For me, Tunic. Well, it’s a bit more complicated. I was burnt out on soulslikes and wanted a break. Saw what I thought was a nice little Zelda clone, as in I was scrolling the Steam store home page and did a double take when I saw the one and only piece of promotional art for the game. That character design looked like it was one floppy green hat away from a lawsuit from Nintendo. Instantly downloaded it upon learning that the instruction manual played a big part in the gameplay.
I have fond memories of game manuals when I was a kid, coming home from not-yet-gamestop with a new game looking at all the concept art, or having my parents read to me from the super mario 3 manual when I was little. Anyway, long story short the game was another soulslike. Set in the ruins of a fallen civilization? Check. Spend currency to level up? Check. Opening up shortcuts to previously visited areas as you progress? Check. Difficult bosses? Check.
Oh, but what’s this? The whole game is in this indecipherable script that you have to decode? Oh baby! I spent way, way way too much time trying to decipher it. I got so obsessed that it was effecting my sleep and I had to uninstall the game for a few weeks. Never ended up solving it.
spoiler
I knew it was an English cipher from the beginning. Nobody ever goes full conlang, as much as I would love that. I got as far as deducing it was phonemic, as the same glyphs kept appearing before cleartext words, which I assumed were “a/an” and “the”, and the way “the” was written made me think it was two glyphs, one for the <th> and one for <e>. The last thing I got before giving up and looking it up online was one of hte ghosts standing next to the well in the village and repeating the same word three times. Of course he’s saying “well well well”.
Anyway, overall the experience was a roller coaster of mild interest to acute dislike shifting to all consuming curiosity and finally to exasperation. I don’t think a game has evoked that many varied reactions from me. The music is also amazing.
Hollow Knight. I tried playing it back when it came out but it wasn’t until silksong was about to come out I gave it a shot. Was obsessed with the game and almost did everything in the game. Never thought I’d like a Metroidvania this much before
Hades. Hate roguelikes. Quite enjoyed that.
Supergiant Games are great if you enjoyed Hades would recommend Transistor
Transistor is way more tactical.
If you wished you could customize your boons in Hades to a specific style without having to deal with randomness, Transistor is the game for you!
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
I usually don’t have the patience for VNs with minimal gameplay, but the atmosphere, soundtrack and the general mood of the game got me hooked.
Another non-VN guy, but 1000xResist became one of my favorite games despite being essentially a VN. Like the gameplay is literally just walking up to people and talking, and the dialogue options don’t impact the story at all, but damn if the narrative wasn’t enough to earn a 10/10 from me
marvel’s midnight suns. the only other turn based game ive played was fallout 1. i just expected something to scratch my superhero video game itch and instead found a new favorite. im on my 2nd playthrough now and still loving it. my favorite “relaxing” game
Midnight Suns is one of the few games I never skip the cutscenes in. Everyone is so cozy and delightful!
Disco Elysium…, totally not my kind of game, gameplay-wise. I reluctantly accepted to give it a go after my best friend sold it to me passionately. and damn
I died sitting in an uncomfortable chair. I’ll have to pick it up again when I’m in the mood.
I played Warframe for about 3 years before I realized it was my favorite game ever. As in I was 12 when I started playing, and at the time, it was just what I had. It wasn’t until I got my first personal gaming laptop and began playing on there that I realized how much I liked it, and started engaging in the community more.
JoeAAverage, if you’re out there: Thanks, man. It may have seemed like a small gift at the time—especially for an already 3-year player—but now, 11 years in, I still can’t be certain that I would’ve realized how cool of a game I had in my hands had you not gifted me that Limbo set. Limbo may be forgotten by DE, and I may not play him much anymore, but he will always be my favorite frame.
Gris
I was looking for a game to play with my daughter and I saw it included in the Apple Arcade subscription.
…. I don’t remember ugly bawling like that at the end of a game. Truly a work of art.
Deep Rock Galactic. Even after a few years, I still regularly play this one with a group of friends.
Arc Raiders and Helldivers 2.
Also was surprised at how much I enjoyed goofing around over the past year or 2 in Fortnite with my good friends… ended up being a semi-weekly poker night type thing with people I don’t live anywhere close to anymore.
Dwarf Fortress.
And, I mean pre-steam release.
The ASCII graphics, controls and everything about it were not appealing to me. I started playing it because of the Boatmurdered story and some friends trying to recreate that. We started playing and rotating fortresses on a random Friday night.
And once things started to click? I put way too much time into it. I’d eventually mod it and make it easier to play but I put many many hours into it.
I wouldeventually put the game down after that initial burst and then years later the steam release came, making it much more enjoyable and well… A couple thousand hours later I still keep going back to it.
Detroit: Become Human. I skipped it it when it was released and totally never played it. Recently I got it on discount and tried it out. Even my wife is extremely invested in the story and she doesn’t even play games.
Psychonauts. I just saw a few times this game on some top game lists and decided to try. Man, this game fucking rocks! Also, Psychonauts 2 is also epic and Compton’s level should be made into a standalone game! What an epic imagination devs at Double fine have!
Rust. I was there during Beta. Me and one my friend had fun. But once Garry had remade it to what it is today, we tried to play with more people. I hate the game but it is also so much fun with friends.
Heavy modded Minecraft. Once only vanilla payer, my friends finally convinced me to play TPPI with them. Never going back to vanilla.
There’s a great video on YouTube of a speedrunner doing Psychonauts in front of a room full of the devs, at least some of whom are a bit drunk
I have watched both Psychonauts and Psychonauts 2 speedruns. Second one was fun cause they only had this game released for a year. So speedrunner was rubbing their bugs all over their faces during that. Hilarious watch it was.
Treasure made a game in the 16-bit era when they were relatively unknown. For the McDonald’s franchise. It is way better than it has any right to be.
mckids?
That’s because almost everything that Treasure does (did) is gold. Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, Alien Soldier, Radiant Silvergun, Bangai O, Sin and Punishment, Ikaruga. I think more than any other developer their games are just pure, no-frills fun. No collectibles, no grind, just rewarding and complex action gameplay.
Yep. I have most of their stuff as a result. Never could get my hands on Radiant Silvergun. It’s rare to see someone else that knows anything at all about them…
Minecraft.
I didnt grow up with it and non of my friends had played it. I always thought it was a kids game. During covid a friend started a server and I joined in. I was surprised by the depth of the game and just how much there was to do.
Outer wilds, went in blind (as you should) was not disappointed.
I went in to this blind and ended up quitting after a couple hours because there was no save ability and the checkpoint system was useless.
I learned months later, from my son-in-law, that it’s a time-loop game. Tried it again with this knowledge and had a MUCH better experience.
So, my advice is to go in 99% blind. The player should know it’s a time-loop game before they start.
I have become an Outer Wilds evangelist. One of my favorite games hands down.
