Games that remind you why you're a gamer

To me that game was Bloodborne this year. Up until then I had been a little disenchanted with the current state of games. Games were becoming too formulaic, too uninteresting, and too predictable. But Bloodborne brought back that excitement for me. And now, Arkham Knight can be added to that list too. It finally feels like next gen is here and I'm like a giddy school boy playing games again. What about you, SW? Has any recent game brought you back from the dead?

The Citizen Kane of games.

TLOU

Call of Duty

Master Chief Collection :-)

Mario 1/3

Zelda 1/3 + OOT

Super Metroid

Megaman x1234

im a nintendo gamer nintendo is a gamer maker and capcom gamer

Kingdom hearts 3

It's not a new game, but I played Xenogears for the first time last year and that made me remember why I love games.

Uh, I don't have an identity crisis?

... I don't know. Journey? I play games to look at nice things and feel like I'm another world. That game encapsulates exactly what I want.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. I've really enjoyed that game.

Xenoblade Chronicles. It reminded me how much emotion can be put into games, the music alone has brought me to tears due to the sheer beauty of it.

Platinum Games.

Tight game mechanics with layers of depth to the gameplay that make them an absolute joy to learn. They can be challenging, replayable, but above all else fun and entertaining. There isn't some pretention of telling some video game story that is only passable by the low ass standards of this medium, nor a "another one" sequelitis vibe you get from all these other studios. Just good ol fashioned self awared cheese fests built on excellent gameplay. My kind of games.

Super Mario Galaxy 2. A reminder that the best games have truly great core gameplay above all else.

Bayonetta 2, Ninja Gaiden Black, Super Meat Boy and Resident Evil 4 are other examples.

The Witcher 3

Gaming is a means to unload, unwind and relax for me. Any game that I find entertaining and enchanting, is a game that deserves to be played. Not because I want it to match the pretentious identity of what makes us "gamers." But rather it's awesome to sit down and have fun.

That's how I felt about Demon's Souls.

Tearaway.

Magnificent game and the way it makes the world feel like it's living inside your Vita and how personal it makes the gameplay is second to none.

Recently?

Either Sir, You Are Being Hunted or Destiny before I ended having no free time (minus Dark Below raid).

Eh....I'll throw in Batman: AK. I just really like those games.

The only game I have played that has completely overwhelm me with the feeling of, this is why I am a gamer, was Demon's Souls from last gen.

No, game from last generation or since has given me such a strong sensation of being glad I am a gamer.

I was about to give up on the idea that I even liked gaming until I played that game. After I did play it, and to an insane extent, It simply showed me that my love for video games hadn't diminished, it was simply the quality of games that were being released.

I come from an old school console gamer back ground where nearly all the games released were virtually perfect out the box and great in their own right.

If you find yourself "looking" for greatness in a game instead of the games greatness in it grabbing you and sucking you in then that game isn't for your or there was no greatness to be found in that game to begin with. REMEMBER THAT.

Shovel knight

The Order 1886.

I swear as soon as I read yours was the last post, I was betting on Mafia 2.

There have been plenty of games to come along and resuscitate my interest over the years. Some of them already listed in this thread like SMG2, Demons Souls, Ninja Gaiden Black, Shovel Knight, etc..

But the one game that truly brought me back was MGS3. It's not like 2004 was a bad time for gaming by any means. But back then I used to play almost every fucking game that came out and after a while it all started running together. Gaming started to feel more like a job and the "magic" was gone. MGS3 brought me back into the fold big time though. Really made me love the hobby again.

Donkey Kong Country Returns brought me back to the hardcore, my Kirby games, just hearing the music brings joy to me. Xenoblade Chronicles made me fall back in love with RPGs.

Dark Souls on the other hand took me to a deep dark place, i destroyed everything in that game, if it moved, i killed it. Except the Everlasting Dragon, i didnt kill him, but i refused to join.

The Master Chief Collection did a great job of reminding me why. So many great memories and all of the games are still incredibly fun.

Super Smash Bros for Wii U can't be beat when you have a group of friends over mixing up free-for-all and teams in four-player and eight-player smash.

Persona 4 Golden was fresh and nostalgic at the same time. A great JRPG with some fantastic design, music, and characters.

The most recent game would be Azure Striker Gunvolt, but I always mumble something like that to myself whenever I'm watching the credits for Streets of Rage, Sonic, Mega Man, or some other favorite.

