I played that because it was free and had seen it in benchmarks. I only knew it looked good.
Holy smokes that game is AWESOME. It was the best game I played in 2021 or 2022, easily.
Also, TAKE. CONTROL!
Edit: loving all of your stories!
I'm not good at FPS, or seek out FPS games. I saw Control recommended on a thread here with no real description. Figured why not.
I've never wanted to stream, but damn Ashtray Maze made me want to stream that part for my non-FPS friends to enjoy as well. I don't think the impact would be as big not having played the rest of the game, building the lead up to that, but damn is it awesome.
Easily one of my top gaming memories, which is saying a lot.
Ok. Now I’m downloading control. I’ve read reviews but have no idea what it is or what type of game, really. I’m pretty excited. After hollow knight, nothing grabbed me until elden ring. I was very sad when both ended. After 150 hours in Tears of the Kingdom, I feel the same. Kind of empty when it comes to gaming. I need that next special game.
Sea of Stars is good, but it’s like familiar comfort food. I’m excited for Starfield, but when I finish SOS, I’m jumping into Control. Thank you for this! It may not be as good as I hope, but I believe it will be special, still.
Cheers!
There it is. The best gaming audial sequence I've ever experienced in 20 some years of gaming. It doesn't hurt that it's an all around great game for the rest of the journey. The maze is just the pinnacle.
I picked up Control for free when it was a PS+ monthly game and went into it blind as well. The minute you put on those headphones and start navigating the maze was freaking EPIC and a complete tonal shift of the game.
Ohhh the ashtray maze. The whole game I kept going there trying to figure it out and then 🎸🎸🎸. Easily one of the best and unique games I've played. Oh and clocks. So many clocks.
Also Control.
Saw some where that it was GOTY on some list and figured I'd give it a try without really looking into or researching it. Just bought it becuase of the accolades.
Blew my mind. Relatively unique and interesting story line for the genre, great game play, interesting mechanics, great graphics.
Never really lost the nervousness I had while playing that game. Always was apprehensive about what was around the next corner, or in the next room. Even after I became super powerful, it was still pretty nerve racking, in a good way.
Same. Saw one quick clip and was like “oh neat you can fly.” That sold me, but I had no clue I was in for such a cool story and weird in all the right ways world.
I played it twice on PS4 despite the chugging frame rates because I love it so much. Second time was also passing the controller back and forth with a friend. Currently in a third playthrough now that I have a PS5 and it runs like butter in performance mode. I absolutely love this game.
Also just finished Alan Wake because of it and can't wait to play the AWE dlc again!
I bought Control on the strong recommendation of a friend but he refused to tell me anything about it. This friend knows me well and thus knows that while I'm normally not into horror games or movies that the game was nonetheless right up my alley.
Me too! I watched one video of a few minutes of gameplay before it came out and that was it because I knew I would love it. One of my favorite games I’ve played.
This one for me too! It holds a very important place for me. This game really thrives if you have a really good set of headphones, the sounds and ambiance is immaculate
Completely Blind? Inscryption, which is how you should get into this game. Saying almost anything about this game is a bit of a spoiler in itself.
Just play it, trust me
All I knew about Prey (2017) was that it wasn't related to Prey (2006), or even to the ancient 90's forever-stuck-in-development-hell original Prey.
One of my favorite games of the past decade.
Prey is a phenomenal game, agreed. I wish I'd picked it up sooner; it's the closest thing we've had to a modern System Shock* and it knocked it out the park.
*aside from the recently acclaimed System Shock remake, of course!
Sleeping Dogs, game store clerk recommended me the game and I was unsure about it cause it's not a renowned name like GTA with Rockstar but the clerk was like "trust me it's good" and so I bought it.
Every time I eat a pork steam bun I think about this vendor and chuckle. Which is surprisingly often, our local Asian grocery has some fire steam buns. Great game.
Simpsons hit and run. I had to get surgery when I was 9 and they had a ps2 with it in the hospital. It was unironically two of the best days of my childhood
Outer wilds. I knew the basics about it (space/planetary exploration), but had no idea about anything else. It’s 100% a game designed to go in blind. Discovering everything about the game was so much fun. The journey was better than the destination, although the satisfaction of reaching the destination and post-destination scene was fantastic and cathartic.
If I could wipe my brain and replay it, I 100% would
Love it so much. Actually only ever heard of it on a similar thread on Reddit with the recommendation to go in completely blind and it was so worth it. Anybody reading this, go play it. Don't look up anything. So, so good.
The funniest thing is that i managed to kill myself before the first big event sp I just got a "Game Over" and had to restart. My first >!loop death!< confused me even more after that.
Edit: added spoiler tag
I've started it about three or four times and always quit after a couple hours, guess I need to stick to it bit longer for it to become more interesting?
Was going to say the same thing. Had no idea what it was but I had heard someone say I should play it, and that was that. Now it's easily in my top five games of all time
Have never had the chills so much during a game.
I played Outer Wilds in 5 or so sessions. EVERY session I got chills. I had chills most of the last ~2 hours.
Such a journey. If anyone has never played it block off your schedule with nothing to do and no where to be and give that game time on its terms. No other game has rewarded that as much as OW for me.
>Outer wilds. I knew the basics about it (space/planetary exploration), but had no idea about anything else. It’s 100% a game designed to go in blind.
Absolutely this, 100%
>The journey was better than the destination, although the satisfaction of reaching the destination and post-destination scene was fantastic and cathartic.
If you mean the final location you travel to, I agree. If you mean everything in the game until the credits, I literally cannot disagree strongly enough lol. The final events leading up to the credits might be a top 3 gaming experience for me, not to mention the game has one of the best soundtracks to any game I've ever heard. Pretty amazing for a game made by a college student, even if he is a Trojan (ugh).
As a UW grad (go dawgs!) I agree with your last statement lol
But yeah I meant the final location you travel to. Without spoilers, it involves waiting and then moving slowly
I'm confused about it...
