Ron Funches is the star of Trolls and you can follow him on Twitter.
Hi! I’m Ron Funches--an excellent comedian, solid actor, and mediocre marine biologist. I’m also an avid gamer who doesn’t work in the industry, so unlike the bigwigs at Giant Bomb I’m not jaded and burnt out enough to make Outer Wilds my game of the year just because it took the good parts of Majora’s Mask and made them less charming. Here are the REAL top 10 games of 2019.
P.S. if you like me please listen to my podcast Gettin' Better and watch Harley Quinn on the DC Universe app!
10. Untitled Goose Game
Finally, a game where I get to live out my dream of being an asshole goose stealing sandwiches and harassing children. A lovely if slightly frustrating puzzle game. I really enjoyed the non-violent mischief UGG provided. This game really took over the stand up comedy community and made me believe every game needs a dedicated honk button.
9. Lonely Mountains: Downhill
I’m a big fan of the Trials series and Lonely Mountain Downhill takes the trial and error gameplay and adds a real sense of exploration that makes the game equal parts thrilling and relaxing. It reminded me of riding bikes through Oregon which I really only did a couple times to try to go pick up weed in my teens but that’s neither here nor there. Play this game.
8. Resident Evil 2
A worthy remake of one of my favorite games of all time. Somehow Capcom made RE2 even scarier and much prettier than ever before. I tend not to put remakes in my top ten but the work done makes this feel almost like a completely new game. I finished it and I hate scary things. It’s that good.
7. Baba Is You
Baba is You, Flag is Goal, and Ron is frustrated as hell. Probably the most unique game I played all year and the first game that popped to mind when people who didn’t normally play games asked me for a recommendation.
I’ll never finish it and that’s okay.
6. Remnant: From the Ashes
Remnant is a wonderful game that apparently got its name from a random metal band name generator website. Despite that it turned out to be the surprise of the year. A hectic and difficult co-op third person shooter with amazing enemy designs, level randomizing, and secrets that kept me coming back for more. I can’t wait for a sequel.
5. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Taking the tried-and-true Fire Emblem series and marrying it with the calendar and relationship systems of Persona 5 was a wonderful idea. I truly came to care about my students just as much as I looked forward to the next battle or chance for tea with the certainly vivacious Manuela. My favorite Fire Emblem to date.
4. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
I love Castlevania games, and if my first marriage is any indication I also love witches in mini skirts so Bloodstained was right up my alley. Bloodstained also has everything you want in an action game. Beautiful graphics, pinpoint controls, and plenty of loot. If you enjoyed Symphony of the Night at all do yourself a favor and play this game.
3. The Outer Worlds
The true best “Outer” game that came out this year. Outer Worlds is beautiful, hilarious, and full of choices. Do you take down the big corporations? Do you help them? Do you just go home and eat ice cream? It’s all up to you! It takes all the mechanics I love about the Fallout series and mixes them with Mass Effect to create a game that seems like an apology for the mistakes BioWare and Bethesda made with their last entries. I also love that every side quest was actually enjoyable, and if you don’t fall in love with Parvati by the end of the game you have no soul.
2. Control
I love Remedy and this is by far their best work. It’s beautiful, it’s weird, it’s funny, it controls well (pun intended, don’t you hate it when people put pun not intended when it clearly was). This was probably the game I enjoyed most this year. It’s just the difficulty spikes and technical issues that keep it from being my game of the year. A true masterpiece of this generation that apparently wanted to turn base PS4s into dust.
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Hey, I’m just as shocked as you. I’ve never been a Call of Duty guy and it took a recommendation from Dan and Abby for me to even give it a shot but as soon as I did I fell in love. So fast, so visceral, and so damn loud. The story of Farrah Karim was a refreshing change of pace from the bro-heavy tales of the past and was the first time I truly enjoyed a COD story. The multiplayer is refined and frantic and quite frankly classic. Also in a year of games that came out unpolished or unfinished COD is a technically sound brickhouse that works just as well on my PS4 as my PC. Fun Fact: Did you know Robin Williams played a ton of Call of Duty and cursed out a bunch of kids all the time?! If it’s good enough for one of the best comedians of all time and the only genie from Aladdin that I recognize then it’s good enough to be the game of 2019.