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Essays 07 July 2021, 16:40

author: Michael Pajda

Portal 2. The most popular classic single-player games 2021

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  1. Age: almost 11 years
  2. Genre: action puzzle game
  3. Peak number of concurrent players last month: 6011

We all know that Valve studio doesn't make games with three in the title, and even when they do, they put "Alyx" in there instead of the number "3". This is why Portal 2, although great and sold very well, and is still popular today, did not live to see a continuation. Yes, it defies common sense, and Ubisoft, for example, would have just rebooted the series, because after the tenth installment players would have felt fed up with the formula.

Perhaps because Portal stopped at two installments, thousands of people are still logging on to complete another level full of logical challenges. Let's recall that Portal 2 offered a mechanic for creating the titular portals. We could place them on the walls (maximum two pieces) and after entering one portal we would instantly appear in the other.

Simple, but it created great opportunities to play with physics. The next stages were usually frightening at first - "I don't understand anything, what am I supposed to do?" - but they were usually so well designed that an extremely satisfying enlightenment came just moments later. It's really hard to be surprised by those who are playing Portal 2 11 years after its release.

  1. Portal 2 in our encyclopedia

GTA San Andreas

  1. Age: over 16 years
  2. Genre: action sandbox
  3. Peak number of concurrent players last month: 2027

Over the past 16 years, the GTA series has made tremendous progress, although it's fair to say that since 2013 and the release of GTAV, its development has slowed down considerably. Versions for newer consoles (we're talking Xbox One and PlayStation 4) changed a lot in the title's setting, but let's also remember that it's been a while since then. Either way, San Andreas is still stuck deep in the past, falling two major technological leaps behind. And yet there is still no shortage of people willing to spend hours from their lives to learn the stories of CJ, Big Smoke and the rest of the Grove Street family.

In its time, San Andreas was a stunner with the sheer size of the map, the number of buildings, the people on the sidewalks, and the side activities available. In addition to the missions themselves, which make up a decent chunk of the plot, here we could get fat by eating at fast food joints, lose weight at the gym, work out at the dojo, learn to pilot airplanes, catch criminals, drive a cab, and so on and so forth.

At the moment I'm writing these words, San Andreas is being played by over 1300 people on Steam alone, and let's add that it's not the only platform where this production is available. It can even be played on smartphones (preferably with an external controller), which further emphasizes how old-fashioned the title is.

  1. GTA San Andreas in our encyclopedia
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Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

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