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You like cool space stuff? Science fiction? Exploration? Games that don't hold your hand? Wonderfully crafted experiences? Mysteries to solve? Existential crisis? "A-ha!" moments?

Outer Wilds is the game. If you answered "yes" to at least three questions, give it a try - you will probably love it.

Thing is, you can't really explain much about Outer Wilds without getting into spoilers, as the whole point of the game is to explore the game's solar system, figure out environmental puzzles and read ancient texts of a long-gone civilization to solve a mystery that you find yourself tangled in.

It is simply the most fascinating game I have ever played - it's amazingly well-thought as an experience, every little thing neatly fits together. And there is no right or wrong way to play - after the 'tutorial', the game never tells you what to do or where to go next. It is all up to your curiosity and interests. Stuck on exploring one planet? Go investigate something else. You'll probably find answers to help your exploration on the original planet! Any way you go about exploration, you will find revelations and eventually reach the game's amazing finale.

Furthermore, if you know what to do, you can complete the game in around 10 minutes. Outer Wilds is a 15-30 hour game. There are no powerups or tools to unlock - knowledge is what gates you from answers and is what allows you to progress.

Beautiful.

Not a single post about Prey (2017), the Arkane's immersive sim gem set aboard the Talos I space station orbiting the Moon? I expected more of you, people!

Prey is a wonderful game. I think it wouldn't lie make a mistake by designating it an RPG and an immersive sim, given its various skills (that are actually more than a few stat changes here and there - they affect, dictate the way you play the game), the multitude of ways you can approach so many things from puzzles to locations where you're supposed to be to pretty much any in-game decision.

Prey's world is rather small, but in the best way possible - it's a space station, called Talos I, orbiting the Earth's only moon (the Moon), doing some bleeding edge scientific research thanks to its diverse crew of the very best people Earth could send there. Talos I itself is split into different sections, each with its own purpose, making them unique locations with their own dangers and breath-taking sights; some interiors are spacious and let you navigate the level in stealthy ways, avoiding the hostiles entirely (if you have the wits!), and some are narrower, but many still offer you an alternate path to your destination if you look hard enough.

Prey lets you do stuff. You don't like crawling in silence, trying to stay away from a fight until you hoover up every resource you can to make you "ready" to face the enemy? Go gun blazing - there's no shortage of unique lethal tech at your disposal! You want to play a certain role, like be a mad menace to society? Feel free to murder everything you see, either with your own hands or by letting them die another brutal death! You want to be a true video game hero, saving each and every one? Roll your sleeves and get to work, because there sure is some saving to do!

Prey is the game where you think you know what's going on, but you actually don't. There will be surprises, and there will be moments of awe, and they're all just done so well.

And last, but not least, is its magnificent soundtrack by Mick Gordon. The game looks gorgeous, and sometimes can give you some spooks, but the music completes the puzzle, setting its eerie atmosphere.

It's a game you will likely play more than once to experience everything it has to offer. The game does not force you to do this or that, it does not explicitly tell you what skills to pick to be a good person, and it does not block one path if you've already taken another one, but you sure will experience the call of curiosity: "What if I chose only that?" Whatever you choose, you have the ability to craft yourself a unique playthrough, each equally interesting and viable.

Pathologic 2 is a game that makes you feel like the entire world is against you. From the moment you start the game you're presented with a scenario in which you've already failed to stop the deadly plague infecting the city, and you get a chance to do it all over.

You are Artemy Burakh, a surgeon coming back home to his home in the Russian Steppe at the request of his late father. From the moment you arrive in town, things are off. You are quickly branded as a criminal and must hide away or risk being attacked by citizens. Slowly but surely, you keep encountering strange things in the town: an impossible spire stretching into the heavens, a building where an infection has seemingly taken over the walls, a band of children who have broken away to form their own gamg, and the plague itself speaks to you - warning you about the devastation to come.

The game is brutally tough. It has difficulty settings if you struggle too much - but the intended difficulty is meant to crush your will to continue. While fighting off the plague you must manage your own hunger, thirst, and health. Which becomes increasingly harder to do as the plague grows in strength. In addition - at the end of every day the game randomly rolls who in the town gets infected with the plague and for those already infected they could possibly die. Everyone, including you, and I mean everyone in the town has the potential to die. You are tasked with keeping them alive.

