The battle-royale boom, e-sports explosion, emergence of VR, and the rise, then fall, then rise again of No Man’s Sky. These are just a few significant gaming industry moments from the last decade. But the past decade’s gaming moments that stuck with me, were in the games themselves.

From high-pitched screaming at Bioshock Infinite‘s ‘silent’ jump-scare and friends in FIFA matches to hunting down orc captains in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Far Cry 3’s Einstein-quoting pirate Vaas, I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing many a memorable video-game moment. And as I scanned across my game library, I started compiling games that I felt encapsulated the ‘teens’ for me.

So I wanted to share with you my top ten games most memorable games of the last decade. These aren’t my most memorable moments (that would require describing many in-jokes and how exactly you “garden” in Black Ops), nor is this the definitive list of last decade’s best or most iconic games. These are the games that stuck in my mind, or even changed my gaming perspective entirely.

A couple of rules: I’m only allowing games released last decade and games I managed to play. Sorry Witcher 3 and Mass Effect fans, maybe wait for a list of games I missed in the ‘teens’?

So now we’re all clear on the rules, let’s drop in! But first, here’s some…

Honorable Mentions

I could mention many other games here, but now let’s see which games took the top spots…

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10. Spec Ops: The Line (2012)

Spec Ops: The Line opens in typical explosive third-person-shooter fashion before setting a simple goal: infiltrate a sand-storm decimated Dubai, find survivors, and radio for extraction.

Inevitably, things go south, but this seemingly run-of-the-mill shooting gallery slowly morphs into an insidious psychological thriller, as your character, Captain Walker, ponders his ever-shifting objectives in this urban desert wasteland.

As I fought through a horrendously sandy, enemy-infested hotel, the red dusk distorting every surface and sand granule into running blood, a friend chimed in: “This is all bad for you. It’s just gratuitous violence.” They were partly right. What was even the point of this? The developers cleverly take you down a path where you only realise the horrific choices you made until it’s too late.

Spec Ops ingeniously tricks you time and time again, asking the question: do you feel like a hero yet? It isn’t your fault, it’s just the game’s objective, right? Like Modern Warfare 2‘s controversial airport massacre, you have to play to progress. You don’t have a choice… right?

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9. Hotline Miami (2012)

Okay, one last psychological shooter, this time with a psychedelic twist. You play as a 1989 animal-masked Miami hitman in this top-down shooter who commits mafia massacres as instructed by mysterious answer-phone messages. As the days go by, our protagonist starts seeing some downright unnerving visions.

Devolver Digital was behind countless action-packed games this decade, including Enter the Gungeon, Katana ZERO and NOT A HERO, the latter being a personal favourite. However, Hotline Miami‘s stands out with a synthwave soundtrack to die for, paired perfectly with the sleek Outrun aesthetic. 

Levels generally consist of formulating a plan and pathway, failing a lot, before finally completing the mission and walking through the grisly crimson carnage you’ve just wrought, the music cutting to an eerie monotone drone. I adored the bizarre sequence of events and how effortlessly fluid the combat plays. Hotline Miami reminds me of old-school flash games, except with extensive polish and heaps of extra content.

With some head-scratching story-telling and dedicated cult-fanbase, Hotline Miami is a deep-dive into the surreal alongside its 2015 sequel Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.

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8. Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)

In Return of the Obra Dinn, you must deduce what happened to the Obra Dinn’s missing crew and passengers. Fortunately, you have the Memento Mortem stopwatch, which grants the power to hear the final words and see a snapshot of a person’s demise. Can you discover who each person was, how they died, and if murdered, their killer?

Developer Lucas Pope already found success in the equally-innovative Papers Please!. I preferred Obra Dinn‘s focus on its core gameplay loop, as well as its forgiveness, or rather indifference, to the player’s mistakes. Obra Dinn will only lock in “fates” if you guess three correct, awarding the player with plenty of ‘Eureka!’ moments. Furthermore, as someone who stresses over time-trial mechanics, I appreciate the liberty to sleuth through creaky crew quarters and foamy waves at your own pace.

