30. Tekken 8

Tekken is one of the oldest and most revered fighting franchises of all time, and that prolonged status of prestige can be attributed to the developer’s consistent innovation with each new entry. Tekken 8 has recently been released to great critical and commercial reception, and it represents a big leap over its predecessors in more ways than one. With a new Heat system that prioritizes aggressive play and shiny new visuals courtesy of Unreal Engine 5, Tekken 8 is arguably the series at its rest.

29. Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 is a game that feels like a love letter to gearheads. It pays due tribute to the artistry of cars and everything surrounding it, and it’s a game that’s just a blissful experience from start to finish. There’s just something special about cruising down a highway while seated in a luxury sports car all while the sun shines down and casts a beautiful reflection across the shiny coat of exterior paint of your car. Forza Horizon 5 has no shortage of such moments, and its ingenious progression system hooks the player for hours and doesn’t let go.

28. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Arguably one of Naughty Dog’s finest works to date, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the perfection of the formula that started with the first game. Nathan Drake’s journey of finding the coveted Chintamani stone is a consistently thrilling adventure that rarely takes its foot off the gas – treating the player with one beautifully choreographed set piece sequence after another. Everything from the platforming to the charismatic characters and the gorgeous locales comes together to create an experience unlike any other.

27. Alien Isolation

Developer Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation is a game that has perhaps not received as much love as it should have, and that’s a shame because it’s a genuinely great horror game with an interesting trick up its sleeve. Unlike traditional horror games where jumpscares are heavily choreographed, Alien Isolation’s Xenomorph has an intelligent brain that adapts to your playstyle – and that keeps the feeling of cat and mouse chase consistent throughout its run. Add to that some amazing atmosphere, and Alien Isolation becomes a game that will become the reason for your nightmares long after the credits roll.

26. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Insomniac Games took what worked in Spider-Man 2018 and Miles Morales, and meshed it all together in a big open-world with the sequel Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. While that description may sound reductive, Spider-Man 2 is everything we previously saw but polished to an immaculate sheen. The story of Kraven’s last hunt is filled with plenty of sensational scenes, and all characters get appropriate screen time to shine and build out their character arcs. New suit abilities make combat more interesting, and the boss battles peppered throughout the experience are equal parts thrilling and surprising. In all honesty, Spider-Man 2 makes you feel like the friendly neighborhood webhead.

25. Street Fighter 6

Much like Tekken 8 as we discussed previously, Street Fighter has also managed to remain relevant through decades off the back of its constant innovation of its fighting mechanics. Street Fighter 6 is the latest chapter in the saga, and it takes the learnings accrued from past outings and morphs them into a rather unique open-world structure with the new World Tour mode. What we get is a game that’s bursting with new ideas while still remaining true to its core, and that makes Street Fighter 6 one of the best fighting games that you can play right now.

24. Dead Space (2023)

Dead Space is easily one of the best horror games of recent memory, and EA Motive has done a fabulous of recreating it from scratch and rebuilding it in a way that caters to both new and returning fans. In addition to a massive visual overhaul, Dead Space Remake adds entire new areas, side quests, and weapon upgrades into the mix that make going for a second trip through the USG Ishimura a worthwhile experience. Many of these improvements are iterative in nature, but that only speaks volumes about the quality of the original version and its timeless nature that it all holds up surprisingly well today.

23. Control

Control is not just a great game in its own right, it’s also an important game for the AA games industry at large. Jesse Fayden’s journey of clearing out the mysterious Hiss from the FBC is bursting with creativity, right from the brutalist architecture of the building to its borderline eccentric narrative and its power-driven gameplay and much more. Despite having a middling budget that honestly shows in certain aspects of the game, Control’s excellent suite of ideas is something that can put many of the biggest AAA titles to shame.

22. Half-Life 2

Much like the original Half-Life, Valve’s sequel to this runaway success is also considered to be a revolutionary game. Half-Life 2 took what worked in the original, and spins an even crazier game with large set-pieces, huge levels, and interesting physics-based puzzles that are just the right amount of brainwork for players. It’s a showcase of how to create an enthralling action adventure that’s punctuated with memorable firefights and set pieces galore, and while some of its elements haven’t aged the best – Half-Life 2 remains a blast through and through.

