NGW's pseudo in-depth look at his top 10.

NGW

So this is something I originally posted on another forum, over the course of the last month or so I went through and posted my general thoughts and feelings on my top 10 games of all time and why they earned a spot on that list. There was a decent response there, but this place really does feel more suited towards something like that and while I can't promise a super in-depth analysis of everything or even entirely coherent thoughts at times, I really would like to share it with the community here, plus it feels like a pretty good introduction post, what better way to get to know a gamer than getting very well acquainted with their top 10 right? I will warn, it's a bit of a read, some of the entries took several posts. I also am not going to go through and do a ton of edits to what I originally posted, it was on a community I've been a part of for well over a decade and so aspects of it may reflect that, but I do feel the meat of it will come through alright.

I'll also be listing my preferred platform for that title (or just the one I played it on if it isn't necessarily my preference).

In addition to my top 10, certain entries will also have other considerations, these being games that are similar and that I feel could fit in the same spot in my top 10 but were not chosen for one reason or another, I'll give my thoughts on those as well when they pop up.

Shadow of the Colossus (PS4)

It's no secret that Fumito Ueada's Shadow of the Colossus is my favorite game of all time, I've said it numerous times in the past, I have purchased the game on every single platform it has been released on, have played through it countless times, I absolutely love it. No other game so perfectly created a sense of isolation and scale. The forbidden lands are equal parts barren and foreboding while also being lush and beautiful. From the vast plains and towering mountains to the enormous bridge that connects the shrine of worship to the outside world to the very colossi themselves, everything in this game makes you feel small and insignificant. Shadow of the Colossus was one of my first real exposures to minimalist storytelling, leaving the player to their own interpretations of the little info we are actually given.

There's been ever raging debate on whether or not video games can or should be considered art, and Shadow of the Colossus was the first really shining example of the medium as a true art form and it is often lauded for its artistic merit, to the point it has been featured in museums. It also heavily featured in the film "Reign Over Me" and was done so in a way that was truly respectful and faithful to the source material. Sure, there have been plenty of games, particularly in recent years, that one could argue do more with the medium for artistic expression, but Shadow of the Colossus still stands tall, particularly for having the gameplay to back it all up. Each fight is a puzzle unto itself, every colossus drastically different from the last, even ones that have strikingly similar aesthetics, no two fights are truly the same. Sure, a lot of the initial challenge and fun comes from figuring out just how to topple these beasts, and for some once that is gone the game isn't really worth revisiting, and I think that is entirely fair. But to try and best yourself, to find new and creative ways to tackle them, that is a wonderful challenge in and of itself.

And while I will get a bit more into Ueda's ability to hit you with an emotional gut punch in a later entry, Shadow of the Colossus really does know how to pull your heartstrings and leave you with a truly bittersweet end after an emotional roller coaster of a journey that truly leaves you questioning your actions and who really is the villain. I remember all of the time I spent on the Shadow of the Colossus board prior to release, the speculation, the issue of OPM that came with the demo disc, being one of the first people to do the "dodge run" for the final colossus, I really look back fondly on those days. And God, once I finally had the game in my hands. I chose the recent PS4 remake to represent this game, while the original is quite nostalgic to me, the utterly gorgeous PS4 version brought the game to life all over again and just absolutely floored me, it isn't perfect as I do prefer certain aspects of the original, but it is the definitive version in my opinion.

NGW

The Last Guardian (PS4)

Ooooh boy, the little vaporware that could. The Last Guardian, there is very little I can say compares to the feeling of actually holding this game in my hands, putting it into my PS4 for the very first, actually playing it. Most people have that one game they were waiting for years for, that one game you hyped longer and harder than any other. For most of those people, that usually tops out at about 3-4 years. Sure, there are some that actually do go a good bit longer, but even something like Kingdom Hearts III, while long wanted, wasn't actually officially announced until just a handful of years back. Duke Nukem Forever was the longest running joke in the industry, a game who's own troubled and prolonged development time resulted in its release date being used as a measurement of a long distant future. The Last Guardian may have not been in development for quite as long as Duke did, but it damn well give it a shot. The spiritual follow-up to Fumito Ueada's "Shadow of the Colossus" (previously discussed) was originally announced back in 2009, and had been teased prior to that. The game was originally set for a 2011 release, two years seemed like an awfully long wait for such a highly anticipated game.

