The time has come! White smoke! After discussing over 100 amazing, or at the very least, interesting games we have arrived at our decision for game of the year 2019. Historically, the last year before new consoles has been a little scattershot, with a mix of huge sequels that show off everything a developer has learned over the course of the last generation and games that feel like they kinda have to be shoved out the door before the new consoles render them entirely obsolete. Ultimately, 2019 feels a little different that than typical scenario, with a wide variety of games across all platforms. We saw a lot of new things, games iterating successfully on the huge genre of the day, and games by teams both large and small that stood out above the competition. While we've seen some people try to write off 2019 as a weak year for games, we think that's off-base. Here are the games we've awarded in 2019.
Best Music - Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds' soundtrack has a breadth that feels like it matches the overwhelming cosmic scale of its setting. The game opens with a humble, rustic post-rock style that sounds exactly like your home planet's earthy, wood-fired technology looks. And while that style acts as the grounded refrain that the game's intimate, melancholy story always comes back to, the soundtrack also goes new places musically just as you visit the strange and wondrous places across the solar system. It sounds alien and mysterious as you wander ancient ruins. It reaches a cathedral-like, almost religious grandeur when you're staring out the observation window of a platform orbiting just miles above the flaming surface of the sun. And it goes unnervingly discordant in places where exotic physics have taken over and the very rules of reality appear to be bending back on themselves.
What elevates Outer Wilds' score is the way it uses certain recurring motifs to enhance the moments when the game really comes together in its final hours. It takes the morose yet urgent stinger that you hear every time the game signals that your 22 minutes are yet again about to end, for instance, and layers underneath it a more driving, triumphant feeling when you begin your final voyage, making you feel in your gut that this time it really is the end of all endings. And the game builds to an emotional crescendo during its last moments, layering the signature instruments of your companions--the harmonica, the banjo, the drums, even the otherworldly piano--into the most complete version of that old refrain from the beginning of the game, in a way that makes the soundtrack come full circle just as everything else does. It's a timeless example of music that enhances and builds on everything the game is doing, a crucial piece of a cohesive, unforgettable whole.
Runners-up: Hypnospace Outlaw, Ape Out
Best Style: Control
Control is a tremendous-looking game that matches smart visual design with a strong technical presentation. One backs up the other, in a sense, because you wouldn't be able to build a world where all the signage and layout worked and made sense without having enough fidelity to ensure all those signs were clearly readable. And you'd have a technical showpiece with no substance it it weren't for the little things, nuances in the running and hovering animations, for example. Or how about the stark, white text that blasts out at you when you enter a new area? Even the little things, like the way the desks are laid out in what appears to be some kind of abandoned secretarial pool, contribute to making the world of Control feel grounded and reality-based.
This, of course, is what makes the shifting and twisting world of the Oldest House work. If the place didn't have that lived-in feel, watching it reshape itself while you're still inside wouldn't have the impact that it does. The astral plane wouldn't stand out if it wasn't set against an oft-times incredibly normal plane. Covering all those bases is why Control has the best Style of 2019.
Runners-up: Ape Out, Later Alligator
Cool Multiplayer Thing of the Year: Apex Legends
Apex Legends iterates on last year's whole battle royale thing really well, but what makes it stand out as the Cool Multiplayer Thing is the way the game uses systems and dialogue to keep players working together--even if they don't especially want to.
The game's take on a contextual ping system lets the team-based shooter work for players without a headset, which these days, seems to be most players. There's certainly a time and a place for voice chat, but as the years go on, subjecting yourself to public chat just seems like a worse and worse idea. Being able to tap a button and essentially say "hey, there are bad guys here" or "hey, here's a gun you might need" creates the opportunities for co-operation between players who won't, or perhaps can't communicate in other ways. This can take many forms, up to and including "there is a baby sleeping in the next room so I can't just sit here and shout out compass coordinates at you."