20 Best Video Games Of 2019 (So Far)

9. The Outer Wilds

2019 is the year "indie games" truly stepped up to hang with the triple-As - at least when it comes to overall graphical quality and the size of what you're buying.

I've mentioned Observation, and something like Hellblade elevated the indie label in the first place, but The Outer Wilds is a thoroughly genius title that almost feels like The Witness' environment-manipulating puzzles, twinned with the idea of "playing lore" that was in Transistor.

Where in the latter you were equipping different character loadouts to unlock the entire story, Outer Wilds doesn't have any combat whatsoever. Instead you'll still have access to a number of different gadgets and tools, but gameplay consists of interacting with runes, computer screens, ancient monoliths and more.

Story-wise you're locked in a time loop, tasked with understanding an ancient race of aliens to try and restore the flow of reality going forward. It's one hell of a setup, but Outer Wilds' really mind-blowing stuff comes almost by accident; the devs guiding hand taking you from planet to planet, clue to clue, letting you feel an unbelievable sense of completion when all's said and done.