There are plenty of games out there nowadays that are 10, 20, hell, even 30 years old that still have a very active community around them.
These are for a variety of reasons, usually because of consistent updates, a speedrunning community, or just because the game is still fun after a few hundred playthroughs.
10 JRPG Hidden Gems You Need To Play
Everyone’s played at least one Final Fantasy, but in this list, we are only considering the deep cuts!
But who’s to say which of those and more recent games will still keep their longevity and prove themselves sturdy against the test of time?
I am, apparently, as this is a list of 10 games I can absolutely see still having a dedicated player base in 2035 and even beyond that.
I won’t be including any online-only games on this list for reasons that should be obvious. Even though Fortnite will probably be around in a decade, there’s no guarantee, so better safe than sorry.
10Outer Wilds
No Spoilers, Just Play It!
Outer Wilds
You can consider this a substitute for whichever super artsy game you prefer, butOuter Wildsis the de facto game that inspires anyone who plays it to enlist ten other people to play it.
These games will pretty much always get new players because there are always new people getting into video games and, by extension, people spreading the word of Outer Wilds.
That, and this game has got quite a sizable speedrunning community, a cult-like following, and is just a fun game to replaythat’ll make you cry the first time.
You should go talk to that friend who’s always telling you to play Outer Wilds. They could use the company. Or you could go be the friend telling your friends to play Outer Wilds. That works, too.
9Deltarune
The Ride Never Ends
This one is just simple math.Deltarune will have a minimum of seven chapters. We got Chapter 1 in 2018, Chapter 2 in 2021, andChapters 3 and 4 in 2025.
At this rate, Deltarune should be finished around 2034, meaning there will definitely be a whole ton of players still playing it, just like there was forUndertale.
It’s also just a great game with a sizable speed-running community, an absolutely rabid fanbase, and people constantly going back and replaying it to uncover new secrets.
This andUndertaleare easily some of the biggest RPGs ever in terms of mass appeal, and that appeal is likely to never die out, even after all is said and done.
8The Binding of Isaac
The King of Content
The Binding of Isaac
If you’re looking for a game that will pretty much never fail to show you something new every time you play it,The Binding of Isaacis your best bet.
It’s already 13 years old, but with constant re-releases, updates and DLC, it’sbecome so stuffed with contentthat you could easily dive in for thousands of hours.
10 Metroidvania Hidden Gems You Need To Play
Hollow Knight is great and all, but there’s life beyond Hallownest, I assure you.
Plus, you might get frustrated with the vague-ass item descriptions, which could be the nudge you need to stumble upon the awesome modding scene for this game.
There are hundreds of mods, with new ones being made every day, and that’s really cool to see on top of the plethora of stuff to do in the vanilla game. It makes me sure it’ll be around forever.
7Geometry Dash
The Cool Kid on the Block
Geometry Dash
You might think a really simplistic game about jumping to the beat as a small square and dodging spikes would have died with Flash or something, butGeometry Dash has been thrivingfor over 10 years now.
It’s half rhythm game, half platformer, and has some of the best level-creation tools ever, letting people do very cool stuff with very few restrictions.
This massive potential in the level editor, along with somewhat frequent updates and a community spurred on by the game’s availability on mobile, has combined for the perfect storm.
I don’t see this game’s player count ever falling, and if the gargantuan quantity of custom content being uploaded is anything to go by, this niche community will thrive forever.
6Hollow Knight: Silksong
It’ll Be Out, I Swear.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Alright, this one is mostly a playful jab and an excuse to talk aboutHollow Knight, but ifSilksongisn’t out by 2035, I think we’ll all be a bit miffed.
Hollow Knight is an awesome Metroidvania that has gained more notoriety than any other modern-day entry in the genre and has a ton of speedrunners and modders.
It’s also got the classic Metroidvania design of an open-ended map you can approach in just about any way you want, with a ton of cool sequence breaks, and a few hundred hours required to master it.
It’s a shameSilksong still shows no signs of releasing, but if it does, it’ll surely still have an active player base in a decade.
Peep the Horrors
For a game with quite a dedicated player base, whether it be for speedrunning, modding, farming, building, or just optimizing everything,Terrariais up there.
It’s kind of like 2DMinecraft, with numerous RPG elements that make it feel more like a roguelike with sandbox elements than anything else.
The community for this game is thriving, and has been for well over a decade now, especially with themassive amount of final updates we’ve gotten.
It’ll probably never die, and even if Re-Logic actually moves on after saying they would for about 5 years now, there will always be a massive group of people still onTerraria.
4Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
An All-Star Cast of Content.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Fighting games have a lot of longevity, with a competitive scene that usually lasts until the next game in the series comes out. This isn’t the case with the Super Smash Bros.series, as Melee is still actively played decades later, and I feel Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be a very similar case.
Plain and simple, this game is far too massive to make a follow-up that does things bigger and better, as most fighting games do.
It’s very likely the next entry in the Smash series will be a big rework and have less content overall. That’ll lead to competitive Smash Ultimate players never leaving the game behind, even ifSteve is a horribly designed character.
Endless Speedrunning Potential.
For one of the biggest speedrunning communities ever,Celeste’scrazy dedicated player base never seems to run out of innovations and optimizations, and they’re practically guaranteed to be seen at any given GDQ.
This game just feels awesome to play, is one of the most solid platformers ever made, and has a massive fanbase.
10 Modern Games With Arcade Vibes
Does anyone have a quarter? I got a Game Over!
On top of the speedrunners, a massive modding community has made practically entire new games from Celeste, and much more.
While just running through the game the first time only takes a few hours, you’d be hard-pressed not to want to find every secret and skip imaginable, making this a replayable gem that will continue to captivate the masses for years to come.
2Super Mario 64
Parallel Universes of Potential
Super Mario 64
If you’ve been on the internet for any length of time, you’ve probably seenSuper Mario 64either speedrun to oblivion or given a more thorough technical analysis than any scientific study.
It’s one of the first real 3D platformers, and somehow, it stuck the landing so hard that the community for it stays just as active today as it was in the 90s.
Of course, you don’t have to build up speed for 12 hours and use a scuttlebug to warp to a parallel universe to enjoy the game.
Plenty of people just have fun experimenting with the weirdly wide variety of movement tech, and there are a few thousand mods for it, thanks to the unofficial PC port, and I can’t see them stopping soon.
1Minecraft
Universal Appeal
No matter who you are, you’ve probably heard of and playedMinecraft. It’s the best-selling video game ever for a reason.
It’s just got the incredibly attractive concept of being able to build your own world, and hardly falters on that. Whilesome updates might be disappointing, you can easily access the 15 years of legacy content, and that’s awesome.
This game has a massive speedrunning community, a huge modding community, dedicated builders, Redstoners making insanely complex mechanisms, and I could go on and on.
You can playMinecraftin just about any way you could possibly think of, and given Microsoft has said they plan for the game to last 100 years, I doubt it’ll fizzle out in just ten.
7 Best One Button Games You Need To Play
Pfft, who needs the whole controller?
