10 Best Video Game Cover Arts From The Last Decade

Cover art for video games has had a tough time getting the recognition it deserves over the last ten years. This is predominantly due to the gaming industry's continued transition into the digital world, as gamers have been spending less time browsing their local game shop and more time using online stores from the comfort of their own h


Rebooting a beloved turn-based strategy franchise is no small feat. Firaxis did a fantastic job streamlining the original UFO Defense with XCOM: Enemy Unknown without compromising on moment-to-moment strategy. It took almost the entire development cycle to get here, howe


Breath of the Wild 's artistic cover gives players a glimpse at the game's beauty, making them want to explore the world being shown and venture to the ominous castle that Link's body language clearly shows has his full attent


However, the next ten years may see the direction change once again, as cover art is regaining importance thanks to the prominent rise of Game Pass and other subscription services. With EA Play included, slg Game community Pass now has over 200 games available to players, giving cover art newfound importance as games need to find ways to stand out from the cr

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is regarded by some to have the greatest open-world in the genre's history. It's easy to see why, as Breath of the Wild 's map wastes little space despite its enormous size, with things to do and see around every cor

XCOM 2 is not a game for those who think about what’s going on in a single instance. Everyone will need to think three turns ahead in every aspect of the campaign, and even then, it’s mostly about luck, creating an incredibly random experience in the process. Even from the beginning, players believing they’ll be able to keep everyone alive will run into a harsh reality check, whether they’re on the easiest or hardest difficulty settings. It’s not primarily the combat that can be difficult though, it’s the world management that can be a bit stressful. Similar to Enemy Unknown, there’s a time component to XCOM 2, ensuring you don’t take your sweet time to level up characters and accept every side mission that becomes available. There will be crucial choices to be made, but instead of ruining reputations based on countries and risking resources, these are classified as larger reaching outcomes to alien progression in the world. There’s so many systems at play that anyone could easily see themselves overwhelmed, and it doesn’t help that there’s an unfortunate lack of explanation on the various mechanics.


The game purposefully left the fate of Doctor Vahlen, the chief scientist from Enemy Unknown , a mystery throughout the game. While she was mentioned briefly, it looks like XCOM have been unable to establish communication with her. In the prequel novel for XCOM 2 , it was revealed that Vahlen escaped a brutal ADVENT attack on a research outpost by taking a boat to the sea. We have little doubt that Firaxis left her fate open for a reason, and we suspect she has been one of the first to work out that a new threat is due to emerge from the dep

The story takes place decades after the XCOM: Enemy Unknown with the cannon conclusion being the so called "bad" ending. Humanity, as one would expect, suffered an unmeasurable loss being that it was unable to stop the alien invasion and has since been taken over, but not necessarily to the degree a lot of fiction tends to lean towards. This isn’t aliens downright enslaving humanity, but instead helping it off the ground by introducing new and improved technology, among other things. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though, as there are always conspiracies, and being an alien force, their intentions aren’t entirely for humanity’s sake. We liken them towards Nazis in that it’s a far more controlled and brutal way of ruling where, if someone steps out of line, they won’t hesitate to end them, whereas if you’re contributing member of society, they will leave you alone for the most part. They also don’t really have much of a regard for human rights or casualties where they’re willing to experiment on people without any regard for their wellbeing. Because of this new line of dictatorship from the alien invaders, there is a rebellion that has formed. Unfortunately, the sect you become a part of is small, very small, so it’s difficult to make a meaningful impact like you did in the original game. Your resources are limited, your time is short and your man power is usually understaffed. It’s a grueling situation, and for that, the story feels far more intriguing as you progress.


Thanks to their shotguns and melee weapons, Rangers do best when in the middle of the action. Run and Gun allows them to dash, moving twice as far as normal which normally costs two actions. This can be great for flanking an enemy or catching a retreating enemy to finish the

While the hand-drawn art style might be the first thing that players will notice in this Viking-themed SRPG, the story definitely plays a major role in keeping fans hooked all the way to the end as w