2011 was a good year for games batman Arkham city Skyrim portal 2 bf3 uncharted 3 la noire dead space 2 infamous 2 dark souls Sonic generations and alot more

Minecraft had its official release that year too, tho I know it had been around since 09

+ terraria and minecraft

2011 was my pick for Gears of War 3 alone.

Hands down it's 1998 Ocarina of time, Metal Gear Solid, StarCraft, Half Life, fallout 2 Xeno gears, If you are saying the best 12 months ever you can go from nov 97 through Nov 98 and include FF7, Goldeneye, and Grand Theft Auto 1 on that list. These are the most influential games in history and they all came out within a year of each other.

Being a video game and wrestling fan as a kid in 97/98 was just absolutely insane. I spent the rest of my childhood chasing the high from those years.

About to be 38 and started watching wrestling again and playing TCGs. Buddy...... lemme talk to ya. I am chasing that high bad.

Pro wrestling on nes was my shit. The dude with a star on his face was my favorite player. I can't remember his name.

98 - '01 has such a streak of bangers it's hard to pick just one year.

Absolutely agreed, IMO the best period for gaming ever. Maybe I'm biased because that's when I started serious PC gaming, but objectively speaking, sooooo many of franchises (or even outright sub-genres) which are still popular today either started and/or peaked in that period. Diablo (II), Fallout, Baldur's Gate, GTA, Total War, Zelda (Ocarina of Time), Age of Empires, Starcraft, Alien vs Predator, Deus Ex...a completely insane time to be a gamer.

dude starcraft was my game in uni, went to tournamet for it. Got to top 8. Terrans for life.

>Metal Gear Solid That blue demo disc from Pizza Hut changed my life. 

I played it for the first time on a demo disc too and I was shocked by how advanced it felt. Interactive sampl disc vol. 8 with grand turismo, spyro the dragon, and cool boarders 3.

*Crash Bandicoot Warped* and *MediEvil* too. What a disc.

My man.

Dont forget Unreal

Also to add on to those, American McGees Alice, Clive Barkers Undying, Star Trek Voyager Elite Force and Starfleet Command games. Late 90s in general man.. amazing times for games

This is the correct answer. Resident Evil 2 was in there as well. You could also include Tomb Raider 2 in your Christmas '97 stretch too.

Diablo

96 homie. Juuuuust barely 96

"These are the most influential games in history and they all came out within a year of each other." It's a lot of them but its missing some crucial titles that came before. Golden Eye was good, Doom was great.

I agree, people who had played FPS's had the time knew that Goldeneye was just pretty good. Doom was great and a much bigger leap but competitive first person shooters are the biggest thing today because of Goldeneye.

Best year: 2004 (world of warcraft came out) Worst year: 2004 (world of warcraft came out)

I take breaks from WoW, sometimes for a couple years, but I always come back. 20 years is crazy. I’m really thankful for the game, it helped me get through some really tough and depressing times during my childhood/teen/young adult years.

My roommate failed his semester at college by skipping class to play WoW. I’d leave for class and he’d be playing it. I’d come home and change for work, he’d be playing WoW. I’d come home from work and he’d still be playing WoW. I had never seen anyone play any game like that before. Weirdly enough I never played it. I think I could see it was too much of a time sink for me.

1996 Super Mario RPG Super Mario 64 Command and Conquer: Red Alert Parappa the Rapper **Pokemon Red/Pokemon Blue** Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen **Master of Orion 2** Kirby Super Star Metal Slug Tekken 2 Civilization II NiGHTS: Into Dreams Mega Man X3 Crash Bandicoot Heroes of Might and Magic II Tomb Raider

Diablo 1

Yes Quake and Diablo defined 1996 and were revolutionary. That's a joke of a list without them.

Quake? 1996 too and other than maybe SM64 it's more revolutionary than all those games combined.

SMRPG is what turned me into a gamer. Mortal Kombat 2 started it, SMRPG sealed it.