21. Resident Evil 2 (2019)

Capcom delivered a wonderful reimagining of a horror classic with 2019’s Resident Evil 2 remake. Despite taking players on a familiar ride from a different lens, Resident Evil 2 manages to capture the same feelings of hopelessness and desperation as you slowly trudge through the abandoned rooms of the police station all while undead zombies lie in wait for a chance to chew you down to bits. The visuals are a fantastic evolution of the original, and Leon’s unpredictable encounters with Mr. X never fail to add another layer of tension to the entire affair.

20. God of War Ragnarok

God of War: Ragnarok provides a fitting conclusion to the saga that started with 2018’s original, and this sequel is emblematic of all the traits that made the first so iconic. The story carries that same element of spinning well-known mythic tales into uncharted territory before looping back to the same conclusion, and that paired with the excellent character development is what will keep you hooked to the edge of your screen at all times. Of course, the combat has also seen major improvements and there are plenty of boss fights that will test the extent of your fighting capabilities which rounds out this one hell of a game.

19. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Picking one Metal Gear Solid game out of the lot can be a tough task since each of the games is a classic in its own right, but Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was a game that was way ahead of its time. With Sons of Liberty, Kojima spins an intricate tale filled with never-ending conspiracies and plot twists all based on a common theme of the rapid spread of misinformation – which is highly relatable in this day and age. Between this and a gameplay loop that surprisingly holds up to this date, Metal Gear Solid 2 is a timeless game that has aged really well.

18. Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 is a glorious space opera that tells the story of Commander Shepard’s fight against the titular Collectors, and that sprawling journey is punctuated by a ton of memorable firefights and branching interactions with intriguing characters. It also features a complex web of gameplay mechanics that combines tactical elements with action-packed shooting, and that makes for a thrilling ride through and through.

17. Monster Hunter World

The Monster Hunter series is on an upward spiral as of late, but if we had to pick one of our favorites from the franchise – it has to be Monster Hunter World. Released back in 2018, MH World thrusts players into a gorgeous map brimming with all sorts of fierce beasts waiting to be bested in battle. There’s a surprising amount of depth in building out your character with different weapons and armor, and the constant loop of getting stronger through well-earned victories is something that will keep you playing for hundreds of hours without getting bored.

16. Starfield

Starfield might not have been everything that fans wanted out of it, but it’s safe to say that it was a really fun experience regardless. Bethesda’s signature attention to detail can be seen in full force here, right from the NASA Punk designs to the many meaningful quests that can be found peppered throughout its massive world and even how the combat has been made more engaging and fluid. It’s a vast RPG complete with a complex web of interweaving mechanics and skill trees, and it’s a game that is really worth sinking your teeth into for a long time.

15. Super Mario Odyssey

Nintendo has continued doing an amazing job with the mustached Italian plumber, and Mario games have consistently experimented with new mechanics that have kept them fun and relevant throughout multiple decades. 2017’s Super Mario Odyssey is a shining beacon of those very characteristics, and it’s a game that will leave you teeming with happiness throughout its run. The ingenious hat-throw mechanic makes traversal more expressive, and the sandbox levels challenge you to combine these tools and collect the many moons that are peppered throughout these immaculately laid-out jungle gyms. And once all’s said and done, you are rewarded with one of the best epilogues of gaming as Mario hops through obstacles while “Jump Up Superstar” plays in the background.

14. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a spiritual successor to FromSoftware’s Tenchu series, and it’s everything that one would want from such a game. Set against the backdrop of Sengoku Japan, Sekiro is a hard-boiled tale of loyalty as the titular Wolf embarks on a grand quest to save his master from the evil clutches of Genichiro Ashina. Sekiro’s combat loop is a careful dance of frame-perfect parries and smart use of prosthetic extensions, and players have no choice but to master that meticulous ballet if they wish to reach the end credits. Between this and simple yet interesting stealth mechanics, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a faithful action-adventure game that will stay with you long after the credits roll.

