Unreal

The Unreal series began in 1998 with Unreal on PC, a single-player shooter that impressed above all with its visuals and the immersive atmosphere of the alien planet Na Pali, powered by the newly created Unreal Engine. Just a year later came the spin-off Unreal Tournament, which turned away from a story-driven approach toward pure arena multiplayer, and alongside Quake III Arena helped define the entire competitive arena-shooter genre that became a foundation of early esports communities and the modding scene.

While Unreal II: The Awakening in 2003 returned to a story-driven single-player campaign, the series' main line of development ran through its multiplayer entries — Unreal Championship as an Xbox exclusive, followed by Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004 on PC, and Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict, again on Xbox. The series wrapped up with Unreal Tournament 3 in 2007, which tried to marry the visual ambitions of a modern engine with traditional arena action. Unreal Tournament in particular is still cited as one of the pillars the arena deathmatch genre was built on, and the legacy of the Unreal Engine lives on in countless other games built on its technology.