Definitely Outer Wilds. I will never have this kind of wonder again and this is sad. Even though you can really play it only once, it is worth it.
Outer Wilds really was a one of a time experience. Recently learned there actually is a DLC for the game. I am really looking forward to the experience and hope it comes close to the base game.
The DCL is different from the base game but still extremely good. Proves to me that the game wasn’t just a lucky shit by the developers. The DLC story also fills a plot ambiguity from the base story.
I’ve been gaming for 30 years and Outer Wilds sparked something in me that I haven’t felt since I first started playing games. Exploring the world felt so satisfying and rewarding, and the art style and (brilliant) music enhance it so much. I went in knowing absolutely nothing and I still think about it 3 years later. Genuinely one of the best pieces of media I’ve ever experienced.
Keep hearing about this game and i hear you dont wanna spoil yourself on it, but that also means idk if i wanna buy it or not, ill probably end up playing it at some point
Read on your own risk, but I try to be as vague as possible. And I think I am not spoiling a lot, because you will learn about it in the first few minutes of the game: You are trapped in a time loop and try to find out why it is happening and who caused it. You will follow clues that lead you through the whole star system where you will visit strange worlds and try to solve the riddle, each new time loop getting close to the solution. The riddles/mysteries are really great and integrate fantastically in the world.
I would like to describe it as the perfect mixture of death loop and Myst.
It’s a bit like the first season of the show Russian Doll, but as a video game
Playing Outer Wilds (+DLC) was an experience I will forever remember.
Outer Wilds is hands down my favorite game of all time as well. Everything from the gameplay mechanics, to the music, to the exploration, to the puzzles, to the story just clicked for me. It’s really rare I think to find a grand sci-fi that doesn’t stumble in the last act, but the final moments of Outer Wilds and the DLC as well are just perfection
Outer Wilds rekindled my love for exploration. i used to explore a lot in games when i was just starting out, but my play style changed to more by-the-book because i didn’t find anything rewarding by exploring in most games. and over time i forgot how to love exploration. so when i picked up Breath of the Wild, i was completely paralyzed. as soon as i got off the Great Plateau, there was no path to follow. i set it down soon after that.
i heard Outer Wilds recommended to me a lot, so i decided to try it, even though i didn’t have much faith in my ability to enjoy it. but after my first few discoveries, it clicked. there are paths, so so many paths that i can follow. there was no more decision paralysis, and i went to try and follow them all. for the first time in a long time, i explored. i looked around just because. it didn’t take long for me to finish the game, and it was the best experience in gaming i ever had
Its Morrowind. Although there are other games ive played more, nothing has grabbed me as much as Morrowind (although New Vegas is close). The world and story was just so interesting to me, and so bizarre and different from the usual fantasy/sword and sorcery stuff I was playing and reading up until that point. I still remember sitting in front of my shitty school-issued chromebook, reading the 36 Lessons of Vivec, and figuring out the secret message. That was when I realized the Elder Scrolls setting was far more interesting than Skyrim or Oblivion depicted it.
I still haven’t found anything that captivated me as much as Morrowind.
It was an escape from my life back then. I don’t need the escape anymore, but I still wish there was a world that could draw me in as well as that one.
Same dude. Takes me back to when I was in school. During the summertime all I would do is play Elder Scrolls. Beat the entire Knights of the Nine dlc in one sitting lol
The setting is what makes it a top game for me as well. When Oblivion came out, I wasn’t very excited about generic fantasy and the level scaling broke my playthrough (Thieves Guild before the first mission. Enemies scale, allies don’t). I know people love Skyrim, but it’s a bit too “smooth” for me. I like some number crunching with my character creation, and theory crafting builds. Morrowind was the sweet spot for me
I am exactly the same way! Although ive had a lot of fun playing Skyrim, the gameplay is basically non-existant once you look at it closely. Every combat is just throwing yourself at the enemy hoping you have higher HP/DPS. Thats whyy everyone loves playing Stealth Archers, not only because it can be OP, but because its actually fun and engaging to play.
Morrowind was great (in certain aspects), Oblivion was great (in certain aspects), Skyrim was great (in certain aspects); but if I have to pick one, I would measure them by how often I replay them - so Skyrim is my winner.
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Ocarina of Time. I know it’s getting a little long in the tooth now and it might not be the easiest to get in to for new fans of the franchise but it will always hold a place in my heart!
Even with its age, Ocarina of Time will always be one of the absolute greats. No game on the N64 managed to hit such an incredible atmosphere like that game did! I listen to the soundtrack frequently still
I grew up without an N64 but on the Switch I’ve been working through SM64 and when I’m done with it I’m very excited to experience Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask for the first time!
