There are video games that, beyond their quality, have become part of our industry’s history by marking a turning point in crucial aspects, consequently rising to revolutionary status.
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Graphic improvements, inventing new gameplay genres, renewing technologies, modifying the way we understand interaction… There are many ways in which a video game can immortalize itself and, in the process, change the medium forever.
However, not all those titles that have had a significant impact on the historical development of video games have been properly recognized by the public, usually due to a lack of awareness.
Therefore, to pay tribute to those games that, although well-regarded, are not properly described for their influence, I invite you to read this list of ten PS3 games that shaped modern gaming more than players realized.
10
Warhawk
Herald to the Digital Age
While it’s the norm today, purely digital releases used to be rare, as were exclusively multiplayer console games, but Warhawk combined both rarities into a single product.
Without a single-player campaign, it was a release that marked PlayStation history as the first game available both physically and digitally on the PlayStation Network, paving the way for the everyday experience we have today.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a precursor to the games-as-a-service concept that has become so popular, though it was a pioneer in achieving success outside the mainstream physical market, receiving very positive reviews from both the public and critics.
I never understood its appeal, mainly because I was never a fan of vehicular combat, but Warhawk showed that a video game could be successful without a story mode and by being digital, breaking the era’s standards in the process.
9
MAG (Massive Action Game)
The Unrecognized Precursor of Battle Royale
Another phenomenon that was nonexistent at the time was the Battle Royale genre, which found an unrecognized predecessor in MAG (Massive Action Game), thanks to its massive multiplayer offering.
Unlike the common denominator, this title stood out by offering support for an incredible 256 simultaneous users, divided into squads that allowed for battles so big that it definitely lived up to its name.
As a first-person shooter, it was the most standard and common video game you could find, indistinguishable from the dozens of Call of Duty and Battlefield clones, but when you added the impressive structure of its servers, the feeling changed entirely.
It wouldn’t be until many years later that the concept would be modernized and refined into the state we know today, so MAG was ahead of the trend by almost a decade, only to be forgotten over time.
8
3D Dot Game Heroes
Pioneer of Voxels
FromSoftware has historically been involved in a plethora of projects that extend far beyond Soulsborne games, and its role as publisher of 3D Dot Game Heroes is a testament to this.
Before titans like Minecraft had taken hold and the first glimpses of Hytale appeared, this title, while not the first or most prominent voxel game, brought the genre with cutting-edge technology to a mainstream and accessible ecosystem like the PlayStation 3.
Designed to highlight high-definition rendering of block-based 3D graphics, it set a precedent within this specific niche thanks to its dynamism and, above all, its legitimacy, both for having a company like FromSoftware behind it and for breaking the genre’s tacit exclusivity with PCs.
It’s a hidden gem that receives little attention, but 3D Dot Game Heroes‘ contribution to reinforcing the viability of voxel games in ecosystems beyond hyper-specific audiences is undeniable.
7
Gran Turismo 5
An Unattainable Realism
For years, the racing genre was notably dominated by arcade games, with franchises like Need for Speed leading the way, until Polyphony Digital released Gran Turismo 5 and completely revolutionized the vehicle scene.
As the series’ first title to feature native 1080p resolution, it introduced real-time mechanical and external damage modeling with deformation based on the speed and angle of impacts, creating a level of realism previously unmatched.
You could flip any of the more than 1,000 cars, watch them be completely destroyed, use the cockpit camera to drive from inside the vehicles… It became the benchmark for driving simulators, and since then, arcade racing hasn’t regained its footing.
I don’t know if it’s for the better that the racing genre has shifted so much towards this variant, though we can certainly attribute this significant change to Gran Turismo 5.
6
LittleBigPlanet
The modding community, especially in the PC ecosystem, has been a fundamental part of video game development, with numerous titles existing today precisely thanks to its influence, which eventually brought us to LittleBigPlanet.
Media Molecule and Sony understood that, instead of chasing away users who used video games to create their own experiences, they needed to provide them with the tools to unleash their creativity, increasing the hours of fun at no cost to the developer.
Consequently, it became one of the first major IPs to embrace community-generated content, fully integrating it into its core mechanics and setting an indescribably positive precedent for years to come.
While the pioneers in this area were on PC, LittleBigPlanet demonstrated that such tools could also be made accessible for consoles, further reducing studios’ reluctance to increasingly support mods in their creations.
5
inFAMOUS
Morality and Superheroes
Being among the most missed series by PlayStation console owners, inFAMOUS was a defining title of the seventh generation for two groups in particular: superhero games and titles with morality systems.
