Now that the main holiday season is over, students and staff alike are left with a gap in their hearts for the break that slid by all too fast. For some of us, we’ve spent our savings on getting loved ones presents. For others, we indulge in saving money or wasting our cold hard cash on temporary items. For those who still have some currency on you, fill your happiness-desiring heart with the best-rated, most popular games of the previous years, as they’ll be sure to distract the impending winter months. 

The games are listed as best-rated/most popular to worst-rated/least popular. Starting off the list with possibly one of the most popular genres, with many hours of playtime per game…we present to you: 

Role-Playing Games (RPGs). Based on following a storyline, or a specific character, this genre of game allows you to immerse yourself into another reality so you can truly forget about the troubles of your average waking life. These games are generally pretty long and can take as much as one hundred hours to complete:

1. Fallout: New Vegas   … A delivery to what was previously known as Las Vegas, which was nuked 200-300 years prior and went completely sideways. The main character, known as the Courier, was robbed and shot. Somehow, our main character survives and searches the Mojave Desert in pursuit of their killer to recover the package.
2. Mass Effect series … Science fiction mashup of space travel and intergalactic fights; imagine Halo without being Halo.
3. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim   … This middle-age collage of a task to level up your character’s skills and do many, many different storylines is packed with ludicrous amounts of various activities to complete. Great for wasting time and not existing in the real world.
4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt   … Players control a character known as Geralt of Rivia, a witcher known for slaying monsters while on a wild goose chase in the hunt for his adopted daughter.
5. Final Fantasy series   … Unlike the rest, there isn’t really a clear story between each game. Seasoned players who have played for years have stated that you can pick ‘Final Fantasy’ up at any point. Each game follows the “Warriors of Light”, who bare four elemental crystals to beat evil forces and save their world.

Next, in no particular order, we have the games that 14-year-olds would guzzle Mountain Dew to, the games that are completely skill and determination based, the frustrating and the daunting: 

First-person shooter (FPS) games. As annoying as I think they are, they still stand as the single most competitive game type because of their tendency to have rankings and Kill-to-Death Ratio (KDR). 

1. CS:GO … The free military FPS game includes terrorists versus counter-terrorists. It contains nine game modes, such as capture the flag and deathmatch, where your team fights another team to the death until the timer runs out. The winner is the team with the most kills.
2. Titanfall 2 … Containing a campaign mode where you discover the story between gunman Jack Cooper, and his titan, BT-7274. This advanced game shows off its specialties in public servers by how many different movements and actions you can do. From spawning and jumping in a titan, which is a giant robot that you can control, to assassinating someone, you can promise this game will entertain you.
3. Apex Legends   … A better version of Fortnite, lacking the cringe. This is a battle royale game, and you can choose characters with special abilities, such as Wraith, who can open a hole in spacetime and reposition herself. This game is what it sounds like: pretty cool.
4. Escape from Tarkov   … Slavic-based ultra-realistic huge-mapped game. Hurts brain. Why so much detail? Why so intense? Why so good?
5. Valorant   … As someone who was once forced to play this (free) game by a friend, I can attest to its competitiveness. The people who play this game really play the game. It’s a good option for those who enjoy just playing for fun nonetheless.

Be honest, you don’t want to play some RPG games because they seem too daunting of a task to catch up with the storyline or grind materials to level up your characters to complete the game. So for those who refuse to play games because they’re “too hard” and whatnot, I have your favorite game type: Sandbox. In this game genre, you can choose to be God and take control of the place you are in. 

Imagine that, being able to blow up a city in a fake world. That’s what Sandbox games are for.

1. Minecraft   … Don’t fret the MC Youtubers’ followers too much. They’ll only take 20 years off your lifespan. Minecraft has got to be amongst the most popular games ever played, boasting its nearly infinite possibilities.
2. Grand Theft Auto 5 … Online servers suck. Avoid them. You’ll be hunted. Satirical humor is my favorite. If you’re an angry child in need of committing crimes and such, you have yourself a perfect game.
3. Garry’s Mod   … No objectives. Nothing to do. Simple game. Blow up a bomb. Throw a car. Explore many maps. First-person and 3D physics wildin’. Simple. 
4. Terraria   … 2D Minecraft with different weapons, objectives, bosses, tools, and mechanics.
5. Just Cause 3   … Grand Theft Auto 5 without the online part. In addition, the game’s mechanics allow for a considerably higher amount of destruction physics. From throwing cars to completing story quests while fighting off enemies, this is the most stressful Sandbox game you’ll play.

Still can’t find a game to fill the aching hole in your heart that food or other inanimate objects can’t? Go ahead and play these games.

Other games (no particular order):

1. Roblox
2. World of Warcraft
3. Undertale
4. Red Dead Redemption 2
5. Valheim
6. Subnautica
7. Sims 4
8. Rust
9. Cities Skylines
10. Forza Horizon 5

If any of these games really call out to you, get it and play it! The point of this list is literally to advertise and inform different genres and games that may appeal to different people. Why would you have gotten his far in the article if you weren’t intrigued? But yeah… go out and support these companies for games that you are genuinely interested in.