13. Horizon Forbidden West

Guerilla Games painted a beautiful post-apocalypse with Horizon Zero Dawn with its open world that feels like a perfect juxtaposition of our past and future. The contrast between tribal humans living in settlements and technology-driven machines roaming the grasslands has a very enchanting vibe to it, and the sequel Forbidden West takes those concepts and refines them to a tee. It tells a riveting tale of Aloy racing against time to save her planet from the mysterious Corruption, and that story is punctuated with plenty of memorable encounters with fierce machines. The sprawling open world provides no shortage of interesting activities to pursue, which makes Horizon Forbidden West an extremely engaging game that can be enjoyed for dozens upon dozens of hours.

12. Bloodborne

In so many ways, Bloodborne feels like a love letter to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Right from its dark Victorian London aesthetic to the nightmarish creatures that inhabit its deserted streets and its dreamy yet dreary narrative, Bloodborne is as much a horror game as it is an action-adventure game. FromSoftware changed up its combat formula for the better, forcing players to be more aggressive with their attacks and make judicial use of silver bullets to stun enemies for extra damage. Some of the best bosses in the entire Souls series belong to Bloodborne, and it’s a masterclass of a game that deserves to be experienced by every horror fan.

11. Dark Souls

FromSoftware’s 2011 release Dark Souls is a game that was more than just an action RPG. In an era where AAA games were getting used to watering down their mechanics to appeal to the largest possible audience, Dark Souls forced players to play by its own rules – taking them through an increasingly difficult journey with little in the name of reprieve. In addition to its harsh but fair difficulty, Dark Souls also pioneered interconnected world design with its complex map that’s full of shortcuts and back alleys that connect different areas to one another. Add to that some impressive lore elements and flexibility in build crafting, and Dark Souls becomes an unmissable adventure for fans.

10. Grand Theft Auto V

It’s safe to say that Grand Theft Auto 5 might just be one of the most successful games of all time, and it’s also safe to say that it has transcended its status from a mere video game about wreaking havoc into a pop culture icon. Michael’s story of returning to a world of violence is brought to life with layered satirical humor and adrenaline-pumping heist missions that make for an absolute thrill ride, and the open world is filled with gorgeous locales to explore and characters to meet. And if that’s not enough, GTA Online continues to be an ever-evolving part of the experience that fans just can’t seem to get enough of.

9. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is an RPG that’s brimming with stuff to do; quests to pursue, armor sets to collect, exotic locales to visit, and much more. Between this and the flexible nature of its gameplay, Skyrim is just as much a sandbox of possibilities as it is a carefully constructed open world. Despite it being more than 10 years old at this point, fans just can’t seem to get enough of it and Bethesda continues to provide more avenues to experience this classic on every new platform on the market. It’s obvious that some might find this business tactic even cheap, but that also speaks volumes about the timeless nature of Skyrim.

8. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is easily developed CD Projekt RED’s magnum opus. Taking place in a fantastical world inhabited by all manner of ghastly spirits and fierce monsters, The Witcher 3 tells an engaging story of Geralt going through all odds to find his lost surrogate daughter Ciri. It’s a massive game brimming with swaths of content, and the best part is all of it is extremely quality stuff. Whether you are taking part in a monster hunt or going through the main story or even completing one of its many side quests, The Witcher 3 remains a quality single-player experience through and through. Add to that some incredibly strong writing, multiple endings, and a picturesque world – and it becomes a game where you could literally spend thousands of hours without reaching the end credits.

7. Dragon’s Dogma 2

Dragon’s Dogma was one of the more underrated games of the seventh generation, and Capcom delivered a grand sequel to it with Dragon’s Dogma 2. It takes whatever worked in the original ranging from the fleshed-out companion mechanics to the emergent open-world and flexible character building, and spins a vast net of ideas that come together to create a vast RPG brimming with imagination and quality content. Sure, there are a few quirks including but not limited to occasionally janky gameplay and comparatively bland visuals – but the merits easily outshine those flaws by a significant margin.

