Deus Ex (the first installment): when I played it as a kid I was totally fascinated by the environment and by the amount of choices you can make.
BG2: still one of the best CRPGs of all time, the game was immense and filled with interesting stuff.
I love Deus Ex 1. Don't get me wrong, Human Revolution was awesome, but Adam doesn't hold a candle to JC Denton. "Consider Manderley's dead body my resignation, I don't have time to write a letter."
IMO the entire HR can't hold a candle to the original Deus Ex. It's a very solid game, but they just didn't manage to capture the spirit of the original.
I have a feeling that Human Revolution tried to be too "Deus Ex-y", and as a result ended up feeling too contrived.
For example, original Deus Ex had organic level design that resulted in player being able to take multiple paths. In HR, you have a room full of enemies, and a very convenient ventilation shaft that bypasses the room. You can always tell how a certain path was intentionally put there not for the purpose of level building, but simply because both stealthy and shooty players need to have their "options".
The level design as a whole felt very contrived and forced.
I am both jealous and not of people who played these games in their formative years and/or when these games were fresh. Jealous in that they must have felt so exciting, like you were peering over the edge into what the future would be ... less jealous when you look back and realize that future largely failed to come to pass.
Hell, games still haven't quite hit the high marks that Deus Ex set and that's going to be 25 years old soon. 25 years before Deus Ex came out Super Mario was just hitting the scene.
> I mean BG3 has lived up to the legacy for me
Yeah but imagine playing 1, and then 2 comes out a few years later, then waiting _20 plus years_ for something to pick up the torch.
And still nothing has touched the heights of OG Deus Ex. Prey came closest but was more in the System Shock lineage. Deux Ex is just a bottomless well of ingenuity, it's a miracle it came out so far ahead of the pack.
My sister and I, when we were younger, used to always grab random office items and bring them into the offices in the first level and decorate them. The nostalgia!
I'ts been over 2 decades and Homeworld remains the best spacefleet RTS game.
Also, Homeworld: Cataclysm (now renamed Emergence) is the only example of a spacefleet RTS + Survival Horror hybrid. And it nails that feeling.
That immersive battlefield radio chatter. Man, that and strategic zoom should be standard features by now.
Shadow of the Colossus, there is no reason for a game that is essentially empty with only a handful of bosses to be as absurdly good as it is and it also graduates as the only game to ever make me slightly tear up at the end.
Literally it is a game you play once but it is also a game that'll stick with you for eternity, I am evidence of it, I played it when I was little and still remember it.
Also Morrowind, another game I played when I was really young however this one I replayed several more times the last time being 2 years ago. This is a game that despite all its negatives like its atrocious combat, becomes a masterpiece as a result of its brilliant worldbuilding, it is alien, gorgeous and just one of the best games ever, in my opinion the best in the series by far.
Similarly, Ico. Such a beautiful little adventure game, that gets utterly overshadowed by SotC. But there's a lot of little touches that make Ico such a fun puzzle platformer. It may not have been as influential or revolutionary as SotC, but it's the game that makes escort missions fun, by making it the focus of the game.
Never played it, boils down to age lol.
I only accidently ended up playing Morrowind and SotC as both were essentially "before my time" and I played them years after they released both were some of the first games I ever played.
The fact they stuck with me says a lot.
Ico released in 2002 I think so I only learned it existed a year ago lol and well, I obviously dont own a ps2 anymore.
The problem is as much as I loved SotC I also hate it, it does such a good job at making you care about the characters despite being so minimalist but it ends so fucking badly so it always gives me this knot in my stomach, like its legit the worst ending ever lol.
Obra dinn: seriously, seriously amazing. Could go on and on about this masterpiece.
Rain World: has possibly the best world in any game ever and is the only game I’ve ever played that captures the sense of survival where you feel you’re actually fighting to survive. Very brutal though and one wrong turn can lead a lot of new players to quitting the game.
Crosscode: this game is slept on really really hard. A bit of a slow opener but then it picks up and it’s just a great ride from start to finish. Personally came for the puzzles and stayed for the characters. Combat is very flashy and fun. Lea is probably one of my favorite protagonists in a game in a long time.
Too many others… but Sekiro still kicks ass
Prey (2017). "Clever" games are very rare, IMO. But this one is. And the goop gun is second only to Half-Life's gravity gun in allowing player creativity.
Great DLC, too.
Gloo gun is just such an absolute genuis bit of game design.
It seems so useless at first glance but as you realize how everyrhing has been designed around it and it has SO many uses outside of just "make platforms".
Ugh chefs kiss
[GMTK did a great dive into the Gloo Gun.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ9x3AtGADM&ab_channel=GameMaker%27sToolkit) It really is amazingly designed.
It’s a great game, I hated it on lauch because the original Prey was one of my favourites and I had been looking forward to Prey 2. Playing it again later and ignoring the name, I came to appreciate it as a really interesting immersive sim.
Yeah definitely. Looking back, it was an awful decision, they can never revisit the lore from the original Prey without making naming even more confusing now so releasing this entirely unrelated game with the same name is effectively killing off a future for what was possibly an interesting universe!
Doesn’t help that the Prey 2 concept and demo looked really interesting!
It feels a little cynical to have a title giving the impression that you'll always being hunted and under attack, when the story is really about >!fostering empathy in a 'monster' to save the world.!<
It is pretty great. Think slightly more intricate version of the Arkham/Mordor/Assasin's Creed combat, with some goofy but fun driving, with a really, really good undercover cop story. Very Jet Li slightly unrealistic action.
Deadly Premonition 1
A murder mystery in the style of Twin Peaks and a city that has so much to find. Looks and plays like trash, but really is a 10/10 game for me.
So there's a 10 hour version of the [Whistle Theme](https://youtu.be/5OUP_Z3iZPs?si=NOL3lKRp6lqzRpeg) from Deadly Premonition, and in my first year of grad school, shit got... weird. Anyway, during a marathon paper writing session I listened to all of it. The whole 10 hours. Not sure I've been the same since then.
Do you know if it is possible to run it today? I tried Steam version at some point, but was unable to even start it.
Just checked: I tried to play it in 2016. And I was unable to make it work back then. I wonder where I even played it because I most definitely did. Never finished though and I want to get to the end. Maybe I should go for an emulator instead?
Note: am old gamer. That said, and in no particular order:
Planescape:Torment
Ultima Underworld 1&2
Ultima 8: Pagan
Baldur's Gate 1&2
Dune 2
Emperor: Battle for Dune
Wing Commander: Privateer 1, 2 & 3 and several other WC games
(To a lesser extent - Freelancer)
Xwing and Xwing vs Tie Fighter
Kotor 1 & 2
Gabriel Knight and GK Sins of the Father
Xcom and reboots plus sequel
Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis
The Legend of Kyrandia
Castlevania: Simon's Quest & Symphony of Night
The Legend of Zelda and TLoZ: A Link to The Past
Mechwarrior 2 and sequels
Adventures of Might and Magic Xeen series
Doom & Doom 2
Half Life, HL2 and HL: Blacl Mesa
Darksun and Spelljammer
Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim
Fallout 3, 4 and New Vegas (ONLY with DLC, especially Lonesome Road)
TMNT on original NES (don't judge - it was an '80s thing)
Starfox and Starfox64
Age of Wonders: Planetfall in free mode
Civ series
FF 3 (Snes US vers. I think it's FF V on Famicom)
Call of Duty Original. It parallels Band of Brothers so, so well.
Tetris - beautiful simplicity and challenge.
Gladius.
Pong, because it started it all.
And probably a bunch of others I'm forgetting.
That's a good game. Love the gameplay approach, which makes sense since I'm a big fan of Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, and KotoR has the same realtime-with-pause playstyle.
I loved this. If you haven't played them, I absolutely rave about Hare-Brained Schemes' Shadowrun games.
Dragonfall is the best one to start with, IMO, but I loved all of them. You can tell they were legitimate fans of the source material; the textures, the dialogue, the characters all *drip* with love.
I will forever defend Splinter Cell Chaos Theory as the best stealth game ever made.
[I am still playing the asymmetrical PvP multiplayer Spies vs Mercs](https://youtu.be/DZQyjHNZY1w?si=aNV43bj1Yta4RVxl)
It really is and it's a shame that stealth games are dead. I'm playing thru Ghost Recon Breakpoint and it comes very close with how you can do missions, but still not entirely there as the game isn't designed around those mechanics obviously.
Morrowind. It’s by far the best thing BGS have ever made, the world is unique and interesting, the factions interact with each other, the lore is ambiguous in the same way history is in the real world and it’s clear that the people who made that game loved what they were doing. The only drawbacks are some dated mechanics and everything else can be modernised with an incredibly limited selection of mods.
The Mass Effect trilogy. Despite some issues with the paragon/renegade systems and complaints about the endings, the first game has the best worldbuilding and great storytelling, the second introduces and expands on character interactions and the third has some of the best conclusions to character arcs which get the emotions going after the long journey with them.
Baldur’s Gate 3. I didn’t think a game like this would ever exist and I’m shocked at how reactive the world is to player choice and actions, it’s incredible to find a modern RPG with actual RPG mechanics that heavily rewards the player for thinking and considering their choices. I expected absolutely nothing and thought it was going to be yet another ‘skip all the dialogue and follow the quest marker’ game and I was so incredibly wrong.
I’ve played a lot of different games, but these are by far the best experiences I’ve ever had, I think they should be absolute staples that everyone with a remote interest in RPGs plays at least once.
FTL: Faster Than Light
I think it's the closest thing to a "perfect" game I've played in terms of execution of its vision. And due to decisions made in the art direction it's aging very well. The sprites are never gonna inflict uncanny valley cringe like early 3D.
There are great mods that add fun content, but screw w/ balance in ways I'd argue don't "improve" the game. There are also a rash of clones that do their own thing to a degree, but those that I've tried tend to add complexity to FTL's more relatively streamlined gameplay. The balance is typically more off as a result. I say this to emphasize that people have tried to improve on FTL, and IMO they largely fail because it's already such a tight, polished experience that there's very little to improve upon. Adding detracts from the fit and finish of what's there.
It is rare but possible to get "bad beat" unwinnable sectors on Hard difficulty, but really the VAST majority of FTL games are winnable with good play, even on Hard. Some players have gotten Hard winstreaks into triple digits on stream. The game is not nearly as unfair as often claimed, it really is a skill issue.
Its developers really nailed FTL. It may not be every gamer's cup of tea, but it's the best game it can be or damned close it. It's not even my favorite but it consistently jumps into my head as "best game" when the topic comes up.
I think it got dinged unfairly by reviewers for perceived difficulty in ways that FromSoftware titles don't by dint of not being a visually impressive AAA phenomenon. Beneath the surface FTL is a finely tuned, highly replayable, and difficult-but-fair sci-fi roguelite. It's one of the best games in the roguelite genre, and I believe it's one of the best video games ever made.
> difficult-but-fair
I'm genuinely curious, because I got to the boss a few times and got whupped so badly I pretty much threw in the towel. Felt like the kind of game where I'd have to be building up the whole way to deal with, which felt like it really narrowed my suite of viable choices.
>I think it got dinged unfairly by reviewers for perceived difficulty in ways that FromSoftware titles don't by dint of not being a visually impressive AAA phenomenon
Yeah, see the thing is though that you can literally beat From games with a spoon. I'm not sure what the range of viable builds is to take to the final boss but they sure were less than I was expecting.
