Gaming

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Choo-Choo Charles

A game about a spider with a train's body that hunts you across an island while you upgrade your own, smaller train, whose October 2021 trailer went viral for its premise alone and whose December 2022 release was streamed by everyone for roughly a fortnight. The record notes the developer was one man in his early twenties who made the trailer before most of the game.

▸ 2021peak 2022†2023

☠ Deadn.✎ 4

Crab Game

A free multiplayer game made in a few weeks by a Norwegian YouTuber as an unlicensed copy of Squid Game's challenges, released on Steam in October 2021 while the series was at its peak and played by over a hundred thousand people at once. The record notes that the game's name was a legal joke, that it was a streamer favourite for two months and that it faded when the series did.

▸ 2021peak 2021†2022

● Aliven.✎ 3

Cruelty Squad

A first-person shooter about a corporate assassin, drawn in colours that hurt and a user interface designed to look like a mistake, released in 2021 by a Finnish artist and the year's cult game for people who prefer their satire hostile. The record notes that the game's stock market, organ trading and fishing were all real systems and that the ugliness was the review most players led with.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 4

Diamond Hands

Refusing to sell whatever happens, as a virtue. January 2021, a hearing in Congress, and a film; all three were over by the year's end.

▸ 2021peak 2021†2021

● Aliven.✎ 3

Dorfromantik

A tile-laying game in which the player builds a landscape of villages, forests and rivers with no enemies and no clock, released into early access in March 2021 by four German students and winner of the German Computer Game Award in 2022. The record notes that it was the gentlest game on Steam's charts that spring, and that its name means roughly 'village romance'.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Dyson Sphere Program

A factory game across an entire star system, in which the goal is to surround a sun with solar collectors, released into early access in January 2021 by five developers in Chongqing and selling 200,000 copies in its first four days, one of the first Chinese-made games to become a Steam hit worldwide. The record notes that Factorio players took it as a sequel that was not theirs, and were glad of it.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach

The first free-roaming entry in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, set in a neon shopping mall with a child and a friendly bear, released in December 2021 in a state bugged enough that the bugs became the content, and still one of the year's most-watched horror games. The record notes that the fandom treated the glitches as lore, and that the 2023 DLC, Ruin, was received as the game the launch should have been.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Forza Horizon 5

Playground's open-world Mexico racing game, released in November 2021 to ten million players in its first week, the biggest launch of any Xbox game, mostly through Game Pass. The record's entry for the game that proved the subscription model could launch a blockbuster, and for its 2025 arrival on PlayStation, where it topped the store of the rival console.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Goose Goose Duck

A free social deduction game in the Among Us mould, with geese instead of crew and ducks as the traitors, released in October 2021 to a small audience and, in January 2023, one of the most-played games on Steam with over 700,000 concurrent players after a member of BTS was seen playing it on a live stream. The record notes that Among Us never reached that Steam figure, and that a K-pop singer did it by accident.

▸ 2021peak 2023†2023

● Aliven.✎ 3

Gorilla Tag

A VR game in which you are a gorilla, you have no legs, and you move by flapping your arms, played by an enormous number of children who scream in it. The record's entry for the game every parent has heard through a wall.

▸ 2021peak 2024still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Inscryption

A card game played against a man in a dark cabin that turns out to be several games and a story about a haunted disc, released in October 2021 and spread by the rule that nobody was allowed to say what happens after the first act. The record notes that it became a streaming hit for exactly the reason a normal card game does not: viewers who had finished it watched to see the streamer's face.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

It Takes Two

A two-player game about a divorcing couple turned into dolls by their daughter's wish, released in March 2021 and the first co-op-only title to win Game of the Year, with over twenty million copies sold by 2024 to couples, siblings and streamers who needed a second player and a story to shout through. The record notes that its Friend's Pass, one purchase for two people, was the model that its successor copied.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Loop Hero

A game in which a hero walks a loop automatically and the player builds the world around the road with cards, released in March 2021 by a small Russian team and selling half a million copies in its first week. The record notes it as an early example of the 'idle but not idle' genre and files the developers' public advice, given to compatriots who could not buy it, to pirate it.

