8 Games From the 2010s That Are Amazing From Start to Finish
Diego Pineda has been a devout storyteller his whole life. He has self-published a fantasy novel and a book of short stories, and is actively working on publishing his second novel.
A lifelong fan of watching movies and talking about them endlessly, he writes reviews and analyses on his Instagram page dedicated to cinema, and occasionally on his blog. His favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky and Charlie Chaplin. He loves modern Mexican cinema and thinks it's tragically underappreciated.
Other interests of Diego's include reading, gaming, roller coasters, writing reviews on his Letterboxd account (username: DPP_reviews), and going down rabbit holes of whatever topic he's interested in at any given point.
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Video games are still such a young medium, one that has evolved so dramatically over the years and whose different eras all have such different gems to offer, that it's practically impossible to point to a single period in gaming history as the art form's true "Golden Age." It's undeniable, though, that the 2010s saw the release of several of the greatest, most foundational, and most influential games the world has ever seen, and may thus be many people's favorite era of video gaming.
There are eight games from the 2010s that are particularly amazing from beginning to end, with virtually no significant flaws to speak of at any substantial point during their runtime. Indeed, in order to qualify for this list, a game must have some kind of campaign mode and thus have some kind of clear beginning and ending. That leaves us with masterpieces of the caliber of indie gems like Hollow Knight and AAA powerhouses like The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild, games which show just how strong of an argument the 2010s have for being one of video gaming's bona fide Golden Ages.
8 'Hollow Knight' (2017)
Nintendo's Metroid series and Konami's Castlevania games gave birth to Metroidvanias, a genre of games that are all about exploring a large, interconnected world where progress is gated and backtracking is a constant must. Likewise, the Metroidvania genre has given us several great games throughout the years, but few have ever been able to reach the level of quality of Team Cherry's Hollow Knight, one of the most groundbreaking independent games in history.
Hollow Knight executed the traditional Metroidvania formula with such unprecedented depth and polish that it downright revolutionized the genre, and it's still a must-play for anyone who loves adventure games. Its hand-drawn art is absolutely exquisite, its precise combat mechanics are truly timeless, its boss design is a total masterclass, and its deeply atmospheric world makes for the most unforgettable Metroidvania experience of the 2010s.
7 'Portal 2' (2011)
Valve's 2007 game Portal received immediate acclaim all across the board upon release, with many critics and gamers instantly showering it with the label of one of the greatest puzzle games of all time. As such, expectations were understandably sky-high for its sequel. In the end, not only did Portal 2 live up to expectations, it undeniably surpassed them. Now hailed as one of the best video games of all time, it took everything that was great about its predecessor and upped it to the nth degree.
The narrative? A hell of a treat. The environmental storytelling is nothing short of masterful, and the sharp dialogue and voice performances make Portal 2 one of the funniest games of the 2010s. The puzzle design? Some of the best in gaming history, thanks to complex mechanics that make the "aha!" moments that define any puzzle game's entertainment value all the more rewarding. And the co-op? Downright revolutionary, making this one of the best 2010s titles to play with a friend even 15 years later.
6 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt' (2015)
Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski introduced readers to the world of The Witcher with the publication of Sword of Destiny in 1992, one of the best dark fantasy books of the '90s. For a while, however, the book and its sequels would remain relatively niche classics in Eastern Europe. It wouldn't be until CD Projekt Red made the 2007 action RPG The Witcher that Sapkowski's books attained international success, and the video game series that came after only kept growing in popularity—peaking with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
It's nothing short of one of the best fantasy adventure video games of all time, as well as one of the most revolutionary open-world games of the 2010s. Every side quest is treated with the same narrative care as the gripping main storyline, the graphics are some of the best of its generation, and every consequence truly does feel like it carries tremendous weight. From the writing to the voice acting to the music to the world-building, The Witcher 3 is a virtually faultless masterpiece.
5 'The Last of Us' (2013)
Naughty Dog were already an iconic, hugely prolific studio by the time the 2010s rolled in, but even they had never made anything quite like The Last of Us, one of the most universally loved video games released since 2000. The game received practically universal acclaim after it was released, and almost 15 years after it was first introduced into the world, many would still very confidently call it one of the greatest action-adventure games of all time.
