Choosing the game of the year from 1981 - 2023 and beyond...

1989 - Vette!





Vette! is a racing game where you race in a corvette (unexpected, right?). This alone would not make it special, what does is that it features a fully open world 3D rendition of San Francisco, complete with the Golden Gate and Lombard Street. This was the first racing game where I'd just ignore the goal and drive around freely to explore. Also worth noting that the game was designed as an EGA game, further making it unique. There are probably other EGA games with 3D polygon graphics, but I don't know of any.

Mentions for 1989:
Street Rod
Test Drive II

LukeTbk said:

It was a lot of fun, but I big issue I encountered coming from Final Fantasy 1 on NES mainly, made the mistake to level up my characters around before advancing the storyline (past FF game could be rough if you did none it), there was some 1000 XP and you level up regardless of the level you were bug or something like that, rapidly went level 60 something on the first CD.

I was killing boss in 2 hits and the cinematic-story did not made sense at all anymore.

Click to expand...

All levels take 1000 experience in FF8. It's not a bug. The game was designed around the Draw system, since the story put such an emphasis on it making the people who use it much stronger. As such, managing your GF abilities and magic junctions is more important. It really isn't that big a deal if you level up, but the experience of the game is better if you don't stop to grind. You just want to stop to stock up on new magicks before moving on.

I've done the whole no-leveling min-max thing a few times, waiting until you get the Cactuar GF to level, and it makes the game extremely boring after that point. The game isn't balanced around your characters being that strong on the run up to the end except maybe Ultima and Omega Weapon. And believe me that going through the majority of the game using Card to gain AP while gaining no XP is not a fun experience.

There is only one year where any game on any platform can possibly beat Zelda. That year is the absolutely epic year of 2002.



Of course there is the PERFECTION that was Metroid Prime. The only game that possibly could challenge Zelda as my favorite gaming franchise. Prime is an easy choice for game of the year?



…and the game that ignited my first attempt at overclocking a GPU and my favorite PC franchise. Battlefield 1942, the one that started it all.


But wait, Blizzard unleashed its own monster. Warcraft III.


And then there was this gem, which falls into a tier below the games above but gets honorable mention for being terrifying and fascinating.

What a year!

theoldseller said:

My first game i remember playing was on atari 2600 game was called commando after seeing a movie called commando.
View attachment 655485View attachment 655486

Click to expand...

A movie called Commando? lol, you mean my favorite movie from 1985?

2003 is easy.

GOTY for 2004?

Doom3 vs Half-Life2 vs WoW... How can anyone choose between those? All epic games of all time. Choosing any one of these over the other 2 would be a crime. Doom3/idtech3 to this day at max resolution/settings can bring modern gpus to their knees, and it is beautiful. HalfLife2's complexity, efficency and story remain to be epic. WoW developed an online community never before seen.

Only saw a little on tetris. It's one of those titles that spannes many years and platforms but the most icoic would have to be OG GB which was 1989. Because it was packaged with most GB's and 101% kid/family/old person friendly easily the most played GB game of all time.

Speaking of 1989 there is also the original sim city. Thats a hard vote to cast. I remember at the time I only had an 8088 tandy 1200 clone and it ran only in b&w and slow AF! I would set it to max speed and auto and let it go all day long while at school just to get 100 years of revenue.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas (Ubisoft Montréal - Microsoft Xbox 360) / 2006​

Another tough year to choose from in the last golden age of video games, but I had to go with Rainbow Six: Vegas. This may be a controversial opinion around these parts, but this is the best tactical FPS I have ever played. The AI for both your squad mates and enemies are extremely good, and the limited environmental destruction both help to make combat scenarios extremely dynamic. It helps that commanding your squad is extremely easy and seamless. This is a mid-00s game, so attention to little details like firing on the casino floor causing slot machines to explode in sparks and coins adds to the excitement. Add in amazing sound design and the production value is just amazing. The story progression kept me interested, too. With the multiplayer mode where you could host your own games and this completes the whole package.

