26 votes

What new videogame do you think will become a classic in 10-20 years?

A classic can be a franchise or just a standalone game. Some examples of current classics can be old arcade/Nintendo games such as The Legend Of Zelda, Mario, and Pac-Man, or slightly newer ones like Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, or The Sims.

33 comments

  1. [5]
    Adys
    Link
    The obvious two: Portal, Minecraft. Most recently, Breath of the Wild and/or Super Mario Odyssey (most likely BotW). They were the highlight games for the Switch, SMO was an exclusive. The Switch...

    The obvious two: Portal, Minecraft.
    Most recently, Breath of the Wild and/or Super Mario Odyssey (most likely BotW). They were the highlight games for the Switch, SMO was an exclusive. The Switch is a gaming revolution IMO and time will see it as such.

    Multiplayer is weirder. At this point, any of the "older" multiplayer games that is still heavily played today such as Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2, Halo, etc are probably safe to already classify as such.

    Newer multiplayer bets are essentially on the same kind of longevity. Counter Strike: Global Offensive is a good candidate but really is just an iteration on CS, and what we'll remember on CS. Overwatch is a good candidate as well. DOTA 2 and League of Legends both massively popularized the MOBA genre; I think DOTA 2 is the more likely stand in for "classic" here. PUBG re-ignited the Battle Royale genre, but I hope such an awful game wouldn't even be considered. Fortnite is more likely because it's so immensely popular with kids; those kids are the ones who in 20 years will tell you what their childhood's classics were, just as I'd tell you mine was Diablo 2.

    Also christ, this really highlights how much of a fucking beast Valve is. HL, HL2, CS, CSGO, Portal, DOTA 2 would all fall under the label, and L4D would not be terribly far behind. Now I'm really wondering how popular Artifact is going to be.

    I'm also hesitant to add games like Bastion, LIMBO and Ori to the mix here. They're "classic indie", which feels like its own thing.

    Worth noting that it's easier to pinpoint the older classics because the further back in time you go, the harder "making a game" was and the less games there were. Now you have random mobile studios producing things like Clash Royale which inspired a completely new genre of game, yet most PC/console gamers have never heard of it. So it's almost just down to marketing (and successful critical reception).
    It's also harder to add whole series to this mix because newer ones aren't always great quality (and often enough are just reskins), but the Call of Duty franchise and the Civilization series are good candidates for running classics.

    32 votes
    1. [4]
      SleepyGary
      Link Parent
      I hesitate to consider any game where you cannot host servers yourself. Those games tend to come and go from the collective zeitgeist. There may be some games we'll look back fondly upon but if I...

      I hesitate to consider any game where you cannot host servers yourself. Those games tend to come and go from the collective zeitgeist. There may be some games we'll look back fondly upon but if I can't play that game with my daughter in 15 years then I wouldn't really consider it a classic.

      14 votes
      1. [3]
        Adys
        Link Parent
        This kinda encompasses all multiplayer games, regardless of whether server hosting is possible. A multiplayer game is not a game unless you have players to play it with, and even if you can host...

        This kinda encompasses all multiplayer games, regardless of whether server hosting is possible. A multiplayer game is not a game unless you have players to play it with, and even if you can host your own servers, the best of games would still be dead games if nobody else plays them. That's why the whole multiplayer genre is hard to think about in terms of how classic it can be.

        You could argue that for true classics, fans will find ways to keep the community alive long after the official servers are dead. In fact, just as fans did so for legacy World of Warcraft.

        2 votes
        1. [2]
          SleepyGary
          Link Parent
          Agreed that's why I said it the way I did. People still play COD MW1/2, BF2/2142, Starcraft, Warcraft 2, Infantry Online, Subspace/Continuum, TF Classic, Quake II, etc. Some required reverse...

          You could argue that for true classics, fans will find ways to keep the community alive long after the official servers are dead. In fact, just as fans did so for legacy World of Warcraft.

          Agreed that's why I said it the way I did. People still play COD MW1/2, BF2/2142, Starcraft, Warcraft 2, Infantry Online, Subspace/Continuum, TF Classic, Quake II, etc. Some required reverse engineering the servers/client some didn't but they are all player hosted and still alive to an extent that you can find games.

