nynt9 said:

Hey, it's not the 6th-from-worst game of all time, it's one of my favorite games! Just not as favorite as some others.

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So you did or you didn't? I'm confused because I can't see a 3/10 being someone's favorite, but the opposite.

Blasian Persuasion said:

So you did or you didn't? I'm confused because I can't see a 3/10 being someone's favorite, but the opposite.

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It's a meme.

Mimosa97 said:

I really like your writing man. Do you work in a related field ?

Also I've played every game from your 95 to 91 (first time this happens to me lol) and loved them all especially Prince of Persia and Sleeping dogs.

Prince of Persia is criminally underrated. It doesn't help that the game is really easy. if it wasn't called Prince of Persia and if it was a stand alone or a new IP people would say it's a great game. The art is incredibly beautiful and the game plays very well. Also it's a very unique setting and it gave me those " One thousand and one nights " vibes that you don't get often in videogames.

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As a hobby, I'm the editor of a relatively well known metal journalism website. I used to do video game reviews too. And agreed on POP.

StarPhlox said:

Agree 100% on Prince of Persia (2009). I really liked where they were taking the series with that one and though it was so beautiful, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. That series has had such an identity crisis from 2002 with flashes of brilliance until they stopped making them in like 2010? Doubt it's a priority at Ubisoft and I assume it's buried for a long time to come.

Heard great things about Sleeping Dogs and God Hand and Enslaved and Golden Sun but...don't know if I'll get to those.

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At least Enslaved is short enough that going back to it is pretty easy. As for Sleeping Dogs, I think it's totally worth it if you like GTA-likes.

Blasian Persuasion said:

So you did or you didn't? I'm confused because I can't see a 3/10 being someone's favorite, but the opposite.

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CannonFodder52 said:

It's a meme.

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Yeah, I was referencing the meme. Sorry for the confusion

Anectode time.

As you can tell, I like a lot of mid-tier gen 7 games. My love for them is due to the feeling I get where developers seemingly just achieved the tech to create interesting, convincing worlds, and they wanted to experiment with it. I actually had a big period of gaming ennui around that time. Despite being into gaming since I was a kid, I was falling out of love with game around the release of the Wii. I saved a lot of money to buy my Wii (they were quite expensive in Turkey) and I really didn't enjoy the motion controls. They were a chore to set up in my house as my parents didn't want that stuff around, so every time I wanted to play I had to set up from scratch. Around then, this Turkish gaming magazine I followed for nearly a decade went out of business, or got bought out or something, I don't remember. As a result, my outlet into gaming was severely limited. While I could follow online gaming sites, I didn't really know how to separate the AAA money-makers from the medium tier games I enjoy, that the magazine I used to like helped distinguish.

As a result, I fell into this hole of playing AAA games that I don't enjoy, and grew frustrated with gaming. I focused more on my DS (which is why I have a huge DS library and have played a vast amount of underrated games) and went back into examining retro games and indie PC games (these are indies from before Braid, before indie gaming as a movement blew up). The lapse of my ability to stay updated with the mainstream of gaming lead to me going back to NES/SNES games and gaining an appreciation for them.

nynt9 said:

I felt like it was underappreciated really (Enslaved). I also think the combat is bad and the game feels sluggish, but I enjoyed the setting and visual spectacle. I fully realize its flaws, but I was engrossed by it regardless.

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We agree a lot it seems. I felt the same with Enslaved and PoP 2008. Both were flawed but the colour, art and worlds they were in were captivating for me. Don't think they would make my top 100 but I loved both.

Thumbs up for PoP 08, Enslaved and Sleeping Dogs. Three games I surprisingly loved that will unfortunately never get a proper sequel.

FallenGrace said:

We agree a lot it seems. I felt the same with Enslaved and PoP 2008. Both were flawed but the colour, art and worlds they were in were captivating for me. Don't think they would make my top 100 but I loved both.

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Technically, if I included sequels that are similar to the original game or multiple entries in series I love, I'd probably have 100 games I like more than those. But I like to keep my list compact and have the shining example of a series be its "ambassador" on the list so that I can also recognize unique titles like these.

In general, both games are on the list not necessarily because they play amazingly, but because of the feeling they invoke in me. I vividly remember being part of their worlds and caring about the characters, and to me how a game makes me feel is important.

I really need to play Shadows of the Damned it seems.

I picked it up when it became backwards compatible due to people raving about it.

It's sitting on my shelf unopened.

nynt9 said:

Technically, if I included sequels that are similar to the original game or multiple entries in series I love, I'd probably have 100 games I like more than those. But I like to keep my list compact and have the shining example of a series be its "ambassador" on the list so that I can also recognize unique titles like these.

In general, both games are on the list not necessarily because they play amazingly, but because of the feeling they invoke in me. I vividly remember being part of their worlds and caring about the characters, and to me how a game makes me feel is important.

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Well said, I feel the same way though I doubt I could have phrased it quite as articulately XD

nynt9 said:

At least Enslaved is short enough that going back to it is pretty easy. As for Sleeping Dogs, I think it's totally worth it if you like GTA-likes.

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I don't like GTA much despite playing through IV and V (and a lot of the OG, III, and Vice City). They feel like "jack of all trades master of none" to me and frankly that's what I get from EVERY Rockstar title.

I do have Sleeping Dogs on XBO and I loooooove Watch_Dogs series so...maybe some day. Enslaved would be nice to play on a modern console without hooking up the oldies so if that gets on XBO backwards compatibility then...maybe.

StarPhlox said:

I don't like GTA much despite playing through IV and V (and a lot of the OG, III, and Vice City). They feel like "jack of all trades master of none" to me and frankly that's what I get from EVERY Rockstar title.

I do have Sleeping Dogs on XBO and I loooooove Watch_Dogs series so...maybe some day. Enslaved would be nice to play on a modern console without hooking up the oldies so if that gets on XBO backwards compatibility then...maybe.

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I feel the same way about GTA and I think Sleepig Dogs is focused enough on being one thing that I think it's worth playing. You're playing as a very defined character who is torn in two directions, in a setting with a very specific flavor (HK action movie). Melee combat is heavily encouraged, and it tries to ape the movies it's inspired by as much as possible. That's a lot more focused than GTA which tries to be more sandboxy, especially with 5. It's kind of like watch dogs in its premise that it focuses one aspect of the GTA experience instead of trying to replicate the whole thing.

nynt9 said:

I feel the same way about GTA and I think Sleepig Dogs is focused enough on being one thing that I think it's worth playing. You're playing as a very defined character who is torn in two directions, in a setting with a very specific flavor (HK action movie). Melee combat is heavily encouraged, and it tries to ape the movies it's inspired by as much as possible. That's a lot more focused than GTA which tries to be more sandboxy, especially with 5. It's kind of like watch dogs in its premise that it focuses one aspect of the GTA experience instead of trying to replicate the whole thing.

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Have you played any Yakuza game? They're really not that comparable to Sleeping Dogs, but I feel like they accomplished much of what you seem to like about Sleeping Dogs.

CannonFodder52 said:

Have you played any Yakuza game? They're really not that comparable to Sleeping Dogs, but I feel like they accomplished much of what you seem to like about Sleeping Dogs.

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I think you'll be happy if you're patient with my list... but you'll have to wait quite a bit

nynt9 said:

I think you'll be happy if you're patient with my list... but you'll have to wait quite a bit

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I expected a "So says Mr. Stewart" at the end of that sentence

Time for some more games that didn't make it.

