Best List of Triple A Games You Must Play

As per a report of BCG.com With budgets for PC and console AAA games grew at a 6% CAGR from 2017 to 2022 and are projected to accelerate to 8% CAGR from 2022 to 2028. 

The video game market has produced thousands of games; usually, few of them make it to the top. The list of triple A games, the high-budget, high-production, story-heavy blockbuster titles. Not only were these AAA games popular, but they also established eras, drove the hardware, completely changed the theory of telling stories, and broke what could be done. 

“AAA games are where creativity meets massive scale, built with blockbuster budgets, vast worlds, and the ambition to set new industry standards.”

– Shoaib Abdul Ghaffar, Technical Lead at Cubix, a leading game development company

Here in this list of triple A games, we analyze the best AAA games of all time: the blockbusters that altered gaming. We will lay into their plots, power plants, stylistic achievements, and pop-cultural influence.

20 Best List of Triple A Games

Here are some of the best AAA games of all time:

The Rockstar game of 2013, GTA V, towers on any AAA video game list. Built on the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE), with Euphoria handling the physics and animations, it presented three protagonists: Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, whose stories wind around affairs of high-stakes heists and betrayal. Los Santos, a made-up California city, became a living world full of things to do. With the launch of GTA Online, ten years later came multiplayer heists, car meets, and roleplay servers that continued to elongate the life of the game. The economic and cultural success made it firmly cemented in the list of AAA offerings.

Very few games touch emotional engagement and immersion like Red Dead Redemption 2. Released in 2018, it was a further polished version of RAGE, featuring detailed facial animation and realistic lighting, and highly physics-based interactions. Arthur Morgan’s character arc, languishing between honor and loyalty, unfolds across wide-open landscapes filled with reactive wildlife, dynamic weather, and evolving ecosystems. It redefined the possibilities of open-world storytelling and holds significant influence on every AAA game list even today.

This was done with The Witcher 3 (2015) by CD Projekt Red, which has set a new standard for RPG games. Basing the design on the REDengine 3 made it possible to have a large, open-world design and a smooth transition. You take the role of Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter in a political mess, with his love relationships and monstrous dangers. I admired the morally complex missions, such as the Bloody Baron quest chain, and the side missions matched the quality of the main ones. Production systems and dynamic gameplay, along with weather, are the pillars of any serious list of triple A games.

Created by FromSoftware and released in 2022, Elden Ring extended the Souls style in the direction of the open world. Developed using an altered variant of the Souls game engine used by the studio, it featured an open world called the Lands Between with an incomprehensible lore, secret bosses, and non-linearity. Its mythos is deep since it was co-written by George R. R. Martin. You learn something every time you get ambushed, and there is something new around every corner. It tops all the recent lists of AAA video games in exploding the borders of design.

Far from a smooth release in 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 has now become a current example of a sci-fi RPG. It is created on REDengine 4, and its Night City is a neon-streaked dystopia full of side stories, dynamic NPCs, and customization. You are V, whose destiny is entangled with an online ghost of Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves. Its updates and expansions, such as Phantom Liberty, reaffirmed its image. It has earned its place in the list of triple A games, and is indicative of ambition, redemption, and vision.

In God of War (2018), the Santa Monica Studio retooled the narrative of Kratos. The game transitions from the world of Greek to that of Norse, utilizing a homegrown engine with a continuous one-shot camera, initially exclusive to PS4 and later released on PC. Technically, it is an all-time masterpiece that does not break immersion. You go through Midgard, and it is where you go to explore Midgard with Atreus, the son of Kratos, where you solve puzzles and tour gods. Fatherhood, restraint, and legacy are the themes that make it exceptional in the AAA video game list, as brutal protagonistic battles and emotional storytelling are not mutually exclusive.

