I’m continuing to prime the pump with new ideas here. Similar to the Best of Richmond, the Best Games of the 2020’s series will be a continuous list of, you guessed it, the best games I’ve played in the 2020s. The list is mostly complete through 2024, though there are some older games that are on my backlog that will surely make an appearance. Post-wise, as I play games that unseat top 50 incumbents on the list, they will come off and new games will go on. Today’s inaugural entry…
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 goes on as #25
The game I’ve easily put the most time into in 2025. Not only because it requires it, as a highly immersive, open world, role playing game, but because it’s hooks got in deep. It is essentially a medieval times game with systems on top of systems. Every action you take, be it conversation, a fight you pick, an item you steal, seems to have some form of consequence or impact on the world. Fight bandits in the woods and get covered in mud and blood. You better wash up and change clothes before talking to a merchant if you don’t want to pay higher prices.
That is one silly example, but it is just a foothold into the matrix of systems that underlie a game with great story, writing, world building, relationships, factions, and more. And it is all built in the CryEngine, as in Crysis and Far Cry. All that means is that it plops you down in a beautiful and detailed landscape. Roaming from town to town on horse back reminds me tons of Red Dead. In fact, it is easiest to sum it up as “Red Dead 2, but 14th century Europe”. From top to bottom a great game.
Valheim (2021) is off list. Still a great game, but it’s early access 15 minutes of fame didn’t stand the test of time when I went back in 2024 to play it with my kids. The progression felt punishing the second time through, and the mystery that sustained that
Coming soon…
180 Lunches 