We need to celebrate festivals as they happen, so let’s stick with this: PC Games is 30 years old, and most of us on the editorial team have been readers for years, some even since the first issue of 10/92. Accordingly, in this series of articles we want to celebrate 30 years of gaming history. We take a journey through all 30 years, from the inception of the magazine to the present day, focusing on what really matters: games. So each editor has captured the years with which they have special memories – their first game in life, discovering their love for the genre, their first attempts at online or multiplayer, their first contact with their favourite series. The seventh instalment of “30 Years in 30 Games” continues, covering the period from 2010 to 2012.
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Personally, 2010 clearly marks a big milestone for me: my coming of age, yay! People who have long been part of PCG’s great circle of friends are probably frowning. Yes, that’s right, I’m almost as old as this wonderful booklet, which has contained great game content since I was born.
It also means I’m climbing the big number 30 like computer games, but that’s another, much more depressing topic – back to the happy anniversary! Of course, as it should be, I stayed away from 18+ games until 2010, so 2010 opened up a whole new world for me. And it was hardly the best time to do so.
On the one hand, there were a lot of brand new gaming brands that weren’t approved for young people and enjoy legendary status today – and rightly so. Whether it was the goofy Bayonetta, which mesmerised with typical Platinum violent action and exaggerated staging, or the launch signal for legendary rock star brand Red Dead Redemption, which unfortunately at the time was still a console exclusive. Those who were in the mood for fresh gaming cuisine were fed great back then.
2010, on the other hand, was about the highlights of the series. Even if for me personally it was the fencing duel with Black Flag, the charming Italian assassination story from Assassin’s Creed 2 should be mentioned here. Or the remakes of the best Pokémon games of all time, Heartgold and Soulsiver!
Other great moments, unmatched to this day: the RPG hit Mass Effect 2 (colleagues Matthias and Felix are loudly disagreeing, but there’s nothing to report here, hehe), the rousing prequel story Halo: Reach – the last part, from Ur developer Bungie and delivered the best experience about Spartans killing aliens with Halo 2, Civilization 5 (hush, Matthias! ), Fallout: New Vegas, Bioshock 2, Skate 3, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 …. My goodness, you could write countless articles with the gaming achievements of 2010.
There are, of course, minuses to the series that are worth mentioning too, but one that sticks in my mind – I’ve always had a tendency to be disappointed. My all-time favourite series, Fable, was both expanded and shortened in part three. Oh, and hit the wall too! Or who doesn’t like to remember the mixed and unsatisfying Splinter Cell: Conviction?
Looking back on the bitter disappointments, the nostalgia-filled Primus games of yesteryear seem much stronger, don’t they? And while we’re leading the class, we can’t escape the plethora of indie games that offered great features on a small scale in 2010.
“The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” was bigger, cooler and more technically challenging than the first part (barring a few lousy launch errors). Although I had fun with the first part, the sequel was, despite all the love for women who present themselves as naked and lustful with dead chickens, a much better game.
My personal achievements also include the indie games of the following months – most notably Edmund McMillen’s brilliantly blasphemous two-joystick shooter The Binding of Isaac, whose various offshoots top my list of most popular games on Steam by a comfortable distance. The roguish game, based on childhood traumas, crucifixions and piles of poo, led to a veritable renaissance of the genre that continues today.
There was also a small, almost helpless boy in a dangerous environment in Limbo, but much scarier. I vividly remember not being able to make the spider section without the help of my friends, so scared of cattle.
The indie trio conclude with Bastion by Supergiant Games, a hack and slash with dynamic combat and a peculiar narrator. Like all of the mini-studio’s games, the title is an audio-visual board.
Historically, however, 2011 will be remembered for two games in particular: November 11 saw the very first of 500 realisations of role-playing giant The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Next week not only did thousands of knee-jerk memes appear, but also the most successful video game ever: Minecraft was already a huge success before the first full version was made available for download in 2011, today it is the best-selling game of all time.
Developer Markus Persson’s invented sandbox title most likely laid the foundation for the success of the Twitch streaming platform and the Let’s Play scene as we know it today. Its influence is enormous, and can be felt from farming simulation games like Stardew Valley to survival games like Arc.