Breath of the Wild was released in 2017 on the Nintendo Switch and upset the open-world mechanics. It was based on a custom-designed physics engine. It allowed the player complete freedom: he could climb mountains, slide through valleys, cook, craft, or simply abandon the main quest. Each mechanism touches another; fire burns grass, metal is electrical, and wind disperses fire. The fact that Link woke up in a shattered Hyrule brought in the element of mystery and discovery. It is the turning-point title on the list of triple A games as well as an open-world game prototype.

The Last of Us series, created by Naughty Dog, is a series of games with cinematic narrative and realistic game mechanics. Both these parts have been created on the proprietary engine, with carefully recorded performances and environmental narrations. The book of Joel and Ellie reveals the theme of love, bereavement, and ethics in a post-apocalyptic world. Part II adds to the emotional core and changes the perspectives, creating a challenge to empathize with the player. The games belong to the list of the best AAA video games and are examples of the best narrative-driven design.

Call of Duty 4, released in 2007, took the franchise out of World War II and into modern warfare. With IW Engine 3.0, added colorful set pieces, player customization, and compulsive multiplayer. Such missions as the ones in the themes of All Ghillied Up and Shock and Awe became iconic. It led to the annual AAA shooters, battle passes, and multiplayer games with killstreaks. It is one of the pillars of the AAA video game list and transformed the FPS genre of games.

Assassin’s Creed II (2009) by Ubisoft is the game that was based on the first one and was made even better. Run on the Anvil engine, it was a game based on the surroundings of the chic Ezio Auditore going through Renaissance Italy. Later, Ubisoft’s open-world games used historical characters such as Leonardo da Vinci and wove them tightly into the lore. The ability to climb towers, use hidden blades, and complete parkour missions synchronously emerged as key mechanics of building an open world. It is legendary in the AAA video games list.

Marvel Spider-Man (2018) by Insomniac Games is the game that reimagined superhero games. The developers created it on a proprietary engine tuned for PlayStation hardware, enabling the character to swing along webs. Across a colorful, populated New York City with fluid movement. The book intermixes the lives of Peter Parker as a youth and his fight with famous characters such as Mister Negative and Doc Ock.

Battles are beat-based and technology-oriented, which is like Batman: Arkham but with its unique touch. Spider-Man: Miles Morales and, most recently, Spider-Man 2 represent what a fresh, cinematic, and refined superhero game can be as well. Easy transitions, a richness of emotion in narrative, and its stunning visuals make it one of the best on our list of triple A games.

Set in a gothic horror world full of supernatural menaces, Resident Evil Village (2021) by Capcom is the continuation of the Ethan Winters story. It has been powered by the RE Engine, which gives it photo-realistic graphics, tighter first-person gameplay, and administration-induced chilling opponent experiences. Lady Dimitrescu, who is the protagonist of the game, is an instant pop culture icon. It has a survival horror atmosphere similar to the earlier titles in the RE series, and it combines the horror games with the shoot-everything-that-moves combat style of Resident Evil 4 with its mysterious European village setting.

As one would expect, Resident Evil Village, with its puzzles, boss battles, castle exploration, and the horrific body horror aspect, well-earned its spot in the AAA video game masterpiece list as a real classic of modern horror. The variable performance on different platforms is also provided by the RE Engine with a fast load time.

As a series of games, the developers IO Interactive produced between 2016 and 2021 under the title Hitman. Or in full, the World of Assassination version, contains a stealth sandbox of its kind. The trilogy is based on the Glacier engine, allowing the player to play as Agent 47 within the complex levels of Paris, Sapienza, Hokkaido, Dubai, Berlin, and so on. Every tier happens to be a puzzle box of masquerades, distractions, and laughable slip opportunities. The thing that makes Hitman stand out in the list of triple A games is replayability and non-static level design. To increase the possibility of players’ experimentation, they encourage trying out new directions, weapons, and means of assassinations. That helps in turn, make every map a strategic playground. 

GTA: San Andreas became a great game to mark the history of Rockstar, released in the year 2004, featuring freedom in the open world as never before. The developers used the RenderWare engine to create the game and gave the player control of a former gangster called CJ. Who returns to Los Santos to re-establish himself and his family.

