Darias 25
The 25 I most like, or find significant or respect or whatever. In no particular order
25 Games
Pentiment is a goddamned masterpiece. Its so wonderfully HUMAN, its characters so flawed and sympathetic and its gameplay so expertly executed to convey its themes of the perception of truth, the passage of time and the building on top of the past in the present that I fell in love with it at first sight. Slight recency bias of course but Pentiment does it all so well I doubt it will leave this list anytime soon, naybe ever.
Spiritfarer is one of my favourite games and as trite as it sounds, a great reminder that games can reach us emotionally like any other medium (more so at times I would argue).
Moreover spiritfarer is a gamey game, its not ashamed of having game mechanics like a lot of its contemporaries (some of which I enjoy, this isnt a diss towards them universally) and uses them to tell its story and reinforce its themes. Its however morbidly a game you will probably not get that much of if you haven't felt much grief yet in your life.
To this day the way a certain character's passing emulated the untimely death of my father in content and emotional process is the single most emotionally impactful thing a piece of media has ever done to me.
Moreover spiritfarer is a gamey game, its not ashamed of having game mechanics like a lot of its contemporaries (some of which I enjoy, this isnt a diss towards them universally) and uses them to tell its story and reinforce its themes. Its however morbidly a game you will probably not get that much of if you haven't felt much grief yet in your life.
To this day the way a certain character's passing emulated the untimely death of my father in content and emotional process is the single most emotionally impactful thing a piece of media has ever done to me.
Symphony of the night has some flaws but its so wonderful all around Ill forgive them all. Its still the best metroidvania Ive played (search action is the worst name ever and I will never say it, cope)
What is there to say, really about Fallout : New Vegas that hasn't been said yet? Not much. Personally all I would add is that Fallout : New Vegas is not perfect but does so much of what makes Western RPGs great that everything else can be overlooked
Its a janky piece of shit that took me like 4 tries to get into on account of having one of the worst tutorials ever but by god was it worth it. The music, the roleplaying, the conspiracies and the braindead AI. Deus Ex is all of this and more and I love it
999 is my favourite visual novel / adventure game. Its so effectively compelling in its mystery laden, pseudoscience infused sci-fi thriller that's wisely and tightly bound in a relatively short runtime of about 12 hours if you know what you're doing and is still the best thing Uchikoshi has done so far. Its use of escape the room puzzles integrated with character moments manages to elevate it above the usual "pure" visual novel style which is fine, but personally I cant get into for that reason
Not as challenging as it should be, but its ambiguity, minimalism and world design is intriguing
Tetris is the perfect game. Easy to learn, hard to master, addicting and compelling to all ages. Its been rereleased many times but is basically the same every time because they fully cracked the code all the way back in 1989
The total war games are my favourite RTS series. The historical setting (not always very accurate but still) and focus on micromanaging battle formations as opposed to heavy management of resources is so fun. They also have some of my favourite writing and voice acting of any game without a set story. Even though Ive picked shogun 2 for being the overall best my favourite line is still from Medieval 2 : "Your name will live on in marble, the enemies' in sand!"
A masterclass in minimalism, personally I don't think this game gets the respect it deserves around here. So much of gaming still feels so overdone in every single aspect especially in AAA that Thomas Was Alone feels so damningly tight in comparison. This is a game that elicits more emotional reactions out of me from its bunch of geometric shapes that most games can with absurdly inflated mo-cap hollywood actor budgets! And that is nothing short of remarkable. Its puzzles kick ass too.
I have little to say about BOTW that hasnt been said. The rain is very annoying but otherwise its the only zelda Ive gotten into. Its just so compelling in its sandbox of physics and systems all working together that make you feel like Tom Hanks in castaway got taken to Middle Earth.
Disco Elysium is clever, hilarious and deeply human. Its possibly the greatest RPG ever made and we might never get a proper sequel from a very ironic turn of events.
I love the minimalism of automaton lung in every respect. Its oddities and ambiguities that surround its design and original purpose as the last hurrah of a dead system, both in and out of the game itself
HiFi rush is the game that will finally bring the Rythm Game + Action Hybrid into the mainstream. Recency bias is definitely a thing here but it kicks so much ass Ill allow it.
A bold move perhaps but DS2 was my first souls game, which became an obsession of mine last year. Even though I think Ds1 is the tighter game I still love DS2 and everything it does and attempts to. Fume Knight is also my favourite fight in the series
Wario ware-like
This magical realism walking sim is a great meditation on mortality and family. Its use of a potpourri of gameplay elements works to its favour and elevates it above similar output.
Criminally underrated Immersive Sim / Character Drama. Its super dense, each run is like 4 hours but varies so much a single run is like playing just half of the total game. Going dense rather than long is a great call and even with the clunky shooting and cliffhanger ending is still a very compelling story and game.
Commonplace is a game that I hate. But I also cannot stop playing it (im on my fifth run of it currently). Its one of those very deliberately boring games where you really dont do much of anything until the end but somehow keeps me coming back to it. Is this what pathologic stans are compelled by?
Paradise killer is just great, theres not much more to say. An open world detective game sounded really dumb but by god they pulled it off
"I can't wait to take this alien artifact back to base so I can research it!" -> (after researching it and getting access to new tech) "I can't wait to build these new plasma rifles so I can shoot aliens with it in missions!" -> "I can't wait to take this..." etc etc
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon does the impossible: be a pokemon game with a decent story. Also hunting down outlaws is super fun even if it technically makes you a cop pukes
I have almost 900 hours in this game. That's all I want to say about it
I love how mundane this game is. How the act of merely being at one place rather than another is a deeply impactful choice. I like how ungameified these characters are, they are independent and deeply human and sympathetic beyond the usual player driven bullshit. One of the characters is essentially dying of cancer, and what she will appreciate most of all is for you to simply sit with her and shut up, which I did not know at the time of course