>!I kept playing and dying and then you get somewhere cool and die again and I have no idea what to even do next.. Sure, there's this old history to look up and all but everything is hard to reach and the hints are weird. I couldn't really get into the story because of the hassle it is to stay alive and to get back after every death!<
It's a shame.. I do kinda like it but.. I don't know.. Maybe I need a different approach to the game.
Edit: wow, thanks all for all the gameplay tips! I'm definitely gonna give it another go now! Thanks!
Jade Empire, came with the original Xbox my dad bought me back in 2005, by the look of the cover I thought it was a 2d fighter and I'm not the biggest fan of those, turned out to be an amazing Rpg that introduced me to Prime Bioware.
Subnautica, now it's easily in my top 5 games of all time.
And I think a lot of it was because I went into it blind.
It's so well paced and beautiful. Hostile depths, gorgeous reefs and fauna in shallows. No stressors that forces you anywhere.
Just logs, lore, and exploration.
For some reason I am apparently a psychopath because this game is super chill and cozy to me, not this horror fueled anxiety generator it is to, what seems like, a majority of others.
Absolutely love this game
I just started Subnautica after hearing people say things like this for years now.
I was really frustrated for the first couple of hours having to figure out how to get food, water, O2 and not being able to do much else. But then the game loop just "clicked", and wow, it's one of the most relaxing games I've ever played.
My brother got this on Xbox when he moved in with me. He went to stay the night at his girlfriend's place and said I could play it if I wanted. I wasn't into console gaming at this point but decided to give it a try. Next thing I knew the sun was coming up, I called in sick to work, and didn't put down the controller until I finished the game. I've never done that with any other game.
This was my experience with Infinite. My husband had been playing it, so it doesn't count for this thread, but still. I sat down to play it for 20 minutes and then the sun went down and the sun came back up and I was SHOCKED to discover that I had finished the game. I was sobbing. It felt like it changed me, and I had never experienced an emotional connection with a game in that way before. It might have also been the sleep deprivation though... I slept for like 4 hours and restarted it.
I really liked the game, the sequel seemed ok - not great - to me. Bioshock Inifinite though was one of the most memorable games ever for me.
DLC which ties it into the first game was great too.
Oblivion. I had no idea what I was getting into. I was a teenager and it was my first game for the Xbox 360.
I was blown away and it became one of my favorite games of all time immediately.
Oblivion fucked me up. I had played a bit of Morrowind at a friend's place, but that was the first TES game I ever dove into. I've played most of Bethesda's titles since then and have very much enjoyed most of them, but none have been able to capture the feelings Oblivion gave me.
I had the same thing happen with Dishonored 2. My wife got it for my birthday, but I'd never heard of it before. Figured it would be rude not to give it a shot, and it turned out to be a wild ride!
Mass Effect Trilogy
Played the Legendary Edition last year, and going into it all I knew was that it was super hyped during its initial release and that the ending was controversial, but I knew nothing about the story, characters, or gameplay.
Never played any of them (maybe once at a friend's house back in the day)
Is it worth me going in blind and trying the newer versions? Would it be fun for someone who doesn't have the nostalgia of it in the current year?
Yeah I would 100% recommend it, especially the Legendary Edition. It comes with improved graphics and quality of life upgrades (mainly ME1) plus all of the DLCs.
And like I mentioned, I knew nothing about it going in other than it was beloved by many, and now after finishing the trilogy, it’s probably my favorite series ever. Like I loved it so much that I even started listening to a podcast series that doves deep into the game’s lore lol (it’s called Mass Effect Lorecast for anyone wondering).
I played Ghost of Tsushima only knowing it was supposedly a really good samurai game. And I heard right, despite it being a lot different than I expected.
Man that game made my cry more than once, such a beautiful game both visually and story wise.
Sucker Punch really knocked it out of the park with that game.
Its strongest aspect for me was the world building/lore. Throughout the game I found myself exhausting every dialogue option because I *wanted* to find out as much as possible even though it wasn’t required. Absolutely fantastic.
I posted about a quest in the Witcher subreddit a few years back, about how wonderfully deep a sidequest was. The number of people who apparently missed out on the last leg of it by just killing the obvious guy was astounding. I just let him monologue... and in doing so he reveals he isn't the murderer you're looking for (though he definitely deserves to die all the same). If you don't bother to let him say his bit, you may notice that the wanted posters and npc dialog in the city tells you the killer is still at large after you "solve" the crime.
One of the best treats for being patient and exhausting all dialogue options I've come across in any game.
Ori and the will of the wisps. I got the game as a birthday gift from a friend. I’ve never heard of the game or series before that day so I went in completely blind. After completing the game I loved it. All of the platforming mechanics and jumping around with the different abilities and the exploration was amazing. Not to mention the story was also pretty good. It wasn’t too hard or too easy either. It was challenging enough to try again and have fun but not easy enough to be boring.
Believe it or not - KOTOR. I was around 12-13 and my uncle from overseas was visiting and said he would get me a gift. We were walking around at an electronics store and I just picked KOTOR because the box art looked cool. That ignited my passion for CRPGs, RPGs, and Star Wars in general.
Getting your lightsaber in the first Kotor is one of the most satisfying moments. Also so many memorable quests like helping a droid blow himself up rather than be used as a widows sex toy
You bet your ass i believe you. What an awesome game. The story...the music... And the massive plot twist at the end of the game, holy fuck!!!
Kreia in kotor2 is my favorite video game character of all fucking time.
I'll just pretend the modern old Republic game doesn't exist because it ruined the mystery of Revan for me. Some stories are better left untold for the mystery.
Detroit Become Human - I never paid much attention to this game as it didn't seem like my type of game. I downloaded it yesterday afternoon, began playing it and ended up completing it last night.
I failed with Connor, his model was decommissioned and Hank was moved off the case. Alice and Kara survived the detention center, Markus and North were successful in their rebellion for the time being. Josh, Chloe, Simon, Luther, Leo and Zlatko all died.
