Three years ago, I compiled my list of the Top 100 Games that I have ever played. It was a fun exercise and reminded me of so many classics that had almost faded from memory.
In the time since, I’ve had the opportunity to revisit many of them, and play a lot of new titles too. Video games remain a huge part of my life. My livelihood is in Game Design itself, and I spend hours each week engrossed in some kind of game, be it the latest hotness, or a retro classic, or something in between. So, I figured I would do it all again. So, here we are.
In my effort to compile an updated version of my Top 100, a couple of things occurred to me - things that I hope will make this list more useful than the previous incarnation. First of all, 100 is too few, but also too many. I want to encourage all of you to find these games and enjoy them as I have, so while I have completed a ranked list, it did start to get a little meaningless after #75. So, instead of 76-100, and 25 games that are all roughly as good as one another, I’ve chosen to replace it with this large list of honourable mentions. You’ll find them listed below in alphabetical order. These games are all massively worthy of your time. Seek them out and cherish them, if you can.
Secondly, you will find that my new rankings tend to feature much newer titles than before. Part of this is down to my own realisation that I myself have become spoiled by modern quality-of-life advancements in gaming. The list below of honourable mentions skews towards older titles, partially because I have gone back and tried them again during the pandemic, but they did not hold my attention as well as they had originally. This is 100% my failing, and not that of these fine games. You will still find games from 30+ years ago on the Top 75, but you will probably notice that many of the older games chosen in the 2019 list have ended up in this post below instead, this time. Games like Soul Calibur, Duke Nukem 3D or NiGHTS into dreams… are great examples of games that were revolutionary in their day, games that held my attention for countless hours each, would probably at one point each have been my absolute favourite… but when I play today, I am unable to play for more than a few minutes. Games, it seems, are not timeless. Not all of them, anyway.
So, why recommend them to you, reader, if I would not play them much today myself? Well - the games below, these honourable mentions - are all wonderful titles. Especially if they are new to you. So please, seek them out and explore them for yourselves, and please do tell me that I’m wrong and that the ones you like from those below should be on the main list. I’d love to hear why.
Others in this section are also very close calls that almost made the ranked list. Some are games that I have played quite recently, and may in the future, merit higher placement. Only time will tell.
The Top 75 will drop in a single post very soon. Until then, enjoy these close calls, golden oldies, and faded masterpieces…
The complete list of honourable mentions…
Advance Wars
Adventure
Broken Sword 2
Burnout 3: Takedown
Command & Conquer
Counterstike GO
Crazy Taxi
Dark Souls
Deep Rock Galactic
Donkey Kong Country
Doom
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Drop7
Duke Nukem 3D
Earthworm Jim
Fable 2
Forgotten City
Gears Tactics
Geoguessr
Guild of Dungeoneering
Guitar Hero 2
Hardspace Shipbreaker
Horizon Zero Dawn
Ico
Ikaruga
Infinifactory
Inscryption
Jackbox Party Games
NiGHTS into Dreams
Othercide
Overcooked
PGR 4
Pikmin 2
Powerstone
Puzzle Quest
Quake 3 Arena
Skies of Arcadia
Soul Calibur
Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain
Streets of Rage
The Last Spell
Theme Park
Vagrant Story
WarioWare Inc.
X-Men vs. Street Fighter
See you soon for the Top 75.