Twenty Five Games, Twenty Five Words Each
My current top twenty five games, each described in twenty five words. They aren't ranked, they're just ordered how I want you to read them.
25 Games
Alien Soldier was released too late and barely any copies were printed, but it's slowly entering gaming canon. Never underestimate the reach of passionate creation.
Most games would put movement on the left stick and camera control on the right stick, but no one would play, or remember, those games.
This game is where I realized narratives could be meticulously designed in the same way as other interactive systems, and I've been disappointed ever since.
On a bad day, I'll probably play GX and listen to music. But on a good day, I'll probably play GX and listen to music.
You learn more from failure than success, so successfully designing an action game around enjoyable failure is an enormous success. Shame it failed to sell.
My speedrunning history with Castlevania makes it special to me, but my brain knows Rondo is as good as it gets. Immaculate platformer game feel.
To fit Bungie's number seven motif, my review had seven paragraphs of seven sentences. Nobody cared. It's fun to think in ways you normally don't.
It's weird how people only seem to care about mechanics in action games, when this would be the hypest shit even as a visual novel.
If you complain about "gimmick fights" one more time I'm gonna take away your abstraction privileges and force you to watch nothing but the news.
It's rare that anything gives me a full-body sense of joy, but I was popping OFF at every one of the hundred plot twists.
If I could eliminate my desires, I could be at peace, but then I never would have beaten Rain World, which would be a shame.
Perfect implementation of a "bad ending". It contextualizes the conflict, unlocks an alternate story with new characters to play, and doesn't ruin your save file.
Playing this game may inspire you to delve into humanity's history of politics and philosophy, but it's more important to not take anything for granted.
I replayed this old favorite recently, and I discovered that it actually kinda sucks. I don't care though. My soul lives in the market district.
If the RPG genre was defined by more than stats and magical loot, Prey would be considered one of the best RPG's of all time.
If I could eliminate my regrets, I could be at peace, but I would rather play a buggy game than stare at a blank wall.
This game has such a voice, such openness with its emotions, and such style that even its melancholy reflections are celebrations of simply being alive.
If you've ever met someone new, and knew they would be very important to you someday, that's how I felt two hours into this game.
Your first art projects are always derivative, but you can still choose whether you're simply building next to, or boldly on top of, your influences.
You could reskin this game to take place in a gingerbread house and players would still be on edge. You can't beat mechanically driven horror.
If I could eliminate my fear, I could be at peace, but the universe already has enough indifference, so I'll try to contribute something else.
Silent Hill has become a horror trope unto itself, for a protagonist re-experiencing their suffering. Harry didn't have the luxury of it being his own.
Five people at Nastume were given five months and a tiny budget to make whatever they wanted. It's more fun than most triple A shooters.
Capcom analyzed Resident Evil 4, and enhanced Leon's skills in the remake. Mikami analyzed his old work too. He made Sebastian less capable than Leon.
Famito Ueda's signature design-by-subtraction is so genius and inspiring to me that I considered writing this sentence with fewer than twenty five words.
3 Comments
Any games you feel like you've excluded due to the 25 game limit? Seems like you've played a ton.
@Scamsley My spreadsheet says I've finished 730 single player games, which isn't as many as some people here, but yeah, had to make some difficult cuts:
Fallout 2
Mega Man Zero 3
Hotline Miami
Gravity Rush 2
Yakuza 0
Tomb Raider (1996)
Blood
Furi
Desperados 3
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Fallout 2
Mega Man Zero 3
Hotline Miami
Gravity Rush 2
Yakuza 0
Tomb Raider (1996)
Blood
Furi
Desperados 3
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Uni
21 days ago