Baba, “Flag Is Win,” which means you need to touch the flag to win, and “Wall Is Stop,” which means you can’t walk through walls, and “Rock Is Push,” which means you can push rocks. By grabbing the words in the rules, you can rearrange statements to your advantage, such as making walls pushable.

Baba Is You is a brand new way of looking at puzzle games, and it can be pretty tricky and trippy as the game progresses, testing players’ brains in new ways. Figuring out how to make the puzzles work is so satisfying.

5. Cadence of Hyrule

The Legend of Zelda has always had a deep connection with music, with instruments and songs playing integral parts throughout the series, but Cadence of Hyrule takes this one step further to fantastic effect. From the creators of Crypt of the Necrodancer, Cadence of Hyrule puts music centerstage with rhythm-based movement and combat that drives the entirety of the game.

With remixed and reimagined songs by accomplished composer Danny Baranowsky, Cadence of Hyrule injects some fresh and interesting new energies into this Zelda adventure. While it looks like a classic 2D Zelda game, it certainly doesn’t act like one, allowing players to control Link or Zelda in the randomly generated Hyrule, turning every fight into a puzzle thanks to the rhythm element. 

4. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro probably takes the crown for most challenging game of 2019, and while its difficulty may be its defining characteristic for some, it’s just one piece of the puzzle that makes up a fantastic action-adventure game. 

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice puts players in control of a shinobi who has lost his arm and is traveling the realm in a pursuit of the evil Genichiro, a man bent on making himself immortal. Coming from the developer behind the Dark Souls series and Bloodbourne, Sekiro puts combat and bosses in the limelight to great success. Sekiro is all about patience and figuring out how enemies work, forcing players to think tactically when approaching encounters. Sometimes this leads to frustrating battles fought over and over and over again, but that just makes the feeling of victory so much more satisfying.

3. Life Is Strange 2

Whether successful or not, it’s hard to come back for a sequel — especially when some questioned  the final plot points of the first Life is Strange. But with a brand new cast, location, themes, and super power, Life is Strange 2 feels more like a spiritual successor than a true sequel. By capturing a similar slice of life vibe from the first title, this branching narrative game shows the human story behind an unusual circumstance.

Through Sean and Daniel Diaz’s story, Dontnod illuminate all sorts of timely real world issues. Whether police brutality or xenophobia, these two brothers aren’t just on the run from the supernatural. They’re coping with loss, learning what it means to be on your own, and what family means when life becomes a series of trials and tragedies.

– Jess Joho, staff writer

2. Super Mario Maker 2

Super Mario Maker 2 takes everything that made the first game so great and made it even better. There are new art styles to play around in, new items to mess with, and new spins on levels to make things even more interesting.

In Super Mario Maker 2, players can create their own Mario levels, play through levels created by others, or skip the whole Maker aspect and play through the story mode, which contains over 100 levels created by Nintendo. All options are great options, and the ability to easily switch between them depending on how you feel in any given moment. The whole game is just pure Mario fun, plain and simple, and fills whatever 2D Mario-sized hole you have in your heart.

1. Resident Evil 2

The remake of this classic Resident Evil game, rebuilt from the ground up in the same engine that gave us Resident Evil 7, is astoundingly good. It’s thoroughly terrifying, perfectly paced, and delivers one of the best games of the Resident Evil series in a gorgeous, modern package.

As Leon S. Kennedy, a guy who’s on his first day of his job as a cop, players find themselves in the middle of a zombie infestation in Racoon City. The streets are choking with the undead, the police station has been torn apart, and even the sewers are feeling the effects of the disaster. Every moment that isn’t marked with immediate danger gnaws at you with unseen terror. The atmosphere is relentless, the enemies are unforgettable, and everything works so well it’s hard to stop pushing through even when it makes you lose sleep.