Polaris is a non-profit committed to improving and refining the art and craft of game design. In order to get a snapshot of current game design thinking and reference points, we wondered — what do working game designers talk about? What games do game designers reference behind closed doors?
In fall of 2025, we surveyed 167 professional game designers, asking them “What are the most influential games?” We explicitly did NOT ask what are the ‘best’ games, and to counteract recency bias, we limited submissions to games at least 5 years old (I.e. first released in 2019 or earlier).
Each designer submitted an unranked list of 10 titles, which we then aggregated. (For more details on our process, and some fun trivia, check the Process & Errata section below.)
As a curiosity, we have also generated a Series-Collapsed List of submitted titles.
With their permission, we will probably post individual designer lists on our Bluesky account in the coming months or years. Thank you to all who participated (list of participants)!
THE Top 10
1. Portal
Valve Corporation, 2007
“The first time I realised that well written dialogue could make me want to solve puzzles out of sheer spite.” – Olivia Wood
“Directly influenced my work on my Level Design Class.” — MJ Johns
“I mean…” — Gabby DaRienzo
2. Sid Meier's civilization
MicroProse, 1991
“The games I’m drawn to show my evolution from an RPG player/designer toward deeper systems design and finally into the ways games tell stories through their mechanics” — Brenda Romero
“Model of simple exploration and tactical/strategic exploration and civilization building gameplay” — Ken Rolston
“King of Dragon Pass is very directly influenced by Castles + Civilization + Pendragon” — David Dunham
“For a game to influence me (as opposed to just being enjoyable), it typically has to wow me in one or both of two areas: mechanical/systems innovation, or a hugely strong sense of place, fun, and wonderment.” — Tyler Sigman
3. Dwarf fortress
Bay 12 Games, 2006
“I’ve sometimes dreamed of making a game that simulates every little detail of a world. But I don’t have to, because the Adams brothers have already done it!” — Michael Brough
“Offbeat narratives and systemic complexity to situate the player in other worlds. I was (and am) drawn to games with low graphical fidelity, which force the player to “complete” the storyworld via their imagination” — Jason Grinblat
4. Shadow of the COlossus
Sony Computer Entertainment, 2006
“There’s many lessons to take from this game, but the ones that really stuck with me were 1) how it created feelings of awe and wonder, 2) the way it used negative space in pacing, storytelling, and space, and 3) The sheer sense of scale it achieved.” — Max Nichols
5. Slay the Spire
Mega Crit, 2019
“Slay the Spire captures a ton of game systems into one cohesive package, that I reference often. Simple roguelike structure, card game balance and design, expandability, and done without a huge breadth of content.” — Scott Brodie
“For me its all about tight, well-balanced systems design and mechanics that make me feel something.” — Stuart Jeff
6. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Nintendo, 2017
“Influenced the way I understood how to design narratives and characters, along with teaching me techniques for building specific atmospheres for my players, or how to craft emotionally meaningful moments.” — Pam Punzalan
“BOTW’s physics engine, the way the elements interact with each other and all that, is extremely cool and I love borrowing ideas from that to make a world feel more real and alive.” — Tyler Glaiel
7. Deus Ex
Ion Storm , 2000
“Gunpoint started as an attempt to make a simplified, 2d Deus Ex.” — Tom Francis
“As a kid, playing through Liberty Island again and again, slowly learning how different actions could provoke different responses. it felt like a world and it also felt like a toybox.” — V Buckenham
8. Spelunky
Derek Yu, 2008
“Influenced my love of roguelikes, improvisational play, really hard games” — Ezra Szanton
“Sampling is more powerful/useful than synthesis; metaprogression is superfluous junk-food; rollercoaster pacing is better than an endless upwards climb” — Raigan Burns
9. Minecraft
Mojang Studios, 2011
“Elevating the power of random generation and making an almost ‘anti-handholding’ approach viable again in games.” — Fabian Fischer
“Open-ended crafting, player-determined objectives/loop” — Lazlo Bonin
10. Outer Wilds
Mobius Digital, 2019
“I’m inspired by games that encourage exploration, discovery, experimentation, and playfulness!” — Henry Smith
“Made me believe that there is always something COMPLETELY NEW to be found even when all good games seem to already exist” — Alexander Zacherl
THE LIST
| 1 | Portal | 2007 | Valve Corporation |
| 2 | Sid Meier’s Civilization | 1991 | MicroProse |
| 3 | Dwarf Fortress | 2006 | Bay 12 Games |
| 4 | Shadow of the Colossus | 2005 | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 5 | Slay the Spire | 2019 | Mega Crit |
| 6 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | 2017 | Nintendo |
| 7 | Deus Ex | 2000 | Ion Storm |
| 8 | Spelunky | 2008 | Derek Yu |
| 9 | Minecraft | 2011 | Mojang Studios |
| 10 | Outer Wilds | 2019 | Mobius Digital |
| 11 | Half Life | 1998 | Valve Corporation |
| 12 | XCOM: UFO Defense / UFO: Enemy Unknown | 1994 | Mythos Games, MicroProse |
| 13 | Journey | 2012 | Thatgamecompany |
