Can’t say any one game was life changing for me. They are more a collection of experiences that I reflect upon. Hundreds of games, that have refined me my thoughts and feelings over the decades.
Man that game was 10 levels of fucked and creepy all wrapped in existential crisis and the definition of who is ‘you’? Still fucked up on that game, but damn was it good.
I’m in the minority on this one but I found that game very overrated. There was nothing new or tantalizing gameplay or concept wise here. I’d dare say it was boring.
I loved and competed in various trading card games throughout high school however once married with kids I could no longer afford the hobby. Dominion caused a surge in the deckbuilding genre and ultimately led to my first published game design. Now board games and tabletop RPGs are a favorite for spending time with family and friends.
It’s the same thing as saying a good book can ruin your day when it’s over. Just because someone has an emotional attachment to a really good story, whether game, movie, or book, doesn’t mean they have a boring life.
It’s like saying “if artistic work/expression changes you, you’re a rube.” What changes you, if not expressive works? Who cares if games mostly describe tropes and isms. I’d argue almost the opposite of what you wrote, but this is the internet, and it’s a boring discussion. Bless up your house. Your experience of reality is constantly being shaped by the by your participation in sensation and your faculties of knowing.
A massage can change you, just as much as a really good meal, or a particular smell, or an advertisement. What is wrong (for lack of a better word) with being changed by an immersive experience in a video game? I guess my questions are: what allows us to validate certain types of experiences that others have, and invalidate others? It’s the prerogative of other minds, no? Do you or I dictate what is of vivifying value? Maybe not. My knowing of words, pictures, sounds, so on, is not yours. Dumb things exist that shape people’s personhood, from time to time. Peace out - I’m compelled to respond by my rejection of this kind of anti-experiential nihilism. I just drank like four beers. They are changing me, as a person.
I’m surprised you’re downvoted like this, but I had a similar thought. I understand the meme, that it is about the feeling when you finished a game with a story that made you involved. But calling it a “lifechanger” feels like exaggeration.
I have played a game that touched me deeply, leaving me emotionally out of my socket for about a week. But I wouldn’t say it “changed my life”. I can feel the echo of that experience when I remember, but that’s all.
Every single thing we do changes our lives, including posting throwaway comments on the internet. Games just tend to do it in ways people actually remember.
For pure entertainment or passive turn-brain-off type games I’m inclined to agree with you. Mario Party isn’t exactly changing lives out here.
Games that tell a story though, they can be extremely impactful just like any form of story. Through stories I myself have changed my world views, taken new perspectives in life. Star Trek The Next Generation’s season 6 episode Tapestry changed my outlook on risk taking especially in my professional life, my username reference to the Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask got me to overcome my extreme fear and anxiety of being rejected by friends. Was I much younger when I experienced those stories, sure, but they still changed the course of my life.
My day job is working on satellites, I’m a hobbyist carpenter, been teaching myself to play piano, frequently go camping/hiking into Colorado’s mountains, work on a project car, and sure this evening I’ve been playing Factorio but I’ve been doing so while sipping wine that I made myself.
You could call me many things, but I don’t think boring fits.
I understand that it sounds kind of hyperbolic, but I’ve played a few games that changed my life, and I consider myself to have normal emotional depth. I’ve played some games that simply affected me on a core level in ways I hadn’t felt since childhood.
The Witcher 3! I never played 1 or 2. However 3 did a great job of story recap and finishing up said story. DLC was a must as well. All in all, I was engaged with the story.
I loved RDR but every time I try to play RDR2 I struggle to stay engaged for more than a couple hours. Then it’s 6-12 months before I play it again. Still haven’t finished a single play thru. Just can’t put my finger on why.
I’m a big fan of RDR2 (~470hrs from two full playthroughs), and would recommend it to anyone, even if they don’t normally play games. However I can understand why it might not appeal to some people, for one reason or another.
I suspect this might be because of a slow start to the story - frequently the game falls victim to its own ‘cinematicism’ and holds the player’s hand too much (e.g. walking too far away from a mission area or trying things outside of the box runs the risk of failing the mission, unlike the creative approaches one may take in Rockstar’s earlier adventures). I have stopped seeing RDR2 as a ‘game’, and instead treat it as a world to experience, kind of like a good book. I want to feel that world more than conventionally play in it, and this process greatly heightens my attachment to it as well as to Arthur, increasing immersion.
That being said, I probably speak for many when I hope that you get to finish that journey someday and feel your place within it. It might take as long as it needs to, but it might just be worth it.
You should give Witcher 2 a go, it actually still holds up. The story is fantastic, and it gives you many twists and choices you can regret and think about a lot, just like how you love it from Witcher 3.
In recent memory God of War got me pretty good. The struggles that Kratos would go through attempting to communicate with his son reminded me all too well of my dad’s relationship to me. I’m fortunate enough that I don’t have the same issue with my children, and that game definitely had me doing some self reflection.
Still addicted to Maze Mice. It has definitely been worth the purchase.
I have also been slowly chipping away at the latest release of Plants vs Zombies Universe. Difficult fan game and I’m love it so far. Just wish I could get it to run through either wine or proton without needing to figure out the right prefixes and other such things to get it to actually run under Linux. I really hope they’re able to release a full game before EA and/or Talkweb ( the people currently behind pvz2 chinese edition ) put the kibosh on the project.