Oh if only we knew...The Last Guardian wouldn't release until December of 2016, over 7 years from its initial reveal, 5 years after it's original release date, and an entire console generation later. The Last Guardian could almost be the new poster boy for a troubled development cycle and incredibly delayed release. It wasn't even entirely clear until the game released what the issue even really was. While the game has received a great deal more divisive a reception than the masterpiece that came before it or even the not quite as good ICO, one of the most often cited issues is one of the game's greatest achievements and the culprit of the agonizing wait. Trico, the adorable but possibly not actually titular co-lead of the game, the rat dog griffin thing is an industry changing achievement in artificial intelligence almost to the point of detriment. Team ICO was able to create the most realistic animal in a game to date, one that can be given a multitude of commands while simultaneously being able to do what it wants, as it wants, mimicking a finicky feline or loyal and obedient dog, the way Trico behaves and thinks and interacts is just astounding, it's hard to properly put in words. The way you build your bond with this creature so naturally over the course of the game, knowing full well the kind of storyteller that Ueada is and the sort of ending the game is clearly setting you up for, to the point that saying the game has a tearjerker ending isn't even a spoiler, and even after seeing it coming you still fucking cry like a baby when it's over and after it's over.

The gorgeous art design, stunning environments, interesting puzzles and story, I could just gush on and on about this game. Before it was even out I knew it was going to be in the running for my favorite game of all time, I had seven years to anticipate that, to hype that, and when I finally got the package with the collector's edition, one of the nicest editions of any game I have ever owned, I wish everyone could feel that. While in the end I did still prefer Shadow of the Colossus, there were aspects of The Last Guardian that were either aggravating (climbing on Trico wasn't always intuitive, some of the puzzles were a bit finicky, etc.), the game still left a lasting impression, it managed to live up to an unprecedented amount of hype that I could forgive many shortcomings others could not. I'm kinda rambling a bit at this point, I could keep gushing. I fucking loved this game.

NGW

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)

There aren't too many games that I can remember actively following and hyping prior to release as a kid. Sure, there are games here and there that I saw in various coming soons or preview articles in like Game Informer or something like that and I'd be excited for them, but Majora's Mask is the one that really stands out to me as a game I was genuinely HYPED for. My history with the Zelda series is, at least to me, kinda interesting. The earliest memory I have of the franchise goes back to visiting one of my mom's aunt's or cousin's houses when I was really young. They were playing Zelda II on the NES, I know it had to be II because I very distinctly remember sidescrolling sections and that's the only Zelda that really fits the bill. I had asked what game it was, was told "Zelda" and that was really kinda it. I didn't own an NES or an SNES growing up, though I certainly played my fair share of both, so it was actually quite some time before I was reintroduced to the series.

I was hanging out at a friend's house back in 1999 (so it had been out for a few months by then), he was playing some 3D action game inside of a giant fish. I thought it looked pretty cool, watched him play for a bit before we did something else. Some time later I'm hanging out there again, he's fighting the final boss, I remember some of the little jokes like him shooting it in the face with this chain weapon and just going "click, click" (it was stupid, but come on, we were like eight). After finding out what the game actually was called and getting a bit more of a look at it, end up at a Blockbuster (building is actually still there, though it's a bank or something now I think) and I grab the only copy of it that they had (it was used however, but whatevs) and take it home, eager to start it up.

Absolutely loved the game, it's a classic, I don't really need to go too into my first time with Ocarina, I did end up getting the guide as well (though that's long since fallen apart) though I don't recall using it much aside from as something to read and look at the awesome art and stuff, especially because I don't remember too much of that first playthrough of the game. I can't say it was my favorite game of all time or anything close, but it was definitely something special. So imagine me then as I look through the new issue of Game Informer and see the preview talking about the coming sequel to Ocarina of Time.

I remember pictures (ones that ended up not the best representation of the final product, there's a lot of places you just don't ride Epona in that they showed back in the early previews). Like this was right after the game was announced, it didn't even have a title yet. Something about it just caught me up, I couldn't even tell you why it appealed to me so much from the very start, it just did. I eagerly gobbled up any news we got from then on, looking at whatever previews there were, scouring over the new screenshots, being wowed by the transformation masks, loving the cool title and logo, the way Majora's Mask itself looked. I saved up money and actually preordered the game, I think it's the very first game I ever did that for. I mean, I was HYPED.

Then the day finally came. It was a long, long day for me, I knew the game was finally coming, but I had to wait until my dad was able to pick it up and bring it to me (my parents had since divorced by the time the game was actually out). When he finally got there, I couldn't play the game. Turns out you needed an expansion pack for the N64 in order to play it, something I somehow missed in all the time I spent hyping the game. I was disappointed, to say the least. A short trip to the local Funcoland later he returned with the necessary hardware and I was off to the land of Termina.....

Majora's Mask was a divisive game. It was so much the opposite of what came before it. Ocarina of Time was a sprawling adventure full of dungeons, bosses, it was a grand tale told on an epic scale. Majora's Mask was a much more personal journey. The story it told was quite small, there were significantly fewer traditional dungeons, the story would instead be focused primarily on a single town and it's surrounding areas and, most importantly, the people that inhabited it. While there was the world ending threat looming overhead, the majority of the conflict in the game came from the various problems the inhabitants of Termina and Clock Town faced. Some were caused more directly by the Skull Kid, others were not.