Tekken 3

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This is my favorite fighting game of all time, easily. I suck at fighting games, but I've spent an inordinate amount of time on Tekken 3. Street Fighter never really appealed to me, it was always "that game you play at arcades" whereas Tekken felt like it had character. Mortal Kombat I like, but I never particularly enjoyed the way it played. With Tekken, we have a wide variety of characters and they all had stories and backgrounds that I liked to learn about.

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While MK Armageddon has later surpassed it, Tekken 3 had what felt like an obscene amount of content at the time. A side-scrolling beat-em-up mode, a volleyball mode, it had it all! I really enjoyed learning about each character, then learning their movesets and internalizing them as part of their personality. This was the only time I was truly engrossed in a fighting game.

Starcraft

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Honestly, I love loving RTSs more than I actually love the games. There are going to be some RTSs in my list, but those are going to be because of their campaigns and the times I had playing them with friends. Starcraft never really caught on in Turkey at my time, perhaps it was too hardcore, and Warcraft was just more appealing. But I still really appreciate the setting and polish of this game.



The darker tone and style was quite refreshing at the time, as I don't remember any other RTS having this ominous vibe. I was always a Protoss guy, because I like building few units that count for a lot (I also enjoy playing snipers in shooters for this reason). The Protoss just have that cool factor. I really enjoyed the conclusion of the story with the sequel and its expansions as well, but I always felt like the original Starcraft is the more timeless entry, and I'm really glad it's getting remastered.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution



I love immersive sims. You'll see when we get higher into my main list. I love the DX franchise, and I was overjoyed to have it return. Back is the cyberpunk aesthetic, the ability to take your own approach to the story and levels and having tons of side content based on how you build your character that you may never see if you don't play a certain way.



I always felt like Human Revolution came a bit too early though. It was struck by Gen-7 syndrome. A lot of the areas weren't as open as they needed to be, the systems were a tad too streamlined and simplified, and the alternative paths all felt kind of hand-holdy with how blatantly placed they were. Oh, there's conveniently a vent that goes right beyond this combat encounter that my stealth character couldn't handle? And it drops me right next to a hackable door? How useful! The sequel, Mankind Divided alleviated some of those issues, but overall was less memorable and made less of an impact, so I think this slot should still be held down by DXHR.

Saints Row IV



I had a great time playing through Saints Row 3 with my friend, and I really appreciated IV taking it to the next level with the irreverence and craziness. Bringing in super powers, adding even more fourth wall breaking humor and a ridiculous plot seemed like the right direction to go. And I had a blast with this game! It's not the deepest or most engrossing game, but if you want to go into a big city with a friend and feel super powerful, it's pretty neat.

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I 100%d this game, because it was just that fun to do everything, but I got pretty burnt out and I wouldn't want to go back. The color scheme and art style gets old after spending that much time in the world as well. But it would be unfair to say that I didn't really enjoy the many hours I spent in this game, and I really appreciated its sense of humor - even though I don't think they should attempt to recapture it or make a follow-up.

The Legend of Zelda - A Link Between Worlds



I really like most Zelda games, but I love few of them. ALBW was one of my favorite ones (but not my favorite!). I never was able to get into LTTP, maybe it's because I missed it at the time. I like it, but it didn't resonate with me in the same way it seemed to affect other people. ALBW, however, was a different story. The formula was improved to make traversing the world more intuitive and free-form, the 2D flattening mechanic was really cool, and I really enjoyed Ravio as a character.



ALBW is another one of those games where I 100%d it, really enjoyed my time with it, but I don't really want to go back to it. There aren't really any flaws with the game, it just didn't pull me into its world like a lot of games I love did. The art style was probably my biggest contention with the game, but it wasn't a deal breaker. If there ever was an ALBW 2.0 (I guess that would be LTTP 3.0), I'd be in day 1 and play it non-stop until I finish it. Even though I feel no emotional attachment to this game, it's fantastic and very fun and one of the best, if not the best game on the system.

You should give Saints Row 2 a shot. Some people would call it the absolute best in the series, and even the best open-world crime game ever made.

Piston Hyundai said:

You should give Saints Row 2 a shot. Some people would call it the absolute best in the series, and even the best open-world crime game ever made.

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I played it, but after its time, and the poor PC port, so I didn't really enjoy it. The gameplay was just a worse version of 3 and it looked visually dull, and I wasn't able to take the characters seriously due to 3.

I'm generally not a huge fan of the open world crime games anyway, Sleeping Dogs and SRIV are I think the only ones in there, and the latter barely counts.

Tekken 3 is probably the last 3D fighter that I truly loved! None of the games in that series past that one really stayed with me past that and really I think the whole fighting genre took a looooong hibernation following Tekken 3. We had stuff like Smash Bros and Power Stone series but those are more party brawlers than serious stuff.

But Soul Calibur was good for a while....


Also you better have some great stuff cooked up in the remainder of the list for ALBW to NOT make the top 100!!!! It's the best 2D Zelda so far and that's saying a lot. Top 20 of all-time for me easily and I think it was my GOTY in 2013 (sorry TLOU).

Today's anectode is one I vividly remember. It's related to Tekken.

As I said, I'm not good at fighting games. Never really spent too much time to learn the mind games and frame counts and what moves are punishable by what and such. Still, I've played a lot of Tekken and I'm decent at Hwoarang.

In my first visit to Japan, I obviously went to Akibahara. And when I was there, I obviously went to all the arcades. I think this happened in the massive Sega arcade building. There was a floor with fighting game machines, and they had this interesting setup where you would sit in a machine to play, and someone could sit opposite you (instead of next to you) and challenge you. I found a Tekken 6 machine, and I hadn't played the game before, but I wanted to check it out because it's a series I'm familiar with. I pick Hwoarang and do the single player mode. My girlfriend (now wife) was just chilling around, looking at stuff.

As I'm playing, a Japanese dude with his girlfriend comes by and sits opposite me. Doesn't even say anything. He puts on a tough guy face and is acting all cocky. Presumably trying to show off to his girlfriend by beating this foreigner at Tekken. I think "oh shit, I'm going to get rekt". He picks Eddy and we roll. I have some experience beating Eddy as Hwoarang in 3 because Eddy is the clueless masher character that everyone picks. Well, the thing is, I beat the guy. Handily. Even got a perfect in one of the rounds - absolutely demolished him. He got very upset and stormed off, and his girlfriend followed after him, giggling.

I have no idea what happened there. I thought the dude would have destroyed me, as any person who has a decent amount of experience with the game should be able to. This isn't me bragging - I really suck at fighting games. I have won zero online matches in MKX, and not for a lack of trying. It was just so funny that this random dude would challenge me and turn out to be so bad at the game. What was he thinking? I'll never know. But it was one of my more amusing and noteworthy experiences in my several times of visiting Japan.

If you're out there Tekken guy, let's have a rematch sometime.

1. Sorry for the DP

2.

StarPhlox said:

Tekken 3 is probably the last 3D fighter that I truly loved! None of the games in that series past that one really stayed with me past that and really I think the whole fighting genre took a looooong hibernation following Tekken 3. We had stuff like Smash Bros and Power Stone series but those are more party brawlers than serious stuff.

But Soul Calibur was good for a while....


Also you better have some great stuff cooked up in the remainder of the list for ALBW to NOT make the top 100!!!! It's the best 2D Zelda so far and that's saying a lot. Top 20 of all-time for me easily and I think it was my GOTY in 2013 (sorry TLOU).

