Gaming

Portal 1.

Something about the ambiance mixed with the puzzles really stuck with me. I replay it almost once a year just to relive it.

I keep reading about Outer Wilds. I think its about time this summer.

To answer the question: Risk of Rain 1&2

And maybe the leviathans of my childhood. Ocarina of Time, Majoras Mask..

Definitely Outer Wilds as well.

Hell, looking into the soundtrack changed my daily playlist to something heavily Midwest Emo.

For me, that game would definitely be Disco Elysium. I've never connected with a game as much as with that one. I'm actually reticent of playing it again for fear of it not living up to the first experience; I felt like my first playthrough was perfect, even if technically speaking it wasn't.

Other than that, I also still think about Mass Effect a fair bit.

On a side note: if you liked the investigating and "detective-ing" of Outer Wilds, then you will probably also enjoy Return of the Obra Dinn, The Forgotten City, and The Case of the Golden Idol. I'd also add Disco Elysium to that list, but be aware it's a lot more text heavy.

Journey. Just the best coop experience ever.

• half life 1, finished around 25 times.
• kotor 1, finished around 20 times with different classes, genders, alignment.
• kotor 2, finished around 25 times with different classes, genders, alignments, party members.
• might and magic 7, finished around 25 times with different party classes, alignments.
• might and magic 8, finished around 25 times with different party classes, alignments.
• mass effect 1&2, finished around 3-4 times.
• morrowind, played few hundred hours with different genders and classes.
• skyrim, played around thousand hour.

Who has obsession, me? No you have 🙃

Last of Us part1 and part 2. Probably Ghost of Tsushima and also Shadow Tactics

Vampires, The Masquerade: Bloodlines. The whole vibe of the setting, the story, the locations, and then when I finally understood what the plot was really about. Masterpiece of a game, couldnt stop thinking about it.

Easily RimWorld for me. The stories that play out over time, and how to make productivity more efficient live in my head rent free.

I've mentioned this game already in a few comments recently, but I think it really deserves more attention.

Prey (2017): I've loved it since the first moment, and I still think about the story and lore very often. It's almost impossible to find a similar game (Bioshock 1 and System Shock 2 have quite some things in common with Prey, but the latter has its own unique vibe).

Mass Effect -- particularly Mass Effect 2 -- left an impression, but The Last of Us is and will always be the game that has stuck with me the most/longest.

Undertale. The messages that game give you. Goddamn. That game also came to me at a point in my life where I needed it. The soundtrack saved me from contemplating a terrible decision. It saved my life. Wonderful game and an incredible experience.

The Witcher 3 is probably the greatest video game I've ever played.

The Last of Us 1 & 2 is probably the greatest video story I've ever experienced.

These 3 games are something I think about in some capacity very often and are, in my mind, the benchmarks that every other game is held to.

Mass Effect and Dragon Age are my notable mentions.

Hades is so good. Waiting for Hades 2. Aaaaany day now.

I never did finish Outer Wilds and still think about it a lot! I need to go start it again because it is genuinely spectacular, but I struggle with my constraint of only being able to put short-ish play sessions into it.

Playing Ocarina of Time with my son was an epic journey I treasure. It completely captured his imagination, and I was along for that ride.

Grim Fandango was, and continues to be, a dream for me.

While I'm there, Full Throttle also executed its style so well that some of its moments still serve as cultural/stylistic landmarks in my mind.

Mass Effect 2 had several moments where the atmosphere and universe totally hit the mark (Going into the Afterlife Club... come on!).

Red Dead Redemption connected me to that setting in ways movies can't reach.

The Talos Principle - for me, the puzzles hit the sweet spot of being hard enough to be on my mind all day, but never feeling like the solution was out of reach. But even more than the puzzles, the philosophical elements made me reflect on life, civilization, and personhood in a way nothing else has. It was a peaceful, tranquil experience of just me, a serene soundtrack, and thought provoking text and puzzles.

Half life Alex. I'm the only person I know IRL with a VR headset, so playing such an incredible and unique game feels like having an amazing dream that leaves you with intense euphoria , but knowing no one around you really cares as much about it as you.

Bioshock Infinite. Love the aesthetics and world building in this game.

Mass Effect trilogy gave me the harshest gaming hangover in my life back when I finished all of them back to back like 10 years ago

There's also Ichiban Kasuga living rent free in my head, yesterday's trailer made it worse

Half Life 2. Specifically, the crossbow that shot rebar. That thing was AWESOME.

