i just recently beat this game again. it's one of my favorite stealth games of all time. its much more difficult than contracts or blood money but it does have a lot of jank-ish charm to it.

deus ex is an absolute masterpiece. it is the best game of all time, period. there are zero exceptions. get outta here with ocarina of time or chrono trigger, this is up & down the definition of the word "kino". everyone should play this, even if immersive sims are not your thing.

oh, and of course "what a shame".

duke nukem 3d is an unforgettable classic of the fps genre, and duke is the king of all fps protagonists. while having its low moments in lunar apocalypse, i loved this game on my first playthrough and it's a blast to revisit every once in a while.

1993

doom is, well, doom. it's not what created the fps genre (hello, wolfenstein), but it sure did make pc gaming mainstream. the levels still hold up years later, from e1m1 which i know like the back of my hand, to the finale of thy flesh consumed, e4m8. replaying all of these was pretty great, albeit slightly boring due to the amount of times i've played this game

(for this playthrough i used prboom+)

this has to be my favorite multiplayer game ever. team fortress 2 was valve's breakthrough game for me, the game that finally caused me to get a steam account. i have been playing this game for over 5 years and i likely won't stop any time soon.

oh, and of course, my favorite class is soldier and my favorite map is pl_goldrush.

garry's mod is really cool with mods. the community engagement is something to be admired. i think that's all i have to say about it.

hotline miami was very impressive. it had an interesting gameplay gimmick that was very out of my comfort zone, and somehow it kept pulling me back in every time i picked it up. the levels are frustrating, but what really makes them cathartic is when you beat them and score some sick combos too.

my favorite mask was tony.

half-life is yet another classic of the pc industry, and my first playthrough was unforgettable, as it was what got me into pc gaming at 6 years old (!). its definitely something i revisit often, to the point where i could probably beat the game in 2 hours give or take. one of my favourite games ever, but it doesn't make my top 5 unfortunately.

my favorite chapter was questionable ethics.

half-life 2 was great, although not as good as the previous entry. its graphics are still impressive, and the gunplay was fantastic as always, but those are really all the things i remember from it aside from a select few chapters. nonetheless, it is a game that continues to wow even today.

my favorite chapter was nova prospekt.

"they were all dead..." thus begins the greatest third person shooter of all time. max payne was revolutionary for its time, and still holds up even to this day. with its new for the time bullet time mechanics, fast intense gameplay that prioritized quick thinking, and remarkable voice acting (insert mobster death scream here), the game was a pioneer of modern action games, even in 2001, where there was nothing like it at the time. an absolute classic of the industry.

my favorite chapter was angel of death.

hitman contracts is an oddball entry in the franchise, it comes right after the sleeper hit that was silent assassin and before the perfection that is blood money. despite this, it is probably my favorite entry in the series. its got the atmosphere and tone of the aforementioned blood money but with a slightly refined but still jank version of hitman 2's gameplay.

its similarities to its successor are pretty noteworthy, because contracts originally was blood money! in fact, the las vegas missions of the sequel were touted as being for this game.

max payne 2 feels like the logical continuation to its predecessor, tightening up everything the prequel did (faster gunplay, better bullet time, etc), yet its aesthetics don't hold up as well as mp1.

my favorite chapter was "a mob war"

out of all the gta games, this is the one i keep coming back to. liberty city does a damn well job of making you feel that it'd be hell to live in, and the purist gameplay reminiscent of the previous two entries (even including a top-down camera) reflects this. sure, some missions may be annoying such as espresso-2-go and big'n'veiny, but it does what it sets out to do, that being a love letter to classic gangster and revenge flicks of old.

saints row: the third is far and away the best game in the franchise, now that i think of it. despite lacking the customization, open world and seriousness of 2, and the goofy gangster shenanigans of IV, this manages to feel like a perfect blend of both. play this instead of the new one.

also, you should watch flippy's review of sr2022 and take a shot of the finest alcohol you have on you every time he brings up this game in a negative light. its not meant to diss him, its just something i found funny.