Art makes me want to keep living
And that is why games are so important to me. The food for the soul, the lifeline of my mental health. My first creative aspiration :)
Today i want to share games that have made me think, that have touched me, that im proud to say ive played them.
These categories are going to be ordered like i have done in my discord server, im going to say a few words about each of them, oh and expect spoilers! this isint a review section!!
Jewels of hope
-Deltarune
-Chicory
-Anodyne 2
-Everhood
-Wandersong
-Spiritfarer
-Sephonie
Its world is everything to me
I dream to be somewhere else, with ruins, fear in my heart and palpitation at whats next, its right there, i just have to go and see for myself.
-Myst 3 : Exile
-Rain world
-TUNIC
-Jump King
-INSIDE
-FEZ
Redifines the whole fucking genre
-OMORI
-Nier Automata
Simply stellar
The greats that all have something special to them, all mixed together, endless variety!-Tres-bashers
-Lovely planet 2 : April skies
-Rogue legacy 2
-HADES
-Deep Rock Galactic
-Sekiro : shadows die twice
-The void rains upon her heart
-Tomato Adventure (GBA)
-REZ
-MINISHOOT
-Celeste
Celeste is a great platformer, everyone says it for a reason. The story is about a girl facing her anxiety and realising she needs to accept it and be one with the feeling, not fight or reject it, but know why she is scared, look inward and tell it, its ok to be scared after all.The gameplay is fantastic, the mechanics tightly designed to be able to flow in a room one way or many. The music is also really good, made by lena raine who can make a sick beat anyday has more highs than lows, i dont love every track but the ones i do are really really good. :)
The reason this game is on my list is more specific than general quality, its the meditative act of failing a room over and over.
Usually, the room starts as a complete mystery, some jumps still undiscovered, some places where the tech indicators in the mind are buring, it has to be unearthed with experience. But there is also the execution remaining, sometimes figuring out what to do is difficult, most times its getting through it, so attempt one, goes decently, maybe got past one obstacle or two, attempt 10, the first part is all muscle memory but a bit in the middle is tripping me up, attempt 50-???, at one point, its so close to completion, its just a matter of doing, and maybe you get to finish the screen that session! But wait, lets look at attempt... why not pick number 57. Here is how it looks.
Complete concentration, stillness, no faith or fear or making it, or failing, just the stick movements, precise, down right dash jump, and the jump was just short of where to land. Transition into attempt 58, you dont know what number it is, it does not matter, you try the same thing and it feels good, it feels like bliss, you know you will get it eventually, just keep flowing until you do.
Brain Breaking
-Patrick's Parabox
-Portal 2
-Antichamber
The definition of addictive
Games that ive spent quite some time with, or just have the most kickass gameplay loop, its mostly the loop tbh.
-Revita
-Vampire Survivors
Not quite an idle game, not quite a roguelite, not quite arcade, it takes elements from all of those and makes a dopamine machine.It takes exploitative game elements like lootboxes and heavy grinding and recontextualises by having no microtransactions and being low cost to be a quick back for the buck, but it also is so tightly designed in regards to gameplay that it ends up not feeling cheap at all. The first level puts an enemy ring around you at 5 minutes to try and trip you up, it comes back at 10 minutes and moments where the game tries deperately to kill you are some of the best.
oh gosh i havent even mentionned how fun the weapons are to use, they use themselves but aiming is sometimes crucial, navigating around threats until you are such a threat yourself that enemies pouring in, colliding with eachother pushing against themselves trying desperately to get closer to you, you, wall of armaments.
-Heroes of Hammerwatch
Idle Favorites
-TopCog
Ok so TopCog is not a game, its a developer, but ive been so enthralled by each and every one of their games that i needed to explain why their base gameplay loop speaks to me so much.The game have a baseline of playing as a character, and trying to get further, be it in loot level, fighting power, or more things to kill with, its a majority of killing here(cant blame it, thats a good base to have), to acheive more power, you do runs, runs are going straight at the wall and punching, your hands break and the wall repairs (getting sent back to stage one at full health and with some extra fighting power) so you repeat runs until you have enough power to progress a teeny tiny bit and then repeat the process, basic number go up! then the kinds of prestige vary with game, but the basis of growing power stays the same.
Ninja Prime
Idle Loot Quest
Tap Wizard 2
Maybe if i quickly excorcise the game by writing this section i will be able to write in the rest of the page, its too dang addictive.(didint work)-Cookie Clicker
Yayyy im so glad it got a steam release. :)So cookie clicker is a classic, its been around since 2013(THAT LONG????) and started the new wave of idle games, now being an idle was good enough to be a game, and tons of newcomers tried and succeded at making a satisfying gameplay loop
-Realm Grinder
-Orb of Creation
-NGU Idle
"sometimes i just play a game and move on" - jacob geller
I felt like talking about these was still worth it, even if i wont think about them much or ever, its nice to have the "good enough" type of game, that dosent quite move you but still has real great stuff in them.