weird to me that this was panned as hard as it was on release considering i had an absolute blast playing this in highschool, skimming gamefaqs farming levels repeatedly to get rare drops, unlocking new characters

waking up early in the morning to play this cranked at high volume, ahh the days

DAMN THE TORPEDOS

freeing

truly watershed moment during a time where independently made games were still very niche. perfectly made piece even today

this, in a way, helped me cope with a richer understanding and acceptance of death at an early age, and for that i find it very important. this era of mid to late 2000s Tale of Tales i still look back on quite fondly

fun fact -- this was my first exposure to aphex twin, what an introduction

when i was young my father was working on a house where the owner just moved out and found this game behind their couch. it already had save files that were near completion im pretty sure so id just wander around all these planets not knowing what was going on or anything. this game still feels very alien to me and unlike a lot else

while i was excited for the sequel when it released it did something slightly different and i think because of that it never shined as bright as this did for me personally. i think this one was probably creepier too. something about the first L4D just feels "classic", could probably still remember all the layouts of every level, the sounds, etc

maybe the first game i ever played, so naturally it carries some imagery deeply rooted within my memories

this was one of my dad's favorite games, not sure if it still is now but i used to spend months watching him play this as a kid, using save states on the emulator he was using

while the story of the game is not its strongsuit, the gameplay and how you interact with the world is, always thought it was really neat how you can hold your map as you drive, and that weapons jam after a bit of use

i remember there was a map builder in this game interestingly, and i created this map where it was this infinite space consisting of ankle deep water and a gorgeous sunset. i placed these jungly trees all around, and then a spiral staircase that reached up as far as i could into the sky. i still think about it every few years

what it feels like to be disturbed. i value lavelle's works a lot and still feel like he hasn't gotten his just dues

another example of freeware nostalgia, spent hours playing modded maps of this where you could see a player's true artistry within just simply tweaking a ctf map, love (same goes for cube 2!)

thinking back, playing this back in my high school bedroom, driving endlessly throughout the massive expanse listening to Boards Of Canada, not really doing any missions or anything, just going

entranced with these striking orange sunsets, rows of trees withered from forest fire, sandy wastelands. you might point this grit towards a tribal tattoo aesthetic but it screams Campfire Headphase for some reason

adamantly, a top 3 mario game

hailed for a reason, realistically this is probably within my tip top