The Bucket List

Luigi with a vacuum cleaner in a haunted house; the GameCube launch oddity.

Four survivors, a Tank and the AI Director that decides how bad tonight is.

Britain through four seasons that change for everyone at once.

A prince, three friends and a road trip in a black car; ten years in development.

Ivalice, the gambit system and a political plot; Matsuno's last Final Fantasy.

Squall, junctioning and a card game better than the combat.

The job system at its most flexible, and a tree that talks.

Kyrat, Pagan Min and elephants; the Himalayan Far Cry.

Malaria, jamming rifles and a fire that spreads; the bleakest Far Cry.

Jack Carver on a Micronesian island in 2004; the CryEngine draw distance that sold PCs.

Two Source Hunters and a co-op RPG that lets you argue with your own party.

Bungie after Halo: the Traveler, the raids and a story assembled from grimoire cards.

Religion, great people and a Grammy-winning theme; the Civ many still prefer.

Four vault hunters on Pandora and a gun for every occasion; the looter-shooter arrives.

Inferno, Paradiso and a Wii U exclusive that critics begged people to buy.

A ward of Candlekeep on the Sword Coast; the Infinity Engine begins.

Altair in the Third Crusade; the first Animus, and nine identical viewpoints.

Gunpowder, home cities and the colonial era; the awkward middle child of the series.

The 1997 original: twelve ancient civilisations, from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.

Sif's knight, Manus and the fight that taught the series how to make bosses.

Savathun, weapon crafting and the best raid Bungie has built.

The Hoarfrost Reach, the clutch claw and Fatalis; a full game of expansion.

Late-war technology and alternate ends for the Reich.

Landless adventurers and Byzantine administration; Paradox's 2024 expansion.

Climate, floods and a world congress; the expansion that completed Civ VI.

Attila, Montezuma and El Cid; the expansion the competitive scene still plays.

A brain in a jar and the Big Empty; the funniest thing Obsidian wrote.

Vampire lords, Dawnguard crossbows and the Soul Cairn.

Arthas becomes the Lich King, and the custom maps become DotA.

The expansion whose balance held up as an esport for two decades.