There are many out there who’d have you believe that all we get these days are sequels, remakes and re-releases, as large gaming studios scrape the bottom of the ideas barrel for one more nostalgia-driven cash grab. And hey, we really did love Resident Evil 2’s terrifying touch-up and can’t wait for Resi 3 to get the same treatment next year. That said, the last decade has also given us a brilliant selection of new worlds and stories to explore.
Now, if we were to celebrate each and every great new IP to have arrived in the last ten years, we’d probably still be here in 2029, at which point we’d have to start all over again. So to help simplify our list, we’ve limited our selection to the stellar new titles which have spawned franchises in gaming. Wait, Aren’t we just creating new opportunities for sequels in another ten years? Best not think about that now as we celebrate our picks for the most studpendous new series of the decade.
The most stupendous new series from the last decade in gaming
Dark Souls
© FromSoftware
Yes, yes, Demon Souls exists, but it wasn’t until the release of Dark Souls in 2011 that FromSoftware truly enraptured the gaming world. The original Dark Souls remains a very strange and special thing in gaming, defying many of the conventions we’d come to expect from action-RPGs. The sequel may have fallen short of glory, but director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s return for Dark Souls 3 produced another barnstormer.
Dark Souls’ influence, for better or worse, can be felt throughout almost every aspect of gaming culture in the last 8 years. The original’s success led to a wave of Soulslike copycats, and even recent releases such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order appropriate the mechanics of FromSoft’s series. While we love the original to bits, we’re most grateful that the success of Dark Souls led to the production of Bloodborne and this year’s stellar Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Overcooked
Kitchens! Friends! Food! Aliens? Part Mario Party minigame, part kitchen nightmares, we bloody Ghost Town Games’ Overcooked, and would argue that no game series has put more smiles on our face these past ten years. There’s something truly special about sitting down with a friend or partner to blast through a co-op game, and Overcooked nails that desperate feeling of interdependence as you hustle your way through timed orders. Splitting up the tasks of preparing, cooking and serving up meals is cracking fun in its own right, but add in wild locations like pirate ships, haunted houses and space stations and you have a recipe for brilliance.
The graphics are charming and the controls are as simple as they come, but you’ll need real organization and teamwork to nail three-star ratings on each level. It takes up to four, but Overcooked 2 makes for a fantastic couples game as well, provided you both share that itch to perfect your production line of course. Wait, who forgot to wash the dishes again? We’ll never get these orders out in time! That’s it, we’re starting again from the top.
Red Dead Redemption
While technically a spiritual successor to 2004's Red Dead Revolver, spirits don't count round these parts. 2010's Redemption set up for the epic wild west tale that gripped us this decade and started a series of its own. Red Dead Redemption 2's prequel stands as a towering achievement for Rockstar, a living and breathing wilderness barely tamed by frontiersmen like Arthur Morgan. Given the tough job of setting up gang leader Dutch van der Linde as the antagonist foil for John Marston in the original, RDR2 excels in weaving a rich tapestry of relationships with dozens of other campers who ride with you. The original's story stands well on its own, but shines with this added context for the breakdown of the van der Linde posse and Arthur's crisis of conscience at the heart of it. And if you knew nothing of John's journey afterwards, the prequel is again a masterpiece that any fan of well-acted, well-written period drama can appreciate. Plus you can start barfights whenever you want and hogtie anyone to feed them to gators. The true Western experience.
Minecraft
© Mojang
It’s been years since I last played Minecraft, but like a massive stellar body, it’s hard to escape the effect its arrival had on the gaming solar system. Though Minecraft was available in early forms in the noughties, it technically released on PC in 2011, and it wasn’t long after launch that its stratospheric rise began.
We’ll be covering Minecraft’s influence in gaming YouTube, streaming and more in another piece, but here we’d like to highlight the worlds Minecraft has spawned beyond itself. Starting from a simple sandbox creation engine, the Minecraft name has gone on to spawn a point-and-click adventure in Minecraft: Story Mode, an augmented reality title in Minecraft Earth, and soon diablo-style antics in Minecraft Dungeons. It’s far from a traditional game series, but you have to appreciate its reach nonetheless.
