Classic Games with Staying Power
The games industry in 2022 is incredibly diverse, with more platforms, providers and memorable franchises emerging every year. In such a ferment of activity, attention naturally flows towards whatever is new, innovative, and eye-catching. Because of this, the industry press cycle can obscure us to another phenomenon that has grown up in our midst. We refer here to those games that buck the trend of endless sequels and DLC expansions and enjoy loyal fan bases that return to their charms time and again once they’ve completed the latest 6-hour annual Call of Duty campaign. Here we’re celebrating two distinctive games that just keep on giving – titles that have the kind of replay value that puts their imitators to shame.
Starburst
Over the years, the online slots genre has grown to become a hotbed of innovation. Unbidden from the restrictions of physical hardware, developers have taken this deceptively simple RNG game and reinvented it for the modern games industry. For the uninitiated, Starburst slot is considered by many to be one of the finest early examples of this new wave. Its reason for inclusion on our list here backs this up: the game first launched a decade ago, in 2012, and ever since has stayed in the top 10 most-played games at the majority of online casinos.
Whereas newer titles incorporate a slew of novel features, Starburst’s enduring popularity is tied to how well it accomplishes its goal of serving up rock-solid gameplay. It proudly straddles emerging gulf between the latest slots games, that resemble a cluster of individual mini-games under a single banner, and the tried-and-tested slots format that can be traced right back to the late 1800s. With a total of 10 paylines and a very reasonable RTP percentage of 96%, this one is worth checking out if you want to see how well the one-armed bandit has made the jump to the modern gaming landscape.
Skyrim
The 5th entry in Bethesda’s legendary Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim has largely transcended its role as a mere sequel. Released 11 years ago, Skyrim remains one of the most widely played and highly critically acclaimed titles across any platform today. The depth and scope of its worldbuilding still puts modern sandbox adventure games to shame, and its truly open-ended format rewards players with a completely new experience with each play through. This is largely why people keep returning to Skyrim even all these years later, safe in the knowledge that there’s always more secrets to undercover, monsters to battle and quests to complete.
Skyrim’s release window ended up being incredibly fortuitous, launching as it did mere months after the first season of Game of Thrones caused a global sensation. Suddenly everybody had an appetite for swords and sorcery, and Bethesda’s RPG was more than happy to oblige. This led to the title becoming a best seller overnight, racking up 20 million sales in its first 2 years – which also made it the fastest-selling game on Valve’s Steam client ever.
While the game still enjoys modest sales across most home games systems, it’s on the PC that Skyrim continues to thrive. This is because it has attracted a large and committed modding community who have been slowly crafting the game since launch to incorporate new features, maps and quest-lines. Those booting up Skyrim on PC today also get to benefit from the commendable efforts taken by this community to keep Skyrim visually up to par with the latest advancements in graphics. This means that those with a powerful enough computer can enjoy this classic title replete with ray-tracing and jaw-dropping textures.
