“1000 Games You Must Play Before Game Over” [300-201]

I could not possibly fail to disagree with you less.
-Boris Johnson

I don’t know about you, but if these 100 games below were the only games that existed, I’d still be pretty happy…

#0300. Kirby Canvas Curse
Arguably my favorite of the spin-off Kirby games, Canvas Curse just exudes creativity in all aspects. Gameplay, art style, music — it all culminates in an experience I can never get enough of.
-The Normal Mage

#0299. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
If only for the legendary opening scene. But, you know, the rest of the game is pretty awesome too.
-The Wandering Mage

#0298. Half-Life
An iconic first-person shooter in every possible way. Removing cutscenes in favour of a more organic form of narrative was a bold move, but in Half-Life’s case it pays off perfectly.
-The Regional Exclusive Mage

#0297. Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
For me, this is the quintessential JRPG. You’ve got everything from a huge sprawling world full of interesting monsters to battle, to incredibly likable and relatable characters, to a storyline that – if you get into it – will tear your heart into a million little pieces.
-The Off-Centered Earth Mage

#0296. State of Decay
A great zombie survival game with interesting characters, an in-depth base building, and permadeath that makes every decision crucial to the survival of you and your group.
-The Kingly Yellow Mage

#0295. Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1
Though I prefer the games that followed, this works as a solid introduction. Heavily based on the console wars, it’s a fun JRPG packed full of gaming and anime references.
-The Blood-Stained Metal Mage

#0294. Telltale’s Game of Thrones
-The Silver Sentinel Mage

#0293. Bushido Blade
Uniquely realistic, yet still a powerfully escapist take on the bottomless urge for electronic bloodshed.
-The Bookwarm Mage

#0292. NFL 2K5
Arguably one of the best professional football games ever conceived. They seemed to get everything right.
-The Keeper of the Darkness Flame Mage

#0291. Final Fantasy XV
A divisive entry in one of the most divisive series of all time, Final Fantasy XV feels like an RPG that spent the better part of a decade in development hell but still provided a memorable road trip with one hell of a finale. Walk tall, my friends!
-The Middle-aged Horror Mage

#0290. Sid Meier’s Civilization
I’ve spent too much time being nuked into oblivion by Gandhi for everyone not to play Meier’s game of turn-based global domination.
-The Ink-Stained Mage

#0289. Empire: Total War
Grand strategy at its finest: easy to learn, hard to master, and loads of fun.
-The Bizzaro Mage

#0288. Mega Man 3
Not many games can claim to follow up one of the best games of all time and not disappoint their audience. This game is the same fun Mega Man action with new boss fights, rocking music (I love Snake Man’s stage!) and the debut of your robot dog Rush. All in all, if you’ve played 2 and not 3, you owe to yourself to give it a go.
-The Beer Mage

#0287. Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
A solid Role-Playing-Puzzle-Strategy game, Clash of Heroes is unlike any of the genres it draws from, yet manages to find a harmonious balance. It also gets bonus points for being so drastically different from the other games in its franchise.
-The Optimistically Sentimental Alabaster Mage

#0286. DuckTales
Super fun platformer with some unique mechanics (using your cane as a pogo stick!), also don’t forget the Moon theme!
-The Blue Moon Mage

#0285. Shadow of Memories (aka Shadow of Destiny)
This unusual game has a lot of flaws, but it made great use of a time-traveling conceit to tell a well-constructed story that I think is worth experiencing.
-The Sometimes Vaguely Philosophical Mage

#0284. Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia
A high fantasy, tactical-strategy, turn-based adventure that uses discovery, resource and unit management, heroes, scenarios, campaigns, and both online and hot-seat multiplayer to satisfy any style of gamer.
-The ABXY Mage

#0283. Sonic Mania
A game awash with everything that made Sonic the Hedgehog so iconic. It’s the retro blast to the past that you never knew that you needed. Haven’t played it? Well… I’m waaaaaaiting! *rapidly taps foot impatiently*
-The Hyperactive Coffee Mage

#0282. The Last of Us
Few games have left a longer lasting impression on me than The Last of Us. Amazingly-acted characters make the story of two strangers in a desperate world feel compelling and real.
-The Mail Order Ninja Mage

#0281. Mass Effect
Bioware’s glorious space opera series begins here. Help your Commander Shepard chase down Saren with their space buddies of various races.
-The Livid Lightning Mage