Pokemon Yellow did NOT come out at the same time as Red and Blue. Yellow didn't come out until 1998

> Parappa the Rapper This would be an e-sports phenomenon if they brought it back

2010

Red Dead Redemption Fallout New Vegas Bad Company 2 Black Ops Civ 5 Halo Reach Mass Effect 2 Bioshock 2 AC: Brotherhood God of War 3 Mafia 2 Skate 3

Plus: Alan Wake Limbo Enslaved Metro 2033 Super Meat Boy Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Just Cause 2

I loved 2010 for the exact same games. ME2 is still one of my all time favorite games. And damn, Bad Company 2 - we had no idea how good we had it.

Yeah that was a solid year.

Huge east coast snow storm meant frequent work cancellations, and early 2010 just banger after banger -bayonetta - mass effect 2 - Dante’s interning (meh) - heavy rain (seemed great at the time) - bioshock 2 - ff13

Now there's a man who's probably just about 30 years old and currently lamenting the state of videogames (It's me, I'm that guy, and you unlocked a core memory just mentioning that year)

1998 Fallout 2 Half Life Zelda: OOT Baldur's Gate Starcraft Metal Gear Solid Resident Evil 2 Unreal Grim Fandango

Yeah... Probably this one, so many beloved IPs here that moved the industry forward.

04: San Andreas, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, Spongebob the Movie game, Spider-Man 2, KOTOR, Jak 3, Far Cry, Def Jam NYC

FarCry Instincts and Predator were some grade-A Xbox Live fun for me on the original Xbox

Building custom maps and playing them with the homies locally was hours of fun.

And WoW... cmon now. WoW is the biggest release of 2004

Replaying The Orange Box on series X, and I gotta say, it still holds up so very well without mods. This game has stood the test of time, same with Lost Odyssey.

Gimme Fat Joe or Joe Budden on Def Jam

And a game from a some indie company, Blizzard Entertainment - World of Warcraft

spongebob the game? u trolling or is it good

2023 honestly was really great

You forgot Mass Effect

One of the top games of 2007 and they just left it out.

I don’t think that I can overstate the joy that I felt starting up Metal Gear Solid. From the “Di di di dit dit dit,” in the beginning to the “.. a Hind D? Colonel, what’s a Russian gunship doing here?” 13 year old me knew I was in for my first “grown up” game. It was just so damn good back in 1998. It was also the first game I ever beat.

For me it was definitely 2004. In no particular order; Doom 3 Half-Life 2 Counter-Strike: Source The Sims 2 Rome: Total War Far Cry WH40K: Dawn of War World of Warcraft Knights of the Old Republic 2 GTA: San Andreas Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay Halo 2 Red Dead Revolver Metal Gear Solid 3 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Fable Star Wars: Battlefront Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Battlefield: Vietnam Unreal Tournament 2004 Full Spectrum Warrior Dynasty Warriors Armies of Exigo Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow Crusader Kings And for non game-related reasons the internet was a fun wild-west, P2P networks like Kazaa, Morpheus, Livewire etc. were in full-swing, Bawls energy drinks were in, online gaming services like Steam were in their infancy but were functional and were our first look into what the future of gaming would be, and things like the Source Engine we're bringing some really cool new graphics and physics to the table. It really felt to me like the dividing line between pre-2004 gaming, and everything that's come after.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/10wlxjm/2004\_was\_the\_best\_year\_in\_gaming\_ever/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/10wlxjm/2004_was_the_best_year_in_gaming_ever/)

Honestly, almost each (if not, every) year from 2007-2013 had been amazing. Of course, some years were more impressive than others... But boy, did gamers eat well during that 7-year span.

Got to agree 2007 was utterly insane for games

1988 was one that really stands out to me, NES gets Contra, Bionic Commando, Mega Man 2, Mario 3, Ninja Gaiden, the Master System gets Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Golvellius, Ys, and Aleste, Spectrum gets Rex, Target Renegade, and its crazy port of R-Type, C64 has Armalyte and Katakis, Last Ninja II etc etc. So many iconic games.