6. The Last of Us

The Last of Us Part 1 is one of those games that put a strong case for the medium as a legitimate form of storytelling. Joel and Ellie don’t start out on the best of terms, but through the magic of journeys and the hardships that they face – they are able to create a strong bond by the end of it all. The characters herein are beautifully complex with realistic motivations and gray morality, which helps in selling the sheer brutality of this post-apocalyptic world. In terms of gameplay, The Last of Us meshes elements of action, horror, and stealth in a rather ingenious way that will keep you glued to the edge of the screen at all times. There’s a very palpable sense of tension as you carefully tiptoe across abandoned houses, and can hear the faint shrieks of a stalker or the distant gurgling of a bloater. Naughty Dog also ensures to mix things up with the occasional set piece or character developments that make The Last of Us so hard to put down.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild felt like a breath of fresh air (no pun intended) in an open-world market saturated with cookie-cutter games that aggressively hold a player’s hand. Breath of the Wild offered a refreshing sense of freedom with its combat and impressive physics engine, and those aspects are taken to the skies (literally) with Tears of the Kingdom. A bigger open-world that spans the skies above and the darkness beneath, new abilities like Fuse and Ultrahand, and better quest designs are just some of the improvements that the sequel makes over the original. It can put the measly Nintendo Switch to its paces with its heavy gameplay, but it just might be the best game that you can play on this platform.

4. Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth

Final Fantasy 7 is considered to be one of the best RPGs of all time, and to remake that classic from the ground up is as risky a move as it is exciting. Thankfully, Square Enix has done an outstanding job with not only the first part of the remake trilogy but also the latest chapter Rebirth. It builds upon what came before in new and interesting ways, bringing an open-world map into the mix alongside new character developments that make it an entertaining ride through and through.

3. Baldur’s Gate 3

Developer Larian delivered a great RPG with Baldur’s Gate 3, a game that has shocked developers across the globe with its massive scale that goes hand in hand with the level of micro detail in every aspect of the experience. Everything from the combat where you are free to mix and match different spells and tactics to the story that can go on several different tangents depending upon your choices, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game that will leave you awestruck with its attention to detail. All that combined with a wonderfully well-realized world brimming with lore is something that’s a rare occurrence in the current AAA gaming landscape.

2. Elden Ring

A collaboration between Souls developer FromSoftware and Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin, Elden Ring is a sprawling epic that takes you on an unforgettable journey through the mystical world of The Lands Between. Elden Ring perfectly encapsulates the sense of being on an adventure, right from its rewarding nature for player curiosity and design elements that force you to chart your own path through this labyrinthian space and much more. Elden Ring boasts excellent level variety and some of the best and most brutal bosses that we have seen in gaming so far. In addition to this, you also get to experiment with different builds – and that combined with the gargantuan open-world is what will keep you coming back playthrough after playthrough.

1. Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is more than just an open-world game about cowboys riding horses and looting village banks; it is a genuinely moving tale about the nature of change. It tells a heart-wrenching story about the Van Der Linde gang trying to find its place in a rapidly changing world and the gradual descent of these wonderfully realized characters is what hooks you to the narrative. That descent is also perfectly contrasted with the protagonist’s personal journey of redemption as he forgoes the life he always knew in favor of doing something good with his time. The open-world and surrounding gameplay elements are built to compel players to take their own merry time exploring and tracking quests, and the journey becomes all the more rewarding with the time that you spend with it. It’s a beautiful game with some of the strongest writing we have seen from Rockstar, and it continues to be one of the best games that you can experience right now.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons comes from Josef Fares, the mastermind behind popular co-op games like A Way Out and It Takes Two. The game tells a heartwarming story about two brothers working together through a vast world, and the mechanics do a good job of encouraging synergies between the player in new and interesting ways. Between this and the charming art style on offer, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons becomes a great game to play with a loved one.