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I played some Soul Calibur at arcades back in the day but the series never really clicked with me. Would like to get into the lore at some point but I don't want to if the series is never coming back. As for the rest of the list, well, there's more Zelda, but no more 2D Zelda. I think it's the best 2D Zelda as well, I just don't love Zelda that much, despite liking basically every Zelda game and even loving many of them.

3. Time for #90-86

90. Raptor: Call of the Shadows



I really suck at shmups, but I played an obscene amount of Raptor. Maybe it was the awesome music, maybe it was the aesthetic, I don't know what drew it to me but it really, really drew me in. Featuring a jet fighter who starts on earth but goes to space, you have access to a large variety of weapons as you fight an auto-scrolling horde of spaceships and other stuff.

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While it looks pretty basic these days, I thought it looked pretty sick back in 1994. I kept coming back to it over the years, and I always appreciated the balance, variety and the music. The music was great. It's pretty fun to play and still holds up, so check it out on GOG or Steam!

89. Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

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My love for Obsidian continues with their fantastic expansion to NWN2. I liked NWN, NWN and their other expansions, but MOTB took it to the next level. As they tend to do, Obsidian explore darker themes and choices that range from gray to grey instead of the more basic morality these games tend to have. The addition of epic levels from DND, a plot involving the red wizards of Thay and some pretty dark shit makes this the most intriguing experience in the NWN series.



Obsidian's writing is always complex and layered, and having your main character be afflicted with a curse so that they need to consume the souls of others to survive leads to some delicious moral dilemmas. Fantastic stuff, really.

88. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2



The Legacy of Kain series is incredibly dear to me. I love the storyline, setting and lore, and I've always enjoyed following the characters. I first got into it with SR1 on the PS1, but I hadn't really grasped enough of the lore of the series back then and not until the much improved sequel did I truly fall in.



The world shifting mechanic was really clever and lead to amazing level design, and I think is still unmatched. The variety of abilities you gain throughout the game keep it varied and fun, but the real driver is the tragic tale of Raziel here, and it's handled incredibly. This is were Amy Hennig of Uncharted fame cut her teeth after all. I'm glad Defiance gave some closure in the end, but I'll always be sad that we never saw more of the series, because it's one of my favorite series.

87: The Swapper



I love puzzle platformers, and The Swapper is one of my favorites. Combining a dark, brooding setting with a creepy and thought-provoking story about aliens and individuality with some of the most clever puzzle design, I can't believe how good this game is. The art style is amazing, and the puzzle design is some of the cleverest I've played.

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The brilliance of The Swapper is that it doesn't fall into the same hole that many other puzzle games do. Good puzzle design is when a solution is hard to figure out, but easy to implement. You should never spend too much time trying to actually do the steps to a solution you've already figured out. You should be thinking and trying to come up with a solution, not repeating mundane tasks. And The Swapper excels at this. It has a pretty simple set of rules, and it does so much with them. Great game design combined with a very intriguing world and story make this game a must-play, I think.

86: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard



I'm a huge RE fan, so I always had faith in this game from day 1, but it went way past my expectations and ended up being incredible. Bringing back the roots of the series while renovating them in meaningful ways, RE7 is one of the best survival horror games of all time. It helps that it looks and plays just as well.



I was never afraid that the first person perspective would harm the game, and it didn't. Instead, it made it even better. The game is easily the best VR game I've played, and playing in VR greatly enhances the experience. But I also love that they brought back inventory tetris, herbs and the confined, small setting while adding all these shiny new bells and whistles. Especially the graphics. The art style is so good. Going hyper-realistic but also still stylized in a way is tough, but they nailed the look here. I still can't believe this game is real.

Yea I gotta try the VR for RE7 one day. The game was still pretty great without it though.

CannonFodder52 said:

Yea I gotta try the VR for RE7 one day. The game was still pretty great without it though.

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Yeah, I played without VR as well. It's still great.

Oh man, I loved Raptor. Only ever had the shareware version, though.

I think the secret to having a shmup hook me in is having shops. It's a great incentive for the player to do more than just survive, and it doesn't lead to those frustrating moments where you miss a power-up.

Then again, some games end up like Fantasy Zone where you're fucked once you die.

Piston Hyundai said:

Oh man, I loved Raptor. Only ever had the shareware version, though.

I think the secret to having a shmup hook me in is having shops. It's a great incentive for the player to do more than just survive, and it doesn't lead to those frustrating moments where you miss a power-up.

Then again, some games end up like Fantasy Zone where you're fucked once you die.

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Raptor was way better than it had any right being. And like you said, the shop is what really helps solidify that.

In fact, today's anectode can be about how I found out about Raptor.

My best friend in elementary school bad a CD full of shareware games burned for him by an older cousin. That disk was our holy grail. It basically shaped my life as a gamer. It had Doom 1/2, Wolfenstein, Raptor, Commander Keen, Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem 1/2, Zool, and many others. We would just sit down and play random games from this all the time. Raptor was also on this. There weren't any other shmups on it, it was basically all adventure/platformers with the occasional FPS. We hadn't tried every single game on it at the time.

We went to a mutual friend's birthday party and brang the CD along with us. It wasn't a friend either of us particularly liked, so we found a couple other friends to hang out with, and found the PC. We put the CD in, intending to play some Wolfenstein because that game was super cool (Doom was too tough and not as visually stark, but more on that for a later anectode). One of the other kids pointed out that Raptor sounds like a cool name, so we booted it up and we were immediately blown away. That intro sequence, the music and how immediately fun the game is. We all took turns playing, and when the party was over me and my friend went back to our homes and immediately started playing Raptor. He was a bit better at it than I was, which of course made me competitive, and I went way too deep into the game, and even after he got sick of it I was still playing Raptor.

Just remembering that CD and the impact it had on me in terms of my friendship and the games I play is staggering. It was a huge deal! I wonder if anyone else also has stories like this.

This list inspired me yesterday to do my own top 100 which I will never share on Neogaf because I doubt I'll make member status, but Resident Evil 7 is a great choice and easily made my top 100.

Can't wait to see what they do with REmake 2! Hopefully we get a peek of it at E3 and in the meantime I want "Not A Hero" DLC.

OP what's your favorite RE game?

Time for some more stuff that didn't make the cut!

Hotel Dusk: Room 215



This is another game that almost made the cut into my top 100. Really unique visual novel/adventure game with a noir/mystery feel. Great characterization/writing and atmosphere. Kyle Hyde, a former detective, ends up in a motel in search of his former partner, and slowly realizes that nothing is as it seems, everyone is hiding something and he has more ties here than he initially realizes.



One of the unique games on the DS that had you hold the system sideways, it a 3D first person view on the right side and your character on the left. You could see Kyle emote at all times, and conversations would put the other character on the right. Getting to know the cast of characters and memorizing every part of the motel were not requirements but natural side-effects of playing the game, and it naturally pulled you into its story. Really lovable and memorable game. It had a lesser-known sequel, Last Window: The Secret of Cape West. I highly recommend you play it if you enjoyed this. There's also a spiritual sequel, Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories on the 3DS.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II



Modern Warfare was surely the strongest change in the series, and I spent a lot of time in its multiplayer, but the plot of BLOPS2 was the one that interested me most. I've played most of the COD series (Only skipped COD3, MW3 and Ghosts), but this one resonated with me the most.



The near-future setting and storyline about drones and speculative technology was pretty cool. This was the first entry in the Modern franchise where I felt like they started taking chances with the formula. Branching storyline, conversation choices, the first application of future technology were all cool additions. I was actually interested in the storyline and followed it all the way through. I've always felt the pop-and-shoot hitscan gameplay of COD gets really boring in single player, but the story drove me forward on this one. The zombies mode was really cool too, and the multiplayer was the last one I enjoyed out of the series. While there are different things I enjoy in other COD games, this one was the complete package for me.

Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy



Look, I know David Cage is weird, and his games have writing flaws, and this game gets incredibly batshit near the end. It still blew my mind when I played it though! The cinematic gameplay was unprecedented at the time, and the way the story unfolded based on your actions was cool. The split-screen camera stuff and the time constraints the game put on you made it incredibly intense.



It's a flawed game for sure, but when it hit, it really hit hard. The opening sequence is still one of the most memorable and intense gaming experiences I've had. I actually like some of the weirder twists later in the game as well. At some point Cage just throws the kitchen sink at you, but there are moments in there that are brilliant ideas hidden among all the weird shit. Too flawed to make my list, but worth experiencing still, if only to see how hard the train derails later on (but still in an entertaining way!).

Spec Ops: The Line



I was really torn with this one. On one hand, the way the game plays with you is incredible. On the other hand, it's really not fun to play. I get that some claim that that's the point, but I still don't buy that, and they could have made their point while still being a more competent video game. For those unaware, I don't want to spoil this, but this game has one of the most effective story-telling devices ever in a game, and executes on its premise flawlessly. This game is a must-play.



It's surprisingly not heavy-handed either, as other games with similar premises beat you over the head with their message. My enjoyment of the game was probably soured by my experience surrounding it. It came around at the time of my ennui that I described in one of my anectodes, and it played like a generic-ass shooter, so I dropped it. I then heard all the hype surrounding it and rolled my eyes, thinking it's probably overwrought. Eventually I went back and played it, forcing my way through it, and I got the idea. It's a great concept, but I still don't enjoy playing through the game at all, so I can't put it on my list.

Darksiders



This game is easily the best non-Zelda Zelda game. Really cool original IP that iterates and improves upon the Zelda formula and actually succeeds at it, while being its own thing. The game has no right being this good, really. On top of that, it has fun combat, a large, original world and an arsenal of abilities and weapons as well.

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I think the pacing suffers at a few points, and the controls could be a bit tighter, but overall the game was a fantastic experience. The sequel was very good as well, improving upon the original in many ways (though it kind of added some elements that weren't as fun, like the loot mechanics and the overuse of the rule of threes). Overall, this is an IP that I hope we'll see more of one day. The remastered editions of both are great and quite cheap, so they're definitely worth playing.

StarPhlox said:

This list inspired me yesterday to do my own top 100 which I will never share on Neogaf because I doubt I'll make member status, but Resident Evil 7 is a great choice and easily made my top 100.

Can't wait to see what they do with REmake 2! Hopefully we get a peek of it at E3 and in the meantime I want "Not A Hero" DLC.

OP what's your favorite RE game?

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Hey, if you keep active you'll surely make member in no time. Feel free to post how your list compares though! Yeah, the RE7 DLC is going to be really interesting because of the open questions at the end.

As for my favorite RE game, you're going to have to wait for quite a bit.

I wish I could play RE 7 without shitting my pants. I can't even play it in a normal setting so VR is a big no no. It makes me said that I'll never be able to experience it that way. Sigh.

I've played very few horror games in my lifetime but the only reason why I was able to enjoy it is because they didn't have many jump scares. Sadly I watched a few videos for RE 7 and there were plenty of jump scares so I won't be giving it a shot.

I think both Spec Ops and Darksiders would make my top 100 if anything because they were both total surprises. I knew nothing about either really, Spec Ops I played as it was a PS+ game and the amazing location as well as story I just did not expect at all. Darksiders was the same, I bought it on a whim in a sale and was hooked thanks to the great gameplay, art and voice acting. I pre-ordered the second one, such a shame the series ended there though.

So, anectode time. I mentioned Call of Duty above. Even though BLOPS2 is my favorite campaign, I've spent the most time with MW and W@W due to the split screen multiplayer. We had a group of friends where we played both games with house rules. In split screen mode you can't build custom load outs, you have to pick from pre-builts. So me and 3 friends created some house rules.

We developed backstories for all of the loadouts and gave them names, and we even developed self-enforced play styles. Furthermore, we developed our own gamemode. In some of the maps, there are multiple buildings. We designated a "home" for each character, where you must defend it at all costs, and if it's taken from you, you must prioritize taking it back. Given the addition of screen-looking, it became a mindgame-driven mode because you could check how someone was defending their house.

The trick was in laying down explosives while other players are busy and never looking at them so that they don't know where your trap is. Then when you're invading you, you look at their screen and blow them up when they walk past your explosives. Of course, some of us got savvy to the typical trap placement locations, and pay attention to where they AREN'T looking to guess where the explosives are. But of course, you can try to bait people if you know they're going to play that kind of mindgame. It was crazy.

Add to this the fact that people could form alliances (that are usually betrayed at the drop of a hat), you could shoot people through walls, and that each character has a different loadouts of explosives and piercing rounds (some didn't have any!), we had an incredible time with both games. Unfortunately we all moved away and 4 player local multiplayer isn't supported in most games anymore, but when we do get back together once every few years, we still play a few games. House rules and headcanon can lead to awesome stuff.

Mimosa97 said:

I wish I could play RE 7 without shitting my pants. I can't even play it in a normal setting so VR is a big no no. It makes me said that I'll never be able to experience it that way. Sigh.

I've played very few horror games in my lifetime but the only reason why I was able to enjoy it is because they didn't have many jump scares. Sadly I watched a few videos for RE 7 and there were plenty of jump scares so I won't be giving it a shot.

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I find that if you turn down the volume, jump scares become significantly less effective in both movies and games. Try watching some horror stuff with the volume way down and see if that works, then maybe you can try RE7.

FallenGrace said:

I think both Spec Ops and Darksiders would make my top 100 if anything because they were both total surprises. I knew nothing about either really, Spec Ops I played as it was a PS+ game and the amazing location as well as story I just did not expect at all. Darksiders was the same, I bought it on a whim in a sale and was hooked thanks to the great gameplay, art and voice acting. I pre-ordered the second one, such a shame the series ended there though.

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Yeah, if I went in blind to either I'd probably feel stronger about them. They're both still great though. My personal experience with them wasn't the best way to experience them, but they're totally worth playing. For Darksiders, the issue was that I got it on PC back in the day and for whatever reason I was unable to run it, and it played poorly with the keyboard and I didn't have a controller back then. Had a way better experience with the remaster later.

Hotel Dusk always looked really cool. Picked it up a couple years ago and its been sitting on my shelf since. Maybe I'll try it this weekend, thanks for the reminder.

Ok, time to go back to the main list!

85. Counter-Strike



Now, technically the Source version and GO are better in some ways, but the lo-fi aesthetic of the original is dear to me, and how it is simple is much more appealing than the complexity of skins and shit in go. CS 1.6 is where it's at. The original phenomenon. The variety of maps and game modes created by fans back in the also make this version great.



There are technical reasons I prefer this version as well. The blocky graphics make it really easy to read everything visually. The lack of a real physics engine makes all movement very predictable. In fact, I've really come to learn the quirks of the original source engine and exploit it to the max, as have most players who played back then. The game is both simple and complex, and still holds up.

84. Shadow of Memories/Destiny



Betcha don't remember this one! This weird-ass adventure game from Konami was super cool at the time. You play as Eike, who dies in the intro of the game in some random idyllic European village. You're then resurrected and sent back in time in order to investigate and prevent your own death. The game proceeds in semi-real time as you try to figure out what's going on. How did you die? Why were you brought back? What's the secret of the village? Then things start getting more complicated. Why do you keep dying no matter what? Why are you being sent back centuries at a time?