This definitely took long time fans of the series aback, there really hadn't been a Zelda game like this. This wasn't helped by the use of a limited time system that definitely rubbed a lot of players the wrong way. For them it was a game ruining mechanic, they wanted to take their time of everything, do it all at their own pace, etc. etc. I can understand that, I can. But for me, for fans of the game, it was what defined Majora's Mask, it was what made it so immersive. You could learn the day to day schedule of all of the characters, everyone moved and acted the same way on each cycle, it added a new layer to things, it was so integral to the game and the increased focus on sidequests and the world and characters rather than the quest.

Another major sticking point was the tone. Majora's Mask is a dark, depressing game. Ocarina of Time certainly had its moments, I don't think anyone will forget the first time they leave the Temple of Time as an adult and see what's become of the once happy, bustling Castle Town. Or the trip to the Bottom of the Well or Shadow Temple. Majora's Mask on the other hand is a game full of stories of loss, of sorrow, of moving on, facing death. The cheerful opening theme gives way to an ominous and foreboding score. The Song of Healing as it plays in the depths of the clock tower is a somber melody. There are genuinely eerie alien invasions, each of Link's transformation masks is tied to the death of another, the game's longest running sidequest ends with a young couple finally embracing on the night of their wedding, ready to face their end together.

And even beyond all of that, when you finally do finish the game, what have you really accomplished? It is impossible to complete every sidequest in a single three day cycle, so even when you win you can't help everybody. And while some of the woes of Termina are solved when Majora's Mask is defeated, there are those that, as I said, had little or nothing to do with Skull Kid's meddling and aren't just fixed with the press of a button. The deku butler is left to mourn his lost son, who's body he finds after the game is over. And what about Link? He just rides off when all is said and done, he's not some big hero, he isn't celebrated, no one knows what he went through, what he's done, he did it because it was the right thing to do, he didn't need the praise, but that sense of being the truly unsung hero. It's a very mature game, and in a way not a lot of people normally mean mature.

Gameplay-wise it more or less expands upon Ocarina. The addition of the transformation masks adds a lot of cool variety to Link's move set, the Zora form in particular was always my favorite. Granted, the Deku mask really falls out of favor early on, to the point it's basically just left there as something to use the Elegy of Emptiness with in Stone Tower. While part of me wishes there were some other cool new items introduced rather than the dungeons all just giving you an element of the bow to use, the multitude of masks to collect definitely made up for it. Some are merely there as one-time use ways of getting a heart piece or completing a quest, but there are some with a lot of cool utility. The Bunny Hood is an absolute staple, the blast mask almost removes the need for traditional bombs, the stone mask adds a fun way to just avoid combat and observe things, I love watching Gibdos and Redeads dance, or conversing with the dead with the Captain's Hat, playing trivia with Keaton's mask.

Seeing such a small little sidequest from the last game return as such a major focus of the sequel was really cool. The dungeons, while fewer, all felt really well designed and had incredibly interesting themes and concepts. From a poisoned swamp replacing the traditional forest to ice being the major focus of a normally fire themed race's dungeon, the steampunk take on Great Bay to the phenomenal Stone Tower temple. There were less of them, but they made up for it in quality. The bosses likewise were all pretty great, with really only one that I'd call pretty bad. The build up to each dungeon also felt much greater in scale, infiltrating the Deku palace, the pirate's fortress and egg hunt, everything about Ikana.

Characters were way, way more memorable here than they were in Ocarina, which is funny given how many of them were just reused assets from Ocarina. Anju is a much more compelling character than "that girl from Kakariko that is allergic to her pet chickens", for instance. Skull Kid was a fairly sympathetic villain with an amazing design, he just looks so badass wearing Majora's Mask. Tattl was miles better than Navi as a traveling companion, she had real sass to her and was so much less annoying, easily the best partner in the series up until Midna. It was really cool to get to know the different races and see aspects of their society explored, particularly the deku kingdom, as they are normally nothing more than mindless fodder enemies.

Musically, easily my favorite soundtrack in the series. From the opening credits theme (you know, before the "press start" screen), which still sticks with me as one of my all time favorite opening themes to a game to the Song of Healing or the utterly brilliant Final Hours. In a series renowned for its music, Majora's Mask knocks it out of the park.

So, why the N64 version over the 3DS remake? I was super hyped when the first trailer dropped for Majora's Mask 3D. It was something I had been hoping for ever since the DS, Majora's Mask on the go, then we got Ocarina of Time 3D and the idea of such a visual upgrade being applied to Majora's Mask was...man. I remember all the disappointments when it wasn't announced during a direct or at E3, so when it finally happened, like I said, hyped. Then the game finally comes and, well, I liked it but I wasn't enamored with it. The visuals were gorgeous, but the game definitely lost something in the upgrade, it was too bright, it was too cheerful and colorful, it lost a lot of that more depressing, shadowed look it had. There were some "quality of life" changes I was not a fan of, being able to save whenever and even removing the requirement of traveling back in time to make a hard save was a huge misstep and went against everything that the game was built upon, it absolutely removed any tension or consequence your actions may have had. Being able to move to an exact hour I was sort of iffy on, but I could let it slide. They absolutely ruined swimming as a Zora however, and while the Gyorg fight was notably improved, OMFG they really ruined the fights with Twinmold and Odalwa. And the giant eye thing was just such a stupid, unnecessary way of trying to tie the boss fights together.

