The hype train can be the one thing that can sustain fans, even if it’s on a runaway track that takes five years to get to the station. The wait will be worth it if expectations are met or exceeded. Sometimes the wait will lead to some poor results or mediocre which always feels a little worse, like how No Man’s Sky first launched.
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Right now, the hype for Grant Theft Auto 6 has to be at an all-time high. It’s hard to imagine Rockstar is capable of blowing expectations out of the water, but they have done it before. While the wait is on for that, the following games have met and exceeded expectations throughout gaming history.
Super Mario 64
Mario Like You’ve Never Seen Him Before
Super Mario 64
- Released
- September 26, 1996
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- 3D Platformer
- Platform(s)
- N64
A new 3D console from Nintendo was highly anticipated in 1996, especially since its release was delayed. However, the launch game, Super Mario 64, is what fans really wanted to check out. The game had become a staple in stores across the country for months, allowing anyone to try out the system and the game before its launch.
Then, when it came out, it blew any Mario game before it out of the water with a fully explorable Mushroom Kingdom Castle and levels upon levels with full 3D controls that put other 3D games to shame. Super Mario 64 easily became the blueprint for 3D platformers beyond this
Half-Life 2
A New Wave Of Storytelling
Half-Life 2
- Released
- November 16, 2004
WHERE TO PLAY
Half-Life was already a massive hit for Valve, becoming a shooter unlike anything else before it. Instead of fast-paced action like in Doom, it was a slower, more horrific shooter that told its narrative through environmental storytelling and without cutscenes.
That’s partly why Half-Life 2 was hyped up because fans wanted to see what Valve was capable of next, and they certainly surpassed what they could do on old hardware in terms of their storytelling and shooting capabilities. Beyond that, what really made Half-Life 2 a showpiece for PCs for years was the physics system and open environments, allowing players to explore and test out methods for solving various puzzles or situations their way.
Resident Evil 4
Reinventing Horror
Resident Evil 4
- Released
- January 11, 2005
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
Resident Evil 4 is a game that went through a lot of versions, like the haunted mansion or the ghost theme, which are games fans still want to see happen. The end result was undeniably better, though, as it reinvented what Resident Evil could be.
No longer facing zombies, Leon S. Kennedy traveled to a new country, could buy and upgrade guns, keep his items on him at all times, and the graphics on the GameCube are still impressive to this day. The adaptive combat was interesting too, like how players could board up doors or shoot traps to damage enemies, which all added to the experience and put players into the horror.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Redefining The Open-World
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Released
- November 11, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Open-world games existed before The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, but this was the first game to offer players a world that was truly free to explore. Players had freedom over their player-created character, including what equipment they got or the skills they learned. Players could truly start on one side of the map and then just keep walking up a mountain, as promised by the developers.
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When developers promise the world, like so many Peter Molyneux interviews about the Fable series, it can be hard to swallow what they say, but those who believed in Bethesda were rewarded with an open-world RPG like no other, and now no one will ever forget the importance of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Glide On My Wayward Link
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Released
- March 3, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
Like Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was mind-blowing, but at this point in Zelda history, it was not as big as Mario, so the hype wasn’t as mystical. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a better example because Zelda fans had to wait an entire console generation, the Wii U, just to get a new game. The Wii U version is not why the game took off, though, as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was also a launch game for the Switch, and perhaps one of the best launch games of all time.
At long last, it surpassed The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim in terms of what open-world games could be. Not only could players go anywhere, but they could also climb anything, literally, with stamina, and then glide back down to safety. These two features alone, along with the impressive size of Hyrule, turned the game into a system seller.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Back To Basics
Red Dead Redemption 2
- Released
- October 26, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
Red Dead Redemption was successful, but in a quieter way. Westerns were not huge in 2010, but fans who liked Rockstar’s take on the Old West loved it, but didn’t expect to see the series again. That’s why fans were shocked to learn Rockstar’s next game after Grand Theft Auto 5, which practically printed money, was going to be Red Dead Redemption 2.
It wasn’t just more of the same either, as Rockstar went hard on the simulation aspects, giving players a fully realized Western frontier to explore, whether they wanted to hunt animals, take over trains, or just ride around and camp in the great outdoors. The storytelling also hit its peak in 2018, reaching a new level of maturity for Rockstar without relying on parody or bits.
Elden Ring
Soulslike In A New Realm
Elden Ring
- Released
- February 25, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
Elden Ring leveled up Soulslikes and the formula that FromSoftware helped pioneer with Demon’s Souls in 2009. Instead of setting players in an interconnected world, like a Metroidvania, they got to explore an open-world.
This gave players more agency in where they wanted to go, so if one boss was too hard, they could go elsewhere. There were choices like that in previous FromSoftware games, but not to this degree. The big bosses, secrets, co-op capabilities, and more all helped this become a winner even in the eyes of players unaccustomed to the genre.
Baldur's Gate 3
Decades In The Making
Baldur's Gate 3
- Released
- August 3, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Larian Studios
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, macOS
Baldur's Gate fans thought they would never get a new game again, as Baldur's Gate 2 was released in 2000, not counting the various expansions and ports. Larian Studios had time and technology to their advantage when creating Baldur's Gate 3, so they knew they had a chance to make a game that looked wildly different from the previous entries.
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While they could have made a simple top-down tactical RPG with some choices like the old games, they instead went all-out on the graphics, making characters and spells pop, and the choice system was out of control, which in turn is how they blew fans out of the water. This was a game built for players to make their own story, and there’s simply nothing else like it on the market today, or at least to this level of polish.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Worth The Wait
Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Released
- September 4, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced in 2019 as an expanded version of what was once DLC for Hollow Knight. Fans had to wait until 2025 to play it, and to call launch day a success and a failure at the same time would be an understatement. It literally crashed every single digital platform it was available on, so not only could players not play it at the launch time, they couldn’t even download it.
That’s how feverish the fanbase became. While some of the fanbase is split, calling the game too hard, and it is challenging to be sure, it’s hard to deny what Team Cherry achieved in terms of the fast-paced gameplay, the art, and the evolving world. Hollow Knight: Silksong is everything a sequel should be and more.
Hades 2
Sibling Wars
Hades 2
- Released
- September 25, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Supergiant Games
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
Hades 2 launched its early access campaign in 2024 and launched its 1.0 status not long after Hollow Knight: Silksong debuted in the same month. September 2025 was a one-two punch of indie darling sequels that somehow managed to surpass their predecessors.
Hades 2’s action was more fluid, there were now more levels to explore, both above and below, and the storytelling became even better with characters fans would surely die for. The progression system was also improved, allowing players not accustomed to action roguelikes to eventually get a step up on the world. To date, Supergiant Games has yet to really have a stinker on their hands, and that is impressive, five games in.
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