Online games span such a vast ecosystem of genres and experiences that it’s hard to know where to begin. Some gamers wax lyrical about PC games but won’t go near console games. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
Some console games have been reshaped into top-rated online games that people can access on their laptops or mobile phones. Online casinos have entered the conversation, too, as one of the most exciting growth areas of the gaming industry. We’ll try to cover as many bases as possible today so that you can broaden your gaming horizons with some of the best online games that have recently emerged on the market.
While the gaming world has become a universal market, in specific genres such as casino gaming, it can be better to stick to platforms with a presence in your country. If they have a license to operate in your country, you can go directly to the licensing provider if you have any issues.
If the casino has an obscure license from a country on the other side of the world to you, it’ll be more problematic to raise issues and get them resolved. CasinoMeister explains this in more detail and has compiled a list of UK, Canadian, New Zealand and European casinos so you can better understand what we mean.
Tried And Tested Classics
Just because we’re recommending games today doesn’t mean that they’re all new titles; some online games are rated highly because of their longstanding presence within the industry and because people still play them years after they were released – in some cases, decades after they first became available.
League of Legends
If one game could stake a claim as the definitive, quintessential mobile app game that kickstarted an entirely new generation of gaming companies diverting their attention to mobile design, it would be League of Legends.
Released in 2009, this free-to-play game revolutionized the gaming market with its innovative use of microtransactions. Remarkably, the game is still an enormous hit over 15 years later. While other titles might have more of a contemporary feel, it remains one of the top-rated online games of the 2010s and continues to attract millions of players a day.
Counter-Strike 2
Valve may not have realized they had created a money machine when they first released Counter-Strike. It became one of the best-selling first-person shooter games in the world and has also become one of the top esports markets.
Packed stadiums full of professional gamers and fans, teams battling it out for mega prizes in the multimillion-dollar range – it’s an idea that would’ve been laughed off as a pipe dream 20 years ago, but you only need to browse through a list of the top 10 esports venues in the world to get an idea of just how enormous this market has become.
CS2 isn’t the only top-rated online game to try out. If you’re a fan of these types of games, there’s also Call of Duty, which has been one of the most popular online games ever since the birth of online console gaming in the late noughties.
Grand Theft Auto V
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 30 years, we imagine you have played, or at least heard of, the iconic GTA franchise. Despite its 2013 release, GTA V has become one of the highest-rated games ever and still enjoys staggering popularity.
Its online facility has generated billions in profit for Rockstar Games, so it’s not surprising that they took so long to announce GTA 6. It’s also not a surprise that they have barely said anything else for over a year since the trailer was released in December 2023. Hopefully, there will be a bit more news on GTA 6 soon, considering it is meant to be released at some point this year – at least according to the first trailer.
Sports games
If you’re a sucker for a good sports game, keep an eye out for some of the deals you can find on the PS and Xbox stores. I got 60% off FC 25 as part of a Hot Deal. This can fluctuate – sometimes it’ll be 10% off, sometimes you can get games at half-price.
There are better-rated FIFA games and far better FIFA games out there, in my personal opinion, but as a collective catalog of soccer games, it’s the gold standard. It remains the dominant title in the sector, and if you can get it for a cut-rate price, why not give it a go?
For those who prefer US-style sports, NBA 2K is always a solid bet, as is NFL Madden. With both games seeing a shiny new update this year, NBA 2K25 is better and rates higher than a couple of other 2K games that fell short of the mark this decade. But Madden always ranks highly, and it certainly helps if EA Sports has an unlimited budget every year to churn out a new version of it, too.
Ideal Of The Rest
In no particular order, here’s a quickfire list of games to check out if you’re stuck for something to do today:
- Online chess is free to play and is one of the most played online games in the world.
- Wordle – we all remember just how big Wordle was back in 2022, but believe it or not, some people still play it. You can access it on the NY Times website, but dozens of other variants now exist.
- Quordle, Factle, Heardle and Globle are some of the spin-offs rated highly by the Wordle community.
- Minecraft.
- Valorant.
Final Thoughts
We’ve covered a lot today, whether you fancy a highly-rated classic, top-rated free puzzle game or are looking for something with a tried and tested reputation, such as EA Sports’ most recognizable titles.
Online gaming has limitless potential; there are thousands of games that gamers will consider top-rated titles, but even scratching the surface today should indicate just how many games are out there to sink your teeth into.