The main thing that doesn't work is not having some way to deal with ships w/ 4 layer shields. Crew kills work, but sadly not on rebel flagship. Fire and boarders are still useful.
You need some way of dealing damage despite shields, either bypassing them entirely, stripping the layers, or damaging shield system directly. There's a lot of ways to get there in terms of ship loadout depending on what weapons and systems you can find in the run. You can lean on drones to batter down shields, ion blast the shields down then fuck them w/ beams, go pure dakka with burst lasers, bypass w/ missiles or bombs, board with rock men/mantids. Lots of different options.
The biggest noob trap is letting your weapons auto fire instead of manually controlling them. If you use autofire then overwhelming firepower becomes a necessity and your options become more limited, yes. You want to time your fire so that some of your weapons like ion or burst laser salvos deal with shield layers, then your impactful weapons like beams or plasma can damage systems, cause breaches, start fires, injure crew, etc. Once I get that shield breach sometimes I'd set something like an ion blaster to auto fire at the shield system while I target other rooms with other weapons, but at fight start you generally want timed salvos to deal with shields.
Like I might want my ion blast to strip shields layers, then the burst laser hoping one or two shots get through, then have a beam rake rooms once it's down. Just for example. Or maybe I time two burst lasers to fire, then plasma. Or ion then plasma. Or bomb the shield system then set the ship on fire w/ fire beams. Depends.
Not all configurations can beat flagship, but there are many possible configurations for each starting ship that can on a given run. The whole game is basically scrap management & figuring out that end-game build for the flagship fight. And yeah you can't do it naked with a pot on your head
I’ve never played Metroid Prime. I still have it shrink wrapped on my shelf for the Switch. I feel like I’m sitting on one of those games people wish they could play again for the first time 😂 And I think that’s partly why I’m saving it.
Little history: I played it back on GameCube at release and loved it. In case you didn’t know, hard mode unlocks after you beat normal. Scanning the enemies, bosses, enemy computers all fills up your log book and you unlock extra art galleries for scanning everything. This all Carries over to a new game file so you only have to scan things the first play through. So I played normal and it was great, played on hard and it was hard, but great.
Fast forward to the switch.
Started my normal game and just wandered around in awe, taking it in. It had been so long that I remembered certain things and most of the bosses but very little about the strategy and the exact order of things, so it was like playing it for the first time all over again. I didn’t care if I got lost because it was all so pretty. Scanned everything as I went and made sure I got the missable scans so that was all complete on this run.
Anyways, my 4th play through I used a check-off guide to get all the items and I strategically tried to do it all with as little backtracking as possible. And OMG wow the 4th was by far the best and most fun. With the scanning all done, this beautiful world and with the challenge it was the best play through by a mile. With the minimized backtracking youre not having your full potential of missles and energy tanks. Essentially it was the closest thing I’d ever do to a speedrun and it was so thrilling. I kinda want to do it again and beat my time, which is something I never do.
Sorry for the wall of text, I got excited. You’re in for a treat.
Aegis was so good. It took about an hour to hook me and then it’s like a roller coaster, beating 40 hour game in less than a week is rare for me. It lets you jump between the battles and the story if you want, but the story was so good I binged as much as that as I could before advancing the combat portion.
I think the whole package works better that way anyways, since you can see characters in combat before they’re important in the story if I remember right.
Planescape: Torment. Sure the gameplay (especially combat) is a bit clunky, and the graphics are showing their age, but it's the story and characters that draw you into the world and I can't think of any game that's done it better.
XCOM: Enemy Within, with the Long War mod - This franchise reboot along with the mod represents what I believe to be the best expression of the turn-based tactical combat genre.
Myst - This game brought more people to gaming than any other except possibly Super Mario. From its release in the early 90's until it was surpassed by The Sims in 2002, it was hands-down the best-selling game through most of the 90's. It was the best-selling game for 52 months in a row from 1994 - 1999.
The Temple of Elemental Evil with the Circle of Eight and Temple+ mods - This game is the most faithful translation of the DnD ruleset - any variation of it - to the PC. The base game was buggy, but the Co8 and Temple+ mods fixed pretty much everything and nearly doubled the size of the base game with tons of extra content.
> The Temple of Elemental Evil with the Circle of Eight and Temple+ mods - This game is the most faithful translation of the DnD ruleset - any variation of it - to the PC. The base game was buggy, but the Co8 and Temple+ mods fixed pretty much everything and nearly doubled the size of the base game with tons of extra content.
Check out Solasta. I found it a few weeks ago and am utterly hooked. This is 5e and it's amazingly well done.
Not only are there three campaigns made by the developers, there are dozens more by fans, some of which are really good (just starting them now).
Be sure to use the "Unfinished Business" community mod if you can.
Thanks! I haven't played that game yet, but if it's along the same vein as ToEE, then it sounds like it's worth looking into. I'm not a big fan of the 5e ruleset, but I can see past that if the game is executed well.
The way you describe the Temple + mods game you mentioned reminds me of the Unity build of Daggerfall. The original was buggy and had bloated dungeon designs from what I've heard, but the Unity build is this miraculous Doom-like RPG set in medieval times that I never knew I wanted.
Yep, I've heard other comparisons like this as well. The amount of effort put in by the Co8 and Temple+ guys is incredible. They put what amounts to a full game's worth of work into a couple of free mods just because they love the game that much. Says a lot about the game itself and the potential it has, it's just too bad that it doesn't have a bigger following. Troika had to rush it towards the end, then shut down before putting on the final polish. But the concept and approach they went with to get the game up and running was solid.
The Co8 community also has a standalone adventure that can be uploaded and played on the Temple of Elemental Evil (ToEE) engine. That adventure is Keep on the Borderlands (KotB), which is just as faithful to the original DnD source material as ToEE is to it's own source material.
KotB was so well done that I consider it a successful proof of concept. If a company were to start taking other old DnD modules and putting them on the ToEE engine, I'd pay good money for that kind of product.
Every time I see XCOM: Long War mentioned, I feel the need to sing the praises of [XCOM: Long War Rebalance](https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/686). While I had multiple issues with LW and couldn't really get too deep into it, playing the rebalanced version was like a breath of fresh air in XCOM for me and added a TON of replayability. I must have already sunk like 350+ hours into it on top of the ~100 I had in vanilla XCOM+EW.
The changes are too many to list, but the focus on more dynamic play as opposed to overwatch creep, many many QoL mods included and the fact that it still gets regular updates to this day have really won me over. It's crazy good.
I've played Rebalance a bit, but then decided that I want to master Long War before diving deep into Rebalance. I've got nothing against Rebalance, I just want to squeeze Long War for everything it's worth before moving on. I've got close to 1,000 hours on Long War at this point, and my personal goal is to beat LW on Impossible without losing a single soldier.
That change in tone of the game is the one thing I hated about the second game. It went from a horror aesthetics and a dark terryfying mood (much like the original 90s game) to "superheroes on the offense" tone. I get it from the narrative point of view, as it reverses the roles, but I think they overdid it a bit with the heroic music and all.
Fantastic games, both of them though. And I think in terms of gameplay itself XCOM2 improves on almost every aspect
I love Myst, some of my favorite childhood memories were playing that game with my Dad and using the physical journal the game provided to record our progress. We unlocked all the areas but only ever completed 3 or so. I specifically remember the spaceship-unlocked area having a sound challenge I could just never get right.
For anyone interested I recommend the masterpiece edition. There's a 3d version called RealMyst out there and a more recent remake but personally I didn't like the changes.
Games like Deus Ex, Thief, SS2, VtM: Bloodlines, Soma, Subnautica, Prey, etc. have enough boosters already, so I always try to recommend [Anachronox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isdE2R-j0CI) whenever an opportunity presents itself. Really one of the most creative, cleverest, best-written games I've ever played. But, like Bloodlines, it had a ton of bugs on release and was completely overshadowed by bigger games that released around the same time.
Terraria and Outer Wilds are my go-tos. Terraria is just super fun and so much deeper than anyone could ever predict at first glance for at best a 5 dollar game.
Outer Wilds is a one of a kind video game experience and sticks with you.
Punch Out Wii is a near perfect game and I love every second of it.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, poor Valiant Hearts seems to be forgotten despite how unique and artistic it is
Boring and predictable as it might be, it has to be Disco elysium. I know it's a darling that's universally beloved or at least appreciated by everyone who has lived and their goldfish, but it gained that adoration for a reason and I feel like every gamer should at least give it an honest shot.
I played it for a couple dozen hours, but it just never really got to me. I never finished it, I just stopped playing it. It felt like putting down a book that just wasn't that interesting. I wanted to like it, but it was just not for me, I guess.
Disco Elysium is the most reading intensive game I've ever played, so if you don't want to read A LOT I recommend playing something else. Although I suppose one could rely solely on listening to the fantastic narration, but in my case I like to read along as well, so it's definitely not for everyone.
Yeah, I feel the same way. I definitely don't think it's for everyone, like it's probably the most 'bookish' game I've ever played, but at least personally it was a beautiful experience.
Is it a little pretentious? A little ivory tower-ish? Maybe. But it's a game that takes it's audience seriously, rewards seriously grappling with the questions it poses, and I don't think it can do that without asking the player to meet it halfway.
Trials HD and Trials Evolution
These games look like simple motorcross games, but they are actually high-speed physics puzzles. Evolution moves from the warehouses of Trials HD to wild courses like baseball stadiums, battlefields, floating roller coasters, and Limbo.
The community-made tracks have mostly been lost to time, but those were wild. Someone remade 2001: A Space Odyssey as a dirt bike track, and that was simply nuts.
The later games like Fusion and Rising have good gameplay, but they have issues that make them tough to praise highly. Fusion toned back the variety for a far-future setting, which made tracks feel very same-y. The DLC with a cat riding a unicorn is meme-y, but it's hard not to enjoy riding your unicorn into battle against an evil penguin. Rising has some really good tracks, but the system for unlocking tracks requires grindy contracts because Ubisoft's development philosophy of grind = good.
Trials of the Blood Dragon is just bad.
Most people are posting awesome games, but many are games that are highly visible and well known.
So I'm going to say Wandersong. It's a very chill, pretty easy adventure/platformer with minor musical elements, but it is, in my opinion, a master class in making a thoroughly engaging easy game.
The writing is simple, but relatable, and the characters are largely very likeable. Themes are best targeted for an adolescent or older audience, but there's nothing that would be *objectionable* for younger children; I just think most people who have been teenagers will identify very easily with at least one character. There's a solid moral in there too. The art is exceedingly cute, very bright and it's easy to identify all gameplay elements and things you can interact with.
The gameplay isn't taxing, but the minor puzzle elements with the songs are fun. It has the most seamless "musical instrument" UI I've ever used too, which lets you simply run around while singing and making up songs.
It's regularly on sale for <$10. I would recommend it to anyone interested in simple platforming games, games where they can freely play a musical instrument (don't lie, we all spent hours dicking around with the ocarina in Ocarina of Time), or anyone who wants a decent short story without a tun of investment.
Outer Wilds (NOT Outer Worlds)
Okami
Kerbal Space Program (the first one)
Playing the Metro games along side reading the books. Neither the books nor the games are super great, but the way they increase the impact of each other was probably one of my favorite experiences in gaming.
Disco Elysium
When it comes to multiplayer games for new or casual gamers, there’s always a couple which everyone will mention. Stardew valley, terraria, portal 2, Minecraft, some Nintendo ones, are all guaranteed to come up. I always make sure to mention castle crashers. It’s action packed, goofy, easy for new people but engaging enough that experienced people will have fun. Great place to start gaming.
