The Best Games Created in Britain

The Best Games Created in Britain

Britain is known for many things. It’s a country of pageantry and tradition, built on centuries of history that permeates almost every part of its modern culture. Plenty of things created in the United Kingdom have found their way around the world, including major societal advancements like the industrial revolution and more mundane creations like the Cadbury’s Creme Egg. 

The UK is also a big exporter of games, far more so than the country generally gets credit for. In fact, it’s very likely that you’ve played plenty of titles that were either solely or partially developed in Britain without even noticing it. Here are some of the best. 

Pontoon

Blackjack is a game that we’re all familiar with. The version we know today originated in Las Vegas but has found its way around the world thanks, in part, to online casinos that have helped to make it accessible to many more players. In addition to the added convenience of being able to play from home, these sites and apps typically have several different variants of the game so that they can cater to a range of demographics. 

However, the game of ‘21’, that we know as blackjack, was not the first of its kind. In fact, there is evidence of games like it being played all over the world for several centuries. In the UK, this game came to be known as ‘pontoon’ and continues to be enjoyed by many Brits today, even though blackjack dominates in this space. 

Pontoon shares many of the basic principles of blackjack. The main objective is the same: you want to make a strong hand that’s valued at 21, or as close to it as you can get without going bust. 

However, neither of the dealer’s cards are dealt face-up, creating more of a challenge. On top of that, a tie counts as a loss rather than a push like in blackjack. These additional difficulties are offset by higher payouts for a ‘natural blackjack’ and the ability to win by having a hand of five cards without going bust. 

You also have more strategic choice in pontoon as you can double down before hitting and continue asking for more cards after increasing your wager. 

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto is one of the most successful video game franchises in history but you could be excused for thinking it was an entirely American product. After all, every single one of the games in the series (except one) is set in a fictional recreation of a US city and all the instalments are crammed full of satirical references to American culture. 

Yet, Grand Theft Auto is a British game. It was created by DMA Design, a Scottish-based video game development studio with a mostly British team. Today, DMA is known as Rockstar North and is owned by the American publisher Take-Two Interactive. 

However, Rockstar North and much of the development work for GTA games remain firmly on Scottish soil. The studio was previously based in Dundee, the fourth-largest city north of the border, but has since moved its headquarters to Edinburgh. 

Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider stands out as one of the most iconic video games in the world and Lara Croft as one of the most recognisable characters. Today, Croft and her tomb-raiding adventures are designed and coded by the folks at Crystal Dynamics in California, but her roots are very much on this side of the pond. 

From the first-ever Tomb Raider game, which was released for the PlayStation, PC, and Sega Saturn in 1996, until Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, which went on sale for the PS2 in 2003, development took place in Derby.

The work was undertaken by Core Design, a studio that was founded in 1988 and worked on many successful titles during its history, including several that have become classic video games. However, following a restructuring by its parent company, Eidos Interactive, Lara Croft was packed up and shipped across the Atlantic where she has remained ever since.