There’s nothing quite like getting lost in a good game. While movies can be engrossing, games can make you feel like you’re really living through a story with your favorite characters. And some games are just plain fun, whether or not they have engaging storylines. Here are the 30 best video games ever made.
30. Tetris
This deceptively simple puzzle game has been entrancing players since the 80s. Drop the blocks, complete the lines, delete them. It’s a puzzler that can soak up your free time and is available in so many configurations that anyone can find the perfect Tetris for their tastes.
29. Metroid Prime
When Retro Studios gave Samus the jump from 2D to 3D with Metroid: Prime, it was the bounty hunter’s first outing in nine years. She skipped the entire N64 generation and then showed up on the GameCube in a game that’s so good that it basically invented the 3D version of the Metroidvania genre.
28. Super Smash Bros: Ultimate
What if you took literally everything from every Super Smash Bros. game and put it all in one package? You’d get Ultimate, a game so luxuriously overstuffed that it feels truly decadent. There will never be another Smash game like this one, so fans should cherish this once-in-a-lifetime love letter to all things gaming.
27. Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is a lot of things. It’s weird, clever, biting, satirical, and ultimately the kind of game that will stick with you forever. This game is everything you could ever want from a dialogue- and story-based RPG, as it essentially plays like a very gripping novel in which you get to make the decisions for the (disaster man) main character.
26. Batman: Arkham City
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Arkham City really makes you feel like Batman. It’s a cliché, but, whatever, it’s true. This game lets you inhabit the big boots of the Caped Crusader, and it’s awesome. Crunching the faces of random street goons and taking on the likes of Bane and Scarecrow is thrilling stuff.
25. Minecraft
This forever game is basically a bucket of Legos you can play with until the end of time. There are no rules in Minecraft, no structure or cohesive storyline. It’s just blocks, tools, and the limits of your creativity and imagination.
24. Resident Evil 4
As the first Resident Evil game to start delving as much into action as horror, RE4 is remembered as a landmark for the franchise and for third-person action/horror hybrids as a whole. With memorable boss fights, a creepy atmosphere, and plenty of scares, this game is a horror lover’s dream come true.
23. Undertale
The writing of Undertale made it an indie sensation when it was released. The witty dialogue and meta-commentary on RPGs and violence make it the kind of game that sticks with you long after the credits roll. Given that it’s basically two games in one depending on if you try to solve conflict nonviolently or choose to hack and slash your way through monsters, it’s also endlessly replayable.
22. Super Mario Bros.
The original Super Mario Bros for the NES is an exercise in mechanical perfection. It features levels that were mind-blowing in its day and introduced mechanics that would go on to define the long-running franchise, such as power-ups, secret exits, and tough-as-nails platforming challenges.
21. Soul Calibur
Few fighting games arrived as fully-formed as Soul Calibur. In the franchise’s first outing, it knew exactly what it wanted to be. Each fighter is defined by their melee weapon of choice, lending the game a level of strategic depth that makes it appealing for newcomers and fighting game veterans alike.
20. Baldur’s Gate 3
When Baldur’s Gate returned in 2023, many fans were astonished by the scope and scale of Larian’s opus. This sprawling CRPG is the most fleshed-out video game adaptation of the fun of playing D&D with your friends. Go in blind, roll up a character, and experience the story from start to finish.
19. Mass Effect 2
When BioWare was at the height of its excellence, the studio released Mass Effect 2. This character-driven space opera lets you captain your spacefaring vessel through a fully-realized galaxy of alien life, political intrigue, and white-knuckle action. The third entry in the franchise might have squandered the goodwill fans had coming out of this entry, but that doesn’t mean ME2 is anything less than excellent.
18. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
When Nintendo rewrote the Zelda playbook in Breath of the Wild, the industry took notice. This game did for the open world genre what Doom did for first-person shooter back in the 90s. Breath of the Wild wasn’t the first game of its kind, but it was easily the best and showed developers a new, organic way of guiding players through sprawling open spaces.
17. Elden Ring
Speaking of the influence of Breath of the Wild, it turns out smashing Dark Souls and Zelda together at high speed creates the finest game in From Software’s entire portfolio. Elden Ring is a towering achievement of game design, as inscrutable and frightening as it is gripping and addictive.
16. Persona 5
You’ll never see this one coming. This stylish, character-driven JRPG invites you to explore the depths of the human psyche as you steal hearts and change the world. You’ll be nodding your head to its catchy soundtrack for upwards of 100 hours, and you still won’t get sick of that funky acid jazz.