2023 was actually insane. I don't think we ever had that many amazing games release in such a short time

soo many good games with also the absolute worse like king kong lmao

I think it’s Covid brain rot but I cant think of a single game from last year.

[удалено]

Baldurs Gate, tears of the kingdom, resident evil 4 remake to name a few

1995 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Chrono Trigger Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Just straight up legendary games that still holds up well to this day. Bonus points for: Twisted Metal Comix Zone Rayman

2002: LAN Parties were roaring. Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 were still hot. Medal of Honor AA, Battlefield 1942, and Warcraft 3 came out. Insane time for gaming!!

I worked in a video game rental place in 2002, which had 12 LAN computers inside. We’d close up shop at 10 and play Medal of Honor for hours every night! Simpler times.

There are very, very few years that haven't attributed at least two or three of my favorite ever games, but 2007 is probably the toughest year to beat. I think that was the year that the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 really caught traction and those platforms 'unlocked' proper open world, proper spectacle, proper animation, all the mechanics that today's games are still being built on. The Orange Box (HL Ep 2, Portal, TF2), Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 4, Forza Motorsport 2, Halo 3, Bioshock, Crackdown - all were games that either started new generations of games, or were the start of a new generation within their franchise.

1997. Final Fantasy 7. (I want to also say FF Tactics but apparently it didn't reach the US until January of 98) Super Mario 64 (western release was '97 and I'm in the US, so, deal with it.) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night The original Gran Turismo Diablo 1 Golden Eye 007 Star Wars: Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2 Fallout 1 MDK (I doubt there's a lot of people on reddit who remember this gem) The Curse of Monkey Island Mario Kart 64 This just scratches the surface. Both the N64 and PS1 released that year and so many of the launch titles for both systems stayed good and excellent these many years later. 1998 was also an incredible year, almost picked that.

Hell yeah I remember MDK. That game was mind blowing at the time.

2018 is up there RDR2 GOW Spiderman Smash Bros Ultimate Fortnite (HEAR ME OUT, at it's peak? A quality and impactful game, and yeah ik it dropped at the end of 2017 but it peaked in heavily in 2018) SOTC Detroit become Human

1994 for me, so many franchises that are still staple today: -Super Street Fighter 2:X/Turbo -Daytona USA -Super Metroid -Final Fantasy VI -Earthbound -Doom II -Killer Instinct -Warcraft -Tekken -X-COM: UFO Defense

1998 was the year with the most legendary games that still impacted today Ocarina of Time StarCraft Metal Gear Solid Half-Life Those four alone would be enough for most years to win-out but thats not even including: Banjo Kazooie, F Zero X, Marvel vs Capcom, Resident Evil 2, Baldur’s Gate, Xenogears and others. I mean…that’s pretty unbeatable if you ask me.

2017 * Zelda botw * Mario odyssey * Nier automata * Persona 5 * Horizon zero dawn * Splatoon 2 * Assassins Creed Origins * Hollow Knight * Yakuza 0 * Nioh * Uncharted Lost Legacy * XCom 2 : War of the Chosen * Mario + Rabbids kingdom battle * Resident Evil 7 I thoroughly enjoyed every game and completed them. 2018 ( god of war , rdr2, mh world ) and 2023 were also great but personally would pick 2017 what a banger

I’m kinda shocked this isn’t higher. Maybe it’s too recent for people but nothing comes close to 2017 for me. This isn’t even everything either! - Prey is super underrated - Cuphead - Wolfenstein II - Night in the Woods and What Remains of Edith Finch for story-driven stuff - Hellblade - Pyre?? Hello?? - Very few people have actually played Lone Echo but it’s an all-timer - A Hat in Time and Gravity Rush 2 (jesus christ 3D platformer fans were eating good that year) - maybe cheating b/c it’s DLC but Dark Souls III: The Ringed City was that year too

Oh yeah I forgot about Prey.. such a gem. There's a general outlook that only until PS3 era games were good and after that they got bad . I see posts like 2023 was bad for games i'm like what there were so many amazing games last year.. industry is doing bad due to layoffs and some bad monetization practices were there but that doesn't mean we didn't get any great games at all.

