The new year has tons of video games and exciting industry news to look forward to, but before we get to those releases, we’re taking one last look at the best of 2019 during ComicBook.com’s Golden Issue Awards. Last year saw a mix of battle royale dominance, masterful remakes, and exciting new installations in existing and new properties. The competition was stiff when deciding which games deserve different rewards, but that’s exactly what the ComicBook.com staff did.
Several different categories were decided on to showcase the areas that 2019’s games best showcased themselves. Voting consisted of picking the Best Single-Player Game, Best Multiplayer Game, Best Tabletop Game, Best Character, and Best Boss Fight. Strong contenders for each category included games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Mortal Kombat 11, and Apex Legends among other picks that would easily top anyone’s best-of-2019 lists.
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You can find each of these categories and the nominees for the awards below along with the winners of each award. Be sure to let us know in the comments and on social media which games stood out the most to you in 2019, especially if one of them was nominated or victorious in ComicBook.com’s Golden Issue Awards.
Best Single-Player Game
- The Outer Worlds
- Resident Evil 2
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Strong contenders for the Best Single-Player Game award released in 2019 whether you were waiting for the next game in the series, a remake of a classic, or something new entirely. Our votes went for the last of those options by declaring The Outer Worlds as the winner for this category. The new RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, the creators of games like Fallout: New Vegas, featured a compelling formula of morality and combat wrapped in an exciting new setting to explore. It was often described as “Fallout in space,” and its success was predicted long before its launch.
Best Multiplayer Game
- Apex Legends
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Borderlands 3
- Gears 5
- Mortal Kombat 11
Though the battle royale trend tapered off in 2019 as companies slowed their chase after the next big thing, Apex Legends emerged as a breakout hit when it released early in the year. Created by Respawn Entertainment, the minds behind the Titanfall series, the battle royale game was the fast-paced remedy to passiveness and other battle royale habits that had grown stale. Its diverse range of characters became instant favorites, and Respawn’s support of the game throughout last year and into 2020 has shown there’s much more to come.
Best Tabletop Game
- Marvel Champions
- Horrified
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Noctiluca
- Star Wars Legion
Dungeons & Dragons experienced another banner year in 2019, with the release of four books (including an official collaboration with Penny Arcade) and the release of new products meant to help new players discover the joy of tabletop gaming for the first time. Additionally, 2019 also saw several big D&D adjacent stories as well, such as Critical Role smashing records on Kickstarter, and The Adventure Zone landing on the New York Times bestseller list. The truth is that D&D has never been more popular and there’s no sign of the game’s momentum slowing down any time soon.
Best Character
- Cliff (Death Stranding)
- Parvati (The Outer Worlds)
- Mirage (Apex Legends)
- Goose (Untitled Goose Game)
- Dorothea (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Whether you played Untitled Goose Game or not, it’s not hard to know who Goose is if you’ve been active in online gaming communities from September 2019 onward. Developer House House released Untitled Goose Game late in the year and introduced us to Goose, a normal-looking bird with a knack for causing problems and getting into trouble. Other characters showcased in 2019’s games had strong personalities, but it’s hard not to love the simplicity and mischief we saw in the star of Untitled Goose Game.
Best Boss Fight
- Genichiro Ashina (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice)
- Ninth Sister (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order)
- Kronika (Mortal Kombat 11)
- King MacFrights (Luigi’s Mansion 3)
PvP games offer their own rush of excitement when emerging victorious from a firefight or outwitting their opponent, but there’s still nothing like the feeling of besting a grueling boss fight. The fight that delivered that sensation the best in 2019 was the Ninth Sister from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. It was a highly-anticipated fight that put players’ Jedi skills to the test and let them live out their Jedi fantasies by taking on such an imposing enemy and eventually coming out on top.
Check out the rest of the winners from ComicBook.com’s 2019 Golden Issue Awards right here!
