They're even making sequels to "the carp stands up" now. They added exercise to the game, and now carps get fucking ripped as fuck just swimming upstream, so when they start walking on land they're there to just destroy you and everything you hold dear.
Baldur's Gate 3. Hands down. Red Dead Redemption 2 is probably number 2. That said, I have more hours in World of Warcraft than every other game combined. It was an entire lifestyle for a few years back in the day. But WoW was good because of the people, not because of the gameplay.
Minecraft. Even with all the shitty updates there is so much to be done in Minecraft that it’s honestly mind boggling. Almost anything is possible especially with mods. Only downside is Microsoft’s greedy ass owns it
I never had a C64 and was pretty jealous of this series.
I played a few DOS based clones and various ports and they were pretty cool but from what I've seen everything they've done with the franchise since 2000 has been soulless.
It was the only story ever that has pulled me in completely. I wasn't just playing it, I was living it. It took me 2 more days to come down to earth after finishing it.
Grim Fandango. Despite the weird tank controls, it created such an amazing world - and all in a point-and-click adventure. My home PC is named Manny, our NAS is Eva, the router/firewall is Glottis, and so on.
Have you played Psychonatus 2? How does it compare? I haven't, but I've been wanting to, but I also have limited time, so I'm looking for the next game after Baldur's Gate 3, which I'll complete in the next 3-4 months with my availability lol
Definitely worth playing. Maybe a bit less memorable than the original, but also a bit more consistent. There are no huge difficulty spikes like the Meat Circus in the original.
The story is a bit more complex, and a bit more muted. Most of the levels are less memorable. But absolutely worth the time to play and enjoy.
Grim Fandango is an amazing story about life and death and love...
... Built upon an engine where the protagonist walks around at sloth speed. Manny Calavaras just sashays along, and there's no way to speed his ass up. I wish you could hit escape or something to skip him walking in and out of scenes, but nope! I'm forced to watch him drag his feet from location to location.
But the most touching parts of the story stick with me after 20 years.
BioShock Infinite and Spec Ops: The Line are the only two games I've played that I would consider "art" in the truest sense of the word. Video games in general are creative works, and they all have debatable levels of "greatness", but those who have played these two know what I mean.
That game is one of my saddest histories. As a bit to young to play it I bought it and found it immensely boring just slogging through the dungeon at the start. Didn't understand the weapon system. Eventually after several tries I got into the city proper but couldn't handle that first boss fight. Put it aside and never picked it back up again. Still have the game somewhere. No PSOne tho'
Similar story for me. I bounced off this game several times, going back to it repeatedly because (to this day) Matsuno's games are some of my all-time favorites. Then maybe 15 years after release, I realized I'd stopped just short of the crafting station which was such a strong hook for me I ended up with multiple spreadsheets!
Unfortunately, as I began to realize as I delved into the game, it had a lot in common with looter ARPGs, a genre that ages so rapidly. I probably would have loved the game back in 2000 but didn't give it enough of a chance back then. By the time I did, it was just too dated.
Cyberpunk 2077 for me, it has everything, an amazing story with great characters, fantastic gameplay, a banger soundtrack, and an interesting world that's fun to explore and feels like a real place.
The game was better than the show, which the show was actually based from. I liked the show too, but definitely give the game a go if you get a chance.
The second game was a very difficult storyline to play through, however. I'm glad I did, but temper your expectations and expect to suffer a lot. Lol
I have only play Last of Us 1 during PS3 era. I was a 20 year old kid back then I guess. I cried and sobbed through the game. I remember it having such a huge emotional impact on me. May be I was too emotionally disturbed at that time, who knows.
Your mileage may vary, but i thoroughly enjoyed the game. Didn't enjoy the show as much.
I'll probably always think that Tetris is the greatest video game ever. The inherent dramatic arc that comes with watching the blocks stack up is tension directly within you the player, not you watching tension unfold for characters on the screen. It's different every time, even if the shape of the arc is similar, because you improve as a player. It's the kind of emergent involvement the most designers could only aspire to create.
That said of course Shadow of the Colossus is also a favorite. That one probably feels a little more obvious, but I'm okay with that.
Another might be how long after its development it's still considered reasonably playable. I'd guess that maybe something like Tetris or Pac-Man might rate well there.
Another might be how influential the game is. I think that "genre-defining" games like Wolfenstein 3D would probably win there.
Another might be how impressed I was with a game at the time of release. Games that made major technical or gameplay leaps would rank well there. Maybe Wolfenstein 3D or Myst.
Another might be what the games I play today are -- at least once having played them sufficiently to become familiar with them -- since presumably I could play pretty much any game out there, and so my choice, if made rationally, should identify the best options for me that I'm aware of. That won't work for every sort of genre, as it requires replayability -- an adventure game where experiencing the story one time through is kind of the point would fall down here -- but I think that it's a decent test of the library of games out there. Recently I've played Steel Division II singleplayer, Carrier Command 2 singleplayer, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, and Shattered Pixel Dungeon. RimWorld and Oxygen Not Included tend to be in the recurring cycle.
The greatest single-playthrough game would be a fun category. I think my picks for that might be What Remains of Edith Finch, Gone Home, Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars, or Grim Fandango. Fire Watch would probably get an honourable mention.
A "pinacle of a (mostly) defunct genre" category might be a good one too. I would argue that Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 is the best isometric RTS games ever made.
With Demons’ Souls a close second. For those of us who got to play that game before Dark Souls became a thing, when we knew next to nothing about what to expect, it was an almost revelatory experience.
I tried finding others but kept coming back to the one. Helped that i read a lot of fantasy and they used a lot of content i was already familiar with, but it was also the remorting system that entranced me
I'm replaying the remastered trilogy for the first time since I was a teenager. The level design is outstanding. Very clever re-use of the same areas, just at different heights.
It's inspiration from side-scroller prince of persia (also played this obsessively as a young child) is palpable. The movement system is revolutionary.
And the enemy progression is hilarious. First you fight some bats, then you fight some wolves, then you fight motherfucking Velociraptors, then a goddamned T-Rex. And thats not even close to the weirdest enemy you'll fight. Boss battles are evenly spaced until they aren't. when you have two boss battles immediately one after the other.
And then eventiually, you get to the pulsating flesh caves...
I remember being relieved when I survived the encounter with the bear, knowing that it was definitely going to be the scariest creature I would encounter. Lol.