Outer Wilds. This game is unique.
Yeah, that game definitely did something to me.
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.
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.
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
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
- Chess
- Go
Here is a list of my favorite games, most of them coming from Valve
- Half-Life: Alyx - Possibly the most immersive experience I’ve had in a game. Everything from the graphics to the story and music is just perfect.
- CS:GO - Good and popular FPS game with a native Linux build and good Gameplay, unfortunately I’ve encountered a lot of cheaters recently but hopefully that’ll be fixed in CS2
- Team Fortress 2 - Really fun game to play, but unfortunately it’s pretty much abandoned
- Dota 2 - Best MOBA in my opinion, the recent New Frontiers update included a lot of changes, but unfortunately it’s still really hard for a new player to get into the game (Bad Matchmaking).
- Factorio - The Factory must grow.
STALKER SOC. This game introduced me to the STALKER series and is my first experience with an immersive open world first person game.
STALKER COP. My favorite STALKER game. More open and allows just living in the open world without moving the story forward.
Fallout (1). One of my very earliest gaming experiences. Still my favorite in the whole series. The tone and identity of this game are lightning in a bottle.
Deep Rock Galactic. Much newer than other games on my list, but well deserving for being a truly cooperative shooter.
Star Wars KOTOR. It’s KOTOR, it’s on the list.
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.
Old games like Tetris, Space Harrier, Boulder Dash
Off the top of my head, in no specific order:
- Max Payne 1 & 2
- F.E.A.R.
- The Witcher 2 & 3
- TES: Oblivion
- Battlefield 2, 1 & Bad Company 2
- Planetside 2
- All the GTAs
- Europa Universalis 4
- Stellaris
- Civilization 5
- Divinity: Original Sin 1 & 2
max payne 1/2 made me a PC gamer. love it
Short list, but enough to show how old I am:
- Ultima IV
- Secret of Evermore
- SOMA
- Minecraft
- Fallout 1-4
- Elder Scrolls (Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion)
- Subnautica
- 7 Days To Die
SOMA is one of the most gripping games I’ve ever played, I found myself awake at night thinking about it. There’s not much you can say about it of any substance that doesn’t wander into spoiler territory, but it is excellent.
Ultima IV was not my first game, but it was the first full-length RPG that I played all the way to the end, which was a life milestone for me. Really good, and introduced the concept of ethical behavior into a game as a core mechanic which I found really interesting and unique.
7 Days To Die (w/ Darkness Falls mod) is in my IV bag for regular dosage - my wife and I play every weekend.
The others really need no explanation. :)
Agreed on SOMA. Very unsettling and I often find myself mentally referring to it as the preeminent voice on identity and existence when other media touches on similar subjects.
+1 for Subnautica! The music is so haunting, too; I bought the score and I listen to it all the time.
I’m probably missing some games, but:
- Homeworld and sequels (especially Cataclysm!) - one of the few and still the best 3D strategy game.
- Deus Ex - you can do anything and the game will react to it. You can run from bosses and they will follow you later (or you can kill them in advance!), you can stack all the crates to get to that roof, you can be in the middle of what in any other RPG would be the heartwrenching scripted sequence motivating the main character and start shooting. There are still no other games allowing freedom to such degree.
- Planescape: Torment - where dialogue actually feels like gameplay.
- Xenogears and to a lesser degree, newer Xeno games. Goes outside of the mold for japanese RPGs similar to Planescape:Torment in the west.
- Battle for Wesnoth - the best turn-based strategy, with a whole series worth of quality campaigns, and with some of the unofficial campaigns surpassing the main game. Also the best open source game.
There are many others (XCOM:UFO Defense, Sacrifice, Final Fantasy series, Command & Conquer TS/RA2 and their mods, Fallout 2, Stellaris, Dishonored, Mass Effect, Unreal Tournament, Operation Flashpoint…)
Dude, the fact that cataclysm was basically a 3rd party total conversion that ended up being an official stand alone is dope af. I really wanted it to be remastered with hw1 & 2, but was not to be sadly.
My top 5 games (no order):
- Deus Ex
- Mass Effect
- Super Mario 64
- Halo 2
- Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos
Rationales: Deus Ex’s plot was excellent, I loved the problem solving and ways to approach each mission. Hasn’t aged quite gracefully in a lot of respects but there aren’t many games even to this day quite like it, and that includes it’s sequels (as in while good in their own rights didn’t quite capture what made the original special).
Mass Effect has maybe my favorite sci fi universe, enjoyed the rpg aspects, cast of charming characters and a lot of the themes and flavor surrounding the galaxy and plot.
Super Mario 64 was one my childhood games and still as fun to play now as it was back then. Sunshine was fun, Galaxy was really cool and innovative, and 3D world and Odyssey are fun but I still think Super Mario 64 still remains my favorite even now. Sunshine might actually be my 2nd favorite followed by Galaxy. All 3 are very neck to neck though.
Warcraft 3 has the flimsiest spot. KOTOR, Jedi Academy, Fallout: New Vegas, GTA: SA, Final Fantasy (multiple), Chrono Trigger, World in Conflict, Saints Row 2, one of the total war titles, mount and blade, one of the zelda games, etc etc etc could have gone this list. Honestly I feel like there’s countless games i’m just not recalling at the moment, i’ve played a bunch over the last 25 years haha. But I have a lot of fond memories of Warcraft 3. Shame the remaster was such a disappointment, and that they stopped making Warcraft RTS’s
Two other games that could have been added are Everquest and World of Warcraft. I didn’t add them, because neither in their current state are anywhere close. I think Everquest circa 2001 and WoW circa 2006 or so are probably my favorites. Part of the charm is experiencing the world for the first time with everyone, in an era where the internet, twitch, etc didn’t spoil everything. I think both are among my favorite gaming experiences in their time, but hard to put in a top 5 list like this.
Deus Ex
Welp, somebody said the magic words, time to reinstall. I think I’ll go with the GEP gun this time.
- Undertale
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Detroit: Become Human
- Cities Skylines
- Dishonored (first game of the franchise)
- Elder Scrolls Skyrim
- Fallout New Vegas
- Fatal Frame 2
- Resident Evil 2 Remake
- Subnautica (first game of the franchise)
- TF2
- Dota 2
I guess I just like the number 2 (and Valve)
Sounds like you need to try Left 4 Dead 2 and Portal 2.
I’m pretty sporadic with my game playing. Sometimes I’ll play constantly for a while, and then go months without playing anything at all.
Recent games I’ve played a lot of are Path of Exile, American Truck Simulator, Factorio. Over the years I’ve played a lot of Civilization (1-5 at least), World of Warcraft, EverQuest II, EVE Online, Crusader Kings 2, Terraria, Minecraft, Final Fantasy 1/4/6/7, Tetris, Counterstrike (up to maybe patch 1.6?). Plenty of others, but those would definitely be among my favorites.