#0280. Fallout
One of Interplay’s classic RPGs. Deep character design, engaging combat, great story, varied play styles – but the real draw is that fantastic retro-futuristic aesthetic so central to the Fallout series to this day.
-The Badly Backlogged Mage

#0279. Splatoon 2
As a unique mix of a quirky platformer and an ink-based shooter, Splatoon 2 offers a variety of ways to experience such unique gameplay in both singleplayer and multiplayer.
-The Valiant Vision Mage

#0278. Ys I
One of the first action RPGs ever, improving on the original Zelda formula and bringing a fantastic story about a long-forgotten civilization that is hidden in the clouds.
-The Iron Mage

#0277. Quake
The birth of online gaming culture. Quake’s in-game footage editor and online sharing features allowed players to use the game to tell stories of their own and share them with others. This is now a practice as common as playing games themselves.
-The Purple Prose Mage

#0276. Hard Corps: Uprising
It’s Contra but done by the Guilty Gear people, which means gorgeously animated 2D characters on a 3D field, with Daisuke Ishiwatari helming the music. It’s beautiful.
-The Dapper Zaffre Mage

#0275. Fallout 3
An amazing game world, and a game that expanded my horizons.
-The Hopeful Sega Mage

#0274. Portal 2
One of the best co-op games that I have ever played. The puzzles are smart and a lot of fun. It helps that GLaDOS is a brilliant character too.
-The Final Fourteenth Mage

#0273. Teslagrad
A magnetic Metroidvania with bundles of creativity and innovation. It boasts a swoon-worthy melancholic, Soviet-era charm and sends players soaring with inventive electromagnetic powers. Plus, there’s a beautiful Blade Runner-esque soundtrack.
-The Moronic Cheese Mage

#0272. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Hours of fun for a group of friends, I can still hear Liu Kang with the bicycle kick.
-The Midnight Mystic Mage

#0271. Gotcha Force
An obscure, little-known, and frankly insane gem of a game from the depths of noughties Capcom, and a game that will forever be one of the most fun to play multi-player.
-The Red Hot Chili Mage

#0270. Call of Duty: Black Ops
You can literally spend hours playing online with random people, back when online chats were a vicious place.
-The Shamrock Show Mage

#0269. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Hours upon hours of fun side quests with entertaining stories and monsters galore. Wait, there’s a main story?
-The Green Screen Mage

#0268. Final Fantasy XII
A great among greats, Final Fantasy XII manages to perfect every aspect of a solid RPG while bringing game-changing innovations to the table. The worldbuilding is fantastic, rivaled only by its awesome Gambit battle system.
-The Timely Mage

#0267. Mario Kart 64
One of my first racing games. This game felt like it had really balanced controls and I think it gave next-gen racing games standards to emulate.
-The White Out Mage

#0266. Chrono Cross
The sequel to one of the greatest JRPGs ever had tremendous shoes to try to fill but instead of trying to blow out the scale of the first game, Cross tried something different, only vaguely and mystically connecting itself to Trigger, and always in interesting ways, it feels almost more like a spinoff than a sequel. Still, it possesses its own cerulean elegance, certainly when it comes to its music.
-The Well-Red Mage

#0265. Radiant Silvergun
Arguably the greatest of the 2-D shmups, made by Treasure and a bunch of former Konami employees. A manageable bullet hell, with multiple ways to approach enemies and boss fights thanks to the unique weapon systems. Add in the unique gameplay of the silvergun bullet-eating sword, a terrific soundtrack, and quasi-3D graphics, and you’ve got a shooter that exceeds the hype and its rather expensive cost. Let’s all be thankful you can buy it on modern consoles for much less!
-The Slipstream Mage

#0264. Guild Wars
I spent a lot of time playing this game. Its graphics were excellent for the time they appeared, and still aren’t completely outdated. There are more sidequests than I could ever finish, a beautiful storyline, great cinematics, and photo-worthy picturesque views.
-The Indecisive Night Mage

#0263. Jumping Flash!
Before Mario 64, this gave an early glimpse of what a 3D platformer might be like. Fun, quirky and needs a remake.
-The New Age Retro Mage