Runners Up​

• Dead Rising (Capcom Production Studio 1 - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Game Studios - Windows 2000/XP)
• Final Fantasy III (Matrix Software - Nintendo DS)
• Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix - Sony PlayStation 2)
• Gears of War (Epic Games - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• GT Legends (SimBin - Windows 2000/XP)
• GTR 2 - FIA GT Racing Game (SimBin - Windows 2000/XP)
• Guitar Hero II (Harmonix - Sony PlayStation 2)
• Half-Life 2: Episode One (Valve - Windows 2000/XP)
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Raven Software - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Need for Speed: Carbon (EA Black Box - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Prey (Human Head Studios - Windows 2000/XP)
• Resistance: Fall of Man (Insomniac Games - Sony PlayStation 3)
• Test Drive Unlimited (Eden Games - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Titan Quest (Iron Lore Entertainment - Windows 2000/XP)
• Tourist Trophy (Polyphony Digital - Sony PlayStation 2)

Good grief, 2007 was stacked with great releases. This has to be the hardest year yet to pick a singular release from, but I think I am able to do it if for only one reason.

Mass Effect (BioWare - Microsoft Xbox 360) / 2007​

The original Mass Effect launched what became my favorite game series of all time with its intriguing story, interesting characters, hybrid ARPG mechanics, and branching paths depending on your dialog choices. I actually didn't sit down and play through the game for the first time until a few years after its release despite purchasing the game on launch day in 2007, but after that I was hooked. I ended up playing through the game 6-7 times with different classes and choices within the span of a few weeks of that first completion and have completed at least two dozen playthroughs in the ensuing years. Most of them on the original Xbox 360 version, but more recently spending time with a modded install of the PC version. The quality of life improvements made in the Legendary Edition make the game even more enjoyable.

Due to how I feel about the competitors I am going to rank the closest runners up.

Runners Up​

1. Crysis (Crytek - Windows Vista)
   This was the game I built my first uber PC for and it did not disappoint. I don't think any game has come close to the level of detail in the destructible environments this game offers except maybe the Battlefield series. Combined with the sandbox gameplay it made the game feel extremely dynamic to play with how differently you could approach situations. Not even mentioning the overall graphical quality yet, which was out of this world for the time and still looks amazing to this day in spite of ballooning development costs with publishers and developers chasing graphics. The reason they fail is because they no longer pay attention to the little details that are so important to world building Ultimately, while I still revisit the game every once in a while and enjoy the gameplay and story, I have not played it nearly as much as Mass Effect.
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward - Windows 2000/XP)
   The game that would set the tone for the series going forward. Coincidentally, just weeks before the initial reveal I was thinking about how I would love to see a Call of Duty game set in modern times, or at least a more modern conflict like the Gulf War. Call of Duty 2 started introducing cinematic set pieces to the single player game, but this one they went all out and it was very effective. Unfortunately the game felt more like it was on rails because of this, and the scripted sequences in the early game that get you immersed and invested disappear in the late game, making it feel like a slog. The shortcomings in the single player campaign despite still being fun to play through are made up by the multiplayer. I played a lot of both and still occasionally come back to the single player, but it does not have the longevity of the top 2 with the online multiplayer population finally dwindling.
3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montréal - Microsoft Xbox 360)
   The prototype for the Ubisoft formula that is still used to this day, with many tweaks to try and make it feel fresh. The setting and story are fantastic, with the game doing a good job at making the recreation of the Middle East during the Middle Ages feel alive and realistic. The gameplay mechanics feel shallow these days, but being able to run up and climb building and parkour around buildings with ease felt good at the time. Combat and assassination is simple, though, and ultimately there is only one way to approach and terminate your assassination targets. If you're a completionist like me, the number of flags strewn about the world and my compulsive need to collect them really hurt the game's pacing, but at least it encourages you to explore the amazing landscapes and cityscapes.
4. BioShock (2K Boston - Windows Vista)
   Ken Levine's "masterpiece" and homage to System Shock. Love the setting and story, and the gameplay mechanics are well-designed. Conversely, I think the overall design of the combat scenarios ultimately hurt the tight gameplay mechanics that for the basis of this game. Another shortcoming for me is that the moral "choice" system really railroads you into the "good" path if you want to be a completionist and feel the most powerful by the end of the game. Despite the many plasmids and options to approach combat scenarios, the game always feels lie a war of attrition against the enemies with how aggressive they are and how hard they hit. This dynamic doesn't really change in spite of you becoming more powerful over time. It seems the devs knew this would be an issue, which is why they included the respawn system with no penalty to progression in the game. Of course, they added an option to turn off the Vita Chambers in a later update, but enabling it just exposes even more how problematic the combat design is in the game.