▸ 2021peak 2021†2021

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Muck

A free survival roguelike released in June 2021 by the YouTuber Dani after a commenter told him he could not make a survival game, played by several hundred thousand people in a month and streamed by most of the people who would later stream Crab Game. The record notes it as the highest-profile game ever made to win an argument on the internet.

▸ 2021peak 2021†2021

◐ Dyingn.✎ 4

Pet Simulator X

A Roblox game of collecting pets that collect coins that buy eggs that hatch pets, with a trading economy built around 'Huge' pets of enormous virtual value. The record's entry for the platform's collectible bubble: in 2022 it was among the most-played games on Roblox, a Huge pet could be worth more than a console in Robux, and a short-lived NFT tie-in produced the first serious backlash the studio had seen.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Pokémon Unite

A five-a-side arena game in which teams of Pokémon score points in goals, made by Tencent's TiMi studio for Nintendo's most valuable brand. The record's entry for the announcement that was booed: its 2020 reveal drew the most disliked video in the franchise's history, and then the 2021 release was played by tens of millions and made the format's first year a case study in fans changing their minds.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Poppy Playtime

An episodic horror game set in an abandoned toy factory, released in October 2021 by a small American studio and made famous by Huggy Wuggy, a blue fanged mascot that jumped from YouTube to primary-school playgrounds fast enough for British police forces and schools to issue warnings about it in spring 2022. The record notes that the warnings were the best advert the game ever had.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

PowerWash Simulator

A game in which you clean dirt off things with a pressure washer and nothing goes wrong, released into early access in May 2021 by a Brighton studio and a Game Pass hit by the full release in July 2022. The record files it as the clearest case of the cosy-game moment: a job simulator with no failure state, played by people at the end of a day of failure states.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Project Zomboid (Build 41)

The December 2021 update that added multiplayer to an isometric zombie survival game in development since 2011, and the boom that followed: a title with a few thousand players reaching over sixty thousand at once and a place on Twitch for months. The record notes the game's opening line, 'This is how you died', and that the boom was made of people finding out how.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Ready or Not

A tactical shooter in which a SWAT team clears buildings, released into early access in December 2021 and briefly the most argued-about game on Steam after it vanished for a weekend, its publisher dropped it and a clumsy statement about a school level circulated. The record notes it sold in the millions regardless, and that the 1.0 in December 2023 and a censored console version in 2025 restarted the arguments.

▸ 2021peak 2023still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Resident Evil Village

Capcom's 2021 Resident Evil, whose January showcase introduced Lady Dimitrescu, a nine-and-a-half-foot vampire aristocrat who became the most-drawn game character of the year four months before the game was out. The record's entry for a launch carried by one character's height, which Capcom's art director confirmed to the internet's satisfaction.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Rounds

A one-on-one shooter in which the loser of each round picks a card that changes their character, so that the game escalates until both players are absurd, released on 1 April 2021 by the Swedish studio behind Totally Accurate Battle Simulator and adopted by streaming pairs as the fairest way to fall out. The record notes that the losing player always wins something, which is why it lasted.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Royal Match

A match-three puzzle of a king in mild peril, made in Istanbul, that overtook Candy Crush as the top-grossing puzzle game in 2024. The record's entry for the game that ended a decade-long reign: its adverts of King Robert drowning, freezing and being chased were everywhere, its developer became one of Europe's most valuable studios, and a genre most people assumed had finished was shown to have room at the top.

▸ 2021peak 2024still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

Skill Issue

The reply to any complaint that something is hard: 'skill issue'. From gaming into everything — a hard exam, a bad date, the weather — and the record's entry for the most efficient dismissal the internet has produced since 'cope'.

