Deiland20163 factsGame page →Deiland was the first game from Valencia-based Chibig and the origin of the shared "Chibig Universe": Ankora: Lost Days, Summer in Mara and Deiland: Pocket Planet all take place in the same cosmos, with characters like ranger Mûn crossing between games.gamespress.comWhen Deiland jumped from mobile to PlayStation 4, Chibig commissioned composer Paco Mitos to write a brand-new soundtrack for the release — later published as a 20-track album with Rafa Giménez.pacomitos.bandcamp.comThe 2016 mobile original was remade twice — as Deiland on PC (2018) and Deiland: Pocket Planet Edition on Switch (2021) — and even received a physical boxed edition from Tesura Games in 2023.en.tesuragames.comRead 1 more fact
Battlefield Hardline20156 factsGame page →Battlefield Hardline broke from the series' military tradition with a cops-versus-criminals theme, casting players as a Miami police officer.en.wikipedia.orgIt was developed not by series studio DICE but by Visceral Games, the team behind Dead Space, with DICE assisting on the Frostbite 3 engine.en.wikipedia.orgThe single-player campaign is structured like an episodic TV police drama, split into ten 'episodes' with 'previously on'-style recaps between them.gamesradar.comEA delayed the game from October 2014 to March 2015 specifically to act on feedback from its public beta.en.wikipedia.orgIt was the last Battlefield released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; after a mixed reception, developer Visceral Games was shut down by EA in 2017.en.wikipedia.orgIt was composer Paul Leonard-Morgan's first video-game score, built around a guitar-led 1970s crime-drama vibe recorded with session drummer Josh Freese.yourclassical.orgRead 4 more facts
The Last Guardian20164 factsGame page →The Last Guardian endured one of gaming's most famous development sagas: announced in 2009 for PS3, it went silent for years and finally shipped on PS4 in December 2016 — nine years after development began.en.wikipedia.orgDirector Fumito Ueda actually left Sony in 2011 mid-development, but kept directing the game on contract through his new studio genDESIGN, which finished it alongside SIE Japan Studio.en.wikipedia.orgTrico's occasional refusal to obey commands is deliberate design, not bad AI: Ueda wanted the creature to feel like a real animal you must earn trust from, not a tool that executes orders.en.wikipedia.orgTakeshi Furukawa's score was recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and Trinity Boys Choir — and won the BAFTA Games Award for Audio Achievement in 2017.en.wikipedia.orgRead 2 more facts
How to Survive20133 factsGame page →The Kovac's Guide framing became the series' identity — the sardonic survival-manual author narrates your mistakes, and his 'rules' pages double as the tutorial system.en.wikipedia.orgThe modest French-made survival game quietly became a franchise: How to Survive 2 (2015) and a Third Person Standalone spin-off (2015) both followed from EKO Software and 505 Games.en.wikipedia.orgFor a mid-tier 2013 release it shipped with unusually broad localization — seven languages including Japanese and Russian.store.steampowered.comRead 1 more fact
Dead Island: Riptide20133 factsGame page →Its 'Zombie Bait Edition' became an industry cautionary tale: the EU/AU collector's edition shipped with a dismembered bikini-clad female zombie torso statue — the backlash forced Deep Silver into a public apology.alistdaily.comIt topped the UK charts for three straight weeks — while selling less than half of what the original Dead Island managed at launch.gamesradar.comComposer Paweł Błaszczak's work here sits in a straight line from Dead Island's famous melancholy identity to Techland's Dying Light two years later.pawelblaszczak.comRead 1 more fact
LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes20123 factsGame page →LEGO Batman 2 was the first Traveller's Tales LEGO game with full spoken dialogue — ending the era of mime-and-grunt storytelling and setting the template every later LEGO game followed.en.wikipedia.orgThe developers planned living traffic and pedestrians for Gotham but scrapped it, opting for a chaotic city of burned-out cars and fleeing citizens instead.en.wikipedia.orgIts post-credits scene teases Brainiac — who indeed became the main villain of LEGO Batman 3 two years later.en.wikipedia.orgRead 1 more fact
Guacamelee!: Gold Edition20133 factsGame page →The dimension-swap mechanic IS the theme: hero Juan flips between the world of the living and the Land of the Dead — Day of the Dead as level design rather than set dressing.en.wikipedia.orgIts Metroid love is written into the world: save statues are 'Choozo' statues, a direct parody of Metroid's Chozo.en.wikipedia.orgThe Rom Di Prisco / Peter Chapman soundtrack was later pressed on tri-color vinyl striped like the Mexican flag by Materia Collective.materia.storeRead 1 more fact
