15 Most Important Video Games Of The Decade (So Far)

10. The Witness

You're either going to be up for a pretentious deep-dive into heavy thought processes and puzzle-solving that makes you contemplate the very idea of gaining knowledge - or you won't. Hopefully if you're the former, you'll already have played The Witness, Jonathan Blow's newest game released in January 2016, as it's one that rewrites the entry on video game genius. Blow decided after finishing 2008's time-twiddling platformer Braid, to reinvest the considerable amount of money it made into another project. The following seven years would be spent creating one of the most genuinely mind-blowing experiences you can ever have, actually managing to teach you a 'language' of puzzles that's only as complex to apply with as it is to initially comprehend. In terms of narrative or purpose, you're cast on a mysterious island, tasked only with exploring and locating various areas comprised of rulesets that you can then hop between at will. It's lusciously serene, and as each puzzle factors into the next, helps culminate in an experience that'll make you feel like the dumbest person alive one minute, before then making you feel like an absolute genius for pulling everything together the next. Puzzle games certainly aren't for everyone, and the small pockets of social commentary within The Witness are designed to be controversial, but what's here is an absolutely outstanding achievement in game design nonetheless.