It’s been a weird 10 years for video games.
Still a relatively young industry, gaming has mutated massively over the course of the last decade, from the rise of the utterly massive mobile market, to the dawn of serious big-money eSports competition, to the now automatically assumed online nature of almost every gaming system. As more and more money has come piling in (bringing with it both opportunities, and the hellish demands of practices like crunch), gaming has only gotten more spread out, oozing out onto new devices, new markets, and (occasionally) new ideas. This was the decade of the first consumer-viable home VR rig; the first truly game-friendly mobile devices; the first mass market controller designed to make gaming more accessible for people living with disabilities. It also saw the rise of focused online toxicity, harassment campaigns, and myriad death threats against those who broke with “gamer” orthodoxy, a fun reminder that, as the internet has e- and de-volved over the last 10 years, gaming has twisted, ascended, and corroded right along with it.
Which is to say nothing of the games themselves, which have been just as busy innovating, iterating, triumphing, and, occasionally, just straight-up copying what’s come before. Pitting them against each other has never been The A.V. Club’s games team’s style—there’s a reason our annual end-of-year round-up is “Games We Liked,” not “The Best Games Of The Year.” But it still felt important to look back at these titles to get a handle on, well, what’s actually going on.
So rather than offering up a ranked list, we’ve gone with a more holistic approach to our end-of-decade content, focusing on one game every year that represents a major trend in the medium, or which was simply significant enough to be deemed important in its own right. (For an entirely constructed definition of “important,” of course.) The hope is that, taken as a whole, these selections give some kind of road map to how we (and the medium) got from there to here, a long and bumpy road that encompasses everything from children playing with digital Legos to, well, children playing with digital Legos, but also now they have guns. (And so, so many dance emotes.)
So, without further ado: Please look at, and then yell at us about, this, The A.V. Club’s official list of the most important games of the 2010s.
2010: Minecraft
The first version of Minecraft, a barebones set of virtual Lego pieces, was released to the public in 2009. But the version that came out in 2010 was the one that became a huge hit. Rather than an overnight success, Minecraft built word-of-mouth buzz over the course of a year, thanks to the low price of the pre-beta and pre-release version (ensuring it could be put into as many hands as possible) and the frequent updates coming from the developers at Mojang—imagine a Lego set that’s not only getting new pieces every few months, but new modes and physics that improve how those new pieces work together. The simplicity of the gameplay, and the general creative freedom, also made Minecraft an early success of the then-nascent trend of video game streaming. Combine that with its colorful graphics and cartoonish violence, and Minecraft was able to become that perfect storm of “appeals to kids” and “parents shouldn’t object to it” that launched it from indie gaming darling to the shelves of bookstores and retail giants everywhere. It would be a few years before creator Markus Persson used his mountain of Minecraft money as an excuse to be an asshole on social media, and even more before Microsoft paid several billion dollars for the rights to the game as another jewel in its digital crown. But in 2010 it was still a feel-good game that could be—and was—appreciated by everybody.
Other notable 2010 titles: It was a good year for high-profile sequels: Super Mario Galaxy 2 gave the Wii another excellent Nintendo game, Mass Effect 2 and its high-pressure “suicide mission” offered one of gaming’s all-time great space epics, and StarCraft II’s Wings Of Liberty campaign resurrected a legendary strategy brand. Things got nicely spooky with the criminally underrated Alan Wake, the hit horror adventure Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and the lovably B-tier Twin Peaks-knock-off Deadly Premonition. In less exciting releases, BioShock 2 was a dull retread of the first game (saved by a great DLC expansion), Metroid: Other M was horrible misstep for the series, and the Xbox’s motion-tracking Kinect camera was an interesting piece of technology that almost worked some of the time. [Sam Barsanti]
2011: Dark Souls
Japanese developer From Software had been pursuing the themes at the core of its breakout hit Dark Souls—obscurity, deliberation, and a deep, conversation-driving sense of mystery—for years before Lordran finally made the big time. Games like the King’s Field titles, and especially 2009’s Demon’s Souls, had already laid the groundwork for its success, putting a heavy emphasis on indirect storytelling, combat that prizes observation and patience over twitch reflexes, and worlds teetering on the edge of a very particular breed of melancholy ruin. And yet, nothing before, or since—despite the best efforts of both From, and a whole host of imitators working in gaming’s latest awkward portmanteau, the Souls-like genre—has matched Dark Souls’ breed of quietly confident genius. The game’s highly infectious DNA has cropped up repeatedly in other games throughout the last nine years, whether in map designs that loop back onto themselves with clever shortcuts, battles that raise the stakes by robbing players of vital resource every time they die, or—in the case of developers incapable of seeing the hostile, snake-filled forest for the trees—by simply piling difficulty after difficulty atop their players’ heads. But despite its reputation, Dark Souls isn’t some gauntlet of impossible, escalating challenges; rather, its true legacy is as a game that has faith in its players to persevere, help each other out, and ultimately triumph over the damned souls populating its brilliantly realized world.
Other notable 2011 titles: Rockstar pushed facial animation technology with its mystery simulator L.A. Noire, even if its bona fides as an actual detective game left people in doubt. Skyrim proved that sometimes bigger really is better, giving Elder Scrolls fans a vast wintry playground to get lost in. And Portal 2 set a high bar, not just for Valve’s venerable “teach-and-test” approach to puzzle design, but for proving that video games could be just as funny as any other medium when developers were actually willing to try. [William Hughes]
2012: Telltale’s The Walking Dead
Game developers have been hunting the ideal of “playable movies” since the days when Dana Plato was still trying to stay out of the Night Trap, often to disastrous, embarrassing, and pixelated effect. That shifted in 2012, though, when Telltale Games—formerly known for reviving beloved adventure game franchises like Monkey Island and Sam & Max, and currently known for the garbage fire of bad labor practices it eventually devolved into—released a licensed zombie game that managed to make watching its story as gripping as playing it. Prefacing the rise of streamer culture—and the move by more and more people toward experiencing games content by sitting back and simply watching it, instead of playing along—Telltale’s The Walking Dead pioneered a style of gameplay where asking the right question was as important as twitch reflexes, and where shouting your opinion from the couch could be as important a contribution as pulling a trigger. It doesn’t matter that many—most, really—of the choices you were making didn’t actually matter. (No matter how many “Clementine will remember you said that”s the game threw in your way.) The Walking Dead expertly milked the illusion for all it was worth, bringing the dream of interactive film closer to fruition that it had ever been before.
Other notable 2012 titles: Mass Effect brought its first trilogy to a close (while also sparking a minor revolt among a player base unsatisfied with said ending in the process). Diablo III emerged from its cocoon—although Blizzard would spend years tweaking it into proper running order. Spec Ops: The Line took a hatchet to Call Of Duty-style military shooters, Borderlands 2 introduced the world to Butt Stallion, and the Wii U was, uh, extant. (With apologies to Nintendo Land.) [William Hughes]
2013: Bioshock: Infinite
The legacy of Bioshock: Infinite—which appeared almost instantly—will forever be as much about the impact on gaming theory and criticism as about B:I itself. Here was a game that immediately spawned widespread and impassioned discussion about what games can and can’t (or should and shouldn’t) do, about the disjunction between so many first-person shooters and “deep” storytelling, about the uses and misuses of history and political philosophy—and did so in service of a grandly ambitious video game that rarely paused to catch its breath. The floating world of Columbia was a marvel of design, breathtaking in its scope and thrilling to traverse, even before the game starts throwing alternate realities and timeline warps at you. And whether a player was enthralled or disappointed by its applications of magic and bounty of ideas about power, guilt, and redemption, they felt compelled to engage with the material, an overwhelming and near-universal degree of engagement to which only a handful of games can lay claim. The defenses (a sharp critique of how even well-intentioned movements get perverted by power, e.g.) are as ferocious as the critiques (a “both sides”-ism when it comes to white supremacy and the rebellion against such an ideology, for one), and that’s even before questions about ludonarrative dissonance (a term applied to the franchise since the first installment) come into play. Bioshock: Infinite got players to set down their controllers and address it in the world of ideas; generating an ongoing conversation may be the most magical thing about it.
Other notable 2013 titles: In a year which saw the most meaningful console upgrades of the decade—the arrival of both Xbox One and PS4—multiple games vied for cultural significance. The Last Of Us managed to achieve the scale of an epic novel with a story that proved profoundly affecting. Super Mario 3D World managed the difficult feat of reinventing Nintendo’s most iconic title without turning off longtime fans—if anything, it made Mario et. al even more beloved. And Ridiculous Fishing gave your cell phone the most unexpected pleasure of all: Creating an engaging game about a dude sitting on a boat holding a stick that actually required mastery, not grinding. [Alex McLevy]
2014: Destiny
When you’ve built one of the most popular multi-media franchises of all time, what do you do for an encore? If you’re Bungie, the company that showed us the universe through the sleek helmet of a trigger-happy space marine, you try to repeat the feat—to once more conquer the crowded landscape of the first-person shooter, even as you reinvent the genre for a new age. Billed as the first “shared-world shooter,” Destiny promised to transport the frantic run-and-gun gameplay of the Halo series to an enormous MMO sandbox, one designed—conceptually, cosmetically, some would say cynically—to recall everything from Star Wars to Lord Of The Rings. But though Bungie had plenty of resources to realize its ambitions (Activision poured some $500 million into the project, helping secure the involvement of Peter Dinklage and Paul McCartney, among others), the road to Destiny’s delayed release was bumpy. The big snag came when the brass scrapped the entire story several years into production, forcing the team to hastily draft up a new one (“written without writers”) around missions that couldn’t themselves be re-conceived. Not surprisingly, the finished product weathered a lot of criticism, much of it centered around a patchy, insignificant plot, and mythology that the developers relegated to supplemental materials rather than integrating into the game itself. Yet Destiny was a hit all the same, selling more in its first five days than any franchise-launching title before it. And though players complained about its flaws and bugs, they stuck with it, hooked on the fluid combat and gorgeous graphics, and satiated by a series of course-correcting expansions that transformed the game it started as into something very different: sleeker, more polished and altogether more fun. In the end, Destiny wasn’t a game changer of Halo proportions, but it did point the way to a new era of work-in-progress blockbusters—and of gamers willing to forgive the launch-day wrinkles of a much-hyped tentpole, under the assumption that they’d be ironed out eventually, sometimes years down the line. [A.A. Dowd]
Other notable 2014 titles: Diablo 3 completed its own piecemeal refinement with the Reaper Of Souls expansion, while Dragon Age: Inquisition barely survived a fraught production cycle of its own. South Park finally got a video game worthy of its comedy legacy, and Hearthstone took over the brains of virtual card fanatics. But the real joy—and heartbreak—of 2014 was Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro’s P.T., a “playable trailer” for an abandoned Silent Hill sequel as laden with mystery as it was potential (and scares). If this list is meant to serve as an examination of the trends that dominated gaming in the 2010s, then P.T. could stand in for any number of great ideas left on the wayside, abandoned by developers for multitudes of reasons, and over the protests of the people who actually played and loved them.
2015: The Witcher 3
One of the more exhausting trends to take over gaming in the 2010s was actually a holdover from the early days of the Grand Theft Auto games, one that developers like UbiSoft then spent the next several years endlessly iterating into the dust: The Big Map Full Of Things To Do. BMFOTTD games can range from the artless to the sublime (this is a genre that encompasses everything from the least engaging Assassin’s Creed game all the way up to Red Dead Redemption 2), but they all have a map, that map is full of icons, and you’re expected to drive (or ride, or run, etc.) to and do each and every one of them until either the game craps out, or you do. CD Project Red’s sprawling RPG epic The Witcher 3 took the sting out of this unpaid second job, though, by making nearly every one of the little icons on its map lead to something meaningful, rather than just another goddamn radio tower for you to climb and “sync up with.” More often than not, your reward for schlepping Geralt Of Rivia and his horse(s) Roach across the blasted countryside wasn’t just some new upgrade; it was another dose of subversive, expectation-dodging storytelling. Plenty of BMFOTTD games promise rewards or bonuses for filling out their assorted chorelists of shit to do; The Witcher 3 elevated the form by paying off the busywork with new content, rewarding far more sweetly than the promise of a new ammo holster, or the ability to see another little portion of your map.
