Inspired by what Giant Bomb has done with Deku Deals with the staff posting their top 10 games of the decade, I thought to do the same for myself. Though this list will have a mix of popular picks from this decade and some strange picks that not many people have played. But it's my list dangit! Also real quick, I go by ScreamingMadden on Bluesky and Discord and maybe should change the name of my GB account to that. But anyways here's my top 10!
To many this will look like a weird pick to have as someone's number 1 game of the decade so far. In fact if you look at Opencritic, CSD3 has the lowest score of these games listed at 79. But if someone were to ask me what games had an impact on my life? Cook, Serve, Delicious 3 would be my answer. CSD3 is a game that has been fundamental in developing my real-life hobby of cooking and has inspired me to cook so many culinary dishes from around the world. It has inspired me to make various foods ranging from Fresh Pasta and Bibimbap to foods I had not heard of until seeing them in CSD3 such as Ayam Goreng (Malaysian Fried Chicken) and Chakalaka (well I heard of the phrase from NBA Jam but never knew it was a food until playing CSD3). More often than not I'm usually proud of my cooking that I post food pictures on Discord. Heck without CSD3, I wouldn't have cooked dishes from other video games too.
But what about the gameplay? Well I'm extra happy to report that I love this game so much I 100%-ed the game on Steam. Beat it twice in fact where in 2020 I beat it to get to the ending and then again to get all the achievements on Steam. The gameplay loop of CSD3 is one of the most addictive experiences I've had in games. Trying to Prep a bunch of food based on the demand of the customers at a stop and while that food is prepared you have special orders come in and you got to get those done as well. You can get a Bronze of a Silver medal depending on how many mistakes you make or not get one if you make too many. But there is no better feeling in gaming to me than when you do all the orders correctly and getting that gold medal when you make no mistakes and every customer leaves the food truck happy! Playing this game on Keyboard on PC is the way to go as entering this game's flow state is incredible. I did play this game on Chill Mode for quite a while which was a nice, accessble option where Customers had infinite Patience and you can take as much time possible serving Autoserve food and Non Autoserve food. If you want to practice mastering the second steps of assembling a Hamburger or a Poutine (whether it be regular or Deluxe Poutine) Chill mode is a good option for that. Even though you can't get a gold medal on that model. Plus there is a practice area for cooking food too if you want to practice cooking that food. Not to mention the soundtrack by Jonathon Geer is amazing and there's some hilarious writing from you companions Whisk and Cleaver as well as the food profiles you can read up on. CSD3 is definitely my favorite game of this decade and I'd gladly start over to make more Ryan Davis Burgers if I could. Also the credit songs for this and my #2 game get me emotional.
While Chicory's real life impact on me isn't as huge as CSD3, Chicory has had an impact on me in many ways as well. Its a game that has inspired me to develop a hobby of making art. Namely drawing in a sketch book and I tend to do my best with what I create even though I'm not the most artistically talented person in the world. It all started from playing this game and having the freedom to draw what you want on various screens and areas in the game. I fell in love with Chicory the moment I drew the Two Bad Neighbors Drawing from the George Bush Sr. episode of The Simpsons. And while this game may not have the most advanced ways of drawing quality art, I still took so much pride and joy making all sorts of random art across the world of Picnic Province from Drawing the Tampa Bay Lightning logo to recreating the end of Celeste in one area in the game. Don't think I'd eventually develop a hobby of drawing things such as Game Mess' Mount Rushmores or Giant Bomb Fanart without this game.
Plus this game is one of the most relatable and heartfelt experiences I've had. I absolutely connect with the game's themes of imposter syndrome and feeling this pressure to life up to one's expectations and legacy. Getting excited about being handed this important title of being the world's Paint Brush wielder providing color and art to the world but then being worn down by all of these demands and tasks around you. It really hit me hard. Plus the game has all sort of amazing characters such as Prime Rib, who is what I called my drawing Dog and their struggles, Chicory the Titualr character and former Wielder who goes thru so much emotionally and NPC's like Peppermint who becomes a big fan of your art and shows her appreciation in a moment that made me gasp in excitement. This is a game that's incredibly positive about what you draw no matter how it looks and I love the kind of positive feedback it delivers. Not to mention the game works as a great non violent Zelda style game where you use your paint brush and unlockable abilities to solve puzzles in dungeons and it's amazing how much mileage the game got with the Brushes abilities in these moments. Chicory may be a game that gets ridiculed for winning Giant Bomb's GOTY in 2021 and I definitely wasn't expecting it to win the award either at the time. But it's the happiest I've seen a game win Giant Bomb's GOTY with how much the experience meant to me in 2021. Plus Lena Raine earned that Best Music Award since it rules! Chicory is game I'm gonna remember for years to come.
