Have you played a game that stayed in your head long after you played it?
For me, Outer Wilds would be that game. I feel like I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I beat it a couple years ago.
Portal 1.
Something about the ambiance mixed with the puzzles really stuck with me. I replay it almost once a year just to relive it.
Portal 2 is also up there with me. Just two spectacular atmospheric puzzle games. 10/10
If you like Portal 1 and 2 and want more, I’d recommend playing Portal Stories: Mel and Portal Reloaded, both are free on Steam if you own P2. The puzzles are pretty tricky though!
Reloaded made me want to smash my keyboard several times. 10/10 can’t wait for the multiplayer update
The one that came out 5 days ago?
Yeah I opened Steam about two hours ago and it already came out! Already started playing with a friend
I keep reading about Outer Wilds. I think its about time this summer.
To answer the question: Risk of Rain 1&2
And maybe the leviathans of my childhood. Ocarina of Time, Majoras Mask…
N64 Zelda will always be stuck in my head.
I haven’t played Majora’s mask but I feel like if you like it, you’ll love outer wilds. Just be sure to go in blind.
Just don’t get Outer Wilds and Outer Worlds mixed up or you’ll be confused by the hype…
Definitely Outer Wilds as well.
Hell, looking into the soundtrack changed my daily playlist to something heavily Midwest Emo.
For me, that game would definitely be Disco Elysium. I’ve never connected with a game as much as with that one. I’m actually reticent of playing it again for fear of it not living up to the first experience; I felt like my first playthrough was perfect, even if technically speaking it wasn’t.
Other than that, I also still think about Mass Effect a fair bit.
On a side note: if you liked the investigating and “detective-ing” of Outer Wilds, then you will probably also enjoy Return of the Obra Dinn, The Forgotten City, and The Case of the Golden Idol. I’d also add Disco Elysium to that list, but be aware it’s a lot more text heavy.
Oh Disco Elysium all the way, it’s possibly my favorite game. I have a notebook filled with lines in the game that stuck with me.
I want more of it, but it looks like that lightning won’t strike twice.
Subdue the regret. Dust yourself off, proceed. You’ll get it in the next life, where you don’t make mistakes. Do what you can with this one, while you’re alive.
The only way to load the dice is to keep on fighting.
Great recommendations there, each got under my skin. I feel the same about David Lynch films, they connect with something inside me, and lodge permanently in my brain.
I’d put What Remains of Edith Finch, Dear Esther, Talos Principle, Stanley Parable, Metroid Prime and maybe Portal 1+2 in there too - they share an authentically mysterious vibe.
Obra Dinn and Outer Wilds hit me hard, they nailed the atmosphere perfectly. Haven’t actually played DE, was a bit put off by the sheer amount of dialogue, but I need to try it.
When I saw the OP’s question, my immediate thougt was Outer Wilds and Disco Elysium. Nice to see both represented at the top!
Journey. Just the best coop experience ever.
By chance I ended up playing journey with only one other person. We got separated at one point and I thought someone else connected, but at the end it only showed one name.
Or worst, depending on who you end up with. On my first playthrough I ended up with some impatient person who already knew everything and spoiled it. I never really got to think about any of the puzzles on my own.
Hades is so good. Waiting for Hades 2. Aaaaany day now.
I’ve tried to like Hades a few times over the years since it came out. I know I’m in the minority, it’s generally a well liked game, but I just don’t see the appeal. The gameplay loop is repetitive, difficult, and unrewarding, the main character is deliberately unlikable, the dialogue with the NPCs in the hub is repetitive and trying too hard to be funny. I didn’t enjoy a single second playing that game, and its one I actually paid real money for, I bought it and genuinely wanted to like it. I suppose I’m not the target audience.
Man, that’s actually so sad. But I guess most gamers will find that one game they want to like (because it’s critically acclaimed, their friends are super into it, etc.), but it just won’t work.
I had that experience with Valheim. On paper it looks like a fun viking-esque Minecraft with a bit more RPG elements. In practice I just found out cumbersome and the gameplay loop felt just plain boring/unsatisfying.
Yes! Hades is definitely in my top 5 ganes. And Supergiant is one of the few devs, maybe the only one, that I don’t have any reservations about playing their games in early access. I can’t wait to hear more about the sequel.
- half life 1, finished around 25 times.
- kotor 1, finished around 20 times with different classes, genders, alignment.
- kotor 2, finished around 25 times with different classes, genders, alignments, party members.
- might and magic 7, finished around 25 times with different party classes, alignments.
- might and magic 8, finished around 25 times with different party classes, alignments.
- mass effect 1&2, finished around 3-4 times.