On top of that the game is an excellent journey into the psychology of those you meet, and comments on the blend between the supernatural culture of the steppe and the growing industrialization of the city. There's so much stuff there in the game (mind you there is some jank), and its the kind of game I think about all of the time. Also the soundtrack is beautiful and haunting, with the perfect emotion for each scene.

the longer you spend time around me the longer you'll find that I can't shut the fuck up about gravity rush 2

does it have flaws? probably. good luck trying to have a conversation with me about them. that game gave me a sense of joy and happiness I have literally been chasing since it came out in 2017.

a fun main character, one of the most unique movement mechanics I've experienced in a game, sick music, all the questions from the original game answered in ways I never would have expected, and an open world that, whilst not very interactive, is so architecturally interesting that I will boot the game up just to fly around and look at stuff to this day as a way to relax.

so yeah you should play Gravity Rush 2. and yes, the Xenoblades are great too, great taste tbh. they're so mechanically crunchy that I can play them for hours

I had a great time with Final Fantasy XV near the top of this year. I had a ton of fun with the floaty combat and the character moments! The game got patched up for PC, so the only problem I had was that they stopped support after the rough release and didn't finish the story they intended to tell.

This led me to pick up Forspoken (same devs) as well despite the negative press. I can't think of a movement system I've enjoyed more. The writing isn't as awful as everyone says (IMHO) and the spell casting focus with parkour woven in is just chefs kiss. Slap on some tunes and grind out my masteries was how I spent a good month. Huge fan of the cuff character as well (no spoilers). Honestly was devastating to hear the studio close, because the DLC just released was pretty rad too.

Edit - RIP the double post bug got me too. Deleted comment's just a copy of this

Honestly, the game I like the most that deserves the praise the most is so obsessively discussed by it's own developer that I think they should speak for themselves: https://www.gridsagegames.com/cogmind/index.html

It's really, truly underrated. No one talks about it, even when traditional Roguelikes come up, despite the absurd amount of effort poured into it.

Specifically the article about designing "information warfare" into the game way back in 2014 (it's still being developed) is a great example of how much is going on in this little ASCII game: https://www.gridsagegames.com/blog/2014/11/information-warfare/

I guess what I could add is that surprisingly enough Cogmind actually has a story, a pretty dang extensive one, and the fact that it's sort of just hiding away in places you might never see blew my mind.

Also, that despite having as much depth as Dwarf Fortress (just more focused depth), the interface and controls aren't completely inscrutable. because thank god, it actually has mouse support.

Magic Wand - 48 reviews.

This person makes some weird games, most of them free. Just check out their beautiful website!

This is a trippy isometric RPG, takes maybe an hour to finish, and plays like a total fever dream. It was weird and mostly didn't make sense and I loved it. I think it's all told out of order too.

I found this developer sometime last year and just really enjoy their general philosophy on making games.

If you don't know what a videogame is or what they're supposed to do with one that's cool, nobody else does either. Chew up garbage media and use the mulch to make cool hives to store the tiny, stupid things you care about
- Excerpt from the website

The Rock Band series is my GOAT and probably the best party game of all time. The series on its own is fantastic--who doesn't want to jam out? But add a few other people and it's in a whole different league. I was living in the dorms when it came out. A lot of days we'd start it up and leave our door open and let people cycle in and out between classes or whatever else was going on through the days. We don't know you? You don't know us? Nobody gives a shit--we need someone on drums.

We eventually had several hundred songs through the games and DLC--just about any type of music someone might want to play. The equipment isn't made anymore to my knowledge and I don't think there's any way to get it other than second hand, but when it was at ots height the series was the high water mark of social gaming. It also served as a stepping stone to actual musical pursuits--I eventually picked up an electronic drum kit and started playing (very poorly) for real.

XENOBLADE! love this series, i'll also recommend it. there's this video i liked that's like a fanmade ad for the game, here. pretty sure it's not too spoilery (or the spoilers are just out of context).

since you already mentioned it though, i'll recommend earthbound. the entire series is really good, but for play order, i'd recommend earthbound -> mother 3 -> mother 1. (any order is fine, since the games are only loosely connected though). such good jrpgs with an upbeat feel to them.

I think Rocket League is terrific. It's challenging, but very rewarding. The pro play is incredible to watch as well.

Man, this thread reminded me of some of the great old games I used to play back in the day.

And if any of ya'll are into Space Fighters and Dog-Fight Tactics, boy have I got something for you.

'Decent: Freespace' and 'Freespace 2'.

Although the graphics might seem a bit dated, believe me when I say it won't matter in the least. You'll be far more focused on the information your HUD is feeding you, giving orders to squad-mates and navigating the basic controls in a panic.