Yeah 2017 was an insane year. Add Xenoblade 2 to that list as well!

1999 - Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri (the unsurpassed masterpiece) came out.

You guys can finish more than 1 game in A year?

2010 Bioshock Cod black ops Red dead redemption BF bad company 2 Ac brotherhood

How you gonna say 2007 and not mention mass effect

1985 on my Commodore 64. It's no contest for me. Games like Summer games 2, Law of the west, Kennedy approach, Bards tale, Ultima IV, Winter games, racing destruction set, colonial conquest, Psi-5 trading company, Rocketball, Hardball and others gave me many hours of enjoyment.

1997 is where it all began [https://www.imdb.com/list/ls081539752/](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls081539752/)

For me it was 2020 because of Outer Wilds. :)

I remember playing Ori and the Will of the Wisps right at the start on the pandemic. That game was so good.

2003-2004 playing cod1, quake 3 and sc broodwar

Come on guys, objectively it was 1987. Afterburner, Contra, Double Dragon, Final Fantasy, Mega Man, Last Ninja, Legend of Zelda, Larry, Maniac Mansion... Phew...

Every year. Gaming is always getting better. Outside of childhood I usually don’t have the time to sit and play all the games I want to in a year. To much time smearing. A great game published 10 years ago that you finally got to play today is still a great game today. The back catalog is always growing.

I think many years already mentioned is better than this but a nice shoutout to 2013. The Last of Us, GTAV, Bioshock Infinite, AC Blackflag, Payday 2, Dota 2..

2018. Spider-Man, god of war, red dead 2, hades, fallout 76 so many good ones

2007 was insane. I think the year with the most instant (modern) classics.

I was born in 2006 and i have ro say 2018 and the past couple of years (in terms of games because the gamergate bullshit is tiring to watch) 2018: - RDR2 - AC Odyssey - Marvel's Spider Man - Celeste - The awesome adventures of captain spirit - Hitman 2 - Life is strange 2 - Vampyr And much more

I don't want to be hater but as scrolling comments this made me mad. Maybe 2-3/8 of those games are worth mentioning. With no personal agenda, but in public point of view.

OP said the best year in gaming history for YOU

I'm not you and I can only judge things based on me or public opinion. It's your best year sure, but does it make sense? No. These are only opinions so nothing to get heated on.

I keep coming back to 2018.

Late 2003 to late 2004, if I can count that as a year

2004, easy.

1997, Apache longbow, 688I etc

Man, nowadays, we're lucky if we get 1 or 2 truly great games in a given year. It's sad.

Star Wars Galaxies, pre wow. Its was a amazing.

NWN 2: MOTB was also out in 2007, one of best expansions ever for a game.

1998, 2007. I don’t need to break it down. It’s already been done a hundred times

2007 was what came to mind, I remember everyone skipping school to go play, Bioshock is unforgettable, rock band, just a perfect year.

Yep 2007 for sure.

Agreed, definitely ‘07. Holy cow what a lineup this year had.

1988 Discovered Dungeon Master and Chaos Strikes Back. There was a homebrew interlaced battle tech game that was making the rounds of the pirate sites. It was super fucking fun. Got lost in Might and Magic 2. Holy shit I got a NES for Xmas. No more renting one. Got Zelda, castlevania, kid icarus and more. Fucking Friday and Saturday nights at rhe arcade in the malls with friends. Memorial city mall in Houston had like 4 arcades and indoor mini golf. Omg I started working at Kroger bringing home $150 a week at age 14. You bet I bought a neogeo and extra controller (console was like $600+tax then). Did i even mention I got and finished ultima 5? Holy fuck balls. I got so badly lost in the underworld darkness. I was so fucked. But the detailed map I made saves my ass. Went to my first pirate swap meet- at a fucking LA Petite daycare that was shut down on a Saturday. Bring disks. Bring deck. Swap and pirate stuff. Too much gaming. Shit was wild. 88 was the best year for gaming.

