What is the best video game in the world?

By Jonathan Lee: With over five decades of video game history to dig through, the debate over the best games of all time has been hotly discussed for years and years. And let’s be honest, it’s never going to end! But there’s so many games, and it can get hard to decide especially with so many games out there. And because choosing ONE game would probably set off a civil war within the comments, I’ll be choosing the TOP TEN of the best video games ever.

With this being about the best video games EVER, and not just from one year, I’ve carefully selected five from the earlier days for their significant contributions to gaming culture, while the latter five are going to be titles that may be more familiar and impactful to new gamers and experienced gamers alike.

Super Mario (1985)

Unsurprisingly, Super Mario can claim a spot on this list of video games for many reasons. While its gameplay was simple, it was easily an addicting game thanks to that simplicity combined with various platforming challenges. But perhaps most significantly, it helped the Famicom/NES become a big hit, elevating the well-known company Nintendo out of its old business of card games and quirky toys, and into becoming the video game giant it is today. So you can thank this game for a lot more than giving you a few Goombas and Koopas to jump on!

Street Fighter II (1991)

It can be debated over what the best fighting game is for ages to come, but it’s hard to argue that Street Fighter II did not help revolutionize the Fighting Game genre. Despite there having been fighting games since the late 1970’s, it took until we had a game like Street Fighter II that we finally had a fighting game that combined fast-paced action, unique character traits, and the strategic combination of moves such as high and low attacks with strong, medium, or light amounts of strength. This opened new levels of gameplay in the genre, that led to the explosion of new favorites such as Samurai Showdown (one that almost made this list!) Hands down, one of the best snes games ever as well.

Doom (1993)

Before Grand Theft Auto, there was ID Software’s Doom leading the way with gratuitous violence and video game controversy. You had demons roaming a Martian base, the gates of Hell have opened, and you’re an unstoppable space marine that we all know and love as “The Doom Guy”.  His legacy is written in the blood of countless demons that we’ve all slain from the first Doom all the way to the rip-roaringly fun reboot Doom that’s out on current-gen systems and PC.

So what makes this game so great?

It inspired the first-person shooter genre back when the concept of existing in a 3D game environment was still seen as ambitious and hard to achieve. Sure, ID Software had taken Castle Wolfenstein from Muse Software and made Wolfenstein 3D a year earlier, but it was a testbed for what John Carmack and his ID Software crew were going to push for in Doom. Doom brought true, active multi-level environments, more creative powerups, and an original premise that would inspire countless shooters after it.

The ability to mod Doom also led to the creation of one of the earliest modding communities. Those with long memories may remember how there was a Barney the Dinosaur mod available back when Doom first came out. Now there’s one where EVERYTHING IS NICHOLAS CAGE… that could be a good thing or a bad thing. Depends on if you like bees.

Final Fantasy (1987)

One of the best games ever created, Final Fantasy, helped bring about the rise of visually-engaging presentations while delivering deep storytelling and original settings with each installment. Not only did this game save the renowned company we now know as Square-Enix from dying, but this game helped spark the flame that would become the RPG genre of gaming. RPG games weren’t new, but much of the titles were text-based computer games. Other developers would soon start developing their own RPG games, expanding on exploration, different item systems, combat systems, and storytelling forms.

Civilization (1991)

One more turn. Just one more turn.

It’s a familiar phrase today in a lot of those 4X Strategy and nation-management games that we all like to play, but back in the day, there was Sid Meier’s Civilization, one of the top pc games of it’s time. With limited computing resources, it was an impressive game of massive scale. Begin with your first city, growing your nation, engage in diplomacy and infrastructure building, it’s all there. Build your armies, destroy your enemies, laugh at them—all there. Whether it’s Masters of Orion, Age of Wonders, Endless Space, Stellaris, or just the latest installment of the Civilization series (of which there are six!), we can thank this humble game for breathing life into the genre.

Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)

Most First-Person Shooters had been following the same formula set by the likes of Doom, Quake, and Unreal. Things were becoming a little too homogenous.  That’s when Bungie surprised everyone with their Xbox-exclusive: Halo: Combat Evolved. Gone went the magic bag of nine or twelve weapons, it wasn’t just you against the world, or against the entire realm of Hell. Bungie had tried to make things fresh with an original story, a deeper background story to flesh out both the immediate plot as well as the underlying lore, and a new way to play the First-Person Shooter.

