Top 10 Games The Kids of Tomorrow Definitely Won't Understand

Nowadays, if you want an epic fantasy adventure game you’d turn to something like Skyrim or the most recent Legend of Zelda title. How about back in the early days of gaming before all these here fancy shmancy Xbox and PlayStation gizmos? Well, the Zork series was the best option. This text based adventure game would have the player type in commands for what they wanted their character to do, with several possible outcomes pre-programmed into the game. It may not look like much today, but this decision-making style of gameplay’s influence can still be felt in more sophisticated, modern forms such as Telltale’s various game series.

Resident Evil 7 brought the series back into top form hopefully things will continue that way. But can you imagine what it’s going to be like for future gamers that play Resident Evil 8, 9 and beyond and think “hey, I wonder what earlier games in this series were like?” Needless to say, the answer may shock them. The original game features clunky tank-like controls, very dated visuals and…oh boy that voice acting. For those who were around, the nostalgia will kick in as they try to explain how it was at the time. For everyone else…they’d wonder how any game contains the phrase ‘Jill Sandwich’ can be considered spooky.

At the time ‘Myst’ was the next step up from ‘Zork’ in terms of adventure games. Instead of simply reading text, players could now move through environments by clicking around to see what could be found. Note that we specifically said: ‘clicking’ around, which literally means that to play, you need to carefully analyze the screen and click with your mouse to be brought to a different screen and so on and so forth. It’s literally just a bunch of still images that you need to look at to find clues and move forward. This may unfortunately feel a tad too tedious for future gamers to fully embrace.

Beep…boop…beep…boop. Without these simple sound effects and basic graphics, gaming may not even be here today, as this is one of the granddaddies of the entire medium. Even now, ‘Pong’ is already looked back at as an extremely simple form of interactive entertainment, so we can only imagine how it will be perceived in a decade or two down the line. While ‘Pong’ will probably always be appreciated for what it was and what it did for gaming, there is no doubt that it will fail to impress compared to the advancements being made in graphics and virtual reality. It’s okay ‘Pong’, you had your time to shine. We’ll never forget ye.

In the mid 90’s, 3D gaming was beginning to come into its own. After Mario paved the way for what this new dimension could bring to the medium, Zelda completely blew everyone’s minds with Ocarina of Time; the biggest action/adventure game ever released up to that point. The graphics were astonishing, the music was masterful and the quest itself was absolute magic. That was in 1998 however, and as time goes on, especially compared to any adventure game released since, its brilliance may have faded slightly in the public eye. It will probably still be considered a good game by fresh eyes in the future, but whether it packs the same punch remains to be seen.

If Ocarina wasn’t quite your cup of tea in 1998, then maybe Valve’s intelligent paced shooter “Half-Life” was. A storyline with breathtaking stakes and mind-boggling twists, open ended gameplay that provided multiple strategies for each situation and stunning visuals, c’mon, this was the whole package. Unfortunately, years later with a few Call of Duties here and a couple ‘a Battlefields there and the expectations for a competent shooter have all but changed. The genre calls for non-stop set pieces and rewarding multiplayer modes as opposed to expansive levels and actual tactical combat. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it’s just that “Half-Life” may not be up to snuff against the new kids on the block.

Speaking of blocks, with even non-gamers playing it in their pastime, Tetris is a phenomenon in gaming. However, like ‘Pong’, it relies on its simple premise to deliver fun, which in this case is cleverly stacking blocks. Yes, it’s simple but that’s why it works and we fear that the way games are going, future audiences won’t ‘get it’. As it is now, video games need to be huge, complex affairs with tons of pew, pew, pew and robust multiplayer modes to sell copies and even then, they fail to hold people’s attention and fall off the map. What hope does a bunch of brightly colored blocks have against what’s coming in the future?

Even before the aforementioned Ocarina of Time delivered a true 3D cinematic gaming experience, the original Star Fox provided a taste of what was to come. The graphics, although primitive and nothing but polygons, were innovative as they depicted 3D imagery moving across a level. Finally, games were no longer restricted to simply moving left and right, now the possibilities seemed limitless. This novelty of being able to traverse a 3D space has long since worn off and with future games being able to no doubt provide much more enthralling space combat simulators, this classic gem will understandably not be as compelling.

When people in the future ask about which RPG brought the genre into the limelight, giving it widespread popularity, don’t be surprised if they bat an eye when you point towards Final Fantasy 7. ‘Really?’ they might say, ‘that game with the blocky graphics, emo cast of characters and repetitive combat mechanics?’ To which, you may have a rebuttal, but then realize that time may not have been as kind to FF7 as you may have liked. It certainly has its place in history, but compared to what came after, there were definite improvements, which may cause future gamers to wonder why they should even bother revisiting this one.

As previously stated, shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield are the big dogs in the gaming world nowadays. Their success however owes a lot of credit to a little game called Goldeneye, which single single handedly paved the way for first person shooters to be marketed to a mass audience. It’s thrilling levels and tight gunplay, coupled with its addicting multiplayer modes can all be seen as the blueprints upon which modern and future shooters are based on. It may look and feel a tad underwhelming today, but anytime someone asks where shooters become super popular, you tell them the game’s Bond...game Bond…James Bond video game, ah we tried.