The village has its own problems and dynamics, and you learn more and more about the characters and history of the village as you go through many iterations. You start understanding the supernatural elements, and things get even weirder. I REALLY love time travel stories, and this was a really cool mystery that I keep going back to because of how interestingly it's executed. There are 6 different endings based on your choices and how successful you are at doing certain things. This game had a PSP and PC port as well, so if you can grab it in any of the formats it's available, it's definitely worth it because of how unique it is.

83. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy



I actually had a super hard time choosing between this one and Jedi Outcast. Outcast has a slightly better story, but the gameplay in this one is better. This is the ultimate Jedi simulator. Varied, detailed lightsaber combat with all kinds of force abilities, heavy/medium/light stances, combos, dual lightsabers, staff lightsabers, and so much more. If you want to feel like a badass Jedi, play this immediately. The multiplayer was incredible as well.



The conclusion to the Kyle Katarn saga that started in Dark Forces puts you in the shoes of a customizable character who is Kyle's student, and you go through trials and tribulations as you play through the best lightsaber simulator ever. The campaign is great, but the multiplayer is freaking fantastic. So much depth and entertainment. Pulling people into pits, ridiculous jumps and mid-air combat, fighting multiple Jedi at once... there's just endless entertainment to be had here. Raven Software deserve more cred for this. I'd love to play a remake/reboot. Force Unleashed was cool, but it was nowhere near this in-depth with its combat.

82. Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader



Yet another deep cut that few probably remember! This is a CRPG from 2003 that few probably remember. It wasn't really well-received, but I feel like it came out at the wrong time. It's a more action-oriented Baldur's Gate-like that takes place in a fictionalized version of the Crusades. During the third crusade, someone opened a portal to a magical realm and the world was invaded by demons and other magical creatures. You play as a descendant of Richard Lionheart, and your lineage contains the power to stop it.



There are some interesting faction dynamics, as the Inquisition persecutes those who use magic, but you can still join them despite your magical bloodline. You can join the Templars, a rogue faction of wizards, or the army of Saladin as well, each of them having completely different storylines. Along the way, you meet several historical characters like Machiavelli, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Galileo and Da Vinci. I love Crusades are history, and this game has a really cool take on it. The more action oriented combat is pretty intense, and the storyline is actually really cool. It also bears to play through the game multiple times due to the wildly different ways you can build your character (you bind a spirit to your soul at the beginning of the game and depending on the spirit you get access to different types of magic) and the differences between the factions you can join. Really underrated game, I'd say!

81. Shadow of the Colossus



What can I say about this game? It's an iconic classic. It nails everything from tone to visual style to storytelling.



No game captures the sensation evoked by SOTC. Not even ICO or The Last Guardian. The feeling of seeing a giant enemy across a huge field, then going "I'm going to take that down" and actually doing it is amazing. And of course, the story is heart-breaking, and the world feels... perfect. It's an incredible game.

CannonFodder52 said:

Hotel Dusk always looked really cool. Picked it up a couple years ago and its been sitting on my shelf since. Maybe I'll try it this weekend, thanks for the reminder.

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Yeah! It's a really neat game. Definitely check it out.

I never could get into Shadow of the Colossus. I did play it in 3D on a HMZ (I think that was a 150" screen) with no ghosting and deep blacks, and damn was that quite the experience. It really felt like I was high up when on the mountaintop, and it was insanely scary standing right in front of a colossus. Besides that, meh. I can see why people love the game though, so more power to those who do.

Jedi Acadamy is a good choice, I played that as well, although I spent way more time with the prequel. It was so much fun swinging around that lightsaber using power forces in online multiplayer battles. Still one of the best Star Wars videogame experiences I've had.

Oh yeah, and Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy is a fantastic game, twist be damned.

I didn't expect to see SOFTC so low on your list

It's one of my top 10 games of all time and my favorite game on PS2. A masterpiece.

I really didn't like SOTC, I'm in the minority I know. Just found it kind of boring. Traveling to each one was uneventful and found little fun in climbing and fighting the camera.

Real shame as I absolutely loved Ico.

Anectode time. Relates to both CS and JA. In Turkey since people didn't have the economic flexibility to buy gaming PCs, internet cafes a la Korea were very popular when I was growing up. The staple games at such places were generally a few RTSs (mainly the Blizzard ones), CS, and the Jedi games. Me and my friends spent so much time in those places.

With us not being internet savvy (partially due to a lack of good internet access at the time) and playing over LAN instead of online, we tended to develop our own metagame for these. Some people who played had their own play styles, and some people usually teamed up with each other in games. I generally have a "troll" playstyle in multiplayer games, where I play characters or styles which are not necessarily the most effective but are quite annoying and unconventional. This type of play is generally more effective when everyone is in the same room and knows each other, like in a net cafe.

In Jedi Academy I primarily focused on ganking unsuspecting people with pulls or pushes into environmental hazards. Normally those abilities are easily blocked, but when a player is preoccupied, they're very susceptible to it. I also played light dual sabers which gave me hit-and-run capabilities. As a result, when we played in teams, I could do a lot when backed by a good team. Those times really taught me the effectiveness of team play in games.

In CS, use smoke grenades a lot. Thing is, the PCs in those cafes weren't the best, and the smoke effects glitched the fuck out every time, making the game look awful and obscure visibility in an annoying way. Dropping those in choke points basically made the game unplayable, and it would then help me lone-wolf around and get people from flanking positions. Exploiting the shitty machines we were playing on was always entertaining. Though my favorite dumb thing we did was stacking people. As in, one person crouches, and the other gets on top of them by abusing geometry. We even made a 3-stack a few times. It takes a lot of coordination to get around as this, and technically it's a really bad idea, but people were generally so shocked by our stupid tactics that we'd do well the first time we do it in every session.

Generally, I really miss the metagame and atmosphere of playing with "the locals" and everyone having their own "thing" and all the gameplay and conversation that emerged from that. Internet cafes are awesome.

Mimosa97 said:

I didn't expect to see SOFTC so low on your list

It's one of my top 10 games of all time and my favorite game on PS2. A masterpiece.

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Don't get me wrong, I love the game. This list of 100 is cut down from over a thousand games I played. One reason why it's not higher is that, as I say in the OP, I never had a PS2, so I had to return to it. By the time I played it, I was already primed heavily to expect certain things, and my opinion of the game was heavily influenced by that. I was more able to notice imperfections. Still, I think it's a fantastic game. I also share this complaint though:

FallenGrace said:

I really didn't like SOTC, I'm in the minority I know. Just found it kind of boring. Traveling to each one was uneventful and found little fun in climbing and fighting the camera.

Real shame as I absolutely loved Ico.

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Pachimari said:

I never could get into Shadow of the Colossus. I did play it in 3D on a HMZ (I think that was a 150" screen) with no ghosting and deep blacks, and damn was that quite the experience. It really felt like I was high up when on the mountaintop, and it was insanely scary standing right in front of a colossus. Besides that, meh. I can see why people love the game though, so more power to those who do.

Jedi Acadamy is a good choice, I played that as well, although I spent way more time with the prequel. It was so much fun swinging around that lightsaber using power forces in online multiplayer battles. Still one of the best Star Wars videogame experiences I've had.

Oh yeah, and Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy is a fantastic game, twist be damned.

