Name a game that changed your life

[javixblack]

I grown playing single-player games. My brothers was never interested to play with me, and for that reason, the ps2 give a really strong feeling of loneliness. In my 16, I was playing Silent Hill 2 in the port version for PC (I finished the game). After three or four years I want to play it in ps2, so I get a copy (we won't talk about this part... ehem), and start to play. For a few days I was feeling a bit depressed, and I don't understad why, I am talking about 1 or 2 weeks with that feeling. And one night I realized Silent Hill 2 was depressing me. The game itself got an atmosphere really sad, melancholic, and depress, but that, plus my experience playing always alone my ps2, give me that horrible feeling. After that I decided to left the game inmediatly.

[Nikolas]

Hmmm...

In order of appearance in my life, rather than importance.

1. Bard's Tale I (Tales of the unknown)
2. Police quest I
3. Eye of the Beholder I
4. Oni
5. Cave Story (Dukotsu)

All of them are big, long games, that I've spent ages playing. Each one unique in their own way that made me dream that I could make up stories like that, to make games like that. 

[LimpingFish]

I don't know...

What I mean is that it's too difficult to pinpoint exactly any one game that pushed me in any one direction. For instance, I could say that Galaxian, possibly the first video game I ever played (I think I was six years old when I discovered it), set me on the road to where I am now.

If I was to break it down into various phases in my videogame history, I suppose I could say Mercenary 3 on the Atari ST, Flashback on the Megadrive, Super Castlevania IV on the SNES, Resident Evil and Silent Hill on the Playstation, etc.

But we're talking about a history of 30+ years, so, as I said, it's pretty hard to pinpoint precisely those games that had an effect on me.

I will say that Silent Hill probably did have an effect on me, beyond most other games at the time; I remember the day I bought it, and I remember completing all available endings over the period of a single weekend.

[milkanannan]

Finally on Christmas holiday and revisiting this thread for some ideas while I have the time off. (Sorry for necroposting.) Anyone play anything life changing in 2023?

[Danvzare]

Finally on Christmas holiday and revisiting this thread for some ideas while I have the time off. (Sorry for necroposting.) Anyone play anything life changing in 2023?

Life changing? Not really.

But I can list some of the best games I've played this year.
First there was Scribblenauts Unlimited. A game which I played back when it came out, but I played again this year, and boy is it still an incredible game.
Then there's Neptunia: Sisters Vs Sisters which had a really fun (and complicated) story and is quite possibly now my favourite in the Neptunia series. The clear increase in budget was a welcomed addition. 
The latest great game I played this year (as in the one I played most recently) was Alice: Madness Returns, I've never played a game with such buttery smooth controls before. Or a platformer with combat that's actually fun. Shame that the music and level design aren't as good as the first game, but hey, the second game comes with the first game, so at least there's that, and the story's pretty good too. (Also yay, they wrote Alice fairly accurately to how she acted in the book.)

But the true highlight for this year for me is easily It Takes Two (which I played at the start of the year with my mother).
I would go as far as to say that this game has the makings of a future classic. In terms of gameplay, it throws every possible cooperative platformer gameplay element you can think of, at the wall, and a surprising amount of them stick. Then there's the story which actually has nuance! 
It also has some really good relationship advice.   
Although I really wish they burnt that book at the end. I absolutely hated it! 

But yeah, none of those were life changing.
I played a lot of games this year (including Red Dead Redemption 2), but those were the highlights. 

What about you?

[Ponch]

Half Life: Alyx. Headcrabs went from annoying in every other Half Life game to a constant source of pants-fudging terror. 

Also, Duke Nukem 3D. Whatever became of Duke's legacy after, I don't know that I ever had as much pure fun with any other game as I did with that one. It was an absolute blast to play. An incredibly inventive shooter for its time, in my opinion. Also The Last of Us. I wish that thing had never had a sequel. What a tremendously great ending to roll credits on. A perfect example of an ambiguous ending that can only be diluted by revisiting that world and its characters.

[WHAM]

Half Life: Alyx. Headcrabs went from annoying in every other Half Life game to a constant source of pants-fudging terror. 

I can second that one. Alyx is the one single game that proved to me that VR as a medium has the potential to elevate tired old genres like first person shooters into something really new and interesting. For me the greatest revelation was the interactivity of weapon reloading, how different weapons have different mechanics and how the simple act of changing magazine on a pistol can become a whole minigame unto itself when done under pressure.

As for my own entry into the list of games that changed my life, I will suggest a lovely game called TUNIC.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/553420/TUNIC/

TUNIC is a game that will absolutely die and lose all meaning if you get a few too many spoilers, so I highly advice people to not look too much into the game before playing. The images and trailer on the Steam store page should give you enough of an idea of the visual style and basic gameplay, which is loosely reminiscent of older Zelda titles. What sets TUNIC apart, though, is its manual. The manual exists as an object inside the game itself and discovering it, along with the little hidden quirks and details of it, was original, exciting and utterly delightful to me. I've spent several evenings and nights contemplating just how genius the little ideas and details of TUNIC are and how I might replicate even a fraction of that in my own game designs. In that, I feel it was a life changing experience.