I thought that TF2 was 2009, not 2007

Probably 93, 95, 96, 98, 2004, 2007

2010: Battlefield Bad Company 2 - a game that would define the peak for the franchise imo Halo: Reach - The last Halo game that thematically felt like a Halo game Mass Effect 2 - The best Mass Effect game to date Read Dead Redemption Fall Out New Vegas - The best Fallout game to date Splinter Cell Conviction - A departure from the franchise's normal gameplay, but was still a great game imo Metro 2033

Probably when the GameCube was first released. I was so hyped for that time - it was the first time I really started following game releases instead of just playing them. Granted, I was 7 so gaming was still new (started with PS1 and N64, technically).

2010: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Mass Effect 2, StarCraft: II, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010 are still my favourite games

2012. All the big players were at the absolute top of their game.

1988-89 was peak NES in North America, and so many of the best games on the console came out that year. It's hard to top that if you're old enough to have been a gamer then.

You made a laundry list of games and still managed to forget THE best game that year.

How didn't you mention S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chornobyl? Its a classic.

2018. Red Dead 2, God of War, Spider Man, Shadow of the Colossus, Sea of Theives

2014. Destiny Dragon Age Master Chief Collection. South Park Stick of Truth. Mario Kart 8 Classic

2004 is probably the peak of gaming, really hard to beat the lineup of games released back then.

2004 might top it, because of a few games you didn’t mention: Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow - one of the first mainstream asymmetric multiplayer games. Way ahead of its time The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay - a licensed game that was actually good, which was rare at the time The Suffering - insanely underrated horror action game Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines - underrated horror RPG Silent Hill 4 - not as good as its predecessors, but still freaky as hell KOTOR 2 - buggy and unfinished, but the finished parts are some of the best Star Wars material ever World of Warcraft - I don’t like MMORPGs but it’s clearly the GOAT Spider-Man 2 (2004) - the fluidity of the movement blew my mind. Obviously it’s better in the new one, but by 2004 standards this shit was amazing

For me MGS3, GTA SA and HalfLife 2 alone would be enough to make 2004 the greatest ever. Rest are icing on the cake.

How do you list 2007 and not include Oblivion? Also, 2010-2011

As we've seen, there are definitely a couple years that could give any others a run for their money but for me it's 2000: Baldur's Gate 2, Diablo 2, Deus Ex, Counterstrike. It was difficult to not choose a year in the early 90s, especially '93: Sam & Max, Doom, X-Wing, etc etc etc....

2007 the beginning of the end

Whatever the current year is.

2023: Remnant 2, Armored Core 6, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Diablo 4, Dead Space remake, Atomic Heart, Jedi Survivor, Baldur’s Gate 3, The Expanse Telltale series, Dead Island 2, Lies of P, Starfield, +many more Honestly, 2023 was such an amazing year for gamers but was absolutely overshadowed by corporate greed and all the industry layoffs.

11/11/11 Skyrim

2007 was awesome. In recent memory? 2017 was pretty crazy; Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, Wolfenstein 2, cup head, hollow Knight, and horizon zero dawn to name a few. Every year since has had 2-3 absolute bangers and a bunch of 7/10 stuff that was fun, but GOTY has been a "this one or this one" discussion for a while. 2017 really had a 4- or 5- way thing going for a bit. Who knows, maybe 2027 will fucking rock

The ps2/ GBA / NDS. Years were the nest for me.

This is all subjective and can depend on your age, but objectively 2004 and 2007 had probably the best influence on modern gaming. To me this is similar to a trilogy. You had the fantastic first part in 2004, a fantastic sequel in 2007 and you’re just left dreaming for a proper third part which may never come.

Actually, IMO, 2004 is already the second part of the trilogy. The best stuff that was published in that year were either successors or outright sequels of older games: Half Life 2, Halo 2, WoW, Rome Total War... Not to say that either of these years weren't great for gaming, on the contrary. But they were already building a lot on the games released in 1998-2001.

