2019 has been an oddly eclectic year for video games. From the zombie-infested streets of Resident Evil 2 to the colorful battles of Pokemon Sword & Shield, it’s seen a massively diverse lineup of games from developers across the globe.

We saw unexpected hits like Control and Disco Elysium, stellar remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Link’s Awakening, excellent additions to classic series’ like Fire Emblem and Luigi’s Mansion, and bold first steps for new franchises like The Outer Worlds and Jedi: Fallen Order.

IGN's Game of the Year 2019

The best overall game of 2019.

Every 2019 IGN Game of the Year Award Winner 24 IMAGES

Best Games of 2019 By Platform

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Best Games of 2019 By Genre

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The Best Game Design/Craft of 2019

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Here you’ll find all of IGN’s picks for the best that gaming had to offer in 2019.

To be eligible for 2019’s Game of the Year awards, a game must have released on or before November 30, 2019. In deciding which categories to hold awards for this year, we wanted to make sure we were able to champion a variety of games from many different creators, and in some cases highlight what made each category special.

For instance, we’re now giving awards for Best Platform Exclusives as opposed to just the “Best Game” on each platform. After all, with so many great exclusives on each (well… most) platforms, we feel it wouldn’t be particularly interesting to give essentially the same award to one game across several different platform categories.

We also wanted to acknowledge the talented performers who are so instrumental in bringing a game to life. As such, we’ve added a Best Performance category to highlight some of the great work done by voice actors and motion capture artists across the industry.

Which categories would you want to see added next year? Let us know in the comments!

Art for IGN’s Best of 2019 is by Julia Rago Angela Nguyen , and Nicole Cagampan