Please Don’t Touch Anything. What genre does it even belong in? It would have been a flash game if made 10 years earlier. You’re left at a console with a single large red button, and told to wait for a minute and don’t touch anything. Depending on how you interact with this console, there are many different things it can do/behaviors it can have, and your goal is to find all the different endings. It was entertaining, I don’t need to own it anymore.
Shenzhen I/O and TIS-100. Both Zachtronics assembly-em-up games, which…I don’t think there’s absolutely zero replayability, because you might redo the level you just did or go back to an earlier one with a solution you just learned from a later level, but I don’t know finishing these games feels less like beating Bowser at the end of Super Mario and more like graduating from high school. I’m done with that phase of my life and I can now move on.
Antichamber. The video game equivalent of a Piet Mondrian painting. It’s an abstract and brain knitting non-euclidean first person puzzle game that uses its surreal mechanics as a metaphor for the journey of life itself, and halfway though you get a gun that shoots cubes and it turns back into a video game. A lot of the actual impact of the game comes from how it comments on the epiphany you just had, and that effect is spoiled somewhat by “Oh I remember this part.” I will note there is a speedrunning community for this game.
Firewatch. There are some games where you’ll watch a Let’s Play, decide you want to have a go, so you’ll buy and play the game. Not Firewatch; a Let’s Play gives you 96.4% of the experience. It’s a walking simulator that probably should have just been a short film. I’m not even convinced it is a “video game” because…how do you play it well or poorly? Like do we need a new term like “narrative software” or something?
I liked firewatch, even though I usually dislike walking simulators. It really was a good mesh of dialogue and voice actors, unlike others where the dialogue just drags.
Interactivity really helps relate to the character you’re playing even if you’re not making any actual choices. And like you said, the dialogues are done pretty well to be enjoyable and not annoying. I liked Firewatch a lot.
So did I, which is why I listed it among good games that have no replay value. I enjoyed the thing that it is, I appreciated the visual style, it’s well performed…it’s one of the better walking simulators. The ending is controversial, which I take to mean it’s a work of art.
Firewatch is more in the visual novel category. I did in fact give it a replay with completely different choices to see how it changed things, and was disappointed to find that all choices are merely for aesthetics and make zero difference in the plot. However it’s a well-made enough game (especially dialogue and voice acting) that it was still kinda fun to play again.
I was going to write anti chamber, because I never want to play it again, but %'s 30-90 of the way through the game I was itching to start over. It had me so hooked, but then the ending just took the wind out of the sails so hard. Heck maybe 10-98% of the game had me itching to replay it.
When I think back on my time with AntiChamber, I don’t really think about the ending. I really think of the beginning up through getting the green gun. It starts leaning farther into the direction of Talos Principle or Portal at that point.
To me the game was about the experience of coming to terms with this strange new world you’ve found yourself in, and the THIS IS AN ALLEGORY wall tiles. It’s impressive how long the developer managed to keep that schtick up.
Baba is You - simplistic graphically, but immensely satisfying mechanically. Amazing puzzle game.
Celeste - gorgeous graphics and buttery smooth controls, a platformer that is encouraging and supportive all the way through but ranges from “easy as pie” to “hard as nails” as you progress. One of the most satisfying games to complete every level for. One of the best soundtracks ever. Trans rights!
Fez - another simple-ish at face value platformer game, but this time with puzzles as the main thread instead of action. Super satisfying puzzles and an amazing soundtrack.
Omori - an RPG which eventually deals with some heavy subject matter but does so tastefully and maturely. It’s a splendid story either way you spin it, and lots of fun.
Undertale - same as above, but shorter and more “punchy”. One of the best soundtracks in gaming, and a cast of characters you’ll come to feel like your family. It’s quite subversive for the genre, so it’s a fun experience. It has an episodic sister game Deltarune which is still in the works.
