Thanks for mentioning Alien: Isolation! It’s my favorite game. After many years, I’m finally attempting a silent Nightmare low% run! I’m almost done with M16. Cheers!
If you haven’t, you should play Armored Core 6. It’s a FROM game, and it feels like one, in all the best ways.
But it’s also a mech game, and it feels like one, in all the best ways! Every button assaults your enemy, every motion feels fluid, fast, effortless - or huge, heavy, clunky - your mech is your mech, and many thoughtful builds can become OP. The customization is bananas. And yet - some fights will remain challenging.
With all sincerity, easy 10/10 game for me, I proceeded from NG -> NG+ -> NG++ directly, which is a first for me and I’m an oldish dude. AND I felt thoroughly rewarded by the end of NG++. It’s a literal perfect game, just unreasonably fun and well-crafted.
Pretty much same for me! Not sure if I played the actual first or just one of the real early ones, but that def drew me to this one. You should play it! I paid full price and would have paid double, knowing now how thoughtfully made it was.
Back on that day I did go check out the store page for it. It looks pretty dang good!
I’ve been spending all my free time busy with stuff other than gaming recently, but once there’s some down time due to completed projects or bad weather I’m going to look into this more.
Fortunately in my case it is spending time on things that I want to be working on, and which is therapeutic and healthy for me. Part of a realization in my mental health and “wtf is life” journey was that even though I think I want to have unlimited free time to just chill, having obligations that I enjoy and look forward to produces better results. After being medicated enough to have some energy and executive function of course.
In truth, my drift from gaming stemmed from very similar self knowledge, I have such a wealth of ways I can spend my time (including with my kids when I can convince the older one, lol) with stuff that has small but accumulative impacts.
No shade on gaming, engaging with art and storytelling and just straight up play all have deep value and I’d argue all people need those things, but yeah. For me a few games in particular that end up feeling like “Chores Simulator XYZ” and which I almost consider a genre of its own (Stardew Valley, Valheim, TerraFirmaCraft MC were my few) helped me better understand my changing preferences. I’m like “why am I building this fake house and collecting the materials and etc. when my office, garage, and outside areas all look kinda shitty?” I have pets who like activity, I have projects and chores and people to see.
Now, I also do feel overburdened pretty often and my job is challenging and tiring, but yeah. By and large I just enjoy more IRL time spent these days, while also missing the former thrill of gaming with this kind of deep ache.
Edit to add: I should probably also say, I had lots to “escape from”, into fictions of various kinds, and I have over time built a life where that is no longer true, and so my time spent has also internally shifted toward more of a sense of gratitude in general, instead of thinking of things as obligations (though of course they 100% are, of the most critical kind) considering where I came from, and I also get how for many folks games can be some of the only pleasant experiences available.
I’ll add that I have a kid too, and that is the kind of relationship in your life that can really teach you how stupid you are to worry about “wasting” time with them you could do something productive or work extra.
The relationship CAN do that. Potentially. God damn are a lot of people horrible to their own children.
Interesting take, what did 1 have that 2 didn’t? As someone who enjoyed 1 a lot, I found 2 to be a much more fun experience. 1 felt klunky for me mechanically speaking and just didn’t age well. Thematically and character wise I’d say they’re of similar quality for sure.
Here’s my thought process. We’re using two criteria, passion and longevity. The Witcher is clunky and weird and hasn’t aged well, but it’s also the reason The Witcher has become a global phenomenon.
The Witcher 2 was developed with incredible passion and ambition, where choices would have massive game-changing consequences. The problem is, I can barely remember any of it. I have long felt that it simply wasn’t a very impactful adventure. And then came The Witcher 3, which felt like an adventure with choices that mattered and a world that felt alive and lived in. It overshadowed everything else. And yet, without the first game, there would be no The Witcher 3. We might not even have all the books translated to english.
I think I see what you’re putting down. Witcher 1 crawled so that 3 could run, and 2 is just kinda living in 3’s shadow. Perhaps I was late to the bandwagon, I played 1 first when 2 was just getting released, I was under the impression Witcher 1 wasn’t that successful (but not a failure)and that 2 was what really brought the witcher into pop culture.
Honestly I think they’re all good games, and by your reasoning I can see why you would say 1 over 2.
There are too many to mention.
MechWarrior 2
Dragon Age: Origins
Daggerfall
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Baldur’s Gate 3
The Longest Journey
Dark Souls
Civilization 2 & 4
Alpha Centauri
The Outer Wilds
Fallout 1 & 2
Alien: Isolation
Super Mario Bros. 3
Death Stranding
Doom (1993)
Phasmophobia
Psychonauts
X-Com: UFO Defense
The Witcher 1 & 3
Disco Elysium
The first xcom game is still the best one. More units equals more fun
Death stranding is awesome
Half Life?
