25 essential video games every gamer should know

14. Metal Gear Solid

This action-adventure stealth game released back in 1998 on the original PlayStation is considered one of the most significant games of all time and credited with popularizing the stealth genre. The lengthy story and cinematic cutscenes helped bring more cinematic elements and themes into the video game industry.

The game follows Solid Snake as he infiltrates an island facility to neutralize a nuclear-weaponized mecha called Metal Gear REX. Along the way, Snake will meet new friends who he’ll communicate with via codec in small dialog cut-scenes. There are several bosses Snake will have to defeat on his way to REX and each have their own tricks to defeat them. Between bosses, Snake will travel through the facility killing or incapacitating various guards that patrol the halls. If Snake is spotted, he’ll have to avoid capture and hide until his pursuers lose interest. To make things easier, players can equip a cardboard box that Snake will wear which will sometimes trick the guards.

Since Metal Gear Solid, there have been several follow-up games, including a prequel and a mobile game. All the games are praised for their story and unexpected quirky humor that’s thrown in alongside the serious themes. However, it’s uncertain how popular the franchise will continue to be, considering its main director, producer, and designer Hideo Kojima has left Konami and is working on Death Stranding under his own independent game studio, Kojima Productions.