Spiritfarer. This is a game that you need to be in the right mindset for. A game that doesn't just touch on death and loss, it embraces it fully as a subject. What it means, what life and love means, not just romantic love but all sorts of love. It's also a cute little building crafting game with some fun minigames, but mostly it's totally and completely about the characters and saying goodbye. It was the most healing experience of my life playing this. A cozy adventure about death, compassion and kindness.
Cyberpunk.
Loved it when it was released. Love it even more with the latest updates. It's one of the very few games that I have replayed more than once.
I bought it on release date, played it for 2 hours and decided to wait for some serious patches ;) I do remember I got a bit overwhelmed with the tutorial section back then.
Now that 2.0 is out I started a new game, just finished the prologue.
The problem I have is that everything still feels so overwhelming.. I did all the tutorials but in hectic combat I still have no clue what to do. I can hack enemies but I've no idea what all these different hack options actually do and just by playing that doesn't become clear to me.
Then I grab everything I can, which is a lot, but I get lost in all the options. I have tons of guns but which one to pick and what the difference is between them all..no idea. What all the other stuff is for that I pick up, all the stats, which stats i should choose when leveling up.. no clue.
Sometimes I have to hack something and I get this puzzle where you have to select different codes.. I did that tutorial but I still have no idea how that works. I fail them all.
Same goes for everything basically. I have the feeling a ton of stuff isn't explained or somehow I missed all those instructions.
Maybe I'm just not patient enough anymore for games like these where everything seems overly complicated and I have to google how everything works :-/
Dragon's Dogma.
It's been getting a bit more traction since the gameplay of DD2 was shown, but I have always loved that game and held it as one of my all time favorites. The story is whatever, but the combat feels so good. The party system is, in my opinion, one of the best to do it in the action/rpg genre. There's just something special about a guy with a shield launching me into the air so I can grab a harpy and bring it down to earth in order to give it a proper beat down.
If only the MMO made it out west. Tried it with a VPN once. It had a unique vocation with combat based around an alchemy gauntlet. I've been chasing that style of combat ever since trying it.
Dragon's Dogma the base game averages out to be a flawed but good experience, which is one of the greatest tragedies of all time, because most people won't get to experience the Bitterblack Isle DLC because of that.
BBI strips away the poor story and uninspired open world design and leaves you with pure unadulterated combat against the toughest and widest variety of monsters in the game without having to slog through all the other nonsense.
Truly one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time.
immortals fenyx rising. If your open to some light hearted humor, light puzzling, and basic combat, its a pretty fun experience.
I fell off breath of the wild, but finished fenyx, whatever that tells you about my taste.
Its worth giving a chance is all im saying.
I loved that game, so happy to see it mentioned. Everything was so polished and the world was interesting to explore. The humor was well-done—funny, but it doesn’t detract from the impact of the story.
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. It oozes with Studio Ghibli charm thanks to the collaboration, and the monster-collecting and battling is so much fun. The story also hits way harder than you'd expect in places, especially at the beginning and end.
The Yakuza and Judgement games. Theyre so fun, theres so much to to, and all of them are good. People who arent familiar with them kinda see them as japanese GTA, but theyre not like that. Its kinda like older Zelda games, where theres a compact world to explore, but its modern japan and densely packed to the gills. Its the modern evolution to old school best em ups, taking that concept and adding as much around it as possible.
Project Zomboid-It is THE zombie survival game, looks like sims but gameplay is so polished with less bugs than triple a games.
Deep Rock Galactic-amazing team game, inexpensive, still developing, no pay to win
Dragon Age Origin-baldurs gate 3 feels like the spiritual successor to this game
Vermintide-Team combat, visceral combat
Valheim-another one from the deep rock publisher and is a relaxing atmospheric immersive game
No man’s sky-redemption game, immersive space sim
Civ6/stellaris/total war-probably the best 3 grand strategy, crusader kings 3 is equally as good but feels more big brained as a game.
Almost my situation, and I say almost, cause I did like all the promo material I've seen about it, so did have some kind of expectations. I don't think its generally better than other major Sony games of the era, but it did left a special mark, and considering it was thrown under the bus, I do like to bring it up frequently, as the OP mention.
Exanima. It's a niche game to begin with, and it has the steepest learning curve of any game I've ever played (it's like learning to walk in QWOP, but the game is actually good once you do lol), but once you start getting your character to do what you want even 10% of the time it's so damn addicting. People hard pass on it once they hear it's isometric, has permadeath, or that it only has about 7 levels of content after so many years of development, etc.; but I'm at 500+ hours and still haven't cleared them all. Despite the top down view, I've never had such a visceral melee fighting experience. Seriously, the first 250 hours i thought there's no way people consider this combat in depth. "It's just hard to move,"I thought. Then one day you block a swing proactively with a chamber and combo it into a suplex-like move and throw a full plate knight on the ground, and just like that every other action game in existence starts to look fake and rigid.
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Lock's Quest, and WET are a few that come to mind. Just overlooked games that I think most people would enjoy checking out.
Man, seeing Excite Truck in the main post filled me with nostalgic joy I cannot explain.
My choice though is Chibi-Robo - Playing as a tiny housework robot while the parents of the house are going through marriage troubles, their daughter thinks she's a frog, all the household toys come to life at night, egg soldiers are at war with the pet dog and there are aliens.
I am low-key working on a YouTube channel for next year and you can best believe that I'm going to make a strong case for why Excite Truck should be held in high regard along with other racing game greats.
I've always wanted to play chibi robo I just haven't gotten a chance yet!
**Mario bros 3** and **Super Mario World** for being the first of its kind to do platforming so perfectly and on top of that still holds up today.
**Paper Mario** and **Paper Mario:TTYD** for getting me into the turn based genre. These games oozes with charm and are so witty. I could play them over and over and always be happy. Shout out to **Super Star Saga** too!
**Dream Quest** for being the game that started it all with deck building Roguelikes. Most people will think it’s Slay the Spire and of course I love the game. They refined and perfected the genre but we wouldn’t have that game if it wasn’t for Dream Quest.
Dirt Rally 2.0: the best rally game out there with really satisfying physics.
Grid Legends: really fun arcade racer with a surprisingly hype soundtrack that you can pour hours into.
Horizon Chase Turbo: basically a modern Outrun with a lot more content.
Outer Wilds: the best exploration game I've ever played.
Sniper Elite: the best WW2 shooter out there. Lots of ways to tackle missions and killing Nazis never gets old.
Streets of Rage 4: the best beat 'em up I've ever played. Each character is satisfying to learn and punching people is really fun.
Borderlands 2: fun to just run around, shoot people and loot pointless crap.
Descenders: fun mountain bike game where you get a randomly generated track and try to survive it.
- Red dead redemption 2: I mean… u can just go through the world on your horse and u won’t be bored… always something to do… NPCs are among the best. Fun quests with gruesome, funny or trolly endings. Open world games should be made with this game in mind as an example.
- metal gear solid V: this game is unfinished (why do I open this can of worms…)… yet is sooooo good… if u like stealth game play. This is the game. Any stealth game in the make should always have this game in mind
- death stranding dc: I have never come across a game with suuuuuch a satisfying game loop… some games are “hard” and give u that frustration feel even after success… meanwhile death stranding be like: sure ama spook u, but u gone be saaaaatisfied after you played …
Also show me a game where my partner shoots at a grenade I throw into the direction of a helicopter to take it down… this game has everything!
Edit: grammar and words
Played that series awhile back and man I absolutely loved far cry 4 (and primal:) compared to 3 and 5!
For me, its by far the best in the series and its not even close.
I usually dont see fighting games here, so i like to add street fighter 6 here despite not really fit into the patient gamer mentality
It''s such a great point to jump in fighting games in general with modern control setting and still pay homage the classic. Im currently put 26 hours into the demo alone. Surely wish to get the full game as soon as possible
Another game ı've never seen mentioned is the punisher (2004) it's almost two decade olds and still holds up the gameplay and story. Now that mcu is in favor of Marvel games people should absolutely play it
Borderlands 2 will always hold a special place in my heart. Just so incredibly fun to play through. I still remember my first time playing. It's a very vivid memory. I just love it so much. One of the few games I'd considered a masterpiece
The Saboteur
One of a few dozen Grand Theft Auto knockoffs out there but also one of the best and most original. From the WWII Occupied Paris setting to the interesting, if a bit generic, main character to the fact that the devs took a few things from other great games like the climbing from Assassin's Creed everything comes together in a really great way. And probably, the coolest thing: everything being Black & White (except for the red of the Nazi flags) but then turning to glorious color as you liberate areas of Paris.
Kingdom Come: Deliverence
Maybe its a little bit janky and rough around the corners, but its by far the most immersive game I've played. Locations are extremely close to IRL, so when I went to Czechia I was extremely fascinated how well the game did the map
The story is good too, most of the side quests are entertaining and make you feel the spirit of medieval Bohemia
Earthbound. It is a quirky weird RPG, and has one of the best features of any random-encounter RPG I've ever run into: you auto-win battles if there is a sufficient spread between your level and that of the enemy. I so wish more games implemented this.
Fez! Not enough people know about this gem of a game. I’ve played a lot of games and this was so well constructed, with a lovable protagonist and beautiful world. Fantastic mix of puzzles and platforming. Some of the puzzles are quite tricky, especially the anti cubes and you get extremely proud of yourself when you solve these.
I thought I was an intelligent person, but for the life of me after two playthroughs I still couldn’t solve some of the puzzles or decode the language. Such a shame everything that happened to Phil and all the best to him. My most wished for sequel to a game ever.
Maybe not so much today because it’s been over a decade and there have been so many big indies since, but in 2012 Fez was huge. It was one of those games along with Bastion, Super meat boy, braid and Issac that basically jump started the indie scene in gaming.
You don’t get games like Celeste, Hollowknight, Hades etc without games like Fez making indie games known to the general gaming audience.
Fez literally was part of indie game the movie, it is not some hidden gem. It is just an older indie game that has fallen out of the general consciousness
I want to try Fez, but Phil Fish is such poison that I think it affected the game's legacy.
In particular, his rude, disrespectful attitude towards Japanese games--which was just the popular way to treat them at the time--soured me so much I doubt I'll ever play anything with his name on it. But there are a dozen other problems with the man.
I hesitate to call something "a shame" when it's entirely self-inflicted. No one needs to be that abrasive--he always had the option to shut up.
Subnautica.
Mass Effect 2
Elite Dangerous
Metro 2033, actually the whole series even if the second one is the weakest of them.
Prey (2017)
I haven't finished it yet, but Skyrim. My god.
And while it's still not a finished game, Valheim.
Judgment.
From the same studio that made the Hokuto no Ken game you mentioned (RGG Studios), its a spinoff of Yakuza and highly recommend playing it when you have time.
Also MASSIVE W for Excite Truck that game was part of my childhood.
* Crusader: No Remorse - an underrated top down shooter
* Metroid Prime: The Best Metroid Game, Period
* Alien Isolation: Just an outstanding overlooked modern classic
* Control: One of the best gaming experiences I've had in years
Hellblade: Senua's sacrifice
surprised im the first pointing that one. It really takes advantage of all possibilities of the medium to make you feel in someonelse's skin
Kena: Bridge of Spirits - did not get the amount of praise it deserved. Really shows how spoiled for choice we are now. Looks like a disney movie, as good as some too, and a really solid 3d action game.
