Games

After waking up from a nightmare, head right from the suitcase and light up a lantern.

Many modern role-playing games feel repetitive and don’t quite satisfy longtime fans. These games, largely developed over the past ten years, aim to change that. They offer fresh experiences by trying new things, building on old ideas, or revisiting classic designs to address common frustrations with contemporary RPGs.

To mark the 20th anniversary of World of Warcraft, Classic launched new servers where players could experience the original game – often called Vanilla – from the very beginning. These servers, known as the World of Warcraft Classic Anniversary Edition or WoW Classic Fresh, included a few popular features to make gameplay smoother, like dual specialization, the Looking For Group tool, and the Chronoboon Displacer. However, they remained largely faithful to the original World of Warcraft experience.

Let’s look at games from the 20th century that still impress us visually, even today. These titles are important milestones in gaming history and represent significant achievements in development. We’ll be using the original release dates – often meaning their first launch was in Japan – and ranking them based on their visual impact at the time.

Kenshi Yonezu’s new song, “IRIS OUT,” is another significant hit for both the Chainsaw Man series and for him personally. His previous Chainsaw Man opening theme, “Kick Back,” was the first Japanese-language song to earn a Platinum certification from the RIAA, and “IRIS OUT” has the potential to reach the same milestone with sales of over a million copies in the United States. Notably, “IRIS OUT” climbed higher on the Billboard Global 200 chart (reaching number 5) than “Kick Back” (which peaked at 13). Both songs were number one hits in Japan, topping both the Japan Hot 100 and Billboard Japan’s Japan Hot Animation charts.

The game Life is Strange first launched in 2015 as an episodic series and quickly became popular, resulting in a prequel, a spin-off, and three sequels. The original game followed Max Caufield as she dealt with a crisis using her ability to rewind time. Since then, each installment has featured new characters and unique powers – like brothers Sean and Daniel in Life is Strange 2 and Alex Chen in Life is Strange: True Colors. The series recently revisited Max’s story in the newest release, Life is Strange: Double Exposure.

Great game pacing can make time fly – a twenty-hour game can feel much shorter if you’re really engaged. The games below are particularly good at creating that immersive experience through clever pacing and design.

With ARC Raiders evolving, expect ongoing adjustments to keep both player-versus-player (PvP) and player-versus-environment (PvE) gameplay balanced. The upcoming reduction in power for the Stitcher weapon is a recent example of the developers slowing down the pace of PvP. Adding to the disappointment for PvP enthusiasts, the developers have stated that a leaderboard won’t be added to the game, further dividing the player base between those who prefer PvP and those who prefer PvE.

2025 was a big year for Minecraft. Fans enjoyed both the release of A Minecraft Movie in April and four major updates to the game itself. The year started with the Spring to Life update in March, which added different types of animals depending on the climate. Then came Chase the Skies in June and The Copper Age in September, introducing fun additions like the Happy Ghast and Copper Golems. Finally, the Mounts of Mayhem update in December finished off the year with new creatures and the spear.

Recent updates to World of Warcraft have focused on letting players experience the game however they choose. However, the latest class changes and, more importantly, racial bonuses, undermine this idea. Even if all classes were equally powerful, some races offer significant advantages over others. Currently, Lightforged Draenei and Undead are noticeably weaker choices compared to the rest.