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes20154 factsGame page →The game began at Global Game Jam 2014, where three Ottawa developers built it around the theme 'We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are' — one player in a VR headset defuses a bomb only they can see while friends read a paper manual they must never look at.en.wikipedia.orgThe idea came from the team's rollercoaster VR demo at the jam: the headset wearer had fun but spectators were bored, so they designed a game the wearer AND the watchers could share, birthing the studio Steel Crate Games.keeptalkinggame.comThe 23-page 'Bomb Defusal Manual' the Experts read from is freely distributed as a printable PDF at bombmanual.com; the game requires a printed copy or a second web-enabled device to play.bombmanual.comA landmark early-VR party game, it later shed its VR requirement and shipped to non-VR PC, consoles, Nintendo Switch and mobile, making the asymmetric co-op playable without a headset.en.wikipedia.orgRead 2 more facts
Star Wars: The Old Republic20113 factsGame page →With an EA-confirmed $200 million development budget, SWTOR was the most expensive video game ever made at its December 2011 launch.npr.orgIt gained one million subscribers within three days of launch — the fastest-growing subscription MMO to that point — but fell below a million within seven months, forcing the free-to-play pivot of November 2012.en.wikipedia.orgBy October 2019 EA said the game was approaching $1 billion in lifetime revenue — vindicating the costly bet a decade later.en.wikipedia.orgRead 1 more fact
Little Inferno20123 factsGame page →Little Inferno was the debut of Tomorrow Corporation, founded by World of Goo creators Kyle Gabler and Allan Blomquist with Kyle Gray — and it launched as a Wii U launch title in November 2012.en.wikipedia.orgIt earned IGF 2013 nominations in five of seven categories, winning Technical Excellence.tomorrowcorporation.comKyle Gabler composed the entire 22-track score himself in REAPER with SoundFont2 instruments and released it free on the studio's site.en.wikipedia.orgRead 1 more fact
Europa Universalis IV20133 factsGame page →Its 2021 expansion Leviathan launched to roughly 7% positive Steam reviews — briefly the worst-rated release on all of Steam, a rare black eye for a game otherwise beloved for a decade.en.wikipedia.orgIn the actual credits the 'director' question has two answers: Thomas Johansson is Project Lead, while series figurehead Johan Andersson — who has shaped Europa Universalis since the beginning — is credited under programming, scripting and research.eu4.paradoxwikis.comAfter eleven years and 4 million copies, Paradox finally announced Europa Universalis V in May 2025 — EU4 had carried the flagship for over a decade.en.wikipedia.orgRead 1 more fact
Tricky Towers20163 factsGame page →Tricky Towers grew out of Amsterdam studio WeirdBeard's earlier browser hit 99 Bricks — the wizard tower-stacking concept, rebuilt as a competitive party game.trickytowers.comIt launched day one as a free PlayStation Plus game in August 2016 — an unusual move for an indie premiere that instantly seeded a huge multiplayer playerbase.store.steampowered.comThe "Indie Friends Pack" DLC turns bricks into cameo characters from fellow indies, and the game's dark spells (vision obstruction, brick petrification) are cast between players mid-match.store.steampowered.comRead 1 more fact
Killzone: Shadow Fall20133 factsGame page →Its engine is the ancestor of Decima — the Guerrilla tech that went on to power Horizon Zero Dawn and even Kojima's Death Stranding.en.wikipedia.orgThe score is split by planet: Hollywood composer Tyler Bates handled Vekta, underground electronica artist Lorn scored the Helghan side.en.wikipedia.orgSony disclosed 2.1 million copies within two months — riding a PS4 launch where nearly every early adopter needed a first-party shooter.engadget.comRead 1 more fact
Need for Speed: Most Wanted20123 factsGame page →The Wii U version hid three Mario-themed vehicles behind Warp-Pipe entrances — and was the first third-party Wii U game with Miiverse integration.en.wikipedia.orgCritics widely branded it a Burnout Paradise successor wearing a Need for Speed badge — open world, billboards and all.en.wikipedia.orgWeak Wii U and Vita sales led EA to skip both platforms entirely for the next entry, Need for Speed: Rivals.en.wikipedia.orgRead 1 more fact