Other notable 2015 titles: Until Dawn pushed the “interactive movie” label even further (complete with horror mainstay Larry Fessenden there to write all the cheesy dialogue). Undertale blew the indie PC gaming scene into the mainstream, while Her Story made a strong case for the redemption of FMV. Meanwhile, Bloodborne sped up the Dark Souls formula but wasn’t actually about werewolves, Fallout 4 built communities but ditched dialogue trees, and Super Mario Maker invited fans to beat Nintendo at its own game. [William Hughes]
2016: Pokémon Go
The public was in a prime position for nostalgia bait in 2016, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens hitting a year before, reminding everyone how nice it is to snuggle up with old things that once made them happy. Video gaming got its own version of that with Pokémon Go, a largely crummy mobile game that became a phenomenon thanks to its smart use of readily available technology, and a little electric mouse named Pikachu. Virtual reality headsets were starting to become more common in 2016, and while Pokémon Go couldn’t jack you in to a virtual Poké-world, it was one of the first really successful games (or even apps, since SnapChat wasn’t doing it yet) to do augmented reality gimmicks with now-ubiquitous phone cameras. If you were willing to burn your phone battery to a crisp, you could make it look like the Pokémon you found by physically walking around the world were actually jumping around right in front of you. Everyone has a phone, everyone likes Pokémon (on some level, at least), and, perhaps, most importantly, everyone could be convinced to download a free game. It was so simple that everyone could played it without much trouble, one of Nintendo and its associates’ first big stabs at the suddenly huge mobile market. Is it surprising at all that so many people gave Pokémon Go a try for at least a weekend, once upon a time?
Other notable 2016 titles: While everyone was busy with Pokémon Go, one of the greatest shooters of all time hit consoles and PC: Titanfall 2. The game was tragically and pointlessly sent off to die by EA, which chose to release it just a week after Battlefield 1, which meant it never got a chance to find enough of an audience—at least until Apex Legends resurrected some of its mechanics three years later. Also, while everyone was not buying Titanfall 2, another of the greatest shooters of all time hit consoles and PC: Overwatch, which is still as popular as ever, and still gets consistent updates and events. [Sam Barsanti]
2017: The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Going into 2017, Nintendo had to make a big splash. The company probably wasn’t in any real danger of falling apart (the Wii made so much money), but the Wii U was generally perceived as a flop that had a number of good Nintendo-developed titles, but very little other software that was actually worthwhile. When the Switch was released in March 2017, Nintendo had a chance to prove that it could still make great games that weren’t bogged down by dopey motion-control gimmicks, and its latest iteration on the Zelda franchise filled that need beautifully. Taking obvious inspiration from Japanese action games like Dark Souls and western role-playing games like Skyrim, Breath Of The Wild offered a new take on Zelda that rejected some of the tropes that people have come to expect from the series—specifically, dungeons—and still managed to echo the traditional “going on an adventure” tone of the original game on the NES. Rather than telling you how to complete your quest, the game more or less tossed you out of a cave, told you to kill an evil monster, and then left you to figure out how to do that, letting you craft your experience around interesting landmarks you wanted to visit. Both Breath Of The Wild and the Switch itself were attempts by Nintendo to both go back to basics, and take unexpected steps forward after the disappointment of the Wii U, and they both worked together triumphantly to make one of gaming’s oldest companies still feel as vital and innovative in 2017 as it did in 1985 or 1990.
Other notable 2017 titles: Nintendo, naturally, had a big year in 2017: Super Mario Odyssey was a great return for that series, a rerelease of the Wii U’s Mario Kart 8 on Switch helped that game sell even more millions of copies, and other publishers even got on board as Bethesda somehow crammed the excellent 2016 Doom game onto a teensy little Switch cart. Elsewhere, Star Wars: Battlefront II’s bad microtransactions effectively changed the course of the entire industry, Destiny 2 gave everyone a chance to begrudgingly get back into Destiny, and Nier: Automata taught everyone that robots can have emotions but don’t necessarily have to wear clothes. Also, a game called Fortnite came out, but without a revolutionary free-to-play multiplayer mode in place yet, it didn’t make much of an impact quite yet. [Sam Barsanti]
2018: Fortnite
If you want to get nitpicky here, Epic Games’ platform-launching mega-hit actually came out back in 2017, as mentioned above. And yet, to dub 2018—a year that saw this rising cultural juggernaut team up with Avengers: Infinity War, cover thousands upon thousands of children in its LOL-random-scented merch, and get its very own SNL sketch—as anything but “The Year Of Fortnite” would be the utmost of follies. The genius of Epic’s little money-making engine that could isn’t the bright, vibrant art style (it ripped that off of Blizzard), the one-against-the-world gameplay (which it lifted from PUBG, which stole it from somewhere else), or even its novel fort-building conceit (which it self-cannibalized from its far-less-lucrative game of origin). No, Fortnite’s real claim to brilliance is its business model, which invited young players into its world for free, then showed them the wonders available to holders of its rapidly iterating season passes. There are more sinister ways to run a business than “give something good away for free, then charge for cosmetic bonuses”—really, it’s just what less-predatory mobile developers have been doing for years. And yet there’s still something dispiriting about how easy it was to get players (especially younger players) hooked on Fortnite’s regular doses of achievement-scoring dopamine. Fortnite isn’t just a game—it’s a culture, and it’s hard to beat those when it comes to raking in the cash.
Other notable 2018 titles: As multiple people have presumably already jumped down into the comments to scream at us over, 2018 was also the year of Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar Games’ most deliberate attempt yet to transcend its fart joke origins and make something approaching Actual Art. (They succeeded, for what it’s worth.) Meanwhile, Sony Interactive managed to redeem God Of War’s Kratos, of all people, while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate made the Switch even more essential than it already was. And with Celeste and Return Of The Obra Dinn both making the case for the continued thriving nature of the indie scene (now more available than ever, courtesy of console releases on the aforementioned Switch), it was really an amazing, winning year for games that still didn’t make even a fraction of the cultural impact that Fortnite did. [William Hughes]
2019: All the undying games that have come before
Something funny happened on the way to 2019: Games stopped ending. Sure, you’ll get your occasional self-contained single-player experience—From Software’s excellent Sekiro, or the more recent The Outer Worlds, both leap immediately to mind. But while great games have operated on the edges (more on that in the notable mentions section, and in our separate end-of-year coverage coming next month), the majority of the oxygen in the room is suddenly being consumed by games that came out years before, either in the form of direct sequels (The Division 2, Borderlands 3), or just extended content for older titles like Bungie’s Destiny 2. Hell, even the biggest innovation in game genres to emerge this year, the rampantly popular auto chess format, is an outgrowth of a massively downloaded mod for a game that’s now several years into its run.
Games-as-service is a phrase that gets tossed around a lot in conversations about this phenomenon, but the practical upshot is that it’s suddenly very hard to be seen as a success in this industry unless people are still playing your game six months after it originally came out. (R.I.P. Anthem.) Despite our ranting in the above entry, this isn’t entirely Fortnite’s fault, but it’s undeniable that having a hooked playerbase for a world full of existing assets is a far rosier prospect for the business-minded than building a new universe from scratch every time a fresh development cycle comes along. This trend isn’t going away, any more than the games themselves; sure, the announcement of a new console generation next year is likely to shake things up, but it’s hard to imagine companies giving up the easy luxury of endlessly patching existing worlds, when building new ones has always been such a risk.
Other notable 2019 titles: And yet that risk is still being taken, sometimes to magnificent effect. 2019 is, after all, the year of Death Stranding, one of the most ambitiously weird titles in recent memory, as well as the twin Outer W- pleasures of Outer Wilds and The Outer Worlds. Apex Legends and Tetris 99 proved that even in the games-as-service space, innovation can still happen, while Baba Is You, Disco Elysium, and Dicey Dungeons all made their mark on the indie scene. If exciting innovation is only happening on the margins, then the margins have never been a more exciting place to live; this decade can lay claim to some of the best video games of all time—sometimes despite themselves—and the momentum of the medium sees no signs of letting up as we round the corner into 2020 and beyond. [William Hughes]
358 Comments
It’s telling how great The Witcher 3 is as a game when I’m currently on my 3rd playthrough this time with the mod that replaces all combat with Gwent:
https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/953/?Before this, I thought that Persona 5 is my favourite RPG ever made, but The Witcher 3 dethroned it. Never have I played a game that makes me want to replay it various times for the story and worldbuilding alone. Not even Persona 5 is that replayable. Not only that, but I keep finding something new in every playthrough. It is just that good, and I consider it the best game of the 2010s full stop.My list of favourite RPGs goes as follows:1.The Witcher 32.Persona 53.Nier Automata4.Persona 45.Final Fantasy VIII6.Final Fantasy VII.
As a counterpoint, I am currently on my third (maybe fourth, depending on how you count it) play through of that game, in that I have started it three times and never been able to actually make it through. The first two times, I made it to the witch woman that you meet in a bath, whatever her name is. I got into the mission with her, made it most of the way through, and then just drifted away from the game. Third time, I made it to the same place. After walking away from it for a while, I picked that play through back up. Dealt with the baron with the miscarried kid. Then Outer Worlds came out, and I promptly stopped caring about The Witcher and started having a great time in the Outer Worlds.I will probably attempt to pick it back up in the next week or so, as I am wrapping up Outer Worlds. But I also know at this point that I’m only going to play it if there is nothing else interesting. Heck, I’ve been playing it, and just kind of stopped and switched over to pinball because I knew I would have a better time.But I also wouldn’t likely play any of the other games on your list. Never liked a Final Fantasy game, never interested in any of the others. My personal list would include, in the order I come up with them, Planescape: Torment, KOTOR, Morrowind, Skyrim, Fallout 2, and Fallout New Vegas.
The problem with Witcher 3 is the stuff you never hear anyone praising, namely, anything that actually qualifies it as a video game. The controls, menus, and combat are trash. I’m sure there is an profound artistic experience in there somewhere, but if I hate the act of playing the game, I will not see those things. The gameplay needs to be unobtrusive at the very least if I’m meant to enjoy the story. I can get stories in lots of places, and video games are some of those places, but they need to justify themselves as games in order to work. I think the closest point of comparison is RDR2, which was beautiful in every way and had functional (though not spectacular) gameplay to boot.Witcher 3 shows how easily people can be seduced by good graphics. The way you hear people praising it online, you’d think the gameplay was akin to one of those animated storybooks you could get for your Gateway 2000 back in the 90’s. They never mention the terrible ARPG shit you have to endure between chapters.
Nier Automata was a second awaking for me when it came to games as more than a mechanical distraction. To me it has been to most compelling narrative through it’s themes and philosophy about the human experience, it is more than a sad story that tugs at your heart strings. Also they need to remake the orginal Nier which I missed completely and had to look into after Automata.
Hilariously, I have had both Witcher 3 and Persona 5 more or less since launch, and still haven’t played more than three or four minutes of either game, owing to a backlogged library of biblical proportions and other demands on my time that have made sinking into a really long RPG very difficult. I just bought a nice 75″ 4K Bravia a couple of weeks ago and have been thinking I’ll finally break down and get ‘round to one of them, but haven’t decided which one yet. Which of the two do you recommend for someone who’s RPG history is largely limited to FFVII, Xenogears, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Fallout 3, Mass Effect 1-3, and Skyrim? I don’t believe I’ve ever finished any other traditional RPGs, but I loved every game in the Souls series and also really enjoyed Nier Automata…
The Witcher. Hands down.