I'm not exactly sure why this is but I spent 10 hours of BOTW and liked what I played but didn't hook me to try and beat it when I tried it in 2018. But Tears of the Kingdom however, I spent over 120 hours playing it and beat it! This is the game that got me to really enjoy Zelda as a franchise. Part of the reason why is that I love the moveset Link has in TOTK where he can Fuse 2 different things into weapons, ascend through higher elevations and go Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts and build experimental vehicles to traverse with. I made plenty of Pod Racer like machines in this game. Not to mention it builds on the world of Hyrule more with Sky Islands for Link to explore and solve puzzles on as well as underground which has its spooky moments encountering enemies in the dark but the Kohga Storyline made it worth it for the boss fights and the hilarity in Kohga's character. The shrines were also so much fun in this game too utilizing Link's Moves and the more I cleared Shrines, the more bummed I got that shrines were running out. Heck the big culinary addition to TOTK is CHESSE! I made Cheesy Omelettes because of this game and now Hyrule canonically has Pizza! Plus this game thrives in delivering really fun missions whether it be the mainline stories of curing each region's blights and the side stories were enjoyable. Really loved helping the Lucky Glover out get the scoops on News across the area. Tears of the Kingdom is a wonderful game and I would say its my favorite first party game on the Nintendo Switch. I should find time to give BOTW another shot since it uses the same map as TOTK but with a very different moveset.
2024 was the year of Ichiban Kasuga to me. I beat both Yakuza Like and Dragon AND Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth in the same year. Which meant I spent over 200 hours with both games total. Thanks to these games Ichiban Kasuga has become my favorite gaming protagonist. I adore his positivity on Life and his desire to never back down when either he get bullied or he sees others get abused. Both games have become some of my favorite RPG's ever and while I give the story nod to Yakuza 7, I like Infinite Wealth more as an RPG and it gets the Like a Dragon representation on this list.
The RPG elements in IW are so nice where leveling up you party within different classes is way less of a grind than it was in LAD. Sure you can have Tomi stay as a Cab Driver and build on his Electricity stats, but I found him to be a great fit for Aquanaut which specialized in Water moves with a few other magic attacks too. Leveling up in other jobs are much quicker than they were in LAD. Plus this game has some of my favorite side stories I've seen in any video game. There's a whole new saga involving Sojimaru and it had me laughing even more than its introduction in LAD. But will say the best side story was found early called Let It Snow and it somehow masterfully captures Yakuza's insane wackiness with its side characters as well as having an emotionally grippling plot that got me teary eyed. Not to mention the side games are amazing this time around. I managed to top the Sujimon league by doing the Sujimon side plot making scumbags fight other scumbags like they're Pokemon. But also I spent plenty of time at DonDoku Island rebuilding it into the quality resort it once since its like a Diet version of Animal Crossing: New Horizons (more on this game later). Also beside Ichiban, I love his whole cast of characters seeing him talk dumb bullshit with characters like Adachi and Chitose. Plus Kiryu is in this game and while I don't love his English VO, the story he gets is absolutely worth enjoying as well. IW has become my favorite RPG and it will be a tall order for another game to top it. Oh and I cooked Loco Moco because of this game. I wanted to make some yummy Hawaiian food.
If you read my Belated Best of 2022 Games list, you may have seen that I put my #6 game at 1 and Freedom Planet 2 at 2 while clarifying that really it was a tie for GOTY that year. However thinking it over if I were to pick which game to play again, I'd pick Freedom Planet 2 over the #6 game on this list hence why I have it ranked higher.
Freedom Planet 2 is competing with CSD3 for the most underrated game on my top 10 Games of the Decade list. It's a game that was in development since 2015 and it finally released on September 13, 2022 to little to no fanfare. I think lack of marketing was key on why it didn't get much attention at launch but I was there at launch and having to wait on playing this game since beating the original in 2017, it was absolutely worth the wait. Freedom Planet 2 to me is one of the greatest Action Platformers of all time! Taken many of the right lessons from FP1 and making huge improvements. The pacing in most levels are more brisk than in the original. The boss fights have lifebars now and its easier to know how you are fairing in the fight. Heck there are even many new gameplay features that make the action more enjoyable. Each character has a parry button now so your character could take no damage if timed right. Though its only Lilac who I've seen that has a follow up attack after a parry where she will do a short range teleport towards the attacking foe and knock em out with a strong attack. Plus when you do lose a life you have an option to either revive yourself with little health to continue on a boss fight you got knocked out on or restart from your last checkpoint with full health. Both options lose a life for the record. Plus there's a whole new potion system that can give your character different buffs entering a level whether it be speed boosts, strength boosts or having more health after a revive. Plus the game is rich with plenty of fun side content that are mostly in the Battlesphere, a somewhat Battle Dome like area where it has its own champions for you to compete with. You can also rematch bosses, do certain challenges or even play a Baseball like minigames where you ride a giant Baseball to hit a bunch of Gongs and you can jump out and hit them yourself to rack up points. Admittedly I've only beaten the game as Lilac and Carol but both were more fun to play as than their FP1 selves. It really is a shame this game didn't get more love in 2022 but seemed like it has gotten more recognition when it released on consoles last year. I'd even say the story of this game is better than FP1, though that's a low bar and I would not say its as good as other games this decade such as Psychonauts 2 or Pentiment. But still it was ok at best though the best storytelling came from doing some side content let's just say. Seriously, FP2 is a triumph and it's my favorite Indie Game that doesn't start with the Letter C.