Unlike some modern space games, you don't get to just screw around with standard WASD +Mouse controls. Your keyboard is your cockpit and everything pretty much controls as in one (although a simplified one). There is no auto-aim and no freebies, if you can't keep your aim where it's supposed to be, you miss.

There's also a energy-management system where you get to prioritize what subsystems needs more power: Shields, Weapons or Engines. And you can overclock the different systems at the expense of the others on the fly. Choose wisely.

You get to choose your own ships and weapons loadout as you rise though the ranks and gain access to various new goodies, not all missions calls for the heaviest ordinance. Finesse and maneuverability are virtues here.

The story is fairly basic: "Terrans (Humans) and an Alien Race known as the Vasudans are at war. Third Alien Race pops in and wrecks house on both sides. Shit gets interesting as the new Alien Race are technologically superior and neigh unkillable."

The voice-acting is phenomenal and you really get the feeling of being an expandable grunt, that slowly gets to prove his worth and is let in on more and more Special-Ops assignments, equipment and such. Everything is on a need-to-know basis and there's a lot you don't need to know.

The game contains plenty of bonus objectives that aren't immediately apparent. Sometimes it pays off to stick around a bit longer when you're told you can go back to base. ;)

I don't know how good I am at selling the games, but damn if they aren't the best I've ever played in the space-fighter genre to date.

They are worth giving a try at the very least. And they are dirt cheap on GOG as a bonus.

I'll just add the intro sequence the first game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-xcgBL1mY

...Ok, not gonna lie, the basic premise of Xenoblade 3 comes across to me like to warring societies of Souls Hollows, and while that's almost certainly wrong it sounds rad as hell. Armies fighting because they literally need the life of their enemies to live, never stopping to consider that by not allowing themselves to die they doom the world itself, eventually no one's left. Or something along those lines. In any case it feels like it's setting itself up to actually say something significant about the world.

OP what do you think about Xenoblade Chronicles X? Have you played? Is this an okay one to 'start' with?

Usually I see mecha and I am all in, but haven't played yet! Would love to hear if you have played it.

I am loving this post and am bookmarking it for future games to play.

The one I want to recommend is a little out of left field: “Photopia”, a text adventure that is more than 20 years old but that I just found out about. It’s a nonlinear narrative game with two distinct voices, where you gradually piece together the story of, well, go in unspoiled and you’ll be happier. It’s not a long game, and there aren’t much by way of puzzles, but the writing is wonderful and the story hits hard.

You can play it for free online.

Quick game: Journey! You are a beeing in some kind of migration Journey through multiple landscapes (desert, sea and snow). You have to pick up special símbols that are hidden so that your scarf becames longer and you can fly, also it works as some kind of HP bar.

The cinematics is just beautifull, you float and slide as the sun sets it is more art than a game, just to enjoy and relax.

One of the feafures is that another player, like you, will be there. As a 1st time player they will guide you through the secrets of each level/place. You dont talk each of you just emit a kind of musical sound and, without any Word, it is increadible how both players can talk. It is really beautifull. On some other games you will be the guide, you dont know, you have yo try to comunicate and figure out your place in Journey.

I confess I cried the first time I finished the game.

Longer game: The Last guardian From the same team that made shadow of the colossus, you will notice by the landscape.

You are a little boy in some kind of Maya/Inca Village that is kidnaped by a beeing that is mix of a giant mouse with horns and wings, called Trico.

It takes you to it s nest (huge and complex, like an ants), but both have an accident and get stuck somewhere. Trico lost it s wings so cannot fly.

Step by step you start to make friends with Trico to escape the huge nest, you can go on it s back, climb the hills, solve puzzles with it.

You also find why you are kidnapped (not going to give spoilers). You find other Tricos but they are very agressive, like they are under some kind of spell. Also the nest has strange beeings roaming around that try to suck your energy (the first encounter I had I got a huge gut feeling of strangeness and danger, increadible how the game can give you such a dread feeling and, no, I am not also telling how they are :) it is part of that first impact) and, remember, you are a little kid so you better run and trust that your Trico will help you.

(The game has a lot of detail. At some point my ps4 started to make a strange noise as an airplane taking off).

Have fun! Edit: removed the word "curiosity" to not confuso anyone, did not know it was a game as well.

So. Regarding xenoblade. I loved 2 and 2's expansion. But I couldn't get into 1 and 3 I found there were too many characters and management of their gear and resources so I dropped it. It was just overly complex and I honestly don't think I understood it very well or what I was doing.

