The two-hour prologue at Camp Omega; every approach to one base.
A purple dildo bat, a wrestling match and a gang that owns a city; GTA as pure comedy.
An undercover cop in the Hong Kong triads; the open-world game with martial arts.
Corvo in Dunwall with Blink and a heart that whispers; Arkane's immersive sim.
Lara Croft's origin on the island of Yamatai; the survival reboot.
A 2D Minecraft with bosses and thousands of items; the game that never stopped updating.
Max in Sao Paulo, bald and drunk, in Rockstar's slow-motion finale.
Karnaca, the Clockwork Mansion and a level that switches between two times.
An open-world stealth sandbox in Afghanistan and Africa; Kojima's last Metal Gear.
Link as a wolf, Midna and the biggest Hyrule so far.
Rewind time, run along walls and the Prince who narrates his own mistakes.
Motion sword fighting and the first story of the Master Sword.
Sam Fisher in the dark with three green lights; the stealth game at its most systemic.
Agent 47 at a Mardi Gras and an opera; the best of the old Hitmans.
Drake's last treasure hunt with his brother; the series' best-looking farewell.
A writer in a Pacific Northwest town where his manuscript comes true; Remedy's Twin Peaks.
Kratos falls from Olympus and rides the Steeds of Time; the PS2 swansong.
Kiryu and Majima in 1988 Kamurocho, with karaoke and disco; the entry point to the series.
Cover shooting, the chainsaw bayonet and the Locust; Epic's Xbox 360 template.
A walled prison district as an open world; the best superhero game.
Vaas explains insanity and a tourist becomes a warrior on a tropical island.
Jade, a photojournalist on a planet under alien attack; Ubisoft's cult adventure.
Every god on Olympus dies; the trilogy ends in blood.
John Marston hunts his old gang across the dying West; the best game of 2010.
Kratos and the Blades of Chaos against Ares; the Greek trilogy begins.
One night in the asylum with the Joker loose; the combat every action game borrowed.
Nathan Drake on a train hanging off a Himalayan cliff; Naughty Dog's blockbuster.
Faith runs across white rooftops in first person; DICE's parkour experiment.
Inline-skating graffiti gangs in a cel-shaded Tokyo; the Dreamcast's style.
A witch with guns on her heels and hair that becomes a dragon; Platinum's action peak.
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