I believe gaming is the future.
(Or at least, a big part of it.)
In humanity’s early days the spoken word was king. Then came writing and the printing press. Then radio. Then TV. Then Youtube, streaming, and TikTok. What’s next? Gaming, VR. The trend isn’t too hard to spot or predict, as far as I’m concerned (and it seems Hivizens understand this, what with gaming being rather popular here.)
Sidenote: I actually created a 3-level playable game-prototype in Unity last year, along with an incomplete landing page for it. My vision for it was a ‘cool’ personal development game, but that’s a post for another time.
Anyway, similar to how I appreciate other artforms, I’d like to share some appreciation for ten games here that I believe are so well done, that they "shouldn’t" be dismissed out of hand just on genre alone. They deserve to be tried and played, and I hope to introduce or inspire you, dear reader, to try one or more of them.
(Plus it’s just good karma. I love it when other people consume, celebrate, and share my work, so hopefully I can do the same for these fine game developers.
1. Hades
- Genre: Roguelike - Hades is a fast-paced roguelike with great run variation.
- Company: Supergiant Games
- Why Play: Rewards failure, adaptive difficulty, compelling story.
A big problem with roguelikes is their difficulty can be a barrier to entry. Hades solves this with a ‘god mode’ option that makes you slightly stronger every time you die. It basically adapts to your skill-level. On top of that, you get rewarded every time you die, not just with power-ups or coins, but with juicy new story-twists and dialogue that directly addresses your manner of death. Each character from Achilles to Aphrodite is brimming with personality, style, and incredible voice-acting, plus the game has a soundtrack that’d make the music industry wary. Supergiant Games delivers a complete package from the core gameplay out towards every nuance and detail. A masterpiece of a game, even if you hate roguelikes.
“Hades is worth dying for.”
2. The Outer Wilds
- Genre: Exploration, Action-Adventure - The Outer Wilds is a great exploration game with an immersive mystery to solve.
- Company: Mobius Digital
- Why Play: Cosmic beauty, player-driven story, marshmallow-roasting.
Every place and planet in the star-system has its own creative personality and beautiful planetscapes, from crumbling worlds to planets made of water. And unlike most games, the story isn’t told in cutscenes, it’s told by the player’s actions, choices, and explorations. The icing on the cake is the charming, friendly, rustic touches The Outer Wilds offers, such as roasting marshmallows or choosing to nap by a campfire. The game is absolutely stunning, and best played ‘blind’, with zero spoilers, to experience the full majesty and mind-blowing magic of it’s evolving explorative loop. It’s a brilliant game worth playing even if you don’t like the exploration or action-adventure genre.
“I never thought empty space could feel so full.”
3. Path Of Exile
- Genre: Action-RPG (Free-To-Play) - Path Of Exile is a sublime experience of powerful ‘mindless’ monster-slaying and strategic build-decisions and character-progression.
- Company: Grinding Gear Games
- Why Play: Build-diversity, ‘never-ending’ content, engaged developers.
There are other single/multiplayer ARPGs on the market, but they don't really compare to PoE. Path Of Exile allows you to build any kind of character you want. Want a witch who is masterful at sword-fighting? The skill-tree can get you there. A constantly-teleporting monster summoner? The skill-tree can get you there. Collected all the cool items and rare currencies in the game? Don't worry, there's more. Game feeling stale? All good, every 3 months they add new game-mechanics like gang-politics, dimensional portals, or mining the center of the earth. I've never seen a game make playing the same story over with different characters and builds so fun, while also having a multi-player community that’s friendly and fairly co-operative. You can spend your whole day optimizing builds if you like, or turn off your brain, spam maps, and stomp enemies, or a mix. PoE may be a fun experience, even for those who traditionally avoid ARPGs.
“Why is it so fun to create new characters and builds?”
4. Hollow Knight
- Genre: Metroidvania / 2D Platformer - Hollow Knight is the gold-standard of metroidvanias, delivering a fun playthrough featuring an immersively beautiful world full of heart.
