Fallout is a media franchise of post-apocalyptic role-playing video games—and later action role-playing games—created by Tim Cain, at Interplay Entertainment. The series is set during the 21st, 22nd and 23rd centuries, and its atompunk retrofuturistic setting and art work are influenced by the post-war culture of 1950s United States, with its combination of hope for the promises of technology and the lurking fear of nuclear annihilation. A forerunner of Fallout is Wasteland, a 1988 game developed by Interplay Productions to which the series is regarded as a spiritual successor.
Tekken is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The franchise also includes film and print adaptations.
The Elder Scrolls is a series of action role-playing video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series focuses on free-form gameplay in an open world. Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim all won Game of the Year awards from multiple outlets. The series has sold more than 58 million copies worldwide.
Hitman is a stealth video game franchise created by IO Interactive. In each installment, players assume the role of a cloned contract killer named Agent 47, who travels around the world to assassinate various targets that are assigned to him by the fictional International Contract Agency (ICA). Gameplay focuses on freedom of approach, with most levels placing the player in a large sandbox location where they have free rein to explore and find different ways to reach and eliminate their targets. Stealth is a major component of the gameplay and players are given various tools to accomplish their objectives, such as suppressed weaponry and the ability to take disguises, which allow 47 to blend in with non-player characters (NPCs) and bypass most restricted areas undetected.
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged. Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts in 1999, and is owned by Fandom, Inc. as of 2023.
Tactical role-playing games, also known as strategy role-playing games and in Japan as simulation RPGs, are a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical strategy video games. The formats of tactical RPGs are much like traditional tabletop role-playing games and strategy games in appearance, pacing, and rule structure. Likewise, early tabletop role-playing games are descended from skirmish wargames such as Chainmail, which were primarily concerned with combat.
Petroglyph Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Las Vegas. It was founded in 2003 by Joe Bostic, Michael Legg and Steve Tall, programmers formerly of Westwood Studios, after that company was closed down earlier that year.
Devil May Cry is an action-adventure game franchise created by Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by Capcom. The series centers on the demon hunter Dante and his efforts to thwart various demon invasions of Earth. Its gameplay consists of combat scenes in which the player must attempt to extend long chains of attacks, avoiding damage and exhibiting stylized combat by varying their attacks; this combat, along with time and the number of items collected and used, are considered in grading the player's performance. Across the series, new characters with unique skills are available.
Rift is a fantasy free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Trion Worlds. Rift takes place within the fantasy world of Telara. Two competing factions, composed of a selection of races and classes, battle each other and the enemies who emerge from dynamic "rifts". The game was released in March 2011. A port of the game, called Rift Mobile, was released for Android on January 25, 2012.
Valhalla Game Studios International Ltd. was a video game development, entertainment and holding company.
DmC: Devil May Cry is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Ninja Theory and published by Capcom. Released in January for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows, it is a reboot of the Devil May Cry series and set in a parallel universe to the mainline series.
Dark Souls is a 2011 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Namco Bandai Games. A spiritual successor to FromSoftware's Demon's Souls, the game is the first in the Dark Souls series. The game takes place in the kingdom of Lordran, where players assume the role of a cursed undead character who begins a pilgrimage to discover the fate of their kind. A port for Windows featuring additional content, known as the Prepare to Die Edition, was released in August 2012. It was also released for consoles under the subtitle Artorias of the Abyss in October 2012.
Warface is a free-to-play online first-person shooter video game developed by Crytek Kiev, co-produced by Crytek Seoul, and published by My.com. The full version of the game was released on 21 October 2013 as playable in North America and Europe. The game was developed with Crytek's in-house CryEngine 3. Warface centers around online firefights in player versus player (PvP) matches, with microtransactions allowing players to purchase weapons, equipment, and cosmetic gear. The Xbox 360 port, which was developed by Crytek UK, was discontinued in February 2015. The console version of the game was relaunched for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018 and on the Nintendo Switch in 2020. Members of the game's development team split from Crytek Kiev in February 2019 to form a new development studio, Blackwood Games, who will handle future development duties for Warface. A tactical shooter spin-off game named Warface: Breakout was released on 26 May 2020 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Trion Worlds was an American video game developer. It focuses primarily on MMOs, particularly of the MMORPG and MMORTS genres. The company was founded in 2006 by Lars Buttler and Jon Van Caneghem, who had each previously worked for NCSoft and left in 2009 to join Electronic Arts.
Defiance was a science fiction-themed persistent world massively multiplayer online third-person shooter developed by Trion Worlds. Defiance took place on a terraformed Earth several years into the future. It was a tie-in to the Syfy show of the same name. The game was released in April 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was also released on Steam. The game went free-to-play on June 4, 2014 for PC, August 14, 2014 for PS3 and November 18, 2014 for Xbox 360. Official game servers, community forums, and social media outlets were shut down by owning company Gamigo on April 29, 2021.
Guacamelee! is a Metroidvania action platforming video game developed and published by DrinkBox Studios, initially launched in April 2013 for platforms PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita and was later ported to Windows in August and to OS X and Linux in February 2014. The enhanced Super Turbo Championship Edition was released for Wii U, Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 in July 2014 and later on the Nintendo Switch in October 2018. The game is inspired by traditional Mexican culture and folklore, like alebrijes and Day of the Dead.
Dark Souls is a series of action role-playing games developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It began with the release of Dark Souls (2011) and has seen two sequels, Dark Souls II (2014) and Dark Souls III (2016). The series was created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and has received critical acclaim, with its high level of difficulty being among its most discussed aspects, while the first Dark Souls is often cited as one of the greatest games of all time. By 2022, the series had shipped over 33 million copies. Other FromSoftware games, including Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring, share several related concepts and are commonly grouped together as Soulsbornes.
The Harry Potter video games are a series of video games based on the Harry Potter franchise originally created by J. K. Rowling. Many of the Harry Potter-inspired video games are tie-ins to the novels and films of the same name. The main series features a video game for every novel, as well as two for the finale. There are multiple distinct versions for individual games.
Bayonetta is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya, developed by PlatinumGames, and owned by Sega. The franchise was introduced in 2009 with Bayonetta. Two sequels were released, Bayonetta 2 (2014) and Bayonetta 3 (2022), as well as a spinoff, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon (2023). In the games, players control a witch nicknamed Bayonetta as she wields dual pistols, shooters in her high heels, and long, magically transforming hair which becomes a deadly weapon.