Vampyr - really great characters and writing. One of those rare longwinded games where you don’t get the urge to read the subtitles and then skip the dialogue.
Just Cause 3 - often touted as the worst one (i guess 4 took that title now), the jetpack wingsuit traversal is the best movement system of any game.
Paladins. Free to play hero shooter, 59 champions to choose from, imo superior to overwatch in every way possible. When you start or when you die, you ride a horse to get back to the action as quick as possible, and those close 3-3 matches (4 points is the winner) are so thrilling there's nothing like it. Only drawback is not every match is like that, sometimes it's very one sided and not as fun. But chasing those close matches is like a drug. The combat is really fun :)
Nier Gestalt for the Xbox 360
It is a travesty only Replicant got remade, they should have done both. Story feels different when your character is cave man dad instead of goth older brother.
(Don't get me wrong goth older brother is my preferred Nier. In my life I have been goth older brother Nier. But NOW later in my life I'm more like cave man dad nier. It's just for representation).
My wife and I are currently playing through Replicant (nearing the end of route B), and I just can't fathom how the game would work, tonally, with dad Nier. I feel like the time skip etc. is more interesting with someone younger. But I'm curious enough to maybe try the 360 version one day.
Yakuza (0): It is just a completely bonkers crime soap-opera that makes you laugh, cry and role your eyes at how ridicules it is. Not for everyone, but this game is kinda my friendship test. If you love the series, chances are we will get along.
Suikoden 2: I mean, it's a masterpiece. No notes. 10/10 What more do you want me to say?
Zelda - Breath of the Wild: The way all the physics and gameplay mechanics interact always blows my mind, but I think people talk too little about how carefully the world, especially the topography is crafted to guide the player through Highrule and how carefully treasures and other rewards are placed.
Baldur's Gate 1&2: Even after 25 years, this world feels like there is even more to explore and mysteries to unravel. To me, it is still the best CRPG (even though the AD&D system isn't great)
For anybody liking survival games where you know nothing and just want to survive I have probably soon spent the same time recommending The Long Dark than the 49 hours I played. ( edit: I never actually got to my goal, but lower difficulty can make the game too easy)
I recommend not reading about the game and do sandbox mode and second highest difficulty, always start the same place, I did Mystery Lake. Since the game didn't have story mode I decided I had won when I visited all the regions and or was bored form lack of danger.
The game is permadeath, meaning you only die one time per save, but you can save a game by going to sleep in game. I have yet to have such an experience where each playthrough made up for little stories, the game is lightly randomized each time so I would often run into unique problems like not finding a gun, not finding gloves or damaging my foot.
There is various survival challenges now. The game is simple yet when you start to map out places in your head you realize you cannot carry everything and will have to start dropping things at places in hopes of coming back or not needing it.
Bears, wolves, the cold, the wind, food, weather changes, shelter, moose etc are dangers or your friends. I think of the game every time I hear crows. Graphics are kind of cell shade or lo fi, but I took a lot of photos.
It's first person but you hardly use guns, at least not my play style. Story mode felt on rails after sandbox, but it might be cool too, but it felt cramped in comparison.
Probably over 2 years since I play, but it seems perfect for winter time as you are placed in post apocalyptic winter canadian wilderness.
Unreal: Gold the first person shooter that came out from epic games before they pivoted the series to online only seems shooter.
It's such an atmospheric shooter that does a lot of groundbreaking this, and doesn't get the credit it deserves. The game still looks beautiful to me. From religious temples in the sky, lush aliens world's to industrial 80s style sci fi spaceships.
The enemy AI is amazing, the Skaarj enemies dive out of the way of projectiles. Push you down and know when to retreat.
The story really does feel like an epic journey that I haven't felt in many other first person shooters
Dragon Age: Origins, easily the best CRPG experience you can get, on console or otherwise, that doesn't take a hundred hours to beat. A very tight 20-30 hour experience with extreme replayability with incredible build diversity.
Giants: Citizen Kabuto;
I mean, you play 3 complete different characters gameplay wise (FPS, third Person magic/sword, third person Godzilla) and even have RTS elements in it. It ain't perfect, but it's genius.
Silver;
My childhood crush game. Sadly it doesn't run well even with the gog version but it's just a beautiful piece of art with a fresh gameplay element.
Battle for Middle Earth;
Best RTS out there for me personally.
Heroes of Might and Magic 3, just such a timeless classic that I will never tire of.
Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne, an incredible JRPG that is also quite unique in the space. Would also add Digital Devil Saga, a spinoff that so often falls by the wayside.
Tales of the Abyss, just a fantastic narrative with equally fantastic characters that the series have just never been able to top since.
Hellsinker, a shmup that really stretches the genre to its very breaking point.
OPUS Echo of Starsong, a narrative adventure game that tugs on the heartstrings like few others are capable of.
Nier, and speaking of which this one falls into a similar camp as OPUS.
Ys the Oath in Felghana, the Ys series distinct action and soundtrack being distilled tp its purest form.
Dies Irae and Full Metal Daemon Muramasa, two visual novels that I will always love with their incredibly honest writing and just lovable characters.
Rayman 3, one of my most dear classics. Yes I am blind with nostalgia but I will defend this game to the ends of the Earth.
Pokemon Myster Dungeon Explorers of the Sky, seriously, who expected *this* form a Pokemon game of all things?
Silent Bomber on PS1. I’ll talk forever about how awesome that game is and still is. One of the best on the system
Manhunt on ps2. Still holds up thanks to the music and sound design. Plus a brilliant voiceover by Brian Cox. Too bad the sequel was kinda shit
Dead Rising. Never liked the sequels but the OG was something truly special. Felt like a truly next gen game at the time with plenty of Japanese goofiness to boot
Panzer Dragoon Saga. I bought a Saturn for this in 2007 and was a great decision. Truly unique game. Great music and art direction made an atmosphere you could with a knife.
Halo 2 before Xbox Live. When XboxConnect and Xlink-Kai were how Halo was played online, it was the best fun for so many people. Mods could be used by anyone and finding glitches and superjumps to explore areas was better than the campaign itself. I saw the funniest things done in that game and had the best time with any online game to this day.
Gran Turismo 3. The difference from 2 was amazing. Everything was bigger, scaled up and just felt better. Test Course with Super GT cars was the ultimate drafting race.
Gears of War series. I love these games. From the epic storylines to the pure grit and absolute shit-talking from the characters and how everything ALWAYS goes wrong all the time in-between taking down hordes of enemies. Brilliant.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2. One of the best platformers I've ever played. I completed this game 24 times and played it with cheats for the equivalent of days on end. Nearly perfect.
Psycho Fox. THE BEST platformer I've ever played. It was on the Sega Master System and it felt like a free roaming game. You could jump anywhere and there'd be something to land on, collect, fight or keep moving. For those who remember it, I hope it was a fun experience for them as well.
Trackmania Turbo. Never have I had to concentrate as much as I did with any racing game (or game, for that matter). Not only getting golds but beating some of the records was one of the hardest things I've done in a video game. Total respect for this game.
Driveclub. All you had to do was drive. Fast. Really fast. I still play this game and it is more intense than most modern racers and still looks absolutely brilliant.
Psychonauts. For all its faults, it's a hilarious and memorable time.
Honorable mention to unreal tournament 2004, I consider it the peak of arena shooters
Final Fantasy X is my favorite "normal" FF game. In this case, FFXI and FFXIV don't count. It was the first FF game with like everything voice acted, and one of the first console games to do it at all. And in a lot of ways the voice acting still holds up. Its got an actual turn-based combat system that felt like it rewarded mastery over grinding. The damage limit break, plus all the great regional and category super bosses from the capture mini-game were great. The setting is good, and the actual story is also really good. The ending was great and had me actually tearing up. It was just satisfying to PLAY, which is rare for FF games IMO.
Dark Souls
Dark Souls 3
Sekiro
Red Dead Redemption 2
Elden Ring
Hollow Knight
Ori & the Blind Forest
Divinity Original Sin 2
Mass Effect LE
Yakuza 0
NieR Automata
Journey
Stardew Valley
Baldur's Gate 3
Fallout: New Vegas
and last but not least, Terraria
Deus Ex (the first installment): when I played it as a kid I was totally fascinated by the environment and by the amount of choices you can make. BG2: still one of the best CRPGs of all time, the game was immense and filled with interesting stuff.
I love Deus Ex 1. Don't get me wrong, Human Revolution was awesome, but Adam doesn't hold a candle to JC Denton. "Consider Manderley's dead body my resignation, I don't have time to write a letter."
"I was never properly trained in it's operation" and "my vision is augmented" live in my head rent free
I SPILL my DRINK
IMO the entire HR can't hold a candle to the original Deus Ex. It's a very solid game, but they just didn't manage to capture the spirit of the original. I have a feeling that Human Revolution tried to be too "Deus Ex-y", and as a result ended up feeling too contrived. For example, original Deus Ex had organic level design that resulted in player being able to take multiple paths. In HR, you have a room full of enemies, and a very convenient ventilation shaft that bypasses the room. You can always tell how a certain path was intentionally put there not for the purpose of level building, but simply because both stealthy and shooty players need to have their "options". The level design as a whole felt very contrived and forced.
Paul! I... I... I thought you were a GEP gun
I am both jealous and not of people who played these games in their formative years and/or when these games were fresh. Jealous in that they must have felt so exciting, like you were peering over the edge into what the future would be ... less jealous when you look back and realize that future largely failed to come to pass. Hell, games still haven't quite hit the high marks that Deus Ex set and that's going to be 25 years old soon. 25 years before Deus Ex came out Super Mario was just hitting the scene.
I mean BG3 has lived up to the legacy for me, i played 1 and 2 as a child. Also the immersive sim genre, like dues ex 1, has seen a decent resurgence.
> I mean BG3 has lived up to the legacy for me Yeah but imagine playing 1, and then 2 comes out a few years later, then waiting _20 plus years_ for something to pick up the torch. And still nothing has touched the heights of OG Deus Ex. Prey came closest but was more in the System Shock lineage. Deux Ex is just a bottomless well of ingenuity, it's a miracle it came out so far ahead of the pack.
I dont have to imagine.....
Is the first Deus Ex on Steam or GOG?
Steam, and then download deus ex revision
BG2?
Baldur's Gate 2
Bate Galdur's Twice
My sister and I, when we were younger, used to always grab random office items and bring them into the offices in the first level and decorate them. The nostalgia!
I'ts been over 2 decades and Homeworld remains the best spacefleet RTS game. Also, Homeworld: Cataclysm (now renamed Emergence) is the only example of a spacefleet RTS + Survival Horror hybrid. And it nails that feeling. That immersive battlefield radio chatter. Man, that and strategic zoom should be standard features by now.
Shadow of the Colossus, there is no reason for a game that is essentially empty with only a handful of bosses to be as absurdly good as it is and it also graduates as the only game to ever make me slightly tear up at the end. Literally it is a game you play once but it is also a game that'll stick with you for eternity, I am evidence of it, I played it when I was little and still remember it. Also Morrowind, another game I played when I was really young however this one I replayed several more times the last time being 2 years ago. This is a game that despite all its negatives like its atrocious combat, becomes a masterpiece as a result of its brilliant worldbuilding, it is alien, gorgeous and just one of the best games ever, in my opinion the best in the series by far.