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I spent a lot of time with both, but I think JA persisted more in my gaming group that I describe above because of all the new abilities and options that they added. People love dual wielding and stuff. Either way, both great games, and like I said, real hard to pick between the two.

Indigo Prophecy is indeed something special, and I love the twists for how off the wall they area, really.

Time for the 5 entries of the day that didn't make it.

Unreal Tournament

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Each entry in the series has its own strengths, but the original one is the most iconic to me so I'll stick with that. The iconic map design and variety of weapons along with the fast-paced physics make this one of the best arena shooters of all time.



This game was my introduction to Capture The Flag, and I've easily played hundreds of hours of this, specifically on the map Facing Worlds. I could say more, but Kotaku wrote a love letter to this map: Unreal Tournament's 'Facing Worlds' Is Still The Best Multiplayer Map. There was more to it as well. The HiSpeed map in the assault game mode put players on a speeding train, with one team trying to get to the counductor car and the others trying to defend the train. The linear, narrow layout was very unique. In general, in addition to playing really smoothly, UT took a lot of risks with its map and gamemode design that put other games at the time to shame.

Asura's Wrath



Capcom took a big risk with this game. At the height of people's hatred of QTEs, they put out a cinematic QTE-driven game. This game would probably be better received these days after stuff like Telltale. You basically play through an anime, somewhere between a Buddhist Dragon Ball and Gurren Lagann. It's fucking awesome with how over the top it is.

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It's really an unmatched spectacle of gaming, and while it's mostly cinematics, there's also a decent amount of God of War-like combat sections in there to keep it fresh. Really, no other game comes as close to being an adaptation of anime as an art form to video games. If you get a chance, this game is a must-play.

Ninja Blade



A Ninja Gaiden homage made by From Software? Yes please. There's really not much to say about this game, it wears its inspiration on its sleeve. A really fast-paced, over-the-top ninja character action game. It's halfway between Metal Gear Rising and Team Ninja's efforts in terms of tone, with a green filter over everything and taking place in an urban setting, giving it a more stylized look.



I actually appreciate how focused the game is in terms of style, and it has that FromSoft charm to it. I actually appreciate how obvious it is as a Ninja Gaiden clone, as it uses that lack of pretense to just build on top of that idea and add more ridiculous enemy types and brutal combat. The emphasis on big bombastic moments makes the game stand out though, as you have many ridiculous sequences of mid-air motorcyle antics, missile riding, skyscraper climbing and all that good stuff. Underrated stuff! And it's on PC as well, so if you're like me and lived consoleless for a few years, it's one of the best character action games you can get.

Temple of Elemental Evil

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Of all the isometric D&D-like games, this one probably has the best combat. It focuses very little on story and heavily on cool combat scenarios. It's also the most difficult one. Developed by Troika, who have history in the RPG development scene (Fallout 1/2), and made 3 of the best games of all time and disbanded, this is probably their weakest game, but that still says a lot.



The game is really faithful to the 3.5e system, which is arguably the greatest iteration of D&D. It has a huge variety of possible builds as a result, and the combat design, like I said before, is excellent. If you want some pure tabletop number crunching and min/maxing, it doesn't get any better than this.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent



I think it's without question that Amnesia changed horror games. Introducing the first person hide-and-seek style of gameplay (which technically was featured in the previous games by Frictional as well), it really nailed down the atmosphere.



The usage of the sanity system was brilliant, and an incredible way to terrify the player even when nothing is really going on. The lantern mechanic forces you to be conservative and constantly on the edge and stressful, trying to decide if it's worth using oil. The fact that you can physically manipulate everything makes the experience feel so much more immersive, and also more tense due to there being more of a cognitive and motor burden on the player to do tasks that are normally trivial in other games. So many games tried to replicate the success of Amnesia since its release, but only very, very few came close at all. I'd say that even the excellent Resident Evil 7 took influence from it, or the movement that it started. One of the hallmarks of the horror genre.

Amnesia is good, sure. But hasn't it been outclassed by games like P.T. and RE7 at this point?! I mean it's also really harder to be a horror game when you have no defense --then you just keep dying at the tension goes away imo

Asura's Wrath is an interesting choice. Seems weird to me that with how many people like it that it would be ripe for a remaster. Where the hell is that, Capcom? I never played it ☹️

I'm taking the weekend off from anectodes, since there doesn't seem to be a lot of demand for them anyway. Time for my top list

80. Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne



I feel confident in saying this is the best pure JRPG ever. The Press Turn system is definitely the best turn based JRPG combat system, and it's utilized fully here. Everyone remembers their first battle with the Matador. If you don't understand the system and fully utilize it, you can not beat the matador. Period. And I'm so glad that Atlus had the guts to design their flagship JRPG in this way.



Seriously though. The atmosphere in this game is fantastic. No other JRPG has felt this ominous, this mysterious. The setting of weird post-apocalyptic Tokyo works so well, and your position in this world full of confusing characters is a plot point in itself. Many JRPGs have the trope of "maybe god is evil, we should take god down", but SMT3 was perhaps the most mature and interesting application of this theme. And the kicker is, SMT isn't even the storytelling-heavy series that Atlus have. It focuses more on combat and dungeon crawling. Yet still Nocturne managed to be just fantastic with its thematic narrative. But of course, the real fun here is the press turn system. Having your super effective moves give you an extra move is so simple and brilliant, and it leads to battles having high stakes, because making the right move gives you a HUGE advantage. And buffs/debuffs actually work during boss battles, unlike, say, FF games, which also makes every ability more meaningful. Masterpiece of design.

79. Catherine



Speaking of Shin Megami Tensei! I've previously mentioned that I love puzzle platformers, and Catherine combines puzzling, kind-of-platforming, and a time-limited tension with a narrative that's quite gripping. When I first played through this game, I was going through a rough phase in my personal life, and I actually identified with some of the frustrations the characters faced. Having my personal life be reflected back at me by what also happened to be an incredible puzzle game was real weird.



Taking place in the Persona universe, Catherine features Vincent, who is facing a relationship dilemma in real life which manifests as nightmarish puzzles when he goes to sleep. The block pushing and climbing mechanic in the game is deceptively simple, and that you're supposed to perform it under time pressure makes it even more interesting. It's fascinating that this game was played at an EVO tournament once. By the way, the side minigame of the arcade game you play that's basically the same thing but with limited moves instead of a time limit is really great too, and shouldn't be overlooked.

78. Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade



This is the essential turn based fantasy strategy/tactics game. A spinoff of the Might & Magic series, HOMAM has you controlling a commander who is tasked with leading armies, building a kingdom, gathering resources and fighting enemy commanders. Combining the turn based strategy genre with choice-based RPG and tactical SRPG combat, this series was one of the best strategy franchises ever, and 3 is clearly the best one.



What puts this game over for me is that fact that it had an incredible campaign editor, and I've spent countless hours creating my own stories and maps with it. It even let you script your own story events, which led me to creating my entire storylines and characters, sending it off to friends for them to play and keep coming back for more. The combat was incredibly varied, as each faction has access to a whole different slew of creatures and spells, and it seemed like the game had neverending appeal. When Ubisoft recently released an HD remake, I was ecstatic. Great series that is underrated these days. 4 was good too, but they kind of lost the plot after 5.

77. Dark Messiah of Might And Magic



Speaking of M&M, this game was awesome. Built on the Source engine of Half-Life fame, and created by Arkane (Dishonored), this was an amazing blend of light RPG elements and awesome melee combat. You go through a series of fantasy locales that had wide open design, with a character that can be built as a mage, a thief, a warrior or everything in between, and you fight all sorts of fantasy monsters with all the skills in your arsenal.



