The original DOOM is very special to me as it helped me get out of a very dark time. I went to therapy and got a lot of support on various fronts, but still needed something to take my mind of the pain. Something about the pure and basic gameplay just clicked: the only thing I had to do was run and shoot. The maps were complex enough to keep my mind busy and I still remember it very fondly and am grateful to this day.
Also loved DOOM 2, quite liked 3, and am currently adoring 2016.
Outlier in that my favorite was doom 1. Probably its second episode was my favorite, but they’re all good.
The graphics at the time were amazing. The skyboxes for some reason really made an impression on me. There’s like green mountains in the background of episode 1 I think. As a kid I used to think about exploring them.
The first time I beat the third episode without cheats, I finished off the spider mastermind with exactly 1% health left. Memorable as shit. (I think the game might do the thing where the last few percents of health count more, so it feels exciting when you just barely hang on. If so, it worked.)
I remember thinking my older cousin was so cool because he could clear all the levels without cheats.
Playing it now with mouse look and wasd it’s a much easier game, but back then as a child with keyboard only it was daunting.
Doom2’s level design had more confusing and frustrating parts for me. Also I didn’t get a copy of it until several years later, so it didn’t have the full magic of youth.
Doom 3 I don’t remember very well. I liked it but it didn’t have staying power.
I didn’t finish the new dooms. They’re fine but I never really clicked with them.
The sound design is half the reason why Doom was so good, and why Doom II is better - going up point blank to a tanky enemy with the super shotgun and making every shot count is borderline orgasmic - second only to beserk-punching an Imp into gibs while still moving forward, beautiful.
After I tried Hollow Knight for the 3rd time I finally had the realization that I just don’t like metroidvanias. Tunic, Ori, HK, Guacamelee. Bounced off every single one of them despite wanting to like them. The closest I’ve ever gotten to liking one was Death’s Door, but that took some work to get through. Not really a metroidvania but it sort of feels like one? Ultimately the music and vibe/combat kept me going and you don’t really need to return to locations if you don’t want to, so you can keep marching forward for 90% of the game.
I do like this genre but I had the same experience with hollow knight. I wanted to like it, but something about the way it controlled felt really off to me, and I didn’t enjoy the punishing death mechanics.
For me personally I’ve never liked combining hard challenges with infrequent saves. I don’t mind things to be hard if I’m allowed to get right back to the same spot after, but I don’t like having to get back to the hard thing from far away just to try again.
Not that my opinion matters any more than the next person’s, but I also can’t recommend Celeste enough.
It does so many things so very right.
The pure gameplay is crisp and responsive platforming.
Like any good platfmorer it has some specific mechanics that make it unique, but every one is intuitive enough to pick up easily enough. I have heard it called something like “the hardest platformer that everyone can finish.”
And it is true. I could never finish some of the harder SMB levels but I never got too frustrated with Celeste.
And if I were, there would have been accessibility options to make the game more approachable.
But it also caters to the hardcore crowd with completely optional collectibles that are organically included into the gorgeous level design.
It is speedrunnable for those folks.
And as if that wasn’t enough to make a good platformer it also tells a heartwarming story supported by a beautiful soundtrack.
Sorry I am rambling, but Celeste is fucking awesome.
I’m in the same boat: Hollow Knight frustrated me so much that I never finished it, even though I really liked the lore and the world and the non-boss fights. Celeste on the other hand might be even “harder”, but as you respawn on every screen literally instantly, you can fail and retry hard parts a hundred times until you make it.
I finally tried the first one not long ago and went in super excited. I had the same experience, though… I think for me what caught me off guard the most was how hard it was. I’ve played a lot of platformers and metroidvanias, and I found Ori to be punishingly difficult. The “escape the area” sections were the killers ultimately. The first one in the tree took me dozens of tries, and it turned a very cool and cinematic moment into a frustrating slog that I couldn’t wait to put behind me. I got as far as the next one of these in the ice area and it was even more intense, and finally I just threw in the towel. It’s a shame because there was a lot to like, but the difficulty was a bit too much for my enjoyment.
i think this is what made it unfun, not the difficulty but the fact that you have to die a few times to even see what you’re supposed to do and it was aggravating way early in the game. Also I’m not a fan of the difficulty stemming from the controls being hard to use, like when you’re carrying stuff.