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-420107 factsGame page →It covers the story of the first four Harry Potter books and films, from Privet Drive to the Triwizard Tournament (Years 1–4 at Hogwarts).en.wikipedia.orgHogwarts castle serves as the evolving central hub, alongside Diagon Alley for purchases and The Leaky Cauldron for level access.en.wikipedia.orgIt introduced new LEGO gameplay built around spell-casting (via a spell wheel) and potion-brewing, including Polyjuice Potion transformations.en.wikipedia.orgLike other Traveller's Tales LEGO titles of the era, the characters have no spoken dialogue — only mumbles, grunts and over-the-top gestures carry the humour and story.harrypotter.fandom.comIt features 167 unlockable characters, bought with studs at Madam Malkin's shop after finding hidden character tokens.en.wikipedia.orgRather than an original score, the game reuses the Harry Potter film themes by John Williams and Patrick Doyle.imdb.comIt was a strong commercial success — 2.7 million units sold within days of launch, helping lift parent Time Warner's Q2 2010 revenue.gamedeveloper.comRead 5 more facts
Hearts of Iron IV20165 factsGame page →A World War II grand-strategy war sim in which you can take command of any nation on Earth from 1936 to 1948 — reliving or rewriting the outcome of the conflict.en.wikipedia.orgEach nation is steered through branching 'national focus' trees that enable extensive alternate-history paths, such as reviving old empires or triggering civil wars.en.wikipedia.orgIt runs on Paradox's in-house Clausewitz engine, the same real-time-with-pause engine behind Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.en.wikipedia.orgIt has one of PC gaming's largest modding scenes, including acclaimed total-conversion mods such as Kaiserreich, The New Order: Last Days of Europe, Old World Blues and Millennium Dawn.en.wikipedia.orgBacked by nearly a decade of continuous DLC/expansion support, it had sold over seven million copies on Steam alone by November 2025.en.wikipedia.orgRead 3 more facts
Aliens vs. Predator20109 factsGame page →The game is a reboot (not a sequel) of the Alien vs. Predator series, returning the license to Rebellion Developments — who had also made the 1994 Atari Jaguar AvP and the acclaimed 1999 PC game Aliens versus Predator.en.wikipedia.orgIt features three separate single-player campaigns — Colonial Marine, Predator and Alien — each with distinct gameplay that interlock into one overarching storyline set on the colony of Freya's Prospect.en.wikipedia.orgLance Henriksen voices Karl Bishop Weyland; Henriksen had previously played the android Bishop in Aliens (1986) and Charles Bishop Weyland in the 2004 AVP film.en.wikipedia.orgThe game was Refused Classification (effectively banned) in Australia in 2009, but Sega won an appeal on 18 December 2009 and it released uncut with an MA 15+ rating.gamespot.comThe Predator's graphic 'trophy kill' finishers were partially toned down to avoid an Adults Only (AO) rating in the United States.en.wikipedia.orgIt debuted at #1 on the UK all-formats chart and became the fastest-selling UK game of 2010 up to that point, breaking a record previously held by BioShock 2.en.wikipedia.orgAs of 14 May 2010 the game had sold over 1.69 million copies worldwide and grossed about £14 million in the UK, making it the highest-grossing Alien-franchise game at the time.en.wikipedia.orgIt runs on Rebellion's proprietary Asura engine.pcgamingwiki.comThe score was composer Mark Rutherford's first video-game soundtrack: 70 minutes of live orchestral music recorded in Slovakia with the Istropolis Philharmonic Orchestra, plus custom metal percussion scraped and struck with nails and tools to create the Alien and Predator sounds.avpgalaxy.netRead 7 more facts
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning20123 factsGame page →Its creative trio reads like a fantasy supergroup: novelist R.A. Salvatore built 10,000 years of lore, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane was executive art director, and Morrowind/Oblivion lead Ken Rolston was executive designer.en.wikipedia.orgCurt Schilling's 38 Studios took a $75 million Rhode Island state-backed loan to make it — and despite 1.3M sales, laid off everyone by May 2012 and filed bankruptcy in June, leaving taxpayers holding the debt.slate.comComposer Grant Kirkhope drew 'direct inspiration' from John Williams' Harry Potter scores, recording with the City of Prague Philharmonic — the score earned IFMCA and Cue Award nominations.grantkirkhope.comRead 1 more fact
Defiance20133 factsGame page →Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica, God of War) scored the game AND the TV show together — so a theme you heard on Syfy on Monday could surface in your mission on Tuesday.gameinformer.comThe transmedia dream outlived both of its bodies: the show was cancelled in 2015, Gamigo shut the game's servers in April 2021 — and then Fawkes Games improbably relaunched the original 2013 game in April 2025.en.wikipedia.orgA reimagined version, Defiance 2050, launched in 2018 — and also died — making Defiance one of the few MMOs to be shut down twice and revived once.en.wikipedia.orgRead 1 more fact