I played through it once myself taking all the time I needed, and then watched 3 other playthroughs shortly after haha. It's amazing. The voice actor for Connor streamed it too, Dechartgames is his YouTube I believe. Fun watch
I played the demo, but got the game at launch so was blind that way. I lost Connor on my first play-through as well, though it was a different end for him. I also lost Alice and Kara, and Luther. Markus’ peaceful protests succeeded though, and most of Jericho survived. I don’t think I’ve wept as much as I did sitting through the end act of a game and its credits. DBH affected me in a way no game has in a very long time.
Nier: Automata. Literally just saw the case in a GameStop while out of town and blind bought it because I had just gotten paid. 10/10, 100/100, best choice I made.
Yup, came for waifus, stayed for the fantastic gameplay and story.
I would also say the game is made by people who love gaming. They do a great job of merging a bunch of different game styles into a single experience. And it pays homage to a ton of gaming genres throughout
Half Life 2, I didn't play the first one (or really know about it), but my friend got HL2 when that released. I was watching his Dad play (Dad got priority since he bought the game and built the PC) and I saw the realistic physics and had to get it myself.
It was really hard for me to get over the completionist part of me that wouldn't let me go to the 2nd day without scouring everything. Finally read a guide that said how many things progress into the next days that I finally let it go and just played it without that worry
Deep Rock Galactic.
It was a free weekend around April 2022. Saw that the time trial was almost ending and managed to hop in to play the tutorial and 1 mission.
I got instantly hooked. Can't stop playing... 900+ hours since then. I need help. No, I don't. I need more Nitra...
I have no idea what this game really is about, but every time I encounter it everyone seems so chill. Literally never heard any type of toxicity or negativity about this game. Maybe time to get into it.
It's a cross between left 4 dead and Minecraft. Each level is a randomly generated cave with objectives you complete by mining, killing bugs, defending an objective, etc.
The reason it's chill is because it is purely cooperative. You can play with people you know but even with people you don't, the idea that you're not competing but always working together helps make it a positive experience.
Add in the fact that you're playing dwarves who hate the company they work for, drink beer, tell jokes, and the various weapons/upgrades systems... it's just a great game with a lot of love in the development.
I was streaming a lot of horror games during the pandemic. One of my mods was finding games for me and making me play blind. SOMA was one of them. As it started I wasn't a big fan of how it played but streaming kept me going. As I got to the main portion of the game I was enthralled. The ending was amazing and really fit with the rest of the story. Glad I stuck with it cuz it is by far one of my favorite horror games now.
Outer Wilds and Subnautica. Absolutely phenomenal games in my opinion. I think Outer Wilds is the more tightly designed experience, but I was so unbelievably drawn in to Subnautica's setting and atmosphere. I would pay an unreasonable amount of money to wipe my memory of these two games and experience that first playthrough again.
Man, you lucked out. OG Monster Hunter was kind of brutal. No tutorial, massive HP pools, lots of running, farming, searching.
World had so many quality of life improvements without compromising gameplay. Gorgeous graphics as well. Every single biome was masterfully done.
>World had so many quality of life improvements without compromising gameplay
MH3 tried to appeal to the mass, but still had many layers of useless complexity.
MH4 removed those layers, but wasn't advertised nearly as much in the west.
MH:W just assembled the recipe of both, and got PC + NA/EU promotion, with extra QOL on top of MH4's, and they decided to tack some current-ish gen graphics on top of all that to try and really cement their western market (successfully, if you ask me).
I can't want to see how the next gen of MH looks/plays (since Rise is still the same gen as World, just the "portable" team).
Especially for newer fans if they start the series with Yakuza Zero. All the other games are great, and of course the original is a great starting place. But goddamn does Zero just have such an engaging story. Even better if you're not 100% sure what the series is all about.
Seeing peoples' reactions to that game was incredible. So many people went in thinking it was your standard crime drama type of deal. You've got the neon lights, dark alleyways, and violence. You've got people being murdered and your pritagonist being framed for it. It's a perfect setup. And then... next thing you know you have a literal chicken running a real estate business while you're off competing in disco dancing competitions, only to take a quick break so you can escort a moonwalking Michael Jackson down the road so he doesn't get beat up, before spending the next 60 hours dressing up attractive women so you can have them accompany desperate men at your cabaret club and make bank.
Whole series is just unlike anything else out there.
Mine too. A friend begged me to play it but I was not familiar with any fromsoft game. I knew nothing about the lore etc and it was frustrating at first but once it clicked it was tiiiiiiite!
Divinity Original Sin 2. Having no clue turned into one of the best games I've ever played.
I even only picked it up because I was looking for something completely new to.
This might be the most intense gaming experience I've ever had. Headphones on in the dark is so immersive. It's crazy how the voices react in real time to everything you're doing, oscillating between kind and encouraging and cruel and abusive.
Me when it was first announced: "haha robot dinosaurs, I bet the story is dumb as hell"
Me after beating it: "holy shit that was one of the best stories in all of gaming"
Alan Wake. A friend recommended it but didn’t say anything about, just that it was his favorite game from that year. Went in blind and it’s now in my top 10
Mass Effect. I didn't really follow any hype leading up to it, I just got it because it looked like a cool space game. I had no idea I was embarking on one of the most epic gaming trilogies I've ever experienced.
Portal and its not even close. Grade 9 playing The Orange Box, having a blast with TF2 and Half Life. Decided to give the third game a try. Oh boy, what a ride.
I honestly think most people here are too young to remember what a total surprise this game was.
It was just an extra in a bundle of already absolutely amazing games, and it was the best of them.
No one had any idea.
SUBNAUTICA
Came on the PSPLUS games, thought oh cool. Underwater sim where some things attack and u can build a base. This should be fun.
Fucking 9 hours later I was fighting Barracuda , jumping at every sound, refusing to go out at night and harvesting bronze and copper from the back of Reefback Leviathans.
10/10 no other game like it.
Arkham Asylum. Bought it day of release on a whim because Walmart had accidently priced it at half price. It quickly became my favourite franchise of all time.