- Company: Team Cherry
- Why Play: Unique atmosphere, well-balanced, immersive world.
Hollow Knight’s story, art-style, combat, balance, progression systems, audio, and environments all synergize beautifully into a truly polished whole. It may be one of the most unique-feeling games you’ll ever encounter. The game look’s simple, but it is nuanced, full of finesse, with fantastic gameplay loops and power-fantasies. Not to mention the world of Hallownest is both vast and fun to explore, while at the same time feeling intimate, cozy, and manageable. Later in the game, you may get stuck at a boss or platforming section and put the game down, like I did, but this title is well worth a play and I cherish the hours I spent with it.
“This game subverted so many of my expectations.”
5. Magic: The Gathering - Arena
- Genre: Digital Collectible Card Game (Free-To-Play) - Magic is the longest-running trading card game for a reason, and now that they made a free-to-play digital version, it’s worth checking out.
- Company: Wizards Of The Coast
- Why Play: Fun, deck-building, collectability.
Magic does card games right. There’s plenty of issues with Arena, but fun isn’t one of them. It’s so fun to crack open your free packs and see how your current deck grows stronger, or what cards may inspire you to create a different deck with a different playstyle. It’s so fun to playtest your decks and see how consistently they bring results, or whether they need tweaks. It’s so fun to strategize a faster start, or a more ‘turtle’ style of play. It’s so fun to see all the new cards available with each new set. Card games have been around for centuries, and are reliably fun, MTG:Arena takes it to another level, and I’ve seen many non-gamers shout with glee when their deck wins. Worth a play even if you’re anti-CCG, I’d say.
“Magic’s just a good game, period.”
6. Alto's Odyssey
- Genre: (Mobile) Endless Runner - Alto’s is an endless runner where you slide down slopes and summersault over bridges, and one of the most popular mobile games made to date.
- Company: Team Alto
- Why Play: One-button, bite-sized game-lengths, easy to learn, challenging to master.
Chain together combos, and complete 180 goals — all with intuitive controls and calming music. It has hypnotic gameplay and soothing vibes. Many players say the games relieve their anxiety, and overall Alto is a supremely well-made game. Its simplicity allows the developers to focus a lot on polish and ease-of-play, and it shows. I’m not big on mobile games or endless runners, but somehow Alto’s Odyssey pulled me right into a truly fun experience.
“How can tapping or swiping my finger result in combos this epic?”
7. Disco Elysium: Final Cut
- Genre: (C)RPG - Disco Elysium is a gripping, immersive, unique take on character-focused role-playing games.
- Company: ZA/UM
- Why Play: Masterful branching narrative, unique style & gameplay, more content than 10 books.
Become a hot mess in this ridiculous adventure where you don’t play to win, but to become someone else. (Paraphrased from Laura Dale @ Polygon.com). The game has no real ‘combat’, instead you’re ‘battling’ with your own mind’s many different voices and personalities. Do you let your authority speak up in this conversation? Or do you give in to your ‘drama’ voice? Or do you let ‘logic’ battle it out with ‘presence’ instead? Each dialogue you choose affects the story, characters, and the entire game in a variety of ways, revealing more of who you are and the semi-noir mystery occurring in Revachol. I used to say if you don’t like reading, skip this game, but they spent 14 months recording voice-lines for the entire game, so it’s now become a worthwhile play, even for those who avoid CRPGs, in my humble opinion.
“So, uh, I accidentally turned my character into a sociopathic liberal wearing gauntlets and a silk robe.”
8. Stardew Valley
- Genre: Sim-RPG - Created by one person, this is a simulation RPG where you've inherited your grandpa’s beat-up old farm in Stardew Valley. You’ll go from used tools and a few coins to defending the town from the Joja empire, but the real game lies in the townsfolk.
- Company: Concerned Ape
- Why Play: Fun flirting, customization, touching character-interaction.