Grand Theft Auto 5

The latest entry in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto has become the most profitable entertainment product of all time, and that achievement can be credited to the sheer amount of fun that anyone can have within the confines of Los Santos. Take up high-stake heists, blow stuff up, meet strangers, participate in sports or racing, or do all that and a whole lot more with other people in the ever-evolving GTA Online. It’s a game that’s brimming with possibilities, and it’s no surprise that it has remained one of the hottest games around despite being almost a decade old.

Here’s the complete list:

• Vampire Survivors
• Elden Ring
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Hades
• No Man’s Sky
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
• Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
• Cult of the Lamb
• Disney Dreamlight Valley

The list features a healthy mix of indie titles like Vampire Survivors, Cult of the Lamb and Hades, alongside juggernauts of the industry like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, and Cyberpunk 2077.

The Steam Deck has become a popular way to play games, and according to Valve, the system’s pre-order figures lining up for its impending launch in Japan are “better than originally expected”.

Valve also announced earlier this year that it is doubling the shipments of the Steam Deck, and more and more games are launching already compabitle with the device, such as the recently-released Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, and even the rumoured PC port for Returnal.

Seeya September! Here's a quick look at the top games on Steam Deck for the past month, sorted by total hours played. pic.twitter.com/1YTCuzPwIs

— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) September 30, 2022

Which is one of the things that makes Bethesda’s track record before this generation impressive. They had two decades of consistent genre defining open world titles before they finally began to falter at the dawn of the PS4/Xbox One era. Fallout 4, while good, wasn’t quite at the level of their previous works, and Fallout 76, of course, was a flaming trainwreck at launch. (To Bethesda’s credit, they seem to have managed to turn Fallout 76 around since its original release thanks to a tireless slew of post launch fixes and content, and a lot of people quite like it now).

While currently, most of the ire is directed at CD Projekt RED because of their stumbles with Cyberpunk, it’s not inaccurate to say that for a lot of players, Bethesda is in the doghouse still – and if not quite in the doghouse, then still in that zone where a new announcement from them warrants a degree of cynicism and skepticism, rather than hype on pure faith, which they could command before.

Of course, all it takes is one great title from them to change the narrative to “Fallout 76 was an aberration” from the current “Fallout 76 was just another step in their continued decline”. Which means that Starfield, the next Bethesda title due for release, has a lot of pressure to restore Bethesda’s prestige on it. If it’s as great as Bethesda’s titles through to Skyrim, then their reputation is restored, and they are redeemed. The question, of course, is whether Bethesda is even capable of delivering titles on that level anymore.

An important thing to remember about Bethesda’s games is that they were pioneering – there was literally no other game on the market that delivered what they delivered. This was true until the breakthrough success of Skyrim, which, after selling 30 million units, prompted just about everyone else in the industry to sit up and take notice – and deliver their own takes on the open world adventure formula.

Like I said earlier, delivering great open world games consistently is difficult, but we got a lot of amazing titles from a lot of developers in the years following Skyrim regardless – titles that, if not necessarily delivering exactly what Skyrim (and other Bethesda titles) do, still managed to improve upon the open world conceit in a lot of ways. The Witcher 3, for example, managed to finally marry the traditionally diametrically opposite poles of strong storytelling and open world gameplay. Breath of the Wild took emergent gameplay, and discovery and exploration to an unprecedented (and unmatched) level. Spider-Man made traversal through an open world incredibly fun and engaging in and of itself. And so on.

The result of so many excellent open world games – and I haven’t even mentioned standouts such as Ghost of Tsushima, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the new Assassin’s Creed games, Rockstar’s continued excellence with Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 – is that the bar for the genre was raised. Meaning any new open world title had a lot more stuff to be compared to. Earlier, Bethesda’s games, by virtue of being pioneers, didn’t have much to be held up against. There is Rockstar, of course, but their brand of open world titles fall under an entirely different design philosophy and style. Bethesda stood alone, so everything they delivered was a marvel on the basis of the sheer novelty of it existing.