          Calling something a classic to a generation of people that can't experience it just feels like "oh grandpa" when he tells you of the story how they used to have to trudge 10km through blizzards uphill both ways to get to school or how we tell our children there was life before cellphones and internet, they simply will not have a concept of what you could possibly mean and are not be able to appreciate it. But a song or a car from times past, we can still appreciate those today, and that's why they are classics.

          Games which we might look fondly upon but have no way of playing cannot be appreciated anymore. But if I can spin up a server and convince a handful of people to join us in recreating that experience, if the game is truly a classic then it will be fun to play.

          9 votes
          1. Adys
            Link Parent
            Amen :) You know this reminds me... I had the following conversation with one of World of Warcraft's 1.x era game designers (this was before WoW Classic was even in the cards, not that that...

            Amen :)

            You know this reminds me... I had the following conversation with one of World of Warcraft's 1.x era game designers (this was before WoW Classic was even in the cards, not that that changes much -- rephrasing the conversation from memory):

            • (Me): All those dungeons we experienced, the raids, the encounters, even all the leveling content. It's all gone. Even if the content still exists, which it usually doesn't, it's impossible to recreate the experiences today of creating a 40 man raid to strategize on how to beat Ragnaros or Onyxia. How do you reconcile with the idea of designing content that will only ever be experienced by a tiny, tiny fraction of people and then never be available again?
            • (Him): All content is ephemeral. Most people don't go back today to playing the many games of five, ten years ago.
            • (Me): But they do, though. People still play Pac-Man, Tetris, the original Super Mario. And even if they don't, those games are part of history and have a legacy. But with World of Warcraft, all we have are videos, and a mediocre legacy as today we can solo nuke legacy raid bosses five at a time. All the effort, the art, the design, all the work that went into those encounters… gone. All the design lessons learned? Gone when the designer leaves.
            • (Him): ... huh. Yeah.
            5 votes
  2. [3]
    ghostsplosion
    Link
    Skyrim. I mean, it's 7 years old, still has a huge community and a huge modding community also. It keeps coming out for new consoles which keeps making it relevant again. Also, maybe Nier Automata...

    Skyrim. I mean, it's 7 years old, still has a huge community and a huge modding community also. It keeps coming out for new consoles which keeps making it relevant again.

    Also, maybe Nier Automata and Red Dead Redemption.

    13 votes
    1. talklittle
      Link Parent
      Yes. The trifecta of Yoko Taro storytelling and worldbuilding, Platinum Games gameplay, and Keiichi Okabe and Emi Evans soundtrack, all tied together with a Square Enix budget. Of course if they'd...

      Nier Automata

      Yes. The trifecta of Yoko Taro storytelling and worldbuilding, Platinum Games gameplay, and Keiichi Okabe and Emi Evans soundtrack, all tied together with a Square Enix budget.

      Of course if they'd put in even more of a budget, and got the environment design of something at the level of Final Fantasy XV, that experience would be unbelievable beyond words.

      2 votes
    2. Octofox
      Link Parent
      I only started playing skyrim recently. Still feels like a new game.

      I only started playing skyrim recently. Still feels like a new game.

  3. [2]
    Grzmot
    Link
    I think that Witcher 2 & 3 will be very fondly remembered. I don't know if other large games like GTA V will, as there is generally always one of those coming out so you'll always have a fairly...

    I think that Witcher 2 & 3 will be very fondly remembered. I don't know if other large games like GTA V will, as there is generally always one of those coming out so you'll always have a fairly recent one released. But people definitely rememember the older GTA games very well and I think some of those can be called classics, so maybe the same will happen to GTA V? I don't know about the online part though, people really hate GTAO.

    7 votes
    1. edca5
      Link Parent
      Probably Witcher 3 more than 2. I did not know the franchise before everyone started talking about WItcher 3, and it's still widely praised as one of the best RPGs ever made. Regarding GTA V we...

      Probably Witcher 3 more than 2. I did not know the franchise before everyone started talking about WItcher 3, and it's still widely praised as one of the best RPGs ever made.
      Regarding GTA V we could argue that GTA 3 and San Andreas may be considered classics. If we do consider them classics, why not V? It was the most expensive game ever made at the time and the production costs ware covered in a single day because it sold a bazillion copies when it came out. Graphically it was something innovative, basically like every Rockstar game. I can't talk about the story, I've never played it because my pc can't handle the game.

  4. [5]
    StellarV
    Link
    Star Citizen might go live by then! /s Seriously though I expect that game to be revolutionary when it is closer to completion and expect plenty of people to still be playing it by then. I mean...