#0262. Sonic 3 Complete
This might be considered a cheat, but to me the best way to play Sonic 3 and Knuckles… is to play something else. Sonic 3 Complete is a fan-made revision that gracefully turns the most ambitious Sonic game into the version the developers intended. This is an excellent place to start playing 2D Sonic games.
-The Normal Mage

#0261. Pokémon Snap
The most unique of the Pokémon spinoffs.
-The Wandering Mage

#0260. Blast Corps
One of the most enjoyable titles on the Nintendo 64, Blast Corps is such a fun premise: using a variety of different vehicles to destroy buildings. Each one is a joy to use, and the variety of levels on offer are all beautifully designed.
-The Regional Exclusive Mage

#0259. Dark Souls 3
If you’ve already played Dark Souls, Dark Souls 3 has more genuinely amazing fan service than most movies. Do it!
-The Off-Centered Earth Mage

#0258. The Binding of Isaac
The pinnacle of the roguelike genre and one that has been hard to replicate. The monstrous visuals breathe even more creativity and life into an already great game.
-The Kingly Yellow Mage

#0257. Rakuen
Similar in style and emotion to To the Moon and Finding Paradise, you play as a dying boy exploring a wonderful world with his mother and getting acquainted with fellow patients, learning about their stories.
-The Blood-Stained Metal Mage

#0256. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
-The Silver Sentinel Mage

#0255. Wild Arms
A cool spin on the JRPG formula, taking it into some new aesthetic and thematic territory.
-The Bookwarm Mage

#0254. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
Think Need for Speed… but with cops and faster cars.
-The Keeper of the Darkness Flame Mage

#0253. Metroid Fusion
Super Metroid is definitely the perfect Metroid game, but the GBA’s Fusion is a close 2nd. Be it exploring the labyrinthine environments, unlocking new power-ups, or evading the super creepy SA-X, I was always glued to my tiny screen (even during work hours… oops).
-The Middle-aged Horror Mage

#0252. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
A multitude of improvements and better, more fluid graphics and gameplay make Pro Skater 2 one for the ages. The amount of hype around, of all things, a skateboarding game in the early 2000s still seems like something unexpected looking back on it.
-The Ink-Stained Mage

#0251. Vagrant Story
Hard as nails dungeon crawler with a truly Shakespearean story.
-The Bizzaro Mage

#0250. Sunset Riders [SNES]
A faithful port of the arcade classic. The controls are spectacular, the action is non-stop, and the gameplay is fun and varied. You will be rocking along to the music and find yourself lost in time as you bounty hunt for the bad guys. Bury me with my money!
-The Beer Mage

#0249. The Witness
After the success of Braid and the Xbox Live arcade indie boom, darling designer Jonathan Blow set out to both simultaneously pay homage and write a love-letter to Myst while also crafting his own Infinite Jest.
-The Optimistically Sentimental Alabaster Mage

#0248. Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins
Bunny Mario. ‘Nuff said.
-The Blue Moon Mage

#0247. Wii Sports
This is truly a game that everyone can enjoy. The Wii’s mission statement was to be for everyone, and I think this is the quintessential game for all the family.
-The Sometimes Vaguely Philosophical Mage

#0246. StarCraft
RTS perfection. A futuristic, sci-fi setting, three races (including two aliens), a stellar campaign, and early online multiplayer made StarCraft an addictive and unstoppable force that hasn’t lost any of its fun factor.
-The ABXY Mage

#0245. Sands of Destruction
A neat little RPG made by SEGA for the DS, set in a world covered in sand and where man is ruled by beastmen. The voice acting is dated, but the story and characters are fun and memorable. The game was also adapted into an anime, which was also pretty good.
-The Hyperactive Coffee Mage

#0244. Fable II
The Fable series is one of my favorite in gaming–a wonderful adventure with decidedly British humor that had exceptional customization for its time. The second in the series is the best of the bunch.
-The Mail Order Ninja Mage

#0243. Dragon Age 2
Don’t let the developer’s lazy copy-paste environments turn you away. The cool companions will totally help you forget you’re in Generic Warehouse Layout #1… for the 50th time.
-The Livid Lightning Mage

#0242. Tales of the Unknown: Volume I – The Bard’s Tale
Wizardry may have invented the mazelike dungeon crawl, but Bard’s Tale perfected. Pull out the graph paper and sharpen your pencil!
-The Badly Backlogged Mage