| 14 | The Legend of Zelda | 1986 | Nintendo |
| 15 | NetHack | 1987 | NetHack DevTeam |
| 16 | Super Mario 64 | 1996 | Nintendo |
| 17 | Thief: The Dark Project | 1998 | Ion Storm |
| 18 | ICO | 2001 | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 19 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | 2002 | Bethesda Game Studios |
| 20 | World of Warcraft | 2004 | Blizzard Entertainment |
| 21 | Star Control II | 1992 | Toys for Bob |
| 22 | Sid Meier’s Pirates! | 2004 | Firaxis Games |
| 23 | Dark Souls | 2011 | FromSoftware |
| 24 | What Remains of Edith Finch | 2017 | Giant Sparrow |
| 25 | FTL: Faster Than Light | 2012 | Subset Games |
| 26 | Papers, Please | 2013 | Lucas Pope |
| 27 | Lode Runner | 1983 | Doug Smith |
| 28 | Super Mario Bros. | 1985 | Nintendo |
| 29 | SimCity | 1989 | Maxis |
| 30 | The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past | 1991 | Nintendo |
| 31 | Chrono Trigger | 1995 | Square |
| 32 | Diablo | 1997 | Blizzard North |
| 33 | Final Fantasy VII | 1997 | Square |
| 34 | Starcraft | 1998 | Blizzard Entertainment |
| 35 | The Sims | 2000 | Maxis |
| 36 | Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos | 2002 | Blizzard Entertainment |
| 37 | Half Life 2 | 2004 | Valve Corporation |
| 38 | Rogue | 1980 | A.I. Design |
| 39 | Tetris | 1985 | Alexey Pajitnov |
| 40 | Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar | 1985 | Origin Systems |
| 41 | Super Metroid | 1994 | Nintendo, Intelligent Systems |
| 42 | Fallout | 1997 | Interplay Productions |
| 43 | Metal Gear Solid | 1998 | Konami |
| 44 | Planescape: Torment | 1999 | Black Isle Studios |
| 45 | Grand Theft Auto III | 2001 | DMA Design |
| 46 | Magic the Gathering Online | 2002 | Wizards of the Coast |
| 47 | Katamari Damacy | 2004 | Namco |
| 48 | Mass Effect | 2007 | BioWare |
| 49 | The Walking Dead | 2012 | Telltale Games, Skybound Games |
| 50 | Kentucky Route Zero | 2013 | Cardboard Computer |
| 51 | 80 Days | 2014 | Inkle |
| 52 | The Return of the Obra Dinn | 2018 | Lucas Pope |
| 53 | Zork | 1977 | Infocom |
| 54 | Elite | 1984 | David Braven, Ian Bell |
| 55 | Lemmings | 1991 | DMA Design |
| 56 | DOOM | 1993 | id Software |
| 57 | Ultima Online | 1997 | Origin Systems |
| 58 | The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time | 1998 | Nintendo |
| 59 | Super Smash Bros. | 1999 | HAL Laboratory |
| 60 | Diablo II | 2000 | Blizzard North |
| 61 | The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask | 2000 | Nintendo |
| 62 | Metroid Prime | 2002 | Nintendo |
| 63 | BioShock | 2007 | 2K Boston, 2K Australia |
| 64 | Braid | 2008 | Number None |
| 65 | Civilization V | 2010 | Firaxis Games |
| 66 | Fortnite | 2017 | Epic Games |
| 67 | Disco Elysium | 2019 | ZA/UM |
| 68 | M.U.L.E. | 1983 | Ozark Softscape |
| 69 | Starflight | 1986 | Binary Systems |
| 70 | Dungeon Master | 1987 | FTL Games |
| 71 | Super Mario Bros 3 | 1988 | Nintendo |
| 72 | Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero | 1989 | Sierra On-Line |
| 73 | Super Mario World | 1990 | Nintendo |
| 74 | The Secret of Monkey Island | 1990 | Lucasfilm Games |
| 75 | SimCity 2000 | 1993 | Maxis |
| 76 | Final Fantasy VI | 1994 | Square |
| 77 | Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow | 1996 | Game Freak |
| 78 | EverQuest | 1999 | Verant Interactive, 989 Studios |
| 79 | Animal Crossing | 2001 | Nintendo |
| 80 | REZ | 2001 | United Game Artists |
| 81 | Battlefield 1942 | 2002 | Digital Illusions CE |
| 82 | The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker | 2003 | Nintendo |
| 83 | Team Fortress 2 | 2007 | Valve Corporation |
| 84 | Fallen London / Echo Bazaar | 2009 | Failbetter Games |
| 85 | Portal 2 | 2011 | Valve Corporation |
| 86 | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | 2011 | Bethesda Game Studios |
| 87 | Crusader Kings 2 | 2012 | Paradox Development Studio |
| 88 | Dear Esther | 2012 | The Chinese Room |
| 89 | Dishonored | 2012 | Arkane Studios |
| 90 | Caves of Qud | 2015 | Freehold Games |
| 91 | Undertale | 2015 | Toby Fox |
| 92 | Inside | 2016 | Playdead |
| 93 | Stardew Valley | 2016 | ConcernedApe |
| 94 | Night in the Woods | 2017 | Infinite Fall, Secret Lab |
| 95 | Space Invaders | 1978 | Taito |
| 96 | King’s Quest: Quest for the Crown | 1984 | Sierra On-Line |
| 97 | Lords of Midnight | 1984 | Mike Singleton |
| 98 | The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | 1984 | Infocom |
| 99 | Pool of Radiance | 1988 | Strategic Simulations (SSI) |
| 100 | Wing Commander | 1990 | Origin Systems |
Process & Errata
Ties are listed chronologically (oldest first).
Some typos were corrected (there is no such game as “Super Smash Bros 64” or “Mario 64”).
When games were released multi-platform in the same year, they were counted as the same entry (for example, Catherine for PS3 or Xbox).
If someone wrote ‘series’, it was included in the most-populated entry in that series. If an exact entry couldn’t be discerned, it was combined with its most populated version (for example, “Spelunky” was assumed to be the most-populated, “Spelunky (2008)”).
In cases where there were ties between two entries in a series as ‘most-populated’, the oldest version ‘won’ the tie (this only happened once).
Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow were counted as a single entry.
Despite only videogames being allowed, 6 people wrote in Magic: The Gathering, so we interpreted that as MTG Online.