Here's that #6 game. What has been said about Elden Ring that hasn't been said already? Its a generational Open World Action RPG that has the tough combat that's key in From Software's library but an openness for the player to develop the playstyle they want that will help them overcome Elden Ring's most challenging fights. I went for a strength build Vagabond and went with Swords, Halberds and Bows mostly. However after many failed attempts I beat Bloodhound Knight Darriwil and obtained the Bloodhound Fang, which became my main weapon for 90% of my playthrough. I loved its Bleeding effect on bosses and with it being so heavy it easily stunned different bosses that helped cancel their attacks. One of my favorite memories this decade was my brother watching me take on Godrick the Grafted and while I had a Jellyfish summon and Nepheli to help with the fight, I still beat him on my first try! It felt so exciting to pull that off in front of him and after I had many failed attempts to beating Margit before eventually taking him down. I managed to do pretty good with many of the bosses afterwards and some of my favorite fights included Radahn and Rykard. Elden Ring is a huge reason why I have a PS5 now as I got help from my brother to get it and the first game I chose to play it on was Elden Ring. If anything, I do wish there was a way to pause the game without having to get through different menus to stop the game. I had to stop the game to accept a quick call and when I came back a Higher level knight killed me. But overall Elden Ring is still a fantastic title and i absolutely understand why it won so many GOTY awards in 2022.
The one 2025 game to make this list and if that's any indication, its very likely gonna be my favorite 2025 release of the year. I loved Hades one when it released in 2020 see its gameplay loop trying to escape the Underworld and experimenting with Zagreus' weaponry and see which Boons work best for certain weapons. Now we get the 1.0 release of the sequel Hades II and somehow this game managed to be even better than the original in nearly every way. I prefer the overall weapon selection of Hades II more where there was no weapon where I disliked and loved using the Torches, the Moonstone Axe and the final weapon which I won't spoil. I also love the Boon selection in this game bringing back classics such as Zeus' Blitz Power and Aphrodite's weak aliments. But also new Gods and Goddess are great additions such as Hephastus with his Volcanic ability hitting a struck opponent with 500 damage and Hestia where her Scorch Strike can melt lifebars away with the Sister Blades. Plus I now understand why Hades II won Best Moment or Sequence in 2024 when it was in EA with "Going Up". The music is amazing with great background music and some of the best boss music performed by one of the Boss groups Scylla and the Sirens. I wouldn't say the ending hit as well as the original by any means and it felt kinda unearned. But I haven't seen the patched ending yet so I need to get back. This game is pretty special to me because my brother and I both played this on our Switches when I visited him in Colorado and we were watching each others' runs and learn from each other on what to possibly expect on our next trek to slay Chronos. Hades II is my front runner for GOTY 2025 and could very well be my favorite Roguelike.
Balatro is a game that I still play to this day. It was a game that I only started playing in November because funny enough, I was visiting my Brother and he had talked up about how great Balatro is. Decided to buy it on Switch as a plane game and it was definitely I game I couldn't put down on the plane. I had won plenty of runs at this point and have found some great chemistry between different jokers. My first big win had a Marble Joker work with a Hologram where my multiplier would increase whenever I got a free stone card on top of having a Baseball card in the deck. One trio I love is what I call the Green Ramen Robbery where I had a Green Joker to increase the flat mult, Burglar to give me more hands but no discards and Ramen to stay at a 2 or lower Multiplier if the discard boss blind pops up. Heck this year I've managed to win 3 Gold Stake Runs. First one was with Abandoned Deck since I loved making builds off of Straights and Full Houses. Had a Gold Joker for econ but had SuperNova and Fortune Teller for Flat Mult and Driver's License and Hologram as the Multipliers. Then I won w. the Blue Deck and used an Ankh card to get 2 Holograms to carry me with Lucky Cat and Abstract Joker helping. Then I did it on the Anaglyph Deck with an unlikely Joker collection having Spare Trousers and Red Card as my Flat Mults but Hanging Chad and Odd Todd worked for gaining Chips and Throwback was the Multiplier that was perfect with Anaglyph. Balatro should maybe rank higher considering that I still play it from time to time and I believe it is a new kind of "Forever" game where it can be booted up easily and can spend a little bit of time seeing how far you get into a run. I do think that sometimes the feeling of runs ending when you don't have too much control to improve it stinks. But that is how Roguelikes can be sometimes. Balatro is one of themost addictive games I've played and its been key to me playing more Deck Building Roguelikes such as Slay the Spire. Which has been a game I've put more than 40 hours into this year.
