Have you played a game that stayed in your head long after you played it?
For me, Outer Wilds would be that game. I feel like I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I beat it a couple years ago.
Vampires, The Masquerade: Bloodlines. The whole vibe of the setting, the story, the locations, and then when I finally understood what the plot was really about. Masterpiece of a game, couldnt stop thinking about it.
Life is Strange Might have just been I played it at a point in my life that I could really relate to it but characters have stuck with me since playing it. Looking back, it could have been so much more then it was in terms of choices and such. But I still think overall it was great
Shadow of the Colossus. The entire vibe of the world just got to me.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. When I finished it I couldn’t stop thinking about it for a couple of days. It was quite the experience, hearing the voices and learning to trust them. Factorio. The factory must grow.
Believe it or not, it was a flash game. You can’t play it online anymore, though you can find it for download somewhere I’m sure.
It was called “Obliterate Everything 2” - it was just a small game about space battles, with fairly simple mechanics. But the amount of depth it got from that was so absurd. The difficulty curve was a bit wacky, and I remember talking at length to my friends about the various game design principles I’d learned from observing and judging it.
Loom
It’s been, what, 30 years? I still think about that game pretty frequently.
Cyberpunk 2077. Say what you will about the state of the game, especially when it released. But there’s something about the endings that keeps me thinking about the game and has me really excited about coming back after enough updates have passed.
Yeah, the story and side quest are really well made, and the soundtrack is so good, I can’t wait for the expansion, apparently it will overhaul so many things that it will probably feels like a different game.
Disco Elysium, easily. I think about it daily, and it was just written so powerfully.
Persona 5 Royal. I normally don’t like JRPGs but there is something special about this one game. The design, the music and the gameplay never failed to put a smile on my face
The Witcher 3 (mainly the DLCs), the story was so good, like it’s the only game I can remember where I was waiting to play it every weekend just for the story.
Ocarina of Time - the music is so amazing, I can still remember all of it.
Runescape Classic (like 2002) for making me impervious to scams - you get scammed by some players once and that sticks with you.
A few that come to mind:
- Gris - such a beautiful game. I was going through something when I played it and I just felt such a connection.
- Undertale - just an all around incredible game. I’m a big fan of Earthbound and this scratched a similar itch.
- Beneath a Steel Sky - I love point and click adventures and this one will live forever rent free in my head. (bonus: it’s free on GoG)
The final act of Disco Elysium fucked me up for a while
To The Moon. Barely a game, the dialogue can be really cheesy in places. But dang, I’ve thought about the ending to that game probably monthly for over a decade. The sequels are an incredible continuation of the story as well.
Half life Alex. I’m the only person I know IRL with a VR headset, so playing such an incredible and unique game feels like having an amazing dream that leaves you with intense euphoria , but knowing no one around you really cares as much about it as you.
For me, it’s bioshock infinite. The reveal at the end of the game changes how you perceive everything that you just went through. No spoilers, but it’s absolutely wild and is one of the best stories I have ever seen in a game.