Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 perfected the idea of combining an action shooter with loot-hoarding in the style of action RPGs and defined the shape of the whole subgenre for years to come. The planet Pandora is this time under the control of a corporation led by a charismatic villain who mocks the player over a public broadcast, insulting and praising him in the same breath, and who became, thanks to his writing, one of the best-remembered villains of his generation. The humor is harsh, cynical, and yet surprisingly well written, so even the side quests, of which there are dozens, have their own punchline.

At its core is an endless stream of weapons generated from predetermined parts, so two shotguns from the same manufacturer might differ in accuracy, rate of fire, elemental damage, and even whether they explode when thrown away. The player picks from several classes with distinct action skills, whether that's dual-wielding pistols, a decoy in the form of a digital duplicate, a flying combat robot, or a huntress using a telekinetic trap, and develops each of them across three skill trees. The game truly comes alive in co-op for up to four players, where abilities combine, difficulty scales, and arguments over loot splits are part of the experience.

The cel-shaded graphics with bold outlines work excellently even on PlayStation 3, where the game runs stably and manages to keep things readable even in firefights full of explosions and elemental effects, though split-screen play does take a toll on performance. Reception was excellent, and extensive add-ons, including some of the most highly rated, extended the game's life by dozens of hours. Today Borderlands 2 feels like one of the best-tuned loot shooters ever: it has pace, humor, an enormous amount of content, and it's still one of the most fun games to play with a group of friends. The addictive urge to see what dropped from the last crate or from a defeated boss works exactly the same after all these years, and few games can so reliably swallow up an entire evening.