Hand of Fate20155 factsGame page →A mysterious card-dealer runs a tarot-themed table-top game that springs to life: cards you draw build a board-game-style dungeon, and each encounter drops you into real-time 3D action combat.rpgfan.comIts design fuses three genres — roguelike deck-building, board game and Batman: Arkham-style free-flow melee brawling.pushsquare.comIt was funded on Kickstarter in late 2013 (A$50,000 goal), one of the first Australian games to crowdfund on the platform.en.wikipedia.orgDeveloper Defiant Development (Brisbane) released the sequel Hand of Fate 2 in 2017, then wound down operations in 2019.en.wikipedia.orgThe enemy roster is organised into four tarot-style suits — Dust, Bones, Plague and Scales — and the antagonist card-dealer, the Dealer, is voiced by Anthony Skordi.handoffate.fandom.comRead 3 more facts
Crysis 320133 factsGame page →Development started in February 2011 — two months BEFORE Crysis 2 even shipped — with ~100 people over 23 months, campaign by Crytek Frankfurt and multiplayer by Crytek UK.en.wikipedia.orgThe Predator Bow became its signature: the only weapon you can fire without breaking cloak, turning the Nanosuit power fantasy into pure stealth-hunter play.en.wikipedia.orgDespite gorgeous CryEngine 3 tech, it opened to roughly 205k NA sales — CEO Cevat Yerli's disappointment was public, and EA formally listed it among titles that missed expectations.gamespot.comRead 1 more fact
Mini Metro20155 factsGame page →Mini Metro began as a Ludum Dare 26 game-jam prototype called 'Mind the Gap' in April 2013, then spent over a year in Steam Early Access before its full 2015 launch.en.wikipedia.orgThe soundtrack is fully generative: composer Rich Vreeland (Disasterpeace) built a system where each station, line and train triggers samples in real time, so your growing subway network literally composes the music.designingsound.orgIt won the 2016 Independent Games Festival 'Excellence in Audio' award and was BAFTA-nominated for Debut Game.en.wikipedia.orgThe maps are real cities (London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and more) with procedurally generated passenger demand, so no two playthroughs are alike.store.steampowered.comWellington studio Dinosaur Polo Club followed it with the 2019 sequel Mini Motorways; Mini Metro was later honored on a 2024 New Zealand postage stamp.en.wikipedia.orgRead 3 more facts
American Truck Simulator20164 factsGame page →At launch American Truck Simulator contained only California and Nevada; Arizona arrived as a free update in June 2016, and after community feedback SCS rescaled the entire map from 1:35 to a larger 1:20 scale — the game has since grown to more than 250 visitable cities.en.wikipedia.orgThe English GPS voice navigation added in update 1.35 is voiced by Doug Cockle — best known as the voice of Geralt in The Witcher games — together with Skye Bennett; both visited SCS's Prague studio for the recording.blog.scssoft.comThe game features officially licensed trucks from Kenworth, Peterbilt, Volvo, International, Western Star, Mack and Freightliner — licenses that are notoriously hard to obtain for the U.S. truck market.en.wikipedia.orgAnnounced in September 2013 and still expanding over a decade later: the Louisiana DLC landed in December 2025 and British Columbia — the game's first Canadian province — was announced in October 2025.en.wikipedia.orgRead 2 more facts
Crysis 220116 factsGame page →Crysis 2 moved the series from the tropical jungle island of the original to a Ceph alien-invaded, disease-ravaged New York City.en.wikipedia.orgIt was the first game built on and released with CryEngine 3, and the first CryEngine title to launch on consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360).en.wikipedia.orgThe story was written by science-fiction novelist Richard K. Morgan (author of Altered Carbon); hard-SF author Peter Watts wrote the official tie-in novel.en.wikipedia.orgThe player wears an upgraded Nanosuit 2, which adds a modular power/armor/stealth upgrade system new to the series.en.wikipedia.orgA near-final build of the PC version leaked online in February 2011, weeks ahead of release, in a high-profile pre-launch piracy incident.en.wikipedia.orgCrysis 2 sold over 3 million copies across all platforms by mid-2011.engadget.comRead 4 more facts
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime20155 factsGame page →Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime began at the 2012 Global Game Jam in Toronto, where three friends — Matt Hammill, Jamie Tucker and Adam Winkels — formed the studio Asteroid Base, with Ryan Henwood joining to write the music and sound.mcvuk.comThe game's name is a nod to Canadian musician Bruce Cockburn's 1984 song 'Lovers in a Dangerous Time.'en.wikipedia.orgOne to four players share a single neon battleship, dashing between stations that control its guns, shields, engine, map and Yamato cannon to defeat Anti-Love and rescue kidnapped space-bunnies.loversinadangerousspacetime.comComposer Ryan Henwood built the score from vintage-synth emulations (Arturia CS-80 and ARP 2600) to chase a 1970s sci-fi-film feel rather than chiptunes.asteroidbase.comThe game won Best Gameplay at Brazil's BIG Festival in 2014 and earned three 2016 BAFTA Games Award nominations (Debut Game, Game Design, Multiplayer).en.wikipedia.orgRead 3 more facts