It made sense that the famous Master Chief would only be able to carry two weapons realistically. Bungie gave a reason as to why Master Chief has a regenerating shield (his armor). Health packs were still a thing, and that was kind of great. The enemies came in a nice variety with unique ways to take them on. And the characters were memorable. But best of all, perhaps, was how the galaxy-at-large was so filled with life. It wasn’t just some alien invasion that the hero thwarts and saves the day, there was a story that stretched beyond the scope of the game, both before the game, as well as beyond it. It wasn’t always serious, it never carried too much levity, and it always kept the badass meter on full.

Also, let’s never ever forget how amazing the orchestral soundtrack of this game was.

BioShock (2007)

As a spiritual successor to the System Shock series, BioShock had some big shoes to fit and it did the job incredibly well. While its gameplay was creative with the use of both weapons and plasmid abilities, it was the storytelling done in this game that helped set it apart, as well as set the stage for more subversive narratives to be told in other games. Following the same threads of Ayn Rand and George Orwell, BioShock gives players a look at an alternate history that is both beautiful and terrifying, driving a narrative that challenges the players to ponder on the structures of both society and morality, the legitimacy of human free will, and the weight of freedom and control.

Aside from being hailed as a brilliant presentation of video games as art, BioShock signaled a change in storytelling that would continue to change the way games would be written, how heroes and anti-heroes are defined, and how narratives need never be painted in black-and-white, that it’s okay to coat everything in grey. Or red. Depends on what you choose! (Remember, a man chooses, a slave obeys!!)

The Elderscrolls: Skyrim (2011)

Since The Elderscrolls: Daggerfall, the Elderscrolls series has been renowned for its immense worlds incredibly large numbers of characters to interact with, and the sheer customizability when it comes to defining your character by your equipment, profile, and of course, choices. The Elderscrolls: Skyrim is the latest, as far as the single-player installments are concerned. With its vast popularity, the game has continued to be played by many, its modding community is healthy, and almost every age group plays it (I mean, there’s even a grandmother that plays it for her YouTube channel. Don’t believe me? Check it out here[hyperlink will be inserted]!)

From choosing your character’s race and star sign to deciding on every detail of your nose, the character possibilities are almost endless. With modding involved, it might as well be endless. And the story has expanded so much over the course of the different DLC expansions as well as the quest-based mods that so many players have made. Some players have even created WHOLE WORLDS to be added to The Elderscrolls: Skyrim.

From the improved gameplay built upon its predecessors, to its highly impressive longevity thanks to both players, modders, and YouTubers: The Elderscrolls: Skyrim has certainly earned a place on this list.

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt (2015)

Since CD Projekt brought us the first The Witcher game, the gaming community worldwide has been engaged with the fantasy world created by author Andrzej Sapkowski. And for good reason. Each game took on the concept of player choice and brought it to a new level. Rather than good and bad decisions, no choice was certain in its benefit or ill-consequence. For example, saving a lost spirit that sounded like it had been tormented for ages ended up leading a village to being driven insane and killing each other.

No choice is clear in any of the entries in this series. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is no exception. Based on your choices in the first two games, this game crafts a unique world setting that other players might not necessarily be experiencing. It is this distinction in the way the games take your decisions and consequences that I choose this game as one of the best games ever (and its series, really) over other possible entries such as Bioware’s Mass Effect, which I really wanted to include in this list!

Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)

Horizon Zero Dawn is absolutely gorgeous on the visual end, yet this game provided a great blend of intuitive, action-packed gameplay, and a story that was both creative and incredibly relevant. In a world where humanity royally screwed up and basically got themselves almost all killed thanks to their own nanobot creations, we learn that our own ingenuity can be our most terrible weakness, but also our greatest strength.

And while the world is looking pretty rough, and getting more boned by the week, we do have the power to come together and bring great change to the world, even when it’s already gone to Hell. It’s not a plot that’s super smart, crafty, or puts you on a rollercoaster, but it was a simple message strong enough to still matter. And that’s one of the many things that makes this game beautiful. The rest is being able to kick some major ass with a bow and arrow, riding atop a giant robot stag elk!