As a honourable mention I also want to highlight another game: La-Mulana. Inspired by a youtuber I follow I took on the challenge of it after many years of having given up on it, readjusted myself to take extensive written and drawn-on-paper notes (with an actual pencil! Like we did back in the 90's!) and began to piece together its maps and secrets. While it is too obscure and difficult for me to make through without some outside assistance, it's an admirable game in that it sets out to challenge the player's comprehension of its world, lore and mechanics in a genuinely hard but fair manner and absolutely succeeds in it. What makes La-Mulana a life changing game is the immense sensation of accomplishment on beating single rooms, bosses and areas, let alone the entire game!

[speksteen]

The Last of Us Part One was the first game that made me react aloud in excitement at the screen. It was such a beautiful story that gave me hope during difficult times.

I was in homeless shelters for two years and it was tough. I deeply believe that having played the game gave me a strongly instilled hope that there would be light and positivity at the end of the tunnel. And there luckily was.

To lighten the mood. Firewatch was also a beautiful experience. It had humor, adventure, fun and a beautiful story about two people having a deep connection. It surprised me that I haven't heard of any titles made after Firewatch by the creators because Firewatch sold very well.

[Ponch]

It surprised me that I haven't heard of any titles made after Firewatch by the creators because Firewatch sold very well.

They're living in Valve Time now.

[speksteen]

It surprised me that I haven't heard of any titles made after Firewatch by the creators because Firewatch sold very well.

They're living in Valve Time now.

I'm not sure I follow so sorry if I'm misunderstanding.

But do you mean like Half Life 3? Which probably never will be released? :,(

Edit: Oh I Googled Valve Time and I get it now...That's a bummer lol. At least we still have the good memories of Firewatch.

[AndreasBlack]

Quake 1, i know it's like cursing on this forum I loved Monkey Island 3 too tho, perfect graphics for it's time. Almost like a dream!

[Ponch]

Quake 1, i know it's like cursing on this forum

I know that the atmosphere of Quake 1 was less intentionally crafted to be that way and more a result of its incredibly disjointed and unfocused development, but I still love it. It's just so damn weird. It's like a middle school boy's sketchbook come to life. Here's a new monster. It's just like the previous monster, but bigger and tougher. Here's a new gun. It's just like the first gun, but it's bigger and shoots harder!!1!

[cat]

Not too long ago, I discovered that the guy I refer to when I'm stuck at Plusword is actually one of the makers of Firewatch.
https://m.youtube.com/c/ChrisRemo?cbrd=1

What a small world 

[speksteen]

Not too long ago, I discovered that the guy I refer to when I'm stuck at Plusword is actually one of the makers of Firewatch.
https://m.youtube.com/c/ChrisRemo?cbrd=1

What a small world 

I recently googled him because I was curious about the soundtrack which he was also involved in. What amazes me the most about him was all the different roles he had in the creation of Firewatch. He seems super talented

[Babar]

If it is the same person, ChrisRemo used to be a reasonably active member of this forum as well!
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/profile/remixor/

[speksteen]

If it is the same person, ChrisRemo used to be a reasonably active member of this forum as well!
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/profile/remixor/

That's so cool! I'm still new to the forums but it would be super interesting, atleast for me, to be able to ask what drives people to design videogames. The answers probably differ per person.

[Danvzare]

That's so cool! I'm still new to the forums but it would be super interesting, atleast for me, to be able to ask what drives people to design videogames. The answers probably differ per person.

The answer will probably differ from person to person, but I'm willing to bet the underlying reason behind that answer will usually be the same.
And that reason being that they enjoyed video games, so they decided that they wanted to try their hand at making their own. That seems to be the typical reason why anyone takes up any sort of creative endeavor.

Basically: "Oh hey, that looks cool. Let me try!"

[milkanannan]

Quake 1, i know it's like cursing on this forum

I know that the atmosphere of Quake 1 was less intentionally crafted to be that way and more a result of its incredibly disjointed and unfocused development, but I still love it. It's just so damn weird. It's like a middle school boy's sketchbook come to life. Here's a new monster. It's just like the previous monster, but bigger and tougher. Here's a new gun. It's just like the first gun, but it's bigger and shoots harder!!1!

I randomly remember that 'impulse9' was the code for all weapons. 

Yeah, what struck me about Quake was the much improved physics of the game compared to Doom. I remember distinctly the feeling of throwing a grenade and having it bounce predictably of the walls before exploding. Seems like a small thing today, but at the time it was definitely a fresh dynamic!

[Ponch]

what struck me about Quake was the much improved physics of the game compared to Doom. I remember distinctly the feeling of throwing a grenade and having it bounce predictably of the walls before exploding. Seems like a small thing today, but at the time it was definitely a fresh dynamic!

The physics were mind-blowing for the time. I remember the low gravity level making me feel a giddy sense of joy the first time I played it. What a wonderful, unexpected sense of joy that was in the middle of all that grim, gothic design. Id was really something once upon a time.