Summary
- Games that embody a punk rock mentality challenge established norms and create their own unique style and gameplay.
- These games often have killer soundtracks that elevate the gaming experience and leave a lasting impression on players.
- Developers who take risks and create their own lane within established genres are able to cultivate a dedicated and adoring fan base.
It's one thing for a developer to churn out games that, while of high-quality, simply follow an already proven framework to appeal to an already established gaggle of adoring fans. It's another thing entirely for them to throw caution to the wind and carve out their own lane in an established genre, or to even create their own.
5 Strategy Games Set In Unique Time Periods
These strategy games dare to delve into time periods that the more popular entries in the genre tend to avoid.
These kinds of games follow a mentality that was popularized by the rise of punk rock. A genre that is more than just the music, but also the raw attitude and independent spirit that fans all over the world have come to embrace. Whether through gameplay or aesthetics, games that have commandeered this philosophy have proven themselves to be some of the most adored.
5 Sonic Adventure 2
Offbeat Style
Sonic Adventure 2
In the fight between heroes and villains, will you choose to save the world or conquer it?
The hunt for the Chaos Emeralds is on and battle lines have been drawn between Hero and Dark. Experience two unique adventures featuring both long-time heroes and new and returning villains as they battle for the fate of the world!
Save the day as heroes Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles or cause chaos as Shadow, Dr. Eggman, and Rouge, utilizing each of their unique skills and abilities!
Take a break from the main story and challenge a friend in two-player across kart racing and other competitive modes!
Raise your own pet Chao, improve their statistics, and compete with them in unique mini-games!
Challenge yourself to complete over 150 unique missions across 30 action filled stages!
- Released
- June 19, 2001
- Developer(s)
- Sonic Team USA
- Platform(s)
- Sega Dreamcast, PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
How Does This Game Embody A Punk Rock Mentality?
- It's stylish and varied gameplay.
- It has an awesome and memorable soundtrack full of original songs.
Sonic Adventure 2 further solidified the blue blur as one of the most iconic faces in games, period. While 3D Sonic games have gotten the short end of the stick over the years, this one sees much of the good in them. It's all wrapped up in an endlessly cool package with one of the most unforgettable set pieces in gaming, the City Escape mission.
8 Hardest Sonic Games to 100% Complete, Ranked
Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog games are not difficult to beat, but they can be hard to complete.
The game plays with its own format by assigning each playable character their own style of objectives. For instance, Sonic's levels see him racing to the finish line, while Knuckles' search for the chaos emeralds finds him gliding around and climbing rock faces to dig them up. While this gameplay is admittedly nothing special, it has a killer soundtrack to elevate it, highlighted by fan favorite tracks like Escape From The City and Pumpkin Hill.
4 Jet Set Radio
Anti-Establishment
Jet Set Radio
How Does This Game Embody A Punk Rock Mentality?
- Has an art style that was original for its time.
- Features gameplay where players are literally breaking the law.
The look and style of Jet Set Radio has been sought after by fans for the past two decades, but it turns out that nobody could do it quite like developer Smilebit. Jet Set Radio Future did come out for the Xbox a few years after the original and is considered the better game by some, but it's hard to understate just how timeless this first outing is.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk: 10 Things It Does Better Than Jet Set Radio
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk excels over Jet Set Radio in quite a number of notable ways.
Gameplay consists of rollerblading around a level and completing objectives within a time limit, a-la Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, all the while avoiding the cops (who are trying to stop the player's flagrant vandalism), as well as rival gang members. The game has an incredibly gorgeous cell-shaded art-style, and an exciting drum and bass soundtrack that plays to accentuate the action as the player leaves their mark around the stage.
3 Death Stranding
Relentless Vision
Death Stranding
- Released
- November 8, 2019
- Developer(s)
- Kojima Productions
- Platform(s)
- iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Action
How Does This Game Embody A Punk Rock Mentality?
- The game goes at its own pace and refuses to adhere to the norms of genre or medium.
- A game that is unabashedly Kojima.
Upon its initial release, "boring" was the resounding adjective that was heard the most when describing Death Standing. With no true combat to speak of, the bulk of the game sees players traversing a vast empty landscape to deliver packages. Over time, though, the game has garnered a following, as more aspects of director Hideo Kojima's vision of a "strand-type" game have come to be understood.
It's hard to imagine that this wasn't Kojima's goal in the first place. Being one of the most well known video game auteurs there is, everything he works on tends to be layered with touches that are uniquely his own. It's something that even the game's star-studded cast noticed, many of whom have gone on record singing the praises of their illustrious director.
2 Dark Souls
Uncompromising Difficulty
Dark Souls
- Released
- September 22, 2011
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Platform(s)
- Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Soulslike, Adventure
How Does This Game Embody A Punk Rock Mentality?
- Does not care if the player can complete it.
- Inadvertently influenced many games to come.
Tough as nails games are not a new concept, but it's rare that this aspect absolutely takes over a developers identity like it did when FromSoftware released Dark Souls. What started with Demon's Souls' no-holds-barred difficulty was evolved by this game's master class in exploration and world building, and single-handedly spawned an entire genre.
In terms of accessability, Dark Souls doesn't win any points, but the developers clearly had no intention for this game to be for everyone. FromSoft set out to do something specific, and they did it by being determined in the game's intentionally obtuse design. In doing so, it has proven the formula to be wildly successful and has started a trend as many more games try to emulate its style.
1 Mortal Kombat
Crude and Violent
Mortal Kombat (1992)
PREPARE YOURSELF... The #1 arcade hit is here!
- Deliver Cage's patented shadow kick!
- Liu Kang's fireball!
- Let the tournament begin!
How Does This Game Embody A Punk Rock Mentality?
- Featured sprites modeled after real people, angering parents and the government.
- It went so hard against the grain with violence and gore, it helped create the ESRB.
Few games exude a "don't care" attitude like the Mortal Kombat series. However, as one of the games that spawned the ESRB rating system, NetherRealm (formerly Midway) created its own brand of glisteningly-gory fighting game with the first MK. Since it's inception, Mortal Kombat has blossomed into one of the most surprisingly interesting worlds to spend time in, and it all started with the bloody words "Finish Him" scrawled across television screens back in 1992.
The series has spent years developing a cast of dozens of characters, each with a rich backstory that fans have been able to latch on to over the years. From Scorpion to Sub-Zero to Melena to Raiden, none of them would have had the time to reach their iconic status if parents had had their way.