Minecraft
Minecraft is a massively open single and multi-player sandbox game where the characters are placed on terra incognito and left to fend for themselves. The entire world is created of meter-by-meter sized cubes. There are a multitude of different types of blocks to find as well as truly infinite possibilities for each particular adventure. The entirety of the earth is moldable; the players can dig enormous trenches or build gargantuan castles that span across hundreds of kilometers of space. Trees can be felled for wood, sand can be melted down to make glass, and immense cave structures can be discovered where players can spelunk at their leisure. The emphasis of the game is to explore and build your home from the materials you find. The map is essentially infinite (Yes, it does come to an end, but in order to reach the edge of playable space, the player must deliberately search for it) and each one is randomized. There are biomes of different climates and each has differing deposits of materials. There are free roaming NPCs in the forms of cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and most recently, tameable wolves. At night, however, the NPCs are joined by legions of the undead, gigantic spiders and skeletal archers. Most horribly, bizarre, gangrenous creepers prey upon the player, lest they have built a shelter for themselves. As well as having a large online community, Minecraft also has tremendous single player value. The replay value is bolstered significantly by the humongous and growing mod scene. New items, cities, maps, beautiful and silly textures, skin packs, and complete overhauls ensure that the game never gets stale. It recently sold its two-millionth copy.
