The 100 Best Games of the 21st Century

Awesome work and List! Happy to see TOTK crack the top 5! But I had a feeling BOTW, Elden Ring, Outer Wilds and Mass Effect 2 would round out the top 4.

Thanks for putting this together! Love that nearly half the number of games nominated only received one vote - really speaks to the breadth of taste of the community that so many people had games that meant something to them and only them.

Really interesting list! Super happy to see that a lot of people participated! It's cool to see Morrowind as high.

Pretty astonishing that there were over 3,000 votes, I really didn't think we'd get that many. In that sense it seems like this whole thing was a success. Maybe it even drew some people back to the site generally?

Regarding the note on franchises at the bottom, reasonable minds can disagree, but I do still feel like Hitman is a special case. Unlike, say, the Mass Effect games, which were only released as a package nine years after the last game, the Hitman games were combined from the get-go. The stages from Hitman were in Hitman 2 from the drop, and likewise the stages for all three games were in Hitman 3 from the drop. It seems a little nonsensical to say that "Maybe [people] only loved one of them" when Hitman 3 has all of Hitman's (2016) content plus more; unless you think the maps for 2 and 3 actively detracted from the Hitman (2016) experience, then there is no reason to prefer the first game by itself. Moreover, in Mass Effect LE you are still ultimately only diving into three separate games individually, whereas in Hitman's Freelancer mode you're actually getting all the maps combined in one mode.

Anyway, I'm glad that it at the very least it got a note. I still think that most people were really voting for the whole package when they voted for 1 or 3, because there was no combined wiki entry and they picked one or the other to represent the full experience, which is also why Hitman 2 does not show up in the top 100... would be interesting to hear exactly how many votes it got, I suspect it is very few.

EDIT: Ah, I had missed the link to the full list. Yeah, Hitman 2 only got two votes. No surprise and it's not because Hitman 2's maps were bad. People just weren't picking it because they were picking either 1 or 3 to represent the combined package. In some ways I'm sorry I brought up the issue at all mid-vote; if the wiki entry for WoA hadn't been created mid-contest then there would have been less vote splitting and Hitman 3 probably would have made it to the top 50. So it does feel to me like Hitman got uniquely hosed in this contest.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Subsistence should have their votes combined

Thanks for doing this!

Four votes for Cruelty Squad, let's fucking go!

Morrowind was my #1. I'm just happy we were able to eek in there.

Somewhat shocked not to see 999 crack the top 100 after seeing it on 3 lists that were shared. In the end, looks like it only made 4 lists total. Oops.

@marino In your Full List document, I believe the column names, score and votes, are placed in each other's column

@flstyle: No, it's correct. The math is a mystery that probably only Dave knows, but it's not your usual 10 points for 1st, 9 for 2nd, etc. So the score totals are less than vote totals.

This was so fun to participate in and read! Thanks for making it possible and we'll see what we all think in... 25 years...

@marino: Oh... fair enough! Good work putting this together

Eternal Darkness didn't make the top 100? Damn, Max Payne too? I elected to vote for SMT P4 over golden, maybe it would've gotten higher. Also fuck Breath of the Wild

Respect to my fellow Zero Mission voters you're the real ones

For the split votes, how did FF14 shake out? I know I ended up voting for A Realm Reborn since I figured that was more of a catch-all compared to individual expansions. Also did the Hitman 3 as representative of the trilogy, though I also do think it's the best of the trilogy, so whatever either way.

Oh wow, I just noticed that apparently three other people voted for King's Field: The Ancient City. Those are my people! Though it's funny with how the scoring works that it got four votes but still only 1 score (whereas, e.g., Kenshi just above it got 3 votes and 3 score). So I guess four people voted for KF but everyone put it really low on their list? It was my #10 pick, personally.

Shocked at how poorly GTA games fared in this list considering it's probably the biggest franchise of the century so far. I think you can make an argument for all major 3D iterations on the list:

GTA 3 - one of the most influential games of all time, on par with Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time

GTA Vice City - the fan favorite, not as innovative but tons of styyyyyyyyyle

GTA SA - hugely impressive at the time, still holds up in a lot of ways

GTA 4 - my favorite, the best story out of any GTA game and still the largest, most detailed city they've made

GTA 5 - not my favorite but I think it's the best selling game of all time at this point? it's gotta be up there

And jeez, Middle Earth at 508??? I remember that being a no-brainer GOTY for that year. Never played it myself though.

When I made my list I didn't think about the order. Oops!

Some darn good games here, even if I wish more of you joined me on the too-small Mass Effect 3 train.

Really cool to see this turn out, considering this tool seemed to be created on a whim when they asked Chuck during a live stream.

Kinda bummed I missed the voting on this. Could've repped Mafia 1. But hey, at least someone voted for it!

I'm happy to see Morrowind and Deus Ex make in the top 50. Those two games were really formative on my gaming tastes.

For the other person that voted for Battlefield 2142, predatorhandshake.gif. Titan Mode had great ideas on how to satisfy both CoD and BF players in the same game mode. It also had an interesting unlock system that encouraged squads to stay together between maps. Really wish DICE had continued to refine those ideas. Highly underrated Battlefield.

Check out "The Full List" link near the end of the article.

EDIT: Nevermind I see the link :). If you combine Persona 4s and Persona 5s and Hitman 1/Hitman 2/Hitman 3/Hitman World of Assassination into one. Rock Band 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth edge into the top 100

Anyway we could just have the full raw data of the results beyond 100?

I'm just curious what moves in and moves out if you do the things like combine Persona 4, Persona 5, Hitman into one, etc.

This is an absolute travesty of a list, and I love it.