Unfortunately, the title doesn’t have much replay value, and you have to commit your time; I was forced to restart after losing track of my findings between playthroughs. However, these are small setbacks to Return of the Obra Dinn fantastic murder(?)-mystery narrative, gorgeous atmosphere, stellar voice-acting team, and surprisingly alluring unconventional aesthetics.

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7. The Jackbox Party Pack 2 (2015)

I cannot count the times Jackbox Party Pack games have left me in stitches. The magic of The Jack Box Collection comes with the simplicity of its rules and enabling players to drive the comedy. In-jokes comfortably slide into each minigame, and rounds can be as harmless or offensive as your group chooses. Sheer, unadulterated stupidity can be enough to clinch the winning spot. And with the rise in smartphones and video chats, it’s never been easier for all your friends to join the fun.

But giving the entire collection the seventh spot would be unfair. While I have a soft-spot for Jackbox 3’s ‘Faking It’, Jackbox 2 has the best range of minigames. The popular ‘Fibbage’ and ‘Quiplash’ minigames are revamped, ‘Earwax’ is guaranteed laugh-a-minute, and ‘Bomb Corp’ offers a more ‘gamey’ experience.

If I was picking games based on their memorable moment quantity, The Jackbox Party Collection would take the cake. If you’re hosting a social event, The Jackbox Party Pack 2 is a surefire way to have you and your guests rolling with laughter.

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6. Grand Theft Auto 5 (2013)

I spent three years prior to GTA V‘s release playing through Grand Theft Auto IV. I fell in love with Liberty City and Niko’s narrative, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that GTA IV‘s multiplayer felt somewhat soulless and empty.

Enter Rockstar‘s smash-hit Grand Theft Auto V, and later on, GTA Online. After falling in love with San Andreas through the story campaign, GTA Online smoothly moulds around the single-player game-world. Despite an extremely defective launch, GTA Online now offers bombastic racing, nail-biting heists, and outrageous character missions. And the best part? They’re still releasing free DLC to this day.

Even the base game astounds as one of the most successful launches of an entertainment product, producing some thrilling criminal chronicles and a fantastic three-protagonist game mechanic.

If I had one gripe, I’d say it’s harder to earn money in GTA Online than the early days, especially when searching for reliable strangers for heists. However, get a good group of friends, and you’ll have a blast chasing bounties, helicopter-racing, or laughing uncontrollably after failing the same motorbike heist every gosh-darn time.

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5. Pokémon Go (2016)

If you were living under a rock during 2016, you may have missed the game that dominated news programmes, revitalised the mobile-gaming market, and led to the capture of an attempted murder suspect. It’s hard to think of a game that caused a more colossal cultural impact than Pokémon Go.

This revolutionary app brought a nostalgic journey into our very own neighbourhoods. Finally living the unimaginable dream of becoming a Pokémon trainer was spellbinding. I remember people from all backgrounds, from Pokémon veterans to gaming novices, come together to experience a social phenomenon like no other.

Despite a rocky start and decline in player count, additions of new Pokémon generations and proper gym battles have kept the augmented-reality game fresh and led to the birth of countless copy-cat apps.

Meeting mates to hatch eggs, catch Pokemon, and discover the hidden gems in your local area, led to a bizarre, yet mesmerising adventure. Getting snapped on Google Maps is just a bonus.

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4. Hollow Knight (2017)

Hollow Knight puts you in the mask of a wandering bug knight drawn to the abandoned kingdom of Hollowsnest deep underground. What secrets lie below the surface?

I was introduced to Hollow Knight back in late 2018 (thanks again PatDav), and quickly raced through the campaign in a matter of weeks. Hollow Knight starts small, providing a small handful of pathways and barely any objectives. While there is an end-goal to Hollow Knight, the game lets your curiosity to guide you. It was only a good few hours into the game I realised how deep I’d delved into Hollowsnest.

The mapping system is brilliantly designed as to not overwhelm you with new areas, and the gradual increase in learnt skills slowly opens an abundance of passageways and secrets. Each new section is bursting with diverse enemies, dazzling environments, and challenging boss fights.

