Playing a video game could be fun and easy, but building it is the opposite. When a developer team makes a game, they take care of writing, designing, animation, and other state-of-the-art technologies. Additionally, they have to build good levels, great stories, and exemplary gameplay mechanics to compete with some of the best titles on the market.
Yet, the biggest challenge isn’t creating all these things but making them work simultaneously to create an unforgettable experience. Some games do an excellent job at it, and others don’t. However, a few selective titles do it so well that gamers keep playing them for years. Here are a few examples.
10 Second Life
The story of Second Life began in 2003 when it came out to give people a chance to live their dream lives in a virtual world. While Second Life brands itself as an online multimedia platform, it is more or less a massively multiplayer online role-playing game where players do not have a set objective.
In 2022, this nineteen years old game is still an active community, and it recently reported that it has around 64.7 million active users on the platform. The best part about Second Lifeis that it's completely free to play.
9 Grand Theft Auto 4
It's hard to believe that Grand Theft Auto 4 came out 14 years ago, especially seeing how good it looks today. From the storyline to the physics system and overall tech, Rockstar Games did a brilliant job in 2008 that still shines in 2022. Therefore, there’s no denying that people are still playing Grand Theft Auto 4 just to experience that beautifully dynamic world of Liberty City.
Additionally, the game has tons of mods and an active modding community, which is a big reason why many players still have the game installed on their hard drives.
8 Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 is a first-person shooter game where players fight against zombies to progress through the story. The Valve title initially came out in 2009 and quickly became a hit among players for various reasons. First, this game is a co-op title with different competitive modes and difficulty options.
Second, Left 4 Dead 2 has a vibrant modding community that’s always coming up with new gameplay modes for players to enjoy. Hence, this thirteen-year-old game is still going pretty strong on Steam and has over thirty to fifty thousand active players daily.
7 Quake
The original Quake came out in 1996 and was one of the first arena shooters that got extremely popular. Over the years, this id Software title has become an enormous success. It has spawned various sequels such as Quake 2, Quake 3 Arena, Quake 4, the infamous Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and Quake Champions.
However, the original game is still one of the best in the series, and players worldwide play it regularly. Quake has also got various recent updates, including the all-new “Dimension of the Machine” expansion pack.
6 Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 does not need an introduction, as it has been one of Steam's most popular Valve multiplayer games for the last fifteen years. This first-person shooter game originally came out in 2007 and has since become the staple of its genre. In terms of gameplay, Team Fortress 2 is still functional and relatively playable.
As for the graphics, it stands out due to Valve’s brilliant art design that still looks fresh. However, it’s the evergrowing community of this game that keeps players engaged.
5 EverQuest
EverQuest is one of the oldest successful massively multiplayer online role-playing games. It is also one of the rare titles where the words Ubisoft & Sony Online Entertainment appear right next to each other, as they’ve published it in different regions. At its core, EverQuest is a fantasy-themed RPG title that got quite famous for using 3D visuals in the early 2000s.
However, more so, it's the pretty fun gameplay that has people still playing it after two decades of its launch. According to Wikipedia, EverQuest had over “82,000 monthly active players” some time ago.
4 RuneScape
Like EverQuest, RuneScape is another massively multiplayer online role-playing game from the early 2000s. However, the reason why this game has such an active player base is due to developer updates. In 2022, RuneScape is no longer its classic self. Instead, it has become a more modern, visually up-to-date experience while maintaining its core values.
Similar to other MMORPGs, RuneScape has its own fantasy world, characters, and backstories. It also has a great interaction system and PvP combat that's quite engaging. Hence, players keep coming back to this game years after its release.
3 Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike is a first-person shooter from the year 2000 and one of the oldest multiplayer games from Valve. Shockingly, it is still prevalent among gamers 22 years after its release. The Valve shooter may be outdated in the visuals department, but the easy-to-access gameplay, the nostalgia, and the quick-play nature of the game have kept it active years later.
Even the latest iteration of the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is over 10 years old at this point. However, the popular shooters still have a massive player base on Steam.
2 Age Of Empires
The genre of real-time strategy video games is no longer as popular as it once was. After all, people nowadays love playing fast-paced action shooters, battle royales, and more fast-paced action shooters. Still, Age Of Empires retains a substantial active player base twenty-five years after its inception.
Even though the fourth main game, Age of Empires 4, recently came out in 2021, the original 1997 title and its 1999 sequel still get a lot of love from players. According to Steamcharts, AOE 2 currently has over twenty thousand active players, which is quite impressive.
1 Diablo II
Last but not least, Diablo 2 is an action role-playing hack-and-slash masterpiece that came out in the summer of 2000. It is regarded as Blizzard’s magnum opus for various reasons, but the top one is the amount of content in it. At its core, Diablo 2 is a story-driven game that has brilliant lore and over five different classes to master.
However, people still play it due to the fantastic multiplayer component that functions flawlessly 22 years later. Moreover, Blizzard Entertainment recently dropped the remake of the original game, which boosted its player count even more.