Introduction

The 2010s was a major decade for me as it defined my life from late childhood into mid-college and a lot of the games I've played throughout have shaped both my taste and genre preferences as well as how I set my standards for all titles I play. The following are all games I would consider 10/10 which isn't defined as perfect, rather, is defined more as a 9/10 that either has had some personal meaning in my life and/or is the game I compare every other game in the genre too. These won't be structured as reviews, rather as love letters to the games that have shaped my adolescence. I will be going by the following rule set for my list:

1. I played the game between 2010 and 2019
2. The game was released between 2010 and 2019

Other than that, as long as I felt that the game has been meaningful to me in some way this decade it will be fair game in this list.

Terraria

I think Terraria was THE game that has defined my 2010s. I originally heard about the game through Youtube videos that the Yogscast posted and decided to check it out. At the time the game was in its second beta release, so they had moved past their final fantasy "inspired" design but still retained a level of simplicity that makes it look bare bones compared to the modern product. I think I invested almost half of my current playtime in the game within the first year of the game's release and can remember frantically going through online lists looking for Hamachi servers to join in hopes of exploring other worlds people created. Updates were constant up until the 1.0 release and a lot of staples of the game that most know the game for (such as hardmode) weren't present during this time. In fact, years later I remember joining a server (this was probably around 2016/17) and noticing that some of the most veteran players had only owned the game for two years max. I think this speaks to the dev team and their devotion to this game, and when the final update comes out, I hope that one day this game can gain recognition on par with Minecraft for its quality and endless freedom to create your own story.

That being said, the game itself is so special because it creates a guided sandbox experience that keeps it from being stale while still allowing for total freedom. You could ignore most of the games progression system and focus on creating beautiful works of art and complex systems, and a lot of people have done that (just go to the game's subreddit to see what I mean), however the game doesn't simply stop there. Terraria allows the player to take the polar opposite approach and ignore its creative side all together while still being a fully fleshed out game. The sheer amount of bosses, enemies, and events in this game are enough to keep you occupied for hours on end and if you're into modding then you'll appreciate the massive modding community the game has. If you're like me and like to combine these two aspects together, the game ends up being a unique experience I feel other games have only attempted to emulate. That on top of the thriving community makes this a masterpiece that has defined what I expect from an open world sandbox experience. If you haven't played this game, you owe it to yourself regardless of whether you enjoy sandbox games or not.

Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight was a game I originally purchased a couple of months after its release and put on the back-burner until late 2018, however in that time this game has transcended from an indie title I picked up and played into a time capsule of which its themes and game-play has come to represent in my life at the moment I played it. For context, I had entered my second year of college and had been hit with both a career crisis and a bad case of homesickness when I picked this game up. The desolate environment reminiscent of a once thriving kingdom full of life reflected how I felt going from a direct goal to aimless wandering. The lonely and alienating atmosphere of the game reflected my isolation in what felt like a different country all-together. The world building and story telling of the game left plenty for interpretation and allowed me to build my own story for how things came to pass, and during a time where the wrong interpretation often spelled serious consequences, this game brought me a lot of comfort. When Fangamer released their collector's edition of this game you can bet I pre-ordered it.

The game itself is an amazing metroidvania with artwork and music that are simply candy for the senses. I'm serious, you can take any screenshot of this game and put it in an art museum. The enemies will naturally keep you on your toes because even though they're often not too difficult to slay, they're mixed in with deadly environmental hazard (e.g. the Queen's Garden) and the bosses are also unique and varied enough to stand out on their own from each other. The Nightmare King, in fact, is one of my favorite bosses from any video game, period, and I would describe the fight as a dance more than a fight (which fits the theme of the character). The game also naturally guides you through its game-play and encourages exploration not only with rewards but also with the world itself which is something I don't think I've seen from any other exploration based games. Take the path of pain: a brutal and unforgiving challenge that rewards you with a five second 'cutscene' of the original hollow knight and pale king looking at each other. Now you might be asking: Why the hell would anyone put themselves through torture like that for a reward so inconsequential!? To me, its because the world is so fleshed out and interesting that you want to know as much as you can about it, and that's something that no other game has ever made me feel.

Team Fortress 2

Oh how the mighty have fallen. While this is technically cheating since the game came out in 2007 and I didn't give it a 10/10, The free-to-play update in 2011 I believe changed the core structure of the community enough that you can separate the TF2 that came after into a separate game, and because this is a solely multiplayer game it's the community that gives it a lot of its identity. If Hollow Knight will forever be an encapsulation of the latter of of my 2010s, Team Fortress 2 will be an encapsulation of the first half of the decade. In fact, TF2 was the second game I installed on steam (after Terraria, funny enough) back in 2011 and I only quit the game permanently in 2016. In between then TF2 has become my most played game on steam and has provided both the bulk on my friends list and memories in online gaming, and I don't think I can honestly describe my early teen years without mentioning or thinking about this game. The sheer amount of personality each class had as well as each community server I played on is something most shooters have either completely ignored or attempted to mimic through intense corporatization (I'm looking at you, Overwatch).

Team Fortress 2 makes each class play entirely differently from each other and, most importantly, has obvious weaknesses that stop you from being a one man army (heavy is bulky but slow with average fire output, scout is fast but frail, etc.). My favorite class, the spy, is one that I think can only exist in TF2 due to both the pacing of its game-play and tonal lightheartedness of its setting. What makes the spy so great? He's frail, slow, and does the most damage possible when you're at your most vulnerable and yet it works beautifully because of the disguise system that forces you to play mind games with your opponent. This high tension, high-risk-high-reward type game-play is super satisfying and is only ONE of NINE classes you can play. If you haven't played this game, it's free, what're you waiting for?

Conclusion

The 2010s have been an important decade of gaming for me, and there are a lot of games I played this decade that I wish I could include (Assassin's Creed 2, Saints Row 2, Half-Life, etc.) however the one common thread all these games share is that they've defined my tastes and preferences not only through quality and uniqueness, but also through a personal significance that they've held in my life. I believe a lot of the media we hold dearest in our lives isn't based solely on quality, but also on both the timing that media entered our lives as well as how we connect to it through our life experiences. If your favorite game of all time is Bad Rats™ because it gave you an outlet the escape some serious real life stresses, then no one should be able to invalidate your tastes based on what they believe is a superior standard for quality. I know this might seem obvious, but you'd be surprised how many times people get flak for their opinions. If you want to know more in-depth opinions on any of these games (or other ones I haven't mentioned) let me know in the comments, and thanks for reading!