
I don't know how it's not Minecraft in terms of cultural impact; I feel like it cracked the gate open in terms of "indie development" being a big thing, not to mention it's still going strong years later. There have been a lot of great games, but I can't think of one that shifted the industry as much as Minecraft did.
I've gone back to replay Skyrim and Minecraft multiple times. Both are good choices.
My nephew who is in middle school just bought Skyrim for his Xbox and has been playing it for the past couple months and is really into it. I think he's on his second or third character.
I'm pretty compelled by the arguments for Skyrim and Minecraft. Of the two I suppose Minecraft has had the larger impact in the 'non gaming' population.
I've gotta say, I came here with thoughts of games like God of War, Witcher 3. MGSV or Dishonored, but I'm also compelled by the previous comments that it's a choice between Skyrim & Minecraft
My personal pick: Skyrim
If I had to pick for "biggest industry game-changer" or something: Minecraft
As a point of clarification: are we trying to determine the authoritative game of the decade for the world as a whole, or our personal choice?
There's certainly been many games i'd consider being Game of the Decade. Games including Witcher III, Minecraft, Mass Effect 2 (not so much 3), Horizon Zero Dawn, Hellblade, Red Dead Redemtion (and II)
However, for me i'll be voting for Skyrim. It's a perfect game for me, the exploration of the world and the discovery of new places. In recent years (for console owners at least), modding has made the game more expansive and has bought new life into an already filled world.
If i was to pick a game aimed at non-gamers, probably be Minecraft. It's got a steady fanbase, it's easy to get into and is perfect for creative minds of all ages.
What games do you think deserve to be considered for being the best game of the entire decade?
I'll chime in here with Minecraft as well, because that game is a phenomenon. When I last looked, it was the #2 bestselling game of all time, behind only Tetris, and IIRC it will probably take the lead sometime next year. By all the easy measures I can think of offhand, it's the game of the teens.... copies sold, hours played, discussions generated. The sheer presence it has had, and continues to have, is astonishing. It is the ten-ton gorilla stomping all over the landscape, and all other games give way before its might.
Some also-rans: The Witcher 3 was, and will continue to be, very influential. It's one of the all-time great buys in gaming; you can often get the whole thing for $25 these days, and there's like 150 hours in it. Good hours, too.
The Last of Us was an amazing experience. It was the best game in its whole console generation. I honestly think it stands toe-to-toe with The Witcher 3, despite how different it is. (and how much shorter.) Part of that is the tighter focus; W3 is trying to do a lot of things, and it never handles combat very well, where TLoU is smaller in scope and pretty tight mechanically.
I think Prey 2017 will end up having more legs than the initial sales would indicate; there's a great deal of depth there, a lot to see, and I think people will still be talking about it, sometimes, for at least another ten or fifteen years yet. I don't think it'll be one of the evergreen classics, it's not good enough to reach that level, but people will remember it fondly for quite some time.
FTL may be one of those evergreen classics. That game is amazingly addictive. I bought Crying Suns on a lark, and it was decent, but mostly it just got me going on FTL again. I have trouble imagining that game ever not being fun, no matter how far computers and gamers advance.
Dragon's Dogma isn't good enough to rate on its own, probably, but it had a ton of super-cool ideas, and if they ever do a sequel, that could easily be one of the big games of the next decade. DD1 was dragged down by its many egregious flaws; the fact that it was still so interesting, even with all the problems it had, speaks very well of its fundamental design.
Dark Souls.
There's a reason "The Dark Souls of" has become such an inescapable meme. No other title has had a fraction of its influence on game design in the eight years since its initial release. It remains a relatively niche series, yet its influence has stretched from the smallest indie titles to the biggest AAA hits.
There are different metrics to use when talking about "The Game Of..." but if we are talking about the game that influenced the industry the most, IMO Dark Souls is the correct answer.
merphle wrote:As a point of clarification: are we trying to determine the authoritative game of the decade for the world as a whole, or our personal choice?
World as a whole.
Honestly, I think this is a much less interesting question, and we've basically covered all the candidates at this point.