▸ 2021peak 2023still up

☠ Deadn.

Squid Game

A Korean drama about debt and death games, watched by 142 million households. Died the week a fast-food chain announced tie-in tracksuits.

▸ 2021peak 2021†2022

☠ Deadn.✎ 4

Squid Game (Roblox)

Not one game but hundreds: the wave of Roblox recreations of the Netflix series that appeared within days of its September 2021 release, with Red Light Green Light, glass bridges and honeycomb. The record's entry for the fastest adaptation it has on file, made by children, for children, of a show rated for adults, and played by tens of millions before any licence-holder had drafted an email.

▸ 2021peak 2021†2022

● Aliven.✎ 4

Stumble Guys

A phone battle royale of obstacle courses for thirty-two wobbling players, released as an open Fall Guys imitation and installed on more phones than the game it copied. The record's entry for the clone that won: in 2022 it was among the most-downloaded games in the world, it was bought by an American publisher that year, and in playgrounds across Europe and Latin America it was the game with the falling people.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Subathon Record

The subscriber count that a subathon is trying to break, and the record's entry for the fact that a month of not turning off a camera has become a competitive sport with a leaderboard. Ludwig set it in 2021; Kai Cenat has broken his own three times since.

▸ 2021peak 2025still up

● Alivephr.✎ 2

Touch Grass (Gaming)

The record has touch grass. This is its gaming form: said in chat to a player who has been online long enough to have opinions, and, as of 2024, an actual emote and a sound. Filed for the moment an insult became a UI element.

▸ 2021peak 2023still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Unpacking

A puzzle game in which you unpack boxes in eight homes across a woman's life and learn who she is from where she puts her mug, released in November 2021 by a small Australian studio and made famous by one level in which her belongings do not fit in a boyfriend's flat. The record notes that the diploma going under the bed was discussed on social media like a plot twist.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Valheim

A Viking survival game made by five people in Sweden, released into early access in February 2021 and selling five million copies in its first month while the developers were still on their old day jobs' notice periods. The record notes that half a million people were on it at once, most of them building a longhouse they did not need and dying to a troll in a swamp.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Vampire Survivors

A game that costs a few pounds, plays for thirty minutes and asks nothing of you except walking away from bats, released into early access in December 2021 by a single developer and spreading through Steam by word of mouth until it had a genre named after it. The record notes that the survivors-like is the only genre named after a game that itself was not about vampires.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 4

All Star Tower Defense

A Roblox tower-defence game whose towers are unlicensed anime characters with slightly changed names, summoned by gacha rolls. The record's entry for the anime-gacha-tower-defence formula that dominated the platform's charts in 2021: its code drops were events, its summon rates were argued over like a lottery, and it made 'which units are meta' a question a nine-year-old could answer in detail.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Nintendo's island-life game, released on 20 March 2020 as the world went indoors, which became the lockdown's shared living room: turnip prices, museum donations and virtual weddings. The record files it as the game that sold out a console because people needed somewhere to go.

▸ 2020peak 2020still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Bugsnax

A game about an island where the animals are made of food, revealed in June 2020 with a Kero Kero Bonito song that the internet could not stop singing, and released as a free PlayStation Plus title with the PS5 in November 2020. The record files it as the game that was a meme five months before anyone could play it, and notes that the game turned out darker than the song.

▸ 2020peak 2020†2021

● Aliven.✎ 4

Call of Duty: Warzone

Activision's free battle royale, released on 10 March 2020, one week before most of the world was told to stay indoors. Verdansk became the lockdown's most-visited city, the game passed 100 million players inside a year, and its removal in 2021 was mourned so loudly that Activision brought it back in April 2025 to a record player surge.

▸ 2020peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 2

Cope and Seethe

The instruction to an opponent who has lost an argument: cope, then seethe, then — in the full version — dilate. A forum insult that lost its worst part on the way to the mainstream and kept the first two as a way to gloat.

