No mention of Planescape: Torment?
The game's plot is just beyond words, really one of those rare treasures that leaves you feeling empty when you reach the ending, knowing that you most probably won't experience something like it ever again.
koospetoors
Not just the plot, though. The game design itself was profound. The way dialogue is handled in Torment was unmatched until Alpha Protocol (the lead designer of Torment also worked on AP).
As for my own list. I think there are plenty of games that tackle what I'd consider profound subject matter, but maybe don't always succeed in handling it in a profound way. But I'm gonna throw out two that I think are profound:
Ico/SotC. Whether it's movies or games, both mediums tend to forget that they are visual storytelling genres. When it's time to tell the story, as an audience you could pretty much close your eyes and get just as much from it as if you had your eyes open. And that's not good. But Ico is a story told through light, color and motion and it's amazingly evocative.
Silent Hill 2. It's just a game I've appreciated more and more over the years, especially after caring for a terminally ill loved one. I can't help but think the guy who wrote it was writing from experience and not just trying to imagine what that kind of thing would be all about. When it came out, I spent hours debating with people over the symbolism and such, and years later after dealing with my own experiences, I'm still picking it apart in my head, seeing it ways I couldn't have then. Really, really powerful game that shows what the horror genre could be if we stopped letting people like Rob Zombie make movies.
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