The Messenger!
God I wish I could relive that.
Sea of Stars is also super good, although I knew a bit more about it this time around, but not nearly as much as I usually do
Playing sea of stars now, just saw some screens and heard it described as a modern secret of mana / chronicle trigger and didn’t really need to know much else.
And yes, those are apt comparisons!
Oblivion. I heard it was a good rpg and was a bit confused running around in the prison , finding kinda difficult to deal with the assassins etc...
And they I left the sewer and it was beautiful. Just the feeling that I could walk anywhere under that great sun light.
Fond memories
Zero Escape, a friend recommended it to me and told me it was best to go in blind. The games are far from being perfect, but I had so much fun playing through them all while some other friends watched, arguing over puzzle solutions and story choices to make.
A few years after the release of **SOMA**, I played it for the first time and all these years I saw only a few screenshots of metal corridors in the style of Doom 3. So all this time I thought that the game was about a space station. And I started playing it like a space game. I was so amazed when I saw corals and fish in that first glass corridor! This was the first shock that literally changed all my expectations from the game and then I played with even more interest.
Return of the Obra Dinn is definitively worth a mention here. Incredible investigation game, trying to figure out the name, title, and cause of death on every crew member on a ship by watching their moments of demise.
Shadow of the Colossus on the PS2. I took a punt on it because I was intrigued by the box art (a mounted warrior, he and his horse looking tiny next to a gigantic bipedal monster). "Well, this looks cool," I thought. "There's no way it'll live up to the box art, that's probably an exaggeration but it might be fun."
Oh, it wasn't an exaggeration. It more than lived up to the box art. What a sublime experience.
Dark souls 3. I barely knew what a souls game was. Played 7 playthroughs since, plus one SL1 run. It became my favorite game of all time. Also finished bloodborne and sekiro and I'm currently playing through elden ring.
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I was living alone for the first time and didn't have cable. I had an Xbox and thought I'd try a new game to pass the time. I ended up taking days off to play it.
Persona 5 Royal. Never played a Persona game, only heard word of mouth praise. All I knew was it was a turned-based JRPG, which are right up my alley. Changed my fucking life.
Persona 5... I had no clue I would enjoy a jrpg this much holy hell
my friend told me "dont google anything and get maruki to rank 10" and I was like wtf? what is rank 10
Control. No idea what it was about..what an amazing journey I went on
I was told it was like Dresden Files meets The Matrix. Sold me.
I always say it's like twin peaks meets X-Files, but your description works too. Remedy is talented at pulling from many great influences.
It's basically SCP with enough Vaseline on the lens so that it can be copyrighted as a distinct work.
I played that because it was free and had seen it in benchmarks. I only knew it looked good. Holy smokes that game is AWESOME. It was the best game I played in 2021 or 2022, easily. Also, TAKE. CONTROL! Edit: loving all of your stories!
Ashtray Maze is soooo epic
I'm not good at FPS, or seek out FPS games. I saw Control recommended on a thread here with no real description. Figured why not. I've never wanted to stream, but damn Ashtray Maze made me want to stream that part for my non-FPS friends to enjoy as well. I don't think the impact would be as big not having played the rest of the game, building the lead up to that, but damn is it awesome. Easily one of my top gaming memories, which is saying a lot.
Ok. Now I’m downloading control. I’ve read reviews but have no idea what it is or what type of game, really. I’m pretty excited. After hollow knight, nothing grabbed me until elden ring. I was very sad when both ended. After 150 hours in Tears of the Kingdom, I feel the same. Kind of empty when it comes to gaming. I need that next special game. Sea of Stars is good, but it’s like familiar comfort food. I’m excited for Starfield, but when I finish SOS, I’m jumping into Control. Thank you for this! It may not be as good as I hope, but I believe it will be special, still. Cheers!
There it is. The best gaming audial sequence I've ever experienced in 20 some years of gaming. It doesn't hurt that it's an all around great game for the rest of the journey. The maze is just the pinnacle.
I picked up Control for free when it was a PS+ monthly game and went into it blind as well. The minute you put on those headphones and start navigating the maze was freaking EPIC and a complete tonal shift of the game.
I'm always recommending this game and I always say great story, great gameplay, ashtray maze. TAKE. CONTROL
Ohhh the ashtray maze. The whole game I kept going there trying to figure it out and then 🎸🎸🎸. Easily one of the best and unique games I've played. Oh and clocks. So many clocks.
Same. Got me to play Alan Wake as well and am now excited for Alan Wake II and really excited for the eventual Control 2.
I just finished Alan Wake also due to Control. Alan Wake is great too
Also Control. Saw some where that it was GOTY on some list and figured I'd give it a try without really looking into or researching it. Just bought it becuase of the accolades. Blew my mind. Relatively unique and interesting story line for the genre, great game play, interesting mechanics, great graphics. Never really lost the nervousness I had while playing that game. Always was apprehensive about what was around the next corner, or in the next room. Even after I became super powerful, it was still pretty nerve racking, in a good way.
Same. Saw one quick clip and was like “oh neat you can fly.” That sold me, but I had no clue I was in for such a cool story and weird in all the right ways world.
The story is cool and the play is good. Looks good too. 9/10 solid:) Struggled on ps4 a bit…
I played it twice on PS4 despite the chugging frame rates because I love it so much. Second time was also passing the controller back and forth with a friend. Currently in a third playthrough now that I have a PS5 and it runs like butter in performance mode. I absolutely love this game. Also just finished Alan Wake because of it and can't wait to play the AWE dlc again!
Came here to say this. Thought it was going to be a quick bit of action fun. Wasn't expecting it to be so awesome.
I bought Control on the strong recommendation of a friend but he refused to tell me anything about it. This friend knows me well and thus knows that while I'm normally not into horror games or movies that the game was nonetheless right up my alley.
Me too! I watched one video of a few minutes of gameplay before it came out and that was it because I knew I would love it. One of my favorite games I’ve played.