Honorable Mentions​

• Blue Dragon (Mistwalker & Artoon - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Colin McRae: DiRT (Codemasters - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Crackdown (Realtime Worlds - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage - Windows 2000/XP)
• Eternal Sonata (tri-Crescendo - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• God of War II (Santa Monica Studio - Sony PlayStation 2)
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two (Valve - Windows 2000/XP)
• Halo 3 (Bungie - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom - Windows Vista)
• Pokémon Diamond & Pearl (Game Freak - Nintendo DS)
• Portal (Valve - Windows 2000/XP)
• Project Gotham Racing 4 (Bizarre Creations - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (GSC Game World - Windows 2000/XP)
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Naughty Dog - Sony PlayStation 3)

Prince of Persia (Ubisoft Montréal - Microsoft Xbox 360) / 2008​

The 2008 reboot of Prince of Persia left a real lasting impression on me. The aspects that people criticized the game for at the time it released were its greatest strengths, in my opinion. The one-on-one fights were dynamic and fun, requiring coordination and strategy utilizing the abilities you unlock as you progress rather than just mowing through hoards. The environments you traverse were similarly expertly planned to make your character progression matter. Early environments felt more linear and I believe criticisms against them were just based on that first hour of gameplay before they opened up. I also think the art style works well with how the game is presented, looking like a painting The story and character interactions between the Prince and your companion Elika are what really push it over the top for me. The emotional bond that develops between them makes the ending feel all the more impactful.

I've played Dead Space far more than PoP 2008 over the years, but it didn't really leave as much of a lasting impression on me. Even though I originally played the console version, I have never played the Epilogue DLC that was never brought to the PC version. From what I've read about it, it is really unnecessary and ruins the ending of the base game, so I don't feel I missed anything.

Runners Up​

• Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch - Windows 2000/XP)
• Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Fallout 3 (Bethesda Game Studios - Windows 2000/XP)
• Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft Montréal - Windows Vista)
• Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar North - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Left 4 Dead (Valve South - Windows 2000/XP)
• Lost Odyssey (Mistwalker & FeelPlus - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Race Driver: Grid (Codemasters - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Resistance 2 (Insomniac Games - Sony PlayStation 3)
• Rock Band 2 (Harmonix - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Too Human (Silicon Knights - Microsoft Xbox 360)

Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios - Microsoft Xbox 360) / 2009​

The game that defined the super hero genre going forward to this day, Rocksteady created a masterpiece integrating all of Batman's strengths as a hero into a fantastic story and world, completed by outstanding vocal performances from the actors who defined the characters in the 1990s animated series. Combat is fun, exploration is rewarding, and progression is perfect. I'd go so far as to say this was the best game released during the 20-aughts.

Runners Up​

• Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft Montréal - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• The Beatles: Rock Band (Harmonix - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Borderlands (Gearbox Software - Windows XP)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward - Windows XP)
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (Tigon Studios & Starbreeze Studios - Windows XP)
• Demon's Souls (FromSoftware - Sony PlayStation 3)
• Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare - Windows XP)
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (Monolith Productions - Windows XP)
• Killzone 2 (Guerrilla Games - Sony PlayStation 3)
• Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve - Windows 2000/XP)
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (Vicarious Visions - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Resident Evil 5 (Capcom - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (Relic Entertainment - Windows XP)

2010 was another year stacked with great games. I am going to do the ranking of the runners up as with 2007 because coincidentally, my GOTY pick is...

Mass Effect 2 (BioWare - Microsoft Xbox 360) / 2010​

Mass Effect 2 is quite possibly my favorite game of all time. It took all the ideas from the first game and refined them to be near perfect. The change in the power and weapon mechanics added a lot more strategy to battles and party choice, no longer being able to simply blaze into a room and spam Singularity. They introduced simple combo mechanics with Biotic powers that would be expanded further in the third entry, but it made it such that being a Sentinel Shepard was a viable option when bringing a pure Biotic with you. The story became very intriguing, and the character interactions made you get emotionally invested in their development over the course of the game. It also included interesting mechanics that made the game have real stakes once you reach the ending. I absolutely love it with all my heart.

