A Selection of My Favorite Video Games of the 2010's

I had so much fun writing about my top movie of the decade, so I wanted to continue the series about my favorite video games. For as much as I love movies, video games hold an even closer place in my heart. There have been so many great stories and experiences in the world of video games over the last decade, and I want to share a few of my favorites with you.

The Last of Us

Before the game even came out, I knew it was going to be great. It was being made by Naughty Dog, the studio that had been on fire with the Uncharted series. When the game came out, however, it blew away even the highest of expectation. It was getting perfect scores from every review publication. Everyone on my PS3 friends list was playing it upon release. I couldn’t wait to give it a try for myself.

Since I was still in high school, I waited until Black Friday to pick it up for $20. During that Christmas break, I experienced one of the best video games I have ever played. The story is a simple one. A virus has broken out and has ravaged the United States. The virus causes people to become zombie-like creatures and society crumbles. You play as a man named Joel who is tasked to escort a young girl named Ellie who it immune to the virus across the country to an organization that is making a vaccine.

Despite the rather basic sounding synopsis, the game is anything but. The characters are expertly written and you genuinely become invested in the lives of the two protagonists. Honestly, the story rivals any of the top movies from this decade in my eyes. The performances of the actors playing the characters is top notch. The world is both haunting and beautiful. From hearing the game’s main theme song, you can get a sense of the eerie world they had created. I wish I had played the game earlier that year, but playing the game while it was cold and snowy outside was a surreal feeling.

In terms or storytelling in a video game, The Last of Us has yet to be topped in my book. Maybe the long-awaited sequel releasing this year will be the one to do it.

Uncharted 3 and 4

If I were to explain what I like in a video game, you would pretty much get an Uncharted game. Fun game play, exciting Indiana Jones-like stories, and a great cast of characters always make for a great time. Essentially the summer blockbuster of the video game world. The Uncharted games follow treasure hunter Nathan Drake on his quest to find various mythical artifacts and treasures. The third installment has Drake looking for the lost city Iram of the Pillars while the fourth installment has him searching for the lost treasure of the infamous pirate Henry Avery.

What makes Naughty Dog games so great is the excellent cast of characters which make the stories so enjoyable to complete. It was the case with The Last of Us, and it remains the case here. In addition, the giant action spectacles make the Uncharted games a go to for me.

Rocket League

I normally avoid online multiplayer games and usually stick with single player games with narratives. However, the one big exception for me is Rocket League. It’s soccer with cars; how could I not enjoy it?

Not only is this game super enjoyable for me, but I actually managed to get pretty good at it. One of the reasons why I usually stayed away from online multiplayer games was because I’m usually not that good at them, so being able to play the game well has only enhanced my experience. Since picking up the game in 2015, Rocket League has stayed in my normal rotation since. I’ve convinced many of my friends to get the game as well and have many memories having party chats and playing the game with my cousins. It’s an ingenious idea and has earned a place among my all-time favorite games. It’s no wonder that the game remains popular almost 5 years after release.

Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5

I was introduced to the Persona series at just the right time. I first played Persona 4 when I was in high school in 2013, and the Persona games always star a cast of high school students. Persona 4 is a murder mystery where a group of friends tries to uncover who is behind a series of murders in their home town.

Persona 5 came out in 2017 and was able to recapture the excitement that the fourth game gave me years earlier. Instead of a murder mystery, the fifth installment has a different group of high school students trying to fix corruption throughout their society by taking down immoral adult figures in their society including unethical teachers, crooked businessmen, and corrupt political leaders.

Not only are the stories very compelling, but these games have another game play system where you as the main character build relationships with each main character along with other characters throughout the game. By the time you make it to the end of the game, you get a strangely deep connection with the main characters. It was an experience that is totally unique to video games and an example of why I like them so much.

For the sake of brevity, I will leave my list off there. There are tons of more games I could write about, but I’m writing a blog post and not a novel.  Just like my movie list, I may need to write a sequel article in the future.

Moving into the decade, many feared that the traditional console video game industry would weaken with the rise of smartphones and the like. Thankfully, it turned out to be an amazing decade full of amazing games. I look forward to see what new experiences will come of this next decade.

If you’ve played any of these games or think I should have included anything else, be sure to leave a comment. Thanks as always for reading, even if you know nothing about what I just wrote! 😜