But over the last decade, the rest of the industry finally caught up to, and in some cases overtook, Bethesda. Which is one reason that something like Fallout 4, which isn’t half as bad as its player reception would suggest, got viewed so unfavorably – because even something of near Bethesda quality didn’t stand out anymore as much as you would expect the developer’s titles to.

This means, then, that for Starfield to be able to have the kind of reception that Bethesda’s games used to, it will either have to be pioneering again, or be thoroughly excellent in most regards. Things that were overlooked in prior Bethesda games will no longer get a free pass. We know now that you can have polished open worlds without bugs and glitches, thanks to Breath of the Wild. We know now that you can have excellent combat in an open world game, thanks to Ghost of Tsushima. We know that open worlds can be seamless, without breaking into loading screens every time you enter a city or a building, thanks to, well, almost every open world game of the last decade. These things, which were a part of Bethesda’s design as late as Fallout 76, cannot exist in Starfield.

Would you be willing to forgive an open world game that has to load every time you enter a building (even if SSDs on modern consoles will probably make that loading less aggravating than it used to be)? Is there any reason to accept a buggy game that is plagued with crashes? Is poor combat acceptable anymore? There are other games better in all these areas that Bethesda can be compared to. They no longer stand alone. These weaknesses must be addressed, if Starfield is to have the kind of praise and acclaim that Fallout 3 or Skyrim got.

The problem is, Bethesda is still using the same engine that they have for all their games since Morrowind. Of course, they say they are modifying it, and maybe their modifications will be so extensive that they can overcome the necessity of something like separate instanced cells for every city from the world map – but Bethesda always promise they are updating and changing their engine before every single release of theirs, and, well, these problems, as I said, have existed in all of their games through to Fallout 76. Can we trust that their changes this time will be enough to fix these issues?

I do get the reason why they like to stick to their engine – Bethesda games still have a kind of permanent persistence that no other game in the industry has, and their engine also lets their games be almost infinitely moddable (which is a huge reason for their sustained success). Having to switch engines either means throwing all that out, and compromising on at least some of those strengths – or having to spend a lot of time and money on recreating this technology in a more modern codebase.

But with Microsoft’s backing, can’t they do just that? They have the financial resources and technical knowhow of the largest technology company in the world now. Why not spend the time and money to update your tech? And just to be clear, maybe that’s exactly what their updates to their engine for Starfield will entail – but as I said, based on precedence, at least, we don’t have any reason to necessarily believe that. We can hope for that, sure. But evidence based on prior promises would indicate that those would be unfulfilled expectations.

The other alternative, of course, is for Starfield to deliver something that is so unique and unlike anything else on the market, that the sheer achievement of that is enough to compensate for a lot of its weaknesses. A lot of the best games of all time are like this – they have very obvious flaws, but they are so good at the new stuff they do, it’s easier to ignore said flaws. I’m not quite sure what this might be (it would be, by definition, hard to guess, given that it has to be new). I can maybe imagine them delivering a crafted open world title set in space on a massive scale – something that hasn’t been delivered so far (we’ve either received truncated disappointments such as Mass Effect Andromeda, or gigantic, but procedural games such as No Man’s Sky, or handcrafted, and mostly great, but ultimately very small scale, titles such as The Outer Worlds). If they manage to deliver that, and deliver on it well, I can see the sheer scale and quality of it being great enough to overwhelm the issues that may exist.

And here I actually have some faith in Bethesda. It might seem from this editorial that I don’t like them, but Bethesda are among my favorite developers, and they’ve given me some of my favorite games ever. I have a lot of faith in their talent, and their ability to craft something new and unique, even if I don’t necessarily respect their technical chops (or choices). And while I do have some fear that they may continue to trend further away from the roleplaying elements that make their games so unique (every single one of their titles has shed more and more of its RPG elements than the last, until finally, by Fallout 4, they took it way too far), I also have some reason for optimism there.