Persona 3 FES. It was a pivotal game for me. Beating that game was my gateway to more challenging RPGs and made me start paying attention to voice actors due to the amazing performances in that game.

Deus Ex and Morrowind are always installed in my computer.

To The Moon. Barely a game, the dialogue can be really cheesy in places. But dang, I've thought about the ending to that game probably monthly for over a decade. The sequels are an incredible continuation of the story as well.

Terraria for sure, it took maybe 30 minutes and I was hooked for days until I beat it. I still come back every few years to do it again

Death Stranding. Beautiful landscapes with awesome moments like treking through a snowstorm to reach a distant prepper outpost. Waiting for rain to stop while playing the harmonica for bb. Definitly could have had one more zone to round it all off, or maybe expanded the final boss area zone to full size.

Mass Effect series. Especially ME3 with the DLC's. I think it was the Citadel DLC that I enjoyed the most. The game was really emotional at times.

The entire Witcher trilogy, but especially the Witcher 3. Replaying after reading the books adds so much depth the world and the political decisions you are forced to make. The world is beautiful, the ambient sounds and soundtrack are so good ("winds howling") and the story is gripping.

Starcraft, when the first one released and then the expansion, I always wondered what happen to Kerrigan/Jimmy and the Protoss templars. We don't have any official answers all the way until Starcraft 2 released. That "it's about time" trailer was about as hype as I can be for a very long time. And then it faded behind DOTA 2 and LoL.( I didn't even know when the 2nd one or 3rd campaign released. too busy with indie game/kickstarter boom and then Rocket Leauge. ^^; )

Red Dead Redemption. Probably stuck with me more than any other game Ive played. The story, the characters, the world, all of it.

Really hope it gets a rerelease

Basically all Blizzard games between '95 and '04 (So Warcraft 2 up until World of Warcraft). I just loved them all. Great gameplay and awesome music. The soundtracks for the games of that era are just permanently recorded in my brain and they'll randomly start playing in my mind very often.

Diablo 1 was my first ARPG and I remember playing it online and not knowing what the hell people were talking about because I wasn't familiar with the lingo yet. I loved playing online with the overpowered duped items like the Godly Plate of the Whale and the Arch-Angel's Staff of Apocalypse. It was great.

Diablo 2 was even better than the first one. My favorite ARPG of all-time and in my opinion still the best one ever made. I've spent hundreds of hours on this game online and I still wish I could relive those days. One of the greatest games ever.

Warcraft 2 was also one of my favorite games, the soundtrack was especially great. I know every note of every piece of music in that game by heart. Sometimes a random piece of Warcraft 2 music will just pop in my head and start playing on repeat for hours on end.

World of Warcraft was the first MMORPG I got addicted to. I played others before, but WoW just had me hooked. I've played this game religiously up until the end of WotLK when the game lost its magic for me. I've played all the expansions that came after that but not much, usually just one or two characters to max level and then I get bored with it.

Horizon Zero Dawn (and sequel), Control, Mass Effect 2, Grim Fandango, Dreamfall.

In a very different way, Kerbal Space Program because it gives a good understanding of orbital mechanics.

Disco Elysium. There are so many good quotes, particularly out of the thought cabinet, that I remind myself of on like a weekly basis.

I was in a bad place the first time I played through it. The Precarious World and One More Door stick in the back of my mind constantly, and I cried like a baby the first time I read "In the dark times, should the stars also go out?" Never before has a game so emotionally resonated with me, this hope in the face of crushing despair, despite everything.

Well I would answer Outer Wilds (in particular, with the DLC), but since you already said it, ummm....

Probably Hollow Knight. I remember just loving the exploration in that game, and the difficulty made everything feel well earned. I haven't played Elden Ring yet, but it sounds like people had a similar reaction to that, but in 3D.

SOMA. The ending still freaks me out until this day.

Shadow of the Colossus. The entire vibe of the world just got to me.

Cyberpunk 2077. Say what you will about the state of the game, especially when it released. But there's something about the endings that keeps me thinking about the game and has me really excited about coming back after enough updates have passed.

So many people mentioning Outer Wilds, think I will have to revisit that. There are a lot of honorable mentions like HL2, SOMA and Ocarina of Time. But for me, the outstanding mention would have to be the original Elite on the Sinclair Spectrum. For such an early, technically simple game it had so much depth and gameplay, and challenge (took me weeks to master that damn docking procedure without crashing!).