Void Stranger - a block-pushing styled game, but incredibly subversive for the genre. Gorgeous visuals, great soundtrack, and some truly mindbending puzzles. It gets super hard, but it’s also super satisfying to beat.
Stardew Valley - cozy farming game, really just oozing passion and love from the developer(s). Lots to do, many unique people to meet and things to see. Pretty graphics and stunning soundtrack. Fall in love with an NPC, marry them if you want. Or don’t do any of that. Make your own fun in this one, there’s a bunch of aspects to get into.
Citizen Sleeper - not technically 2d but may as well be. A gripping, beautiful sci-fi story, told in a tabletop RPG style. You won’t be able to help falling in love with the rag-tag character cast, and shedding a few tears along the way. It’s very down to earth but makes me long for the stars at the same time.
Ori and the Blind Forest/Ori and the Will of the Wisps - a drop dead gorgeous, lovingly crafted metroidvania with one of the best soundtracks you could ever ask for. Platforming is gorgeously refined, and the sequel improves upon the first game in many ways.
Hollow Knight - I could copy paste the majority of the Ori blurb here, however this game has a deeper focus on the deep, winding, sprawling exploration, and combat aspects. Gripping soundtrack and stunning stylised visuals. You will, however, join the wait for Silksong with the rest of us, which drives many people mad!
I definitely recommend Baba Is You and FEZ as well. Similarly to FEZ there is a mobile game Monument Valley (and Monument Valley 2) which I adore. It’s spendier in $/time, but I find is highly worth it.
Bastion isn’t a 2D game, but I’d like to recommend it while I’m at it, it’s play is perhaps close enough, and it’s stunning.
If she likes organizing, let her take a peek at “unpacking”. Cute artstyle, really cozy and lots of stuff to unpack and organize. Hope your girlfriend gets better soon!
Mostly because it has the best character: a wholesome pro wrestler who helps kids and orphanages. Also only speaks in jaguar and always has his jaguar mask on.
I think fighting games are like religion - the one you’re raised with just makes sense, and all the others just seem like: “why would anyone spend their time with that!?”
I love Tekken. Played 1 a bit. Played 2 a lot. Played 3 a bit. Played Tag and 4 a huge amount at work. Played 5 a bit. 6 not so much. 7 lightly. And now I’m mainlining 8 and absolutely loving it. So I have to concede - after a lifetime sinking time into Tekken of one form or another, you can’t really take my views on it as anything other than completely biased.
But I love it. Every time I’ve tried to play another beat-em-up like SF or MK I’ve just ended up confused. I know, intellectually, that these are good games. But I just don’t understand the… texture of them. SF feels floaty, stuff happens but I don’t really understand what I’m doing or how it affects what I’m seeing on screen. MK feels oddly stilted, the way the characters move feels artificial, slow.
Only Tekken feels… real. Just the right amount of nimble. When I get hit, I know why I got hit. I can predict shit, and feel good when I block a load of stuff. I feel like only with Tekken can I worry less about the controller and more about the strategy, and the mind games.
That’s a tricky one, but if I had to pick, maybe Ashley from Mass Effect. She’s very insubordinate and disrespectful towards you, I hate her speciesism and (fittingly enough) she’s a Bible thumping Christian, whenever she opens her mouth I wish I could eject her through the airlock. It doesn’t help that you can’t deny her joining the team or even kick her out, safe to say that whenever I get to Virmire I always kill her without even thinking twice.
I’m replaying the Arkham series and I’d forgotten that Ashley’s VA plays Oracle. I couldn’t figure out why I was getting annoyed every time she called Batman until I made that connection.
I got a free fighting game on epic. Dnf Duels or something. One of the tutorials had a combination to block or counterattack, can't remember, and I tried every which way I could think of yet nothing worked.
So finally, I got out of the game and uninstalled it.
The big moment was figuring out it's not my job to find a way of fixing some company's dumbass decisions. That it's ok to say "this shit ain't worth the hassle".
