Video game publisherBethesdais a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media, predominantly known for its open-world RPG games. Such as theElder ScrollsandFalloutseries.
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These AAA titles are almost certainly Microsoft’s main motivation behind their $7.5 Billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media. The eye-watering amount of money is a clear intention of Microsoft’s pursuit to attract consumers to theircross-platform Game Pass service. Microsoft’s faith in ZeniMax Media and Bethesda is a testament to the excellent game’s that the company has published over the years,
It’s not just RPG game’s that Bethesda publishes though. The company has released numerous fantastic games that fall under many of gaming’s different genres.
10The Evil Within
The Evil Withinwas developed by Tango Gameworks and released in 2014. The game had many similarities toResident Evil 4.Indicative of the creator of theResident Evilseries, Shinji Mikami, directing the game.
The Evil Withinwas praised for its excellent horror atmosphere but criticized for having a lackluster and unnecessarily convoluted story. The game was successful commercially though and received a sequel three years later.
9Prey
Although the name may suggest that Bethesda was hopping on the trend of remastering old games,Preyis not a remake of the 2006Preyreleased by 2K Games. Instead, it is a re-telling and re-creation of the original.
Preyis a first-person shooter but differentiates itself from others in the genre by dabbling in other genres too. Whereas most FPS titles are all-action gunfights,Preyimplements stealth and Bethesda’s trademark RPG elements into the game. Furthermore,Preyfeatured a surprisingly large open-world for players to explore. Something that is uncommon in FPS titles.
8The Evil Within 2
Bethesda again teamed up with Tango Gameworks to makeThe Evil Within 2. The second game also struggled to create a compelling narrative, with numerous characters who were seemingly devoid of a personality. But it did improve on its predecessor in numerous other ways.
The most notable improvement was the game’s larger open-world to explore, with numerous side quests available. Despite the increase in size, Tango Gameworks still ensured that every area had the same wonderfully atmospheric setting.
7Wolfenstein: The New Order
After the release ofWolfensteinin 2009, Bethesda receivedWolfenstein’s publishing rights from Activision. Bethesda’s first game in the series released in 2014Wolfenstein: The New Order.
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Wolfenstein: The New Ordertakes place in an alternative timeline where the Nazis were victorious in WW2. The game breathed some much-needed life back intotheWolfensteinseriesafter Activision’s 2009Wolfensteinfailed to impress.
6Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
Bethesda once again teamed up with MachieneGames to releaseWolfenstein: The Old Blood,a stand-alone expansion to its predecessor. As the opposing title suggests,The Old Bloodis a prequel toThe New Order.
MachineGames didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken and kept the gameplay similar toThe New Order. There were a few notable changes inThe Old Bloodthough, most notably the increased focus on fast-paced action gameplay. The change of pacing bought the series back to its roots and differentiated it from its predecessor.
5Dishonored 2
Following the success ofthe originalDishonored, Bethesda released a sequel four years later.Dishonored 2gave the first game’s protagonist Corvo Attano a voice and made Emily Kaldwin, now an adult, a playable character.
Arkane Studios bought back the stealth gameplay from the first game, but drastically changed the game’s Chaos system. Furthermore,Dishonored 2was significantly more difficult than the first game, as many felt that the first game had difficulty issues. Even though there were difficulty settings, approaching the game with a focus on stealth made the first game too easy for many.
Dishonored 2improved this, with smarter and more observant AI in the lower difficulty settings.
4Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Bethesda’s thirdWolfensteingameThe New Colossusis a direct sequel toThe New Order. William Blazkowicz returns to fight Nazis once again in his best adventure yet.
MachineGames perfected the formula that they had created withWolfenstein: The New OrderandThe New Colossusdeservedly won multiple end of year awards. Awards includedIGN’s Best Shooterand The Game Awards’Best Action Game.
Interestingly, Bethesda’sPreywas also nominated for both of the aforementioned awards.
3Doom
The most influential FPS series of all timereceived another reboot in 2016. The game could’ve been responsible for theDoomseries going stale if it flopped. But id Software and Bethesda were able to create an excellent game that strapped a rocket to the series and fired it back to the forefront of the gaming industry.
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Doomdidn’t try to appeal to modern audiences by adding RPG elements or an overbearing story. Instead, id Software provided players with the non-stop action-pact gameplay that the series is known for.
2Doom Eternal
The success of the aforementionedDoomencouraged fans that a new game would soon arrive.A sequel did indeed follow at the start of 2020, with id Software and Bethesda again teaming up to createDoom Eternal.
Doom Eternaldidn’t try to reinvent the wheel and again kept to the series' traditional action gameplay. The game did lean into a more story-heavy narrative than the previous title, but it didn’t deter from the gameplay.
An expansion was released on the 20th of October 2020,The Ancient Gods - Part One. The DLC gave players the chance to slay some more demons just in time for Halloween.
1Dishonored
Arkadia Studios was relatively unknown before the release ofDishonored. The company had just two main console releases to its name,Arx Fatalis, andDark Messiah of Might and Magicthat released in 2002 and 2006 respectively.
Arx Fataliswas admired by Bethesda though, and the company reached out to Arkadia Studios to createDishonored. Bethesda’s punt was a great one, asDishonoredwas a surprise hit in 2012. The game offered some of the best stealth gameplay available on the Xbox 360 and PS3, and Arkadia Studios have since worked on numerous other projects with Bethesda.
Dishonoredwon the BAFTA for Best Game in 2013. Beating other critically acclaimed titles likeFar Cry 3andJourney.