Hi-Fi Rush released at a moments where I really needed something fresh in gaming. At the start of 2023 I wasn't feeling that enthused about playing games and despite 2023 becoming a wonderful year in gaming, I wasn't feeling its upcoming game slate at first. But then I see Hi-Fi Rush on the 2023 XBOX Showcase and learned it shadow dropped on that day and decided to give it a swing on PC Game Pass. Turned out this game was a breath of fresh air for me being a rhythmic Character Action game.
I loved playing thru Hi-Fi Rush as felt like I had a pretty good groove with its flow from the get go. I was a little afraid that perhaps this game could be too much since I'm just ok at rhythm games and I haven't really played many character action games besides Hades. But the tutorial did a great job letting you practice the timing and even had an accessibility option to see a rhythm bar to help time the attacks better. Eventually I took that off and found that I was landing combos and special attacks to the beat fairly consistently. Speaking of the music you can't go wrong with the tracks of the game whether they be the licensed songs they got for certain moments (One Million by NIN for the first boss was such a great pull) or the original music that is in this game (Mimosa's boss theme is original whether its streamer mode or not and it slaps). The composers and licensed bands brought it to providing a banger soundtrack for a game that's all about the rhythm. Also Hi-Fi Rush has an aethestic that feels like a throwback to cel shaded games from the Dreamcast/Original XBOX era but still looks incredible for today's standards. The characters are enjoyable too seeing Chai Himbo his way through the story in a dumb and endearing way while Peppermint is the real heart of the story learning why she wants to overthrow Vandelay Technologies. Hi-Fi Rush I feel has a pretty reasonable difficulty curve where the bosses and enemy encounters weren't too hard early on but they test your skills at the very end. Hi-Fi Rush stands as one of my favorite action and rhythm games now. Its just a shame Microsoft shut down Tango Gameworks but hey Krafton bought and revived Tango and now owns the Hi-Fi Rush IP. Wait Krafton is an AI first publisher?! Oh no.
It was hard to pick the 10th game to put on my list as so many games would be great for the 10th spot. I'd say honorable mentions include Pikmin 4, Pentiment, Armored Core 6, RE4 Remake, Metroid Dread, Psychonauts 2 and Astro Bot. There's also Paper Mario TTYD Remake which I rated higher than Balatro in 2024 but felt that game was more of a nice remaster with very little new additions to make it stand out on the list. There's also Them's FIghtin Herds which was my favorite fighting game that released in 1.0 of 2020 but Maximum Games cancelled development of TFH after its season pass wasn't profitable enough and forced the dev team to rush out new characters rather than completing other tasks such as a story mode. But after plenty to consider I chose this game from 2020 which despite being 10th place, is the game I spent the most hours playing and it would feel weird to leave this game out. And that game is Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Like many people in 2020. Animal Crossing: New Horizons was THE COVID game for me. It was a nice and relaxing time trying to build up my island (I called it Nuthatch Island named after the bird) and getting my island to be more populated with villagers. Of course the typcially Animal Crossing activities are here and while I didn't 100% everything, I spent so much time collecting Fossils, catching fish and getting bugs. I loved filling up the museum and working with my boy Blathers to get the exhibits as filled up as possible. The Bug area was peaceful and the Dinosaur exhibits were nice. But the Aquarium was my favorite area seeing these photorealistic fish get really nice fish tanks for my cartoony human ad cartoony animal friends to watch them swim. I also got a lot of enjoyment getting the island to 5 stars as I would try to make it more appealing by placing different attractions and buildings around the island. The crafting was also nice and welcome being able to build your own furniture for either your home or as a part of the island. My brother and I had visits on our islands and it was always fun seeing how our islands compared. There were some funny moments with him and I as well as he sent me pictures of him catching a Stringfish when I hadn't yet. But one night I crafted so much bait for the Stringfish and on the first cast I finally caught one! I spent so much time with New Horizons from March to August of 2020 and by August I was losing steam seeing my NPC's say the same sentences of dialouge and I was losing my desire to collect every fish and bug in the game. But I feel like New Horizons earns its spot in the top 10 games of the decade for helping me get through COVID and spending 250 hours on the game.