Hollow Knight secures its high ranking as a masterfully crafted world elegantly unravelling its rich lore and formidable obstacles. Times I wasn’t playing Hollow Knight filled my thoughts with when I could pick up the controller to explore more. And with ample free DLC, there’s plenty of hours to be poured into Hollow Knight. You know I’m picking up the sequel, Silksong, which promises to take the franchise to new heights.

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3. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim (2011)

I recall the hype for the fifth Elder Scrolls instalment as immeasurable. Whilst Pokémon Go was an overnight sensation, Skyrim sprouted articles and parody videos well before release. I had never played an Elder Scrolls game – barely any RPGs at all – but the build-up to 11/11/11 was electric, and I couldn’t help hopping on the bandwagon.

Skyrim blew me away with its sheer volume of content, playful random encounters, and plethora of story-lines and side-missions. The open world is jam-packed with hidden secrets, and with a dedicated modding community programming entirely new story-arcs and bear musicians, Skyrim‘s possibilities are endless.

Playing the game today, the janky game-mechanics, quest bugs, and NPC glitches have become a touch more noticeable, but at the time, this was just another quirky charm of a wonderful wintry adventure in Skyrim and another reason why we loved Bethesda.

How things change.

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2. Stardew Valley (2016)

You open a letter from your late grandfather, stating you’ve been left a plot of land in Stardew Valley. Tired of the humdrum of modern life, you see what this opportunity may bring.

To call this game a farming simulator would be a great miscarriage of justice. Stardew Valley has such heartwarming soul and character, the likes of which I’ve never experienced from a video-game before. As you develop your land to produce bountiful harvests, you connect with the enigmatic people of Pelican Town and discover the valley’s mystic secrets.

Perhaps more mind-boggling is that this is ConcernedApe’s, aka Eric Barone’s, debut game programmed entirely by himself for four years. The dedication he poured into this labour of love is palpable to any player, spawning a tight-knit community with a deluge of fan-art and mods.

I even heard some sad person made a 26-minute soundscape of the opening moments. Why not check it out on this very site?

In all seriousness, Stardew Valley helped me through some dark times. Facebook’s Farmville and multiple freemium mobile games give titles with the mere mention of farming a bad rep. For ConcernedApe to take such a beautifully sincere approach to the concept, and game development in general, is an opportunity that should not be missed.

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1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

I was stuck on a ball-in-a-maze puzzle in an ancient shrine. The controller’s motion sensors served as the board as I carefully guided the ball to the end. However, the final part involved a tricky flip to get the ball out of the maze, and I always missed the flip. Every time I missed, a new ball would plop back into the centre of the maze. I was ready to give up…

And then it clicked: I flipped the controller around.

I am convinced that this ‘oversight’ was intentional. Any other developer would have stopped you from moving the board too much because that’s not the ‘right solution’. Yet The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild isn’t afraid to give the player unadulterated freedom and gloriously relish their results.

Breath of the Wild was the most beautiful, ground-breaking, freeing, and most importantly, memorable game I played this decade.

Sneaking play-time on my brother’s Switch whenever I could, I overcame freezing mountains and scorching deserts, narrowly scraped through Lynel fights, and discovered the many secret intrigues across Breath of the Wild‘s magnificent open-ended world. When a bar of piano music makes your eyes brim and heart swell, you know you have a classic on your hands.

Sure, there were some frustrating moments; I found the endgame somewhat lacklustre and the Switch’s controls are abysmally wrist-breaking. However, to me, most of Breath of the Wild is absolute perfection. I never would have thought my first Legend of Zelda experience would appear not only at the top of this list but the top of my favourite games ever.

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And that’s the list!

This is the first article I’ve posted to this site, and I’m looking to publish all sorts of articles, including an oddly cheesy piece in a couple of weeks. Feel free to browse my previous works, especially potential employers out there (*wink wink*), and do leave me a comment about your memorable games of the last decade! I’d love to hear more.

Other Games Considered:

• LIMBO (2010)
• Read Dead Redemption 1 & 2 (2010, 2018)
• L.A. Noire (2011)
• The Binding of Isaac (2011)
• Journey (2012)
• Inside (2016)
• DOOM (2016)
• Fortnite (2017)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019)
• Any other game mentioned in the article.