Ok, this one went on a bit long haha. Hope I covered everything I wanted to say.

NGW

SOMA (PS4)

Horror is difficult.

It's not that it's really all that hard to scare someone, anyone can yell "boo!" and jump out from behind a corner and get a reaction. Hell, that's most of what passes as horror these days. That's not to say that jump scares don't have their place, they are a common trope of the genre for a reason and even some of the best examples of horror across multiple forms of media use them. It's when a work becomes overly reliant on them or is incredibly lazy and "cheap" with them that it's a groan-worthy issue. You can have your jump scares, but you gotta earn them. Unfortunately it is this prevalence of jump scare dominant horror that has lead to the collective mindset that if you aren't jumping out of your seat every five minutes a movie isn't "scary".

I think a great recent example of this is the absolutely brilliant 2016 film "The VVitch", a personal favorite. This was a slow burn, very classic style of horror. I recall getting into debates at the time around release where I argued that "it's not a scary movie, it's a horror film" and I think that rings true, it also applies to the next entry in this little analysis here.

In 2010 a small Swedish gaming company named Frictional Games released Amnesia: The Dark Descent on PC. While not entirely new to the scene, their previous Penumbra series was quite good, Amnesia was the first time Frictional really got brought to mainstream success. This is mostly because of the advent of Youtube and the rising popularity of Let's Plays and reaction videos, most especially the kind where the player would flail around screaming at the slightest jump scare. Now I do intend to talk about Amnesia more later, but I want to note that this is a big part of why I feel Amnesia found far more success than SOMA did when it finally released five years later.

I've had to rewrite this sentence at least three or four times trying to even figure out what I want to say. I have been a horror fan for the majority of my life, I grew up with it, I have immersed myself in it, I live and breathe it. My favorite film of all time is a horror movie, my favorite novel is a horror novel, my favorite day of the year is Halloween, my favorite place to go is Knott's Scary Farm, I don't want to paint myself up as more than I am, but I kinda think that when it comes to horror that I "get it". A lot of developers do not "get it". A lot of that comes down to what I said at the start of this, horror is hard. I don't want to repeat myself too much, like I said, scaring people is easy, but horrifying them, leaving them with thoughts and feelings that will persist, true horror, something even the greatest minds in the genre don't always nail, that's fucking hard to do.

SOMA is not a game that is full of jump scares, it doesn't have a bunch of monsters constantly pursuing you or making your life difficult, at least not all the time. That's not to say that there are no monsters, there are no jump scares, there are no moments like that because there are and I feel the game uses them well when it does, but SOMA is so much more than that and the horror of the game comes from so much more than that.

There are a lot of games that deal with morality, black and white, good karma and bad karma, the whole trope of helping an old lady across the street versus pushing her in front of a moving vehicle, most games are super heavy handed with it and so binary with it and the reasons you make those sort of choices are so damn shallow. SOMA on the other hand, here's a game that so seamlessly implements these moral choices that you actually do have to stop and think about them, you're not choosing blue or red, deciding if you rather get rewards now for being bad or waiting to get better rewards later for being good.

This is a game that actually puts your morality to the test, and this is hard to really convey well without getting too into spoilers as some of the best examples of this in this game are incredibly spoiler heavy and I do wish to avoid spoiling as much as possible, which makes it sorta frustrating for me because this really is something I feel the game absolutely nails and they are the sort of choices that stick with you, that you reflect upon, they add so much emotional weight to the game.

There are so many quiet moments, chances for you to just reflect and think and let everything just sink in. Not many games, especially in the horror genre, do that and it's a shame, I find them to be some of the strongest moments in SOMA.

I'm going to get a little..buzzwordy here, I do apologize but let me get it out of the way. Mood, tone, atmosphere, this genuine sense of existential dread and these dark, haunting environments, these horrifying creatures, the isolation even when you have a companion, the game is depressing and heavy.

Another strong point is, as I mentioned, the game leaves you with these questions, it makes you think. And the things it makes you consider and think about, how you question consciousness, what makes you you, what makes you human, that just chills down to the bone and it does not just go away. If you really dig into some of the philosophical ideas that Frictional presents here, the idea of the self, it is just such an effective tool for horror to make you stop and think about that.