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While Sucker Punch didn’t invent either concept, they did create the framework many developers would consciously or unconsciously adopt to create experiences with superhuman protagonists or adventures where decision-making played a prominent role.
The emphasis on movement during open-world exploration and narrative tones that shifted depending on whether you were good or evil didn’t become so common until after the rise of Cole MacGrath, who, however, is remembered only through nostalgia.
While inFAMOUS was never lauded as among the best franchises in history or anything close to it, it did help shape the modern version of an entire genre and mechanic, which represents a considerable impact.
4
Heavy Rain
More Narrative than Gameplay
With the necessary disclaimer that I’m not at all a fan of Quantic Dream’s work, I think it’s fair to say Heavy Rain marked a turning point for narrative-driven video games.
While the popularization of including Hollywood actors, an increasingly common practice among AAA games, can be attributed to Beyond: Two Souls, it was the origami killer’s story that did something more fundamental: it brought decision-based games back into the public eye.
For years, experimentation with the growing mechanical possibilities of the early 2000s largely sidelined the narrative potential of video games, so Heavy Rain changed the landscape by focusing exclusively on the story and the dozens of branching paths based on the player’s choices.
Graphic adventures, visual novels, and story-driven games became relevant again within their respective niches, and although Heavy Rain is not solely responsible, it did showcase the maturity these genres conceal behind their simple gameplay approaches.
3
The Last of Us
Art Goes Mainstream
It’s a bit of a cheat to include The Last of Us on this list because I think we’re all aware of its quality and influence, though I feel that little is said about the specific reason why Joel and Ellie figure so prominently in the collective imagination.
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I’ve never considered this game the best in any of the aspects it addresses, as I believe there are better third-person shooters, better stories, better characters, better post-apocalyptic worlds, and so on, but where it truly shines is in its ability to captivate.
Although this debate continues today, it was even more common for people to dismiss video games as mere toys at the beginning of the last decade, so The Last of Us was, for many, their first real introduction to what video games can truly be.
Dark stories, morally ambiguous protagonists, outstanding art direction, and iconic soundtracks existed long before this title, but its talent for bringing them all together in a digestible way for casual gamers completely changed Sony’s approach to exclusives.
Since The Last of Us, very few of the Japanese company’s first-party titles aren’t third-person action games with a strong cinematic feel, and that’s precisely because it fulfilled the dream of every multinational video game developer: to be a AAA title that appeals to the real casual audience.
2
Journey
Indie Games Enter the Big Stage
When the indie scene began to emerge, computers were the only fertile ground for indie games, at least until the arrival of Xbox Live Arcade. Years passed before a new platform joined the ecosystem, specifically in 2012, when Sony partnered with thatgamecompany to publish Journey.
Although this title is undoubtedly one of the pioneers of modern indie gaming, showcasing the quality of smaller projects and, even more importantly, their communicative power as works of art, its greatest impact came from opening the PlayStation to indie games.
Certainly, it was never, and still isn’t, a particularly deep relationship, though it marked the starting point for regularizing independent releases beyond Steam, demonstrating indie games have a place on consoles, even from a commercial perspective.
Today, multiplatform releases for indie games are taken for granted, but this wasn’t always the case. Journey helped lay the foundation for the acceptance of the independent title as valuable for users, cementing the construction of the colossus they are today.
1
Demon’s Souls
And the Industry was Never the Same
Anyone who truly loves video games understands the indescribable influence Demon’s Souls has had on the evolution of the interactive industry from 2009 to the present day, yet very few truly love video games.
I believe that the title that really ignited passions and became revolutionary was Dark Souls, but it’s logical to attribute a similar character to its predecessor, which paved the way for the prodigal son to eventually run.
No other PlayStation 3 exclusive, directly or indirectly, has transformed the future of the video game industry as much as Demon’s Souls, whose confusing narrative, demanding gameplay, intricate level design, and multiplayer integrated into the campaign completely changed ARPGs.
Today, it not only helped invent a genre, Soulslike games, but it has permeated the entire industry. From long-running franchises to indie projects, from FPS games to Metroidvanias, FromSoftware’s work resonated so deeply within the industry that its influence is still felt today.
Therefore, Demon’s Souls isn’t the best game on the list, nor the most popular, nor the most revolutionary, but it is the most influential. Few titles have altered the course of video games as much as this one, because even though its main contribution is being the foundation for Dark Souls, that alone is enough to make it truly groundbreaking.
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