Witcher
The worst thing about persona 5 (3&4 too to a lesser extent) is how hand holding they are in the begining. Morgana let me go explore at night already sheesh
1. Mass Effect is one of the best game series ever made, even if it peaks at the end of the second game. They’re basically friendship simulators with a shooting mechanic, and it’s all delightful. 2. The mini-trend of games about the inner lives of queer girls (Life is Strange, Gone Home, Last of Us 2 from the look of it, possibly My Big Sister) deserves a shout out.
Mass Effect peaks about 10 minutes from the end of the second game. Up until the end boss turns out to be a giant robo skeleton
I see the logic, but I disagree. ME3 still had pockets of greatness (ending aside), and some of the best DLC of all time.
The entirety of the Tuchanka mission (playing as a Paragon with Wrex and Mordin still alive), when Mordin sings again… Tears.Same with the end of the Rannoch missions, if you do them in the right order and again, have Tali and Legion alive… when she tells him the answer to the question that started the Mourning War is YES!, some of the best moments ever.
This! Plus, the entirety of the party during the Citadel DLC is amazing; I always save it for after I beat the game proper and headcannon it as the actual ending.
I agree with that. I played all three ME games a few years back right before Mass Effect: Andromeda and I was surprised by how much I liked Mass Effect 3 a lot more then I had remembered and the DLC(which I had not played before) was really great.
I get the joke/hate, but this is false.ME3 was a good close to the series (especially with the house party free dlc)it wasn’t everything our expectations had, but it was a good ending.
I actually really like ME3 but I think ME2 was a better game overall, except that terrible end boss fight.I liked the whole ME series. Hell I even found Andromeda fun at times.
I can go with this. I want to like ME1 but the combat bores me.
Yeah the combat is a slog, especially after playing ME2 and beyond. But at the time we didn’t know any better. I secretly hope that Bioware gets to one day do a remastered ME trilogy where they take the combat from 2/3 and put it into one.
They keep redoing the Halo Trilogy….that’s a good idea. I’d pay 60 bucks if they re-released all the games with every DLC/skin/gun pack included, and revamped graphics/gameplay.
It’s a real shame that EA’s corporate overlords will never allow the tools to mod ME abnd Andromeda to ge released to the general modding community like BS did with Fallout.
It sucks that EA never gave Andromeda a second chance. Even the people who hated Andromeda knew that there is potential to fix the game and its story via DLCs. If people were to choose between Anthem or an Andromeda DLC, people will go for the latter. Andromeda contains what people like about Bioware while none of that is in Anthem at all.I hate how a big company with so much capital and money like EA refused to fix one mediocre game while a small company like Hello Games fixed the hell out of No Man’s Sky even with just 40 staff.
NMS to Hello Games was the soul of the company, Adromeda to EA is just a project on the timeline.
Andromeda had good bones, agreed. Just needed some dlc tweaking.
Ditto on the Andromeda DLC. I might have been convinced to finish the game if I had that to look forward to.
Its a crime that this game’s throat was cut as it was. The game cried out for DLC and a sequel.
They really nailed the gameplay mechanics in Andromeda as well. It was so satisfying that I got quite into the multiplayer horde mode too.
Andromeda has an incredibly good start and finish. But it felt like they were instructed to check a whole lot of open world checkboxes for the game found between those points. If the game had been a linear storyline where you visit mostly the same worlds in mostly the same order with only a fraction of the sidequests they probably could’ve made it a far more compelling game.
It does suck that Andromeda was never given another shot. It was my introduction to the series and I thought it was a decent game overall. I even liked the story enough that I went hunting for and read the tie-in novels. It does make me sad that we may never know the rest of the story.
Maybe it was just because it had such a massive legacy and hype to live up to.
I played a ton of ME 3 multiplayer and Andromeda MP. Anthem was what they wanted to make with that stuff and was basically the MP taken out and tweaked. I was a fan of Andromeda right up until the lackluster ending and to be honest, Peebee sucked. Still one of my favorite franchises.
That isn’t too shocking if you’re familiar with corporate shenanigans. A small developer can have razor sharp reflexes to respond to their one product. They aren’t catering to shareholders and people that don’t give a shit about games. Corporations are gross blobs have the time. Their reaction and action both suffer for it. Comparing the two isn’t fair. You’re not wrong though, mind you. It just isn’t an apt comparison. Comparing EA, Ubisoft, Activision-Blizzard are a bit or on scale.
Hooray this is the space where we get to fight about videogames!Mass Effect is overrated. The choices are binary, the characters never connected with me, the combat, gameplay and AI are laughably bad (oh great more chest-high walls to duck under), story’s hacky.Then again, I liked Bioshock Infinite, so what the fuck do I know.
I agree with you on everything except connecting with the characters. (And the combat mechanics of the first game grew on me.) The most hilarious things about those games is that you’re the captain of a spaceship facing the apocalypse, but there’s always time for a heart to heart with your friends or a romantic evening with your S/O. I just like all the characters so much that it works for me.
Even if the end sucks, the Citadel DLC is one of the single most heartwarming pieces of gaming I’ve ever played, and is one of the reasons I replay the entire trilogy every couple of years.
Same
This, right here.I have yet to have another game connect with me the way that did, except maybe FF7 or the witcher.
Story wise, you’re right, but I can’t be the only one that thought ME3’s gameplay was the most polished and fun, right? I was especially hooked on ME3’s co-op multiplayer for years and years.
With regards to point 2, it’s not only nice to see, it’s also a no-brainer. There’s a huge consumer base of women gamers, and I imagine a fair proportion are queer or queer friendly. Considering how low the level of representation has been in the past, it’s a market just begging to be catered to.
Interestingly, I can’t think of a similar subset of games about queer boys. Likewise, games with gay men as protagonists are pretty rare. The most famous ones (Gordon Freeman and the original Doom guy) don’t even talk.
wait what? I don’t think either of those are- that sounds like some headcannon.
How long before copies of ‘Anthem’ start showing up in people’s mailboxes, like frigging AOL discs?
Soon, it will be a two pack with Fallout 76
I still have an unopened two-pack of Duke Nukem Forever and Aliens: Colonial Marines I got in the mail.
Dear sir or madam,Within your free pack of quality Gearbox games, you may find a flash drive. If so, this was included by accident. Please mail it back to Gearbox care of Randy Pitchford. Warning: do not look at any content on said drive.
You’re missing out on some really good piss-based gameplay
Fallout 76 was in my local thrift store two months after launch. That thing is going to be the American Idol winner’s first album of video games
Fallout 76 was free on Xbox like six months after release. Still wasn’t worth it.
There were articles about game stores (i think outside the US) doing stuff like “buy this XBox One/Fallout 76 bundle and get ANOTHER copy of Fallout 76!” and then the best one was “buy a new Xbox or PS4 controller and get a free copy of Fallout 76.” That’s it, just buy a controller and get a game that should cost the same price as the controller free.
We’re more likely Anthem being installed when you visit a G/O Media site and then EA will force you to pay for it or else you’d be locked out of your computer.Jim Spanfeller would definitely do that just to spite all of us.
ouch… heh 🙂
No, Jim Spanfeller sticks to sports games.
Eh I paid $20 for my copy last month and I’m not regretting it. The mechanics are actually really fun and the story is a lot better than it was when the game launched(or so my friend that bought it on launch tells me).
I bought it for 4 dollars and I still haven’t touched it
If Anthem were an album, it would be REM’s Monster.
In an alternate universe where technology developed differently, AOL discs were given to WWII soldiers as part of their pay.
Whats funny is I actually have an AOL disc with “Grand Prix Legends” and “PGA Tour Golf” on it. They literally were sending out free games to get people to sign up at one point!(I still have the disc because it has GPL on it which is amazing)
Oh man, I forgot they used to do that.
I was want to remind everyone that God of War lore has now made Kratos the grandfather to an eight-legged horse and a giant snake.
If that’s a major spoiler you’ve just thrown out, I’ll be pissed.
Yeah I’d say that’s a pretty significant spoiler.
Fuck!
Sorry, wish I could delete someone else’s comments.
On the other hand, it’s been out for over a year and a half now; the statute of limitations for spoilers passed awhile ago.
Fuck off with that.
https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/calm-down-about-spoilers-1834420211Also, play the fucking game.
It’s called a backlog. And that article’s bullshit.
We aren’t responsible for your inability to stop buying shit on Steam.
Yeah, and if I let something else slide, let’s say BOTW, in order to play GOW you’d say I can’t complain about BOTW spoilers.If you can’t spout off plot twists without warning, that shouldn’t be my problem.
BOTW would be even more egregious, as it’s been out a full year (!) longer God of War. Seriously, spoilers suck, but you’ve got no one to blame but yourself at this point in time. It’s like getting mad at the “Snape killed Dumbledore” meme.
That’s worse. I can forgive carelessness, but spoiling shit for the sake of spoiling shit is just being an asshole. There’s no excuse, and shame on you for defending it.
I’m sorry you can’t handle basic things on the internet. Also, Rosebud is the sled.
At least know you can look forward to how things get to that point. I had the ending of the first Red Dead Redemption spoiled for me the day I bought it, while it was still sealed in my bag. Definitely changed the story for me…
It’s a huge spoiler, but only if you’re familiar with Norse mythology.
It definitely is. A major spoiler.
Burn every single “best of decade” list to the ground and piss on the ashes.
I’m finally playing through the Witcher 3 and here is my one issueWhile there are a ton of unique quests and dialog all over, it seems to be spoken by the same 5 character models. It’s a minor compliant but by hour 60 you really start noticing that every non-named person seems to look the same
I’m playing W3 for the first time too. I laughed a lot at the goat who won’t follow directions. The game has a wicked sense of humor.
Racist.
It’s amazing how many of these lists are completely ignoring Yakuza 0. Not a masterpiece, but it completely reignited interest in a franchise that was more or less dormant in the West.
I don’t even mean as a top title for a given year, but it should at least be in notable titles.
Its not about quality and Yakuza 0/6/Kiwami 1,2,3 punch was surely brilliant. Its about importance to the medium as a whole and Yakuza is brilliant but its not really important in the grand scheme of things. Also before you say I don’t get Yakuza I wrote about it: https://tay.kinja.com/yakuza-doing-stupid-things-very-seriously-1833093892
I guess I can see the point where it’s not important in changing gaming as a whole. Still, it feels like resurrecting interest in a franchise to the point where people are going back and playing games that have been out for a while deserves SOME mention. Agree to disagree, I guess.
The stance I’d take is that Final Fantasy XV, Resident Evil 7, Yakuza 0, Persona 5, NieR:Automata, and Nioh* collectively revived the West’s faith in the Japanese games industry in late 2016/early 2017. Individually, none of them is super-influential,** but their collective importance is undeniable.*I’m excluding Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild, which also came out in 2017, because first-party Nintendo games seem to belong to a different cultural category.
**I’d argue that NieR:Automata will be an important inspiration for games coming out maybe 5 to 10 years from now. But its influence hasn’t really been felt yet.
I think I play Titanfall 2 more now than I did when it came out.It was just poor timing and didn’t get much buzz prior to release.
The campaign in that game is ridiculously good.
He only mentioned half the reason it was dead on release. Yeah it came out a week after Battlefield, but it also came out a week before Call of Duty. It never stood a chance.
Titanfall 2 has one of the best single player campaigns in a first person shooter hands down. One of the levels has you fighting through a factory that puts together levels, and that’s not even the best one!
That bit where you’re jumping back and forth in time is incredible.
The last sequence where you get the you-know-what somehow managed to surprise me, and it should not have, but I was delighted all the same.
“Bethesda somehow crammed the excellent 2016 Doom game onto a teensy little Switch cart”No they didn’t. They put part of the game on cart and relegated the rest to a download.