The great thing about this game, and what they later carried on to Dishonored, was how immersive and interactive the combat was. Freeze the ground, and kick an enemy onto it, and they will slip. Use the physics to roll some barrels onto your enemies. Kick them into spikes. Whatever you can think of, you could do. The game constantly threw new combat scenarios and challenges your way, and you had many different ways to confront them. I loved how large each level was and how you could take a multitude of approaches to each one. The game is effectively an immersive sim meets RPG. After this, I had unending confidence in Arkane, and their later work showed me that I wasn't wrong.

76. Siren: Blood Curse



This remake of the PS2 classic is one of my favorite horror games. A group of unsuspecting people get stuck in a village, and things start going very wrong. The people are cursed and out to get you, and they can't be killed. This game conveyed a sense of helplessness better than many others, because while you can fight back, you know they will come back.



The storytelling in this game was fantastic, as it reminded me of some of my favorite Japanese horror games with how disconnected it felt. Jumping between several characters who seem to go through incongruent events, the sense of confusion adds further to your disorientation which enhances the feeling of terror. The setting is incredibly well-realized, give a great sense of mise-en-scene and otherness. Darkness is very well utilized, and the game plays of your fear of darkness so well. The plot is even more batshit insane than it initially seems, which I really loved. I love this game even more than Silent Hill games, which sounds like blasphemy but the sheer nature of the futility of combat and disorienting... everything puts it above them for me.

StarPhlox said:

Amnesia is good, sure. But hasn't it been outclassed by games like P.T. and RE7 at this point?! I mean it's also really harder to be a horror game when you have no defense --then you just keep dying at the tension goes away imo

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Yeah, Amnesia has surely been surpassed, which is why it's in my "didn't make it" list

StarPhlox said:

Asura's Wrath is an interesting choice. Seems weird to me that with how many people like it that it would be ripe for a remaster. Where the hell is that, Capcom? I never played it ☹️

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Asura's Wrath is amazing, and it really should be remastered. Maybe it didn't sell well enough for Capcom to think it's worth returning to, but as I said, I think the audience would be more receptive to it these days than they were back in the day.

Good on you for including Catherine and Siren: Blood Curse!

5 games that didn't make it time:

Resident Evil 6

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Contrary to a large group of people, I didn't hate RE6. I've seen all the threads on gaf that talk about how it's actually great, but I've liked it before as well. If you've been following my lists, you'd know by this time that I have a soft spot for ridiculous games that just go "fuck it" and roll with their ridiculous premise, and RE6 did just that.



I liked the darker visual look, the urban setting (yes, I like urban settings, it's pretty clear at this point), ridiculous setpieces like flying a plane or fighting a T-Rex and how satisfying the action was at times. It still felt clunky and slow in terms of pacing in some spots, and when the controls didn't work, they really didn't work well. maybe the game should have been a Revelaitons title, then everyone would be happier. Either way, I'm glad this game exists.

Resonance of Fate

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One of my favorite JRPGs. The geometry-based combat system is so cool and creative, and I love the visual style. I love the way they utilized positioning and timing in the combat beyond any other SRPG, and that's just one part of the game. Coming up with very fine alignments to cheese the system as much as possible was a fun time. The only other game I can think of that has a similar system is Natural Doctrine.

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Beyond the combat, I loved the setting as well. A steampunky giant city, with an industrial aesthetic. Really original setting for the genre. How goofy and bizarre some scenes were was the icing on the cake. Anyone who played the game will know the pseudo-Lynchian black comedy vibe it takes at times. See here. Props to Nolan North for his performance on this one.

Dead Space



I've always wanted to love the Dead Space series more than I actually did. I love sci-fi, I love horror, I love the aesthetic and the way they put all UI elements on your character. Really clever design. Unfortunately the gameplay never felt like it stacked up to the promise to me. It was good, but flawed and not great.



I still played through the entire series, Wii and iOS game included, because I'm so enamored with the premise. But at all times I wished that I was playing through a game that controlled a bit better and was designed with a bit more inspiration. Don't get me wrong, the area design and variety was great, but encounters became incredibly predictable and repetitive. And Isaac never controlled responsively, and not in a "it's horror so you're supposed to control a bit clunkily" way. Regardless, I want to give this series its dues by mentioning it here.

Red Faction: Guerilla



I've always been intrigued by the Red Faction games on PC because of their destruction system, but beyond that they've always felt kind of dated to me. When Guerilla came out, I was immediately sucked in. Open world destruction of a scale never seen before, a story with some intrigue, and, yeah, destruction. The physics were great, and everything being destructible was actually handled very well, as it must have been quite challenging to balance a game like that, especially when it's open world.



I love the feeling in games when I'm doing something that maybe the developers didn't think of, but it works anyway. This game was full of moments like that. When I'm told to infiltrate some building, I could force my way up some seemingly unclimbable hill, break stuff with my hammer to open a path, and then make a building collapse from the inside to kill everyone within. It felt incredibly empowering and badass, while giving you lots of freedom to work with. The level of destruction was pretty impressive in its time as well, and I don't think a lot of games (if any) have come close since (not even the sequel).

Pokemon Silver



This wasn't my first introduction to the series, but it was the game I spent the most time with. I loved Yellow already, and this game took everything from that and took it to the next level. The addition of the dark and steel types, the more expansive storyline, the feeling of intrigue, all the side activities you can engage in, all the details added to the world... It was mind-blowing. The Unown ruins felt full of mystery, hunting the elemental cat trio felt like a legitimate challenge, the new evolutions to pokemon you already had, and so many other additions that made the game feel so much bigger and so much more immersive. The newly added pokemon all looked super cool too.



But of course, the big deal was Kanto. That the game opens up to show you an entire new game after you beat it was an amazing twist, and one that set me up for disappointment for the rest of the franchise for good. Returning to the world from the first game was a great feeling, and it wasn't just a rush job either. There was a lot to do in Kanto, and of course it all lead up to the final battle with Red, which was a great moment. Hands down my favorite Pokemon game because of this.

Controversial picks!!

I have heard great things about RoF but it's not really for me, I think!

RE6...The more distance I get from that game and the more I reflect on how amazing RE7 is it's hard to think about ever going back to it. I mean, there are surely worse mainline RE games but man I think it's a bit of a mess.


Pokémon G/S I skipped for some reason. I think R/B/Y gave me my fill for a lifetime.

Really happy to see the amount of horror games on this list, all of them are pretty awesome. Although, I personally remember liking Penumbra: Black Plague more than Amnesia.

Also Shadow of Destiny is great, surprised to see it on multiple peoples lists though.
I played through that for the first time last year with some buddies. It worked as a group game too, as some of the moments in the game are very entertaining/amusing.

I really need to get around to playing Dark Messiah one of these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS49Dazin3E

Today's anectode is an unfortunate one. I had the purple clear gameboy color, which was pretty neat looking. Not a lot of people in my country at the time had one, since no systems were officially sold in the country and mine was imported. I had s friend who lived pretty close by to me, and we hung out a lot. I played s lot of Pokémon and other stuff on my gameboy with him - we would share the system around and play games. We would also use the n64 connection to play a lot of stadium. Good times.

One day he stayed over with us, and the following day I couldn't find my GBC. Surely I must have misplaced it. My parents are generally very untrusting of people, and they immediately claimed that my friend must have stolen it. I didn't want to believe. After a few days of not being able to find it, I asked my friend if he knew where I might have put the system. He had no idea. But I was never able to find the system.