It’s beginner-friendly but with a lot of depth and such a happy vibe. I usually hate simulation games, and ‘campy’ small-town games, and farm games. But Stardew grabbed me immediately with it’s ‘leave corporate culture behind’ and experience the bliss of interacting with friendly people. (Even though I was just interacting with pixels symbolizing friendly people.) Such a wholesome game. I stopped playing it because it’s such a compelling playthrough, and I wanted to move onto other projects and games, which I wouldn’t have done if I let Stardew carry me away. There isn't really a main objective to fulfill, you just get the farm and you're presented with options, and a lot of the fun comes from engaging the townsfolk. There’s a recluse struggling with being ignored by family. There’s a once-popular girl trying to figure out her place now high-school’s over. There’s even an alcoholic dealing with recent unemployment. These subtle touches of darkness and acknowledgment of the bad days we all have in life, as displayed by the townsfolk really help bring out the rest of the game’s inherent sweetness. A truly refreshing game experience even if, like me, you’re anti- farm, camp, and sim.
“This may be the most calming, relaxing game I’ve ever played in my life.”
9. League Of Legends
- Genre: MOBA - League Of Legends is a team-based, top-down, cross between basketball and street-fighter, with over 140 champions to make epic plays with.
- Company: Riot Games
- Why Play: High highs, low lows, potential for mastery, nuance, and polish.
One could argue that I shouldn't include this on my list. But League Of Legends is the biggest esport in the world. It provides millions of people, millions of hours of fun. The game nails the balance of fun, fulfilling, engaging, competitive gameplay and challenging, frustrating, ‘just be a bit better’ desire for improvement, growth, and mastery. In fact, famous streamer Ninja recently picked it up and hired a League coach, if you like social proof. Ultimately, whether you ‘screw around’ in the ARAM mode, or want to climb the ladder and earn your badge in ranked, League is fun... or, it is supposed to be. The other shoe here is that it has one of the most toxic communities in the world. Is it worth diving into? That’s your call, and it’s the least confident choice I’ve made on the list. And even though I stopped playing over a year ago, it’s still probably my favorite game ever, and the one I’ve played the most. If you’ve tried other MOBAs (like DOTA or HoTS) and didn’t click with them, League may change your mind, because it’s the ‘best’ (or at least most popular) that the genre has to offer, for better or worse.
“Fun? Off the charts. Frustration? Off the charts. WTF is this game?”
10. Titanfall 2
- Genre: FPS - Titanfall 2 is a game with some of the best freedom of movement in any first-person shooter.
- Company: Respawn Entertainment
- Why Play: Top-tier movement & mobility, creative level-design, great multiplayer.
The movement and combat feel epic. Dance through the air, chain double jumps, slides, and wall runs to pull off impossible flanks and outplay your enemy’s aim. Tests your reflexes with low time-to-kill, rewarding those who focus and practice their moves. The weapons have personality, the campaign-mode’s story will give you all the feels. Oh… and you can jump into a ‘titan’, for some exosuit on exosuit combat too. Titanfall is the first FPS I’ve enjoyed since back in my Quake & Counterstrike days, for a good reason. It’s fast-paced yet has very satisfying controls and rarely feeling overwhelming.
“In a sea of Call Of Duty clones, Titanfall 2 is a breath of fresh air.”
Honorable Mentions: Subnautica, Slay The Spire, Soma, OneShot, Paradise Killer, Novadrift, Redout, Valorant.
(Whew, that took longer than I expected. :D)
And that wraps up my list of games I believe are worth playing, regardless of your feelings about their genre. I believe there’s a lot to learn from each one about how to create a masterpiece of a game, as well as lots of fun to be had from each.
Also, I’m curious, have you played any of these? If so, did you like them? If not, why not? I realize not every game is meant for every person, and we all have our own reasons for choosing one over another, so I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
I’ll tag a few gaming-inclined people here, I’d love any thoughts on this: @burnoutawesome , @mattclarke , @paulo.sar , @pusen , @mimismartypants , @enjar , @acidyo , @eddiespino , @cynshineonline , and @kaelci . (If you know any other gamers on Hive who may enjoy this, please feel free to tag 'em.)