There is so much to it that I won't be touching on, but just as a taste, if your body is constantly losing and replacing cells, is the you that is here now really the same you from years ago that is made of entirely different cells? I can't really articulate the concept as well as the game does, it really does put the entire idea in a much much more well delivered fashion, and there's much more to it than that, but I hope it gives some sort of idea. I thought I had posted a playthrough topic about it before, but a quick search isn't turning it up, shame as I seem to recall citing bits about this in a post somewhere and I can't find it, I probably articulated it better then.

The story is really interesting, there are some great twists including an ending that just floored me, it's my favorite ending to any sort of horror media ever, it was absolutely perfect and I could not think of a better way to have ended the game. It was utterly horrifying, perfectly executed, haunting.

Few other random thoughts, the environments are gorgeous, detailed, dark, creepy as hell. Phenomenal sound design, walking around on the ocean floor is incredibly frightening, especially as you go deeper and deeper. Some great voice work, the cast did a great job, lots of emotion, very well delivered moments, very powerful moments.

Other consideration - Amnesia: The Dark Descent

This was sort of an obvious second choice for this place. Amnesia is by far Frictional's most successful game and the reason for that is also a big part of why it ended up only in consideration rather than on the list proper. I loved Amnesia, it was a fantastic, scary, atmospheric horror game, something Tomas and Jens have proven time and time again they are experts at.

However, Amnesia does lean more towards that sort of horror game that's become more and more popular with the Let's Play Youtuber crowd, the kind that gets the big reactions and jump scares and hide and seek moments and everything. It does have its quiet moments, some of the strongest sequences of the game come from these. I still think the section where the invisible water monster chasing you leading into you escaping into an absolutely beautiful, quiet foyer is one of the highlights of the game,

That said, a lot of the horror of Amnesia does come more from those sort of monster encounters, that sense of powerlessness against the horror, and that's perfectly fine, I don't have anything against that style of horror, but when you compare it to the more thought provoking and philosophical horror of a game like SOMA, it just feels..lesser. I also think SOMA had a far, far more interesting story and better characters.

I think that's about all I can really say about SOMA without spoiling a shit ton of things I rather not spoil, I hope I articulated the points and praise I was trying to get across, I got interrupted part way into writing this and kinda lost a lot of my thought process on it so it may be a bit more rambly and vague, especially coupled with my not wanting to spoil the damn game.

Actually did find a quote in an older post I made that kinda puts my thoughts on Amnesia/Penumbra vs SOMA perfectly:

"It was a much more cerebral type of horror, and while I loved Amnesia and Penumbra, I found it more effective than those, which were more scary or panic inducing, rather than unsettling and horrific. SOMA legitimately made me stop and contemplate the concepts and ideas and morality it was presenting and was utterly chilling."

As for why I put PS4 instead of PC? Eh, it was just the version I had first played and in this case isn't really so much a preference thing, probably are better off playing it on PC if you are able to though.

And to shill for myself a little bit, I actually did a couple of interviews with Frictional games many years ago for a different site I was a part of (then later reuploaded to my kinda neglected blog, maybe I'll post these write-ups on there when I finish). One was done prior to the release of Amnesia, the other after. I also did a review so I guess I'll stick those in here to share (damn, hard to believe how long ago this was):

http://thengw.blogspot.com/2010/11/amnesia-dark-descent-interviews-with.html
http://thengw.blogspot.com/2010/11/amnesia-dark-descent-interviews-with_15.html
http://thengw.blogspot.com/2010/11/amnesia-dark-descent-review.html

NGW

Tearaway (Vita)

So probably a little known fun fact, my very first game for the Playstation 3 was MediaMolecule's ever so charming LittleBIGPlanet. It was actually one of the games that really sold me on the console, I loved the creative aspects of it, the platforming looked fun, Sackboy was (and still is) adorable. I never picked up any of the sequels however, not for a lack of love (I really did have a great time with that first game) I just didn't have the same interest in them as I did that first game. I never did forget just how much charm it had, that magical feeling when first starting the game up, the narration, the sounds and music, it really was just (to be redundant) a charming game. Fast forward many many years later and MediaMolecule reveals their newest title, an exclusive for Sony's Playstation Vita handheld.

I don't recall exactly where I first heard about or saw anything of Tearaway, just scrolling back through the archive on GameFAQs I actually seemed to have either missed or ignored its initial announcement. The first post of mine that I can see on the game is from a topic where I posted my thoughts after watching GameXplain's look at the game (hey, remember when they talked about non-Nintendo stuff?).

The game was, from what I recall, set for release on the 22nd of November. Judging from my topic I posted after beating the game, I apparently was able to get my copy early (I actually do recall being pretty stoked to have gotten it early since I basically never have that sort of luck). Granted, Tearaway really isn't a very long game, but it's still rare that I beat a new game within a day of release like that. It also stands as one of the few platinums I've ever bothered getting for any game.