Soooooooooooooooooo. I hate to break up the party, folks. But you're jumping the gun a bit. We've got plans. Big plans. That's all I'm saying.
jrralls wrote:merphle wrote:As a point of clarification: are we trying to determine the authoritative game of the decade for the world as a whole, or our personal choice?
World as a whole.
Honestly, I think this is a much less interesting question, and we've basically covered all the candidates at this point.
There's definitely much more to be said when considering each of the potential categories. Or even any other singular slice rather than this. Nevertheless, world as a whole, still holds a pinch of intrigue when seeing which title is put forth, or discarded, and the reason(s).
Minecraft. PUBG. Fortnite. GTA Online. These are by far those which I have had most parents mention when talking about the games that hold most sway with their children. With a broad age spectrum. Girls and boys. There's also merchandise from clothing, to toys, to collectibles. It's also what most folks, directly, had played over the weekend. These games were and are everywhere. Especially Minecraft, and Fortnite. These two captured the hearts of many that care little for anything else gaming related. PUBG faded. GTA Online tended to skew less inclusive with less appeal, speaking broadly, as it's still a behemoth. (I've personally only tried Minecraft.)
Soooooooooooooooooo. I hate to break up the party, folks. But you're jumping the gun a bit. We've got plans. Big plans. That's all I'm saying.
Oooh.
Dark Souls and Mass Effect 2 are good starts.
And some of us have never even touched Minecraft. Think some are overestimating its popularity.
And some of us have never even touched Minecraft. Think some are overestimating its popularity.
It's hard for me to find anything that could stand up to Minecraft and Skyrim for timespan and power of impact. Personally I'd prefer Skyrim, but I'd argue that Minecraft has had a larger cultural impact across a wider demographic and therefore deserves the nod.
Both games are exceptional in their long tails, though. It's hard to think of games that lasted that long with as much power as those two. I think Fortnite is there in terms of cultural impact, but it started too late in this decade to beat out Skyrim or Minecraft.
I wonder if the question, "What is the Series of the Decade?" would bring more challengers into the mix?
you're jumping the gun a bit.
No kidding. Death Stranding hasn't even been released yet, and how can you have a game of the decade discussion without that.
My personal GotD would be between Last Day of June for the impact of the story, or Rocket League for the social play, polish, innovation, and overall fun(even though it is a remake of a game from last decade.)
That being said, I am sure that the actual GotD could come down to Skyrim, GTAV, PUBG(or Fortnite), Minecraft, or Starcraft 2. All of which would have there own reason for being nominated.
merphle wrote:As a point of clarification: are we trying to determine the authoritative game of the decade for the world as a whole, or our personal choice?
World as a whole.
Oh! Well then Skyrim, Minecraft, Fortnite.
Some of the long-tail for both Minecraft and Skyrim is certainly attributable to the fact that the games can be played on every possible platform that's existed from the time of release. I mean, I'd happily be occasionally working through a game of Mass Effect on the Switch if that was an option.
Anyway, here's my list of games I've spent 100+ hours on this decade. And even this is flawed, because I spent ~50 hours on Stardew Valley, and while it wouldn't be my GOTD, it'd definitely make a top-10. Same goes for Hexcells Infinite, which would make my top-10 of all-time but wouldn't be my GOTD.
Civ V
The Witcher 3
XCOM2
Mass Effect (not eligible)
Skyrim
Breath of the Wild
Crusader Kings II
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Mass Effect 2
Dragon Age: Origins (looks like this one just misses the cutoff)
If I were to take those games and order they by game design / cultural / whatever impact, that'd be a much different list than if I were to order them by how much joy they brought me.
The Witcher 3 would be my pick, narrowly edging out BoTW and CK2. Based on cultural impact, I don't know how it's anything other than Minecraft, a game I've never even seen played.
I agree that 'Dark Souls' is up there. And I think 'The Witcher 3' is in with a shout too. Both are fantastic games that feature incredible world-building.