I get the logic, but not having Skyrim on here is an ABSURDLY hot take, given its comical number of ports, expansions, and mods that have pushed its popular lifetime to a full 8 years.
I think GTA5 not even getting a mention is more egregious. Bioshock infinite was a fine game but nothing all that special, whereas GTA5 sold a billion copies and still has a crazy popular online component.
It’s even stupider when you consider that GTAV is STILL getting into the Top 10 Weekly Sales Charts. Like, after whatever big new release there is, GTAV is typically right after, alongside Smash Ultimate and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Holy shit, you’re right I didn’t even think about GTA5. Yeah how in the hell isn’t it on this list.
Just even as an honorable mention even. I mean, I’d rather put The Last of Us as the main title, just because i like the game better and Naughty Dog deserves a place here, but GTA5 has to warrant a mention.
I’ll admit I’m super bias, I just don’t care for bioshock. Never understood the appeal. Last of us is an amazing game, I don’t know if it’s a decade important game but certainly I don’t see why Bioshock would be? That said, compared to those two games, GTA5 absolutely is a ground breaking industry changing game.
Damn, I didn’t even think about that, but now that you mention it, that’s insane…
Over saturating a game to the point its a joke isn’t the same as importance.
Over-saturation isn’t analogous to “Game that did incredibly well, is still doing incredibly well, and has an active online community to this day.”Over-saturation is putting too many of the same product into a market place, resulting in poor sales and reaction from the consumer base.
Well, we had Oblivion before Skyrim which had the same things. Skyrim did not renew anything, it just had better locations that Oblivion. Still had terrible systems all around without mods, like crafting iron daggers to get max level in blacksmith or the simply terrible loot all around, making crafting the best source of items by a long shot, which, remember, was super easy to get as well.
Meanwhile, Dark Souls got A LOT of people into that kind of game, Demon’s Souls being way less popular at the time. Many games then got on that train. It was one of the most influential game we had in “recent” years.
I do get the frustration though, with Bioshock Inifinite instead of Last of Us, one seen as a meh game by a lot of people, the other being a masterpiece that would gut punch you several times during its poignant story and super solid gameplay.
Right. If you want to talk “criticism of games from an art perspective”, i’d go with a representative indie game before mentioning Bioshock infinite. But in terms of impact from that year, I’d put Last of Us or GTA5 as the game to represent the year (Naughty Dog should definitely be represented!)
I mean there are mods out there to improve the graphics and combat of Skyrim to the point that a modern computer has trouble keeping up. Though I think the thing that both Souls series and The Elder Scrolls games have done is foster a community that has both dived deep into the lore as well as a the mechanics.
That’s something i appreciate in both series. The obscure lore that doesn’t matter to the game, but if you care, you can find. I’ll watch youtube videos about DS or Bloodborne lore that is all in the game but only someone who cares would actually find, and it gives the series so much depth.
Popular doesn’t equal important. Skyrim didn’t affect trends in game design nearly as much as DS.
You are confusing really popular and successful for important, important to me, means, a game that subverted the expectations of what a game is/can be, and had a profound effect on how others create games. Skyrim did not do any of the latter. Really great game, but when you are done, do you really take any of it with you?
“Was bought by many people” is not the same as “important”.
Skyrim did nothing special, it was just Oblivion with massively simplified character building and dragons. We lost a lot more than we gained with Skyrim
Spawning a ton of rereleases is arguably only really important to the publisher. Dark Souls spawned a ton of copycat’s so is arguably more important to videogames as a whole.
I’m not sure what my personal favorite game of the 2010s is, but it’s probably between Persona 5 and Breath of the Wild. If we’re talking total hours logged, then throw in Skyrim, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Crusader Kings 2, and Civilization 6 as well.
My most /played in the 2010’s would be World of Warcraft and I stopped playing that in 2015.Also I’m really mulling Civ 6 for Switch, but I’ve never played a Civ before. Would that be a good move?
Personally I think I would have put Skyrim above Dark Souks. Skyrim has been ported to so many platforms it’s insane and still has a huge modding community The Souls games are important but I believe they are still much of a nitche market. Plenty of people have tried them but the difficulty keeps a lot of people away.
It’s not just about audience reach though; Dark Souls has been incredibly influential to the artform at large.
Skyrim has had a greater effect in the real world, though. To this day I still drop baskets over shopkeeper’s heads and steal all their cheese.
Yeah, as much as I don’t personally like them, “Souls-like” is now a thing.
And Skyrim hasn’t?
Skyrim followed a very established formula.
Skyrim helped propagate that formula. Virtually every game on the market has RPG elements in large part due to the success of Skyrim
I think it’s more a combination of Oblivion and Assassin’s Creed tbh.
Assassin’s Creed didn’t start taking rpg elements until the Witcher 3 inspired then to do so. Deus ex is what inspired the crossing of rpg elements into other genres and the Witcher 3 causing a recent new resurgence in dozens of games crediting them. One of which is assassin’s Creed.
That’s been happening long before Skyrim. Deus ex is often credited with being the influence of first person RPGs a decade before Skyrim. There is nothing Skyrim changes from Deus ex format. It’s the reason why Skyrim is a formula followed for a decade before. A quick Google search of “Skyrims influence” vs “Dark souls influence” will show the amount of directors and artists that take from one and not the either. Hell the Witcher 3 has done more to popularize RPGs elements in other games than Skyrim. Witcher 3 inspired changes in AC, dying light 2, and dozens of more. Skyrim is often looked at through the developers I have talked to and dozens of conferences the end of golden age of FPrpgs starting with Deus ex and dying with Skyrim. Often talking of the cultural impact as something to copy, but the game itself is often looked at as a writing farce. The development of the game is something no one wants to copy or imitate. Most could not death with the broken mess of a game it was or the horrible development process of duck taping the game to try and be somewhat usable where the backlash was immediate. The only game I know of crediting taking any inspiration from Skyrim was BOTW. They did this in listing it among a dozen other Western RPGs they looked at before making the game.
How are you defining “RPG elements” here?
I would argue it’s weaker than Oblivion
..but Dark Souls followed a very similar formula to Demon Souls (which in turn took a lot of non forgiveness/non hand holding from the Kings Field Games)
Yeah, but I recall Oblivion having way more buzz than Demon’s Souls, let alone King’s Field.
Has it? Has it been more influential than Morrowind or Oblivion really? I love the game and series, but I’m not sure Skyrim specifically is very influential.
I mean, not really, but it’s been incredibly influential on the marketing of the games, which, let’s face it, is much more important than the “art form” in this industry, especially in the mud-caked “indie” gutter, where things are still trickling in as the supposed “Dark Souls” of so-and-so.
Yes but Skyrim even more so. More people know about skyrim and ‘arrow to the knee’ than they know about ‘you died.’
That’s a tough one. I think they are both hugely influential. Souls would get my vote too though because it’s really the start of a new offshoot of a genre. How many games are described as “Souls-like” now? From 3d to 2d, it’s had a huge impact on the decade that followed. Skyrim is a continuation of a trend that started and was already popular in the 2000’s, so it’s down a peg for me.
Well….no one really cribs from Skyrim. We don’t have the term “Bethesda-like or Scrolls-Like”. I’d say that the incredible lack of Bethesda-esque games proves they’re not that *influential* on the artform.
I wouldn’t go that far, I think the Bethesda games are very influential to the open world RPG’s. Souls games were such a strange break from regular action RPG’s that “souls like” made sense for games that followed suit. Yes, the games are action RPG’s, but it’s pretty different from a Zelda game, and there isn’t any easier way to describe it in 3 or 4 words. So “souls-like” or “soulsborne” works.
The difficulty can be a barrier for DS, but the atmosphere/mood is just so great. Strange and melancholy, kind of like Shadow of the Colossus or Ico, it sticks with you.
The last Elder Scrolls with a compelling, unique world was Morrowind. The rest are just knights and vikings.
The Souls games have had a bigger influence on what’s come after, though.
Skyrim was a refined Oblivion it wasn’t that “Important” in the grand scheme of things. The Soulsborne games revolutionized game design and proved difficulty wasn’t a toxic element. Dark Souls changed gaming for the better Skyrim… didn’t.
The success of Skyrim allowed it to have a huge and long-lasting impact on the market though. Even the Breath of the Wild team namechecked Skyrim as one of the Western RPGs that influenced their open world plans.
This is an incredibly reductive response, almost flippant in how sweeping and firm it is .
I would say the Souls games (and Bloodborne) forged the path towards a specific approach to game design that would be so influential in the medium to the point of creating their own genre to the eyes of some, that did indeed happen. However, to say that they and they alone “revolutionized game design”, “proved difficulty wasn’t a toxic element” *and* “changed gaming for the better” are three completely different Hells stretching in different directions.Personally, I can see an argument for the first one. Sure, I do think they were more innovative in their approach to storytelling than actual gameplay, but I think there is merit in their until then unique melding of mechanics from other genres into RPGs.
For the second one, there are many other examples before and since Dark Souls to prove that point, it’s certainly not something one can attribute to Souls games but rather to a shift in optics in game design. And I believe the game’s own fandom has proved the opposite generating vitriol at the mere mention of the dreaded “difficulty option”, even extending to accessibility.
As for the last point, even when disregarding the very personal spin in that take, the larger contribution to the medium itself is, as it is with every extremely influential title, mixed. It did create a new subgenre and popularized a different approach to game design, and that resulted in the flooding of the market in titles that attempt to replicate it to varying degrees of success. For every Hollow Knight (itself an influential game) there were two Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, cynical imitations that fail to capture what made those games tick.
It’s hard to argue for a net positive influence when you can witness how it ushered a new era of attempted homogenization. Where the games it inspired had more success by lifting only one or two aspects of said games than they did copying its entire structure. Personally I’d argue for a net negative influence the games had on the medium overall but that’s exactly why I would never make such sweeping statements in the first place.
That’s also precisely why this article listed important games rather than best. It’s just impossible to open that particular can of worms, regarding the “quality” of their influence, without hitting almost every wall with a particular argument.
Also you forgot to mention how Dark Souls is good and Skyrim is terrible garbage that required years of modding to become somewhat enjoyable.
And still doesn’t even get close to the quality of storytelling that the Souls series accomplishes.
Skyrim isn’t influential though. People just play more Skyrim. I played the first 45 minutes of that game like three times and was like, oh hey it’s Oblivion again. Which was just Morrowind again. Not to belittle the millions of artist-hours that must’ve gone into all that world-building, but… *shrug*.
I’d honestly give them both equal footing for 2011. Both have spouted a fountain of memes, both have a dedicated community digging into the lore, and both have been ported to everything of relevance.
Except, that without heavy modding Skyrim, like most Bethesda games, is boring. “ooh everything always scales with me, thrilling”
Skryim is more popular but Dark Souls has been far more influential. There were games like Skyrim before Skyrim; not much like DS before DS (aside from Demon’s Souls, obviously).
I don’t totally disagree, but Dark Souls spawned the entire “Souls-like” genre (if it can truly be called a genre). While Skyrim is one of my favorite games of all time, it is another entry in an already well established genre and didn’t really do anything that new, it just maybe did some things better or on a larger scale than had been done in the past. I love them both, but I’d give the nod to Dark Souls for being the more important game of the two.
More people probably played Skyrim but more game developers were influenced by Dark Souls, thus changing the hobby a great deal.
Skyrim isn’t even the best game of the Elder Scroll series. Every single quest is “ignore this huge awesome open world: go into a cave and fight Drauger and get a thing to give it back to someone”.
Skyrim is great and enormously popular, but it’s essentially the best version of a formula that’s been done several times. Dark Souls did way more to influence the future of game design.
True Skyrim has a larger modding community, but Darks Souls also has a ton of ports. PC, 360, PS3, PS4,Xbone, and Switch. In fact, and I can’t be a hundred without doing a quick goog I am too lazy to do, I think they are available on all the same platforms.