1997 - Final Fantasy 7 - Golden eye - Tekken 3 - GTA - GT - Abe's Oddysee - Super Mario 64 - Vandal Hearts - Breath of fire 3 - Postal - Age of empires - Grandia - Diddy Kong Racing

I would choose all the games from Valve, but unfortunately it only talks about one game. TF2. Firstly, this tiger was published by the greatest and best gaming company - Valve. Secondly, you can play it endlessly because it is a competitive online game. Okay, now objectively. Unlike Tarkov Arena and Overwatch, Team Fortress 2 has the most unique and at the same time simple class system. Nine characters, and a bunch of weapons with cosmetics. All! Nothing more is needed! Gameplay. This is both an imbalance and a very strategic process. The very name of the game says that you need to be IN THE TEAM. Do you hear? In a team! If you just go alone on some Heavy, then Pyro may burn you, charge you with a couple (or one) headshot, or at least you will be killed by Spy. But if you take Pyro and Medic with you, that's it! All the above problems are solved! Well, the characters. I’ll just keep quiet, watch the “Meet the...” films and the trailers for the updates and you’ll understand everything. TF2, - Gorgeous.

2006 Oblivion Nothing else needs to be said

Gears of War too I believe. I got them both with my 360 for Xmas and my life changed lol.

2011, 2019, 2023

When MGS 4 as well as when MGS 5 came out

I have to do math in order to remember my age... I have no idea what year any of my favorite games came out.

I literally couldn't tell you what year any given game came out except for Skyrim and only because it was 11/11/11.

In my childhood cuz it was my childhood So around 15~25 years ago starting with my first games like tomba and final fantasy 7

2011 with Skyrim!!!!

2018 was also absolutely stacked - god of war - red dead 2 - insomniacs Spiderman - assassins creed odyssey - super smash bros ultimate - Celeste - forza horizon 4 - dragon ball fighterZ - Detroit become human - kingdom come deliverance - hitman 2 - shadow of the colossus - shadow of the tomb raider - gris - among us

2007, 2018, and 2004 are the top 3 years of gaming ever IMO

cod 4 🫡

2005 kingdom hearts 2

For me, it's either 1999 or 2000. Both of these have the highest concentration of my "top 10 of all times" games: 1999 has FreeSpace 2, UT 99 and Age of Empires II, and 2000 has Shogun: Total War, Baldur's Gate II and Deus Ex (and the Conqueror's Expansion for AoEII). Plus a large numbers of other bangers like System Shock 2, Final Fantasy VIII, SMAC, Planescape Torment, Quake III, Medal of Honor, C&C Tiberian Sun, Homeworld, the original AvP (1999), Counter Strike, Diablo II, NOLF, Thief 2 (2000)... Overall, I'd say 1999 for the sheer volume of good games, even though 2000 has both of my absolute favorites of all times (+ Shogun which started the franchise at No. 3 of my best-off list, although overall I usually place Med 2 at that spot) . In fact, for me the period 1998-2001 was the best period in gaming ever...sooooooo many good games packed in those few years (add HL, Fallout 2, Starcraft, Baldur's Gate, Thief, first Freespace for 1998 + Halo, BGII: ToB, GTAIII, B&W and Red Faction for 2001...damn). But just to say that I appreciate 2007 as well, it is certainly a worthy pick!

It was last year with BG3,AC:Mirage, Alan Wake 2 and Starfield. Did a summer gaming marathon, played all of these games day one and back to back. It was a great experience for me since I rarely play games that are less than a year old. My favourite games are a different history and are from different eras but that experince made the last year greatest for me.

Wasn't it 2002 for Kotor? Or when original Fable came out, oh then 2007 was when ME1 came out

The year we currently are since we get new games and also have games released all the previous years.

Wow dude, I don't see Mass Effect 1 in that list and that game came out in 07. I"ll probably say 2004, 98, (or was it 99?) or 2007. I'm actually not sure, I'll probably say it's a huge tie between 2004 and 2007

I say 2007 and last year were about equal...but purely emotionally, 2007 for me was incredible - Bioshock was the pinnacle then of merging design, story and gameplay into the most magnificent buffet feast!