Assassin's Creed III Remastered201913 factsGame page →Connor / Ratonhnhaké:ton was the Assassin's Creed franchise's first major Native American protagonist (half-Mohawk), performed via motion capture by Native American actor Noah Watts.en.wikipedia.orgThe opening has players spend roughly three sequences controlling the charismatic 'Assassin' Haytham Kenway — only to reveal he is a Templar (and Connor's father), one of gaming's most praised bait-and-switch twists.screenrant.comAC III introduced full naval combat aboard Connor's brig, the Aquila, with wind and sail mechanics — a system that later became the core of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.assassinscreed.fandom.comThe game was built on the new AnvilNext engine, enabling large-scale battlefields, dynamic weather and seasons (snow that slows movement) and denser crowds.en.wikipedia.orgA frontier hunting economy let players trap, bait and stealth-kill wildlife, with cleaner kills yielding more valuable pelts to sell.en.wikipedia.orgThe Homestead is a build-and-manage settlement where Connor recruits artisans and completes side stories — an early precursor to later AC base-building.assassinscreed.fandom.comAC III was the first main-series entry not scored by longtime composer Jesper Kyd; Lorne Balfe took over as sole composer.en.wikipedia.orgIt was the best-selling Assassin's Creed game of its time — 3.5 million copies in its first week and over 12 million worldwide by early 2013.en.wikipedia.orgAC III won Outstanding Achievement in Animation at the 2013 D.I.C.E. Awards, plus BAFTA and Spike VGA nominations.en.wikipedia.orgThe 2019 Remaster added a graphical overhaul — physically-based rendering, new lighting, remodeled characters, higher-res textures, and up to 4K with HDR.news.ubisoft.comThe Remaster also tweaked gameplay — easier double assassinations, whistling from bushes, free-aim for bow and pistols, and extra craftable weapons.gamespot.comThe Remaster is effectively two games in one: it bundles Assassin's Creed III Liberation Remastered (starring Aveline de Grandpré, the series' first female lead) plus all original DLC, including The Tyranny of King Washington.news.ubisoft.comAt launch the Remaster was given free to owners of the Assassin's Creed Odyssey Season Pass rather than sold only as a standalone.news.ubisoft.comRead 11 more facts
Lara Croft Go20155 factsGame page →Lara Croft GO was developed as a spiritual successor to Square Enix Montreal's 2014 hit Hitman GO, extending its board-game-style, turn-based puzzle template to the Tomb Raider series.en.wikipedia.orgIt won a 2016 Apple Design Award for its beauty and clever design, one of only a handful of titles honored that year at WWDC.macrumors.comSquare Enix Montreal worked with Tomb Raider brand owner Crystal Dynamics to reinterpret Lara Croft as a minimalist, low-poly diorama puzzle — a deliberate departure from the mainline action games.en.wikipedia.orgAfter its August 2015 mobile debut on iOS, Android and Windows Phone, it was later ported to PC, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, macOS and Linux in December 2016.en.wikipedia.orgIt swept mobile awards — Best Mobile/Handheld Game at The Game Awards 2015, Apple's iPhone Game of the Year 2015 and IGN's Mobile Game of the Year — and was a triple D.I.C.E. Awards nominee.en.wikipedia.orgRead 3 more facts
Total War: Warhammer20165 factsGame page →It was the first game in the Total War series set in a fantasy world (Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy) rather than a historical period.en.wikipedia.orgIt is the first installment of the Total War: Warhammer trilogy, later joined by two standalone sequels with cross-game map combining.en.wikipedia.orgThe fantasy setting introduced series-first mechanics: flying units, magic spells and giant monsters alongside the traditional infantry-and-cavalry battles.store.steampowered.comIt became the fastest-selling Total War game to date, passing 500,000 copies within its first few days on sale.gamespot.comLike every Total War, it pairs real-time tactical battles with a turn-based grand-strategy campaign of empire-building.en.wikipedia.orgRead 3 more facts
Apotheon20154 factsGame page →Apotheon's entire visual style is modeled on ancient Greek black-figure vase painting; artist Jesse McGibney chose it because it animates simply, reads boldly in 2D and meshes with the mythological theme.gamedeveloper.comThe story casts a mortal hero, Nikandreos, who ascends Mount Olympus to strip the Olympian gods of their powers and save an abandoned mankind.en.wikipedia.orgOn PlayStation 4 the game launched 3 February 2015 and was given away free to PlayStation Plus subscribers for the whole of that month.blog.playstation.comMarios Aristopoulos's Greek-instrumentation score was widely praised — Push Square ranked it the 2nd-best PlayStation soundtrack of 2015 and Paste placed it #3 among the year's game soundtracks.en.wikipedia.orgRead 2 more facts