Runners Up​

1. Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian Entertainment - Windows XP)
   Original series co-creator Josh Sawyer took the helm on this project taking the Bethesda-style first-person WRPG and making a proper Fallout story out of it. At the same time, a lot of depth was added to the game mechanics by integrating simple things that modders were doing with Fallout 3 like modifying weapons and a game mode with basic needs like food, water, and sleep. The gunplay was refined to a good compromise between the RPG system of the first game and the Call of Duty-like spraying of Fallout 4, which really made different kinds of weapons more useful depending on the enemies you are facing and the environments they were in. Combine all that with a superb story that gives the player multiple major, morally ambiguous choices to make in a surprisingly varied environment for a desert and you have the makings of a great game. One of the strengths of Bethesda's first attempt in Fallout 3, in my opinion, was the DLC that expanded the game which were even better than the base game. That trend continued with New Vegas, having some of the best expansion content to ever release for a game, in my opinion. It ultimately is still a Bethesda RPG, though, which is why it didn't push it past Mass Effect 2.
2. Rock Band 3 (Harmonix - Microsoft Xbox 360)
   Harmonix lost MTV Games as a publisher after the second game in the series, as the popularity of music rhythm games started to decline, so Harmonix published the game themselves. People had worried that this meant less access to music labels to license popular and well-known music to bring to the game. Those fears turned out unfounded as Harmonix was able to bring some of the most historic music to the Rock Band platform, adding to the already stellar library expanded by Rock Band 2 and its DLC. With Rock Band 3 also came Rock Band Network, which democratized the music licensing and chart authoring system so that anyone could bring music to the game. I credit RBN with introducing me to a lot of music I still listen to today. The third entry also brought the best refinement to the engine, which is why it's still played today over Rock Band 4 by dedicated fans. Unfortunately it isn't backward compatible, so I need to bust out the Xbox 360 to play it, in addition to the high attrition rate of peripherals that are no longer made and sold.
3. Transformers: War for Cybertron (High Moon Studios - Microsoft Xbox 360)
   While I absolutely adored the game based on Armada released on the PlayStation 2, it didn't really have the kind of tight gameplay that will keep you playing. War for Cybertron was the game that finally delivered on the dream of the perfect game based on the Transformers property, for me. The developers smartly included a single player campaign from the perspectives of both the Autobots and Decepticons, with levels and battles meticulously designed to play to both the strengths and weaknesses of both. I honestly couldn't tell you anything about the story, as I don't remember anything about it, but I do feel it stayed close enough to the lore that I was never annoyed by it. Combine that with multiplayer modes that are still some of the most fun I've ever had in a multiplayer game. Other than that, I haven't really had the urge to go back and play it again, especially after the multiplayer went offline.
4. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games - Windows XP)
   An absolute graphical powerhouse for the day, running on OpenGL. Even more impressive than Metro 2033, in my opinion, to which I think the art style goes a long way. The darkness, lighting, and parallax galore made an extremely effective eerie environment to traverse. The game itself could be described as a walking simulator these days, but to me it really felt like those old adventure games brought to full 3D and first person, including a lot of item hunting and puzzle solving. Even more impressive is the number of endings included, many of which I have no idea how to approach getting even after reading about them, going to the masterful design of the exploration part of the game. Despite that, I really haven't had the urge to revisit the game after completing it twice, though I may do it again for Halloween this year since a few years has passed, so it may feel fresh again.

Honorable Mentions​

• Alpha Protocol (Obsidian Entertainment - Windows XP)
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (DICE - Windows Vista/7)
• Blur (Bizarre Creations - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops (Treyarch - Windows XP)
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (MercurySteam - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Dante's Inferno (Visceral Games - Sony PlayStation 3)
• Darksiders (Vigil Games - Windows XP)
• Gran Turismo 5 (Polyphony Digital - Sony PlayStation 3)
• Metro 2033 (4A Games - Windows Vista/7)
• Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver (Game Freak - Nintendo DS)
• Supreme Commander 2 (Gas Powered Games - Windows XP)

Forza Motorsport 4 (Turn 10 Studios - Microsoft Xbox 360) / 2011​

I had trouble picking between this and Dark Souls. While I have put thousands of hours into Dark Souls, I am giving my GOTY for 2011 to Forza Motorsport 4. I have to point out that even though people seem to like FM3, for some reason, that game was more like an early access version of FM4. Not all the content was completed before Microsoft shoved it out the door. FM4 is the fully realized version of that game, with a revamped physics engine that Turn 10 cheekily said ran at 360 Hz to further the marketing of the Xbox 360. This entry in the series has, in my opinion, the best lineup of cars and track configurations with a superb single player campaign to progress through.

