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
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…
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.
N64 Zelda will always be stuck in my head.
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.
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.
fwiw I did play it through twice, and maybe enjoyed it even more the second time - caught more of the little details
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!
The Witcher 3 is probably the greatest video game I’ve ever played.
The Last of Us 1 & 2 is probably the greatest video story I’ve ever experienced.
These 3 games are something I think about in some capacity very often and are, in my mind, the benchmarks that every other game is held to.
Mass Effect and Dragon Age are my notable mentions.
tlou games are amazing, some of the best video games ever made.
I thought the mechanics in Witcher 3 were clunky, the fighting was a bit repetitive, and I don’t really like fantasy… and that game is still one of my all time favorites.
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.
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.
Edit: I forgot to mention Firewatch! That game established a mood unlike any other game I can think of.
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.
- 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 😊
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 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
I tell people to play this game all the time and that it’s the “real” Bioshock 3
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.
Spec Ops: The Line I thought it was just another military 3rd-person shooter. Boy was I wrong. That thing hit me hard!
Also Oni by bungie. I like the style and I remember that the climax was somewhat emotional for very jung me.
This war of mine I cannot play this game for long and I absolutely love it for that.
There are others too but the common thing is that they were emotional for me. Sure I remember great visuals or gameplay but at the end of the day the games that make me feel stuff stay with me.
I played spec ops knowing what I was getting into, I wish I could experience it blind. I can’t imagine how much that would fuck with me.
Oni was fun. The gameplay was good, but the environments felt sparse, too big for the size and quantity of the characters, and very few furnishings that made the space feel empty and lifeless.
The STALKER series really stuck with me for some reason.It’s probably the familiarity of the landscape/atmosphere. Post apoc eastern Europe isn’t that much different from normal eastern Europe lol
Barotrauma also stuck with me because of the atmosphere. Amazing game to play solo and feel the weight of the setting, although the bots you play with are a bit iffy and the multiplayer doesn’t carry the same feeling of dread and isolation
Yes to both! But especially Barotrauma! Really unique atmosphere to that game and such a rich selection of gameplay mechanics I’m always fighting off the desire to start another game!
I even get lost just building convoluted, overcomplicated and, as a result, buggy submarines in the editor.
Man, I love that game. It might be the greatest unsung game to come out in the last few years. My only problem is being a misanthrope, and scared of the general multiplaying public, I’m always intimidated by public games, but I’d love to convince enough buddies to play a campaign through. As you say, you lose some of the existential dread, but I’d love to explore some of the roleplaying aspects and more complicated gameplay loops, and the bots are a liability (although so much better than they were!).
My only problem is being a misanthrope, and scared of the general multiplaying public, I’m always intimidated by public games, but I’d love to convince enough buddies to play a campaign through.
I have 183 hours in Barotrauma, split between multiplayer and the sub editor (and a little bit of testing my sub alone). I have never played a public game or single player, it has basically all been the campaign with friends.
Most recently, I’ve been hosting occasional Barotrauma events with my inclusive gaming community, each one continuing the campaign we started early this year. The last event was just over the weekend. I don’t know when the next Barotrauma event will be, yet, but anyone who can follow our Code of Conduct is welcome to join!
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.
No game has ever occupied so much of my mind as NieR: Automata. I beat the game, thought “huh, that was pretty good”, and then thought about it again the next day. and again. and again. again. again. again. again. again. I just could not stop thinking about what the game was trying to say or how it made me feel, and it’s just become more and more important to me as time has gone on. Really incredible game
I echo those exact feelings. Amazing game, great story, but the touch of it still lingers. The story and the mechanics and how they echo eachother is just wow
Last of Us part1 and part 2. Probably Ghost of Tsushima and also Shadow Tactics
