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Ranking of video games released in 2010-2019

Back in December 2019, I undertook the unreasonable and misguided task of trying to identify every single video game I played that was released in the 2010s, and rank them all. The rules I set for myself were as follows:

Don't dwell on each position for too long.
If I spent enough time with it to have an opinion about it, it's fair game. If I don’t have at least some thoughts about it, it doesn’t belong on the list.
Games I watched in streams/let’s plays count, if I feel I got enough of the experience (those games are marked with a †)

At some point, I hope to write some actual thoughts about some of the games on these list. Without further ado, here it is:

1. Dark Souls

2. Crypt of the Necrodancer

3. Dark Souls III

4. Super Hexagon

5. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

6. Puyo Puyo Tetris

7. Dark Souls II

8. Hitman + Hitman 2

9. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

10. NieR:Automata

11. Cuphead

12. Yakuza 0 †

13. Resident Evil 2: Remake

14. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

15. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward †

16. Resident Evil 7

17. DOOM

18. FTL: Faster Than Light

19. Papers, Please

20. Undertale

21. Yakuza Kiwami

22. The Talos Principle

23. Deadly Premonition †

24. Downwell

25. Baba Is You

26. Celeste

27. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

28. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

29. Sleeping Dogs

30. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist

31. Gunpoint

32. PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS

33. Stellaris

34. Into the Breach

35. Portal 2

36. The Witness

37. Deltarune

38. Frog Fractions

39. Forza Horizon 4

40. Dead Space 2

41. ABZÛ

42. A Good Snowman is Hard to Build

43. Wolfenstein: The New Order

44. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

45. Kero Blaster

46. Super Mario Maker 2

47. Timespinner

48. Soulcalibur VI

49. What Remains of Edith Finch

50. Hollow Knight

51. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night †

52. Oxenfree

53. Axiom Verge

54. Alien: Isolation

55. Untitled Goose Game

56. Furi

57. Just Cause 2: Multiplayer Mod

58. Odallus: The Dark Call

59. Heat Signature

60. Dishonored

61. Sid Meier’s Civilization V

62. SUPERHOT

63. Legend of Grimrock

64. Super Mario Odyssey

65. Grow Home

66. Hotline Miami

67. Ape Out

68. Steamworld Dig 2

69. Invisible Inc.

70. Legend of Grimrock 2

71. Contradiction †

72. Slay the Spire

73. Dust: An Elysian Tail

74. Pikuniku

75. Devil May Cry 5

76. Cities: Skylines

77. The MISSING: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories †

78. Unavowed

79. Dustforce

80. The Walking Dead: Season 1

81. Firewatch

82. Shovel Knight

83. Metal Gear Solid V

84. Until Dawn †

85. Mass Effect 2

86. Dragon’s Dogma

87. Saints Row: The Third

88. Kind Words (lo fi chill beats to write to)

89. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies

90. Gone Home

91. Uncharted 4 †

92. Opus Magnum

93. Transistor

94. Cook, Serve, Delicious!

95. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

96. Assassin’s Creed 2

97. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

98. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

99. Volgarr the Viking

100. klocki

101. Cheap Golf

102. DmC: Devil May Cry

103. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

104. Mark of the Ninja

105. VVVVVV

106. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

107. Snipperclips

108. D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die

109. Sokobond

110. Tomb Raider

111. Don’t Starve

112. Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

113. Aragami

114. A Story About My Uncle

115. English Country Tune

116. Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective

117. Thumper

118. nium

119. Space Funeral †

120. Limbo

121. League of Legends

122. AER: Memories of Old

123. Luftrausers

124. Nidhogg

125. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

126. Sublevel Zero

127. Roundabout

128. Cosmic Express

129. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

130. Hexcells

131. Batman: Arkham City

132. Mass Effect 3

133. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

134. Assassin’s Creed 3

135. L.A. Noire

136. Doki Doki Literature Club

137. Beat Hazard

138. Gone Wandering

139. Semblance

140. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception †

141. Vampyr

142. Magicka

143. The Banner Saga

144. Risk of Rain

145. Proteus

146. Euro Truck Simulator 2

147. Besiege

148. Guacamelee!

149. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

150. DreadOut †

151. The Surge

152. Jamestown

153. Middle-earth: Shadow of War

154. Hotline Miami 2

155. Ready Player Fuck

156. Please, Don’t Touch Anything

157. Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist

158. Hitman GO

159. And Yet It Moves

160. Torchlight II

161. Race the Sun

162. No One Has To Die †

163. Environmental Station Alpha

164. Sniper Elite 3

165. 100ft Robot Golf

166. Spec Ops: The Line

167. Thirty Flights of Loving

168. TumbleSeed

169. Westerado: Double Barreled

170. Hitman: Absolution

171. Rebel Galaxy

172. Borderlands 2

173. Human: Fall Flat

174. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

175. Serious Sam 3: BFE

176. Retro City Rampage

177. Dota 2

178. Watch_Dogs †

179. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

180. Thief

181. Starseed Pilgrim

182. Styx: Master of Shadows

183. Year Walk

184. The Stanley Parable

185. Shadwen

186. The Quiet Man †

187. Titan Souls

188. Jazzpunk

189. Zero Time Dilemma †

190. Lords of the Fallen

191. Lichdom: Battlemage

192. Antichamber

193. Afterfall: InSanity †

The list is unedited, as I wrote it in December. Certain big games were missing from the list for various reasons, ranging from "I haven't finished it yet" to "I literally worked on the game, so my perspective is skewed".

The games I enjoyed at least somewhat range from 1 to 161-ish, with the games I consider great starting at around 92. The games I did not have a good time with start at around 178.

While making this list, I was surprised by how many games I found at least some value in, and by how few games I thought were genuinely bad. I’m pretty sure the answer is as simply that I usually avoid games I don't think I'd like.