8) Hearthstone
Digital card games are all the rave these days, and Blizzard’s Hearthstone has arguably become the industry standard for the genre. Hearthstone draws on characters from across the immensely popular Warcraft franchise, and skillfully weaves them into an entertaining gameplay experience.
Hearthstone’s brilliance is that it doesn’t bog players down with overly complex rule-based gameplay. Yet equally, this isn’t a game in which you can just throw out cards and rely on luck to win. It’s accessible, but there’s loads of variety and flexibility in its systems to reward experienced players. It was among the first digital card games that really used animations to great effect. It’s just a blast to play, with awesome sound effects and vibrant graphics that make everything feel weighty and satisfying.
Notably, consider that card games would have been considered a niche ten years ago, but Blizzard has somehow made a game that has been enjoyed by over seventy million people since it launched. Not so niche anymore, then…
