Opinion: The Most Influential Games of Recent Years

Some particularly successful virtual entertainment titles leave a lasting impression not only on gamers but also on developers. When an excellent game pushes an entire genre forward, it sometimes sets trends for the industry, inspires studios, and becomes a model for imitation. This article will focus on such projects — those that have influenced many modern games.

Despite its flaws, such as a mediocre combat system, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt became the benchmark for open-world RPGs. The game demonstrated the importance of paying attention not only to main quests but also to minor side missions. A well-crafted narrative is essential to keep a player's attention. Loot-filled chests are great, but filling the world with engaging stories is even better.

The release of The Witcher 3 permanently changed the Assassin's Creed franchise. Both Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, and the upcoming Shadows are no longer traditional entries in the series but rather RPG adventures inspired by The Witcher. They feature similar mechanics, gear progression, dialogue choices, and an overall comparable structure.

The Witcher 3’s core concept influenced the creators of Horizon Zero Dawn and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, both of which require players to spend significant time hunting monsters. Breath of the Wild even introduced a bestiary, describing creatures and ways to fight them.

The DNA of The Witcher 3 can be traced in numerous other games, including Kingdom Come: Deliverance, GreedFall, Biomutant, ELEX, ELEX 2, and Dragon's Dogma 2. Many of CD Projekt RED’s hit game elements are also being adopted by the upcoming Fable, which isn't surprising since some of The Witcher 3's developers are working on it.

The first fully open-world Zelda was revolutionary for adventure games, introducing unprecedented mechanics — such as the ability to climb almost any surface. In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, players don’t need to find workarounds when encountering a cliff; as long as Link has enough stamina, he can simply climb it.

BOTW is a game about uncompromising exploration freedom. It deliberately avoids hand-holding, encouraging players to discover the world on their own. There are no excessive map markers, no GPS-like navigation pointing the way, and main story quests can be completed in any order. Instead of using an on-screen compass, Breath of the Wild attracts players to interesting locations in a more organic, subtle way — by strategically placing points of interest that naturally draw the eye.

BOTW tops many lists of the greatest games of all time, so it’s no surprise that numerous studios have taken inspiration from it. For instance, Elden Ring follows a similar minimalist exploration philosophy without map markers. The action RPG survival game Enshrouded borrows many gameplay elements from Breath of the Wild, including its combat system. The developers of Ghost of Tsushima admitted they were influenced by BOTW’s visual design. Meanwhile, games like Immortals Fenyx Rising and the hugely successful Genshin Impact don’t just copy one or two elements from BOTW — they replicate much of its mechanics, making them outright clones.

Even if, for some reason, you don’t like Epic Games' shooter, you can’t deny its impact on the industry. One could argue that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds was the first to popularize the battle royale genre, but Fortnite became an even bigger phenomenon, especially among young gamers. Since then, countless attempts have been made to dethrone it.

Popular titles like Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone have tried to emulate Fortnite. Their developers (and creators of modern online games in general) carefully analyze not just Fortnite’s gameplay mechanics but also its business model and how Epic Games conducts in-game events.

Ironically, even PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds started copying Fortnite over time, adding arcade modes and cosmetic outfits.

The Resident Evil 2 remake opened Pandora’s box for reimaginings of classic games and breathed new life into the survival horror genre. The game’s impressive sales and widespread critical acclaim led Capcom to release similar remakes of Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil 4. Other developers followed suit, bringing updated versions of Dead Space, Silent Hill 2, and Alone in the Dark. Notably, the SH2 and AitD remakes adopted the over-the-shoulder camera perspective introduced in Resident Evil 2.

Resident Evil 2’s influence extended beyond remakes to entirely new projects. For example, the big-budget The Callisto Protocol likely wouldn’t have been greenlit if Resident Evil 2 hadn’t been so successful. Additionally, the designers at Remedy openly stated in interviews that Alan Wake 2 was inspired by Resident Evil 2’s gameplay.

Arguably, FromSoftware's games have changed the industry more than any others in the past decade. Titles like Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne brought hardcore difficulty back into the mainstream and sparked the rise of an entire subgenre of action games.

Listing every game influenced by the Japanese studio’s masterpieces would be impossible. However, notable titles include Nioh, Nioh 2, The Surge, The Surge 2, Lies of P, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Blasphemous, Salt and Sanctuary, Black Myth: Wukong, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Mortal Shell. Without FromSoftware, these games wouldn’t exist in their current form. And after the massive success of Elden Ring, even more imitators are bound to emerge.

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Assessing the influence of some popular games is more challenging than it seems. For example, while GTA 5 remains the best-selling cultural product of all time, surprisingly few games attempt to imitate it. Meanwhile, recent hits like Baldur's Gate 3 are still too new to judge their long-term impact on the industry.

What do you think? Do you agree with the list? What other games should be added? Share your thoughts in the comments!