by narficacid
I've got eclectic tastes and have been a gamer since I was 2 years old. Here are the games that defined my past and have captivated me in the present.
Descriptions and (mild) justifications to be added in the future.
Showing 1-10 of 100 items
Potentially, my perfect video game. The resource management that requires you to change weapons and kill methods on the fly, the mobility of the Doomslayer, and the levels of lore that it adds to the Doom series (yes, I am that lore dork) are fantastic and keep my ADHD brain happy on levels that no other game in the entire history of my game-playing has been able to match. Doom might be my favorite game franchise ever created, and this game represents, in my relatively humble opinion, the absolute pinnacle of the series (...that does remain to be seen given that I have not yet played the Revelations DLC for The Dark Ages, but that thing would have to be 3x the game that base Dark Ages was to topple this king). I see you "person who swears up and down that 2016 was better," and I even respect you, and I still disagree. This thing is perfect and unimpeachable. I even like the platforming... ... I may have lost the room right there.
This game lived at the top of my list until 2021. The queen only dethroned by the absolute best. Bayonetta took the best of the Devil May Cry formula, mixed it with the dial-a-combo freeform combat of God of War and created the perfect blend of East and West "character action" gaming. It oozes style and created a female gaming protagonist who was powerful enough to fell a god, but also sassy enough to make you feel she was human. The story is absolute gibberish, and I couldn't be happier about it. No game before had captured exactly the amount of "silly" I wanted and twisted it with the self-serious anime vibe exactly the right way. You were given the reigns of this wild horse and if you learned to enjoy the ride, there were very few experiences that could top it. I did EVERYTHING in this game. I unlocked all the playable characters, I beat the hidden boss and got the final weapon, and I completely maxed out the game's clock by the time I put away the Xbox 360 version. I'm proud to see that my time will FOREVER read 99 hours and 59 minutes. Apparently, no one at Platinum Games had anticipated my love for this fantastic video game.
The game that brought "Bullet Time" to the masses. Whether that's a positive, or a negative may depend greatly on your own point of view; however, the original Max Payne will live in my heart forever as it was a game that I had to have spent HUNDREDS of hours playing in my dorm room in college. This game was the cornerstone of my early 20's in gaming. Whenever a game that I was playing dropped off for me, I would always come back to "Max, dearest of all of my friends!" I played on every difficulty level. I installed the "Kung Fu 3.0" mod and played through the entire game without shooting, and then I would remove the mod and make a new playthrough overjoyed that these "gun" things since they felt novel all over again and the sniper scope zoom in camera would captivate me all over again. I loved the story too and that would kickstart a lifetime love affair with Remedy's story telling. The enigmatic Mona Sax became one of my favorite (completely unplayable until a little lower on the list) female heroines in a game. She would only be supplanted by "Fem Shep" and the lady above eventually, but she's still top 3! Completely incredible and undeniably influential.
When I'm depressed, when no other game can get "my motor running," there's one game that will restore my faith in humanity, and that is Psychonauts. This game's entire look, feel, and vibe is joyful (even when it chooses to go to dark places). It's life-affirming and the underlying message of "it's the friends you meet along the way" hits my heart in the best way every time. The humor in this game is amazing. The levels vary from fun to all-time great (i.e. The Milkman Conspiracy, Lungfishopolis, and Blackvelvetopia). Small character moments are sometimes buried deep within repeating a piece of dialog 3 times when you might not assume you have to, and other moments require you often knowing that you need to veer directly off of the logical progression of the game to see or trusting the Steam Achievements to guide you there (as I did when I first hit level 101). As such, they can either feel like a pain in the butt to get, or they can feel "special" since you found some hidden gem you never knew existed 20 years ago. Is the Meat Circus challenging in a way that the rest of the game doesn't prepare you for? Yeah. Do the leftover Lucas Arts style adventure game elements sort of get in the way early on? Yeah. This game is still satisfying to me on a level that is hard for me to adequately describe using language. Emoji translation: 🤗
I was won over by Spelunky's look instantly when it released on XBLA. I had never played the original game, but something called to me about it... it could also have just been that it was part of Summer of Arcade the year it came out and I was already on board with anything that was coming out then. I played it, really liked it, made it to World 4, never beat Olmec, and put it away. Then "Spelunking with Scoops" happened. I found a new appreciation for the game, played it daily for sixish months and beat Yama at least once on 3 different platforms. I've read Derek Yu's book on the development of the game, and I absolutely agree with one particular critic who refers to it as "basically the perfect video game." If you're not "on your shit," Spelunky will destroy you. If you panic, Spelunky will destroy you. And if you meet it on its terms, you will love Spelunky. This is a game that will punish you for not being in "flow state," and it is absolutely mind-blowingly good.
This was my first JRPG. I had no patience at 14 years old for grinding, learning spells from Espers over what 200(?!) battles. But I LOVED the story. I loved that there were 14 different characters (12 of whom had pretty cool and deep backstories) and I could mix and match the characters I wanted in my party. Kefka was the perfect villain, Gau was my heart's favorite character, and Cyan was all to familiar in his dogged determination to do the right thing despite the pain he'd witnessed. Emotionally I jived with this game, but I only saw the ending by using the saves created by my friend and the ones that came in my used FF III cart (yes, my brain still sees this by the original, Western numbering system). I've spent, most likely, nearly a thousand hours playing this game throughout the years. I've played it in nearly every reincarnation over the years, I eventually learned to "grind" and beat the game my own damn self many times over, and have dealt with the translation changes which occurred when it got ported to the GBA. My brain will always call it the "Vanish/Doom glitch" despite knowing that it is now canonically "Vanish/Death" AND it has been patched out *sad face*. These days the story of a rag-tag group of resistance members overcoming an authoritarian, oppressive Empire which is ruled over (Spoilers: and eventually destroyed) by a literal clown given unprecedented power hits different (but is still good escapism for me). You know, after writing this, I think I might buy that pixel remaster on Steam and play it once more. I HAVE come to terms that Cyan is my favorite character and is basically a manifestation of how I want to be perceived in the world. ... ... Keep in mind, if you pronounce it like the spice and not the color, I don't care if the original Japanese characters rationalize your pronunciation, we're fighting!