It’s probably lost some magic now if you’ve posted newer games but man, that game was my life when it came out.
Dark Souls, the tone and atmosphere just does something for me that I can’t really explain.
Dark Souls is a masterpiece. To my great sadness I’ve never owned a machine that can play 2 or 3 or bloodborne or Elden Ring (steam deck when?) but I’ve put so many hours into DS1. It’s a game that I think about when I’m not playing it, which is super rare for me. Anyway, Balder Side Sword, high dex, fast roll pyro, come at me bra!
I’ve played them all (except for sekiro) and some of them do somethings better, but DS1 just stands above them for me.
Oh yeah, the atmosphere is realy amazing
Minecraft as a Singleplayer game since I play that consistently since the Halloween update. Sadly it never hooked my friends to this degree and it always went that was that I play alone on a server. Maybe one day with the kids… As for multiplayer it has to be Counter-Strike. Just perfect if you don’t sweat it. For a VR it is Half-Life Alyx. Sidenote are there any games that came after Alyx that are on par with Alyx?
I feel you on the Minecraft thing, I’m the same way! I’ve started multiple servers or realms with my friends only to be left as the lone player after a week or two.
- Chess
- Go
These are visual novels, so some may disagree that they’re games, but I really think everyone should play the original Ace Attorney trilogy. It has amazing, emotional storytelling, weaving threads until the final case of the third game where they all come together.
Probably
- Mass effect
- The Witcher 3
- Bioshock
- Diablo II
Have you tried out the MedianXL mod for D2? If not I highly recommend it. There’s active seasons/ladder league, new content, fully reworked basically everything.
I don’t think I have. Haven’t played D2 in a decade or so. But it’s still one of my all time favorite games.
MedianXL breathed new life into D2 for me, gave me an excuse to dust off the old discs again.
I haven’t played a lot of either, but there is also Project Diablo 2 which is more of a D2+QoL thing and I believe some endgame additions? Spent many hundreds of hours playing D2+LoD back in the day, one of my favorites for sure.
Replaying the Mass Effect series atm, it totally holds up! Agree on The Witcher 3 as well, that’s a game I can always come back to.
Yeah Mass Effect is still awesome. Just finished a paragon playthrough in the legendary edition on my PS4 a couple of months ago and planning to start a renegade playthrough during the summer.
I never managed to complete a a renegade playthrough actually. I should do that the next time around!
You should do that 😁 it’s fun to bring out your evil side 😁 i find that sometimes i can get a bit bored always being the nice guy.
Current top 10
1.Elite (Original not dangerous)
2.Metroid Prime
3.Quake
4.Doom 2
5.Chaos Engine
6.System Shock 2
7.The Witcher 3
8.Demons Souls
9.Dune II
10.XCOM Enemy Unknown
I was looking to put TLOU in there somewhere, but nothings gonna budge.—
Minesweeper. It’s fun, yet challenging. I’ve probably played 100k+ games. Since my new phone last month, I’m at 7k.
No trolls, no spawn camping, just you v a puzzle board.
If you haven’t played since you were a kid on windows xp, give it a shot
Oh man. I haven’t played Minesweeper in SO long. Putting that on my list to play this weekend. There was a time that it’d just be the default thing I’d open up on my computer if I was just looking to kill a little time.
In no particular oder:
- Earthbound- Pure wish fulfillment for me at 12. Pure joy for me now when I return to it.
- Final Fantasy III (US)/VI (Japan)- I had three massive game guides for this and read every one multiple times. Explored every nook and cranny of the game. It was an early exposure to games that emphasize story, and it was formative for me.
- Super Mario World- I still think this might be the perfect platformer.
- Metal Gear Solid- One of the early games that was like playing a movie. A revelation. The story was silly, but at 14, I didn’t know any better. Not sure I care even at 40, although it would probably hit me a lot differently if I played it for the first time now.
- Samba de Amigo- We played the hell out of this game as teenagers at my friend Blake’s house. We got stuck at one point, so we recorded the difficult section on his VCR, played it back in slow motion, and mapped the beats we needed to hit. We were actually able to clear it after doing that.
- Dance Dance Revolution- I lost 35 pounds not even really trying playing this game as a young adult. I’ve never before or since been so excited about exercise.
- Parappa the Rapper- The songs are catchy, and I love how weird everything is.
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night- This is a video gamer’s game. It’s unapologetic, and I love every bit of it. Holds up better than just about any other PS1 game.
- Super Metroid- That escape sequence at the beginning still gives me chills, even though it’s hard to fail. The music throughout the game is masterful.
- Stuntman- Something about having to replay the sections of the courses over and over to perfect them tweaked something deep inside my brain.