▸ 2020peak 2022still up

↺ Undeadn.✎ 4

Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt's Night City role-playing game, announced in 2012, starring Keanu Reeves from 2019 and released in December 2020 in a state that got it removed from the PlayStation Store within a week. The record's entry for the biggest launch disaster of its era, and for its recovery: the Edgerunners anime in 2022, the 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty in 2023.

▸ 2020peak 2020†2021

● Aliven.✎ 3

Dead by Daylight Revival

The second boom of a 2016 asymmetric horror game in which four survivors repair generators while one killer hunts them, driven by the 2020 lockdowns, a Silent Hill chapter in June 2020 and a Resident Evil one a year later, until it passed a hundred thousand concurrent Steam players and became the place licensed horror characters go to keep working. The record's entry for a game that outlived its release cycle.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Deep Rock Galactic

A co-operative shooter in which four dwarves are dropped into a cave, mine minerals, shoot bugs and shout 'Rock and Stone' at each other, released in full in May 2020 and growing steadily until a PlayStation Plus release in January 2022 doubled its audience. The record notes it as the rare co-op game whose community became known for being pleasant, which the salute was designed to encourage.

▸ 2020peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Discord Mod

The stereotype: a volunteer moderator with too much power over too small a kingdom, drawn as a specific wojak and referenced in every argument about online authority since 2020. In 2026 the Doorbell Chud was called one and the joke completed itself.

▸ 2020peak 2022still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Dream SMP

A private Minecraft server started by the YouTuber Dream in April 2020 whose members improvised a lockdown-era political drama — nations, wars, a betrayal called 'L'Manberg' — that became the most-watched scripted-unscripted thing on Twitch in 2021. The record notes it ended with a finale in 2023 and a fandom that is still writing the sequels.

▸ 2020peak 2021†2023

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Dream Speedrun Scandal

The affair in which Minecraft's speedrun moderators rejected a run by the YouTuber Dream in December 2020 on the grounds that his item drops were improbable to roughly one in ten trillion, prompting a duelling-statistics war with a hired astrophysicist and, in May 2021, an admission that a mod had been running. The record's entry for the most rigorous maths ever done about pearls.

▸ 2020peak 2020†2021

● Aliven.✎ 4

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Square Enix's remake of the first part of its 1997 game, released in April 2020 into locked-down households and shipped early to some countries so that it would arrive at all. Five years of anticipation, a pandemic launch, and an ending that revealed the remake was not quite a remake. The record's entry for the argument about what the ghosts meant, which is still running.

▸ 2020peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Friday Night Funkin'

A browser rhythm game from a 2020 Newgrounds jam in which a boyfriend rap-battles a girlfriend's disapproving relatives, which became the mod platform of early 2021: every character on the internet got a week. The record files it as the last great Flash-era spirit arriving after Flash had died.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Genshin Impact

An open-world action game with a gacha for characters, released free on phones and consoles at once and compared to Breath of the Wild by everyone with a screenshot. The record's entry for the game that made a Chinese studio a global name: it earned a reported billion dollars within about six months, its banners became events, and its first anniversary in 2021 drew a review bombing over the size of the free gift.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Ghost of Tsushima

Sucker Punch's samurai open world, released in July 2020 as the last major PlayStation 4 exclusive, with a black-and-white Kurosawa mode and a photo mode that flooded the internet with leaves. The record's entry for a launch that trended as a gallery: the wind as a waypoint, the fox shrines, and a Japanese audience that gave it the reception the studio's own country's critics had not.

▸ 2020peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Grounded

A co-op survival game in which four shrunken teenagers cross a suburban back garden in which every spider is the size of a car, released into early access in July 2020 by a studio famous for role-playing games and played by a million people in its first two days. The record notes that the game's arachnophobia mode, which turns spiders into floating blobs, was its most-discussed feature.

▸ 2020peak 2022still up