One reason for that, amusingly enough, is Fallout 76. As I mentioned, Bethesda have actually managed to turn this game around a fair bit, and a huge part of that is because of the Wastelanders update. Wastelanders was a massive chunk of content resembling classic Fallout injected into 76 – and Wastelanders delivered some of the most concentrated helping of roleplaying in a Bethesda game in a decade. Things that had been progressively streamlined or altogether dropped in Bethesda games, such as actual dialog trees, skill checks, choice and consequence based quests – were there in Fallout 76. And even with Fallout 4, Far Harbor was a great proper roleplaying experience too.

So we know that Bethesda can still deliver the kind of quality RPG gameplay that was not too long ago a hallmark of their games. And I have faith that they can deliver something new and unique. I have zero faith in their engine, but assuming my faith in the first two areas is met, that last one doesn’t matter – I mean I love Skyrim, and that game is held together with duct tape coming off at the seams.

There is, therefore, every chance that Starfield is the triumphant return of Bethesda, the completion of their redemption arc that started with, yes, Fallout 76 (which will never be not funny). It’s not a given, and like many, I will keep a measure of skepticism. But I really hope I am proven wrong, because I would like nothing more than to be. It’s been far too long since a great Bethesda game – and while there are so many other open world games that are better than a lot of things Bethesda games do, there still is very little out there delivering the kind of open ended RPG that Bethesda can deliver at its best (so not Fallout 4). The absence of Bethesda hasn’t led to any obvious replacement who can fill the void – which means it’s down to Bethesda themselves to step in and be their own successor.

Time to put all my faith in Todd Howard.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain’s open world was okay and not exactly a shining example of the genre. However, where it delivered was in the number of ways players could exploit the systems to crazy effect. Guards could be distracted with inflatable decoys, players could surf down slopes with boxes, collapse towers on top of enemies, the list goes. The sheer variety in tackling objectives, whether through pure stealth or crazy ingenuity, also made up for the conclusion.

Some might say that Bethesda are milking Skyrim, though, and it’s a little hard to argue with that notion. Sure, the game’s still as fun today as it was when it first came out, but Bethesda are really missing no opportunity to make as much money out of this excellent game as they can- or maybe they are. So if you’re somehow watching this, people at Bethesda, here are fifteen more ways you can milk Skyrim just a little bit more (not that we mind).

NOTE: Just in case some of you don’t catch on, a lot of this is just for comedic purposes, so try not to take us seriously.

MERCHANDISING

Well, this is kind of obvious, and it’s also something that already happens to some extent. Merchandising is done for most popular games, and there are very few games that are more popular than Skyrim. From action figures and t-shirts to keychains and coffee cups, there’s lots of potential here for Bethesda. I mean, who in their right minds wouldn’t buy Skyrim themed knee guards?

Last week, Bethesda had released an update for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition. The update 1.5.24 included, among other things, official support for the Xbox One X. The update also included a few bug fixes but failed to address an issue where Settings would not save properly on Xbox consoles. Now, Bethesda has released a patch that fixes this issue as well.

The Special Edition of the game basically added a whole bunch of visual improvements and with the recently added support for the Xbox One X, the game is bound to be at its best on Microsoft’s latest machine. It is also nice to see Bethesda providing continuous support for the game and keeping it very much alive on current-gen platforms.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is now available on the PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Usually, if a game were being re-released six years after its original launch, not a lot of people would be paying much attention to it. But such is not the case with Skyrim. In six years, the seminal RPG has broken all kinds of sales records, and even now, it shows no signs of slowing down. People are just as enchanted by the snowy mountains of Bethesda’s magical world today as they were six years ago, and as such, a great number of people are more excited for Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch than they logically should be. The thing is, they have every reason to be.

You don’t need me to tell you that Skyrim is a great game. We loved it when we first played it six years ago, as did most other people, and the Special Edition last year showed that the game still has plenty of life left in it. What, then, makes the Switch version of this modern classic so special? Not any extra content, nor any visual upgrades or new features and mechanics. In terms of content, this is exactly the same as last year’s re-release, including all three DLCs, and the new mechanics that have been added aren’t really completely new ways to play (more on this later). No, what makes Skyrim on the Switch so great is the fact that it’s on the Switch.

"What makes Skyrim on the Switch so great is the fact that it’s on the Switch."