    Star Citizen might go live by then! /s

    Seriously though I expect that game to be revolutionary when it is closer to completion and expect plenty of people to still be playing it by then. I mean people still play older space sim games X-Wing Alliance and Freespace 2 but Star Citizen is a blending of many genres of games: space sim, FPS, base building, etc.

    6 votes
    1. [4]
      clone1
      Link Parent
      Has there been anything significant with Star Citizen recently? I backed at the cheapest tier, but haven't checked up on it in a while.

      Has there been anything significant with Star Citizen recently? I backed at the cheapest tier, but haven't checked up on it in a while.

      5 votes
      1. [3]
        StellarV
        Link Parent
        Yeah they just came out with Alpha 3.3 in the PTU server which adds Object Container Streaming which is a major milestone that really helped a ton with low FPS issues and is required tech for...

        Yeah they just came out with Alpha 3.3 in the PTU server which adds Object Container Streaming which is a major milestone that really helped a ton with low FPS issues and is required tech for adding more planets and systems. Because of it there will be a full sized planet, Hurston, with a massive city, Lorville, that will be added within the next couple of months. They showed it off at CitizenCon a couple of weeks ago. Here's a brief summary of what they showed off:
        https://youtu.be/Mn7owApKcFI

        2 votes
        1. [2]
          Ellimist
          Link Parent
          That SC trailer.......gave me chills....If SC can deliver on half of what it looks like it can be, it's going to be a absolute monster of a game

          That SC trailer.......gave me chills....If SC can deliver on half of what it looks like it can be, it's going to be a absolute monster of a game

          2 votes
          1. StellarV
            (edited )
            Link Parent
            I'm extremely optimistic about it. It's made some great progress. Although there's been a lot of negativity and skepticism ever since it was first announced over whether they will actually deliver...

            I'm extremely optimistic about it. It's made some great progress. Although there's been a lot of negativity and skepticism ever since it was first announced over whether they will actually deliver and complete the game. Cries of "vaporware" and "scam". The internet overreacting like usual. It's a number of things that are contributing to people's misunderstanding of the development:

            1. They are far more open about their development process than any other game company due to being crowdfunded. As such you can see all their missteps that most companies don't talk about.
            2. They are a new company that are learning a lot as they go along.
            3. The game is bringing totally new or cutting edge technology such as the seamless transitions between the different parts of the game, FOIP (Face over IP), physical inventory and object persistence (in an MMO is a major feat), procedural generated planets and cities, advanced motion capture for NPC's (they built their own motion capture studio), etc.
            4. They are focusing on building the core tech first while letting backers have a taste of the game so it looks as though development is going slowly just because new content can take a while to trickle out to the players. Most games wait until all the core tech is done before having an open alpha or beta but they want to give players something for their wait.
            2 votes
  5. [4]
    Zeph
    Link
    I'm surprised so few indie games have been mentioned. I fully expect Binding of Isaac, Terraria, Gungeon, Risk of Rain, Factorio, Rim World, and Stardew Valley to be considered classics.

    I'm surprised so few indie games have been mentioned. I fully expect Binding of Isaac, Terraria, Gungeon, Risk of Rain, Factorio, Rim World, and Stardew Valley to be considered classics.

    6 votes
    1. [2]
      kfwyre
      Link Parent
      Seconded. Some others I would add to the list: FTL, Braid, Limbo, Super Meat Boy, Spelunky, Bastion, To the Moon. I haven't played the following, but Papers Please, Undertale, and Cuphead all also...

      Seconded. Some others I would add to the list: FTL, Braid, Limbo, Super Meat Boy, Spelunky, Bastion, To the Moon.

      I haven't played the following, but Papers Please, Undertale, and Cuphead all also seem to be potential future-classics based on the critical and public response to them.

      5 votes
    2. [2]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. Zeph
        Link Parent
        I guess factorio isn't the first thing people think of, but by every metric I don't see how it wouldn't be up there with other top indie games as classics. I agree that unlike the other games...

        I guess factorio isn't the first thing people think of, but by every metric I don't see how it wouldn't be up there with other top indie games as classics. I agree that unlike the other games mentioned it's not for casual play and maybe that's an issue.