How many first person RPGs have taken inspiration or elements from Skyrim directly? How many action games have take inspiration or elements from dark souls directly? One doesn’t influence other games, the other does. Its like comparing the difference in influence between the godfather and Jurassic world.
Just watch an online walkthrough on youtube and you’ll get through any Souls game, they have a solid foundational logic.
Hmmm I agree and also disagree. Skyrim didn’t create an entire genre; only “perfected” an existing one. Souls however started an entire genre of video game that has never been done before.
But did Skyrim spawn a thousand awful reviews of games featuring the line “[GAME] is the Dark Souls of [GENRE]”?
Untitled Goose Game is the Dark Souls of avian simulators!
See, now you’re ready to submit your application to IGN/Kotaku/ any other gaming site!
LOL, anyone who knows me(or read my posts here) can tell you that writing is not one of my skills. They would need to hire a super editor to pull my spelling and grammar nightmare into a readable story.
But then there would have been three open-world games on this list! I already think two was too much!
I didn’t think agreeing with you would be this unpopular. This is a silly subjective debate, that said I agree with you that Skyrim should take this year over Souls. Sales alone don’t automatically, but 3 years ago (prior to yet more ports) Skyrim had already sold more than the entire Souls series combined this year. Now I’m not saying more sales makes it better, or more important directly; but, that those numbers demonstrate that relatively speaking the Souls-like is in fact a nitche market. To the larger public (this site likely has a disproportionate number of souls-like gamers), Skyrim was more important culturally. I would further explain my reasoning but, alas:
I think part of it is that souls fans are very passionate about the game. Which I understand in a way, they are games you really need to work at to enjoy. I also wonder if it’s an age factor thing. If the souls games came out when I was in my teens or 20s I’d probably be a lot more into them. I’d have more time to “get gud” and my hand/eye coordination would be at its peak. But for me, Skyrim rewarded me without the need to learn by tons of trial and error. I realize it was an evolution of the series more then something new but I still see it making a huge cultural impact on the gaming industry. But you are right. It’s not like it matters in the long run. They were both hugely influential.
Yeah this list isn’t bad, but is inconsistant.Same with The Walking Dead over Mass Effect 3.ME3 had much larger impact and despite not being everything we expected/hoped, was still a great close to the series.
if i were writing this list, i would have conceded that that year simply required a tie between skyrim and dark souls. your points about skyrim are all very valid. however, a massive number of games are now described as “dark souls with…” to the point that it’s become a cliche. dark souls altered the landscape of gaming and its effects are still being felt in games released this year.
ctrl + f “Metal Gear Solid”dafuq????????????????
Bioshock over The Last of Us? Absolutely not.
I really like the story of Bioshock Infinite, but to put it on the list because of storytelling and THEN put it above The Last of Us is just wrong. I use The Last of Us as my go to example for video games as art in storytelling. If you don’t have an emotional reaction from the first 15 minutes of that game (if you have played it, you know what I am talking about) then you are a hollow person. The story telling in that game top notch.
Yeah, I was turned off storyline-wise by the aforementioned bothsidesism in Bioshock Infinite, and I still cried both times that I saw the giraffes in The Last of Us. I still played them both as much as I could (didn’t spring for multiplayer for TLOU, quit trying for the Platinum on the final fight in BI).
I also use Last of Us as an example of compelling narrative in video games. The reason it works better than almost any other postapocalyptic setting (where writers often use near-identical plot devices) is the strength of its characters. When you realise, for instance, what’s really going on inside the head of Bill the Crazed Survivalist Asshat, it’s revelatory.
One thing I love about ‘The Last of Us’ is how that wonderful storytelling kind of lulls you into forgetting the kind of game you’re playing. You watch a scene of Joel Ellie coming to a new town, talking about what they’re seeing and you just enjoy the way this relationship is unfolding. And then you hear that clicking noise, and suddenly you remember you’re not safe. It’s a brilliant way to let the fear subside and then bring it back even stronger.
It’s tough going from rpgs to B:I. I liked B:I a lot but when suddenly the writing tells me I’m against the rebellion just because they’re slaughtering people that created the now-venting fear and anger…made me lose a lot of feeling for the game. It felt more like my agency being taken away than the reveal in the first game.
Yeah Infinite May have had people discussing big philosophical ideas but the first one already did that. Last of Us was profoundly moving and a much better example of games as art (ie with a strong personal message attached to them); it’s still a high water mark. Plus the ending had people weighing the value of real relationships over ideas and I’m still debating it with friends to this day (I used to hate Joel, but with age I understand his point of view more)
I love that ending. You don’t have to think Joel did the right thing (and probably he didn’t) to identify and empathize with his decision. That’s real love. It is often profoundly selfish, and thoroughly anti-utilitarian.
The beauty of it too is that a lot of stories in various forms want to put the hero to that specific test (save the person you love, or save the city/the world/whatever), but they don’t have the balls to make it stick. 9 times out of 10, the hero manages to save both; it’s a fake choice. And the other one time, they usually make the noble sacrifice (or more likely, the one they love makes it for them), and they get to be all sad and motivated. TLOU is the rare example of this type of story that shows the protagonist making the selfish choice, the only choice his heart can let him make, and then the story just ends, leaving you to wonder if he did the right thing, and what you would do in his shoes. AND for a bonus, we get to wonder if she knew, and if she’s already choosing to forgive him because she knows, as we know, how much he loves her.
Might be the best ending to any narrative video game, IMO.
Not only that, but the game switches us to controlling Ellie at the end specifically so we can step back and evaluate Joel’s actions a little more objectively, and a lot less “in the moment”. It’s a brilliant use of game mechanics to reinforce storytelling.
Consider the fact that Last of Us can only be played by PS owners.Hurts the argument when the game is exclusive to a platform and misses half the population.Source: Am Xbox owner who has never played LoU, Bloodborne, Uncharted, God of War….
As others have said throughout the comments, this list isn’t about that, though. It’s about overall influence on the industry, which The Last of Us has in spades over Infinite, which didn’t say anything that the first game didn’t already say, but in much worse game. TLoU changes the entire discourse about games as mature emotional narratives.
Of course.However, you can not discount that the conversation is much more robust and the influence is more pronounced when the base number involved in the argument isn’t significantly cut in half. If half the gamer population didn’t plat TLoU, how can it be trendsetting?Grave of the Fireflies is a much more poignant, emotional and influential story about war than Saving Private Ryan, The Pianist etc. Unfortunately, you probably can’t name 5 people who’ve seen it. Exposure counts in this argument.
I disgree. Influence and importance isn’t calculated just by how many people have experienced it. Take for example Blade Runner, the movie has changed the look of sci-fi and has influenced countless of movies, games, anime etc. But it wasn’t succesfull, both movies bombed at the theaters and many people have seen it later it isn’t one of the most watched movies.
Was the influence as immediate as the box office flop? Or was the influence felt over time as exposure grew?
dude most of the games on this list aren’t on all platforms.That’s clearly irrelevant to what they’re talking about.
WTF are you talking about?Every single game listed is cross platform except Zelda.
I said “aren’t on all platforms”, not “are cross platform”. The majority of these games weren’t on the Switch, Wii, or Wii U.
I think Bioshock should have been there over Last of Us* , have but it being an exclusive shouldn’t effect it . By that logic Breath of the Wild shouldn’t have been the winner in 2017 , but even as someone who’ll probably never own a switch (at least not until 5-6 years from now when I can pick one up cheap)I can understand why it’s a good game .*(PC gaming non ps4/xbox/switch owner)
Infinite is my all time disappointment in gaming. I was so hyped. Then they released a corridor, 2 gun at a time COD clone. Story was cool but it felt like every other generic shooter game play wise. Yeah you got powers but the AI and environments were way too simple. I never felt the intensity of planning for a Big Daddy fight by setting traps and using the environment to my advantage, barely surviving and knowing with what little supplies I had left, I’d have to do it again.
Not talking about which game is better but The Last of Us single handedly set the course of playstation exclusives this gen. And you can see that it’s style of storytelling and interactivity has had a big influence on many games that have come out over the last years.
BioShock Infinite is an interesting choice not because it was actually influential to the medium in any way, but because it was (IMO negatively) massively influential to video game discourse. In the months following its release, Infinite was rarely discussed on its own merits, but rather in terms of its importance and legacy. That’s a trend I see (unfortunately) continuing today.
I thought they were both awesome and would have a hard time choosing one over the other honestly.
Some more notable 2010s titles: https://twitter.com/worstsongbracke/status/1191804010484908032?s=20What ruined Deadspin? Only you know for sure.
Leaving Skyrim off of the list is criminal. I only did like 3 or 4 playthroughs for it myself but people are still playing it and making mods years later.
Pretty spot-on except for 2013. Bioshock:Infinite was boring and unimportant. Papers Please was by far the bigger legacy of that year. Also GTA V… which is still one of the most popular games to this day.
The 2018 Spider-Man is hands down the best superhero game ever made and just a lot of fun to play to boot. It deserves a hat tip. And if we’re going to include mobile games on this list, The Simpsons Tapped Out (2012) deserves a shout-out. I’ve been playing daily since late 2012 and still updated regularly.
Your post made me realize that Tapped Out is my most played (and most expensive) game of not just the decade, but probably all time, and it’s not particularly close.
Crap do I gotta go download Tapped Out again?
2014 needs a shoutout to Threes, not just for being one of the most addictive puzzle games since Tetris, but for being the harbinger of indie mobile games getting swallowed up by copycat cash grabs.
I’m amazed GTA5 didn’t make at least an honorable mention for 2013.
Having played Bloodborne first, then DS3, then finally DS1, I have to say strong disagree on this: And yet, nothing before, or since—despite the best efforts of both From, and a whole host of imitators working in gaming’s latest awkward portmanteau, the Souls-like genre—has matched Dark Souls’ breed of quietly confident genius. I think DS3 and Bloodborne especially do everything DS did but much better, and they also lack DS1’s big flaw (awful areas like that fire pit and Blighttown…). Also less overtly “gimmicky” bosses that are just annoying to fight, but not actually difficult (that fire demon who breaks the floor is so easy, you just die because the floor breaks…) I still like the game a lot, but From got much better at these games. Sekiro is also up there, but it’s different enough that I won’t include it with the Soulsborne games.
Agree on Bloodborne. Hard disagree on DS3. Bloodborne has that same very tight and interconnected world that DS1 did. It feels really full and satisfying. Its world is so beautifully realized. But DS3 is so obsessed with not being DS2 (A game I feel is flawed but also a refreshing departure from the rest of the series) that it struggles to have a clear sense of identity. It so desperately wants to be the successor to DS1 it just sort of becomes a looser versionn of DS1. There’s very little fresh and innovative about it. The gameplay may be better defined but the world feels like a pale mirror of 1.
I agree that the overall world isn’t as connected, but I feel Blighttown and a few other locations in DS1 just knock it down for me. And the bosses just got so much better with Bloodborne and DS3. So yes, some of the level design isn’t as good (the bonfire locations are often stupid. Beat a boss, bonfire, walk up the stairs….bonfire?), but the overall game is just better.
On later walkthroughs I just skip blighttown so you may be right.
And i dock it points for the comically easy final boss. Seriously, you can parry every attack and kill him in a minute. Compare him to the Soul of Cinder, or Nameless King in DS3. Hell, I had more trouble with Gundyr at the start of DS3!
Hard disagree on the hard disagree on DS3.
Hard agree on the hard disagree of the hard disagree on DS3!
Can’t we all just hard agree to hard disagree?
Lmao Fortnite over both RDR2 AND God of War?! I mean come on…
I think the WORLD of Red Dead 2, but there’s no way you can deny the cultural impact of Fortnite over either of those games.