I played the remastered Spyro trilogy recently (great games) and it took me about half of the first game to work out how the gem chests work. You hit them and the gem shoots out the top, which you then have to grab before it returns in order to unlock the chest. For a while I thought you just had to ground pound the chest at the right angle to get it to open and I couldn’t work out why it didn’t always work.
After realising the correct way I felt pretty dumb lol.
I started Skyrim last month, for the first time ever, but already have it up there with Minecraft. No pressure, just exploration. Add a bowl, and I’m set.
I would say just don’t start one, these gacha games are probably not the best to start with from the beginning with it’s fomo gacha mechanics and at the same time they want the player to login every day.
But if i have to say something. I don’t know Honkai Impact or the boy game. Between Genshin and Hokai Star Rail, i would say the second one is a better game, but at the same time they quite different. Genshin is an open world exploration action game and Honkai Star Rail is liniar and Turn based. All of these gacha games are extremly grindy.
**3D Grand Theft Auto games (GTA 3, 4, 5)**Some video essay (I can’t recall which one) compared GTA’s attitude to that of the protagonist of “Catcher in the Rye”. Its comedy is very cynical, just pointing fingers at everything and saying “they are phony”, “they suck, don’t they” and “we are too cool to even admit we’re cool”. The tone always rubbed me the wrong way and felt like these white gangsta rappers - Vanilla Ice and the kind. Rampant fanboyism does not help, either. I dared critisize GTA6 trailer somewhere (by saying “this is not for me, I will pass”) to be downvoted to oblivion and I shit you not, receive threats in DMs.
No Man’s SkyWhen it came out, NMS was a broken, buggy mess of a game with inventory management as a central mechanic. Punch trees got replaced with laser plants, but it’s basically the same loop of gather, combine, refine, build better tools. After a decade, NMS is a game chock-full of various content, with inventory management as a central mechanic. Not for me.
Souls-likes and MetroidvaniasI have plenty of rewarding challenges in my real live and consider myself lucky enough to have work that’s fulfilling and gratifying. I don’t seek validation in games - I seek relaxation and escapism. I play most games on easy and don’t feel like proving my skills in the game is the right use of my time. I can appreciate skilled players - often watching speedruns, 100% attempts or professional tournaments, but when it comes to playing - I rather pick fun, easy, light entertainment. (Death Stranding is one of my all-time favorites)
on a flip note, a game that everyone seems to hate and I quite enjoy is ForspokenSure, the dialog is cringe and there’s way too much of the same barks repeating (I need to look through menus, I think they added some slider to adjust the rate if I recall), but the traversal is fun, I love the UI design (gold and purple), I think costumes are freaking fantastic and combat is easy enough (on easy) to happily zone out to and play an hour here or there.
TLOU - Great story, don’t get me wrong; probably some of the best writing in games for it’s time. But the gameplay got super boring once every concept was introduced. The loop is just not satisfying, and exploration is more or less go check out the dead end before moving on, because the level design is so linear. This is more or less the same problem I have with most big AAA titles; they look great, have a good story, but are just so incredibly boring to play. You can tell the budget went entirely into graphics and voice acting, because the game itself feels more like an afterthought to those; it’s just there because otherwise it would be a movie.
Lethal Company - The game itself is pretty shit and tedious. What makes it fun is not the game, but how voice chat sounds when someone is being chased or getting eaten. 100% a game made for Twitch streamers where more people will be entertained by watching others play than playing themselves.
Palworld - I was interested by “Pokemon with Guns” and then I found out it’s more like Rust with Pokemon. I hate Rust and Ark all those kinds of survival PvP games. The genre itself has all the same weird jank, like everyone who has been copying the idea from DayZ or the like also copied every bug and bad idea, too; even the AAA made ones! They usually run like shit, are balanced like shit, and get so stale alone and are super frustrating in multiplayer unless you’re playing with a large group of friends so you’re not just being singled out for being all alone.