#0241. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
With a surprising amount of authenticity to simulate games from a much earlier area, Shovel Knight should be a go-to for fans of retro games. It also includes three campaigns, with a fourth campaign and new mode to be added later on.
-The Valiant Vision Mage

#0240. Dragon Quest XI
Perhaps the most generic JRPG to have ever been crafted. However, it takes the long-established and often scoffed-at clichés of dragons and wizardry and executes them in such inventive ways, that Dragon Quest XI because so much more than the sum of its parts. The story will, at times, make you belt out laughing, and it will also move your heart.
-The Iron Mage

#0239. Ultima III: Exodus
The use of helpful, informative NPCs was already a staple of role-playing games, but Ultima III: Exodus made them important to the story – now understood as a crucial detail in believable world building.
-The Purple Prose Mage

#0238. Phantom Brave
The world’s cutest little Necromancer is yours to guide in this NIS RPG. One of my favorite protagonists, and fun gameplay that encourages absolutely breaking the system… so it’s an NIS title, alright.
-The Dapper Zaffre Mage

#0237. Grand Theft Auto V
Love the series or not, this is an epic, slick story with a vast world to explore.
-The Hopeful Sega Mage

#0236. NieR
What an absolutely amazing game. I have never been impacted by a second playthrough as I was with NieR‘s B. It just changes the whole outlook. Plus the story is FANTASTIC. THE OST IS FANTASTIC. It’s a must-play.
-The Final Fourteenth Mage

#0235. World of Goo
A decade after its release, this indie masterpiece offers a genius slice of puzzling, architectural brilliance. Arrange goo blobs into structures to get to the next stage – meanwhile, enjoy the witty humour as the devs lampoon modern consumerism.
-The Moronic Cheese Mage

#0234. Pokémon Puzzle League
My wife kicks my butt at this game, but it is a great game still to this day.
-The Midnight Mystic Mage

#0233. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
So. Much. LEGO. And it’s all Star Wars.
-The Red Hot Chili Mage

#0232. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
One of the earlier CoD games which changed everything for shooting games.
-The Shamrock Show Mage

#0231. Tomodachi Life
A mix between Sims and Animal Crossing with a little less leg work. Adorable fun for some littles and those of us who enjoy cute life simulation games.
-The Green Screen Mage

#0230. Sins of a Solar Empire
This massive 4X game is designed with the perfect balance of action and strategy. The ship designs are excellent, the scale is epic, and the scarce but ominous lore rounds out this excellent game.
-The Timely Mage

#0229. Tetris 99
How!? Battle Royale with 98 other online players without all the tantrums and bickering. Play for the love of Tetris with a twist!
-The White Out Mage

#0228. DuckTales: Remastered
The original was a classic. The remaster is nostalgic glory, complete with one of the last vocal performances of Alan Young as Scrooge.
-The Well-Red Mage

#0227. Batman: Arkham City
Arkham Asylum was brilliant, but Arkham City perfected the superhero game. Now you are free to roam in a more open setting, you ARE Batman. You can do nearly everything he can. Wrapped in a great story chock full of all your favorite villains.
-The Slipstream Mage

#0226. Minecraft: Java Edition
Still frequently updated and going strong, It’s the only game to have ever outsold Tetris (breaking news, though: as of recent, Tetris is finally on top again).
-The Indecisive Night Mage

#0225. Mega Man 2
Perfected the Mega Man formula. And the music rocks, too.
-The New Age Retro Mage

#0224. Stardew Valley
The only game I’ve ever put 100+ hours into and not regretted a moment, the experience of playing Stardew Valley is one of irrepressible optimism. It helped me through so many of my life’s challenging times.
-The Normal Mage

#0223. Yakuza 0
Kazuma Kiryu has never killed a man. No one is sure HOW he hasn’t. This is where his story began.
-The Wandering Mage

#0222. Super Castlevania IV
A perfect refinement of the gameplay in the NES Castlevania trilogy, with superb evolution of the whip-physics, an outstanding soundtrack, and some beautiful environments to battle through.
-The Regional Exclusive Mage

#0221. Demon’s Souls
Whether or not this game or this type of game is your thing, it cannot be denied that this game started it all. Nowadays, everything is “Souls-like”, and something so influential in gaming deserves to be recognised.
-The Off-Centered Earth Mage

#0220. Darksiders
Best described as the Legend of Zelda with tons of gore. A fun RPG with awesome puzzle-solving mechanics.
-The Kingly Yellow Mage

