Undertale (2015)

Games with great writing are somewhat of a rarity. Despite some standout titles, there are many that simply focus on mechanics or graphics instead. However, with Undertale, indie developer Toby Fox showed that with a brilliant story, next-gen graphics can fade into the background. Undertale isn't a particularly pretty game. Its style is that of minimal pixels, and they aren't always perfectly executed. None of that matters, because the unification of the game's atmosphere and art style is near-perfect, and it's all a vehicle for the world that Fox has built. In this game, you play a small girl in a mysterious underground world. Monsters who once lived in harmony with humans now inhabit it, sealed in by a magic barrier. It's the perfect breeding ground for an emotional story, but the game also imbues plenty of humor. Comedy is rarely done well in video games, but in this case, it's on-point. Undertale is full of jokes, parodies and random moments. It's present in dialogue, mechanics, and the actions you can take. It subverts RPG and story tropes at every corner, leaving you consistently blinking in disbelief. Despite this, Fox somehow manages to build incredible emotional connections to characters, be it your goat-like mother figure or a skeleton who's trying only half-heartedly to kill you. Add to that the branching endings and huge variation in enemies, and you've got yourself one of the biggest achievements in gaming history.