GTA:O - Specifically the online portion of GTA5 has made me never want to buy another GTA or rockstar game period. Not because the game play itself sucks, but rather because it’s extremely fun but the game doesn’t want you to have fun if you’re also making money. I can spend hours and hours doing all the activities that don’t earn you cash and have not one single issue other than maybe some other players trying to blow me up (especially if they are modding). But once that Mission Rep meter starts going up, hoo boy… The game starts breaking in all sorts of interesting but frustrating ways. Headshots stop killing in one hit, traffic starts behaving erratically and non-sensically (like straight sliding sideways at light speed to force a collision), triggers start breaking, the server decides to go down or get super laggy, etc. Since none of this happens in single player or while not doing activities that reward cash, and there is no other obvious function of the Mission Rep stat, I can’t help but think these are actually features put into the game on purpose specifically to slow down grinding so people will buy Shark Cards. The same kinda shit happens in RDR2:O, too.
I’m not far enough into paltopialand to really say, but at the beginning and five hours in, it runs at 142FPS and never drops *at max settings. Its performance is really remarkable for an early game.
To clarify here: It’s not really the game specifically; I just know it’s the latest example of the type of game and super popular atm. It might be the best game of that genre; I still don’t like the genre itself, which is why I’m not getting Palworld.
Skyrim. I dislike most everything about this game. It’s not a “bad” game as in it doesn’t work and it’s not exploitative, I just think it’s quite average.
Combat is pathetically simple. There are some interesting support spells but by and large magic is either bolt spamming, beam spell, or you summon golems. Melee is even worse just having basic and strong attacks. This is exemplified by the meme that you can make your character however you want…as long as it’s a stealth archer. But even then the Stealth Archer gameplay is pitiful. Archery has the same boring attacks as melee and stealth is just watching a little icon.
The story is garbage. Besides a few side quests, the main campaign is just awful.
The open world is pretty decent, but is waaaaay too small and jam-packed. Skyrim is supposed to be a remote nordic province. But Skyrim does a terrible job at having places feel remote and like wilderness. Every time you turn a corner in a mountain pass there’s another cottage or bandit tower, etc. It feels like a theme park whose theme is nordic wilderness.
The progression is mostly boring. The skill tree is almost entirely passive bonuses. Do X% more damage, Attacks have a chance to do bleeding, increased range, etc. Very few skill trees have an effect on what you can do; just how well you do it.
Again, Skyrim isn’t a terrible game. It’s competent at what it does, but not good at it. The only caveat is that there weren’t many open world RPGs before Skyrim that were as large or became as popular. Plenty of games who did every aspect of Skyrim better; but I struggle to find one that did them all at the same time. /rant
The open world is pretty decent, but is waaaaay too small and jam-packed. Skyrim is supposed to be a remote nordic province. But Skyrim does a terrible job at having places feel remote and like wilderness. Every time you turn a corner in a mountain pass there’s another cottage or bandit tower, etc. It feels like a theme park whose theme is nordic wilderness.
That’s exactly the reason why I like the game. That and how moddable it is lol
Edit: Also the multiplayer is god awful, why can’t my friend and me just team up and play, instead you have to jump through all types of hoops to play together.
Surprised this hasn’t been said more in this thread, to be honest. All it seems to be is Breath of the Wild and Soulslikes.
I’ve tried 3 different Monster Hunter games, I’ve really tried to see what people enjoy about them. But the controls are so awful, the loop is tedious, and I could never find anything good to say about them. This series truly confuses me.
I so wish I could like Monster Hunter. I mean there are huge monsters, what’s not to like about it. But the rest just isn’t fun or enough to me so I get bored really fast. It’s a bummer.
Installed it. Spent two hours in unskippable tutorials and dialogues learning about a million different mechanics. Sent out into wild; collecting mucous for 45 minutes. Find monster, hit it a bunch. Monster runs away. I chase it for 10 more minutes, then Quit and uninstall.
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