I picked the video caption of the game above because it was also when I stepped up my steering wheel game to the belt-driven one Fanatec made in partnership with Turn 10 Studios. It was mind blowing at the time to have a wheel that didn't feel notchy and yet provided a lot of torque in its force feedback. It saddens me that Turn 10 didn't use the gameplay structure of this game as the baseline going forward in the series. Forza Motorsport (2024) may have the best physics in the series yet, but it doesn't mean much when there are no bones to support it.

Runners Up​

• Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios - Windows 7)
• Battlefield 3 (DICE - Windows 7)
• Dark Souls (FromSoftware - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Dead Space 2 (Visceral Games - Windows 7)
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos-Montréal - Windows 7)
• Dungeon Siege III (Obsidian Entertainment - Windows 7)
• F1 2011 (Codemasters Birmingham - Windows 7)
• L.A. Noire (Team Bondi - Windows 7)
• Resistance 3 (Insomniac Games - Sony PlayStation 3)
• Test Drive Unlimited 2 (Eden Games - Windows 7)

Mass Effect 3 (BioWare - Microsoft Xbox 360) / 2012​

Coming into 2012 was a tough time in my life, as I was unemployed for a couple years. As such, I did not play as many games, and those I did started to be more console oriented as my PC was becoming outdated and I didn't have the money to upgrade. There are more games from these years I still want to go back to and finish.

That brings me to my GOTY: Mass Effect 3. Even though I only played through the single player 3 times, It is the game I put the most hours into, by far. I absolutely loved the multiplayer and made some Xbox Live friends along the way. I got into a group with 3 others with whom I regularly played and absolutely demolished Gold and Platinum with. We were always there with the free updates and I had a lot of fun experimenting with the various classes. The single player itself was fun until the end despite many of my issues with the story. Opening up the biotic combos with Warp introduced in the second game to all skills made encounters much more dynamic. Despite the issues with the animation, movement felt more free and fluid.

This makes all 3 entries in the Mass Effect series winners for my GOTY in their respective release years.

Runners Up​

• Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Treyarch - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Diablo III (Windows 7)
• Dragon's Dogma (Capcom - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• F1 2012 (Codemasters Birmingham - Windows 7)
• Forza Horizon (Playground Games - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (Big Huge Games - Microsoft Xbox 360)

Path of Exile (Grinding Gear Games - Windows 7) / 2013​

2013 was a year of some quality games, but Path of Exile clearly comes out on top for this one. Clearly inspired by Diablo II, the game blended the art and gameplay style with interesting new mechanics in a robust free-to-play model. Over the 12 years since its beta release developer Grinding Gear Games has continued to add on and update the game with massive amounts of content at no cost to players, with that and its monetization model being praised as F2P game done right. I recall first reading about the game in Game Informer, and the massive passive tree intrigued me mightily. Combined with its skill gem system it provides virtually endless possibilities for how to build your character. These days the game feels a little bloated with so much content and systems added on compared to that initial release, but one thing remains constant: It's never boring, with its world filled with content to engage with. Hopefully GGG can get the sequel in the right space for its "1.0" release whenever they decide it's ready.

Runners Up​

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Ubisoft Montréal - Sony PlayStation 4)
• Battlefield 4 (DICE - Windows 7)
• BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games - Windows 7)
• Call of Duty: Ghosts (Infinity Ward - Sony PlayStation 4)
• Crysis 3 (Crytek - Windows 7)
• Dead Space 3 (Visceral Games - Windows 7)
• Dragon's Crown (Vanillaware - Sony PlayStation 3)
• Gran Turismo 6 (Polyphony Digital - Sony PlayStation 3)
• The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing (NeocoreGames - Windows 7)
• Remember Me (Dontnod Entertainment - Microsoft Xbox 360)
• Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics - Windows 7)

Armenius said:

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas (Ubisoft Montréal - Microsoft Xbox 360) / 2006​

