Games that remind you of what you love about this hobby

We all play games for entertainment, but there are certain games that remind us of why we love this hobby. In recent years, there were a couple games I can think. Final Fantasy Remake/Rebirth and Octopath Traveler 2. Both games have excellent gameplay, but what make them memorable for me is that I'm immersed in the story, the characters, the music, and the world. These games make me legit sad when I'm about to finish them lol. But yes, having those other aspects of a game, on top of great gameplay, is what makes the hobby worth it for me. How about you, SW? What games remind you of what you love about this hobby?

Good question!

Helldivers 2: I love meeting up with friends, lowkey chatting and playing online games where everyone gotta do their part or falter together.

Banishers ghost of new eden: just solid gameplay coupled with a beautiful story

TLOU: same as Banishers but polished to a T

Ghost of Tsushima: I love games taking me away to other places, time periods and cultures and just being all around great vehicles for escapism

Mario, Donkey Kong, Tales of Kenzera Zau, Yoshi's island: platform go brrrr

Halo/Forza/Gearz come to mind. lol :P

To me, Streets of Rage 4 was that game. Reminded me of what I loved about gaming, just old-school arcadey fun updated with modernized mechanics.

EDF always.

Just boot that up when I grow tired of aaa slop or whatever. Shoot stupid looking aliens in a stupid looking game, repetitively, hours on end.

ftfy

I tried Freedom Fighters the other day, since you kept raving about it.

I loved it, such a great setting, well executed, original gameplay, the soundtrack was banging.

But then I reached what I can only assume was near the end. And I just got stuck in levels lol. Like it had these huge levels you'd enter through the sewers, but then some fences were blocking off my paths.

So much to my shame, I never finished it. I'm sad.

Can you come over to my house and beat it for me please?

ftfy. ;o

@R4gn4r0k: Glad you enjoyed it, but what the hell did you run into? I've finished it a ridiculous amount of times (steam release as well) and I never had that. Are you checking the map for anything? What level is it specifically?

It's a short game. Would be a shame to waste that playthrough over something like that. Especially if you ever feel like replaying.

ftfy :0

Yeah it was weird. So I remember the sewer system allowed me to go to 4 maps. But then the dock part, yeah it required me to reach some part of the map but I was just completely stuck. A fence was blocking the most logical part, the houses were not enterable. I just became stuck.

I think this was not long after having a boss fight at the docks also.

But yeah just come over to my house and beat it in a day, you don't live that far from me :p

lolol :P

@SecretPolice: insert Team America throwing up gif xD

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 more recently.

I was on my horse riding to another quest when I found an abandoned cave. Climbed down to explore and was immediately ambushed and left naked. I wont give details, but lets just say it was a whole, Texas Chainsaw-level quest that was completely unexpected.

I still think about that quest

A few off the top of my head:

- Super Mario Odyssey

- Resident Evil 4 Remake

- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

- Ninja Gaiden II Black

- Super Mario Bros. Wonder

- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

- Street Fighter 6

- Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Game Collection

- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

- Monster Hunter Wilds

@R4gn4r0k: Gods. Tough time recalling that. Did there happen to be any boxes or so, stacked near a wall? A way you can climb on top of something? I'd suggest looking up a youtube vid of that part. See how that person progresses.

And we're Belgian. Country's so small, we all live near each other.

Smash Bros -> Fire Emblem: Warriors -> Fire Emblem: Engage. I've mentioned in a few other threads; my kids really liked playing Fire Emblem characters in Smash Bros, so we tried out FEW and they loved that too, now we're playing FEE together. This was not a Nintendo franchise I thought my kids would get into, but I'll take it :). Almost feels like back in the day playing through games with my brother, passing the contoller back and forth.

lol that reminds me of playing Skyrim back in the day

Psychonauts 2 because it's got so much creativity and passion behind it. It's unfortunate that it didn't sell well. It's a must play,

Hate to always go back to these games...but souls games, Lies of P, FF remakes are good. These are games I'm genuinely sad when they end. Watching my kids all enjoy playing through Octopath 1 is nice too.

Recently, Avowed! It's just fun! A game that remembers it's a game. Doesn't try to be extra, you know?

Hard to put it into words but so many games take themselves so fucking serious these days, try to be epic or break rewrite the rules or some shit, and I think that sort of has infected the minds of reviewers because when you read these reviews they're like "I love Avowed, but..." and then they make some comparison and I want to reach through the words on my screen, grab them by the shoulders, and shake them and yell "BUT NOTHING! JUDGE IT ON ITS OWN!" We need to start treating the outliers as exactly that: outliers. Not every RPG needs to be of the same caliber as Baldur's Gate 3 or Skyrim or whatever. Also, does no one remember what a bug-riddled mess both those games were at release!? Good god, people...

So yeah, Avowed has reminded me what I love about gaming. And it has also reminded me how god damned entitled us gamers have become.