- Super Meat Boy- Same as the above, except without the excessive load times between retries!
- Hollow Knight- I crave novelty and probably have some brand of ADHD. As a result, I rarely even finish a game once, let alone return to it. I’ve fully completed this one twice. It’s that good.
- Shovel Knight- This is what you think old games were like… until you actually play a few of them. Actually, this is what you wish old games were like. I’m still amazed they were able to stick the landing with the other playable characters. I thought Shovel Knight was lightning in a bottle, but they caught it over and over in this one.
- The Witcher Series (all of 'em)- I love the way Geralt carries a confident swagger — still without being overbearing — through this bleak world. One of my favorite characters in any game.
- Mass Effect 2- Love the ensemble cast. Best one since FF3, IMO.
- Grandia 2- When I was a teenager, I didn’t know you were allowed to think the main spoiler in this game, let alone put it in a game.
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons- Nothing has ever matched mechanics with emotion like this.
- Life Is Strange- I played through this with my daughter watching over my shoulder. We both loved it. One of my most memorable gaming experiences ever.
- The Walking Dead (Telltale)- Played through this with my ex-wife watching over my shoulder. Similar experience to Life Is Strange, but with a different person I care about.
- The Secret of Monkey Island- The first game I remember playing that was really funny.
- The Realm- This is the first MMO I ever played. I remember in the alpha working for weeks to get the gold pants. These were the most sought-after item in the game: a pair of pants with infinite storage capacity. 🤷♂️ I finally got them, and it felt so awesome!
- World of Warcraft- Played this with some friends with work and felt real camaraderie in a game for the first time.
- Diablo (the first one)- This was unlike anything else I’d ever played at the time. The atmosphere was incredible too.
- The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind- This game helped me understand Western RPGs.
- Burnout Paradise- My favorite driving game. So satisfying to play.
- Batman: Arkham Asylum- Played this non-stop while I was home sick with the flu. None of the other games in the series ever surpassed it. Bigger isn’t always better.
- Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor- Feeling like a game is aware of you is a really cool feeling.
- Blast Corps- The most fun I had on N64. Destroying things in a game is highly underutilized.
- Doom- Formative and scary. There still aren’t many games scarier than Doom. This was also my first exposure to modding. If vanilla Doom is scary, that Alien TC is terrifying!
- Quake- If you ask me, this is the most influential game in history.
- Unreal Tournament- Had so much fun putting together LAN parties to play this. I didn’t do many, but the ones I did were amazing. I miss those days.
- Grand Theft Auto 3- The early GTA games were great, but this changed everything. When you think about it abstractly, it’s hard to imagine how much a difference moving from 2D to 3D could make… but it did.
- Elden Ring- Best sense of discovery of anything I’ve ever played. I love just stumbling from one thing to the next at my own pace.
Probably more that are not occurring to me right now… and even so I’ve probably listed way more than you intended. 😅
Metal Gear Solid
Have you heard they’re making a MGS3 remake?
I heard something about that. I fell off the series hard after MGS1. It didn’t pick me back up until 5.
What did you like about 3? I think I owned it at one point, but I’m sure I didn’t play more than 20 minutes of it (which is not unusual for me 😅).
Ending is pretty amazing, I recommend picking it up again sometime.
Firewatch. It gave me a sense of what a “holo-novel” from Star Trek might be like one day.
Watched my roommate play it several years ago. At the time I wished that I could play it myself with fresh eyes. Now that it’s been a few years I might actually do that since I don’t remember that well what happens.
I’d be curious what you think going through again. I found the ending extremely unsatisfying. Without (re?)spoilers, there’s a lot of things that happen in the middle of the game to set up the mystery that don’t actually make sense given what the answer is.
Tbh I don’t think I’d get to it any time soon. In the middle of totk, fourth playthrough of super Mario sunshine, and link to the past. Lol got my hands full.
By the stars, Yes! I cried so hard. The list of video games that touched me like this is short: Firewatch, Abzû, Senua Hellblade…
Here’s my list, in no particular order:
- Soulsborne franchise (actually started with Demons Souls on the PS3, I was very frustrated playing it at first, and at some point it just clicked. Now I play them relax)
- Flashback (the original DOS one)
- Baldur’s Gate 2 (go for the eyes Boo!!)
- Wing Commander series (I always think of Mark Hamill as “Maverick” Blair instead of Luke)
- Unreal Tournament (I’m still mad at Epic for killing the development of the new UT version)
- Diablo 1 and 2
- Halflife series
- Dark Souls 1
- Witcher 3
- NieR: Automata
- Undertale
A fellow souls player I see :o
