25 essential video games every gamer should know

16. Fallout: New Vegas

While Fallout New Vegas wasn’t a direct sequel to Fallout 3 which was released a few years earlier, but it expanded on the previous game with multiple improvements and enhancements. It refined the character creation, crafting, fighting system, and reintroduced the reputation system which affected how NPCs and factions reacted to your character. While many critics praised these enhancements, the game was still full of many glitches and bugs — so much so that many of the common glitches are considered quirky “features” by Bethesda fans.

Despite the errors, the game is well-loved by fans because of its immersive and addictive gameplay. The post-apocalyptic world is completely open and bursting with so many side quests or places to explore that it’s easy to forget about the main storyline altogether. While this might be considered poor storytelling with other games, with Fallout it only enhances it as each side quest you find comes with its own unique story and helps flesh out the world your character has woken up to. By dividing the main story into a bunch of mini-stories, players can still feel accomplished even if they didn’t get to the next part of the story. Plus, it gives players an easy way to level up and gather better armor and guns.