This one for me too! It holds a very important place for me. This game really thrives if you have a really good set of headphones, the sounds and ambiance is immaculate
So happy to see this at top reply. I was going to say just this. Control is a proper hidden gem. Such a cool game.
Completely Blind? Inscryption, which is how you should get into this game. Saying almost anything about this game is a bit of a spoiler in itself. Just play it, trust me
Someone convinced me to go into it completely blind, and I really appreciate that they did. It's so weirdly unsettling, but in such a satisfying way.
Unsettling is such a good word for it. I was thoroughly intrigued from start to finish (which is not very long, like 15h IIRC).
All I knew about Prey (2017) was that it wasn't related to Prey (2006), or even to the ancient 90's forever-stuck-in-development-hell original Prey. One of my favorite games of the past decade.
Prey is a phenomenal game, agreed. I wish I'd picked it up sooner; it's the closest thing we've had to a modern System Shock* and it knocked it out the park. *aside from the recently acclaimed System Shock remake, of course!
Sleeping Dogs, game store clerk recommended me the game and I was unsure about it cause it's not a renowned name like GTA with Rockstar but the clerk was like "trust me it's good" and so I bought it.
Same, bought it on a whim and much prefer it to gta
A MAN WHO NEVA EATS PORK BUNS IS NEVA WHOOOOOLE
Every time I eat a pork steam bun I think about this vendor and chuckle. Which is surprisingly often, our local Asian grocery has some fire steam buns. Great game.
Sleeping Dogs and Saints Row 2 are the only "GTA clones" as good as GTA in my opinion
Simpsons hit and run. I had to get surgery when I was 9 and they had a ps2 with it in the hospital. It was unironically two of the best days of my childhood
Wrong, but only because Simpsons hit and run is better than GTA, not "as good as"
Got it free with Xbox gold. Sat in the library for like 6 months and then I said what the hell. Only game I ever 100%
Nah for real. Sleeping dogs is so good
Fantastic game. RIP United Front Games.
Outer wilds. I knew the basics about it (space/planetary exploration), but had no idea about anything else. It’s 100% a game designed to go in blind. Discovering everything about the game was so much fun. The journey was better than the destination, although the satisfaction of reaching the destination and post-destination scene was fantastic and cathartic. If I could wipe my brain and replay it, I 100% would
Love it so much. Actually only ever heard of it on a similar thread on Reddit with the recommendation to go in completely blind and it was so worth it. Anybody reading this, go play it. Don't look up anything. So, so good.
Also: keep playing it! The spaceship control scheme can be tricky, but you’ll get used to it
A quick tip for anyone who hasn't played it: you don't have to land the model ship. Don't stress it.
The harder you crash the model ship, the better you'll be in the real one.
There’s even an achievement for sending it into orbit!
The funniest thing is that i managed to kill myself before the first big event sp I just got a "Game Over" and had to restart. My first >!loop death!< confused me even more after that. Edit: added spoiler tag
I've started it about three or four times and always quit after a couple hours, guess I need to stick to it bit longer for it to become more interesting?
Came here to suggest this. Legitimately one of the most unique gaming experiences I've had in a long time.
Was going to say the same thing. Had no idea what it was but I had heard someone say I should play it, and that was that. Now it's easily in my top five games of all time
Have never had the chills so much during a game. I played Outer Wilds in 5 or so sessions. EVERY session I got chills. I had chills most of the last ~2 hours. Such a journey. If anyone has never played it block off your schedule with nothing to do and no where to be and give that game time on its terms. No other game has rewarded that as much as OW for me.
>Outer wilds. I knew the basics about it (space/planetary exploration), but had no idea about anything else. It’s 100% a game designed to go in blind. Absolutely this, 100% >The journey was better than the destination, although the satisfaction of reaching the destination and post-destination scene was fantastic and cathartic. If you mean the final location you travel to, I agree. If you mean everything in the game until the credits, I literally cannot disagree strongly enough lol. The final events leading up to the credits might be a top 3 gaming experience for me, not to mention the game has one of the best soundtracks to any game I've ever heard. Pretty amazing for a game made by a college student, even if he is a Trojan (ugh).
As a UW grad (go dawgs!) I agree with your last statement lol But yeah I meant the final location you travel to. Without spoilers, it involves waiting and then moving slowly
I'm confused about it... >!I kept playing and dying and then you get somewhere cool and die again and I have no idea what to even do next.. Sure, there's this old history to look up and all but everything is hard to reach and the hints are weird. I couldn't really get into the story because of the hassle it is to stay alive and to get back after every death!< It's a shame.. I do kinda like it but.. I don't know.. Maybe I need a different approach to the game. Edit: wow, thanks all for all the gameplay tips! I'm definitely gonna give it another go now! Thanks!
Jade Empire, came with the original Xbox my dad bought me back in 2005, by the look of the cover I thought it was a 2d fighter and I'm not the biggest fan of those, turned out to be an amazing Rpg that introduced me to Prime Bioware.
What I wouldn't give for a sequel or a remake of this game. Bioware back in the day was just magical.
Knights of the People's Republic
Subnautica, now it's easily in my top 5 games of all time. And I think a lot of it was because I went into it blind. It's so well paced and beautiful. Hostile depths, gorgeous reefs and fauna in shallows. No stressors that forces you anywhere. Just logs, lore, and exploration. For some reason I am apparently a psychopath because this game is super chill and cozy to me, not this horror fueled anxiety generator it is to, what seems like, a majority of others. Absolutely love this game
I just started Subnautica after hearing people say things like this for years now. I was really frustrated for the first couple of hours having to figure out how to get food, water, O2 and not being able to do much else. But then the game loop just "clicked", and wow, it's one of the most relaxing games I've ever played.
Relaxing...
"warning, entering ecological dead zone, are you sure what you're doing is worth it?"
It's stressful until you know how to manage coexisting with the wildlife.
I am decidedly an old dude, and Subnautica is the best game I have played in several decades.