The game spans three cities and features RPG-style gameplay with stats like stamina, muscle, and hunger, plus a story reflecting 90s West Coast culture. Its soundtrack, missions, and mini-games became cultural phenomena. As an early entry in the list of triple A games, San Andreas remains one of the most influential AAA titles more than twenty years later.

Created with Unreal Engine 4 by Epic Games, Fortnite turned into an instant worldwide explosion following the release of its free-to-play Battle Royale in 2017. Players experience fast-paced third-person shooting, with gameplay constantly evolving through seasonal events, live concerts, and crossover collaborations. It was vibrant, constantly updated, and had various competitive modes, which is why it won the multiplayer landscape.

Paving the way in the use of live service and how gamers can make an impact on a game. Fortnite became an invaluable entry into the contemporary list of AAA video games. It’s huge informational imprint establishes its location on any powerful list of triple A games.

Atlus introduced its unique and dramatic turn-based RPG called Persona 5. The game runs on its own PlayStation engine and is based on the adventures of the Phantom Thieves. A group of high school students exploring a dreamlike world to set things right with the adults’ wrongs. With a modern-day setting depicting Tokyo, it is a mixture of dungeon crawling, life simulation, and morality. Players worldwide celebrated it for its stunning art style, memorable soundtrack, and profound social mechanics. It makes a mark in the ranks of triple A games, depicting why Eastern RPGs deserve to be in any triple A list of video games.

Although people tend to mix it with an indie game, Minecraft turned out to be a full-scale AAA blockbuster with Microsoft in the leading role. Created in Java, the game has impeccable depth in its sandbox with somewhat minimalistic graphics. Players create, mine, and explore procedurally generated worlds and craft a never-ending amount of creations. Its huge updates, support of modding, and educational applications made it one of the best-selling games of all time. Its cultural influence and long-range development have given it a tardy but virtually unquestioned spot in the AAA video game list.

Guerrilla Games created the game using the Decima engine and placed the gamer in an interesting post-apocalyptic setting filled with robotic fauna and tribes. You explore ancient technology and lost history as Aloy, outwit and outmaneuver powerful predators. It broke out as a big hit on the PlayStation with its story, technical prowess, and design of the environment. It is a triple A game that, moreover, further cemented its position in any contemporary ranking of triple A games through the success of its sequel, Forbidden West.

The Batman: Arkham City (2011) by Rocksteady Studios elevated comic-style storytelling and action mechanics to another level. Built with Unreal Engine 3, it offered an open-world Gotham packed with side quests, villains, and secrets. The system of free-flow in combat became a pattern of action games. It was shot spectacularly, and featuring Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, it was well above par. The game’s characters, environments, and animations are highly detailed 3D game models, making it extremely immersive and visually attractive. Moreover, it can very well fit any list of the AAA video games. And it showed that the superhero games could be not only money movers but works of art as well.

Global Video Game Market is expected to grow from $290B in 2025 to $532B by 2030, with a strong 12.9% CAGR. Mobile adoption, cross-platform gaming, cloud services, AI tools, and subscriptions drive growth.

Final Thoughts

The games in this list of triple A games have dominated the charts and defined high-quality, immersive, and culturally impactful experiences. From technical excellence to unforgettable storytelling, each AAA title has shaped the gaming landscape.

Read More: What is a AAA Game and How Much Does it Cost?

Build Your Next AAA Game with Cubix

Are you prepared to make your concept into the next big title in the list of triple A games? We visualize your imagination at Cubix on cinematic levels, heroic models in 3D, and eye-catching, impressive levels of gameplay through the top game engines. The team creates high-performance, immersive AAA experiences specifically designed to appeal to players worldwide. Moreover, whether you are starting from scratch or expanding an existing idea, we guide you from inception to final release. Consequently, we ensure your game successfully reaches the market and resonates with your audience. And together we should create something legendary.

Read More: How Much Does It Cost to Make a Video Game?