Well done! ❤️

@marino: Ah, thanks, found it. Not really sure how they'd combine scores/votes, tho. Shadowbringers deffo number 1 (and managed to rank at 50!) and about an even split between ARR and Endwalker.

Seeing two entries for Shadow of the Colossus in the top 100, 44 (2005) and 95 (2018). I wonder what the placing would've been if they had been combined?

Somehow I forgot Half Life 2 in my list. Glad it did well anyway.

Looks like I was the only one who put StepManiaX on their list :D I wonder how many other people put arcade only games on their list.

Also, shouts out to the two people who voted for Suikoden III. It's an underrated entry in the series and I wish it would get a rerelease on current consoles/PC. Y'all are the real fans.

How was Astro Bot not loads higher than that?! Mad.

I only had 2 of my picks in the top 50 if I remember my choices correctly. Shows how out of touch with the majority I am lol.

Ha my favorite games of all time are Hearthstone and Isaac Rebirth, both of which came out in 2014. Overall that was a light year for games, but man those 2 alone make that a great year of gaming for me.

Good list!

This was fun. I would like to see the list of whoever voted for Balan Wonderworld. Was it a joke list or did someone just really like that game? Also shouts out to the 3 other people who voted for some version of Overcooked - we should get together and play Overcooked.

@daavpuke: Breath of the Wild is the Taylor Swift of video games.

Look, Breath of Wild isn't in my top 5 Zelda games, let alone my favorite game of the last 25 years, but I get it making the number 1 spot. However, all you sickos that voted Tears of the Kingdom this high need help.

Come on, dude. This program happens by getting as many people to genuinely share their thoughts and opinions about games. People had fun; and that's all that matters. To react as you have, even if in jest, is the sort of gate-keepery nonsense that makes it hard for some people to get comfortable to join the fray in making this sort of stuff possible.

I don't know, maybe we can be nicer towards one another and if you don't like things, encourage each other to find the mediums that let you express yourself without demeaning others?

@mach_go_go_go: I'll take it. I put on We're Never Getting Back Together sometimes, I get it.

@zombiepie:

https://youtu.be/3-51KZsQdno?si=2pzeESfvxI4VNpMi

Awesome work. ME2 and Elden Ring were my personal tops.

Alright alright, I'll play Expedition 33...

Three FromSoft games in the top 10. I think an argument could be made for best dev of the century

Yo custom robo gang!! Who else voted for it??

Oof, Burnout 3 not making the list is brutal.

seeing outer wilds that high up warms my heart like a marshmallow over a campfire

disco elysium shoulda been in the top 10! i take that easily over half-life 2 and mass effect 2

mgs2 > mgs3. at the very least mgs4 ain't in the top 100!!!

yeah, i feel like hitman (2016), hitman 2 (2018), and hitman 3 shoulda been combined into hitman: woa, because that whole trilogy deserves to be heralded as one of the best gaming packages ever.

1000xRESIST, ff7 remake, kentucky route zero, overwatch, and monster hunter world all having the same score and just missing the top 100 is cool, funny, and sad to me all at the same time.

Vinny will be pleased by #3, as am I to get ONE on there (two more in top 100): BG3, Rocket League, and Spelunky 1

@hassun: Neglected, just like the series. :(

Phenomenal write-up, Marino!

Great fun to pore over the data, happy to have taken part in this. S/O to everyone else who voted for Rain World, Yume Nikki, Rez, Anatomy, Umineko (spread over 4 instances), TGM3: Ti, 13 Sentinels, Caves of Qud and Monster Hunter GU/XX

I hadn't realized until you pointed it out that no Monster Hunter game made the top 100. Man, Jason must be sighing deeply right now. And it's in my own top 5 game series of all time, easily, even though I'll admit to a little series fatigue after 15 years of playing them for hundreds of hours apiece.

Overwatch missing the top 100 also seems surprising. Maybe the whole OW2 thing just left a bad taste in people's mouths? IDK, I'm not actually that much of a competitive shooter guy, but OW was an exception and I played it for like 1,000 hours.

Anyway I voted for both of those games LOL, I had MHW at 6 and OW at 7.

FWIW, just for fun and because I and I think some others are curious, here's what would happen if the games Marino mentioned in the "Franchises" discussion at the bottom would land if they were all combined.

• Mass Effect 1+2+3+LE = 312 score, 888 votes, would become #2.
• Persona 5+Royal = 83 score, 267 votes, would become #21.
• Hitman 1+2+3+WoA = 68 score, 256 votes, would become #28.
• Persona 4+Golden = 64 score, 213 votes, would become #30.

For the score I'm sure there's rounding happening, so adding them up might not be 100% accurate, but probably not enough to affect it by more than a single point, I don't think.

Admittedly I think that combining the ME games is a harder sell, and I also don't think Hitman 2 votes should count if we were to combine them like this, since no one picks the middle game to represent WoA I don't think, but also, even if you do take the Hitman 2 votes out it would be at 66 score and 249 votes, so would still be #28.

Additionally, if you combine all these games, then nine games in the top 100 reduce to four, freeing up fives spaces for:

96. Rock Band 2 (18 score, 69 votes)
97. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (18 score, 56 votes)
98. Overwatch (17 score, 78 votes)
99. Final Fantasy VII Remake (17 score, 71 votes)
99. Monster Hunter: World (17 score, 71 votes)

Hey, look, in this scenario Overwatch and MHW do make it, whaddaya know. Fun to know unofficially, anyway.

One final, unrelated observation: interesting that God of War ended up at #47, yet God of War Ragnarok didn't even rank and only got about a quarter of the votes and score as the first game. I preferred the second one, but to each their own. I also prefer ME1 to ME2 and have never really understood the ME2 adoration.