#0219. Corpse Party
Made by RPG Maker, this is not only one of the best horror games I have ever played, but one with a scene so brutal it moved me to tears.
-The Blood-Stained Metal Mage

#0218. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
-The Silver Sentinel Mage

#0217. Twisted Metal 2
Frantic battling, killer clowns, mayhem.
-The Bookwarm Mage

#0216. Burnout 3
Literally bumper cars with real cars and getting points for it. What’s not to love?
-The Keeper of the Darkness Flame Mage

#0215. SOMA
One of the most underappreciated games of all time, SOMA‘s first-person atmospheric sci-fi horror masterpiece is a masterclass in environmental storytelling. The ending still haunts me today.
-The Middle-aged Horror Mage

#0214. World of Warcraft
Millions of players have taken the plunge into Azeroth. For all the jokes and stereotypes, everyone should spend some time exploring this truly massive phenom of a game. For the Horde!
-The Ink-Stained Mage

#0213. Valkyria Chronicles 4
A truly unique take on the strategy/JRPG genre offering lots of technicality.
-The Bizzaro Mage

#0212. Gunstar Heroes
Run and gun game – Check. Action Platformer – Check, Space shooter – Check, Combat game – Check. A game that rolls so many genres together and does them well. It is certainly not an easy game and requires a lot of trial and error but to be honest, it’s an absolute rush once you figure out how to defeat a boss that was giving you trouble. For an even better experience, play this 2-player.
-The Beer Mage

#0211. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
When Curt Schilling decided he wanted to create an MMO he hired Ken Rolston (game designer known for his work on the Elder Scrolls games), Todd McFarlane (creator of the Spawn comic book and one of the founders of Image Comics), and R.A. Salvatore (fantasy writer known for his character Dungeons & Dragons novels, and the character of Drizzt); the result is a sublime single-player experience that was critically well-received and a commercial flop that will most likely never see the sequel that this game so desperately deserves.
-The Optimistically Sentimental Alabaster Mage

#0210. Super Mario Land
The OG Game Boy classic. Platforming old school Mario goodness on the go.
-The Blue Moon Mage

#0209. Red Steel
One of the earliest ‘non-kid-friendly’ Wii entries, Red Steel showed the potential of some of the console’s unique features. Its gun-and-swordplay mechanics are tightly executed, and it has a really cool take on multiplayer competition: each player receives a different ‘mission’ via the speaker in their Wiimote, as if receiving a call from a handler.
-The Sometimes Vaguely Philosophical Mage

#0208. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Nintendo + Square, Mario + JRPG; the marriage we all wanted. An isometric adventure with familiar characters and mechanics in an unfamiliar, but wonderfully pleasant presentation.
-The ABXY Mage

#0207. Mega Man Legends 2
The followup to MML, it took everything from the first and made it grander. Tightened its controls, expanded the story and was a pretty decent example of the early twin-stick control scheme that dominates open world games these days.
-The Hyperactive Coffee Mage

#0206. Halo Reach
There is no doubt that one of the finest FPS games out there deserved to be represented on this list, and Halo Reach is the best of the bunch as far as the story campaign goes.
-The Mail Order Ninja Mage

#0205. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
It’s not a curse to see the world differently. A painful journey about mental illness with a message that will stay with you long after the credits roll.
-The Livid Lightning Mage

#0204. Ultima
Richard Garriott’s first large-scale commercial work that spawned the iconic Ultima series and holds up surprisingly well today. The RPG genre would be very different if not for this game.
-The Badly Backlogged Mage

#0203. Pokémon GO
Pokémon GO is not only a game where you catch, train, and battle in Augmented Reality, but is also a great community-building game. GO play this game with a group of friends before you die.
-The Valiant Vision Mage

#0202. Dragon Quest VIII
VIII is simply an evolution of the series’ motto of “the same but more.” With the new addition of voice acting, unique to the previous titles in the series, as well as full 3D graphics, Dragon Quest VIII feels incredibly ambitious.
-The Iron Mage

#0201. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
It may be long forgotten by mainstream culture, but this was the first popular game to have a strategy guide. This established the game-player relationship based on dedicated and committed study that is now at the heart of online gaming culture.
-The Purple Prose Mage

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage, Mage Cast, or Story Mode.