So let's dive a bit into the paper crafted world MediaMolecule created for us. Tearway at its core is a chapter based 3D action platformer with a small focus on creativity and customization ala LBP. The game featured extensive use of the Vita's various gimmicks including both the front touch screen and rear touchpad, built in camera, microphone, motion controls, etc. No other game released on the system implemented these features so well and so naturally. The game really pushed the idea that you were holding this world in your hands, manipulating and impacting it, looking down into it (quite literally as it were). The entire premise is the story of a messenger delivering a message to You and the various twists and turns the story takes on their journey to get there.

It was full of the same wonderful music and sound and charming voice acting that the studio has become known for, the character designs are absolutely delightful. The paper craft world was brilliantly realized with everything having this genuine hand crafted look to it (and the team really did design everything by folding paper into those shapes) to the point that a big gimmick of the game was being able to print out and craft these characters and objects yourself. Even little details such as the water effects were gorgeous to look at it and seeing how they used paper to do this was just really really cool from a creative standpoint. You had chances to take pictures to add different textures to things or using the touch screen to cut pieces of paper to make decorations for your character or for those you interacted with. It just added a nice bit of something personal to the game, something that made the story uniquely yours (and this is an important point I will be coming back to).

The game itself isn't going to blow away the most seasoned of platforming veterans. It was fairly short, it was easy, it's not going to challenge you as a gamer. However, the environments were interesting and beautiful, characters and enemies were given really fun designs, everything just has this sheer whimsical nature to it that makes it an absolute joy to play. There were some really fun and unique mechanics, the way the game incorporates you actually playing the game, holding the system and how that ties into everything is hard to put properly into words but is executed so flawlessly and seamlessly it really blew me away. There are some fun and rather unique sections, some interesting twists and turns. Ultimately though, I don't expect many to get quite the same experience as I did out of the game, particularly if all you care about is the game as a platformer.

The gameplay is fine, good even, it feels good to play, it's fun, it has substance to it, but what you get out of it comes from so much beyond just that. Before I get into this last section here I need to talk a bit about myself on a more personal level. Ever since I was a kid writing stupid little stories in elementary school I have fancied myself as a writer, as a creative individual. I don't want to get all pretentious or talk myself up to being more than I am, because I know I'm not. I've never published anything, though I've tried damn hard to get myself to that point (I've currently got a novel about 1/2 or 2/3's of the way completed that I am of varying personal opinions on), I think I've had some great ideas that I've struggled to put down onto paper and I've had some really bad ones that I actually have. But at the end of the day I like telling stories. And at its heart that is what Tearaway is about. I normally try and avoid spoiling too much in these things, but what I got out of Tearaway is so ingrained in this aspect that I really can't talk about why I was so moved and so touched by this game without doing so.

After a very, interesting sequence, you find yourself being delivered the message by either Iota or Atoi, whichever of the two you choose to go on this journey with. The message recounts everything they just went through. The impact you had on the world by crafting things, recording sounds, pictures taken, how many times they died...how many steps they took..to get to you. Tearaway was all about creating and telling a story and the way the way it was presented and the use of music, reflecting on the journey, it just got me, it really did move me on an emotional level, and the message, the genuinely important message the game delivers to you, one that literally brought tears to my eyes, that touched with my very fucking soul. "This is your world, make it a world of stories."

Other consideration - Tearaway: Unfolded (PS4)

wipes tear from eye sorry, just needed a minute there...

So, what else could fill this spot but the Playstation 4 sorta remake of the Vita exclusive? Tearaway: Unfolded came out just a couple of years after the original. Leading up to its release we were never really given a great idea of what this game was going to be. Was it a straight up port of the Vita title? Was it a sequel? A remake? Something entirely different? The answer to all of these is, kinda?

Ultimately, Tearaway: Unfolded was an expanded retelling of the first game. The basic premise the same, you guide a messenger along as they set out to deliver a message to You. You interact and manipulate the world, with the presentation of this altered slightly as rather than looking down on the world in your hands you are instead interacting with it through the screen separating you from it and this is done fairly well and has its own unique gimmicks to it. There are some new areas, the game is certainly more expansive than the handheld title was. There were some really interesting and unique ideas that again play with the medium and offer a really interesting twist on the idea of you as a player and the role you play. It all comes down to the same message, same concepts, just told in a slightly different way. I also thoroughly enjoyed my time with this version of the game, but in the end I did feel like the Vita offered a much more personal experience and it just meant more the way it was handled there. Either one is worthy of a spot on this list and I HIGHLY recommend trying the games out. Creative types may get more out of it, the message certainly will mean more to those it resonates with, but I feel it is an incredibly important message nonetheless.

And just to add, here is an excerpt from a topic where I posted my impressions literally right after beating the game on the Vita for the first time:

"It was simple and to the point. Some of the platforming was interesting, and the game as a whole made great use of the Vita's features, definitely not a game that could be done on any other platform without losing something in translation.