Honestly it's all sorts of wrong especially these days, but I've played through the whole thing 3 or 4 times. Surprisingly fun gameplay and enough easter eggs to be interesting on replay.
Theyre all kind of bad and rely mainly on shock humor to grab your attention. Think the GTA series but with more piss and shit jokes. You pee on people… Not exactly high brow. I thought the second one was fun though.
Great game, sadly I never played it because I watched it through Jacksepticeye and by the time I decided to play, I’ve already finish watching his series. Can’t really enjoy a story driven game when you’ve already watched it.
Edit: If you already finished, I really recommend watching Jacksepticeye’s playthrough if you are into watching gameplays.
I was in the same situation but with Ross and Barry playing through it on Game Grumps. Even without playing it myself though, the game is truly something special.
Yes, Jacksepticeye did play the Genocide. Honestly, his reaction is quite funny to watch. I highly recommend his channel. (Not sponsored, just a very devoted fan 😅) Very wholesome Irish lad btw, so far I’ve not seen even one controversy. He’ve also showed support of LGBT+ community so I feel very good watching his channel.
I’ve recently started playing Pokemon Unbound and… what they say about it is true. It spoils you so much that every other pokemon game starts to look bland. Possibly even the future ones.
yep, story is so-so, but gameplay wise it is the best pokemon i’ve played.
gyms, league and some story fights where actually tough and required bringing different pokemons without being unfair, the port of newer mechanics like raid dens and special evolutions are well done…
You are right. I just tested it on my mobile browser and it just says “Perhaps on a desktop browser?”.
But I found a way to make it kind of work, but its not as good or seemless like on a real desktop PC. It halfway works if you switch your browser mode to Desktop mode. In your browser menu (the 3 dots, what’s called? hamburger menu?) should have an option to enable “Desktop site”. Then reload page and if you click the gun, it should pop out. Now try to click an element on the webpage, maybe the text. If it does not fall, click again. Unfortunately you can’t (or I can’t) hold an element and drag it around.
I started with what I had fond memories of and came to mind, but of course, I went to my steam library, and looked through games tagged platformer. And now I’m wondering if I should also link my reviews of the titles, specifically the most interesting ones. Either way, the list of fond memories / very positives became too long for one list, so it’s split by category now.
3d ego platformers
A Story About My Uncle, left a lasting impact on me back then as a very good if not exceptional title
Portal
Hot Lava, great, pure 3d platformer, a lot of of quality content
Supraland, 3d puzzle and action platformer
3d 3rd-person platformers
New Super Lucky’s Tale, a great 3d platformer
A Hat in Time, a great 3d platformer, with cute characters, good humor
RiME, I remember I wrote a very positive review about RiME
A Short Hike, great
Yooka-Laylee
2d platformers
Sheepy: A Short Adventure, free, exceptional atmosphere
Ori, with its great atmosphere and visuals
Webbed, very cute, great theming, playing as a spider
Yoku’s Island Express, great mixing of pinball and platformer, in a great setting
Spiritfarer, great atmosphere
Battleblock Theater, great absurd humor
Super Meat Boy, ok, this has been a long time ago, but it was incredibly fluid and fast, with a ton of content
Dustforce DX
Jubilee, I played this on my Steam Deck quite a bit (unfortunately no save sync)
Trine, for its great physics approach and narrated humorous storytelling
Wunderling DX, an “auto-runner platformer”, quite interesting, well polished, so try to for something different
Braid, I don’t actually know if it holds up today, it’s been so long ago
I’d love to hear your opinions on
A Highland Song, deep lore, great atmosphere - I felt a bit lost though, or wasn’t captivated beyond that, and beyond one run
Treasures of Aegean, another “roguelite” platformer, with interesting progression and discovery - still, I found it well made, but ultimately not personally captivating, maybe because of the disorganized nature [of re-runs and timeloop-crossing story]
Sable, only partially platformer, and not the best quality overall, but great atmosphere, exploration, and platforming discovery
I forgot there was a sequel. At least I think I’ve seen it before.
Grow Up is currently 75% off on Steam. Very positive ratings, and watching this ign review, seems like a decent iteration with enough fresh content. I think I will buy it 🤔 and go climbing again :D
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