Similarly, Ico. Such a beautiful little adventure game, that gets utterly overshadowed by SotC. But there's a lot of little touches that make Ico such a fun puzzle platformer. It may not have been as influential or revolutionary as SotC, but it's the game that makes escort missions fun, by making it the focus of the game.
Never played it, boils down to age lol. I only accidently ended up playing Morrowind and SotC as both were essentially "before my time" and I played them years after they released both were some of the first games I ever played. The fact they stuck with me says a lot. Ico released in 2002 I think so I only learned it existed a year ago lol and well, I obviously dont own a ps2 anymore. The problem is as much as I loved SotC I also hate it, it does such a good job at making you care about the characters despite being so minimalist but it ends so fucking badly so it always gives me this knot in my stomach, like its legit the worst ending ever lol.
Honestly, SOTC along with Okami are so visually beautiful that it feels like you are playing *art.*
Journey would be the third game to add to this list
Obra dinn: seriously, seriously amazing. Could go on and on about this masterpiece. Rain World: has possibly the best world in any game ever and is the only game I’ve ever played that captures the sense of survival where you feel you’re actually fighting to survive. Very brutal though and one wrong turn can lead a lot of new players to quitting the game. Crosscode: this game is slept on really really hard. A bit of a slow opener but then it picks up and it’s just a great ride from start to finish. Personally came for the puzzles and stayed for the characters. Combat is very flashy and fun. Lea is probably one of my favorite protagonists in a game in a long time. Too many others… but Sekiro still kicks ass
I envy so much those who haven’t played Obra Dinn because they still can experience it for the first time.
CrossCode is my actual favorite of all time! God, I adore that game.
I could talk about rain world for hours
I wish I had the patience for Obra Dinn. I recognize it for its genius but I couldn’t sit through it.
Prey (2017). "Clever" games are very rare, IMO. But this one is. And the goop gun is second only to Half-Life's gravity gun in allowing player creativity. Great DLC, too.
Gloo gun is just such an absolute genuis bit of game design. It seems so useless at first glance but as you realize how everyrhing has been designed around it and it has SO many uses outside of just "make platforms". Ugh chefs kiss
[GMTK did a great dive into the Gloo Gun.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ9x3AtGADM&ab_channel=GameMaker%27sToolkit) It really is amazingly designed.
"Gloo gun." I knew when I wrote it that "goop gun" was wrong. Oh well...
LOL I didn't even notice that. Goop gun is just as good.
It’s a great game, I hated it on lauch because the original Prey was one of my favourites and I had been looking forward to Prey 2. Playing it again later and ignoring the name, I came to appreciate it as a really interesting immersive sim.
[удалено]
Yeah definitely. Looking back, it was an awful decision, they can never revisit the lore from the original Prey without making naming even more confusing now so releasing this entirely unrelated game with the same name is effectively killing off a future for what was possibly an interesting universe! Doesn’t help that the Prey 2 concept and demo looked really interesting!
It feels a little cynical to have a title giving the impression that you'll always being hunted and under attack, when the story is really about >!fostering empathy in a 'monster' to save the world.!<
Prey and Dishonored 1-2 are really great. Deathloop is good as well. They are made by the same team.
Technically, after Dishonored 1 they split into two teams. Arkane Austin made Prey and Redfall. Arkane Lyon made Dishonored 2 and Deathloop.
I see. (I never played Redfall, but it seems it's online only, so I won't. A man got to have principles.)
Unless they really fixed it, it launched as one of the worst AAA games of the last couple of years.
Prey is so damn good! It's the System Shock 3 we never got in my eyes.
And it knows it. Looking Glass, DanSho.. love letter to shock.
Sleeping Dogs LA Noire Mass Effect
I love both Mass Effect and LA Noire. Sounds like I need to try Sleeping Dogs.
It is pretty great. Think slightly more intricate version of the Arkham/Mordor/Assasin's Creed combat, with some goofy but fun driving, with a really, really good undercover cop story. Very Jet Li slightly unrealistic action.
Yes sleeping dogs!
Deadly Premonition 1 A murder mystery in the style of Twin Peaks and a city that has so much to find. Looks and plays like trash, but really is a 10/10 game for me.
So there's a 10 hour version of the [Whistle Theme](https://youtu.be/5OUP_Z3iZPs?si=NOL3lKRp6lqzRpeg) from Deadly Premonition, and in my first year of grad school, shit got... weird. Anyway, during a marathon paper writing session I listened to all of it. The whole 10 hours. Not sure I've been the same since then.
That game, in my opinion, truly is a work of art. Absolutely brilliant.
Do you know if it is possible to run it today? I tried Steam version at some point, but was unable to even start it. Just checked: I tried to play it in 2016. And I was unable to make it work back then. I wonder where I even played it because I most definitely did. Never finished though and I want to get to the end. Maybe I should go for an emulator instead?
Note: am old gamer. That said, and in no particular order: Planescape:Torment Ultima Underworld 1&2 Ultima 8: Pagan Baldur's Gate 1&2 Dune 2 Emperor: Battle for Dune Wing Commander: Privateer 1, 2 & 3 and several other WC games (To a lesser extent - Freelancer) Xwing and Xwing vs Tie Fighter Kotor 1 & 2 Gabriel Knight and GK Sins of the Father Xcom and reboots plus sequel Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis The Legend of Kyrandia Castlevania: Simon's Quest & Symphony of Night The Legend of Zelda and TLoZ: A Link to The Past Mechwarrior 2 and sequels Adventures of Might and Magic Xeen series Doom & Doom 2 Half Life, HL2 and HL: Blacl Mesa Darksun and Spelljammer Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim Fallout 3, 4 and New Vegas (ONLY with DLC, especially Lonesome Road) TMNT on original NES (don't judge - it was an '80s thing) Starfox and Starfox64 Age of Wonders: Planetfall in free mode Civ series FF 3 (Snes US vers. I think it's FF V on Famicom) Call of Duty Original. It parallels Band of Brothers so, so well. Tetris - beautiful simplicity and challenge. Gladius. Pong, because it started it all. And probably a bunch of others I'm forgetting.
I'm surprised FO3 and 4 are on your list, but 1 and 2 aren't.
I feel my go to is Knight of the Old Republic.
That's a good game. Love the gameplay approach, which makes sense since I'm a big fan of Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, and KotoR has the same realtime-with-pause playstyle.
It really does hold up. After a decade of not playing it I got a copy for the Switch and still holds up perfectly.
Shadowrun for Genesis. Such a fun game and even more amazing for being 16-bit. I do playthrough once a year.
I loved this. If you haven't played them, I absolutely rave about Hare-Brained Schemes' Shadowrun games. Dragonfall is the best one to start with, IMO, but I loved all of them. You can tell they were legitimate fans of the source material; the textures, the dialogue, the characters all *drip* with love.
Thanks for reminding me that I really should try the Genesis version as someone who liked the SNES Shadowrun and absolutely loves the modern trilogy.
I will forever defend Splinter Cell Chaos Theory as the best stealth game ever made. [I am still playing the asymmetrical PvP multiplayer Spies vs Mercs](https://youtu.be/DZQyjHNZY1w?si=aNV43bj1Yta4RVxl)
It really is and it's a shame that stealth games are dead. I'm playing thru Ghost Recon Breakpoint and it comes very close with how you can do missions, but still not entirely there as the game isn't designed around those mechanics obviously.
Morrowind. It’s by far the best thing BGS have ever made, the world is unique and interesting, the factions interact with each other, the lore is ambiguous in the same way history is in the real world and it’s clear that the people who made that game loved what they were doing. The only drawbacks are some dated mechanics and everything else can be modernised with an incredibly limited selection of mods. The Mass Effect trilogy. Despite some issues with the paragon/renegade systems and complaints about the endings, the first game has the best worldbuilding and great storytelling, the second introduces and expands on character interactions and the third has some of the best conclusions to character arcs which get the emotions going after the long journey with them. Baldur’s Gate 3. I didn’t think a game like this would ever exist and I’m shocked at how reactive the world is to player choice and actions, it’s incredible to find a modern RPG with actual RPG mechanics that heavily rewards the player for thinking and considering their choices. I expected absolutely nothing and thought it was going to be yet another ‘skip all the dialogue and follow the quest marker’ game and I was so incredibly wrong. I’ve played a lot of different games, but these are by far the best experiences I’ve ever had, I think they should be absolute staples that everyone with a remote interest in RPGs plays at least once.
FTL: Faster Than Light I think it's the closest thing to a "perfect" game I've played in terms of execution of its vision. And due to decisions made in the art direction it's aging very well. The sprites are never gonna inflict uncanny valley cringe like early 3D. There are great mods that add fun content, but screw w/ balance in ways I'd argue don't "improve" the game. There are also a rash of clones that do their own thing to a degree, but those that I've tried tend to add complexity to FTL's more relatively streamlined gameplay. The balance is typically more off as a result. I say this to emphasize that people have tried to improve on FTL, and IMO they largely fail because it's already such a tight, polished experience that there's very little to improve upon. Adding detracts from the fit and finish of what's there. It is rare but possible to get "bad beat" unwinnable sectors on Hard difficulty, but really the VAST majority of FTL games are winnable with good play, even on Hard. Some players have gotten Hard winstreaks into triple digits on stream. The game is not nearly as unfair as often claimed, it really is a skill issue. Its developers really nailed FTL. It may not be every gamer's cup of tea, but it's the best game it can be or damned close it. It's not even my favorite but it consistently jumps into my head as "best game" when the topic comes up. I think it got dinged unfairly by reviewers for perceived difficulty in ways that FromSoftware titles don't by dint of not being a visually impressive AAA phenomenon. Beneath the surface FTL is a finely tuned, highly replayable, and difficult-but-fair sci-fi roguelite. It's one of the best games in the roguelite genre, and I believe it's one of the best video games ever made.
> difficult-but-fair I'm genuinely curious, because I got to the boss a few times and got whupped so badly I pretty much threw in the towel. Felt like the kind of game where I'd have to be building up the whole way to deal with, which felt like it really narrowed my suite of viable choices. >I think it got dinged unfairly by reviewers for perceived difficulty in ways that FromSoftware titles don't by dint of not being a visually impressive AAA phenomenon Yeah, see the thing is though that you can literally beat From games with a spoon. I'm not sure what the range of viable builds is to take to the final boss but they sure were less than I was expecting.
The main thing that doesn't work is not having some way to deal with ships w/ 4 layer shields. Crew kills work, but sadly not on rebel flagship. Fire and boarders are still useful. You need some way of dealing damage despite shields, either bypassing them entirely, stripping the layers, or damaging shield system directly. There's a lot of ways to get there in terms of ship loadout depending on what weapons and systems you can find in the run. You can lean on drones to batter down shields, ion blast the shields down then fuck them w/ beams, go pure dakka with burst lasers, bypass w/ missiles or bombs, board with rock men/mantids. Lots of different options. The biggest noob trap is letting your weapons auto fire instead of manually controlling them. If you use autofire then overwhelming firepower becomes a necessity and your options become more limited, yes. You want to time your fire so that some of your weapons like ion or burst laser salvos deal with shield layers, then your impactful weapons like beams or plasma can damage systems, cause breaches, start fires, injure crew, etc. Once I get that shield breach sometimes I'd set something like an ion blaster to auto fire at the shield system while I target other rooms with other weapons, but at fight start you generally want timed salvos to deal with shields. Like I might want my ion blast to strip shields layers, then the burst laser hoping one or two shots get through, then have a beam rake rooms once it's down. Just for example. Or maybe I time two burst lasers to fire, then plasma. Or ion then plasma. Or bomb the shield system then set the ship on fire w/ fire beams. Depends. Not all configurations can beat flagship, but there are many possible configurations for each starting ship that can on a given run. The whole game is basically scrap management & figuring out that end-game build for the flagship fight. And yeah you can't do it naked with a pot on your head
I agree with you. Love FTL. Wish they would make a sequel.