Game was easy for the most part, with some of the later stages having slightly more difficult platforming. A lot of the presents seem quite well hidden as well, so will have to look around carefully as I go back to the different bookmarks.

Combat was simple, but you can tell it wasn't really a big focus, and it worked for what it was.

Just running around and looking at everything was fun too.

But yeah, it's a pretty linear, point a to point b 3D platformer. Closer to say...Mario 3D Land than Mario 64 or Sunshine. You can only backtrack to an extent within a single bookmark (basically world/area of a game) as you progress forward and the way back becomes blocked. You can select to start from the beginning of an area whenever you wish, so it's easy to go back and get things after you've finished a level or the game, etc.

The customization aspect comes from designing decorations for characters that ask you for them, or for objects in the world (at one point, for example, you are asked to create a snowflake, and the snow that falls in the level is shaped like your snowflake). You can also purchase designs to place on the messenger (Iota or Atoi), or make them yourself, and you can really completely change the look of them.

It feels a lot better than LBP did too, none of that floaty jumping like Sackboy had. The game seems really..tactile, interacting with the controls, the front and back touch interfaces, it's really nice. And it makes great use of the camera and even the mic at times. The motion controls aren't all that bad either, though they mostly come into play towards the end of the game.

As far as how the game plays out. You help the messenger out as he/she moves forwards towards their goal of delivering their message to You, and basically proceed through the different areas in order to reach that goal, though a little twist mid-way through sends things off course a touch. Not too much to say really, it's your basic platformer, just makes good use of the system's gimmicks and has a load of charm."

Honestly I'd consider repurchasing a Vita and this game just to have that experience with it again.

NGW

Demon's Souls (PS3)

Of course there was going to be a Soulsborne game on the list. I've stated before that From Soft's dark fantasy, action RPG franchise is my all time favorite series in gaming so of course it was going to be represented on my top 10.

Releasing in 2009, Demon's Souls came out at a rather..interesting time in my life. I had graduated the year prior, spent a good portion of the remainder of 2008 enjoying my new found freedom and adulthood (I turned 18 the month after graduation) and generally easy going life, playing games, going to conventions, LAN parties, just living it up, that last true rush of unbridled youth. A good chunk of 2009 was spent dealing with some medical issues, nothing serious, but something I did have to endure some very painful months and surgery to overcome. I began working my first job towards the latter half of 2009, I spent a good time training at different locations while my home store was under construction. One of the first big releases to come after I started working was one I had followed a decent bit prior to release, the hard as nails, old school action RPG Demon's Souls.

Now I didn't get Demon's Souls on day 1, I actually picked it up that Friday after getting paid from what I can recall. I remember reading stories about invasions and little bits of levels and bosses and stuff (I tried to avoid footage) and just getting so hyped, the way multiplayer was done in particular really stood out to me. The threat of another player coming into your game and hunting you down was, at the time, such a unique concept and those first week stories of invasions were so much fun to read and got my heart pumping. I didn't actually play the game all that much the first day I got it, just some outside drama really got in the way and soured me on it and I put it down fairly quickly and it was a little bit before I picked it back up again.

Once I finally got back around to it I really tried immersing myself into the world of Boletaria. I didn't make a ton of progress very quickly, I got stuck multiple times. I ended up using co-op for a couple of areas (Stonefang and the Armored Spider most immediately come to mind), which is something I actively avoid doing my first time through a Soulsborne game nowadays. The more I played it the more I loved it. A lot of my praises here will ring similar to those of SOMA, at least as far as the world and atmosphere and mood so I really won't touch on that so much here, just assume the same applies here.

It was the way the story and lore was presented, the interesting characters, the cool creature and boss designs, the incredibly innovative multiplayer mechanics. The Old Monk fight in particular was such an awesome and well executed idea and it is a damn shame that anyone playing this game going forward cannot experience it the way it was truly intended to be experienced. The combat was sooooooo good and everything felt so rewarding. The game was unforgiving, punishing, but on top of all of that, it was incredibly fair. There have been numerous videos and essays on the difficulty of the Souls games that put it all better than I ever could so I'm going to be lazy and not even bother trying, but very rarely would I die in this (or any of its sequels) and genuinely feel cheated by anything but my own incompetence.

What really pushed Demon's Souls above the rest was all of the shit that got cut in its successors. Stuff like character and world tendency being pretty big ones for me. There was something truly raw about Demon's Souls that's just missing from what came after, that almost lack of polish is so much of the game's charm. I wouldn't fault anyone for liking the game less than its sequels because of these things, but to me it is part of what made it stand out so much from the rest of what the industry was doing or what From would later go on to produce.