Generally I try to keep my Freelancer obsession under wraps until I've known people for at least a few months.

I love this game and have put thousands of hours into both the online and campaign (I speedrun it) and into online server play. If you're a fan of Everspace, Elite: Dangerous, or other games in that vein, I very much recommend giving Freelancer a look as it still hasn't been beat 20 years later.

The world is set roughly 800 years after the Alliance has left the Sol system during the Alliance-Coalition War. Following the events of Starlancer (not at all necessary to have played, just tangenting off that universe) five sleeper ships were launched as part of the escape. The five ships named for their home countries - Liberty, Bretonia, Kusari, Rheinland, and Hispania, headed toward the Sirius sector and each landed on separate planets and funded their own governments mirroring their Earth counterparts.

The story picks up as you, Edison Trent, arrive on Planet Manhattan. You and the survivors of Freeport 14, which has been destroyed at the hands of some mysterious and seemingly alien force, are just coming to terms with what has happened and you're trying to pick up and move on. You meet a Liberty Security Force agent Jun'ko Zane, who has some contract work for you to pick up and outfits you with your first ship. Not two minutes out of atmo and the incoming diplomatic delegation from Rheinland is attacked and destroyed, and you, Juni, and her partner King find yourselves unraveling an investigation that goes to the highest levels of all four major Houses.

The rest of the game is pulling on those threads and unraveling a political conspiracy as you, King, and Juni track down leads. The main structure is alternating story missions and free roam periods, where the story missions expand the area you get to play in and push out to new systems, and then the free roam is you being the titular freelancer and picking up off jobs to earn credits and purchase better equipment and learn more at your own pace.

While the story is interesting, the true hooks in this for me are two things:

1. The World - There is so much love and lore tucked into every corner of this game. Loads of environmental storytelling, but then nearly every selectable object has an infocatd with additional detail fleshed out. History about everything is thought out to some degree. And if you see something interesting, odds are it has an interesting story to tell. This makes exploration rewarding, sometimes also financially within the game. Each system really feels like several hundred years of development and history were thought out to get to the game world's current state.

2. The Controls - Generally in an older game, controls are hard to get the hang of. Freelancer uses an intuitive mouse aim flight system that lets you focus on where you want to go rather than how you have to maneuver your ship to get there, which means it's not a burden to exploring and makes combat fun while still retaining a lot of depth. It's not a space sim in the traditional sense. It doesn't have the systems control that your more hardcore space sims do if that's your thing, but between the ship customization and ease of flight, the barrier to entry is almost non-existent while still being engaging.

Past the campaign, there is still a very active modding community that continues to support an active online player base. There are plenty of simplistic mods to add new ships, weapons, or QOL features, out to full mods such as Discovery that adds a new house and continues to extend the game storyline through iterative updates and player-driven events, including dynamic player-created stations, to total conversions like Tides of War that wrap the world in a well put together Star Wars skin.

I was active on Discovery for a long time and really is where I put most of my hours into this game, playing online and just existing and driving the world into different directions at the same level of quality as the original game.

I could gush so much more, but just booting it up and playing a few minutes I think is enough to hook the right person. While not on the digital distribution platforms, the usual abandonware sites typically host a copy of the disc iso (as does DiscoveryGC for use during their mod install process) and it will install and run without issue on modern systems. Last fall, the Freelancer HD Edition mod was released on ModDB that updates visuals, textures, and adds some QOL features so that the game properly supports widescreen resolutions and looks great on modern displays.

I love this game, and frankly it's the platonic ideal of a space sim that I'm still looking for a worthy successor to this day, with the closest from a gameplay perspective being Everspace, and nothing matching the depth and care and just jot of zooming around space.

I had a great time with Final Fantasy XV near the top of this year. I had a ton of fun with the floaty combat and the character moments! The game got patched up for PC, so the only problem I had was that they stopped support after the rough release and didn't finish the story they intended to tell.

This led me to pick up Forspoken (same devs) as well despite the negative press. I can't think of a movement system I've enjoyed more. The writing isn't as awful as everyone says (IMHO) and the spell casting focus with parkour woven in is just chefs kiss. Slap on some tunes and grind out my masteries was how I spent a good month. Huge fan of the cuff character as well (no spoilers). Honestly was devastating to hear the studio close, because the DLC just released was pretty rad too.

Natural selection 2. The game is pretty much dead now, and it is not easy on new players, but no other game I've played has this awesome sense to teamwork and coordination with intense combat. It kind of ruined all other multiplayer games for me. I haven't found anything like it.