Moon Hunters20163 factsGame page →Moon Hunters was funded on Kickstarter in just 50 hours, closing at CA$178,986 — nearly 400% of its goal — and became one of the flagship titles of the Square Enix Collective program.square-enix-games.comEach run lasts a single in-game lunar cycle and ends by writing your deeds into a constellation — the "how will you be remembered?" hook is literal: your personality traits, not your stats, are the real progression.store.steampowered.comKitfox later published a candid launch post-mortem admitting the game was mis-marketed as a longer RPG than its short, replayable runs deliver — a lesson the studio says shaped Boyfriend Dungeon and Dwarf Fortress' Steam release.medium.comRead 1 more fact
Diablo III20123 factsGame page →Launch night collapsed under server load, producing the infamous 'Error 37' — a symbol of always-online DRM backlash that Blizzard never fully lived down.en.wikipedia.orgThe Real-Money Auction House let players buy and sell loot for cash from June 2012 — until Blizzard killed it in March 2014, with former director Jay Wilson admitting it 'really hurt' the game.en.wikipedia.orgDevelopment began in 2001 — an eleven-year cycle across two internal teams before the 2012 release that then broke PC sales records.en.wikipedia.orgRead 1 more fact
Salt and Sanctuary20164 factsGame page →Widely nicknamed '2D Dark Souls', Salt and Sanctuary translates Soulslike combat, stamina management, bonfire-like sanctuaries and creed/covenant systems into a hand-drawn side-scrolling world.en.wikipedia.orgSka Studios is a two-person husband-and-wife team, James and Michelle Silva; James handled design, art, engineering, animation, writing and music himself.ska-studios.comIt sold strongly — 1 to 2 million owners on Steam — and its Switch debut in August 2018 'sold super well', ranking among the top digital eShop titles that week.destructoid.comSka Studios followed it with a spin-off sequel, Salt and Sacrifice (2022).en.wikipedia.orgRead 2 more facts
Supreme Commander 220106 factsGame page →Supreme Commander 2 shipped with a machine-learning AI: platoons were driven by a neural network (~98 hidden nodes) that abstracted army composition so its tactics stayed valid even as unit stats were rebalanced.gameaipro.comThe sequel was deliberately streamlined versus the original — smaller maps and a shared research/tech-tree system replacing the old tech tiers — which reviewers said broadened accessibility but stripped away some of the series' famous scale.en.wikipedia.orgWhere the original was scored by Jeremy Soule, Supreme Commander 2 was scored by Gas Powered Games' in-house composer Howard Mostrom.en.wikipedia.orgIt ran on a new proprietary Gas Powered Games engine featuring a global-illumination lighting model and 'flow field' pathfinding to move very large armies efficiently.supcom.fandom.comIts post-launch DLC, the 'Infinite War Battle Pack', added 8 skirmish/multiplayer maps, 14 new units plus experimentals, tech upgrades and expanded AI options, and later reached Mac in January 2011.store.steampowered.comIt was a rare RTS co-production between US developer Gas Powered Games and Japanese publisher Square Enix, set 25 years after the first game amid the ongoing 'Infinite War' between the UEF, Cybran Nation and Illuminate.mobygames.comRead 4 more facts
World of Warships20154 factsGame page →It is the naval sibling of Wargaming's 'World of...' trilogy alongside World of Tanks and World of Warplanes, all free-to-play vehicular-combat titles.en.wikipedia.orgIt fields historically-based WWI/WWII-era warships across many nations — destroyers, cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers — with premium ships sold for real money.en.wikipedia.orgIt runs frequent pop-culture crossovers: Azur Lane (annual since 2018), Warhammer 40,000, Transformers, Star Trek, Godzilla & Kong, plus naval anime Arpeggio of Blue Steel and High School Fleet.tvtropes.orgMusic by lead composer and audio director Artur Tokhtash reinterprets maritime folk melodies (such as the Breton 'Ev Chistr'ta, Laou!') with orchestral and electronic textures.worldofwarships.comRead 2 more facts