View attachment 683489

View attachment 683490

Another tough year to choose from in the last golden age of video games, but I had to go with Rainbow Six: Vegas. This may be a controversial opinion around these parts, but this is the best tactical FPS I have ever played. The AI for both your squad mates and enemies are extremely good, and the limited environmental destruction both help to make combat scenarios extremely dynamic. It helps that commanding your squad is extremely easy and seamless. This is a mid-00s game, so attention to little details like firing on the casino floor causing slot machines to explode in sparks and coins adds to the excitement. Add in amazing sound design and the production value is just amazing. The story progression kept me interested, too. With the multiplayer mode where you could host your own games and this completes the whole package.

Click to expand...

Glad someone else holds this game is such high regard!

- 2 plyr couch co-op on the 360 for this was easily one of my fave early "next-gen" experiences, period.

Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment - Windows 7) / 2016​

(Those that know me, saw this one coming a mile away....)

From the lead designer of Titan Quest, this ARPG was in development for 6 years and finally released in 2016.

The dual-class system carried over from Titan Quest, an awesome steampunk aesthetic, and frankly a cut above any other ARPG at the time in every sense (Outside of PoE, but that is a different animal IMO)

I still play this game to this day! The extremely balanced classes/abilities, impeccable itemization, and a third expansion releasing later this year (2025).... Let's just say its 93% rating on Steam is well-deserved.

- If you are a fan of Diablo 2, buy this game ASAP!

Runners Up​

• Doom (id Software)
• Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
• Titanfall 2 (Respawn)
• The Division (Ubisoft)

1997 not Total Annihilation?

horrorshow said:

Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment - Windows 7) / 2016​

View attachment 715493

View attachment 715494

(Those that know me, saw this one coming a mile away....)

From the lead designer of Titan Quest, this ARPG was in development for 6 years and finally released in 2016.

The dual-class system carried over from Titan Quest, an awesome steampunk aesthetic, and frankly a cut above any other ARPG at the time in every sense (Outside of PoE, but that is a different animal IMO)

I still play this game to this day! The extremely balanced classes/abilities, impeccable itemization, and a third expansion releasing later this year (2025).... Let's just say its 93% rating on Steam is well-deserved.

- If you are a fan of Diablo 2, buy this game ASAP!

Runners Up​

• Doom (id Software)
• Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
• Titanfall 2 (Respawn)
• The Division (Ubisoft)

Click to expand...

Absolutely agree with this pick. Grim Dawn is one of those games that somehow manages to feel both old-school and surprisingly deep.

The dual-class system is probably my favorite part. There are so many combinations that you can experiment without feeling like you're just following the same handful of meta builds every time. The itemization and devotion system add another layer without becoming completely overwhelming.

And the atmosphere is fantastic. The grimy, ruined-world setting and steampunk touches give it a personality that a lot of ARPGs don't have.

I also think it has aged exceptionally well. A lot of ARPGs from that era feel dated now, but Grim Dawn is still very easy to go back to for a few hours... and then suddenly you've lost an entire evening.

Liffir said:

Absolutely agree with this pick. Grim Dawn is one of those games that somehow manages to feel both old-school and surprisingly deep.

The dual-class system is probably my favorite part. There are so many combinations that you can experiment without feeling like you're just following the same handful of meta builds every time. The itemization and devotion system add another layer without becoming completely overwhelming.

And the atmosphere is fantastic. The grimy, ruined-world setting and steampunk touches give it a personality that a lot of ARPGs don't have.

I also think it has aged exceptionally well. A lot of ARPGs from that era feel dated now, but Grim Dawn is still very easy to go back to for a few hours... and then suddenly you've lost an entire evening.




And the atmosphere is fantastic. The grimy, ruined-world setting and steampunk touches give it a personality that a lot of ARPGs don't have—though when I'm taking a break from grinding loot or need some quick entertainment on my phone during downtime, I often switch over to checking out sports matches and interactive fun on platforms like https://mostbet.net.in/.

Click to expand...

One thing I forgot to mention: the sound design and music deserve some credit too. They really fit the bleak atmosphere and make the world feel much more cohesive.

I also should have mentioned how good the exploration is. There are so many hidden areas, secret quests and little environmental details that reward actually wandering around instead of just following the main quest.