TOP 50 BEST VIDEO GAMES OF THE 21ST CENTURY

50

SingStar (2004)

Karaoke complexes might be relatively common now, but back in 2004, singing into a PlayStation was the closest most of us could get. SingStar’s discs of party classics formed the caterwauling soundtrack to millions of student gatherings, hen parties, and five-pint Fridays all over Europe for more than a decade. Like Just Dance, it harnesses the infectious joy of pop music in a way that anyone can play.

49 Katamari Damacy (2004)

A gleeful absurdist masterpiece in which you start by rolling up pencils and apple peel and end up absorbing buildings, trees, and, eventually, most of the planet in your big sticky ball, because why not? From the infectious soundtrack to the endearingly mad “plot,” it’s a work of pure joy.

48 Journey (2012)

The Journey is a short and moving shared experience whose music, evocative color palette, and simple play come together as they only can in games for a powerful emotional effect. It’s often picked as an ur-example of games as art – including by curators at the V&A, where it was front and center at a recent exhibition.

47 Dead Space (2008)

Resident Evil meets Alien seems like such a prominent game pitch that, incredibly, it wasn’t realized until 2008. In Dead Space, the player becomes lowly engineer Isaac Clarke, who finds himself investigating the “planet-cracking” ship Ishimura after losing radio contact with the vessel. The craft is, of course, infested with alien creatures – the Necromorphs – who utilize the reanimated corpses of human victims in horrible ways. This is a dark, bloody, and atmospheric survival-horror thrill ride.

46 Limbo (2010)

The central character here is a boy on the run from death, or perhaps already dead. One of several games that kicked off the indie-game renaissance of the 2010s, Limbo’s monochrome style and relatively short running time belie the extraordinary effort and fastidiousness that went into its creation, evident in everything from the sinister movements of a giant spider to the precise physics that power its puzzles.

45 Papers, Please (2013)

You are a border officer in a war-torn country where people are constantly trying to smuggle things past you: drugs, weapons, falsified IDs. But what about the mother and young child using a fake passport to rejoin the rest of their family? Or an undocumented refugee who you could reject as a possible terrorist, but who may be a desperate civilian? Papers, Please is a powerful illustration of how we can become complicit in inhumane systems and the ways games can invite us to explore complex ethical dilemmas.

44 Forza Horizon (2012)

Combining an open-world structure with the energy of a music festival, Forza Horizon made arcade-style racing games fun again. Boasting a massive selection of cars and an inventive AI-assisted multiplayer component, the game was designed around simply letting the player have fun, no matter what they did or where they drove. Barn finds and destructible signs rewarded exploration, while a multitude of operating challenges provided structure and challenge. It’s an accessible, multifaceted racing treat.

43 Rocket League (2015)

“Football, but with remote control cars” is a likely pitch for Rocket League, but who expected it would become one of the most skillful and enduring multiplayer games released in decades? Rocket League is elegant and ageless: it will probably still be played in 20 years, in living rooms and tournaments.

42 Burnout 3: Takedown (2004)

Guildford-based developer Criterion built its Burnout series of arcade driving games around two principles: speed and style. Taking place through traffic-packed city streets, the races rewarded players for risky maneuvers, providing extra time to shoot past competitors. The third title in the series perfected the recipe, adding a “takedown” feature that encouraged players to smash rivals from the circuit. The detailed slow-motion physics engine heightened every smash into art.

41 Overwatch (2016)

After years of gritty, military shooters filled with macho spec-ops nobodies, Overwatch stormed to the online gaming scene in 2016 like a giant kawaii robot bunny wielding a hot pink grenade launcher. This is a game about outlandish hero characters joining forces in condensed team-based skirmishes. There is no leveling up, and no weapons unlock; it’s all about combining the different capabilities in practical ways, from Mei’s endothermic blaster to Mercy’s healing staff. Loved for its bold, hyper-colorful aesthetic, Overwatch is the generation Z answer to Counter-Strike.

40 Gears of War 2 (2008)

Imagine a science-fiction war film directed by an early-career, Kathryn Bigelow. Now imagine it’s interactive. This, in essence, is Gears of War, the definitive third-person space marine blast-’em-up – a game so macho, its machine guns have chainsaws. The second title in the series improved the cover system, added new weapons and bloody finishing moves, and took the battle to the Locust alien invaders. It was thrilling, chaotic, and beautiful and, with the brilliant co-op Horde gameplay mode, it invented new ways to play online.

39 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (2000)

Fondly remembered by anyone who had a PlayStation in their dorm room, this is still probably the best skateboarding game around, and there hasn’t been much competition since (perhaps due to the sport’s waning cultural presence since the 1990s). It is a time capsule of energetic college rock, endless point-chasing skate combos, and irresistibly fun play.

38 Super Smash Bros Melee (2001)

The 2018 game Ultimate is the ultimate expression of Smash Bros’ maximalist tendencies, with 74 characters and hundreds of references to Nintendo history. But Melee is the game that turned Nintendo’s anything-goes brawler from a living-room classic into a competitive fixture. It is still the most popular Smash game at tournaments, beautifully balanced, and extraordinarily fun.

37 Silent Hill 2 (2001)

Konami’s answer to Resident Evil ditched zombie shocks for psychological horror. The second title in the series is the most disturbing. The game follows grief-stricken everyman James Sunderland as he arrives in the eponymous town searching for his supposedly dead wife. What follows is a descent into Sunderland’s psychosexual dysfunction, a viscera-splattered nightmare of undead nurses, animated shop window dummies, and the giant fetishistic monster, Pyramid Head. Toying with Japanese horror and exploitation cinema, it cast a somber spell over all who played.

36 Spelunky (2008)

Derek Yu’s cave-diving platform game is fun to play on every run, yet it might take years to finish. Each time a different arrangement of cave creatures, unfortunate accidents, and hostile geography conspires to bring your adventure to an abrupt close, and only the highly skilled and extremely lucky will ever get right down into the depths. Even after years of play, Spelunky holds its mystique.

35 Assassin’s Creed 2 (2009)

The original Assassin’s Creed promised a rich historical adventure with an exciting sci-fi overlay – Assassin’s Creed 2 delivered it. Set in a luxuriously detailed approximation of Renaissance Italy, the game sees beautiful assassin, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, taking on the dastardly templars while bumping into Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci. The freeform structure of the game, its mass of side quests and objectives, along with its range of abilities and items, set the blueprints for modern open-world game design.

34 Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)

Arkham Asylum exudes authenticity from every pixel with a script by veteran Batman writer Paul Dini and all the critical voice talent from the brilliant animated series. This is the Batman of Frank Miller and Christopher Nolan – dark, twisted, and violent – and it’s perfectly realized as a third-person action-adventure. The combat is smooth and empowering, the silent takedowns are gratifying, and the asylum setting is great gothic horror—a comic-book lover’s dream.

33 Battlefield 1942 (2002)

With the first title in the Battlefield series, developer Digital Illusions brought large-scale cooperative combat and historical authenticity to the online shooter genre. Two teams of 32 players fought for dominance of vast environments, taking control points and commandeering vehicles. The multifaceted battles required players to assume complementary roles, some sniping from a distance, others running in as infantry. The excitement of a well-organized attack paying off felt like something genuinely new. 

32 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

Bringing cinematic verve and explosive pace to the military shooter market, 2003’s Call of Duty provided gunfights of epic intensity. But it wasn’t until Modern Warfare that the series made a significant impact, introducing an innovative multiplayer online mode that offered character progression alongside unlockable single-use mega-attacks. Add in its blistering animation and intense, claustrophobic maps, and it’s little wonder this game defined the online deathmatch experience for a decade.