Weeks later, he obtained a purple clear gameboy color, it seems. His family hadn't left the country, but somehow he got one, and let me again emphasize that these systems were not available in the country. I never wanted to blame my friend for taking the system, I just didn't want to believe. But it's been years and the system has not resurfaced. Eventually my parents saw I was too upset and bought me another one of the same system. It was a crushing blow though, and it was kind of a "loss of innocence" moment.

StarPhlox said:

Controversial picks!!

I have heard great things about RoF but it's not really for me, I think!

RE6...The more distance I get from that game and the more I reflect on how amazing RE7 is it's hard to think about ever going back to it. I mean, there are surely worse mainline RE games but man I think it's a bit of a mess.


Pokémon G/S I skipped for some reason. I think R/B/Y gave me my fill for a lifetime.

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RE6 is a mess for sure, but it's a glorious mess! When it works it really works. RE7 is so different though and it's hard to think of those two games as two sequential entries in the same franchise.

CannonFodder52 said:

Really happy to see the amount of horror games on this list, all of them are pretty awesome. Although, I personally remember liking Penumbra: Black Plague more than Amnesia.

Also Shadow of Destiny is great, surprised to see it on multiple peoples lists though.
I played through that for the first time last year with some buddies. It worked as a group game too, as some of the moments in the game are very entertaining/amusing.

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I love horror! Expect more of it! Penumbra games were great, but I think the graphical capabilities to capture the atmosphere they wanted weren't available until Amnesia. Shadow of Destiny is such a weird nugget. I randomly bought it with no knowledge of it beforehand on release, and it's blown me away and stayed with me ever since.

Piston Hyundai said:

I really need to get around to playing Dark Messiah one of these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS49Dazin3E

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You should! At times it's a bit clunky but it's basically a proto-Dishonored with great level design.

I was not expecting to see ninja blade here. This game is like bollywood movie and it knows it.

The first half was pretty good then its like they ran out of budget or ideas and reused everthing from the first half. At some point, you end up in an underground level and suddenly all your power ups fly away, for no reason at all. So go get them and beat the boss. Wtf?

Nonetheless it was a fun game but far from ninja gaiden league.

A forgotten gem of that generation.

Back to the main list!

75. The Stanley Parable



I considered getting cheeky and writing this bit in the voice of the narrator and doing something, but I can't match the game's writing. This game changed how I view games, choice in games and agency in games in general forever. For those unaware, it's kind of a choice-driven walking sim where your actions are voiced by a narrator. You are a boring office worker who ends up in a heroic scenario. But is that it? What if you don't follow the narrator's lead?

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This game changed my outlook on games, because it made me think about how choice isn't really choice. Any game with choices is actually a game with a series of diverging linear paths instead of a single linear path. In the end, nonlinearity is an illusion. I'm not doing something profound when I break the "intended path", what I'm doing is still intended, just not the primary intended path. Good job, I beat a game that was designed to be beaten. Is that really an achievement?

74. Jade Empire



Also known as The Last Great Bioware Game. Featuring a pan-Asian fantasy setting, this RPG took the Bioware formula and applied it to their first original RPG IP. It was also their first RPG that had fully real-time combat, and it was really entertaining to play through on the hardest difficulty, which I rarely prefer in RPGs.



Really, having a combat system based on martial arts and the mysticism surrounding it in folk/fantasy tales was a great idea, and they nailed it. It was an easily-cheesed system, but also felt very satisfying. The world in the game felt fully fleshed out, and while the plot was kind of cliche, it was executed well. This game could use a remaster!

73. Rainbow Six: Siege



I was very into the original Rainbow Six games when I was younger, but I can't really imagine going back to them today. I would love to play a modern take on that formula, but it's probably not happening any time soon. That being said, I think Siege is a fantastic game. The decision to be multiplayer-only might have been controversial at first, but I can't imagine this gameplay formula being as fulfilling in single player. I have been incredibly impressed with how the developers built on the game since its launch and I think it's one of the best shooters out there.



The game is very tactical and precise. I learn something new each time I play the game, and I have over a hundred hours in it. Each operator has their own set of abilities, and they all change the gameplay completely. Add in to that the near-completely destructible environment, that you can reinforce the environment and place traps/etc, the game ends up having infinite replay value. It really does take a lot of thought and coordination to beat a team that knows what they're doing. Even thinking about it makes me want to go play it right now. The game really is brilliantly designed and it just keeps on giving.

72. System Shock 2



One of the greats of the immersive sim genre. Featuring a sci-fi horror setting of a spaceship where things have gone very wrong, in many ways System Shock 2 is the best example of its genre. There's a lot of variety to how you can build your character, and just as much in how you can approach the environment.



The atmosphere was incredible for its time, and it's such a shame that such an iconic game came out in a time when 3D graphics and controls were particularly unflattering and didn't age well. I hope for a faithful remake one day. That the first game is being remade gives me some hope, as I think the story and everything else about this game is too good to be lost to time.

71. S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl



Right off the bat I go and betray System Shock 2? Well, while I think SS2 does many things very well, STALKER is even better at many other things. The atmoshpere in the game is incredible, and it feels distinctly eastern european in its construction, which helps with the authenticity. The Zone is a brilliant setting, and it has pushed my imagination ever since I played the game. The seemingly randomized nature of some ingame events, the faction battles, how hostile everything feels... Let's just say that combining immersive sims with survival horror was a brilliant idea, and transposing that into the Chernobyl Exclusion zone was even better.

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I have many vivid memories of the zone and my exploits within it. I can think of few other games that nailed everything like STALKER did. It was very brutal, you had to manage hunger, radiation, injury, level-based inaccuracy, a carry limit, and that's all ignoring all the enemies the game throws at you. The plot was great as well, and the ending was quite climactic. The prequel and the sequel were great as well, but nothing can beat one's first experience in The Zone.

zoodoo said:

I was not expecting to see ninja blade here. This game is like bollywood movie and it knows it.

The first half was pretty good then its like they ran out of budget or ideas and reused everthing from the first half. At some point, you end up in an underground level and suddenly all your power ups fly away, for no reason at all. So go get them and beat the boss. Wtf?

Nonetheless it was a fun game but far from ninja gaiden league.

A forgotten gem of that generation.

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Yeah, it's a shame games like that get lost in the shuffle. It never really had a chance to be fully recognized because of Ninja Gaiden.

These picks are really cool!

Stanley Parable impressed the hell out of me and I think I saw all the endings. It was worth it just for the narration alone.

Heard great things about System Shock 2 but...I really dislike the Bioshock games and while Jade Empire has a unique setting I just can't appreciate Bioware games. :/

StarPhlox said:

These picks are really cool!

Stanley Parable impressed the hell out of me and I think I saw all the endings. It was worth it just for the narration alone.

Heard great things about System Shock 2 but...I really dislike the Bioshock games and while Jade Empire has a unique setting I just can't appreciate Bioware games. :/

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Stanley Parable really is special. Did it cause you to re-evaluate your view on games as well?

I think the Bioshock games are a pale imitation of System shock, but I can't necessarily recommend SS2 to everyone without reservation because of how it's aged. Best to wait for a remake which probably will happen. Prey 2017 seems like as close as we can get in this day.

As for Jade Empire, I don't really like Bioware games either but it feels different from their norm. I called it the last greasy bowoare game because anything since (mass effect, dragon age) feels like it's not of the same caliber. So if you didn't like those you might still find something to enjoy in Jade Empire.

If Siege is on your list, Rainbow Six 3 should be as well. That one was even better , and I love Siege.