The Most Innovative Games of all Time

A shortlist of the “most influential” video games ever released will always be an impossible task, and your definition of what an “innovative” game means will vary depending on your age, your nationality, and which games you have played.  

These are just a few video games that have arguably had a great impact on gaming, whether they popularised a new genre, revolutionised a gameplay mechanic, or brought a new storytelling technique to the industry. 

Super Mario Bros. is often credited with reviving the video game scene in the US.

Though Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. have brought Nintendo international success, Super Mario Bros. was the game that skyrocketed the popularity of the side-scrolling platformer genre. Super Mario Bros. is often credited with reviving the video game scene in the US.

It is now one of the best-selling games of all time, with more than 58 million copies sold since its release in 1985. After the video game crash of 1983 (a recession of the North American industry due to market saturation of consoles and poor-quality games), Super Mario Bros. is often credited with reviving the video game scene in the US.  

Contemporary reviews continue to praise its original gameplay, referring to it as a “near-perfect game”. This positive reception has since been partially attributed to the game’s precise controls, giving the player exact power over the movements of the characters, as well as the iconic soundtrack and visuals.  

Super Mario Bros. may seem rudimentary now, but it paved the way for the side-scrolling genre and has been considered one of the most important games Nintendo has ever made. 

Doom 

Often referred to as the “father” of first-person shooters (FPS), Doom was first released in 1993, beginning a franchise of six more games (and two films!).  

One of the most revolutionary aspects of the game was its online multiplayer modes

It places the player in a 3D landscape and arms them with various weapons, from shotguns to chainsaws, setting them loose against hordes of zombies and demons.  

One of the most revolutionary aspects of the game was its online multiplayer modes, including a cooperative campaign mode and a competitive deathmatch.  

Though not the first FPS game to ever be released, Doom is widely credited with kickstarting the genre, as well as popularising online multiplayer games.  

It was selected in 2007 by the US Library of Congress as one of ten video games deserving of preservation, and it is difficult to find a list of the best video games of all time that does not include Doom. 

The Sims 

It seems as if every other game released in the past few years is a life simulator. But none have had quite the same appeal as The Sims series. 

The first instalment, released in 2000, was innovative in its core mechanic of giving players the opportunity to create virtual families and live out multiple lives.  

Many were drawn to its escapist aspects, allowing them to leave their unpredictable realities

Released in an industry almost entirely composed of fantastical adventure games, The Sims is a game that simply simulates ordinary life. 

It lets the player run the game, while many others at the time presented them with a plot to be played through. 

Many were drawn to its escapist aspects, allowing them to leave their unpredictable realities behind to play through a life where they had near complete control.  

Later followed by three more (admittedly, extremely similar) games in the series, The Sims can be arguably credited as the first game that gave the player the power to write their own story. 

Portal 

There were hundreds of early puzzle games, but few reached the level of critical acclimation that Portal received upon its release in 2007.  

Originally designed as Narbacular Drop, a fantasy princess-saving game by a team of students, Valve reworked the concept into a sci-fi adventure to better fit with their pre-existing Half-Life series.  

Portal was praised for its unique gameplay and compelling story

In Portal, the player must navigate through a long series of test chambers using a ‘portal gun’, which allows them to create and travel through blue and orange portals. 

The puzzles then become more complicated, as the player must transport items through the portals or build momentum to make large jumps.  

Though a relatively short game, Portal was praised for its unique gameplay and compelling story, leading to a sequel being released in 2011, which is widely agreed to be even better than the original.  

Portal 2 built on the game’s success, adding an even more fascinating story, a wide cast of characters, and an immersive environment. 

Minecraft 

Whether on an old Xbox, on their parent’s phone, or at a friend’s house, almost every young person today played Minecraft at least once growing up. In fact, it is the best-selling video game ever, having sold over 350 million copies since its official release in 2011. 

Minecraft was a huge influence on the genre of open-world sandbox games, throwing the player into an endless landscape of fields, caves, and oceans, and letting them take whatever route they may wish.  

Minecraft was a huge influence on the genre of open-world sandbox games

There is an end goal, that of travelling through dimensions and defeating the final boss, the Ender Dragon, but the route you take to this point – and what you do afterwards – is up to you. 

There is also a ‘creative mode’, allowing the player to fly around the world and giving them a huge catalogue of blocks of many colours and shapes to build anything they want. 

Minecraft has fostered much creativity, with people going as far as recreating huge feats of architecture or even constructing entire computers within the game. Building in Minecraft is even considered by some as an art form itself.  

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 

Breath of the Wild (BOTW) was not the first open-world adventure game, nor was it the first puzzle game, or even the first game with an interesting physics system.  

The joy of BOTW is that you decide how to navigate the world.

But combining all these elements into one huge experience, placing the player in a huge landscape packed with colourful characters, puzzle shrines, and a long storyline that can be played through in any order, is what makes BOTW such a landmark of a game.  

The variety of solutions for every situation encourage the player to utilise their problem-solving skills – you could attack a horde of monsters, sneak into their camp and steal their treasure, or use a bomb arrow to detonate an explosive barrel and watch them go flying. The joy of BOTW is that you decide how to navigate the world. 

With such a beautiful landscape and refined physics mechanics, it feels as if you yourself have been dropped into the land of Hyrule and are allowed to explore however you wish.