Thanks for mentioning Alien: Isolation! It’s my favorite game. After many years, I’m finally attempting a silent Nightmare low% run! I’m almost done with M16. Cheers!
I like your taste. These are some bangers lol.
If you haven’t, you should play Armored Core 6. It’s a FROM game, and it feels like one, in all the best ways.
But it’s also a mech game, and it feels like one, in all the best ways! Every button assaults your enemy, every motion feels fluid, fast, effortless - or huge, heavy, clunky - your mech is your mech, and many thoughtful builds can become OP. The customization is bananas. And yet - some fights will remain challenging.
With all sincerity, easy 10/10 game for me, I proceeded from NG -> NG+ -> NG++ directly, which is a first for me and I’m an oldish dude. AND I felt thoroughly rewarded by the end of NG++. It’s a literal perfect game, just unreasonably fun and well-crafted.
I’m going to have to try that game. I played a bunch of the original but I think nothing in between.
Pretty much same for me! Not sure if I played the actual first or just one of the real early ones, but that def drew me to this one. You should play it! I paid full price and would have paid double, knowing now how thoughtfully made it was.
Oh nice, thanks for coming back and replying!
Back on that day I did go check out the store page for it. It looks pretty dang good!
I’ve been spending all my free time busy with stuff other than gaming recently, but once there’s some down time due to completed projects or bad weather I’m going to look into this more.
I know that feeling so well, sadly.
Fortunately in my case it is spending time on things that I want to be working on, and which is therapeutic and healthy for me. Part of a realization in my mental health and “wtf is life” journey was that even though I think I want to have unlimited free time to just chill, having obligations that I enjoy and look forward to produces better results. After being medicated enough to have some energy and executive function of course.
I hope you get to do the same before long!
In truth, my drift from gaming stemmed from very similar self knowledge, I have such a wealth of ways I can spend my time (including with my kids when I can convince the older one, lol) with stuff that has small but accumulative impacts.
No shade on gaming, engaging with art and storytelling and just straight up play all have deep value and I’d argue all people need those things, but yeah. For me a few games in particular that end up feeling like “Chores Simulator XYZ” and which I almost consider a genre of its own (Stardew Valley, Valheim, TerraFirmaCraft MC were my few) helped me better understand my changing preferences. I’m like “why am I building this fake house and collecting the materials and etc. when my office, garage, and outside areas all look kinda shitty?” I have pets who like activity, I have projects and chores and people to see.
Now, I also do feel overburdened pretty often and my job is challenging and tiring, but yeah. By and large I just enjoy more IRL time spent these days, while also missing the former thrill of gaming with this kind of deep ache.
Edit to add: I should probably also say, I had lots to “escape from”, into fictions of various kinds, and I have over time built a life where that is no longer true, and so my time spent has also internally shifted toward more of a sense of gratitude in general, instead of thinking of things as obligations (though of course they 100% are, of the most critical kind) considering where I came from, and I also get how for many folks games can be some of the only pleasant experiences available.
🤜🤛
I’ll add that I have a kid too, and that is the kind of relationship in your life that can really teach you how stupid you are to worry about “wasting” time with them you could do something productive or work extra.
The relationship CAN do that. Potentially. God damn are a lot of people horrible to their own children.
Not Witcher 2?
Definitely not 2. Not for lacking of passion, though. They just didn’t pull it off.
Interesting take, what did 1 have that 2 didn’t? As someone who enjoyed 1 a lot, I found 2 to be a much more fun experience. 1 felt klunky for me mechanically speaking and just didn’t age well. Thematically and character wise I’d say they’re of similar quality for sure.
Here’s my thought process. We’re using two criteria, passion and longevity. The Witcher is clunky and weird and hasn’t aged well, but it’s also the reason The Witcher has become a global phenomenon.
The Witcher 2 was developed with incredible passion and ambition, where choices would have massive game-changing consequences. The problem is, I can barely remember any of it. I have long felt that it simply wasn’t a very impactful adventure. And then came The Witcher 3, which felt like an adventure with choices that mattered and a world that felt alive and lived in. It overshadowed everything else. And yet, without the first game, there would be no The Witcher 3. We might not even have all the books translated to english.
So that’s why I pick those two specifically.
I think I see what you’re putting down. Witcher 1 crawled so that 3 could run, and 2 is just kinda living in 3’s shadow. Perhaps I was late to the bandwagon, I played 1 first when 2 was just getting released, I was under the impression Witcher 1 wasn’t that successful (but not a failure)and that 2 was what really brought the witcher into pop culture.
Honestly I think they’re all good games, and by your reasoning I can see why you would say 1 over 2.