10(ish) games for the 2010s

10 Games for the 2010s

I played a lot of video games this past decade.

It probably had something to do with getting my first laptop in 2010 for my birthday, as well as staying semi-connected to the console scene.  But entering college in 2011 brought me from my more-or-less internetless life (living in the middle of nowhere made that a reality for a while) into a world where connections seemed everywhere.  Oh sure, I had a twitter in 2010, but I was just following Magic the Gathering people, so my view on what was happening was pretty limited.  But jump forward to September 2011 and bam, I’m now seeing all sorts of news about games daily; I join Reddit and the flow of information increases astronomically.

Oh and I entered the workforce this decade so there was that as well.

In the spirit of a decade in review, I’m here to give a list of 10(ish) games that felt important to me.  Obviously this is super subjective, but all of these lists are.  Hell, I’ve seen lists that have Breath of the Wild #1 and that’s clearly stupid, I mean, there’s been lik-  Ahem. Anyway, like I was saying, this is a completely subjective list of games that were to me either events or signposts in the gaming landscape.  I’ve played at least a little bit of every game on the list, but most aren’t on here for their gameplay, and only one is in my top favorite games list.  But without further ado, let’s jump in

#10: Pokemon Go

In 2016, a few things happened.  I had my worst year imaginable with an absolutely miserable job, the place I was renting sent my stress levels through the roof with money concerns, and the presidential election cycle happened.  In the middle of the year, though, in the early days of July, a small game was released: Pokemon Go.  Initially it was a buggy mess, it would drain your battery in minutes, features were missing or broken all over the place, fixes only made things worse, and literally every human on the planet was playing it.

If you weren’t paying attention during that July and August of 2016, you might think that statement is hyperbole, and sure, it is, but not by much.  Driving through any neighborhood that had even a modicum of Pokestops, you would see droves of people.  And not just teens or 20somethings either, no, grandmas, Gen-Xers, everyone, their mother, and their mother’s mother were playing this game.  With all the animosity that was being spread that year, it was nice having a source of fun that could bring people together.

Pokemon Go was important primarily for that reason: it was a game everyone could and was playing, but it had other implications as well.  Driving into 20 years of Pokemon, Pokemon Go reinvigorated childhood sentiments in the games.  Even I, with next to no sentimental relationship to Pokemon, picked up some ROMs the year before when the game was announced and blew several hundred US dollars on a 3DS and the latest game, Pokemon Moon in 2017.  My family was asking me about Pokemon as the nerdy source of knowledge that I am, and even today my aunt and many cousins continue to play the game relentlessly.  It’s a game that transcended generations, pushed people outdoors, and brought communities together.  Take that, Call of Duty.

I played Pokemon Go mostly in 2017 and 2018, but still open the app from time to time.  They basically relaunched the game in 2018 which brought back most of the people I know that play today.  There’s a lot to do in the game and it’ll even track your walking when the app is inactive so you don’t need to have it draining your battery 24/7.  Pokemon Go represents the great communities that gamers can have and how the “hobby” of gaming isn’t some exclusive club.  It’s for everyone.