Zombie Army Trilogy20155 factsGame page →Zombie Army Trilogy is a spin-off of Rebellion's Sniper Elite series, set in an alternate history of the final days of World War II in which a desperate Hitler unleashes 'Plan Z', an occult ritual that raises the dead to fight the Allies.en.wikipedia.orgThe compilation bundles remastered versions of the two 2013 stand-alone titles Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army and Nazi Zombie Army 2, plus an all-new third campaign not sold separately.en.wikipedia.orgIt carries over the signature slow-motion X-ray kill-cam from Sniper Elite, showing bullets tearing through the anatomy of undead enemies.en.wikipedia.orgThe game supports up to four-player online co-op and includes a wave-based Horde survival mode, with press comparing it to Left 4 Dead and Killing Floor.en.wikipedia.orgAn August 2015 update added the four survivors from Valve's Left 4 Dead as playable characters in the PC version, alongside four new female protagonists.en.wikipedia.orgRead 3 more facts
God of War III20108 factsGame page →God of War III was the first game in the series directed by Stig Asmussen, who had been lead environment artist on the earlier titles.en.wikipedia.orgKratos was voiced by Terrence C. Carson, while veteran actor Rip Torn voiced the blacksmith god Hephaestus and Hercules star Kevin Sorbo voiced Hercules.en.wikipedia.orgThe game cost about $44 million to develop, making it the most expensive God of War title at the time.en.wikipedia.orgBy June 2012 it had sold roughly 5.2 million copies worldwide, and it was the best-selling game in the US during its March 2010 launch month.en.wikipedia.orgThe opening boss battle — fought on the back of the mountainous Titan Gaia against the sea god Poseidon — was built to showcase the PS3's scale, with worlds up to four times larger than God of War II.en.wikipedia.orgThe score, recorded by the Skywalker Session Orchestra and the Czech National Symphony Chorus, was composed by a team of five: Gerard Marino, Ron Fish, Mike Reagan, Jeff Rona and Cris Velasco.godofwar.fandom.comIt won the 2011 BAFTA Award for Artistic Achievement and the D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Animation.en.wikipedia.orgSanta Monica Studio implemented a GPU version of morphological anti-aliasing (MLAA) during development to smooth jagged edges on the PS3 hardware.en.wikipedia.orgRead 6 more facts
Party Hard20155 factsGame page →Party Hard began as a jam prototype (PewDiePie game jam, 2014) by Ukrainian studio Pinokl Games; tinyBuild signed it into a full release.indiegamewebsite.comYou play an unnamed insomniac who, sick of noisy neighbours, sneaks through parties knifing every guest without being caught — dark-comedy stealth.en.wikipedia.orgThe original licensed soundtrack triggered YouTube Content ID strikes against streamers, so tinyBuild hired Ressa Schwarzwald to compose a copyright-safe 'Remastered' score selectable in-game.destructoid.comIts popularity spawned Party Hard 2 (2018) plus spin-offs Party Hard Tycoon and mobile Party Hard Go.en.wikipedia.orgtinyBuild publicly cited Party Hard when campaigning against G2A grey-market key resellers (~890 keys resold at $7.95 each).mcvuk.comRead 3 more facts
Poly Bridge20163 factsGame page →Poly Bridge's secret weapon was its built-in GIF replay export: clips of gloriously collapsing bridges flooded Reddit and Twitter, making the game a viral hit during its 2015 Early Access run before the 1.0 launch.store.steampowered.comThe beloved acoustic folk soundtrack was written by Adrian Talens — its laid-back banjo tunes became so iconic that Talens returned to score the sequels.store.steampowered.comDeveloper Dry Cactus is the New Zealand-based micro-studio of Patrick Corrieri; the game spawned a full franchise with Poly Bridge 2 (2020) and Poly Bridge 3 (2023).drycactus.comRead 1 more fact
Homefront: The Revolution20163 factsGame page →It is an open-world FPS in which you lead a guerrilla resistance cell against the Korean People's Army occupying a near-future Philadelphia (2029), inspiring civilians to turn Occupation into Revolution.en.wikipedia.orgIt endured a famously troubled development: the Homefront IP passed from bankrupt THQ to Crytek (bought at auction for $544,218 in 2013), then to Deep Silver/Koch Media in 2014, with Crytek UK staff reformed as the new studio Dambuster Studios to finish it.en.wikipedia.orgA reboot/sequel to Homefront (2011) rebuilt on CryEngine, it launched to poor reviews (Metacritic PC 54) largely due to technical problems and frame-rate issues.en.wikipedia.orgRead 1 more fact
Hammerwatch20133 factsGame page →Jochum Skoglund and Niklas Myrberg founded Crackshell specifically to make Hammerwatch — and its custom OpenGL engine was later reused for Serious Sam's Bogus Detour.en.wikipedia.orgThe Gauntlet homage became its own dynasty: Heroes of Hammerwatch (2018), Hammerwatch II (2023) and Heroes of Hammerwatch II all grew from this $10 pixel crawler.en.wikipedia.orgThe soundtrack duo Two Feathers (Elvira Björkman + Nicklas Hjertberg) went on to score Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2's ambient systems work via their audio studio.twofeathersstudio.comRead 1 more fact