I mean sure if we’re talking strictly about people aged 8-14.
And those kids are the future of the industry, so Fortnite deserves its place. Fortnite is to the 14 year olds of today what Golden Eye was to 14 year olds in my younger days.
Oh god, you’re right.
This is true, and I do believe that Fornite was rightly the most influential game, but let’s not think for a second that Fortnite in any way shape or form represents what these kids will be playing 20 years from now.(On an aside, the average age of a gamer is currently around 35. So these 14-year-olds represent only a tiny slice of the “future” of gamers, and one has to wonder how many of them will still be around once their lives are sucked up by adult responsibilities.)
Quit yelling at clouds, grandpa.
I think you can if you talk about Minecraft.
I was more shocked there wasn’t at least a light nod to PUBG. That game showed there was an audience for the battle royale genre, but couldn’t figure out how to capitalize on its success quickly and was often bug riddled (which granted did add a little to its charm). It was successful enough that Epic dropped what it was doing, tore apart Fortnite Save The World and went total FtP across the board. It’s the kind of thing a company like Epic had the scale to do and BAM you have a megahit. You can see a whole lot of PUBG’s DNA in Fortnite, and early on it looked like a kid-friendly mobile knockoff with microtransactions. Eventually it built itself into what it is today, but you wouldn’t have had Fortnite without PUBG.
But then why did Breath of the Wild make the list? It was a popular game, but will have next to zero impact on other games… Itself being a game that borrowed way more than it invented. And what it did invent is controversial at best.
I come from the future, from the 100 best films of the 2010’s where cultural impact is meaningless in the criteria apparently
In terms of gaming impact? Absolutely. How many games developed battle royale modes? That should tell you how important fortnite is.
Even people who have never played a video game know what Fortnite is.
Is the title of the article “The best games of the 2010s?”
It depends on what you think this post was about.
Fortnite absolutely dominated 2019 and changed the industry enough to push CoD into including a Battle Royale mode
This list is about games that are important in the sense of how they impacted the industry, not in terms of their overall quality.
That’s kind of the point?
I’ve never even played fortnite, and God of War is easily one of my favorite games I’ve ever played, but I can’t deny which is the more important game to the industry as a whole.
Fortnight is making a splash as grand as Nintendo did back in the 80’s/early 90’s. Everyone knew Nintendo so much so that it became a generic term for anything video game related. Fortnite is becoming the next iteration of that. Is the game for me? Nope, not in the slightest, but that’s not the point of this list and there are plenty of gamers with completely different tastes than mine.
Okay annoying people, I get how much you think Fortnite matters. Enough spamming the same comments.
This isn’t an article about the “best” games (which in and of itself highly subjective) but the most important.God of War, while a great game, has basically fallen out of general discourse. RDR2 has had a lot more sustainability, especially now with the messy PC port.But if you don’t understand the importance of Fortnight on the landscape of video games… well, that’s on you.
Yeah I know, stop spamming the same message. You’re like the 50th person to say this.
What is fortnights bigger importance other than being really popular? The game controls are fine but certainly not revolutionary or special, same for the graphics, online experience etc. I just don’t see it having a very large impact on future games. RDR2 change what I expect out of a game. It’s something that will effect every game purchase I make the rest of my life. Is anything about Fortnight going to stick with you in 5 years?
Smartphones aren’t as good as phones made for making calls god damnit!
If you don’t want to be beaten over the head with the same comment maybe don’t say obviously ridiculous things to start with lol
Maybe if I could delete comments which apparently angered all the children on the internet I would. Or at least others could try reading comments. I guess that’s too much for little kids to do.
Buddy, pal, friend … I get that you’re a little over being told again and again that your bad take was bad, but calling people little kids because they said so makes you look really fragile and defensive. Take the L and move on.
I mean, it’s not a matter of what we “think.” It’s just simple fact.It gets brought up by casual talk shows and late night hosts, and the audience actually knows what they’re talking about when they make the joke.Parents actually pay real money for people to teach their kids to get better at the game.Ninja rose to enough fame to become a multi-millionaire and an actual, legit celebrity mostly by playing Fortnite. Fortnite is the reason why the Epic Games Store even exists, as the game is so successful Epic can just throw money all willy-nilly around and still make a giant profit off the game.Now, I don’t play the game. I couldn’t tell you any of the character names or any of the game terms or anything like that. But I can still recognize that Fortnite is far, far more wide-reaching and culturally relevant than either RDR or God of War. Those two games appeal to hobbyist/hardcore gamers only. Fortnite appeals to practically everyone.
In terms of cultural impact and “importance”, there’s no question Fortnite is bigger than those two games.
It’s most INFLUENTIAL game, not best. God of War is an infinitely better game than Fortnite, but Fortnite’s free-to-play/season pass model has had an enormous (and, IMO, negative) impact on a lot of games going forward.
I don’t play or give any shits about Fortnite but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t and is not still making an impact.
Fortnite aside, RDR2 is a mess of a game that contains some of the worst game design decisions made this decade.
Don’t get me wrong, you could not pay to me play fornite, but when all is said and done, it is a very “important” games, because it truly is changing gaming forever, for better or worse….
what is this pending approval?
This list isn’t the BEST games. It’s the most important and you can argue Fortnite is the most important game since the original Doom.
It’s become Halloween costume status… :/
ok boomer
I don’t enjoy fortnite but excluding it from a list like this would be insane. It has quite obviously had a massive impact on gaming that almost no recent game has had.
RDR2 and GoW are fine games but they have nowhere near the popularity that Fortnite has. It’s an industry unto itself, turning people into minor celebrities, getting parents to buy coaches for kids to play the game, and endless microtransactions, crossover promotion, and events.No one’s arguing it’s the best game of the year, but most important? It’d be foolish to call any other game from 2018 more important.
“Deleting” this comment cos I’m the 80th person to say it
Fornite is not even the best at its brand now – PUBG was first and better (still is) and Apex is better than all.
Ok boomer
I know lists like this are subjective, but there’s no way BioShock Infinite is “Better” than The Last of Us. They are both good, well made games, but TLoU is just on a another level better than BI.
I can see where you are coming from on most of these, but I don’t agree that Bioshock: Infinite has a place on this list – and I enjoyed playing it when it came out. But looking back now, it isn’t a game that made a long term impression on me. I haven’t thought about Bioshock in any capacity since I played B:I until I saw it mentioned here. I certainly don’t think that there is an ongoing conversation about it or the ideas that it brought up. Maybe there was at the time and I don’t remember it, but if there was it is certainly long past.I would have absolutely gone with The Last of Us for that year, and that one I wasn’t much of a fan of. But it is something that is still talked about, and I think had a much bigger impact on gaming and the culture at large.
Also no nods towards any of the Arkham games? Those were basically THE superhero games
You could make the argument for Asylum in 09, but this article isn’t about 09.
You could easily say the same about Arkham City (2011).
Well you could. I wouldn’t, personally.
City’s the only one that I think belongs on a list like this; it’s the pinnacle of the series in many ways, gives you the wide atmospheric world with so much you can do, a terrific storyline, and the mechanics are smooth. Origins is clunky in spots, and Knight suffers from too much tank fighting(a phrase I previously never thought possible).
I haven’t purchased a video game system in… thinking… 7 or 8 years. But I still enjoyed this article, good read & nice list, thanks.
Damn, I thought Journey would get a mention somewhere
Really solid article, but having BioShock: Infinite as a more significant game than The Last of Us is laughable, and having no mention of Horizon: Zero Dawn for 2017 should be a criminal offense.
Bioshock Infinite discussions felt like an iteration of Bioshock 1 & 2, it didn’t feel like a dominant thing—was it? If anything, it got derailed by the fact that the gameplay was simplified, and became a distant shooting gallery. (Was the dlc for 2 really that good? I don’t remember it, but I might not have played it on PC.) Was it me? Freedom fighter/terrorist is a really old conversation, so I think the discussion around the depiction of harming children of the first game was much more robust. And I feel like the Wolfenstein reboot’s commercials got just as much discussion, and because we as people are an unsubtle bunch, more direct. (I don’t remember what that year was.)
I hardly have recall of all the games of 2013, but Last of Us strikes me as a stronger achievement, the distillation of a mode and a storytelling that didn’t become about a charming mass-murderer. (I like Nathan Drake! But there it is.) But really, GTAV on the other hand had a little bit of controversy as always and has stealth become a economic model juggernaut. I mean, it’s no mobile game or Fortnite, but it’s something to talk about.I think Anthem’s a more instructive choice for this year so far than anything else, actually. Or maybe just lump all the Ubi’s into one essay.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is practically the same game as Breath of the Wild but is far superior in every way and was released only a week prior. And it doesn’t even get a mention?
I don’t think because a whole lot of people were talking about a game when it came out is a reason to call it “important” six years later. I thought Bioshock Infinite was great (if a bit incoherent by the end), but no one ever talks about it now, and it was not influential. And people regularly site either the first game or the second game’s DLC Minerva’s Den as the best entry in the franchise.Of course, I feel very strongly that The Last of Us is among the top two or three games for the whole decade. I know that’s not the same as “important”, but at least people still talk about that game and are champing at the bit to play the sequel.
Last of Us is definitely more important than Infinite because of the impact it had on the discourse of viability of video games as an effective and emotional storytelling medium.
That’s just like, your opinion man.
I wouldn’t really consider myself part of the gamer community so I don’t know if I’m off base here, but I feel like Joel and Ellie were characters people talked about and cared about as people outside of the game they were in, in a way that doesn’t usually happen, at least not for ordinary human characters. Sure, people will dress up as Master Chief or Link and write fanfic about them and all sorts, but those are heroic, franchise characters. I feel like I saw a lot of discourse about the stars of ‘The Last of Us’ in ways and in places where I was much more used to people talking about characters like Walter White or characters from the West Wing.
I totally agree, and I think that’s because the writing is on a level above almost every other video game ever made. It’s the only game I’ve ever played that I feel the script could rival well-respected Hollywood fare.
This is a fair take. I’d say BI’s influence is has more to do with video game discourse than the medium itself. It solidified a kind of meta-discourse about games’ legacies divorced from their actual merits as games, and I don’t think games writing has ever recovered from that.Fittingly, the only entry on this list that talks about a game’s legacy mostly in terms of, well, its legacy, is the one about BioShock Infinite.
Yeah as far as I am concerned infinite is a huge downgrade and hardly deserved the “Bioshock” title at all
Absolutely no mention of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, one of the biggest games success stories this decade? Seems like an oversight.
The Witcher 3 is a bland game that squanders its efforts on weak storytelling and weaker gameplay. The best things about it are the lack of awful features present in other games (microtransactions, paid DLC) which is a far cry from having merits of its own.
lol here’s the guy that needs attention
Come at me (with a limited, repetitive moveset).
Just remind me which of the four spells you’re weak against and this will be over in a jiffy.
And here’s the guy dishing it out – we’re a good match, you and I.
This is certainly an opinion.
I think it’s just you and me, Joey. I thought Witcher 3 was just about the most boring game imaginable. Here ride your dumb horse for an hour and fight a goblin.
I appreciate the commiseration; we’re a rare breed indeed.
I just cant get into it (I’ve tried , and I really want to , I just cant) , but I admit its a good game .
As someone who put 50 hours into W3–yeah, basically. People keep telling me the post-game DLCs are fantastic but if it takes another 50 hours of repetitive gameplay in a beautiful but dull world I can’t imagine I’ll ever get there.
I beat The Witcher 3 and all the expansions (bought the complete edition) and the only reason I did so was because I kept hearing about what an epic game it was. After I reached level 10 no fight was difficult and everything was incredibly repetitive. People would go on about how many side quests there were but they were mostly the same and incredibly boring. I don’t get the love for this game at all.