The biggest draw for most people with Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch will be the fact that we finally get to play this game on the go. Skyrim is a deeply addictive game, one that you can easily spend dozens upon dozens of hours playing with without getting tired of it. It makes sense, then, that a portable system would accommodate that playing style best. When you want to play on the big screen, you obviously have the option to do that as well, for an experience that is almost identical in nature to the 2016 Xbox One and PS4 releases. But while battling against dragons, climbing steep and frozen mountains and deciding the course of a civil war is all excellent stuff, it’s even better when you can do it at your own convenience and at your own pace. The very nature of the Switch makes Skyrim a much more engrossing experience that it has ever been in the past.

That doesn’t mean the game loses its sense of scope or scale, though. Skyrim has never been among the industry’s best looking titles. Even back in 2011, it’s visuals could be described as serviceable at best, even while heavyweights like Uncharted 3 and Gears of War 3 were making waves in the industry. That said, Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch looks really good, and if you’ve played the Special Edition, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what to expect.

While Skyrim is still a game where you will often run into major bugs and glitches – it’d be unreasonable to expect a game of this size to be completely bug-free – the vast majority of it performs very well. For instance, while last year’s Special Edition was prone to noticeable frame rate drops and choppy “killcam” animations, such issues are largely missing from the Nintendo Switch version. In handheld mode, the game looks great, with impressive draw distances, great lighting and weather effects, and very few performance issues. While playing it in the dock, though, I did come across bloated pixels and texture pop ins a few times. While none of these issues were potentially game-breaking or as exceedingly jarring as they have been in past versions of Skyrim, they were still quite noticeable.

"Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch looks really good, and if you’ve played the Special Edition, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what to expect."

Bethesda have also made efforts to include plenty of Switch-specific features in Skyrim with this latest re-release, and most of that comes down to the usage of the Joycons’ motion control capabilities. These are used for a variety of activities, from combat and archery to even something like lock-picking, and most of the times, it actually works pretty well. The motion controls are quite accurate, and often using your hands rather than the analog stick to aim your bow can feel a lot more natural and intuitive.

Similarly, lock-picking is a lot more fun with the motion controls, and is made even better by the Joycons’ HD Rumble. Every time you lock-pick, you have to actually twist your Joycons and feel for the vibrations to figure out when something has been unlocked. It’s a pretty neat feature that has been used quite impressively, and has to be the best and most logical usage of the Switch’s HD Rumble feature to date. What also helps is that the game doesn’t force these motion controls on you- they’re simply another option. Whether it’s during combat, for archery, or for picking locks, you always have the option to play the game with traditional controls.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has always been a great game- that much is beyond question. But six years after its launch, people were starting to question if the game still has any legs to run on. At what point would Bethesda stop milking this admittedly excellent game and finally look to the future? Well, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon – Skyrim VR is still in the pipeline, after all – but Skyrim on the Switch has come in and proven that the game still has plenty of life left in it. The third rerelease of a six year old game has no right being this compelling, but thanks to smart usage of the Switch’s features, and the very nature of Skyrim and the Switch being perfect fits for each other, this latest re-release might just the best way to play Bethesda’s enduring classic.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch. 

Skyrim on the Switch sounds like a dream come true, and chances are, even if you’ve spent hundreds of hours playing the game already, you’re still going to want to play it on the Switch. Being able to to play Bethesda’s massive open world RPG on the go sounds almost too good to be true, but that is exactly what’s going to happen soon enough. To gear up for the looming launch, in this feature, we’re going to take a look at twelve things that you should know about Skyrim for the Nintendo Switch.

JOYCON SUPPORT

Skyrim is going to take full advantage of the unique capabilities of the Switch hardware, and one of the ways it is going to do that is by incorporating Joycon support. While playing Skyrim on the Switch, players will obviously be able to detach the Joycons from the screen, which is something that can be done with all other Switch games as well. What makes Skyrim unique in that regard is that the game will feature motion controls via the two Joycons, one for each in-game hand. Which incidentally brings us to our second point…