Bioshock, such a fantastic game and the sequel was equally as good
My brother got this on Xbox when he moved in with me. He went to stay the night at his girlfriend's place and said I could play it if I wanted. I wasn't into console gaming at this point but decided to give it a try. Next thing I knew the sun was coming up, I called in sick to work, and didn't put down the controller until I finished the game. I've never done that with any other game.
This was my experience with Infinite. My husband had been playing it, so it doesn't count for this thread, but still. I sat down to play it for 20 minutes and then the sun went down and the sun came back up and I was SHOCKED to discover that I had finished the game. I was sobbing. It felt like it changed me, and I had never experienced an emotional connection with a game in that way before. It might have also been the sleep deprivation though... I slept for like 4 hours and restarted it.
I really liked the game, the sequel seemed ok - not great - to me. Bioshock Inifinite though was one of the most memorable games ever for me. DLC which ties it into the first game was great too.
Oblivion. I had no idea what I was getting into. I was a teenager and it was my first game for the Xbox 360. I was blown away and it became one of my favorite games of all time immediately.
Oblivion fucked me up. I had played a bit of Morrowind at a friend's place, but that was the first TES game I ever dove into. I've played most of Bethesda's titles since then and have very much enjoyed most of them, but none have been able to capture the feelings Oblivion gave me.
Nothing will ever top that dark brotherhood quest line. Skyrim didn't even come close.
That was the peak of Oblivion.
Hollow Knight. My brother gifted it to me out of thin air, so I played it to be polite. Turned out to be quite the gem!
I had the same thing happen with Dishonored 2. My wife got it for my birthday, but I'd never heard of it before. Figured it would be rude not to give it a shot, and it turned out to be a wild ride!
I played Hollow Knight blind too. I'm very happy about that.
Mass Effect Trilogy Played the Legendary Edition last year, and going into it all I knew was that it was super hyped during its initial release and that the ending was controversial, but I knew nothing about the story, characters, or gameplay.
It had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.
If you unlocked it, him singing Scientist Salarian while he works...
I’m commander shepherd and this is my favorite comment on the subreddit
Never played any of them (maybe once at a friend's house back in the day) Is it worth me going in blind and trying the newer versions? Would it be fun for someone who doesn't have the nostalgia of it in the current year?
Yeah I would 100% recommend it, especially the Legendary Edition. It comes with improved graphics and quality of life upgrades (mainly ME1) plus all of the DLCs. And like I mentioned, I knew nothing about it going in other than it was beloved by many, and now after finishing the trilogy, it’s probably my favorite series ever. Like I loved it so much that I even started listening to a podcast series that doves deep into the game’s lore lol (it’s called Mass Effect Lorecast for anyone wondering).
Report to the ship as soon as possible We'll bang, OK?
I played Ghost of Tsushima only knowing it was supposedly a really good samurai game. And I heard right, despite it being a lot different than I expected.
Man that game made my cry more than once, such a beautiful game both visually and story wise. Sucker Punch really knocked it out of the park with that game.
I need to replay this game. I haven't played the dlc yet.
Highly recommend playing the DLC, extremely good
Highly recommend listening to bazoobs1, extremely correct
Witcher 3. Had heard good things, but knew next to nothing about the Witcher story. Was absolutely blown away and have started reading the books.
I’ve been meaning to play this next. So excited. Know next to nothing about it aside from the Netflix series lol.
Its strongest aspect for me was the world building/lore. Throughout the game I found myself exhausting every dialogue option because I *wanted* to find out as much as possible even though it wasn’t required. Absolutely fantastic.
I posted about a quest in the Witcher subreddit a few years back, about how wonderfully deep a sidequest was. The number of people who apparently missed out on the last leg of it by just killing the obvious guy was astounding. I just let him monologue... and in doing so he reveals he isn't the murderer you're looking for (though he definitely deserves to die all the same). If you don't bother to let him say his bit, you may notice that the wanted posters and npc dialog in the city tells you the killer is still at large after you "solve" the crime. One of the best treats for being patient and exhausting all dialogue options I've come across in any game.
Morrowind
I also went in blind, then I took off my Boots
And moved sooo slow
Ayyy, this guy Morrowinds
Also went in to Morrowind blind. One of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.
Came here to say this. No other game comes close to Morrowind.
Ori and the will of the wisps. I got the game as a birthday gift from a friend. I’ve never heard of the game or series before that day so I went in completely blind. After completing the game I loved it. All of the platforming mechanics and jumping around with the different abilities and the exploration was amazing. Not to mention the story was also pretty good. It wasn’t too hard or too easy either. It was challenging enough to try again and have fun but not easy enough to be boring.
I played Ori and the Blind forest blindly, just because I got addicted to it's soundtrack, totally worth it 🤧
Believe it or not - KOTOR. I was around 12-13 and my uncle from overseas was visiting and said he would get me a gift. We were walking around at an electronics store and I just picked KOTOR because the box art looked cool. That ignited my passion for CRPGs, RPGs, and Star Wars in general.
Getting your lightsaber in the first Kotor is one of the most satisfying moments. Also so many memorable quests like helping a droid blow himself up rather than be used as a widows sex toy
I convinced that droid that not being a sex doll was selfish and wrong.
You bet your ass i believe you. What an awesome game. The story...the music... And the massive plot twist at the end of the game, holy fuck!!! Kreia in kotor2 is my favorite video game character of all fucking time. I'll just pretend the modern old Republic game doesn't exist because it ruined the mystery of Revan for me. Some stories are better left untold for the mystery.
Detroit Become Human - I never paid much attention to this game as it didn't seem like my type of game. I downloaded it yesterday afternoon, began playing it and ended up completing it last night.
How did things go for your characters?
I failed with Connor, his model was decommissioned and Hank was moved off the case. Alice and Kara survived the detention center, Markus and North were successful in their rebellion for the time being. Josh, Chloe, Simon, Luther, Leo and Zlatko all died.
Well, that playthrough is something...
That's a polite way of wording it haha. I will be going back to it to replay it and see if I get different paths.