These listicles never go well , but leaving The Stanley Parable off the 2013 list was a big oversight.Its a great example of how innovative and different a game can be , whike still being a ‘game.’
God thank you! I’ve seen so many “Best of the Decade” lists that put these games at or near the top. A game can be important but not the best Bloodborne and Sekero are “better” (in my opinion) than Dark Souls but Dark Souls is undeniably more important then them.
Its a much better way to frame these lists then best, which is inherantly subjective anyways. As the influence of these games are still felt. Personally, I would also add Mass Effect 3 to this list but not in a good way. The fandom backlash to its ending, is still felt in the tactics used to this day, when a community does not see itself be catered too.
Yeah Mass Effect 3 was the beginning of online backlash affecting publisher and developer decisions. I’m a writer and I tend to side with the storytellers, and view online armchair critics as entitled and annoying. Like yes, I was disappointed by Halo 5’s campaign as I loved all the previous campaigns, but am I going to send death threats and spend all of my available time online whining and harassing developers? Jesus no I move on like an adult. (I side with the author unless they’re JK Rowling. She needs to stop messing with Harry Potter)
I’m the same and ya that was my point. It was the time gamer entitlement + the internet became a REALLY toxic thing. Did I think the ending was great? No. Do I think the reaction was justified? HELL NO. It was insane and its only getting worse. What is worse is that this shit is starting to metastesize in the real world as you can see it grow into Gamergate and then the alt-right in general. Like its a bad, but important development in this medium.
Did you know that Filch was naked and sporting a massive throbbing erection at all times, but it was never mentioned because it wasn’t important to Harry’s journey?
In terms of influence, Fortnite absolutely blows RDR2 out of the water, even if it was a very enjoyable movie. It’s up there with Minecraft in terms of popularity. If you want evidence of this, just visit any boardwalk or mall and see what t-shirts are out front.Gotta say, I agree with almost all of this list. I never played Bioshock Infinite so that being chosen over Last of Us was a bit of a shock though. Last of Us succeeded at being both a movie and a game and helped elevate the artform a great deal. Video games were art before LOU of course, but LOU helped make the case to non-believers more than any other game up to that point.
Do I like where LOU leads? Not if the story is the only focus, as was the case with RDR2. RDR2 prioritized immersion over fun. While there was enough game left that you didn’t really think about it at the time, once I was done enjoying the story I had no real reason to keep playing. I think this is absolutely how Rockstar intended the game to be, but I would not want future video games to follow that example.I do want to clarify, I don’t believe video games have to resemble cinema to be considered art. Luigi’s Mansion 3 is just as much art as Red Dead and Yooka-Laylee, as all these games are expressions that are meant to evoke a feeling. But I do think successful video games as art should always nail their gameplay first. Story / video comes second. For a final example, take Breath of the Wild. The plot is not that complicated; the world building is pretty good, but aside from that the story is just OK. I consider it a masterpiece though because the themes it espouses can all be found in its game play. Mountains in game inspire awe and grandeur like they would if you encountered them in real life. The rush you get from successfully climbing that mountain fades back into even more awe when you get to enjoy the view from up there. There’s just such a clear idea of what it is like to play Breath of the Wild. But I’ve spilled enough ink about Breath of the Wild in the past, and if you’ve played you should already know what I’m talking about.One final nod: Celeste is amazing, and continued the discussion about mental health that Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice brought to the forefront. No game has reached me more deeply this decade than Celeste. It’s very affecting, whether you struggle with anxiety / depression, struggle with loving yourself, or just don’t know what you’re doing in life right now. Anyone can relate to fighting their demons while trying to climb a mountain. A truly great game.Let’s hope games from the coming decade can be just as good, if not better.
Infinite is my one real disagreement with the list myself—I can only imagine that being a console-exclusive hurts LoU. If I were to pipe in for something, I think it should be GTAV. We’ve moved on from a lot of elements from it, but it’s long term cash cow success is should be a much bigger story.
Great article. My pick for game of the decade is Climb Everything Simulator 2017. Mass Effect was great, too, but I think it didn’t really have a legacy due to me never finishing the third one and people being upset about that. 2024’s inevitable remake using ME2’s combat system should be a hell of a lot of fun. I thiiink Dark Souls probably is up there too, based on what my brother-in-law has said about it. Charlie knows what’s up.Spelunky, too. Deserves a mention. Marvel Puzzle Quest; Because it’s like an alcoholic nephew, you know you shouldn’t but what harm is there in throwing 20 bucks its way once in a while…
Even though it came out late 09, Arkham Asylum should be on here over Bioshock Infinite. And no Portal 2? Or Red Dead Redemption?
Portal 2 seems to be completely forgotten which is a shame because I loved it so.
Bioshock infinite literally blew up the internet with think pieces and stuff
Meh, I think Horizon Zero Dawn deserves a shoutout at least.
HZD really gets passed over a lot considering 2017 was such a big year for other games. There is a sequel in the works though
Polygon (lol) didn’t even list in their Best 100 games of the decade. For SHAME!
What? really?
I totally forgot to add it on my list as well, but yeah, HZD was a great game. I think coming out in the same year (and almost the same month) as Breath of the Wild did it no favors, especially given the similarities between them. I still think BoTW is the deserving GoTY from that year, but HZD was definitely up there and would be a GOTY contender, if not winner, any year.
This is very thoughtful, with much more to offer than a regular ol’ “Best Of” list.
I would LOVE to read something about indie games of the 2010’s. This decade was packed with thoughtful games, some of which were huge phenomena (Undertale) while others were lesser-known but vital (Papers, Please). Storytelling games, walking simulators, roguelikes, puzzle games, platformers, art games, retro games, VR games, creative games, strategy games, city-building games, goose games… a genuine explosion in unique concepts and gameplay.
I’m a little surprised to see no mention of Hollow Knight, a game that shook the Metroidvania genre to its core.
Or Rogue Legacy
Hollow Knight is one of those games I don’t think I have a single complaint about. Besides the optional White Palace, I guess. But even that wasn’t terrible, personally.
I think the list is more about influencers, not the ultimate expression of past influencers. In terms of raw quality, though, it’s an easy top ten.
Skyrim is/was and always will be a very important game that pushed the industry forward. It is easily one of the games of the century. Dark Souls? Eh, I think that’s a niche choice.
I’m surprised no MOBA made the list. Between Dota and League, I feel like they had a pretty big shadow over the industry.
For as much of a following that MOBAs get, they still seem kinda niche. I don’t think I agree that the rest of the industry is waiting to see what they do next.
Horizon: Zero Dawn came out in 2017 and I think it deserves more credit than it gets. It basically perfected the Ubisoft formula of big open map you’re forced to explore and open. The story also got increasingly more interesting as it goes and it uses a lot of the same “light RPG” mechanics that other open world games use. Also, robot dinosaurs.
It’s a victim of coming out in the same year as Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey and Nier.
I feel like it does get respect, even coming out around all these other titles…just not from AVClub because the person reviewing it didn’t care for it.And no offense to Nier, Odyssey, and BotW (all of which I’ve played and largely agree with the respect they get) but it’s not like H:ZD is some halfway mediocre game in comparison. Horizon kicks ass.
I’ve long said that had any of those games (aside from BotW, which earned the honor) came out in different years, they would have EASILY been GotY in that respective year.
It’s one of those games I keep thinking about even years later. Slowly uncovering that game world was done so well and hunting giant robots was extremely satisfying
I still think about it myself. It actually caused a slight bout of depression for me when I finished it because I missed Aloy so much….I don’t think I have ever been that attached to a character before.
Yeah but it was just a very polished open world game that was pretty cookie cutter outside of the setting, botw redefined how you interact with the open world with it’s traversal mechanics
I think it’s that HZD felt iterative, gameplay wise, rather than influential, which is seems to be a marker of this list. (Though I’m one who questions Bioshock Infinite in it’s year.)I think it doesn’t get enough credit for integrating diversity in its story and storytelling without a hammer to the head. Look, you can write a political story without courting controversy or ham-handed tropes! It it is a kind of stealth masterpiece, even as well regarded as it is, because it not only does dozens of things well, it does them relatively seamlessly.
And I wonder how Breath of the Wild will look in the future—I think it integrates Souls you-already-have-everything without the ramp, but without the gated nature of Ubisoft style open worlds.
UIA i call myself a gamer, but i played non of them.Well Bioshock Infinite and Witcher rest on my Harddisks.
Just scanned to make sure that Bioshock Infinite was on the list.I am satisfied.
Me too.
Bioshock: Infinite over The Last of Us? That’s a hot take. TLoU is what I show people when I want to let them know what games have become and can be. B:I is… Well, I had forgotten I played it until I read this list.
The amount of people here who don’t understand that this list is about cultural influence and not quality is migraine-inducing.
Unpopular opinion I’m sure but I’m happy Walking Dead and Bioshock Infinite were the list… shocking I know with my username.
I disagree with almost all of these. Except like Dark Souls and Minecraft.
Funnily, I haven’t actually played most of the games on this list. 🙁 Adulthood, or at least my adulthood, came with less free time for games, and since AAA games went the trend of the BMFOTTD as described in the Witcher 3 entry, I’ve tended to rely on smaller games which means I’ve tended to be drawn to indie games in the past decade. I’m kind of sad Hollow Knight wasn’t at least an honorable mention for 2017, although now that I’m saying it out loud, I dunno how “important” it actually was even though I adore it to pieces.That’s not to say I NEVER play these games, they’re just rare for me. BOTW, Witcher 3, and Horizon Zero Dawn are some of my favorite recent BMFOTTD games
Between Hollow Knight, Breath of the Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn and Night in the Woods, 2017 sparked a massive amount of gaming joy in me. I might swap out Journey for the Walking Dead in 2012 because that was the game that pulled me into indie/downloaded games on consoles. (and I only played through once because I danced through the air so perfectly with whoever I was playing with that the ending hit hard and I wanted to keep that experience in my mind)
No mention of Saints Row IV, list is invalid. Sorry, that’s how it works.
The Third was better.
Whats so important about Fortnite.Is it because its a shit game that allows child gambling which in turn is fueling a fracturing of the PC gaming landscape?
Bad things can be important too.
Admittedly, I’m not a huge gamer, but I’d probably take Crusader Kings II over The Walking Dead for 2012. Whatever TWD’s influence, CKII did the “deep dive, fully immersive strategy game with rules for everything” so well that it more or less ended the genre, and every strategy game since has been forced to play a different game entirely. You’d probably have to go back to Civilization 2 or Starcraft to find strategy games that were as influential.
Not even a mention in Other notable 2010 titles for LOL? I get it Minecraft is probably a better choice for top contender, but LOL isn’t a slouch.
Portal 2 and BioShock Infinite are both top ten games of all time for me, but my game of the decade is still To the Moon, which is short and unchallenging, but maybe the most emotionally devastating story across any medium that I experienced over the last ten years.
GTAV has been one of the best selling games every year since its release…in 2013…6 years ago. I’m gonna say this again for emphasis: This game has been out for 6 entire years and CONTINUES to outsell new releases. A 6 year old game that still hasn’t fallen far from its original $60 price some places. And it didn’t even get an honorable mention? Throw this whole article away and try again.
GTA games, despite their “fart joke” nature, say and said a lot more about America than RDR2 did.If you modded in content of Trump as President in GTA IV, it would have both been ridiculous “fart joke” tonality at the time, and also totally in line with the rest of the game’s content. This isn’t a country, its a business. RDR2 tries to lionize the same cowboy mythology martyrdom bullshit that the modern American lunatic of today believes. Its a good game with a crap aim.
Fortnight was definitely popular but to me RDR2 changed what I expect from all games going forward. If a new game can’t deliver a huge, beautiful sandbox, great single player experience and a continuously developing online experience I’m simply not interested.
