GAMES OF THE DECADE
These are the 15 games we reckon defined the decade. Do you agree?
THEY SPAN TWO CONSOLE GENERATIONS AND TWO HANDHELDS, AS WELL AS THE RELEASE OF PS VR.
Spanning two home console generations and two handhelds, as well as the release of PS VR, whittling down ten years of PlayStation games into the best 15 is a thankless task. But we did it.
15. LIFE IS STRANGE
While The Walking Dead and Gone Home did it first, it was Life Is Strange’s socially aware writing, subverted character archetypes, and heartfelt childhood drama that took the template to new heights. We miss Max and Chloe.
14. FINAL FANTASY XIV: ONLINE
A game that spans the entire decade, Final Fantasy’s online world went from pariah to MMORPG phenomenon. Constantly evolving, designed with PS4 in mind, and crammed with memorable moments, few games have managed to stay relevant for as long.
13. DISHONORED
Winning the BAFTA for Best Game in 2012, Dishonored blends many gameplay ideas (RPG, stealth, FPS, and more) into one coherent package. Offering genuine freedom to tackle missions how you like, it set a new action adventure standard.
12. P.T.
Created as a teaser for Silent Hills, this slice of horror from Hideo
Kojima and Guillermo del Toro may be short (and now unavailable) but its constantly changing single corridor loop is the most perfectly pitched horror of the decade.
11. JOURNEY
Before ‘walking simulators’, Double-A indies, and the ‘games are art’ debate, we had Journey. It scooped five BAFTAs, and rewrote the language of games – there’s no dialogue, direction, or quests.
10. FORTNITE
It may boast more irritating tween millionaires than the Disney Channel but you can’t overlook the impact
Epic’s battle royale has had on gaming in such a short space of time. The mix of huge player base, social media presence, addictive game loop, and a breakout eSports season that delivered the biggest money pot ever ensures Fortnite a place in history.
9. DESTINY
Bungie’s online-only first-person shooter captured the zeitgeist.
For better or worse, there aren’t many games since that haven’t nabbed Destiny’s ideas: timed events, Raids, lootboxes, PvE and PvP with light RPG levelling, and much more. Love The Division, Hitman, Fortnite, and Overwatch? It all started here. Now free to play, there’s no better time to become a Guardian of Bungie’s galaxy.
8. THE WITCHER 3: THE WILD HUNT
Sex and sorcery in a beautifully realised and open world, this action RPG set a new standard, and even the mighty Elder Scrolls couldn’t compete. It looks stunning but behind those visuals is some of the best writing in all games; the story and dialogue never fails to raise a smile or draw a tear. The Witcher 3’s strength lies in its commitment to ensuring every side-quest is a well-realised event – no quarter of the continent is left underdeveloped.
7. DREAMS
Dreams is still in early access but so disruptive we have to squeeze it into our Games Of The Decade top 10. Easy to use but limitless in ambition, this game-making package offers a box of professional developer tools at the waggle of a PS Move controller or DualShock. Anything is possible in Dreams – games, music, art, animation – and it will define a generation for many players. But it’s more than a box of tools, it’s a community of Dreamers.
6. THE LAST OF US
The photo booth scene in DLC Left Behind cost as much to make as Uncharted 2’s collapsing building mission – this was Naughty Dog’s most ambitious game back in 2013. While everyone else was chasing the bombastic cinematic approach of
Uncharted, the studio that made it wound everything back for a reflective journey that gave its central characters room to breathe. The pacing and writing offers a genuine sense of place and time few action games manage. Its legacy sits closer to home; the remaster helped sell PS4, and the game itself has shifted over 20 million copies, enabling Sony to gamble on a similar direction for God Of War.
5. ASSASSIN’S CREED II
Is there a game on console that has influenced how we play open worlds more than Assassin’s Creed 2? It’s the game that gave us parkour exploration, managed to tell an engaging story over 30 hours, and turned Leonardo da Vinci into Q. It’s the game that ushered in the era of super-developers (over 450 people worked on the game) and set new standards for art direction, sound design, and open-world gameplay. Even now, Ezio’s journey is one of the best on PlayStation.
4. GRAND THEFT AUTO V
It’s sold over 120 million copies, and has maintained a top-three chart position since its release in 2013.
But GTA V is about more than making bank. It takes everything successful about Rockstar Games’ open world and massages it into a narrative-led, epic semi-RPG do-as-you-like adventure in which anything goes. Every view in GTA V has been crafted to entice you to explore. On PS4 things were improved with a first-person mode and a visual upgrade. But it’s the community focus of GTA Online that has cemented the game’s legacy. Online we can build a second life in San Andreas, buying and collecting cars and property, running businesses and even dipping into the in-game stock market to make it big. And everything is done with Rockstar’s cynicism – who else would release a casino expansion during the lootbox outrage?
3. BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM
This game did for comic games what X-Men did for comic films. It treats the comic’s lore with respect, celebrates its legacy with a perfect cast and script, yet embraces the language of videogames: under the cowl it’s a metroidvania with puzzles and action built around the comic’s biggest bads, but the rhythmic combat ensures you feel like a superhero. It’s no wonder Arkham’s crowd-controlling, parry-focussed fighting has been so often copied.
2. DARK SOULS
While Demon’s Souls did it first, Dark Souls did it better and to a higher standard. By making every fight an edgy duel to the death the game never lets you settle. Rarely do you feel like an overpowered hero but rather a lonely adventurer whose death can lie around any corner. The game asks you to rethink how you play games, to jettison old ideas and embrace the grind. The tight combat is matched by intricate map design where exploration rewards the bold but discovering shortcuts and rare loot can only be achieved if you’re prepared to gamble your XP, lost on death. So innovative they named a genre after it.
COULD OPM’S NO.1 GAME OF THE DECADE REALLY BE ANYTHING ELSE ON PLAYSTATION?
1. UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES
Time for OPM’s No.1 game of the decade, and could it really be anything else? Uncharted 2 set the standard for cinematic action adventures, for puzzles, storytelling, and parkour shootouts, going from the quiet drama of the opener as Nate climbs a train carriage hanging from a cliff to the complex puzzles, to the adrenaline-charged train chase sequence that’s still aped to this day *cough* Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order *cough*. While the game is crammed with action – who can forget the collapsing building sequence that constantly demands you rethink your cover as it slides from one corner to the next? – amid every bombastic action scene we also grow to love the cast. Perfect.
Turn to p28 to see which games might make it into our next decade’s top 15.