The Last of Us was nothing less than groundbreaking, having set a new benchmark for cinematic storytelling in games. Rarely had the medium seen such an emotionally raw, character-driven narrative before, and things were never the same again. But on top of having a riveting story, The Last of Us also has some of the most entertaining survival gameplay of the 2010s, with plenty of atmospheric world-building and a gameplay loop that doesn't get old even after several play-throughs.
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world's conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
05
What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
06
How does your universe treat good and evil? A world's moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
07
What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
Star Wars
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
- You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
- You'd find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
- Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
- The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Lord of the Rings
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world's beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
- Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
- You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
- Tolkien's universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
- Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
Harry Potter
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what's right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
- The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
- You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
- Harry Potter's universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
- That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
- Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
- You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don't confuse the world as it is with the world as you'd like it to be.
- Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
- Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
Star Trek
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
- Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
- You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
- The Federation is the universe's most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
- You don't just hope that's possible. You think it's the only thing worth working toward.
Back when it was released for MS-DOS in 1994, The Elder Scrolls: Arena broke new ground with its massive scale, first-person perspective, and open world exploration. One of the greatest and most foundational RPG video game franchises in history was born, and from this franchise came one of the most universally acclaimed RPG games in history: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, one of the most iconic classics of the 2010s.
One of the gaming experiences with the biggest sense of player freedom that are currently available on any system.
It's one of those video games you can play for well over 100 hours, all thanks to how it perfected the sandbox game formula and delivered one of the gaming experiences with the biggest sense of player freedom that are currently available on any system. You really can do practically anything you set your mind to in Skyrim, with an organic sense of progression that never stops being rewarding. The writing is great, the world-building is enrapturing, and the sense of scale and discovery is almost endless.
3 'Disco Elysium' (2019)
ZA/UM's Disco Elysium was written and designed by a team led by Estonian novelist Robert Kurvitz, based on a tabletop RPG setting that he had created before forming ZA/UM. The result? One of the best indie video games of all time. The gameplay is quite simple and straightforward, but people who love story-driven games with a tremendous depth of player choice and impact of decisions should consider Disco Elysium a must-play game.
The level of psychological depth, philosophical complexity, sociopolitical nuance, and thematic breadth that Disco Elysium exhibits throughout its whole duration is almost unparalleled. Likewise, it makes it so that re-plays in order to see things you might have missed on your first play-through not only tempting, but practically necessary. The world is enrapturing, the characters are fascinating, and the literary-level writing is some of the best that video gaming has ever seen.
2 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' (2017)
The Legend of Zelda is one of Nintendo's oldest and most successful franchises, one which has delivered several of the greatest action-adventure titles in the history of video games. Case in point: Breath of the Wild, praised by some as the best Zelda game ever, and by others as the single greatest video game of the 21st century. It is, indeed, one of those Nintendo games that are amazing from start to finish. It's not just Zelda fans who had never seen a game quite like this, but rather all gamers across the planet.
That's because Breath of the Wild radically re-invented open-world game design. Instead of rigid checklists or deceptively linear gameplay loops, the game's world is built on pure curiosity and player agency. After a brief tutorial area, the entire world becomes the player's oyster. From the combat, to the enemy design, to the dungeons, to the melancholic atmosphere, pretty much every aspect of Breath of the Wild is engineered to give the player the feeling that they can do anything in this engrossing world.
1 'Red Dead Redemption 2' (2018)
Red Dead Redemption was a massive critical and commercial success, but it told a pretty self-contained story. It was Rockstar Games' co-founders Dan and Sam Houser to create Red Dead Redemption 2, a prequel exploring the dying days of the American frontier right as the 19th century was coming to an end. What came from that idea is one of the most essential open-world games in history.
It's hard to figure out where to even begin singing Red Dead Redemption 2's praises. It's probably the most immersive, mechanically detailed, and uncompromisingly realistic open-world action-adventure game ever created, a true masterpiece that balances the engrossing nature of its simulation-like gameplay with some of the most emotionally compelling writing that a AAA title has ever had. Highly cinematic in virtually all ways possible, it's arguably the greatest video game of the 2010s as a whole.
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