Definitely put Elden Ring in there.

Sekiro, Black Myth Wukong, KCD2

• Bloodborne
• Eleden Ring
• Dark Souls
• TMNT Shredder's Revenge
• Streets of Rage 4
• Super Mario Bros Wonder
• Zelda: Echos of Wisdom
• Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
• Vampire Survivor
• Ninja Gaiden II Black
• Monster Hunter Rise
• FF7 Remake
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
• Super Smash Bros Ultimate
• Octopath Traveler II
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses
• Fire Emblem: Awakening

Nintendo games are for sure on my list. They just make fun games. It's really that simple. I also really like Don't Starve Together. It's a fun game with a cute and quirky art style. It was made by a team of like 40 people, which shows that you don't need big teams and big budgets to make a great game.

Nintendo has a knack for making their games feel familiar, while at the same time, bringing something new. I appreciate that about them.

There are so many games I could mention, but these are the truly memorable games that I have played quite recently:

Soma

Persona 4 Golden

Bloodstained Ritual of the Night

Octopath Traveler

Octopath Traveler 2

Stalker 2

Oh, and my 5th playthrough of South Park Fractured But Whole.

To me, the ultimate joy is to beat the computer. I have always been a single-player type of guy.

@mrbojangles25: That was refreshing to read. I just started playing Awoved and I am really enjoying it so far.

And I literally just finished it!

It was fun the whole way through. Slows down a little bit towards the end for a couple hours, but is still fun.

What kind of build are you going for? I went melee (2 handed for about half, then 1 handed and shield for the second half). Guns are neat, though, I think when I replay it I might make a gun and magic build :D

as far as games go it's stuff like Pac-man, Galaga,Toy Pop,dig dug, the games rare made for donkey kong,1941: counter Attack,Final Fight, StarCraft, Fallout, Drakkhen for snes, Streets of Rage,Katamari Damacy ,Um Jammer lammy,guitaroo Man, Parappa, Gex,Dead Rising 1 and 2 ,Metal Gear Solid and Spyro the dragon left a pretty great impression on me as a child,yoshi's island ... Say you're old without saying your age ya'know

Helldivers 2 for sure.... Pure gameplay joy that never let's up.

Metal Gear Rising Revengence is another that springs to mind.

The Messanger... 2d action platform metroidvania masterpiece....

I just finished a playthrough of Actraiser from the SNES and I still marvel at how well everything comes together, from music to graphics, to gameplay, to bosses. I adore it and it makes me want a proper sequel every time I play it. I suppose cult of the lamb is that game, but that's more devil and Actraiser is more godly. Lol

Halflife 2 VR showed what technology can do even to old games.

Quite the experience, even though played it many times.

@mrbojangles25: I'm still very early in the game, but I am going for a magician / wizard build with offensive spells. And I have a sword and shield as backup. I am playing on hard difficulty, and it does not take many hits to die.

For me it would be Starbound and No Mans Sky.

To look up at the stars and wonder what is out there and then to actually go there and build whatever you want somewhere out in the universe. Simply exquisite. More than I could have ever dreamed of when I was a little kid. Creative gaming realized.

Mostly older, simpler games. Stuff like Super Mario, Streets of Rage, DOOM. Just simple fun.

New games are more often a reminder of what I hate with this industry, sadly.

Recently, Avowed.

Right now, Stellar Blade. This game is something else.

Any game I aim to get 100% for, and at this point it's quite the list. Monster Hunter Wilds being the most recent.

Games such as Dragon Age: The Veilguard could never.

Veilguard living rent free.😂

I’ve been playing a lot of PS2 games on PSPlus, they remind me about the best parts of gaming. Minimal cutscenes, funny/quirky dialogue and characters, and more of a focus on gameplay rather than graphics and movie like cutscenes.

The thing that truly matters.

Did the same for Anthem.

Just like Anthem it needs the free rent. It sold poorly, majority hate it. & for good reason (sadly I played Anthem and it was beyond shit) calling out these games has its reasons. It's not idle System-War fluff, so do not misunderstand.

As a game Veilguard seems more fundamentally stable and if looked at as a very shallow action game it might be slightly above average. However

Veilguard was an undercooked and overfunded waste of resources. Not to mention actively dire to the LGBTQ+ community (which I'm one of) with its preachy and tone-deaf writing. This is why you don't hire keyboard warrior activists.

Bioware only still stands because of its legacy from decade+ games, recent portfolio is a joke.

Veilguard is not why I love games, pretty simple, it's the counter opposite and why I brought it up in my comment. I don't honestly give a rats ass if you somehow like it. Not remotely relevant honestly.

If all we got was Veilguards moving forward I would become a retro collector. It's not a love-letter to gaming, it's an expensive long-development shitstorm with the intent to be harmful.

Ah, real videogames. Yeah, I like those too.