# The 54 Best Video Games of the 2010s

> Sprawling open worlds sit next to tiny indie projects made by a handful of people, and both camps have a real claim on the decade.

*By YPB Team · Published October 31, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-54-best-video-games-of-the-2010s*

---

## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt** — score 1000/1000
   CD Projekt Red's 2015 open-world RPG that follows Geralt of Rivia's hunt for his adopted daughter Ciri.
2. **Zelda: Breath of the Wild** — score 786/1000
   Nintendo's 2017 open-air Zelda that let players climb, glide and solve Hyrule in any order they liked.
3. **The Walking Dead (2012)** — score 632/1000
   Telltale's 2012 episodic adventure about Lee Everett protecting young Clementine; Game of the Year at the VGAs.
4. **Super Mario Galaxy 2** — score 600/1000
   Nintendo's 2010 space-hopping sequel featuring Yoshi and some of Mario's most inventive levels.
5. **Limbo** — score 580/1000
   Playdead's 2010 monochrome puzzle-platformer about a boy searching for his sister in a hostile limbo.
6. **Super Mario Odyssey** — score 517/1000
   Nintendo's 2017 globe-trotting 3D platformer in which Mario possesses enemies with his sentient cap Cappy.
7. **Xenoblade Chronicles** — score 517/1000
   Monolith Soft's 2010 JRPG set on the bodies of two colossal titans frozen mid-battle.
8. **Hollow Knight** — score 517/1000
   Team Cherry's 2017 hand-drawn Metroidvania set in the ruined insect kingdom of Hallownest.
9. **Marvel's Spider-Man** — score 517/1000
   Insomniac's 2018 open-world superhero game with web-swinging across Manhattan as Peter Parker.
10. **Fortnite** — score 480/1000
   Epic Games' 2017 free-to-play battle royale that turned building, emotes and live events into a global craze.
11. **Control** — score 480/1000
   Remedy's 2019 supernatural shooter set inside the shifting Oldest House of the Federal Bureau of Control.
12. **Return of the Obra Dinn** — score 480/1000
   Lucas Pope's 2018 one-bit insurance-investigator mystery about a ghost ship's lost crew.
13. **Metal Gear Solid V** — score 480/1000
   Hideo Kojima's 2015 open-world stealth game The Phantom Pain, starring Venom Snake in Afghanistan and Africa.
14. **Nier: Automata** — score 439/1000
   PlatinumGames and Yoko Taro's 2017 action RPG about androids questioning their war against machines.
15. **Rocket League** — score 393/1000
   Psyonix's 2015 rocket-powered car soccer game that became an esports mainstay.
16. **Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice** — score 393/1000
   FromSoftware's 2019 Sengoku-era action game built on posture-breaking sword duels; Game of the Year at The Game Awards.
17. **Horizon Zero Dawn** — score 393/1000
   Guerrilla Games' 2017 open-world adventure where hunter Aloy takes on robotic beasts in a far-future wild.
18. **Outer Wilds** — score 393/1000
   Mobius Digital's 2019 space exploration mystery set in a solar system caught in a 22-minute time loop.
19. **Dishonored** — score 393/1000
   Arkane's 2012 stealth-action game about a framed bodyguard using supernatural powers in plague-ridden Dunwall.
20. **Overwatch** — score 393/1000
   Blizzard's 2016 hero shooter that brought a colourful cast and team play to competitive esports.
21. **Inside** — score 393/1000
   Playdead's 2016 dark puzzle-platformer about a boy slipping into a sinister research facility.
22. **Mass Effect 2** — score 393/1000
   BioWare's 2010 space opera where Commander Shepard recruits a squad for a suicide mission against the Collectors.
23. **Dark Souls III** — score 341/1000
   FromSoftware's 2016 closing chapter of the Souls trilogy, with some of the series' fastest boss fights.
24. **Hotline Miami** — score 341/1000
   Dennaton's 2012 neon-soaked top-down action game with a pounding synthwave soundtrack.
25. **Minecraft** — score 340/1000
   Mojang's block-building sandbox, fully released in 2011, that became the best-selling video game of all time.
26. **Portal 2** — score 340/1000
   Valve's 2011 puzzle game of portals, GLaDOS and Wheatley, with a celebrated co-op campaign.
27. **Undertale** — score 340/1000