The Last of Us
© Naughty Dog
The Last of Us 2 has yet to release, but it’s hard to deny the fact that it’s one of the most anticipated titles to kick off the new decade, and that’s all thanks to Naughty Dog’s work with Joel and Ellie’s first adventure. The years spent developing the Uncharted series proved to be fine proving grounds for the Californian developer, which has now established itself as one of the best narrative studios in the business.
Ever up with the times, we only played The Last of Us Remastered for the first time this year, and while the controls are a little odd, it more than holds up on the weight of its story alone. One game may not make a series, but we can’t wait to see what Naughty Dog has in store with The Last of Us 2 when it finally arrives next year.
Divinity: Original Sin
© Larian Studios
Traditional overhead camera, party-based RPGs took a bit of a back seat at the beginning of the decade, giving way to more cinematic adventures inspired by the likes of Mass Effect. Thankfully, developers like Larian Studios were there to not only fill the gap, but cram it full to bursting with some of the best fantasy roleplaying we’ve ever touched. Elemental effects and creativity reign supreme in Divinity, letting you conjure unusual solutions to the games’ many combat encounters and puzzles.
Original Sin’s Enhanced Edition was a solid experience, but Larian really perfected the experience with Divinity: Original Sin 2. A great blend of characterful writing and humor complemented improvements to combat, levelling and exploration, resulting in an unbelievably complete and replayable package. If you’re an RPG lover and haven’t played Divinity: Original Sin 2 yet, you really owe it to yourself to grab a copy and spend a few hundred hours turning your enemies into chickens.
Destiny
© Bungie
After Bungie separated from Microsoft and the Halo franchise, you might have assumed they’d want to try something other than a sci-fi shooter for a while. However, the reveal of Destiny showed that the experienced team simply wanted the chance to tell a new grand tale of space, aliens and increasingly powerful guns. The original Destiny proved a touch divisive upon release, but gradually grew its player base through updates and impressive expansions.
Destiny 2 managed to pull off the same feat, and now finds itself as many players’ go-to gaming break. Following a separation from Activision and a free to play launch, Bungie has so many new seasons, updates and story revelations planned for the online shooter that it’s tough to find time to play anything else. Put simply, we wouldn’t be surprised if we’re still slaying Vex, Cabal, and Fallen in the hopes of scoring that perfect new weapon roll in ten years’ time.
Life is Strange
In a medium overflowing with swords and sniper rifles, it’s not often we get a game about high school life, growing up and dealing with traumatic events. Sure, Max Caulfield can also rewind time, but it’s the honest depiction of the cast’s relationships that made Life is Strange as engrossing to many as it was. The episodic release format tantalized players like a weekly TV show, but also provided developer Dontnod with the chance to improve the gameplay and iron out kinks as the story progressed. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit and Life is Strange 2 have taken the series in new direction that are just as impactful, resulting in one of the finest new gaming series of quite some time.
Hollow Knight
© Team Cherry
A good indie success story is always a heartwarming affair, and they don’t come much better than that of Team Cherry and Hollow Knight. Metroidvania is a beloved genre, but Hollow Knight’s release in 2017 showed that there’s plenty of room to be imaginative in both setting and gameplay. Exploring the caverns and growths of this underground labyrinth is a joy, with gorgeous music accompanying your enticing discoveries about the history of the world.
For such an adorable art style, Hollow Knight’s may catch you off guard with how tough it’s combat can be, but the game does a great job of teaching you the mechanics as you go so at not to overwhelm. In a rare delight, the boss fights are also one of the game’s best aspects, with many available as optional extras to discover as you explore. Hollow Knight: Silksong is currently in development, and Team Cherry seems to be taking all the time they need to perfect the followup to such a brilliant first release.
Are you preparing to pound your keyboard into submission as you type out a game series we’ve missed? Hold your horses there cowboy. Ten years is a long time, and everyone has different tastes so we're bound to have missed a new IP or too. Share your highlights from the decade with us in the comments below!