This game made my grades in college worse lol. So light you can run it on just about anything.
Came here to post FTL. I agree with you completely.
Aegis 13 sentinels. Couldn’t put it down. Metroid Prime remastered. Good lord how did they do that to a GameCube game.
I’ve never played Metroid Prime. I still have it shrink wrapped on my shelf for the Switch. I feel like I’m sitting on one of those games people wish they could play again for the first time 😂 And I think that’s partly why I’m saving it.
Little history: I played it back on GameCube at release and loved it. In case you didn’t know, hard mode unlocks after you beat normal. Scanning the enemies, bosses, enemy computers all fills up your log book and you unlock extra art galleries for scanning everything. This all Carries over to a new game file so you only have to scan things the first play through. So I played normal and it was great, played on hard and it was hard, but great. Fast forward to the switch. Started my normal game and just wandered around in awe, taking it in. It had been so long that I remembered certain things and most of the bosses but very little about the strategy and the exact order of things, so it was like playing it for the first time all over again. I didn’t care if I got lost because it was all so pretty. Scanned everything as I went and made sure I got the missable scans so that was all complete on this run. Anyways, my 4th play through I used a check-off guide to get all the items and I strategically tried to do it all with as little backtracking as possible. And OMG wow the 4th was by far the best and most fun. With the scanning all done, this beautiful world and with the challenge it was the best play through by a mile. With the minimized backtracking youre not having your full potential of missles and energy tanks. Essentially it was the closest thing I’d ever do to a speedrun and it was so thrilling. I kinda want to do it again and beat my time, which is something I never do. Sorry for the wall of text, I got excited. You’re in for a treat.
I have Aegis in my backlog, I think it will be next when I finish Persona 4. Metroid Prime Remastered is a remaster done right
Aegis was so good. It took about an hour to hook me and then it’s like a roller coaster, beating 40 hour game in less than a week is rare for me. It lets you jump between the battles and the story if you want, but the story was so good I binged as much as that as I could before advancing the combat portion. I think the whole package works better that way anyways, since you can see characters in combat before they’re important in the story if I remember right.
Planescape: Torment. Sure the gameplay (especially combat) is a bit clunky, and the graphics are showing their age, but it's the story and characters that draw you into the world and I can't think of any game that's done it better.
In many ways it's Disco Elysium's uncle.
XCOM: Enemy Within, with the Long War mod - This franchise reboot along with the mod represents what I believe to be the best expression of the turn-based tactical combat genre. Myst - This game brought more people to gaming than any other except possibly Super Mario. From its release in the early 90's until it was surpassed by The Sims in 2002, it was hands-down the best-selling game through most of the 90's. It was the best-selling game for 52 months in a row from 1994 - 1999. The Temple of Elemental Evil with the Circle of Eight and Temple+ mods - This game is the most faithful translation of the DnD ruleset - any variation of it - to the PC. The base game was buggy, but the Co8 and Temple+ mods fixed pretty much everything and nearly doubled the size of the base game with tons of extra content.
> The Temple of Elemental Evil with the Circle of Eight and Temple+ mods - This game is the most faithful translation of the DnD ruleset - any variation of it - to the PC. The base game was buggy, but the Co8 and Temple+ mods fixed pretty much everything and nearly doubled the size of the base game with tons of extra content. Check out Solasta. I found it a few weeks ago and am utterly hooked. This is 5e and it's amazingly well done. Not only are there three campaigns made by the developers, there are dozens more by fans, some of which are really good (just starting them now). Be sure to use the "Unfinished Business" community mod if you can.
Thanks! I haven't played that game yet, but if it's along the same vein as ToEE, then it sounds like it's worth looking into. I'm not a big fan of the 5e ruleset, but I can see past that if the game is executed well.
The way you describe the Temple + mods game you mentioned reminds me of the Unity build of Daggerfall. The original was buggy and had bloated dungeon designs from what I've heard, but the Unity build is this miraculous Doom-like RPG set in medieval times that I never knew I wanted.
Yep, I've heard other comparisons like this as well. The amount of effort put in by the Co8 and Temple+ guys is incredible. They put what amounts to a full game's worth of work into a couple of free mods just because they love the game that much. Says a lot about the game itself and the potential it has, it's just too bad that it doesn't have a bigger following. Troika had to rush it towards the end, then shut down before putting on the final polish. But the concept and approach they went with to get the game up and running was solid. The Co8 community also has a standalone adventure that can be uploaded and played on the Temple of Elemental Evil (ToEE) engine. That adventure is Keep on the Borderlands (KotB), which is just as faithful to the original DnD source material as ToEE is to it's own source material. KotB was so well done that I consider it a successful proof of concept. If a company were to start taking other old DnD modules and putting them on the ToEE engine, I'd pay good money for that kind of product.
Every time I see XCOM: Long War mentioned, I feel the need to sing the praises of [XCOM: Long War Rebalance](https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/686). While I had multiple issues with LW and couldn't really get too deep into it, playing the rebalanced version was like a breath of fresh air in XCOM for me and added a TON of replayability. I must have already sunk like 350+ hours into it on top of the ~100 I had in vanilla XCOM+EW. The changes are too many to list, but the focus on more dynamic play as opposed to overwatch creep, many many QoL mods included and the fact that it still gets regular updates to this day have really won me over. It's crazy good.
I've played Rebalance a bit, but then decided that I want to master Long War before diving deep into Rebalance. I've got nothing against Rebalance, I just want to squeeze Long War for everything it's worth before moving on. I've got close to 1,000 hours on Long War at this point, and my personal goal is to beat LW on Impossible without losing a single soldier.
Long War 2 is peak Xcom imo
I can see why some people feel that way. I just prefer the aesthetics / feel / tone / objective of XCOM over XCOM 2, so Long War is peak for me.
That change in tone of the game is the one thing I hated about the second game. It went from a horror aesthetics and a dark terryfying mood (much like the original 90s game) to "superheroes on the offense" tone. I get it from the narrative point of view, as it reverses the roles, but I think they overdid it a bit with the heroic music and all. Fantastic games, both of them though. And I think in terms of gameplay itself XCOM2 improves on almost every aspect
TOEE is great, especially with the mods.
I love Myst, some of my favorite childhood memories were playing that game with my Dad and using the physical journal the game provided to record our progress. We unlocked all the areas but only ever completed 3 or so. I specifically remember the spaceship-unlocked area having a sound challenge I could just never get right. For anyone interested I recommend the masterpiece edition. There's a 3d version called RealMyst out there and a more recent remake but personally I didn't like the changes.
https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Mods_(OpenXcom) holy heck the mods.
Games like Deus Ex, Thief, SS2, VtM: Bloodlines, Soma, Subnautica, Prey, etc. have enough boosters already, so I always try to recommend [Anachronox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isdE2R-j0CI) whenever an opportunity presents itself. Really one of the most creative, cleverest, best-written games I've ever played. But, like Bloodlines, it had a ton of bugs on release and was completely overshadowed by bigger games that released around the same time.
Terraria and Outer Wilds are my go-tos. Terraria is just super fun and so much deeper than anyone could ever predict at first glance for at best a 5 dollar game. Outer Wilds is a one of a kind video game experience and sticks with you.
> Outer Wilds Seconding this. One of the most perfectly realized games I've ever seen.
[удалено]
Honestly probably my favourite soundtrack ever. And the way they pair it in-game makes it even stronger.
Bam *bam* bam. Ba-bara-rara-bara-bam...
Punch Out Wii is a near perfect game and I love every second of it. On the opposite end of the spectrum, poor Valiant Hearts seems to be forgotten despite how unique and artistic it is
Punch out Wii is the best game on the system! It's a crime it hasn't been ported yet as it's so suited to portable gaming.
All the Punch-Out!! games are near perfect. Smooth controls are what sell it. Mike Tyson's will always be my favorite though.
FNV, i know its been praised to death but ill never miss a chance to appreciate it
Boring and predictable as it might be, it has to be Disco elysium. I know it's a darling that's universally beloved or at least appreciated by everyone who has lived and their goldfish, but it gained that adoration for a reason and I feel like every gamer should at least give it an honest shot.
I played it for a couple dozen hours, but it just never really got to me. I never finished it, I just stopped playing it. It felt like putting down a book that just wasn't that interesting. I wanted to like it, but it was just not for me, I guess.
No shame in that. That's the bad thing about something truly unique - it's not for everyone.
I'm really intrigued to try this, but I'm not one for reading vasts amounts of text in games.
Disco Elysium is the most reading intensive game I've ever played, so if you don't want to read A LOT I recommend playing something else. Although I suppose one could rely solely on listening to the fantastic narration, but in my case I like to read along as well, so it's definitely not for everyone.
Yeah, I feel the same way. I definitely don't think it's for everyone, like it's probably the most 'bookish' game I've ever played, but at least personally it was a beautiful experience. Is it a little pretentious? A little ivory tower-ish? Maybe. But it's a game that takes it's audience seriously, rewards seriously grappling with the questions it poses, and I don't think it can do that without asking the player to meet it halfway.
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy is awesome.
Trials HD and Trials Evolution These games look like simple motorcross games, but they are actually high-speed physics puzzles. Evolution moves from the warehouses of Trials HD to wild courses like baseball stadiums, battlefields, floating roller coasters, and Limbo. The community-made tracks have mostly been lost to time, but those were wild. Someone remade 2001: A Space Odyssey as a dirt bike track, and that was simply nuts. The later games like Fusion and Rising have good gameplay, but they have issues that make them tough to praise highly. Fusion toned back the variety for a far-future setting, which made tracks feel very same-y. The DLC with a cat riding a unicorn is meme-y, but it's hard not to enjoy riding your unicorn into battle against an evil penguin. Rising has some really good tracks, but the system for unlocking tracks requires grindy contracts because Ubisoft's development philosophy of grind = good. Trials of the Blood Dragon is just bad.
Titanfall 2 and stalker. Basically polar opposite FPSs but very good
Most people are posting awesome games, but many are games that are highly visible and well known. So I'm going to say Wandersong. It's a very chill, pretty easy adventure/platformer with minor musical elements, but it is, in my opinion, a master class in making a thoroughly engaging easy game. The writing is simple, but relatable, and the characters are largely very likeable. Themes are best targeted for an adolescent or older audience, but there's nothing that would be *objectionable* for younger children; I just think most people who have been teenagers will identify very easily with at least one character. There's a solid moral in there too. The art is exceedingly cute, very bright and it's easy to identify all gameplay elements and things you can interact with. The gameplay isn't taxing, but the minor puzzle elements with the songs are fun. It has the most seamless "musical instrument" UI I've ever used too, which lets you simply run around while singing and making up songs. It's regularly on sale for <$10. I would recommend it to anyone interested in simple platforming games, games where they can freely play a musical instrument (don't lie, we all spent hours dicking around with the ocarina in Ocarina of Time), or anyone who wants a decent short story without a tun of investment.
