Top 10 Greatest Games of All Time According to the Hackernoon Team

I asked Hackernoon's editorial team to choose their top 10 favorite projects in the history of the gaming industry. Here's what they chose.

And hey, you can also participate and make an alternative top by readers! Details below.

10. Heroes of Might and Magic game series

Heroes of Might and Magic is the game series where you command legions of peasants and manage to lose half your army to a bunch of angry goblins because of the balance. Here you’re a fantasy lord or lady, and your to-do list looks something like this:

• Build a castle.

• 
  

  **Recruit an army of elves, golems, and other fantastic creatures.

• Send your hero out to explore lands filled with treasure and magic.

• Lose the battle and retreat.

• In a second, hire your escaped general at the nearest tavern.

One moment, you’re collecting resources and building a new castle upgrade. The next, you’re in a turn-based battle with some guy named “Lord Haart,” who looks like Prince Charming.

Alliances are made and broken faster than you can say "Diplomacy skill is OP." Your best friend? More like your worst enemy. All over a pile of crystals you both wanted. Sorry, Tom.

9. The FIFA Franchise

Oh yeah, The FIFA Franchise. The game has different numbers in the title but looks the same through the years. Game, where you can finally live out your dream of guiding your looser soccer team to victory—without getting red-carded for sliding tackles from behind. You’re the coach, manager, transfer market mastermind, and legendary football player. All at the same time. Also, this is a place where soccer meets gambling... The Ultimate Team mode. But you can build your dream squad!

“Growing up, I wasn't a big fan of football. Don't get me wrong, I loved kicking about with friends. I just didn't see the appeal in watching a football match for 90 mins (45 mins at a time) when some could go out without a single goal for the entire period (look at me now, though a fan through to through). This changed when I played my first football game on my brother's Toshiba laptop. It was Winning Eleven, and I was won over in an instant. I went on to play PES for years until I discovered Fifa 14 while visiting with family. It was a culture shock at first, but after a few games, I couldn't imagine why anyone would ever want to play football differently. I've stuck with the franchise through the years and consoles. Still love it as much as I did that first game.” Asher Umerie, Editor, World News & Sci-fi

8. Metal Gear Solid series

How would I describe this? Let me see. If you’ve ever had a fever dream to sneak around in a cardboard box while stopping a nuclear-equipped walking tank and dealing with insane bosses like a guy who shoots bees at you, then Metal Gear Solid is for you. It’s a tangle of clones and military-industrial complex rants. Hideo Kojima's most famous creature is a stealth conspiracy game rolled up in a philosophical sandwich.

7. Resident Evil Series

Ah, Resident Evil...the series that taught us two important lessons: don’t trust big corporations, and always aim for the head. This game has all you need for good survival horror: jump scares, bio-engineered monsters, and a confusing plot involving viruses named after random letters. You’ll shoot through creepy mansions, laboratories, and cities filled with the undead. One thing is sure: Umbrella Corporation is behind it all, and their business model seems to involve ruining everyone’s day with viral outbreaks. The Tyrant, Mr. X, Nemesis, the 9-foot-tall Lady Dimitrescu - all these names will burn in your memories because of hours of running away. Resident Evil has mastered the balance between nail-biting horror, puzzle-solving, and over-the-top action.

6. Outer Wilds

Can you imagine that NASA made an indie game filled with existential dread and the ever-present possibility of crashing your spaceship into the nearest planet? Outer Wilds game is some kinda of it. You’re an astronaut stuck in a 22-minute time loop, and your job is to figure out why everything keeps resetting just before it explodes. Absolutely no pressure! This game gives you a ship and says, "Go explore!." You’ll fly directly into gravity wells, get eaten by space fish, and try not to panic as you discover ancient alien ruins. It’s a detective story, an existential crisis simulator, and a unique adventure.

“Outer Wilds is one of the truly special experiences I've had in gaming. It blew my mind away with its design and story; would recommend both gamers and non-gamers to try it out. Just don't read any guides!!” Sheharyar, Editor of Business Tech @ HackerNoon

5. The Witcher game series

In the Witcher series, you play as a grizzled monster hunter with white hair, cat-like eyes, and the charisma of a medieval rock star, Geralt of Rivia. Your job is to slay beasts, find your adopted daughter, make choices that will inevitably lead to regret... and make romance with sorceresses of cause. There are so many romances. Whether hunting a griffin or arguing with villagers who don't pay you enough for your monster-slaying services, it’s all in a day’s work.

It was evolving game by game. In The Witcher, Geralt suffered from the ultimate RPG cliché—amnesia. As you try to remember that you are a grumpy but skilled monster hunter, you’ll fight everything from rabid dogs to ancient curses. The combat’s clunky, but the story is already dripping with a mix of Slavic folklore, tough decisions, and moral ambiguity. In The Witcher 2, the choices you make actually matter, splitting the game’s path in ways that force you to pick sides between equally shady factions. And in The Witcher 3, you meet a sprawling, living world filled with villages, cities, forests, and swamps, all teeming with life. Just remember: toss a coin to your Witcher because he’s earned it.

4. Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V is a game where you can do anything except follow the law. Three dramas smashed together in a crime sandbox. It’s an open-world playground set in the sun-soaked yet crime-ridden streets of Los Santos. Whether you want to rob a bank, skydive off a mountain, race cars,  rob liquor stores, skydive, rob an NPC, or land a plane on the freeway, GTA V has you covered. It’s the American dream with car chases, questionable moral decisions, and crazy multiplayer, where you'll die by a bullet from a 12-year-old mate helicopter.

GTA V is a massive, open world with endless distractions. You can go on a hike, play tennis, race dirt bikes, or cause havoc that sends the cops after you in waves. Endless side activities and random events make the city feel alive. But the main story missions with planning and executing elaborate robberies with multiple steps, like choosing your crew, scouting the location, and figuring out your getaway, is the closest you’ll get to pulling off an “Ocean’s Eleven” with more guns and less George Clooney. Just perfect.

3. Diablo

Diablo is the game where your hero strolls into a town, hears about some “demon problem,” and descends into the deepest, darkest, most cursed church dungeon in all video game history. People's lives were divided before and after Diablo time. It was so much fun! Head down into the depths, kill everything that moves, and pick up some cool loot to stop Diablo, the Lord of Terror, from breaking free and turning the world into his hellscape. Before that, you’ll spend hours smashing barrels with an engaging sound, identifying mysterious scrolls, and wondering why your backpack always feels too small.

And there's The Butcher. You’ll hear him growl, “Ahh, fresh meat!” and, before you know it, he’s chasing you around with a cleaver, giving you a fun introduction to your first inevitable death. When you reach Diablo, you'll be more than ready to smash him in five seconds.

“Diablo is the first part of the famous series. This game laid the foundations of procedurally generated dungeons, the setting, and the main mechanics. I was about eight years old the first time I tried it. My parents didn’t allow me to spend much time on the computer, so I looked forward to continuing the game daily. During this wait, I came up with all sorts of demons that I still had to face or some tactics to defeat the bosses. Meeting the Butcher at fairly early levels was especially difficult then! I still remember the incredibly atmospheric soundtracks of the first part and sometimes return to this world to this day. Yes, I know that most people would probably prefer to rank Diablo 2 as one of the greatest games of all time, but I believe that the greatest game is the one that gives you the most memorable emotions. This is exactly what will remain with you forever in your memories.” Sergei Snegirev, Autor, Senior Game Designer

2. Persona game series

By day, you ace exams and impress your crush. By night, you’re crawling through mind-bending dungeons, punching evil (in the form of a giant fire-breathing Pokemonish chicken) in the face. Friendship is how you level up your Personas, so socializing has never been so rewarding. High school is challenging but not nearly as tough as fighting monsters. You’ll juggle studying, making friends, and summoning demons. And it’s fantastic.

“I played Persona 5 Royal, and it took me 110 hours to finish. After I beat it, I went online to see what other people were saying about it, and that's when I realized I completely missed an entire section of the game. So 2 days after beating it, I immediately played the whole game again just to play that one section. It took me another 100 hours. And even after spending over 200 hours on this game, I feel like playing it a third time.” Jose, HackerNoon Editor.

1. Red Dead Redemption 2

If in GTA, death is a joke, then in RDR 2, it is a damn tragedy. Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic Western set in the late 1800s. The game plunges you into an open world filled with untamed wilderness, bustling towns, and cowboy fantasies. The game is essentially a story about the death of the Old West and the slow but inevitable march of modern civilization. The main hero, Arthur, and his gang are trying to outrun the law, the Pinkertons, and their bad decisions. It’s a long, drawn-out farewell tour of the Wild West. The story is rich, emotional, and packed with memorable characters. Arthur is a complex, wrestling with his loyalty to the gang and growing doubts. But what sets RDR2 apart is the world itself. It’s alive. You can spend hours exploring, hunting animals, fishing, or helping strangers you meet. The game’s morality system means your choices matter. The attention to detail is absurd, whether it's the realistic weather system, how your beard grows over time, or how you shoot from different weapons. You go from action-packed shootouts with lawmen to peacefully fishing by a lake, listening to birds chirping in the background. And then there’s the game's epilogue, a whole other mini-game within itself, giving you a taste of what it's like to try another life.

This top 10 was created based on my personal preferences and the votes of the Hackernoon editors. And I would be thrilled to make another one, based on YOUR opinion! Could you help me with that? All you need to do is take part in the survey and fill out this Google form.

Thank you!