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Essays 07 July 2021, 16:40

author: Michael Pajda

The Most Popular Classic Single-Player Games 2021

There are some games that we just keep playing. Never mind the fact that these are titles that are already a few good years old. Many of them have even lived to see remasters, many have become very outdated – so what? We can't seem to stop playing.

Table of Contents

Dying Light

  1. Age: Over 5 years
  2. Genre: FPP
  3. Peak number of concurrent players last month: 15 844

Dying Light is not the only Polish gamedev accent in this list. This crazy mix was developed by Techland. In it, we're dealing with a combination of Mirror's Edge and any title starring zombies (those aren't always slow, though, like in Telltale studio's The Walking Dead!). And although this title appeared on store shelves in early 2015, it is still one of the top 100 most popular and most played productions on Steam! Despite the fact that it's a solid thing, but not outstanding.

But the secret of Techland's success lies in... interest in their own work. The studio, despite the protracted work on Dying Light 2, constantly surprises players with updates to the first installment of the series - even almost five years after the game's launch. In addition, fans can count on the developers for small additions to diversify the gameplay and the organization of various events with rewards, which the whole community is working to unlock. But if that wasn't enough... everyone who owns the base version of the game receives a free copy of Bad Blood - a separate battle royale minimode for Dying Light. And how can you not love this game?

COOPERATION

Dying Light 's story campaign can be played in co-op (players can join each other at any time), which greatly increases the longevity of the game.

  1. Dying Light in our encyclopedia

The Witcher 2

  1. Age: almost 9 years
  2. Genre: action-RPG
  3. Peak number of concurrent players last month: 6848

It would be a difficult task to point out a game from 2011, for which - maybe apart from Skyrim - the worldwide community of gamers waited as impatiently as for the second part of The Witcher . This shouldn't come as a surprise, though - the production, subtitled Assassins of Kings, turned out to be not only a true milestone in the history of development of the now world-famous CD Projekt RED, but also an above-average good game (with minor technical flaws), which allowed the developer to create Wild Hunt a few years later.

But where does the popularity of this game come from? In recent years, up to two thousand people have played it simultaneously during monthly peaks. One can assume that this is due to the gigantic success of The Witcher 3. However, these results multiplied in December and January last year. The Netflix series about the white-haired Geralt (and the books, which had to be reprinted after the series featuring Henry Cavill) certainly played a big part in that. By now, the global brand that The Witcher has become has reached critical mass and is propelling itself. The books promote the series, the series promotes the games, the games promote the books, and then there are the comic books, figurines and such.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE WITCHER 3?

Of course, The Witcher 3 could have caught on to this list, as it has almost 5 years on its back. However, as with Skyrim, we felt it would have been too obvious a choice (riding the wave of the series' popularity, the game recently broke the record for number of players from the time of its release), so we went for part two.

  1. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in our encyclopedia

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

  1. Age: 14 years
  2. Genre: shooter
  3. Peak number of concurrent players last month: 1669

S. T. A. L. K. E. R. is one of those games that need no introduction. Loosely inspired by the Strugatsky brothers' Roadside Picnic, this production came out almost a decade and a half ago, and in fact has been played on Steam by a couple hundred people at a time for all that time. Now that we finally saw the first shots from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2, the number of people willing to experience the adventure in Zona has increased significantly.

It's definitely worth exploring this title. It's a first-person shooter, but prepared in an ingenious way. There's something like an open world divided into locations, a fairly clearly outlined storyline and factions which we can join.

We should add that the game proves to be quite difficult. This isn't one of those shooters where you exterminate crowds of enemies with a single gun. You need to wonder where to get the next bullet to kill the enemy standing in your way. In addition, we visit a lot of very atmospheric locations that change S.T. A.L.K.E.R. from an action game to a horror one. No wonder people are still playing it.

  1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl in our encyclopedia
Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

BioShock Infinite

BioShock Infinite

Dishonored

Dishonored

Mafia II

Mafia II

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

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