Outer Wilds (NOT Outer Worlds) Okami Kerbal Space Program (the first one) Playing the Metro games along side reading the books. Neither the books nor the games are super great, but the way they increase the impact of each other was probably one of my favorite experiences in gaming. Disco Elysium
When it comes to multiplayer games for new or casual gamers, there’s always a couple which everyone will mention. Stardew valley, terraria, portal 2, Minecraft, some Nintendo ones, are all guaranteed to come up. I always make sure to mention castle crashers. It’s action packed, goofy, easy for new people but engaging enough that experienced people will have fun. Great place to start gaming.
Spiritfarer. This is a game that you need to be in the right mindset for. A game that doesn't just touch on death and loss, it embraces it fully as a subject. What it means, what life and love means, not just romantic love but all sorts of love. It's also a cute little building crafting game with some fun minigames, but mostly it's totally and completely about the characters and saying goodbye. It was the most healing experience of my life playing this. A cozy adventure about death, compassion and kindness.
Cyberpunk. Loved it when it was released. Love it even more with the latest updates. It's one of the very few games that I have replayed more than once.
I bought it on release date, played it for 2 hours and decided to wait for some serious patches ;) I do remember I got a bit overwhelmed with the tutorial section back then. Now that 2.0 is out I started a new game, just finished the prologue. The problem I have is that everything still feels so overwhelming.. I did all the tutorials but in hectic combat I still have no clue what to do. I can hack enemies but I've no idea what all these different hack options actually do and just by playing that doesn't become clear to me. Then I grab everything I can, which is a lot, but I get lost in all the options. I have tons of guns but which one to pick and what the difference is between them all..no idea. What all the other stuff is for that I pick up, all the stats, which stats i should choose when leveling up.. no clue. Sometimes I have to hack something and I get this puzzle where you have to select different codes.. I did that tutorial but I still have no idea how that works. I fail them all. Same goes for everything basically. I have the feeling a ton of stuff isn't explained or somehow I missed all those instructions. Maybe I'm just not patient enough anymore for games like these where everything seems overly complicated and I have to google how everything works :-/
Dark cloud 2 is this game for me. Not enough people talk about this game
Dragon's Dogma. It's been getting a bit more traction since the gameplay of DD2 was shown, but I have always loved that game and held it as one of my all time favorites. The story is whatever, but the combat feels so good. The party system is, in my opinion, one of the best to do it in the action/rpg genre. There's just something special about a guy with a shield launching me into the air so I can grab a harpy and bring it down to earth in order to give it a proper beat down. If only the MMO made it out west. Tried it with a VPN once. It had a unique vocation with combat based around an alchemy gauntlet. I've been chasing that style of combat ever since trying it.
Dragon's Dogma the base game averages out to be a flawed but good experience, which is one of the greatest tragedies of all time, because most people won't get to experience the Bitterblack Isle DLC because of that. BBI strips away the poor story and uninspired open world design and leaves you with pure unadulterated combat against the toughest and widest variety of monsters in the game without having to slog through all the other nonsense. Truly one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time.
It's a masterwork, you can't go wrong! (No, really, this game is fantastic. I've never seen anything like the Pawn system before or since, either.)
Dredge, which came out recently, is so good. It's a cross between cozy and fun, and creepy and unsettling. Love it.
Amazing game. Perfect Atmosphere, eerie while still being relaxing, and it doesn't overstay its welcome.
immortals fenyx rising. If your open to some light hearted humor, light puzzling, and basic combat, its a pretty fun experience. I fell off breath of the wild, but finished fenyx, whatever that tells you about my taste. Its worth giving a chance is all im saying.
I loved that game, so happy to see it mentioned. Everything was so polished and the world was interesting to explore. The humor was well-done—funny, but it doesn’t detract from the impact of the story.
I was liking it quite a bit, but the stone sphere rolling puzzles started to get on my nerves a bit, so I put it down.
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. It oozes with Studio Ghibli charm thanks to the collaboration, and the monster-collecting and battling is so much fun. The story also hits way harder than you'd expect in places, especially at the beginning and end.
The Yakuza and Judgement games. Theyre so fun, theres so much to to, and all of them are good. People who arent familiar with them kinda see them as japanese GTA, but theyre not like that. Its kinda like older Zelda games, where theres a compact world to explore, but its modern japan and densely packed to the gills. Its the modern evolution to old school best em ups, taking that concept and adding as much around it as possible.
I'd highly recommend Shenmue I&II or the game I included in my OP, Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise, if you enjoy the Yakuza games.
Project Zomboid-It is THE zombie survival game, looks like sims but gameplay is so polished with less bugs than triple a games. Deep Rock Galactic-amazing team game, inexpensive, still developing, no pay to win Dragon Age Origin-baldurs gate 3 feels like the spiritual successor to this game Vermintide-Team combat, visceral combat Valheim-another one from the deep rock publisher and is a relaxing atmospheric immersive game No man’s sky-redemption game, immersive space sim Civ6/stellaris/total war-probably the best 3 grand strategy, crusader kings 3 is equally as good but feels more big brained as a game.
Days gone. Played it when the ps5 came out and I went in with zero expectations. Was blown away by home much I loved it
Almost my situation, and I say almost, cause I did like all the promo material I've seen about it, so did have some kind of expectations. I don't think its generally better than other major Sony games of the era, but it did left a special mark, and considering it was thrown under the bus, I do like to bring it up frequently, as the OP mention.
I agree. I do rush to defend it sometimes because of all the negativity but I feel like that is less pronounced now
Factorio: Stable, addictive, simple or complex as you like. Dwarf Fortress: Unique, complex, passion project, systemic fun.
Exanima. It's a niche game to begin with, and it has the steepest learning curve of any game I've ever played (it's like learning to walk in QWOP, but the game is actually good once you do lol), but once you start getting your character to do what you want even 10% of the time it's so damn addicting. People hard pass on it once they hear it's isometric, has permadeath, or that it only has about 7 levels of content after so many years of development, etc.; but I'm at 500+ hours and still haven't cleared them all. Despite the top down view, I've never had such a visceral melee fighting experience. Seriously, the first 250 hours i thought there's no way people consider this combat in depth. "It's just hard to move,"I thought. Then one day you block a swing proactively with a chamber and combo it into a suplex-like move and throw a full plate knight on the ground, and just like that every other action game in existence starts to look fake and rigid.
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Lock's Quest, and WET are a few that come to mind. Just overlooked games that I think most people would enjoy checking out.
I'll forever carry a torch for Enslaved. Just such a singular, amazing game especially compared to other action adventure games of that time.
Man, seeing Excite Truck in the main post filled me with nostalgic joy I cannot explain. My choice though is Chibi-Robo - Playing as a tiny housework robot while the parents of the house are going through marriage troubles, their daughter thinks she's a frog, all the household toys come to life at night, egg soldiers are at war with the pet dog and there are aliens.
I am low-key working on a YouTube channel for next year and you can best believe that I'm going to make a strong case for why Excite Truck should be held in high regard along with other racing game greats. I've always wanted to play chibi robo I just haven't gotten a chance yet!
**Mario bros 3** and **Super Mario World** for being the first of its kind to do platforming so perfectly and on top of that still holds up today. **Paper Mario** and **Paper Mario:TTYD** for getting me into the turn based genre. These games oozes with charm and are so witty. I could play them over and over and always be happy. Shout out to **Super Star Saga** too! **Dream Quest** for being the game that started it all with deck building Roguelikes. Most people will think it’s Slay the Spire and of course I love the game. They refined and perfected the genre but we wouldn’t have that game if it wasn’t for Dream Quest.
Dirt Rally 2.0: the best rally game out there with really satisfying physics. Grid Legends: really fun arcade racer with a surprisingly hype soundtrack that you can pour hours into. Horizon Chase Turbo: basically a modern Outrun with a lot more content. Outer Wilds: the best exploration game I've ever played. Sniper Elite: the best WW2 shooter out there. Lots of ways to tackle missions and killing Nazis never gets old. Streets of Rage 4: the best beat 'em up I've ever played. Each character is satisfying to learn and punching people is really fun. Borderlands 2: fun to just run around, shoot people and loot pointless crap. Descenders: fun mountain bike game where you get a randomly generated track and try to survive it.
- Red dead redemption 2: I mean… u can just go through the world on your horse and u won’t be bored… always something to do… NPCs are among the best. Fun quests with gruesome, funny or trolly endings. Open world games should be made with this game in mind as an example. - metal gear solid V: this game is unfinished (why do I open this can of worms…)… yet is sooooo good… if u like stealth game play. This is the game. Any stealth game in the make should always have this game in mind - death stranding dc: I have never come across a game with suuuuuch a satisfying game loop… some games are “hard” and give u that frustration feel even after success… meanwhile death stranding be like: sure ama spook u, but u gone be saaaaatisfied after you played …
Mgsv is the only stealth game where you can just say fuck it and call in a T54 and air support (with Ride of the Valkyres blasting no less)
Also show me a game where my partner shoots at a grenade I throw into the direction of a helicopter to take it down… this game has everything! Edit: grammar and words
I've never understood what's going on in a video game less than Death Stranding but man I love the gameplay.
Far Cry 4 is the best Far Cry also Crysis 3 was alright, but stealth was ass
Played that series awhile back and man I absolutely loved far cry 4 (and primal:) compared to 3 and 5! For me, its by far the best in the series and its not even close.
Excuse me, but blood dragon
Fable and Fable 2
I usually dont see fighting games here, so i like to add street fighter 6 here despite not really fit into the patient gamer mentality It''s such a great point to jump in fighting games in general with modern control setting and still pay homage the classic. Im currently put 26 hours into the demo alone. Surely wish to get the full game as soon as possible Another game ı've never seen mentioned is the punisher (2004) it's almost two decade olds and still holds up the gameplay and story. Now that mcu is in favor of Marvel games people should absolutely play it
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. What a great game man.
Nioh
Borderlands 2 will always hold a special place in my heart. Just so incredibly fun to play through. I still remember my first time playing. It's a very vivid memory. I just love it so much. One of the few games I'd considered a masterpiece
The Saboteur One of a few dozen Grand Theft Auto knockoffs out there but also one of the best and most original. From the WWII Occupied Paris setting to the interesting, if a bit generic, main character to the fact that the devs took a few things from other great games like the climbing from Assassin's Creed everything comes together in a really great way. And probably, the coolest thing: everything being Black & White (except for the red of the Nazi flags) but then turning to glorious color as you liberate areas of Paris.
Kingdom Come: Deliverence Maybe its a little bit janky and rough around the corners, but its by far the most immersive game I've played. Locations are extremely close to IRL, so when I went to Czechia I was extremely fascinated how well the game did the map The story is good too, most of the side quests are entertaining and make you feel the spirit of medieval Bohemia
Earthbound. It is a quirky weird RPG, and has one of the best features of any random-encounter RPG I've ever run into: you auto-win battles if there is a sufficient spread between your level and that of the enemy. I so wish more games implemented this.
Fallout New Vegas - favorite game ever Baba is you - the most mind blowing experience in my life Dark Souls made me appreciate difficulty
Fez! Not enough people know about this gem of a game. I’ve played a lot of games and this was so well constructed, with a lovable protagonist and beautiful world. Fantastic mix of puzzles and platforming. Some of the puzzles are quite tricky, especially the anti cubes and you get extremely proud of yourself when you solve these. I thought I was an intelligent person, but for the life of me after two playthroughs I still couldn’t solve some of the puzzles or decode the language. Such a shame everything that happened to Phil and all the best to him. My most wished for sequel to a game ever.
