10 Best Grinding Games

Games that require you to do so much with little reward is such a pain. Remember playing games such as Runescape or literally any other MMORPG? You, at some point in time, would get a quest to gather tons of items or fight off hoards of monsters. Slayer tasks, right? Getting your level 120 cape? Do any of those tasks ring a bell? With so many games out on the market it’s no wonder that some of them would end up on this list. These are the games where, yes, they require you to grind, but we don’t really notice it? If that makes sense. We’re going to figure this one out and determine the top 10 best grinding games.

Best Grinding Games List

Have you ever played a game and you weren’t aware that you’re having to grind? You definitely are aware of the games that require you to do so much for little reward. How can you make a game have plenty of grinding material but still be fun? Thankfully this list will show you all of the games that have grinding in them but playing them is quite an experience. As usual with our lists these are completely biased and our opinion may not match yours. That’s okay. Just take it with a grain of salt and get ready for the top 10 best grinding games.

1. Genshin Impact

Come on! You had to have known that Genshin Impact was going to be on this list. You know how many artifacts and talent materials we need to collect in order to max? You don’t want to know. If you are a collector of many characters, you will know, that you need to collect a lot to max them. Don’t even get us started with locating items that are only unlocked on certain days. Still, the game is enjoyable because of all there is to do. If you want to play casually you have the ability to do that, or if you want to focus on making your characters stronger, exploration is top-tier. You are grinding, yes, but you never really feel it hurting your soul.

2. Runescape

We talked about it plenty of times at the beginning, obviously it would be on the list. Runescape is probably one of the first MMORPG’s you’ve played before. One of the reasons why we played Runescape before World of Warcraft is simple. It was cheaper. Since this started our MMORPG journey we wanted to bring up the fact that skill capes exist. If you max out a level in a skill you are rewarded with a cape and an emote for bragging rights. This can become extremely tedious if you’re trying to max out every skill to level 120. Have you ever maxed out Divination? What about Agility? You don’t know torture unless you’ve maxed some of these skills out. We know, since we have maxed them, and we still don’t regret it. It was a nice type of torture. That’s why Runescape is on our list. Even if it’s a grind it’s still a pleasurable one.

3. Final Fantasy XIV

Might as well just add all of the MMO games on here. There are terrible MMO’s and there are enjoyable ones. Final Fantasy is at the top of our list for the best MMORPG you can play. It’s also five steps ahead of Runescape in terms of story and graphics. When it comes to games relying on grinding factor you wouldn’t think FFXIV would make the list. As with any MMO you sometimes have tedious tasks that don’t feel too bad. Remember popular quests such as Hildibrand? It’s a grind to try to get those rewards and emotes, but the hilarious story attached to it, is worth it. It can be a grind collecting currency for limited time items. FFXIV is still a fun game and worth every minute of your time.

4. Harvest Moon Series

Any type of farming simulation game that requires you to take care of some farm your grandfather or whoever gave to you will require you to grind. Building a farm from scratch is no easy task and the Harvest Moon series are perfect at masking those chores to make you believe you’re having fun. Do you really enjoy watering your crops? Are you really having fun going to each NPC to try to romance them so they can marry you or date you? What about taking care of your cows and chickens? If you answered yes you’re having fun, we believe you. It IS fun and that’s why Harvest Moon series are on the list.

5. Love Nikki & Shining Nikki

You didn’t think we’d add a mobile game on here, huh? This game is different from the games listed above because it requires you to play dress up and follow a story. Nikki just recently announced they will be making a game for console so we had to include this on our list. Love Nikki and Shining Nikki are games that follow Nikki as she dresses, solves quests, and saves the world. The higher you get the harder it is to craft outfits. Grinding for materials can be tedious but so rewarding once you’ve finished an outfit you’ve wanted to make for some time now.

6. The Sims 4

We have been told that The Sims 4 can become a grind if you keep doing the same thing over-and-over. Just like in real life, waking up, going to school, coming home, doing homework, and going to bed is boring. Why would you want to keep doing that in a simulation game? Thankfully, with the creation of mods, Sims are no longer boring. You don’t feel as if everything is repetitive. Every day your Sim can go through something new. Join a gang, become a drug lord, make money as a stripper. These wouldn’t be included in Sims if it wasn’t for modders. Because of their service Sims is a fun game to play even if you have to grind to make that money.

7. Skyrim

How many of you actually beat the game? Seriously, beat it? Or did you live life to the fullest and explore every cave, take on every bounty, and level up all of your abilities? Skyrim sucks you in and it’s the best feeling in the world when you have the ability to explore to your hearts content. The reason grinding in the game doesn’t feel wrong is because the gameplay is designed to make grinding fun. You could spend over 300 hours on Skyrim and not even feel ashamed. It’s one of those games you can play casually and not have any regrets not playing the main story line.

8. Destiny Series

When Destiny first came out it was a good time. The scenery was beautiful, the feel of jumping around in a space suit was fun, and the weapons were cool. As players continued playing the franchise they realized you had to spend hours trying to get a good roll on a weapon. If you play with friends the game doesn’t feel like a chore. Playing by yourself is also fun because you get to explore and do things on your own. End game requires you to have armor that’s a high level and to get that armor you need to fight and earn rewards. Is it a grind? Absolutely, but when you get that legendary item you’re not feeling that burn as much.

9. Animal Crossing

Why is Animal Crossing on this list? It’s a casual game that doesn’t require you to do much. You just make your island cute and invite charming creatures to join you on your island. Once you get sucked into the game you’ll be grinding for materials to craft or you’ll destroy your entire island in order to build another aesthetic. Re-building your island is a grind but once you have a general idea on how you want your new aesthetic to look it doesn’t feel bad. Trying to find villagers is also difficult because popular characters are rare to come across. You need to earn miles to spend so you can go to random islands and hopefully find the villager of your dreams. Hunting for villagers is a grind however when you find that special one you’re hooked.

10. Overwatch NOT OVERWATCH 2

Remember when you’d get loot boxes and at the beginning we thought those were horrible? Now, Blizzard took it away from us and we want it back instead of battle passes? Overwatch used to be a great grinding game you could sink tons of hours into and get awesome skins. Getting loot boxes was fun because even if you got a bad roll you’d know for sure you’d be getting a good one sooner than later. We wanted to add Overwatch on the list because, well, we miss it. We miss those loot boxes and now that they’re gone, it’s a shame.

Those are the top 10 best grinding games! As we’ve stated before this list is biased and if you have other games you feel are better than these, that’s on you! We love these games and aren’t phased by the grind. We’ll play them for as long as they’re available to us.

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