10. The Witcher 3
Talk about a series that got better and better as time went on. CD Project Red kept improving dramatically until their third entry in The Witcher series, where they finally made a near perfect game. Think Skyrim but with so much more to do, and with a current gen look and feel.. It’s like the Elder Scrolls Six that we haven’t gotten still, just gorier, more sex and way cooler monsters. I personally love vampires and werewolves, so this game has a particularly sweet spot with me. The atmosphere of The Witcher 3 is dreary yet beautiful at the same time. Geralt, the main protagonist, can be boring at times, which completely fits the world. A cold hearted and emotionless Witcher is exactly what Redina needs. The combat is also really hit or miss for people, I for one sort of fall in the middle on when it comes to this. But what so many people love is the endless adventure you can find in this world. There is something so badass about going to a town message board to find out the townsfolk are having issues with a drowner queen nearby (really nasty swamp witches). You accept the contract, then use your Witcher senses to track down the old hag. Eventually murdering her and all her servants, taking her heart back to the townspeople and getting rewarded for it (I don’t know why they needed the heart but hey, they’re paying you so who cares?). There are other quests with so much more depth but you will have to really play the game to even begin to scratch the surface. Besides the side quests, there is still a 40 hour main story, let alone two huge DLCs. CD Project Red continues to show us how talented they are; giving us complete faith in their upcoming game Cyberpunk 2077. Hopefully, like The Witcher 3, it will become a classic experience that can stand the test of time.
9. Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice
I’m sure that Hellblade will not make many people’s list for the top 15, or even top 30 games for that matter. But this is a game I will never forget. The only true downfall to this game for me is the puzzles. They are incredibly simple and honestly, annoying. But if you have even the slightest bit of patience, Hellblade is a helluva journey. I have never felt so alone in a game before, while also feeling totally overwhelmed by the presence of…well the presence of what, I’m not exactly sure. Senua is the main character you control, and unfortunately she’s incredibly schizophrenic. There are always voices talking to you, some trying to help, and some…..not so much. They will purposefully lead you astray, by saying something like “yes, yes, she’s got it” or the exact opposite. They sometimes tell you the right thing to do, and you can never really differentiate between the two. You need to go with your own gut sometimes. The whole game is Senua trying to deliver her dead boyfriend’s head (yeah you read that right) to Helheim. She wants to save his soul so that it won’t be condemned or tainted forever. It’s very dark and ominous and quite honestly, there’s nothing else like it. I’m not sure that there ever will be either. It is an experience that I encourage you to take a couple nights and play with your headset alone all by yourself, it will change how you think about video games as a storytelling platform.
8. Rocket League
This might be the most fun game of this entire list. What a great time this is when you get together with a few of your friends and just play your hearts out in the arena. It’s so fun for causal fans while also having a huge competitive scene. It’s one of the biggest esports games there are and I can see why. Watching Rocket League in action is more exciting than watching a Dolphins game, or a Cleveland Cavaliers game. To add to how awesome it is, the developers are consistently adding new vehicles and events. Also doing fully licensed cars, some silly like a hot wheels car and some more serious like the ‘99 Nissan Skyline. My favorite being the warthog from Halo of course. It’s also a great game to introduce to complete non-gamers, that’s always great for those boring get-togethers when you have nothing in common with your sister’s new boyfriend. But seriously, there aren’t many games that have such superstar tendencies, I think it’s easy to say that it will be here for the long run, and put in place a formula for many developers to try and follow.
7. Breath of the Wild
Only one other game on this list was quite a cultural phenomenon. One of the best system sellers of all time, Breath of the Wild speaks for itself. It is truly difficult to think about what to write for it, your grandma has heard of this game. This game is modernly-traditional (I’m not sure if that is a real term), it does everything we love about massive open world RPGs, but it does it with a modern twist. This game really threw Nintendo back on the map after whatever the hell the Wii U was. The only drawback is that damn weapon degradation, who the heck thought that was a good idea? I just hope that BOTW 2 drops that issue and we can move fully into the future. This to me is the best portable game of all the time, and normally that makes it sound like it’s something less than a great console game. But this thing blows most console games out of the water, all with the tiny bit of power that a Nintendo Switch has to offer.
6. Fortnite
The game that truly changed the world. Who would of ever thought something so simple could just blow the top off of the internet and media in general. For about 4 months you couldn’t look somewhere without seeing at least a drizzle of Fortnite. Kids and adults could enjoy the hell out of this game. It makes total sense when you put it into perspective. Think about how huge PUBG was for a while, now make it kid friendly, constantly add content and also, you know, work properly! Of course the building is what set Fortnite apart in the ever growing battle royale genre. This mechanic is what separates the casuals, from the so called “sweats”. Not to say I’ve never used that term on occasion. I feel like Epic really perfected the games as a service model, I’m not sure they pioneered the battle pass, but they sure as hell put it on the map. Now I want every online multiplayer game to have one (Rainbow Six Siege please???). The way they implemented their seasons was second to none, and the stars aligned just right when Ninja did a stream with Drake that broke all the streaming records you’ve never thought of. The rest is history as they say, and Fortnite is still going strong with no sign of it slowing down.
This is one article of a three-part article series for the Top 15 Games of this Generation see the other parts below.