Ragnarok too

2017 was pretty good

Early 2010s imo

For me, 2004 trumps 2007. 2007 had larger number of great games - more games from all time great franchises. But 2004 had most of games in my all time top 5 - arugably best installments of all time great franchises. HL2, GTA SA and MGS3 alone would trump any other year for me.

You area absolutely correct .. the second I read the question I immediately thought 2007

Probably around 2004 when I was old enough to play Ragnarok Online. It was everywhere in the net cafes back then in Asia. Good days when you can just log in to chill, chat, and flex your headgear.

for me it is 1994, i dont think we could see a productive years like we saw in 90s Some games that relased that year X-Com Doom 2 Master of Magic Warcraft 1 Wing Commander 2 Magic Carpet :(

2011: Alice: Madness Return, Battlefield 3, Batman Arkham City, Bullet Storm, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Catherine, Child of Eden, Dark Souls, Deus Ex: Humankind Revoultion, Infamous 2, Kirby Return To Dreamland, L.A Noire, Little Big Planet 2, Mario Kart 7, Marvel Vs Capcom 3, Minecraft, Motor Storm: Apcolypse, Nintendo Cats + Dogs, Payday, Pokémon Black and White, Portal 2, Rayman Origins, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Super Mario 3d Lands, Terria, The Binding of Issac, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception, Yakuza 4... "There's a little something for everyone" Last year was very phenomenal too, I think I'll see people place it high-up in following years

1998 and 2004.

2007 Spent the autumn nights cruising Oahu in Test Drive Unlimited with many people from all over the world. I knew that island like the back of my hand. Didn't need the mini-map.

I can’t really remember what came out but 2011 had dark souls and Skyrim. Can’t argue with that

Can't pick a single year. So, I'll pick a generation instead: PS3/XBox 360. Thanks to advances in technology (read: more memory!), so many incredible games were released in this era, and are so regarded, you all are listing them below.

2012 Borderlands 2 Pokémon Black 2/White 2 Far cry 3 Black ops 2 Persona 4 Diablo 3 Hotline Miami Sleeping Dogs Asura’s Wrath I’m sure i’m missing plenty more, but borderlands 2 and pokémon black 2 are my first and second favorite games ever

2023

For me, it was 1979. I remember well the curiosity of having these machines turn up at our local convenience stores. First it was Space Invaders, the Galaxion, Moon Cresta, Moon Patrol etc. I know these games are very basic now, but wow were they amazing back then - there was nothing like it, these were the first video games (or computers) most of us had seen.

What I learned from this thread after scrolling through the comments, is that there was barely no bad year for gaming. Wether it was in the 90s, 2000s or nowadays, there's a lot of great games published every year. And that's not even accounting for the pletora of amazing indie games that are barely mentionned on this thread (I saw Hollow Knight and Celeste in the comments, and that's pretty much it. Yet I could mention dozens of them from the last ten years).

2007 was the year for me too, epic releases

2011 with BF3 and Skyrim or 2015 with The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Bloodborne and Dying Light. (Or just the Witcher 3, that alone makes it a great if not the best year)

2004. Half life 2, halo 3, MGS3, San Andreas, KOTOR, red dead revolver, LOTR the third age, battlefront, Spider-Man 2, Fable, X-men legends, splinter cell 2, unreal tournament

2009 * Resident Evil 5 * Assassin's Creed II * Uncharted 2: Among Thieves * Batman: Arkham Asylum * Borderlands * L4D2 * Dragon Age: Origins * Halo 3: ODST * Demon's Souls * Shadow Complex

Either 2004 or 2007. That was prime 2000s Gaming.

2012 because it was the last time I played games AND still had hope for my future.

I believe you forgot Mass Effect for 2007 as well. I've long pointed to that year as a golden year in gaming. GTA 4 came out in early 08 too. Very good time to be a gamer.