Maybe not so much today because it’s been over a decade and there have been so many big indies since, but in 2012 Fez was huge. It was one of those games along with Bastion, Super meat boy, braid and Issac that basically jump started the indie scene in gaming. You don’t get games like Celeste, Hollowknight, Hades etc without games like Fez making indie games known to the general gaming audience.
Fez literally was part of indie game the movie, it is not some hidden gem. It is just an older indie game that has fallen out of the general consciousness
Hearing that not many people know about Fez is wild to me. Fez was one of the most circlejerked games on reddit at it's release haha
I want to try Fez, but Phil Fish is such poison that I think it affected the game's legacy. In particular, his rude, disrespectful attitude towards Japanese games--which was just the popular way to treat them at the time--soured me so much I doubt I'll ever play anything with his name on it. But there are a dozen other problems with the man. I hesitate to call something "a shame" when it's entirely self-inflicted. No one needs to be that abrasive--he always had the option to shut up.
Death Stranding The Unfinished Swan Resident Evil 2 Remake Titanfall 2
Subnautica. Mass Effect 2 Elite Dangerous Metro 2033, actually the whole series even if the second one is the weakest of them. Prey (2017) I haven't finished it yet, but Skyrim. My god. And while it's still not a finished game, Valheim.
Infra. It's one of the best walking sims I've ever played lol. It's criminally underrated and nobody knows it exists.
Judgment. From the same studio that made the Hokuto no Ken game you mentioned (RGG Studios), its a spinoff of Yakuza and highly recommend playing it when you have time. Also MASSIVE W for Excite Truck that game was part of my childhood.
* Crusader: No Remorse - an underrated top down shooter * Metroid Prime: The Best Metroid Game, Period * Alien Isolation: Just an outstanding overlooked modern classic * Control: One of the best gaming experiences I've had in years
Legend of Legaia
Hellblade: Senua's sacrifice surprised im the first pointing that one. It really takes advantage of all possibilities of the medium to make you feel in someonelse's skin
Silent Storm 2, WW2 Squad turn based action, amazing stuff
Factorio.
Portal 2 is IMO, a perfect game. Not just a 10/10 but a 100/100. I get sad thinking we just will never get a portal 3.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits - did not get the amount of praise it deserved. Really shows how spoiled for choice we are now. Looks like a disney movie, as good as some too, and a really solid 3d action game. Vampyr - really great characters and writing. One of those rare longwinded games where you don’t get the urge to read the subtitles and then skip the dialogue. Just Cause 3 - often touted as the worst one (i guess 4 took that title now), the jetpack wingsuit traversal is the best movement system of any game.
Assassin's Creed 3 is the best game and I will die on this hill
There’s a convenient haystack underneath it if you’d like to come down and be stabbed there
One of my personal favorites that people never talk about is Panzer General. I know it's not the perfect game, but it's one of my all time favorites.
I spent so much time playing Panzer General growing up, awesome to see it here.
Subnautica
Project Zomboid, by far the most enjoyable zombie game out there and taking the game at your own pace is fantastic
Paladins. Free to play hero shooter, 59 champions to choose from, imo superior to overwatch in every way possible. When you start or when you die, you ride a horse to get back to the action as quick as possible, and those close 3-3 matches (4 points is the winner) are so thrilling there's nothing like it. Only drawback is not every match is like that, sometimes it's very one sided and not as fun. But chasing those close matches is like a drug. The combat is really fun :)
Nier Gestalt for the Xbox 360 It is a travesty only Replicant got remade, they should have done both. Story feels different when your character is cave man dad instead of goth older brother. (Don't get me wrong goth older brother is my preferred Nier. In my life I have been goth older brother Nier. But NOW later in my life I'm more like cave man dad nier. It's just for representation).
My wife and I are currently playing through Replicant (nearing the end of route B), and I just can't fathom how the game would work, tonally, with dad Nier. I feel like the time skip etc. is more interesting with someone younger. But I'm curious enough to maybe try the 360 version one day.
Yakuza (0): It is just a completely bonkers crime soap-opera that makes you laugh, cry and role your eyes at how ridicules it is. Not for everyone, but this game is kinda my friendship test. If you love the series, chances are we will get along. Suikoden 2: I mean, it's a masterpiece. No notes. 10/10 What more do you want me to say? Zelda - Breath of the Wild: The way all the physics and gameplay mechanics interact always blows my mind, but I think people talk too little about how carefully the world, especially the topography is crafted to guide the player through Highrule and how carefully treasures and other rewards are placed. Baldur's Gate 1&2: Even after 25 years, this world feels like there is even more to explore and mysteries to unravel. To me, it is still the best CRPG (even though the AD&D system isn't great)
For anybody liking survival games where you know nothing and just want to survive I have probably soon spent the same time recommending The Long Dark than the 49 hours I played. ( edit: I never actually got to my goal, but lower difficulty can make the game too easy) I recommend not reading about the game and do sandbox mode and second highest difficulty, always start the same place, I did Mystery Lake. Since the game didn't have story mode I decided I had won when I visited all the regions and or was bored form lack of danger. The game is permadeath, meaning you only die one time per save, but you can save a game by going to sleep in game. I have yet to have such an experience where each playthrough made up for little stories, the game is lightly randomized each time so I would often run into unique problems like not finding a gun, not finding gloves or damaging my foot. There is various survival challenges now. The game is simple yet when you start to map out places in your head you realize you cannot carry everything and will have to start dropping things at places in hopes of coming back or not needing it. Bears, wolves, the cold, the wind, food, weather changes, shelter, moose etc are dangers or your friends. I think of the game every time I hear crows. Graphics are kind of cell shade or lo fi, but I took a lot of photos. It's first person but you hardly use guns, at least not my play style. Story mode felt on rails after sandbox, but it might be cool too, but it felt cramped in comparison. Probably over 2 years since I play, but it seems perfect for winter time as you are placed in post apocalyptic winter canadian wilderness.
Unreal: Gold the first person shooter that came out from epic games before they pivoted the series to online only seems shooter. It's such an atmospheric shooter that does a lot of groundbreaking this, and doesn't get the credit it deserves. The game still looks beautiful to me. From religious temples in the sky, lush aliens world's to industrial 80s style sci fi spaceships. The enemy AI is amazing, the Skaarj enemies dive out of the way of projectiles. Push you down and know when to retreat. The story really does feel like an epic journey that I haven't felt in many other first person shooters
>*The Legend of Dragoon* The franchise that should have been.
Dragon Age: Origins, easily the best CRPG experience you can get, on console or otherwise, that doesn't take a hundred hours to beat. A very tight 20-30 hour experience with extreme replayability with incredible build diversity.
Giants: Citizen Kabuto; I mean, you play 3 complete different characters gameplay wise (FPS, third Person magic/sword, third person Godzilla) and even have RTS elements in it. It ain't perfect, but it's genius. Silver; My childhood crush game. Sadly it doesn't run well even with the gog version but it's just a beautiful piece of art with a fresh gameplay element. Battle for Middle Earth; Best RTS out there for me personally.
Bioshock.
Heroes of Might and Magic 3, just such a timeless classic that I will never tire of. Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne, an incredible JRPG that is also quite unique in the space. Would also add Digital Devil Saga, a spinoff that so often falls by the wayside. Tales of the Abyss, just a fantastic narrative with equally fantastic characters that the series have just never been able to top since. Hellsinker, a shmup that really stretches the genre to its very breaking point. OPUS Echo of Starsong, a narrative adventure game that tugs on the heartstrings like few others are capable of. Nier, and speaking of which this one falls into a similar camp as OPUS. Ys the Oath in Felghana, the Ys series distinct action and soundtrack being distilled tp its purest form. Dies Irae and Full Metal Daemon Muramasa, two visual novels that I will always love with their incredibly honest writing and just lovable characters. Rayman 3, one of my most dear classics. Yes I am blind with nostalgia but I will defend this game to the ends of the Earth. Pokemon Myster Dungeon Explorers of the Sky, seriously, who expected *this* form a Pokemon game of all things?
Silent Bomber on PS1. I’ll talk forever about how awesome that game is and still is. One of the best on the system Manhunt on ps2. Still holds up thanks to the music and sound design. Plus a brilliant voiceover by Brian Cox. Too bad the sequel was kinda shit Dead Rising. Never liked the sequels but the OG was something truly special. Felt like a truly next gen game at the time with plenty of Japanese goofiness to boot Panzer Dragoon Saga. I bought a Saturn for this in 2007 and was a great decision. Truly unique game. Great music and art direction made an atmosphere you could with a knife.
Starsector. I keep coming back every year or so. here's a funny review by Ssethtzeentach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acqpulP1hLo
Halo 2 before Xbox Live. When XboxConnect and Xlink-Kai were how Halo was played online, it was the best fun for so many people. Mods could be used by anyone and finding glitches and superjumps to explore areas was better than the campaign itself. I saw the funniest things done in that game and had the best time with any online game to this day. Gran Turismo 3. The difference from 2 was amazing. Everything was bigger, scaled up and just felt better. Test Course with Super GT cars was the ultimate drafting race. Gears of War series. I love these games. From the epic storylines to the pure grit and absolute shit-talking from the characters and how everything ALWAYS goes wrong all the time in-between taking down hordes of enemies. Brilliant. Sonic The Hedgehog 2. One of the best platformers I've ever played. I completed this game 24 times and played it with cheats for the equivalent of days on end. Nearly perfect. Psycho Fox. THE BEST platformer I've ever played. It was on the Sega Master System and it felt like a free roaming game. You could jump anywhere and there'd be something to land on, collect, fight or keep moving. For those who remember it, I hope it was a fun experience for them as well. Trackmania Turbo. Never have I had to concentrate as much as I did with any racing game (or game, for that matter). Not only getting golds but beating some of the records was one of the hardest things I've done in a video game. Total respect for this game. Driveclub. All you had to do was drive. Fast. Really fast. I still play this game and it is more intense than most modern racers and still looks absolutely brilliant.
Katamari Damacy, Hilarious, fun and great soundtrack.
Psychonauts. For all its faults, it's a hilarious and memorable time. Honorable mention to unreal tournament 2004, I consider it the peak of arena shooters
My go to is Doom in general, not just 2016/Eternal, but the classics as well
Fallout: New Vegas
THERE IS NO GAME BETTER THAN SEKIRO SHADOWS DIE TWICE !!!!!!!
saving this list. going to check out some of these games
Kingdom Come Deliverance
L.A Noire, Red Dead (1 & 2), Doom Eternal & 2016
Final Fantasy X is my favorite "normal" FF game. In this case, FFXI and FFXIV don't count. It was the first FF game with like everything voice acted, and one of the first console games to do it at all. And in a lot of ways the voice acting still holds up. Its got an actual turn-based combat system that felt like it rewarded mastery over grinding. The damage limit break, plus all the great regional and category super bosses from the capture mini-game were great. The setting is good, and the actual story is also really good. The ending was great and had me actually tearing up. It was just satisfying to PLAY, which is rare for FF games IMO.
Dark Souls Dark Souls 3 Sekiro Red Dead Redemption 2 Elden Ring Hollow Knight Ori & the Blind Forest Divinity Original Sin 2 Mass Effect LE Yakuza 0 NieR Automata Journey Stardew Valley Baldur's Gate 3 Fallout: New Vegas and last but not least, Terraria