Otherwise it’s just been the occasional Slay the Spire or Dungeon Clawler runs.
I also just installed Sonic Lost World and need to figure out how to get the mod that improves things like not losing speed when turning right or left working. The 3DS version I got on console from Hshop is fun and all, but I wanna try the PC version. Got the DLC mod working, so I can run through those when I’m ready.
Dance Dance Revolution 3rd mix. It sounds stupid, I know, but hear me out. I really sucked at this game at first. My friends use to play every weekends at the arcade, so I really wanted to get better. So I really trained hard and became the best player in our group. People gattered around the arcade when I was playing. I was good enough for tournaments.
Now when I face something difficult, I’m confident I can overcome it if I really want to. I wasn’t like that before. Thanks Konami.
I was thinking about the ending for days. I wish someone else could experience it for the first time so I can finally talk about it with someone. This game is so good, audio, graphics and story wise, it’s a shame it’s not widely known.
Death Stranding. Ok not sure if that actually really changed my life, but it left me in a bit of a mixed emotional state.
See the thing is that I became a dad not that long ago and during the pregnancy and maybe a year or so after the birth of my kid I had this somewhat irrational fear of finding my kid just dead at some point in the crib or something like that. I fought past that fear eventually and the kid is now three and as healthy as one can be.
Then was it 2024 or something when the Director’s Cut was released on Xbox. I never had a PlayStation (not for any other reason other than I just never happened to get one) so I was exicted to finally start playing this game I’ve heard so much about. I bought the game and played whenever I had time (if you have kids, you know how it can be) and loved the game, especially for the atmosphere and the sort of weird lore that was exciting to uncover for me.
Rest of the post contains spoilersThen I got the the part where you have to cut the umbilical cord of Mama’s BT baby. I wasn’t prepared for that at all and it kinda just broke something in me. I had to stop playing and didn’t play for like at least 6 months or so. It brought back too many of the feelings and fears I had previously gone through so I just needed to take a break. Like don’t get me wrong, I actually DID like the scene for the beautiful moment it was and think it was amazing storywriting, it just caught me so off guard that I had to take a moment or ten. After the break I kept going and the game still managed to keep me hooked and the story just kept getting better and better imo. And then the ending. I cried. A lot. I have never ever cried out loud to any piece of media, but I could literally feel Sam’s emotions when he noticed that BB wasn’t moving and was likely dead already. That was pretty much exactly the fear I had so you’ll probably understand why it hit me so hard. And then when I hear that cry come from the game, the relief I felt was something I can’t really describe well. And after that I was sitting there in the living room, tears in my eyes, laugh-crying and just… wow. I don’t know, if I’d played the game when it came out in 2019 before my kid was born and before the pregnancy and everything, I would’ve probably just thought it to be maybe a decent story and maybe tear up a bit at the end. But with all the other stuff that piled on before I got to play the game, it just added it’s own effect to the experience. I really don’t know if I can say that I was changed in any meaningful way, but I do kinda think that it might have at least helped me deal with the past fears a bit better so maybe in the future if I need to face them again, I can do it with more confidence. One thing that I can say for sure at least is that I loved the game and I kinda wish I could play it again for the first time. The emotional roller coaster might’ve been a bit rough at times but damn it was a good one.
Boy oh boy, don’t play the second one. It’ll tear your heart out, throw it in a blender and force feed it back to you through a straw! The game is absolutely amazing but the emotions that 2 brought to the table were stronger than anything I’ve ever played.
Even though it was such a rollercoaster, I watched a friend beat it, and we cried together too. I’d give up a lot to play it again for the first time. Just, be prepared. If you dare!
Honestly I would expect nothing less given the first game. It’s very likely I will play it eventually if it ever makes its way to the Xbox or if I happen to find myself owning a PlayStation, which means it’ll probably take a while. Regardless, thanks for the heads up!
I am an emotional person, and I regularly cry during movies, shows and books. But this is the first and only game to day, where I cried. I don’t mean just teary-eyed, actually crying. And on more than one occasion.
It made me want to be a better person. Hopefully I am succeeding.
Cyberpunk 2077 is close second.
I didn’t play Expedition 33 yet, but I saw the prologue and it was very emotional. There is a really good chance this game will be on my list too.
I couldn’ finish Enderal, because I did not want to make one of the two shitty decisions in the end and cried about it. “Just a mod” had me in tears and sobbing twice.
FWIW, I straight up did not like Enderal. And yet, I would still recommend you try it. If you didn’t particularly enjoy Skyrim because it was too open, and instead prefer a more story driven game, Enderal could be your next favorite game.
RDR2 is the only game for which I ever took the day off work for launch day. Totally worth it. I bought eclairs, dropped the kids off at a parkour class, and just drank it all in. So good. Still haven’t finished it, just on principle. I can say I still have more to play.
Yeah RDR2 is the one for me. I had a pretty on-the-nose experience though as I got diagnosed with TB just weeks before playing through Arthur’s illness. When he started coughing 😬
I don’t even mind the second disk because without it, it was shaping up to be 300 hours long and tedious. As it is, I think it wraps things up nicely without leaving too many threads hanging. What a fantastic game! It’s the only PSX game I still have a physical copy of.
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