  Technology has become an essential part of our everyday life, and its use in
educational environments keeps growing. In addition, games are one of the most
popular activities across cultures and ages, and there is ample evidence that
supports the benefits of using games for assessment. This field is commonly
known as game-based assessment (GBA), which refers to the use of games to
assess learners' competencies, skills, or knowledge. This paper analyzes the
current status of the GBA field by performing the first systematic literature
review on empirical GBA studies. It is based on 65 research papers that used
digital GBAs to determine: (1) the context where the study has been applied;
(2) the primary purpose; (3) the domain of the game used; (4) game/tool
availability; (5) the size of the data sample; (6) the computational methods
and algorithms applied; (7) the targeted stakeholders of the study; and (8)
what limitations and challenges are reported by authors. Based on the
categories established and our analysis, the findings suggest that GBAs are
mainly used in K-16 education and for assessment purposes, and that most GBAs
focus on assessing STEM content, and cognitive and soft skills. Furthermore,
the current limitations indicate that future GBA research would benefit from
the use of bigger data samples and more specialized algorithms. Based on our
results, we discuss current trends in the field and open challenges (including
replication and validation problems), providing recommendations for the future
research agenda of the GBA field.