  6. Ellimist
    Link
    Gonna throw out a vote for the Mass Effect Trilogy. It's my all time favorite series and an almost complete masterpiece from start to finish. Those last 10 minutes....Bioware really didn't stick...

    Gonna throw out a vote for the Mass Effect Trilogy. It's my all time favorite series and an almost complete masterpiece from start to finish. Those last 10 minutes....Bioware really didn't stick the landing there but the Extended Cut helped.

    The overall story, the characters, the relationships you develop between those characters, just an all around brilliant piece of game making.

    When I replay the series, it feels less like I'm replaying a video game and more like I'm visiting old friends

    6 votes
  7. Hypersapien
    Link
    I think Rimworld has a pretty good shot.

    I think Rimworld has a pretty good shot.

    4 votes
  8. dishes
    Link
    I really think The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be a legendary title along with Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past for having extremely refined game design while also being...

    I really think The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be a legendary title along with Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past for having extremely refined game design while also being something completely new for the series. Same for Super Mario Odyssey, but rather than being completely new, it expands on an older idea seen in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.
    Minecraft will inevitably be considered a classic for its impact on gaming and its popularity.
    Bloodborne will be revered for perfecting the Souls formula with a unique atmosphere and perfected gameplay.
    These are just obvious choices. I also think No Man's Sky, Undertale, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Super Mario 3D World will also be both respected and popular in the future despite their current status (either being forgotten or despised).

    4 votes
  9. Wes
    Link
    Possibly Monster Hunter: World. The series has existed for some time now, but this is the first title to really penetrate the mainstream. I think it may remain iconic for that reason.

    Possibly Monster Hunter: World. The series has existed for some time now, but this is the first title to really penetrate the mainstream. I think it may remain iconic for that reason.

    3 votes
  10. critter615
    Link
    No one has mentioned Skyrim or any of the Elder Scrolls games, so I guess it's up to me. Even if you don't consider it a "classic" per sé, you can't deny how ubiquitous it has become in the last...

    No one has mentioned Skyrim or any of the Elder Scrolls games, so I guess it's up to me.

    Even if you don't consider it a "classic" per sé, you can't deny how ubiquitous it has become in the last decade. (Oh my God, it's almost 10 years old!)

    3 votes
  11. [2]
    Droplet
    (edited )
    Link
    Gonna have to be The Last of Us from me, also hope the sequel lives up to the first one.

    Gonna have to be The Last of Us from me, also hope the sequel lives up to the first one.

    3 votes
    1. frickindeal
      Link Parent
      I was looking for both of these. I get that multiplayer online games are all the rage, but LoU was an incredible experience. Most like playing through a good movie that I think I've played. I was...

      I was looking for both of these. I get that multiplayer online games are all the rage, but LoU was an incredible experience. Most like playing through a good movie that I think I've played. I was dating a girl at the time who would say "play that game so I can see where it goes," and she was far from a gamer. Just incredible perfomances, and in my top-5 games for soundtrack. Gustavo Santaolalla somehow portrayed the sparseness and loneliness of the post-apocalyptic world so beautifully. I've got songs off that playlist on my phone right now, just to listen to while driving or doing yard work. I can't say that about any other game. (edit: I lied. There's Sweden from the original Minecraft Alpha on there, too)

      Enough has been said about RDR, but I don't really remember a game that I got lost in so fully. So many incredible moments accompanied by really beautiful music—when I finished it, I knew it was an instant classic. Rockstar does such an amazing, thorough job.

      2 votes
  12. deknalis
    Link
    Maybe too soon for most people, but the new God of War has quickly become one of my favorite games.

    Maybe too soon for most people, but the new God of War has quickly become one of my favorite games.

    1 vote
  13. [6]
    freestylesno
    (edited )
    Link
    I expect the Halo series to be remembered if it isn't already. The first trilogy set alot of standards. Imo it defined multiplayer, particularly with what hall did with online play.

    I expect the Halo series to be remembered if it isn't already. The first trilogy set alot of standards. Imo it defined multiplayer, particularly with what hall did with online play.

    1. [5]
      Gaywallet
      Link Parent
      what?

      hall series

      what?

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        clone1
        Link Parent
        You haven't heard of the HALL SERIES?

        You haven't heard of the HALL SERIES?

        1 vote
        1. Akir
          Link Parent
          I stopped caring after Hall Effect: Andromeda.

          I stopped caring after Hall Effect: Andromeda.