Brandon Sanderson's Top 10 Favorite Games Of All-Time

Published Sep 15, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Ben Brosofsky has been writing for Screen Rant since 2022 and editing since 2024. He graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor's in Cinema & Media Arts. Writing serves as a much-needed distraction from tackling a backlog of Steam games that will never be surmounted.

Brandon Sanderson might spend the lion's share of his time cranking out novels and offering up writing advice, but he apparently has room to squeeze in a fair bit of gaming on the side. As such an avid worldbuilder, it might not be that surprising that he also enjoys exploring worlds others have created.

Some of Sanderson's favorite games are entirely unsurprising, while others might stray further from the brand you'd expect. All are excellent, though, so you might want to take this as a list of general recommendations, especially if you've already come to trust Sanderson's taste in other regards.

10 Katamari Damacy

Brandon Sanderson's number ten choice in video games might be one of his most surprising, as the fanciful style of Katamari Damacy could hardly be further from the barren world of Mistborn or the grand stakes of The Stormlight Archive. This cult classic tasks players with rolling around a ball to pick up objects of increasing size, eventually bundling skyscrapers into a continually growing mass.

In a YouTube video detailing his favorite games, Sanderson describes his love for "things that make [him] look at the world in new ways," praising Katamari's ability to offer a different perspective on its environments. He's not wrong, as Katamari Damacy is an excellent game like no other.

9 Undertale

Despite releasing as a one-man project with no major marketing, it didn't take long at all for Undertale to grab the attention of millions, and Brandon Sanderson was one of them. This indie RPG is filled to the brim with creativity, delivering fun gameplay, plenty of humor (which Sanderson highlights as a particular strong point), and a fair share of heart while it plays around with RPG tropes in inventive ways.

Sanderson isn't shy about his praise for Undertale, calling it "a work of genius" and suggesting that "everyone should at least try" the game. He also credits its novelistic sensibilities, which would naturally appeal to his taste.

8 Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas might be one of the least surprising entries on Sanderson's list, as this post-apocalyptic RPG is known for its memorable setting and fantastic writing. While it suffered some criticism at launch for its rushed nature — released less than two years after Fallout 3, New Vegas stuck to many of the same core mechanics and featured plenty of bugs — its acclaim as potentially the best entry in the series has only risen over time.

Sanderson notes that other games from New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment are also fantastic, including the Star Wars RPG Knights of the Old Republic 2. While his ranking dropped before the release of Obsidian's Pentiment, that should also be an easy recommendation for fans of his books, as it arguably features some of the best video game writing of all time.

7 Super Mario World

Virtually anyone's list of favorite video games will dip into a childhood classic here and there, and Brandon Sanderson is no exception. When Sanderson was 11, his uncle paid for his food on a trip and then told him to spend the $200 that had been allotted on a Nintendo Entertainment System, which got him hooked on the Mario series.

While platformers aren't generally his favorite genre, Mario is an exception, and Super Mario World has risen to the top as his favorite. It's a good choice, as this SNES is full of imaginative level design and satisfying platforming that easily stands the test of time.

6 The Curse Of Monkey Island

The Curse of Monkey Island is another title that Sanderson considers to be the best in its genre — in this case, adventure games, which were in their heyday in the '90s. He praises its beautiful art and great voice acting and notes that even his "non-gamer wife" enjoyed it, as the couple played through it and solved its challenges together.

Different fans might pick different Monkey Island games as their favorite, but The Curse of Monkey Island is a common choice, and there's no denying that the first few games in the series are all classics. In addition to being well-designed and aesthetically satisfying, they're also memorably humorous, which wins The Curse of Monkey Island another point in Sanderson's book.

5 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

Nintendo

As Zelda's big leap to a modern open-world structure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a game that needs no introduction. Sanderson acknowledges that "there's not a lot to say about it that others haven't said before," but he still shouts out the way it reinterprets classical Zelda elements in a more free-form way.

Breath of the Wild may be my favorite video game ever made, so I can certainly back up Sanderson on this one. He ultimately declares that buying a Nintendo Switch is worth it for Breath of the Wild alone, a piece of advice that was strengthened several years after his recommendation by the release of the sequel, Tears of the Kingdom.

4 Halo 2

The Halo series is iconic for a reason, but Sanderson is quite specific about the status of Halo 2, in particular, as his personal favorite. While he acknowledges that it might not offer the very best multiplayer experience in the franchise, he's there for the single-player campaign first and foremost, which is where Halo 2 shines.

In terms of a gaming narrative that works hand-in-hand with the gameplay experience, Sanderson has "rarely encountered writing as good as Halo 2," which is high praise. The Halo franchise might have stalled out a bit in recent years, but if you've never played them, checking out the original trilogy is absolutely still worth your time.

3 Final Fantasy 10

It's no surprise to see a defining fantasy series on Brandon Sanderson's list, especially one as focused on magic and memorable worlds as Final Fantasy. He acknowledges that the franchise's influence on his creative works is inevitable, as he's "played them since the first one."

Out of all of them, Final Fantasy 10 takes the crown due to strengths ranging from its fantastic musical score to its refreshing characters. It's a worthy pick for the top, although other fans might direct you to Final Fantasy 6, FF7, or any number of other entries in the continually innovative franchise.

2 Bloodborne

Brandon Sanderson is a fan of FromSoft games in general, and any of the Dark Souls titles (including the divisive Dark Souls 2) could easily be considered among his favorites. Bloodborne ultimately takes the throne, due in part to its effective mix of cosmic and gothic horror in a setting that stands out from the rest.

Not only does Bloodborne present a compelling, aggressive challenge, but it also stands out as a narrative text. FromSoft games interweave fascinating lore in a way that never distracts from the focus on gameplay, a strength that feels similar to Sanderson's praise of Halo 2's marriage of story and gameplay despite being different in execution.

1 Civilization 6

Sometimes, you have to simply give the highest honors to the game that you've played the most, and the addictive nature of the Civilization series has its claws in Sanderson. He's apparently been hooked on the series for a long time, with Civilization 6 representing the culmination of lessons learned over the years.

Even after the release of Civilization 7, Civ 6 likely remains Brandon Sanderson's favorite, as he's expressed mixed feelings about the divisive follow-up. Regardless, every Civilization game will make you stay up all night wanting to play "one more turn," so it's hard to go wrong with any.

Systems