10 Greatest Video Game Masterpieces of the Last 50 Years
Collider has published a ranked list of the ten greatest video game masterpieces released in the last 50 years, focusing on titles from 1986 onwards. Compiled by writer Lucas Kloberdanz-Dyck, the list judges games on factors including influence, legacy, design, narrative, visuals and critical acclaim, aiming to identify which modern classics have most shaped the medium beyond well-known contemporary hits like Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War.
The excerpt covers the lower end of the countdown, including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) at number ten for popularising open-world fantasy RPGs, Street Fighter II (1991) at number nine for establishing core fighting-game mechanics such as the combo system, Disco Elysium (2019) at number eight as the list's sole indie entry for its dialogue-driven "discussion as combat" approach, and Shadow of the Colossus (2005) at number seven, praised for Fumito Ueda's design work. The full list continues beyond this point to name the top six entries.
- Collider ranks the ten greatest video games released since 1986
- Skyrim, Street Fighter II, Disco Elysium and Shadow of the Colossus feature in the lower rankings
- Games judged on influence, legacy, design, narrative and critical acclaim
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Skyrim, Street Fighter II, Disco Elysium and Shadow of the Colossus are all titles being ranked in a countdown by Collider, a US entertainment website, of the ten video games it considers the greatest of the past fifty years. The list, put together by writer Lucas Kloberdanz-Dyck, judges games on things like their influence, design, story and lasting impact, rather than simply picking the biggest recent hits.
Video game "best of" lists like this are common in games journalism and are meant to spark discussion rather than serve as an official verdict. Each entry mentioned so far represents a different era and style of gaming, from 1990s arcade fighting games to sprawling open-world role-playing games and more recent narrative-focused independent titles, giving a sense of how varied the medium has become.
The story itself is simply the publication of this countdown, with the lower half of the list revealed first and the remaining top entries still to come.