- morrowind, played few hundred hours with different genders and classes.
- skyrim, played around thousand hour.
Who has obsession, me? No you have 🙃
You have great taste in games! Those are among my favorites as well.
Well, thank you 😊
Undertale. The messages that game give you. Goddamn. That game also came to me at a point in my life where I needed it. The soundtrack saved me from contemplating a terrible decision. It saved my life. Wonderful game and an incredible experience.
Sounds like it filled you with determination.
Oh man I feel the same way about it, I still listen to the soundtrack all the time, and sometimes it’s the only thing that can calm me down in bad situations.
I’ve mentioned this game already in a few comments recently, but I think it really deserves more attention.
Prey (2017): I’ve loved it since the first moment, and I still think about the story and lore very often. It’s almost impossible to find a similar game (Bioshock 1 and System Shock 2 have quite some things in common with Prey, but the latter has its own unique vibe).
Oh yeah, I loved prey. One of the biggest mindfucks of an opening. Mooncrash was also really interesting, kind of a prototype for deathloop.
The 2006 version of Prey had an amazing opening as well. I replay it often. Art Bell is in it.
I tell people to play this game all the time and that it’s the “real” Bioshock 3
I love Prey! It was actually the game that got me into gaming. I used to play a little as a kid and it was also one of the few things that made me happy, but I was raised in a really strict home so I was only allowed a few pre-approved games with very limited screen time. I gave it up and sort of grew into this toxic mindset of “gaming is for loser nerds”. My husband started playing Prey and I used to sit and watch and just fell in love with the whole thing, the story, the music, the setting. He gave it up and never finished and I was so desperate to find out how it ends that I started playing. Now I have my own custom built gaming PC and spend 40+ hours a week gaming, so I’m a loser nerd lol
Yes! Prey is great. I think I’ve completed it like 3 or 4 times over the years. Still don’t have all the abilities unlocked so maybe it’s time for yet another NG+ run.
I never did finish Outer Wilds and still think about it a lot! I need to go start it again because it is genuinely spectacular, but I struggle with my constraint of only being able to put short-ish play sessions into it.
Playing Ocarina of Time with my son was an epic journey I treasure. It completely captured his imagination, and I was along for that ride.
Grim Fandango was, and continues to be, a dream for me.
While I’m there, Full Throttle also executed its style so well that some of its moments still serve as cultural/stylistic landmarks in my mind.
Mass Effect 2 had several moments where the atmosphere and universe totally hit the mark (Going into the Afterlife Club… come on!).
Red Dead Redemption connected me to that setting in ways movies can’t reach.
Man, Firewatch. I don’t know how they managed to make the player connect on an emotional level with a character that you don’t even get to meet, but they did a fantastic job.
Celeste, even made me cry a bit towards the end, first from it being sad but then happy at the very end.
Final fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts games also are always stuck in my head even to this day
Underrated hidden gem.
Definitely agree on Celeste. The way the experience of playing the game mirrors the story is masterful.
Mass Effect – particularly Mass Effect 2 – left an impression, but The Last of Us is and will always be the game that has stuck with me the most/longest.
The Talos Principle - for me, the puzzles hit the sweet spot of being hard enough to be on my mind all day, but never feeling like the solution was out of reach. But even more than the puzzles, the philosophical elements made me reflect on life, civilization, and personhood in a way nothing else has. It was a peaceful, tranquil experience of just me, a serene soundtrack, and thought provoking text and puzzles.
I loved Talos Principle too, really excited for the second one.
this is a good one, I hope the second one live up to the expectation.
Death Stranding. Beautiful landscapes with awesome moments like treking through a snowstorm to reach a distant prepper outpost. Waiting for rain to stop while playing the harmonica for bb. Definitly could have had one more zone to round it all off, or maybe expanded the final boss area zone to full size.
Ori and the Blind Forest + Ori and the Will of the Wisps. So much can be said
Zelda Ocarina of Time. I was growing up when it came out and I was so little I couldnt’ really play it yet, so I watched my big brother play it. Whenever he let me try, I woudl just run around on Epona around Hyrule Field in circles lol
Control, just so much fun
MMOs: Vindictus, BDO, and Lost Ark. Just with playing them for 2+ years ea, that creates a lot of fun and happy memories with the people I played with
I was old enough and I still spent a ton of time just running around Hyrule Field on Epona.
Always glad when people being up Control. That game just nails the atmosphere and lore. Plus it’s just fun to fly around and blast stuff with psychic powers
I was talking about this game yesterday and had a similar experience. I only was able to beat it because I would watch my older brother play and copy what he did. (especially the water temple)
