Polygon’s 100 Best Games of the Decade
We began with a long list of around 300 games that team members nominated. Then we individually voted for the 50 we most wanted to see in the list. After we tallied the votes, we gathered together to sort out the unholy mess, and to argue the merits and faults of the top 150.
After a surprisingly calm and erudite discussion, we agreed on the following list. It is, by its nature, a compromise, but it’s the best we’ve got.
A fun look back at a decade that now seems shorter than it felt — I’ll blame that on the past three years.
I played 23.5 of the 100 titles mentioned in this list. Honestly, that’s more than I thought I would have. (While _Red Dead Redemption_s 1 and 2 are counted as a single entry, I only ever played the first, so it counts as half.)
As I have a soft spot for Nintendo games, I’m happy with Polygon’s Mario pick over what I assumed would be the shoo-in. Likewise, I’m happy to see an overwhelming industry/fan/consumer favorite sit extremely high in the list at number 2, but not receive top honors. Societal/cultural impact takes precedence here, as I argued back in 2016.
My biggest takeaway is that the past 10 years of games have broadened the scope of what constitutes a “video game” more than any other decade. That seems an obvious observation as there’s evolution in any medium, but video games by their infinite malleability allow for innovation and creativity beyond any other. Video games can be anything (and therefore video games do not exist). Just read Polygon’s justifications for Device 6, Johann Sebastian Joust, or Journey.
If 2000–2009 cracked the door on infinite possibilities, 2010–2019 blew it wide open.