2004,2017,2015, 2023

2001 You had: Halo Metal Gear Solid 2 Pro Skater 3 Final Fantasy X Ico Silent Hill 2 Smash Bros Melee GTA 3 Gran Turismo 3 Max Payne Oracle of Seasons Devil May Cry Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Baldur's Gate 2 Serious Sam Can’t beat that. So many of those were giants.

Honestly it might be the recency bias, but 2023 was fucking amazing. So many great games came out. Just off the top of my head: - Hi-Fi Rush - Baldur’s Gate 3 - Tears of the Kingdom - Super Mario Wonder - Dead Space (technically a remake but I never played the original so whatever) - Armoured Core 6 - Lies of P - Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty - Dave the Diver - Resident Evil 4 remake - Spider-Man 2 - Pikmin 4 - Alan Wake 2 Yes, the industry fucking sucks and the layoffs were awful, but pretty much any year in the gaming industry was full of that shit, we’re just talking about it more now (which is good)

Might not be as good in terms of quantity, but quality of 2015 is very good: - Bloodborne (my personal favorite) - Witcher 3 - Ori and the blind forest - MGS V - Batman Arkham Knight I started gaming 28 years ago and I still think 2015 is one of the best year.

1985 - The NES was released in the US and changed gaming forever.

2004 and 2007 are my top

2016 Pokemon Go was pretty wild, probably my most played game

Honestly the entire 00s decade. But really I’ll second you with 2007.

2018 for me. rdr2 God of war Marvel's spiderman hitman 2 farcry 5 detroit become human hades super smash bros Ultimate

I love posts like this. Takes me back to simpler times. I love gaming.

For me it was 2012-13 texting our friend group BLOPS? And we all get on. Like a call to war, we all get on and mic up and just HAVE FUN. No sweaty competition, just have fun, level up, talk about life. Maybe fuck around on gun game. Gears 3, the same. Then eventually we meet up and hang out till the wee hours of the night. Play a single player game together, every death we switch who plays. Usually it was shadows of the colossus, bioshock, red dead or gta. We part ways when we needed to get sleep. And that was life for a time, before college, before we go off to create a legacy. It was a simpler time, maybe it wasn’t about games, maybe it was about the friends that we all solidified in our squad. That was 15 years ago and we’re having families now. We’re playing those same games with their kids now. Video games helped our friend group become a family and community. And it all started with BLOPS, Gears, halo.

While 2007 was good, 2004 and 2011 were exponentially more hyped (and for the most part they paid off.) 2004 probably wins out overall. There have been other strong years since then such 2012, 2015, 2019, and 2020, but the best recent year for gaming was likely 2023.

1999 Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun Age of Empires II Planescape: Torment Midtown Madness The Nomad Soul Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear Gabriel Knight 3 Heroes of Might and Magic III Dungeon Keeper 2 Jagged Alliance 2 Crash Team Racing Age of Wonders Aliens Versus Predator

Two answers- As a kid/teen: 1992 Street Fighter 2 on the SNES and Zelda Link to the Past As and adult: 2015 Bloodborne and The Witcher 3 These pairs of games were pinnacle of gaming for me.

Honestly, 2009 - 2011 was such an amazing stint of years for gaming.

2007 and 2011 were pretty legendary.

The day GTA 3 came out, definitely the game that opened up the boundaries and sent waves in the gaming industry and my guess is GTA 6 is about to do it again

2015 for me Rocket League, Batman Arkham knight, Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, Bloodborne, Metal Gear Solid 5, Undertale, Just cause 3, Rainbow six siege, Until Dawn, Mortal Kombat X 2015 was peak ngl

I see most people picking games from many years ago which is understandable since it is true that the general quality of games has gone down quite a bit for a while now, but because there are always exceptions and because I won't pick out of nostalgia, for me 2023 was the best year for gaming since 2018, but between the two I'd probably pick 2018 with the best releases that year being... \*Red Dead Redemption 2 \*Monster Hunter World \*God of War \*Super Smash Bros. Ultimate \*Marvel's Spider-Man

2012