The Top 100
FE ATURE
MINECRAFT
RELEASED 2011 | LAST POSITION 48Rachel: I am happy to
see Minecraft get the
epic list bump it deserves.
With the Caves and Cliffs
update this year, plus
Mojang’s work with RTX,
and the number of
charities and projects
using it as a gaming force
for good, it deserves a
top 10 spot for sure.
Mollie: I punched my first
block of dirt nearly 10 years
ago, and I’ve been in love
with Minecraft ever since.
Minecraft’s versatility really
lends itself to the game’s
longevity – after a decade,
no two playthroughs have
been the same for me, and
I love that.
Rich: The game’s
community remains so
vibrant and it seems like
every week there are
amazing new things to see,
and Mojang continues to
judiciously add to it.8
VALHEIM
RELEASED 2021 | LAST POSITION NewChris: There are no quests
in Valheim, no characters,
no main storyline. But
every journey I take,
whether it’s to fight a boss
or reach a new continent or
just to gather berries, feels
like a bigger and bolder
adventure than many
triple-A RPGs. The open
world is fascinatingly
beautiful despite
throwback visuals and the
danger of the wilderness is
offset by the cozy and
comforting feel of coming
home to my cheery little
wooden fort. Valheim
cleverly plays with survival
systems, too – food and
cooking remain absolutely
vital, but you’ll never starve
to death so gathering never
feels like a joyless grind.
And for an Early Access
game, it never feels like
anything is missing, just
that more could be added.10
SLAY THE SPIRE
RELEASED 2019 | LAST POSITION 57
THE WITCHER 3
RELEASED 2015 | LAST POSITION 4Andy K: While I love the
overarching story in The
Witcher 3 and its DLC,
it’s the slower, quieter
moments in-between when
the game really sings for
me. When it’s just me and
my horse on the open road,
riding between villages,
exploring ruins, picking up
random quests, and
getting tangled up in
peoples’ lives, I’m never
happier. It’s like awandering samurai
simulator. And the fact that
a simple job pinned to a
noticeboard can spiral into
a wild, unpredictable,
hours-long quest makes
exploring this vividly
realised world rewarding
like no other RPG. This is a
rare game where almost
every sidequest, including
the really small ones, is
meaningful or interesting
in some way.9
Robin: The sheer number
of imitators released in
recent years is testament
to the lasting brilliance of
Slay the Spire. None have
toppled the king. It’s still
the absolute tightest,
smartest, and most fun to
break roguelike deck-
building money can buy.
Evan: When you pull off
some clever combo (say,
using the Mummified Hand
relic and a series of Powercards to reduce the cost of
everything in your hand to
0), the sensation of
cascading effects is as
potent as pulling the trigger
on some viral TikTok Rube
Goldberg machine. Slay
the Spire puts game-
breaking power within
players’ reach, but in turn
drops tougher bosses and
mini-bosses in your way.
Few games match its
purity of design.