While not as tactically difficult as previous titles, Three Houses marks the franchise’s firm step into RPG territory. It’s different from the very clear black-and-white morality of Awakening, but offers the whole experience in one game (unlike the two-separate-titles-plus-DLC Fates). Three Houses crafts a hefty narrative, four separate routes within one game - none of which are presented as solely “good,” but instead all with varying shades of gray. The game draws on the aspects that made Awakening appealing (the focus on individual characters, robust support conversations, and, yes, romantic relationships), but fine-tuned the failed experiments of Fire Emblem: Fates (the branching narratives, the gray morality, and the devastating results of turning on your friends). Here we go!įire Emblem: Awakening is perhaps the game that, ahem, reawakened the tactical role-playing franchise, but it is Fire Emblem: Three Houses that represents a masterful culmination of the series. We wanted to present a list that represents how games have forged an ever more intimate relationship between the player and the experience. Some of them represent wider shifts in gaming culture in the last decade, including esports, games as a service, representation, streaming, and the rise of indies. Most of these games either significantly advanced the art and craft of game design in the past 10 years, or innovated in the specific context of their genre. Most importantly, this list represents games that Polygon’s team members have enjoyed playing the most, and still admire. It is, by its nature, a compromise, but it’s the best we’ve got.įor criteria, we gave ourselves a lot of latitude.

After we tallied the votes, we gathered together to sort out the unholy mess, and to argue the merits and faults of the top 150.Īfter a surprisingly calm and erudite discussion, we agreed on the following list. Then we individually voted for the 50 we most wanted to see in the list. We began with a long list of around 300 games that team members nominated. You know how these things go, so we’ll keep the explanation brief. As this extraordinary decade draws to a close, we decided it was time to make a list of the 100 best games of the past 10 years.

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