Armello20154 factsGame page →Armello raised A$305,360 on Kickstarter in 2014, exceeding every stretch goal; League of Geeks originally conceived it as an iPad-exclusive before the campaign funded PC/Mac/Linux and Android versions.en.wikipedia.orgIts soundtrack marked the first time acclaimed vocalist Lisa Gerrard (Gladiator) was involved as a creative composer on a video game rather than having existing work licensed; she co-composed with Michael Allen.kickstarter.comPlayers are anthropomorphic animal clan heroes competing to storm the palace and claim the throne from a King consumed by a spreading corruption called the Rot — a digital blend of board game, trading-card and strategy-RPG design.en.wikipedia.orgLeague of Geeks cited Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away as a major influence on Armello's art direction, alongside Redwall and The Dark Crystal.en.wikipedia.orgRead 2 more facts
Geometry Dash20134 factsGame page →The community has built over 100 MILLION online levels — including full playable recreations of Super Mario Kart, Five Nights at Freddy's and Celeste — in a level editor made by one person.en.wikipedia.orgThe hardest levels have their own institution: 'Demon' ratings split into five tiers, with a moderator-verified 'Demonlist' ranking the 150 hardest levels in existence.en.wikipedia.orgRobert 'RobTop' Topala built the original game in about four months as a solo Swedish developer — it went on to a reported 242 million downloads.en.wikipedia.orgFree spin-offs kept the funnel full for a decade: Lite (2013), Meltdown (2015), World (2016) and SubZero (2017) all feed players into the paid game.en.wikipedia.orgRead 2 more facts
Fortified20163 factsGame page →Developer Clapfoot's next project after Fortified became its claim to fame: the persistent-war MMO Foxhole — making this pulpy Martian shooter the Toronto studio's last traditional game.fortifiedgame.comThe four playable heroes are straight out of 1950s pulp archetypes — including a rocket scientist and a space captain — defending Earth against saucer-borne robot swarms.store.steampowered.comIt launched day-and-date on Xbox One (via ID@Xbox) and PC in February 2016 with full four-player co-op as its core mode.store.steampowered.comRead 1 more fact
Operation Flashpoint: Red River20113 factsGame page →Red River is the fourth and final Operation Flashpoint game — Codemasters retired the series after it, and in 2020 confirmed it has 'no plans to re-release' the delisted title.delistedgames.comInstead of an orchestral score it runs on a licensed metal soundtrack (Megadeth, Pantera, Disturbed, Drowning Pool) — widely believed to be why it vanished from Steam in October 2018 when the music licenses lapsed.delistedgames.comCodemasters hired a former U.S. Marine to coach the voice cast in authentic military vernacular for the squad chatter.spong.comRead 1 more fact
Trine 220113 factsGame page →Trine 2 runs on Frozenbyte's in-house Storm3D engine, with the studio's signature painterly lighting built entirely in-house rather than on a licensed engine.en.wikipedia.orgAtlus published the console versions in North America while Frozenbyte self-published on PC — and Nintendo itself published the Wii U version in Japan.en.wikipedia.orgBy October 2014 the Trine series had surpassed 7 million copies sold across all platforms.en.wikipedia.orgRead 1 more fact
Capsized20112 factsGame page →Capsized was made by just two people — programmer Lee Vermeulen and artist Jesse McGibney — with every environment hand-drawn by McGibney.en.wikipedia.orgIts soundtrack isn't an original score: the game licenses Swedish ambient artist Solar Fields' 2009 album Movements — the same artist who scored Mirror's Edge.originalsoundversion.com
God of War: Ascension20134 factsGame page →It's the only Greek-era God of War with multiplayer — up to eight players pledging allegiance to different gods in competitive arenas — an experiment the series never repeated.en.wikipedia.orgTyler Bates (300, Guardians of the Galaxy) became the first solo composer in series history — every previous God of War had used a team of composers.godofwar.fandom.comIts ~570k US debut month — roughly half of God of War III's 1.1M — is widely credited with pushing Santa Monica toward the radical 2018 Norse reinvention.en.wikipedia.orgDirector Todd Papy, a series veteran since the original, left for Crytek after Ascension shipped.vgchartz.comRead 2 more facts
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair20123 factsGame page →Nagito Komaeda's name is an anagram of 'Naegi Makoto da' ('I am Makoto Naegi') — a deliberate hint that he might be the first game's protagonist in disguise.en.wikipedia.orgNaegi and Komaeda share the same voice actors in both languages (Megumi Ogata in Japanese, Bryce Papenbrook in English) to reinforce the thematic link.en.wikipedia.orgIt won the Japan Game Awards 2013 Award of Excellence and Famitsu readers' Game of the Year 2012 — rare mainstream honors for a visual novel.en.wikipedia.orgRead 1 more fact