   Toby Fox's 2015 indie RPG where every monster can be spared, famous for its music and fourth-wall tricks.
28. **Red Dead Redemption 2** — score 340/1000
   Rockstar's 2018 Western epic about outlaw Arthur Morgan and the slow collapse of the Van der Linde gang.
29. **The Last of Us** — score 340/1000
   Naughty Dog's 2013 post-apocalyptic drama about smuggler Joel escorting the teenage Ellie across America.
30. **PUBG: Battlegrounds** — score 281/1000
   PUBG Studios' 2017 last-player-standing shooter that turned battle royale into the decade's defining genre.
31. **Monster Hunter: World** — score 281/1000
   Capcom's 2018 co-op hunting game that broke the series out worldwide and became Capcom's top seller.
32. **Persona 5** — score 281/1000
   Atlus's stylish 2016 JRPG about Tokyo high schoolers who become the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
33. **Uncharted 4: A Thief's End** — score 281/1000
   Naughty Dog's 2016 finale for treasure hunter Nathan Drake, chasing a pirate fortune with his brother.
34. **Resident Evil 2 (2019)** — score 281/1000
   Capcom's 2019 ground-up remake of the 1998 survival-horror classic set in Raccoon City.
35. **Fire Emblem: Three Houses** — score 281/1000
   Intelligent Systems' 2019 tactics RPG where a professor's house choice decides which side of a war you fight on.
36. **Red Dead Redemption** — score 281/1000
   Rockstar's 2010 Western following former outlaw John Marston at the end of the frontier era.
37. **Super Smash Bros. Ultimate** — score 281/1000
   Nintendo's 2018 crossover fighter that brought every Smash fighter back for a roster of more than 80.
38. **Disco Elysium** — score 281/1000
   ZA/UM's 2019 detective RPG with no combat, driven entirely by dialogue and a voice-filled skill system.
39. **BioShock Infinite** — score 281/1000
   Irrational Games' 2013 shooter set in the floating city of Columbia, remembered for its twisting ending.
40. **Batman: Arkham City** — score 281/1000
   Rocksteady's 2011 open-world Batman game set inside a walled-off prison district of Gotham.
41. **Dark Souls** — score 212/1000
   FromSoftware's punishing 2011 action RPG whose interlocking world and hard-won victories spawned a genre.
42. **God of War (2018)** — score 212/1000
   Santa Monica Studio's 2018 reboot that moved Kratos to Norse myth alongside his young son Atreus.
43. **Fallout: New Vegas** — score 212/1000
   Obsidian's 2010 post-apocalyptic RPG in the Mojave, loved for its factions and branching choices.
44. **Titanfall 2** — score 212/1000
   Respawn's 2016 shooter whose campaign about pilot Jack Cooper and Titan BT-7274 became a cult favourite.
45. **Stardew Valley** — score 212/1000
   ConcernedApe's 2016 farming life sim, built by one developer, that revived the cosy-game genre.
46. **Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag** — score 131/1000
   Ubisoft's 2013 pirate adventure starring Edward Kenway, loved for its naval battles across the Caribbean.
47. **Bloodborne** — score 131/1000
   FromSoftware's 2015 gothic action game set in the plague-ridden city of Yharnam.
48. **Celeste** — score 131/1000
   Maddy Thorson's 2018 precision platformer about climbing a mountain and facing anxiety along the way.
49. **Divinity: Original Sin 2** — score 131/1000
   Larian Studios' 2017 tactical RPG praised for its freedom, co-op play and elemental combat.
50. **Mario Kart 8** — score 131/1000
   Nintendo's 2014 anti-gravity kart racer whose Deluxe edition became the Switch's best-selling game.
51. **Doom (2016)** — score 131/1000
   id Software's 2016 reboot that made fast, brutal first-person combat feel fresh again.
52. **Grand Theft Auto V** — score 131/1000
   Rockstar's 2013 three-protagonist crime saga set in Los Santos and one of the best-selling games ever made.
53. **Journey** — score 131/1000
   Thatgamecompany's 2012 wordless pilgrimage across a desert, shared with anonymous online strangers.
54. **Skyrim** — score 0/1000
   Bethesda's 2011 fantasy RPG set in a dragon-haunted northern province, still re-released a decade later.

Tags: games, adventure, indie, rpg, 2010s