Gaming sites mostly publish the same lists over and over. Best games of [year]. Most anticipated [next year]. Best games on [platform]. Here are eight lists nobody else makes — but should.
1. Most overrated franchises
- Far Cry (every entry is the same game)
- Assassin's Creed (50 hours of busywork)
- Call of Duty (good but oversold)
- Madden (annual roster update at full price)
2. Most underrated games of the past 5 years
- Pentiment
- Citizen Sleeper
- Tunic
- Inscryption
- Norco
3. Worst microtransaction systems active right now
- Diablo Immortal (catastrophic gear monetization)
- EA Sports Ultimate Team (predatory loot boxes)
- Most free-to-play mobile gachas
- Battle passes with FOMO timers
4. Best tutorials in modern games
- Half-Life 2 (no text, all environmental)
- Portal (puzzles teach mechanics)
- Tunic (the manual itself is the tutorial)
- Inside (zero text, fully intuitive)
5. Worst tutorials in modern games
- Anything with 90 minutes of cutscenes before gameplay
- Any RPG that pops 18 menu tutorials in the first 10 minutes
- Looking at you, every Assassin's Creed
6. Indie devs whose next game you should pre-order blind
- Lucas Pope (Papers Please, Return of the Obra Dinn)
- Toby Fox (Undertale, Deltarune)
- Daniel Mullins (Inscryption, Pony Island)
- Eric Barone (Stardew, Haunted Chocolatier)
7. Soundtracks worth buying separately
- Hades
- Disco Elysium
- Outer Wilds
- NieR: Automata
- Celeste
8. Games that aged badly
- Original Mass Effect (combat is rough now)
- Most early 3D platformers
- Pre-2015 stealth games (AI is brutal compared to modern standards)
- Original Dark Souls' frame rate on PC (without mods)
The takeaway
Most gaming lists are safe because controversial lists generate angry comments. The eight above will probably generate angry comments. They're also probably more useful than the 47th "Best Games of 2024" article you'll see this week.