Persona 4, FFIV, FFVI, Mass Effect, Smash bros, The Last of Us and most TLoZ.

-Donkey Kong Country Returns Awoke something in me I hadn't felt in a long time.

-Rocksteady's Batman games have really impressed me. Arkham City was a game that went far beyond what I thought a single game could accomplish.

-Bloodborne

Do you realize that, despite Shovel Knight, all of the games that reinvigorated your interest in gaming are Japanese?

Just something I noticed, a lot of other posters are mostly mentioning games and studios like Platinum for games that reminded them why they love gaming. It's interesting considering how people like to rag on Japanese games and their lack of worth or value to gaming.

Bloodborne.

If I could pick only 3 franchises forever two would be From Software games. Souls and Armored Core. Throw in elder scrolls and I'm set

Most recently... Witcher 3.

The fact I'm compelled to play everything I can get my hands on whether largely regarded good or bad and yet have fun all the same is what reminds me why I'm a gamer, NOT saying I only play what's largely regarded by popular consensus as the best game on the market and turn my nose up at everything else.

The healthy mix of AAA productions and praiseworthy, even awe-inspiring, efforts by indie and smaller studios. And we have such a diverse options in genres, a few years back it was simply movie games, now its EVERYTHING GOES.

I used to feel that '98 was the golden year but now I truly believe we are in the golden age of gaming. Not golden year but AGE.

We are in it for a lot of good fun, boys and girls.

Ouh, recently I was hooked line and sinker with Starbound. Made me feel super happy with my hobby.

Don't Starve is the last one I can think of

Recently, souls/bloodborne.

I have been forcing myself to finish most games in the last few years as its just boring

Ori and the Blind Forest and Witcher 3 most recently.

GTA V (played for the first time on PC) and Witcher 3 were both very impressive.

I want to give a shout out to The Talos Principle though, absolutely amazing game that doesn't get enough recognition. It kinda blew my mind when I played it last December.

When I played Dark Souls for the first time

Yep, and even Shovel Knight heavily borrows mostly from great Japanese games of the NES days like Megaman, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, etc..

People love to spew hate about Japanese devs, but if I were to list my top 30 favorite games of all time I know that most (if not all) of them would be Japanese games. I know Japans output has been in a slump for a while, but I still feel like they develop some of the best games out there even if they are fewer in number these days.

Dark Souls

For me, right now the two games Im playing: Witcher 3 and Life is Strange.

The Peggle games. No matter how shitty I play, I always feel like I almost broke some world records & shit.

First one that comes to mind is Brutal Legend. Yeah the gameplay gets shit on all the time, but the world that was created and how you interact with it was something you can't get in any other medium.

@LZ71: Dude that's exactly how I feel about Psychonauts. Must be a Schafer thing.

I haven't changed my mantra on the following: on their best day I'll take a great japanese studio over an alleged great western studio. Nintendo on their best day is still the class of the field, and when Capcom is on all cylinders, Platinum, From Software, Mikami, Kojima, etc it's a different brand of game from the western outing.

To me the best western stuff is indie stuff. Usually it's a by product of a simple concept: Japan's best games tend to be gameplay centric, ditto for the indie scene since they can't compete in production value. Western triple A devs? presentation, presentation, presentation, story, presentation, look how pretty our tech is, presentation.

It is what it is.

Was gonna say Psychonauts too, but I played Brutal more recently so I went with that. Makes me want to get off my lazy ass and finally play Broken Age, I got sort of scared off after people tore Part 2 apart.

I don't need one. I know why I am a gamer same as I know why I like films. Entertainment.

Anything metal gear, even 4 to an extent despite it easily being the worst (Poor snake, getting cucked by that bitch meryl with Johnny shit pants and turned mega old). Just amazing games.

Kojima you better be planning something big after phantom pain, don't just fade away.

Splatoon comes to mind.

Oh Plenty. Games I playied this year, that reminded me:

-Captain Toad

- Resogun

- Dying Light (in co-op

- Pillars of Eternity

- Hyperdimention Neptunia: Re;birth2

- Super Mario 3

- The Legend of Zelda (yeah that old heap of 8-bit).

- Golden Axe

- Company of Heroes

- Astebreed

- Tropico 5

- War for the Overworld

- River City Ransom

- Endless Legend

- The Witcher 3

- Lego Jurassic World