You should try to get different paths, not important that those would be good. Choose what you think is right :)
I played through it once myself taking all the time I needed, and then watched 3 other playthroughs shortly after haha. It's amazing. The voice actor for Connor streamed it too, Dechartgames is his YouTube I believe. Fun watch
I played the demo, but got the game at launch so was blind that way. I lost Connor on my first play-through as well, though it was a different end for him. I also lost Alice and Kara, and Luther. Markus’ peaceful protests succeeded though, and most of Jericho survived. I don’t think I’ve wept as much as I did sitting through the end act of a game and its credits. DBH affected me in a way no game has in a very long time.
Nier: Automata. Literally just saw the case in a GameStop while out of town and blind bought it because I had just gotten paid. 10/10, 100/100, best choice I made.
Came for the pretty android girls, stayed for the depression and existentialist philosophy.
Yup, came for waifus, stayed for the fantastic gameplay and story. I would also say the game is made by people who love gaming. They do a great job of merging a bunch of different game styles into a single experience. And it pays homage to a ton of gaming genres throughout
Saw it on Gamepass, thought it had funny name, wasn’t prepared for depression 10/10
After finishing Route E I literally had to go outside and cry then sit quietly for a while. Incredible.
Definitely cried tears of joy. Still get teary listening to weight of the world and thinking about the credits. Game is a masterpiece.
Dragon Age: Origins, I was like oh BioWare made a new game. Hadn’t heard of it yet and bought it because I loved all the old BioWare games.
My first ever RPG and the only thing I knew was it had positive reviews. Truly a magical experience and I immediately got stuck into a load of others
ENCHANTMENT!!!
It was so good I called in sick to school two days in a row to keep playing it 😂
Minecraft honestly, my friends dragged me into it and I ended up loving it
Probably Secret of Mana back on SNES, these days I always check up on games before buying.
Have you ever played Secret of Evermore? That is great too!
Half Life 2, I didn't play the first one (or really know about it), but my friend got HL2 when that released. I was watching his Dad play (Dad got priority since he bought the game and built the PC) and I saw the realistic physics and had to get it myself.
Disco Elysium Saw that it's some kind of story driven RPG. Holy shit it was good
It was really hard for me to get over the completionist part of me that wouldn't let me go to the 2nd day without scouring everything. Finally read a guide that said how many things progress into the next days that I finally let it go and just played it without that worry
Deep Rock Galactic. It was a free weekend around April 2022. Saw that the time trial was almost ending and managed to hop in to play the tutorial and 1 mission. I got instantly hooked. Can't stop playing... 900+ hours since then. I need help. No, I don't. I need more Nitra...
I have no idea what this game really is about, but every time I encounter it everyone seems so chill. Literally never heard any type of toxicity or negativity about this game. Maybe time to get into it.
It's a cross between left 4 dead and Minecraft. Each level is a randomly generated cave with objectives you complete by mining, killing bugs, defending an objective, etc. The reason it's chill is because it is purely cooperative. You can play with people you know but even with people you don't, the idea that you're not competing but always working together helps make it a positive experience. Add in the fact that you're playing dwarves who hate the company they work for, drink beer, tell jokes, and the various weapons/upgrades systems... it's just a great game with a lot of love in the development.
ROCK AND STONE
[удалено]
I was streaming a lot of horror games during the pandemic. One of my mods was finding games for me and making me play blind. SOMA was one of them. As it started I wasn't a big fan of how it played but streaming kept me going. As I got to the main portion of the game I was enthralled. The ending was amazing and really fit with the rest of the story. Glad I stuck with it cuz it is by far one of my favorite horror games now.
Outer Wilds and Subnautica. Absolutely phenomenal games in my opinion. I think Outer Wilds is the more tightly designed experience, but I was so unbelievably drawn in to Subnautica's setting and atmosphere. I would pay an unreasonable amount of money to wipe my memory of these two games and experience that first playthrough again.
Outer Wilds is probably number one here.
Monster Hunter World. Series newbie, bought it on word of mouth. 500 hours later...
Man, you lucked out. OG Monster Hunter was kind of brutal. No tutorial, massive HP pools, lots of running, farming, searching. World had so many quality of life improvements without compromising gameplay. Gorgeous graphics as well. Every single biome was masterfully done.
>World had so many quality of life improvements without compromising gameplay MH3 tried to appeal to the mass, but still had many layers of useless complexity. MH4 removed those layers, but wasn't advertised nearly as much in the west. MH:W just assembled the recipe of both, and got PC + NA/EU promotion, with extra QOL on top of MH4's, and they decided to tack some current-ish gen graphics on top of all that to try and really cement their western market (successfully, if you ask me). I can't want to see how the next gen of MH looks/plays (since Rise is still the same gen as World, just the "portable" team).
Dark Chronicle/Cloud 2
This game was so good. A 3rd installment would be sick with the inventions & modern tech
Dust: An Elysian Tail Took me completely by surprise.
Fantastic game! Kinda same… just heard it was like ori i think.
Yakuza series
Like a Dragon is mine for sure
Especially for newer fans if they start the series with Yakuza Zero. All the other games are great, and of course the original is a great starting place. But goddamn does Zero just have such an engaging story. Even better if you're not 100% sure what the series is all about. Seeing peoples' reactions to that game was incredible. So many people went in thinking it was your standard crime drama type of deal. You've got the neon lights, dark alleyways, and violence. You've got people being murdered and your pritagonist being framed for it. It's a perfect setup. And then... next thing you know you have a literal chicken running a real estate business while you're off competing in disco dancing competitions, only to take a quick break so you can escort a moonwalking Michael Jackson down the road so he doesn't get beat up, before spending the next 60 hours dressing up attractive women so you can have them accompany desperate men at your cabaret club and make bank. Whole series is just unlike anything else out there.
Bloodborne
Jesus you just walked into that shit storm lmao. It’s one of my favorite games of all time.
Mine too. A friend begged me to play it but I was not familiar with any fromsoft game. I knew nothing about the lore etc and it was frustrating at first but once it clicked it was tiiiiiiite!