This game I could NOT play for years after it came out. The sequel to what was my favorite game of all time (I hadn't started anal-retentively ranking them yet, but it was probably true) being unplayable because my humble desktop at school couldn't play it was TORTURE. I read strategy guides in the Northgate Mall GameStop because I needed to know if Max did die and see how Mona factored in! (I had a little heartbreak about that to deal with)... Then when I graduated and moved home, I bought a new computer. Max Payne 2, F.E.A.R., and Half-Life 2 were the first three games I bought. This game lived up to my expectations and more. It easily beat out the other two games for time playing. The Bullet Time mechanics were better, the story was more enticing, and as long as I beat it on Dead on Arrival, I got the ending I wanted! There were even levels that I got to play as Mona! "Why is it lower on this list than the original then?" you might ask. Well, I have something special in my heart towards the first one and if you're not into my nostalgia and personal feelings affecting this list: you should maybe stop reading now.
I mean... did you think it wouldn't be here??!? I played this game twice a year, religiously, for almost 6 years after it came out. When I came home for vacations in college, when I eventually started taking my N64 to school too, and whenever I could justify it: this game got played and 100%ed all over again. It was one of the first times I felt immersed in a video game world to the degree that I now felt it. Traversing Hyrule Field, visiting the castle, playing minigames, and the constant time-switching back and forth kept me captivated. The gameplay is nearly spotless (excluding the slog that is the "Water Temple") and controlling Link in a 3D environment when that wasn't something that games typically let you do was something that constantly called me back to it. "Story" and "character development" weren't something I expected from games at the time, and yet I think the way that they presented Zelda, Link, and Ganon and how they all changed over the time gap in the game FELT transformative to all three of them. My love for this game springs eternal, and yet I haven't played it again for 5 years or so as I'm writing this in the year 2026 where we will get the remake on Switch 2. That said, it's going to introduce an interesting twist on how I count this list and rank the games. If I like the remake more, does it go higher, or are they the same game just controlled and looking differently? Time will tell.
One night, I was finishing up a shift on the crisis line. It was midnight and I wanted to finally finish Persona 3. I began the fight against Nyx (and the first two mini-bosses before her) at 12:00 sharp, and by 1:30 am I had her down to the final 10% of her health bar. She did the attack that I've come to realize is pretty standard for Shin Megami Persona bosses: she did a giant "fuck you" attack that hit my entire party for massive damage and confused two of my party members. One was Yukari, and she healed Nyx for ALL of her health. I stared in disbelief... "OK, I can start again and maybe I'll just be up until 4:00 am tonight," I said. The next attack was by Aegis (who was also confused). She hit me and scored a critical hit, getting an extra turn. She hit me again and killed me. The screen faded to white and it was "Game Over." I was now in RAGE!! I went to sleep that night depressed, angry, and determined to finish this damn game tomorrow. I only worked until 6:00 pm the next night, and I had some free time. Now with the knowledge of that last attack, all the party members who I could possibly equip with an anti-confusion charm got one, and I beat the game in about 75 minutes. Beating this game put a close to the only JRPG to give FFVI a run for its money as far as my favorite. I love the combat mechanics, I was moved to tears multiple times throughout my playthrough by the story, and the investment I have in the characters and their growth actually made me actively dislike the "The Answer" campaign and how it starts. That said, any detriments to this game are entirely dwarfed by my love for the setting and the characters. Mitsuru forever! <3
*Sound of squished meat* - *irritated grunt* - "Ok. I think I know what I did wrong." - 30 seconds later - *sound of squished meat* - *slightly more irritated grunt* - Repeat I deeply love this game. I've gotten the "Golden God" achievement (on the Xbox 360 version, there's no way in hell I'll ever get all the Steam achievements). Over the course of years I finished the game; I got the "true ending"; and then slowly ground my way to completing every level under the par time, finishing every dark world level, and getting every bandage. Completing this game was a labor of love that, according to my imperfect memory, never left me in "video game rage." I got irritated, and I got frustrated with myself, but the game never once felt "unfair." Every level was its own isolated platforming puzzle that I wanted to solve. I learned "techniques" and I (every once and a while) looked up YouTube guides. I crashed my waves of determination against the shores of this game and finished it all! I have a visual memory, that I (completely seriously) used 10+ years later to "install" an EMDR coping skill during my training, of me ripping my T-shirt off and running some mini-laps around my living room when I finished the final level in the final warp zone bandage in meaty paw! What can I actually say about the game? Many words have been written and spoken about how the nearly INSTANT level restarts keep people going, how fluid the movement of Meat Boy feels (as well as all the other unlockable characters), and just how perfectly designed the difficulty progression and feeling of mastery the game instills in you are. All that said, it's just a fantastically designed, incredibly fun "video game ass video game."