But I wonder whether 'Dark Souls' is just a little too narrow an experience. It's pretty much all fighting, with a bit of discovery, but no genuine exploration. 'The Witcher 3' being an open world is much broader. There's more to do, and exploration is richly rewarded. And there's Gwent too. The best mini-game in gaming? I'd vote yes. However, I do wonder whether 'The Witcher 3' is let down slightly by it's combat system, which is too fiddly and too imprecise for a game with so much fighting in it.
I'm not sure about the 'Skyrim'. In particular, I'm not sure that its wide distribution is a good reason to argue for it as Game of the Year. I enjoyed it a lot, but got bored about two-thirds of the way in, when the dungeons and missions just became longer and longer, but no more interesting. Also, the combat was wasn't very good at all (it didn't help that I played it after Dark Souls). And there was a lot of jank, IIRC.
So - if it's down to me - I'd pick something more recent. I'd pick Red Dead Redemption 2. If someone, who had been out of gaming for a while, asked for a recommendation... then RDR2 would be it. More importantly, if someone was going to leave me with only one game from the decade... then I think RDR2 would offer the richest experience, so it'd be the one I'd keep.
I'd also offer a big shout-out to Battlefield 1's campaign. I thought it was really powerful.
But I wonder whether 'Dark Souls' is just a little too narrow an experience. It's pretty much all fighting, with a bit of discovery, but no genuine exploration.
I would consider exploration the main strength of Dark Souls. Intricate zone layouts and world interconnectivity + the rewards (both loot and story bits) for going off the main path are just so good. Combat is fine too, but that is much more debatable.
And some of us have never even touched Minecraft. Think some are overestimating its popularity.
Spoken like someone who's never even touched Minecraft! I didn't play it a ton myself, but its popularity honestly cannot be overestimated. Just check out the applications, reception, and cultural impact sections of its Wikipedia article. It's quite something.
Stele wrote:And some of us have never even touched Minecraft. Think some are overestimating its popularity.
Spoken like someone who's never even touched Minecraft!
I didn't play it a ton myself, but its popularity honestly cannot be overestimated. Just check out the applications, reception, and cultural impact sections of its Wikipedia article. It's quite something.
My kids are 17 and 15, so they basically grew up during the Minecraft Era, and it is hard to overstate the popularity of it. Everybody their age it seems has played a ton of Minecraft. Schools are still full of kids wearing Minecraft shirts, and it's everywhere. Minecraft is a cultural phenomenon, not just a game, and, as a single game, probably the biggest one ever.
When you go into the kids' section of a bookshop and there's a whole shelf devoted to Minecraft guides and a long-running Minecraft fanfic series, you realize the broader cultural cut-through of Minecraft.
No one's clamouring to publish my 7-novel Downton Abbey-style series about life as a servant in the Dishonored universe
Iwuzgunnasay, if anything the popularity of Skyrim has been overestimated. Minecraft and GTA are both huge, but largely huge in demographics that don't wonder what the game of the decade is. I'm bracing myself for Skyrim to do well in the shenanigans Eleima and Co are planning, but that's because it's very much the Self-Identified "Gamer" pick.
Stele wrote:And some of us have never even touched Minecraft. Think some are overestimating its popularity.
Spoken like someone who's never even touched Minecraft!
Obviously. But at least I'm not alone.
Based on cultural impact, I don't know how it's anything other than Minecraft, a game I've never even seen played.
a long-running Minecraft fanfic series
...what.
Felix Threepaper wrote:a long-running Minecraft fanfic series
...what.
Iwuzgunnasay, if anything the popularity of Skyrim has been overestimated. Minecraft and GTA are both huge, but largely huge in demographics that don't wonder what the game of the decade is. I'm bracing myself for Skyrim to do well in the shenanigans Eleima and Co are planning, but that's because it's very much the Self-Identified "Gamer" pick.
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I always felt that The Elder Scrolls games were specifically designed to appeal to the min/max-ing, D&D-style role-playing cadre of gamers, with Skyrim being the best iteration of the established formula. I see strong similarities between Skyrim and Elite, in that regard.
My personal Big 3:
Crusader Kings II
Farming Simulator 15
RimWorld
Runner up category:
Gone Home
Alien: Isolation
Skyrim
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