The action-adventure genre is packed full of new releases every year, perhaps because it is the genre that casts the widest net. 2019 was no different, and there was an abundance of excellent new action-adventure titles this year. Here, we’re going to recognize the best of the best, mentioning our nominees for what we felt were the ten greatest games of the genre this year, before declaring one ultimate winner.
NOTE: The nominees and winner were decided by an internal vote held among the entire GamingBolt staff.
THE NOMINEES:
DEATH STRANDING
Death Stranding is a very unusual game, and one that doesn’t necessarily fit the description of any genre very well, even though it’s not the brand new genre that Hideo Kojima may have claimed it would be. But it’s precisely because of its unique nature that it’s so impressive. It puts almost all of its focus square on traversal-based gameplay, which relies on a web of interlocking mechanics and systems with much more depth than one would think. Additionally, it blends that traversal-based gameplay with excellent, emergent social mechanics, that lend a whole another layer to its moment-to-moment action. Pepper in some tense horror and stealth sequences and a typically bonkers storyline, and you have one of the weirdest and best games of the year.