God this is mine too. Huge FS fan now
Divinity Original Sin 2. Having no clue turned into one of the best games I've ever played. I even only picked it up because I was looking for something completely new to.
What remains of Edith Finch was a random on sale purchase that ended up being one of my all time favorite gaming experiences.
Subnatica. All I saw was underwater survival. Which is true, but there is so much more to it.
Elden ring. Saw the commercial and thought it looked cool. Haven't played any other souls games.
If there was one game I wish I could forget, just so I can replay it blind again… It’s elden ring.
Hellblade
This might be the most intense gaming experience I've ever had. Headphones on in the dark is so immersive. It's crazy how the voices react in real time to everything you're doing, oscillating between kind and encouraging and cruel and abusive.
Hellblade: Senuas Sacrifice
XCOM 2, it got my love for gaming back.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Me when it was first announced: "haha robot dinosaurs, I bet the story is dumb as hell" Me after beating it: "holy shit that was one of the best stories in all of gaming"
*Such* a good game series that got completely overshadowed by other games releasing at the same time.
Conkers Bad Fur day.
Alan Wake. A friend recommended it but didn’t say anything about, just that it was his favorite game from that year. Went in blind and it’s now in my top 10
Mass Effect. I didn't really follow any hype leading up to it, I just got it because it looked like a cool space game. I had no idea I was embarking on one of the most epic gaming trilogies I've ever experienced.
Portal and its not even close. Grade 9 playing The Orange Box, having a blast with TF2 and Half Life. Decided to give the third game a try. Oh boy, what a ride.
I honestly think most people here are too young to remember what a total surprise this game was. It was just an extra in a bundle of already absolutely amazing games, and it was the best of them. No one had any idea.
Dead Space Remake
Nier Automata
SUBNAUTICA Came on the PSPLUS games, thought oh cool. Underwater sim where some things attack and u can build a base. This should be fun. Fucking 9 hours later I was fighting Barracuda , jumping at every sound, refusing to go out at night and harvesting bronze and copper from the back of Reefback Leviathans. 10/10 no other game like it.
Arkham Asylum. Bought it day of release on a whim because Walmart had accidently priced it at half price. It quickly became my favourite franchise of all time.
The Messenger! God I wish I could relive that. Sea of Stars is also super good, although I knew a bit more about it this time around, but not nearly as much as I usually do
The Messenger is so underrated, one of my absolute favorite 2d platformers ever. The movement is just so damn good.
Playing sea of stars now, just saw some screens and heard it described as a modern secret of mana / chronicle trigger and didn’t really need to know much else. And yes, those are apt comparisons!
Both Nier games, Sleeping Dogs, Red Dead Redemption 2, New Vegas, and Mirror's Edge. I wish I could play those for the first time again.
Signalis. I thought the cover art looked cool and played it on Game Pass. Fucking so worth it.
Oblivion. I heard it was a good rpg and was a bit confused running around in the prison , finding kinda difficult to deal with the assassins etc... And they I left the sewer and it was beautiful. Just the feeling that I could walk anywhere under that great sun light. Fond memories
Half Life Played both games for the first time in 2014 and was shocked at how well HL1 holds up gameplay-wise. It still feels good today
Zero Escape, a friend recommended it to me and told me it was best to go in blind. The games are far from being perfect, but I had so much fun playing through them all while some other friends watched, arguing over puzzle solutions and story choices to make.
Got a few for this but they are NieR, Hades, Infamous 2, and Kingdom Hearts.
The Last of Us. I knew *nothing* going in, and it completely destroyed me.
Original Devil May Cry. Heard someone mention it while I was browsing Gamestop so I bought it. Best decision I ever made 20 yrs ago
Gris, and I would erase my memory of it just to experience it again if it could
Cities Skylines: purchased it as a kid mistaking it for Sim City 2013; those 3500 or so hours have never made me happier
A few years after the release of **SOMA**, I played it for the first time and all these years I saw only a few screenshots of metal corridors in the style of Doom 3. So all this time I thought that the game was about a space station. And I started playing it like a space game. I was so amazed when I saw corals and fish in that first glass corridor! This was the first shock that literally changed all my expectations from the game and then I played with even more interest.
Day of the Tentacle Bought it because: Lucasarts Amazing game.
Return of the Obra Dinn is definitively worth a mention here. Incredible investigation game, trying to figure out the name, title, and cause of death on every crew member on a ship by watching their moments of demise.
Shadow of the Colossus on the PS2. I took a punt on it because I was intrigued by the box art (a mounted warrior, he and his horse looking tiny next to a gigantic bipedal monster). "Well, this looks cool," I thought. "There's no way it'll live up to the box art, that's probably an exaggeration but it might be fun." Oh, it wasn't an exaggeration. It more than lived up to the box art. What a sublime experience.
Outer Wilds. Maybe the greatest gaming experience of my life.
Control, Elden Ring, and currently, BG3
Dark souls 3. I barely knew what a souls game was. Played 7 playthroughs since, plus one SL1 run. It became my favorite game of all time. Also finished bloodborne and sekiro and I'm currently playing through elden ring.
Custom Robo
Portal 1 and 2. Still some of my favorite games today
Salt and Sanctuary
Noita
Nier. What a God damn masterpiece
MGS3
Watch dogs, only knew it was a hacking game
Demon souls, when it came out. What a blast !! Recently bought a ps3 just to play it !
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I was living alone for the first time and didn't have cable. I had an Xbox and thought I'd try a new game to pass the time. I ended up taking days off to play it.
Beyond good and evil
Persona 5 Royal. Never played a Persona game, only heard word of mouth praise. All I knew was it was a turned-based JRPG, which are right up my alley. Changed my fucking life.
Persona 5... I had no clue I would enjoy a jrpg this much holy hell my friend told me "dont google anything and get maruki to rank 10" and I was like wtf? what is rank 10
Persona 5, I only knew that it's a JRPG with some visual novel elements and a killer aesthetic