I’ll say it. Other M was a super fun game that is only regarded as a misstep because don’t like the story choices that were made in it. This was a partly rational response but also the response of people who had attributed character traits to a silent protagonist that we knew little about.The game play is very fun.
I can’t believe you didn’t mention any of the Tomb Raider reboots.
This is such a botch for 2013 – no mention of GTA:V / GTA Online. That game really pushed the open world envelope, and has continued to be a huge seller and making Rockstar millions. The game has sold like 100 million copies, and GTA Online is still wildly popular. Also no mention of Red Dead Redemption in 2010??
One game I might add to the list is The Binding of Isaac (originally released in 2011, with Rebirth released in 2014.) Not necessarily the first of the modern “Roguelite” games, but probably the one that has had the most influence on what has now become a pretty crowded genre, and it’s a game replayable enough that people literally make careers out of playing daily Eden runs on YouTube and Twitch.
Uh, I love Bioshock Infinite as much as the next guy but GTAV was arguably the biggest game of 2013, and of the 2010’s in general.As much as I hate PUBG (or KOTK), those games truly launched the battle royal genre that’s been impossible to avoid for the last 3+ years. I think they deserve a place.
GTAV is amazing but it’s taken too long for a sequel. I’m glad the list left it out even if that might be wrong. Incredible classic but waiting 7 years and no GTAVI is bad juju.
But, we didn’t get another sequel to Bioshock either, for obvious reasons.GTAV is still one of the top selling games, 7 years later. That has to count for something. There wasn’t even a passing mention of it. We waited a little over 5 years for GTAV after GTAIV launched. I bet Rockstar is working on the next one for the next gen consoles.
GTA V is one of the best-selling games of all time, and I believe at this point Rockstar has made even more off the Online mode than off the actual game sales. Its much easier and cheaper to just keep cranking out content for online mode and making it expensive enough in game that some people continue to spend real money on it. AND the game itself is still one of the top sellers every month. There is no reason for them to commit more money and effort to making a new game when the old one is still a money faucet. Capitalism over creativity. I knew a guy at my last job that played pretty much only GTA Online. He didn’t have a huge amount of time or patience to grind stuff out, so he estimated he spent between $40-100 of real money a month to purchase new vehicles and other shit in game. I thought it was crazy, but he played GTA as much as I might play the 2-3 games I could purchase a month with that same amount of money, so he thought it was worth it.
Yow, someone didn’t like getting handed the Pokemon Go assignment. I know it had it’s flash-in-the-pan moment when everyone was playing, then a lot of us fell out of love with it (including me), but I redownloaded it because a few coworkers still carry the torch, and it’s rather fun.
Desiny? are you fucking kidding me?
I totally agree with the pick of Walking Dead for 2012 but i think Journey would be my runner up for that year. I feel like it was a game that was really important in the way people dicuss games these days.
A list of the best of the 2010s and completely ignores the death and rebirth of FFXIV is a flawed list. True 2010’s Minecraft has been more influential, but the rebirth of 14 deserves at least a mention as it is the standard against which other failed titles are measured and used to highlight the differences sometimes between western and eastern design philosophies. ‘A ffxiv reboot of X’ is not a uncommon thing to find in reddit threads about games who came out flawed and hope for a rebirth. Rainbow Six Siege some would argue would be an example of just a rebirth, while Anthem would be one in desperate need of one.
Even 2016’s No Man’s Sky should have made the mentions list because it was important in the highlighting of over promising in video game releases and the dedication of its team to keep pushing the game forward with new features and content years after its release to make it bigger and better. Most studios would cut their losses and just stop working on it (or in the case of Anthem, blame everyone but themselves for the games shortcomings), but Hello Games made a real effort to engage with the community and make the game better. The Division and Destiny 1&2 are also examples of industry community engagement and growth. But i think i’m just nitpicking.
0 Serious racing games. I guess entertainment is for elflords and shootermcshooters.
I love that 2013 mentions that Xbox One and PS4 came out, but none of the games from those platforms make the list. Seriously, it’s a perfect summary of that launch and how lacking those systems were at first. Of course, PS4 managed to ramp up pretty effectively after a few years.Overall, I agree with the list, at least in that these were games that were often among the best, but always among the most impactful. 2018 is tricky, because I think RDR and GoW are both going to be very influential, in their own ways, but Fortnite is undoubtedly the most wide-reaching game from that year. 2019 will be tricky… yes, games as a service has rendered many games into rather bland and repetitive affairs, and we’ve seen a ton of delays and some underwhelming big games as the generation closes out, but I think there are some solid contenders still, even if they’re a bit different from the top games of the past few years: Outer Wilds so far is my favorite by a mile, but I have yet to play Outer Worlds, Disco Elysium, and Control, so I have high hopes for these too. Good to see interesting story telling taking the front here.Finally, some other games that came out this decade that I thought were really good:
Dishonored
Kerbal Space Program
Warhammer: Total War
Rocket League
Spider-man
GTA V
XCom
I also totally forgot Horizon Zero Dawn, which was also a great game. And while Doom sorta got mentioned for its switch port, I’m going to mention it again. Doom.
I can agree with Micecraft, Destiny, Witcher 3, Pokemon Go, Fortnite, and begrudgingly Souls.
Overwatch and Skyrim are possible substitutions in their given years.
But the rest get a bit of a meh from me. Maybe there weren’t things better that year but I feel like there has to be.
Incredibly disappointed that a game that created it’s own genre, X-Com, did not even get a footnote. Yes, there were turn based games before X-Com. But not like this.
“ (which it lifted from PUBG, which stole it from somewhere else)“it was called The Culling and the combat was terrible
wow, I expect articles like this to be terrible, but they’re not usually this bad
One of those times when the banal choices were the right ones.
“as ferocious as the critiques (a “both sides”-ism when it comes to white supremacy and the rebellion against such an ideology, for one),”But… that’s the exact opposite of a ferocious critique. It’s an after-school special. It’s plain oatmeal served on a slice of Wonder Bread.
I don’t understand Breath of the Wild being on this list, as it didn’t have any real effect on gaming. Perhaps only in the context of showing that Nintendo is still relevant? The game itself is a mishmash of well-trodden ideas and barely-serviceable mechanics. The game only works because Nintendo’s incredibly talented level design team was able to wrap something fun around something broken. If it didn’t have the name “Zelda” attached to it, there’s a very good chance the game would have been completely forgotten. But perhaps the biggest problem: There is zero in this game for future games to draw from. Its original ideas are shaky at best, and the entire rest of the game is “[Game X], but Zelda!”It’s a game that is going to have virtually zero impact on other games or the gaming world at large, which is why I think its inclusion on this list is weird.
I really think 2012 should have been XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It single-handedly revitalized the then-nascent tactics genre. So many games have been influenced by it since then. Seriously, before its release you would often run into articles along the lines of “is turn-based dead?” After XCOM, you never saw those again!
I remember seeing the gorgeous trailer for ‘Breath of the Wild’, and knowing I’d have to get the game, especially as I was already going to buy the Switch for ‘Mario Kart 8′ and ‘Super Mario Odyssey’. But even as I watched it, I had the sinking feeling it was a game I’d just be terrible at playing. I’d tried some of these open world games before and found the amount of freedom overwhelming and the paths to advancement too difficult. I figured I’d play it for an hour or two and then it’d be my girlfriend’s game.I was so happy to be wrong. What I love about ‘BotW’ is that it’s a game that lets you decide how to play it. Everything is open to you, and so readily. Want to go up? Climb a tree or a mountain. Want to go down? Get out your glider and soar. See a shrine or a monster or even just a cool looking tree far off? You’ll get there, eventually, if you don’t get distracted by a hundred other great things along the way. And it’s also a game that lets you get better at it by, well, getting better at it. Instead of pouring points into skill trees or performing endless crafting quests, you just keep using the skills you’re given at the start and hone them by repetition. When I began, my arrows missed more than hit and I was tip-toeing away from Lynels whenever I saw them. Before I knew it, I was making head shots and (with plenty of cooked meals in my bag) taking out Lynels like I was born to it. And, apart from getting more hearts and some better gear, that was all me. Nothing in a video game has beat that feeling of accomplishment for me.
I struggled in the opening, which is partly because I had only recently acquired the Switch and wasn’t used to a game that used all the buttons BOTW did, but I got my footing, discovered that I was able to get the Master Sword before tackling the second divine beast, and it was bundles of fun from there. I’m gonna be creating multiple additional profiles on my Switch so I can play more without overwriting the ~100 hours I’ve put into it so far.I wish I’d bought the Switch in 17, not 19, I must say.
Not even mentioning “Red Dead Redemption” in 2010’s roundup is absolutely absurd.
Bioshock infinite has no place on a list like this. The story is predictable as can be and the gameplay removes most of the systems that made Bioshock a household name.
There are some glaring omissions here. GTAV, even if I wasn’t blown away by it, doesn’t even get a mention. And I LOVE Bioshock Infinite, but The Last of Us should’ve been 2013’s highlight (okay, 2013’s highlight should be GTAV, but I’m biased against it, I guess). No mention of 2016’s end of the year 1-2 punch of long-delayed Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian? Sure, both have their flaws, but the fact that either saw the light of day, and within a couple weeks of each other no less, was something many people never thought would ever, ever, EVER happen.And 2017 should’ve mentioned Horizon Zero Dawn and Persona 5, which were two games that actively made me SKIP Nier Automata when it came out. Persona 5 is one of the most stylish games ever made.
What do you think about Titanfall? I remember seeing the trailer and being hooked on this duality and interweaving gameplay and the absolute frantic pace and maneuverability. I had never seen a game do any of that stuff before. Felt fresh and new—and then there was a time when the games released right after it were all accused in one way or another of ripping off Titanfall (parkour and grappling in the COD that year, for instance).
gta v, the last of us, portal 2, bloodborne, skyrim, cod bo2 & bo1, fallout, PUBG, five nights at freddy, even overwatch.that list weak
HONK
Color me surprised that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn didn’t get a nod in 2014 as the ultimate Comeback Kid. (And Shadowbringers this year too as proof that MMOs can have good stories).
Shout outs to the neglected:- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice for shoving the feels right in your eyes and ears.-Resident Evils 7 & 2 for bringing the franchise back to its roots.- Control for being consistently weird and fun.- XCOMs 1 & 2 for just one more mission. Promise!- Divinity: Original Sins 1 & 2 for being perfectly balanced games.- Batman Arkhams where you get to be the Batman.- Metal Gear Solids 5 for hyping me up, then disappointing me.- Devil May Cry V for giving me a motorcycle to use as a weapon.And so many more that I could be here all day listing.
I’ve finished both Destiny games. I still have no idea what’s going on…..
By adhering so tightly to years it makes much bigger releases get overshadowed. Weird way to force the conversation. I don’t care if something was the best of a certain year of it’s not really changing gaming as a whole….
Walking Dead over ME3? ME3 may have been decisive, but it still brought a long-running series to a close in a good way, and I barely even remember TWD game. Also, Dark Souls over skyrim? TF? DS is game-changing, but Skyrim had vastly more wide-spread impact.
You can call it the 2010s but the decade goes from 2011-2020. Pick one. I’m okay being that guy.
No love for GTA V? I still play it and it feels like it came out yesterday. Even more than RDR or RDR2 it’s the most cinematic game ever. You feel like you’re playing through a crime movie.
Side note: my casting for the GTA V movie: Ray Liota as Mike, Winston Duke as Franklin and the man who voiced him, Steven Ogg, as Trevor Philips. Though if you’re going for star power, Nicholas Cage as Trevor.
Trevor Phillips has to be the best video game character ever, right?
I had hopes ten years ago that gaming would emerge from the tedious stranglehold of derivative sci-fi and fanboy fantasy dreck. Nope.
Arma 2 and the OG DayZ Mod should probably be on here… that was the seed of the BR genre I think?
the first 6 months of destiny left such a bad taste in my mouth…