15. Grand Theft Auto V
Rockstar has officially taken too dang long to make a follow-up to GTA V, but, even if GTA VI never saw the light of day it would be okay. The fifth numbered entry in the storied open-world crime simulator is such a massive, wonderful game that fans of the franchise continue to plumb its secrets and while away the hours in its online mode.
14. Hades
Supergiant Games proved that it doesn’t take a multi-million-dollar budget or photorealistic graphics to make a smash hit when they dropped Hades. The blisteringly tough roguelike relies on stylish action, eye-catching character designs, and unparalleled voice acting to draw you into its world. And, trust me, it’ll never let you go once it gets its hooks in you.
13. Super Metroid
Super Metroid is a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling. Nintendo set the bar higher than you could possibly imagine when they brought Samus into the 16-bit era, pushing the SNES hardware to its absolute limit while creating one of the most replayable side-scrolling games in history.
12. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Hideo Kojima is a genius. He might have been at the height of his game design prowess when he worked on MGS 3, a game so legendary that it stands out from its already-excellent franchise and defines the kind of idiosyncratic storytelling that defines Kojima’s storied career.
11. Shadow of the Colossus
Shadow of the Colossus is equal parts lonely, pensive, and bombastic. Long stretches of open-world exploration are broken up by larger-than-life battles with the titular colossi, towering monsters of unclear origins that dot the landscape. The colossi are the only living things in the world aside from the player character, Wander, and his faithful steed. And Wander’s quest sees him snuffing their light out of the world, leaving the player wondering if they’re even doing the right thing.
10. Portal 2
This brain-melting puzzle games expands on its predecessor in every possible way and even brings a laugh-out-loud script along for the ride. If you love games that make you think, you owe it to yourself to give Portal 2 a shot. It’s also got a best-in-class co-op mode that sees a pair of original characters take on challenges made explicitly for two players to tackle.
9. Street Fighter II
Fighting games as we know them came to be in the early 90s with the release of Street Fighter II. Everything from Tekken to Guilty Gear owes its existence to Capcom’s magnum opus, which introduced so many genre conventions that you could almost call modern fighting games “Street Fighter clones.”
8. The Last of Us
The Last of Us didn’t invent the concept of a story-driven single-play game with cinematic production values. It did, however, strike a chord with the gaming community upon release and etch its name into history. If you’ve played TLOU, you have capital-O Opinions about Joel, Ellie, and the rest of the game’s unforgettable cast.
7. Halo: Reach
When Bungie said goodbye to the Halo franchise, they gave it the moving swan song known as Halo: Reach. This game perfected everything that had come before it in the franchise and offered players a melancholy story of a doomed world being invaded by an unstoppable alien threat.
6. Super Mario 64
Nintendo didn’t invent the 3D platforming genre, but they might as well have. There’s basically gaming before Super Mario 64 and gaming after. In the late 90s, you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a single-player game that aped most of Super Mario 64’s coolest gimmicks, such as themed worlds, momentum-based platforming, and free-form boss fights that doubled as environmental puzzles.
5. Red Dead Redemption 2
When Rockstar wants to tell a story, they take out all the stops. Red Dead 2 will make you feel stuff. When the narrative opens, Arthur Morgan is a gruff cowboy chafing against the death of the Old West. By the end of the game, he’s a tragic figure on par with any Shakespeare character.
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
There’s something magical about Ocarina of Time. It’s a deceptively huge game despite its somewhat small overworld. Much of its depth is a result of its central narrative conceit, which sees Link traveling forward and backward in time to solve puzzles across decades while he tries to defeat Ganondorf.
3. Half Life 2
Gordon Freeman never says a word across the entire Half Life franchise. He’s still the baddest dude to ever carry a crowbar into a gunfight. Half Life 2 will make you feel like you’re single-handedly holding back the apocalypse. If Valve ever gets around to finishing the game’s story, it might even be remembered as one of the best narratives in gaming history.
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2. Final Fantasy 7
RPGs were never the same after Final Fantasy 7. This landmark entry in the long-running series introduced players to a huge cast of lovable characters, a series-first modern-style world, and a gripping storyline with genuine surprises and gut-wrenching twists along the way.
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1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Is there any other game like A Link to the Past? Sure, it’s got imitators—loving homages and bold-faced ripoffs aplenty. But nothing quite captures the ineffable magic under the surface of Nintendo’s finest Zelda title, a game so singular and eternal that it will likely never be unseated for the title of best video game ever made.
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