Other consideration - Bloodborne (PS4)

This honestly really could be in the number 6 spot on my list just as easily, it was basically a coin flip which one actually took the spot and even still I kinda go back and forth on it. Take all of the good about Demon's Souls, amp up the action, inject it with a healthy dose of H.P. Lovecraft meets Victorian era gothic horror and you've got a damn good game that does just about everything right. It's only major shortcomings stem from the awful chalice dungeons and the content locked behind them (I absolutely loathe that unique boss encounters are only available in these awful things) and how poorly implemented multiplayer was and how much it favored the people that did not want to be open to invasions. Those were the main factors that got Demon's Souls on the list proper in its place, and even then it really was damn close because I really do love just about everything else about the game as much if not more than Demon's Souls. As I said, coin flip.

NGW

The Surge (PS4)

Oh yeah, not sure if anyone quite expected this one to pop up on here or not, but I feel it shouldn't be entirely surprising. The Soulsborne games are my favorite series of all time and The Surge is far and away the best non-From Soft developed Souslborne title to date. Eschewing the dark medieval fantasy of Souls and Gothic Victorian horror of Bloodborne, Deck 13's The Surge instead takes place within a near futuristic industrial complex, opting for a heavy dose of science fiction and industrial punk to fuel its apocalyptic narrative.

Not entirely new to the genre, Deck 13's previous entry in the Souls-like lexicon "Lords of the Fallen" was...kinda not that good. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but their sophomore outing really amped things up and delivered an incredibly satisfying and challenging experience with what I would say is honestly probably the best combat any of these titles has ever had.

It is deep and satisfyingly weighty, you can really feel each and every hit, but it never comes across as sluggish or unresponsive. In addition to your usual blocks and dodges you can also jump and duck under enemy attacks.

One of the sort of running gameplay concepts in The Surge is the use of risk vs reward. This can be seen in its combat via the limb targeting system, where you can (no shit) target individual limbs or areas of an enemy (head, torso, left/right arm/leg..usually) in a manner very reminiscent of Eternal Darkness. Where the risk vs reward comes into play is in how this works in conjunction with the game's loot system.

New weapons, armor schematics, upgrade materials, etc. are obtained through dealing enough damage to a specific limb of an enemy and performing a finishing move to actually sever that limb and take it for yourself. If you see a weapon you want, chop his arm off and wield it with pride. Like his helmet? Cut his head off and gain the blueprints to make your own. Need materials to upgrade your own? You know what to do!

Armored parts do have higher defense however, meaning you will be engaged in combat for a longer period of time, putting you more at risk. If you just want to cut through an enemy as quick as you can and minimize the chances of making a mistake and taking hits, most enemies will have unarmored sections or weakpoints you can target that will take more damage and put them down quicker, at the cost of losing out on the additional loot and schematics you would otherwise get. It's a great balancing act, it adds variety and strategy to the combat and it's just plain fun to boot.

The only real downside to this is there does get to be a point that you don't really need additional blueprints or upgrade materials and you're likely going to just try and kill something as quick as possible and I would have liked to see some way of keeping it all relevant throughout, but given that you're still pretty much getting new stuff and ugprading through the majority of the game (and on NG+ cycles you can upgrade your equipment further requiring higher upgrade materials) they did at least make an effort at counteracting this so props to them for having some foresight.

In addition to a pretty solid variety of weapons (broken down into single or twin rig, staff, heavy duty and one handed), many of which are repurposed industrial tools akin to Isaac's weaponry in Dead Space, you have your companion drone that you will be upgrading throughout your adventure. While its uses in combat are limited, something Deck 13 has stated they will be addressing in this year's sequel, it is nice to have and it shakes things up even if only a little bit.

And yeah, the weapons are awesome. From fork lift arms to a giant fuck you knife to claws made up of nanomachines, blades that shoot fire, a bunch of stuff added via the paid expansions or free updates, there's a lot of aesthetic variety, a solid handful of movesets and statistical differences, and it all just feels so badass.

Something that the genre is really known for is its focus on big, spectacle boss fights and while The Surge does have some really, really cool bosses (I absolutely love its last two boss fights in particular), I actually feel what sets it apart is a much greater focus on combat with normal enemies. The Surge is a HARD game and a big part of that comes from making each and every single encounter a genuine threat to your survival, more than most other games in the genre do even. It makes just trying to run through an area much more difficult, you'll often have to strategically engage enemies, trying to 1v1 things as often as possible as you'll die more often than not if ganged up on.

On the subject of bosses, something that The Surge does that I found really cool and unique (though I want to say Lords of the Fallen did this as well, I could be wrong) is having a "hardcore" kill for each boss, something to add an extra layer of challenge to the fight in order to obtain better rewards at the end of it.These range from preventing a certain boss from hitting itself with one of its own attacks to cutting all of the legs off of one boss rather than only a certain number or another boss that has somewhat more complicated requirements.

The reward is, typically, an upgraded version of the weapon you would normally get for beating that boss, often having special properties or moves (one of my personal favorites adds special fire attacks to its moveset), with the final boss actually having two entirely different weapons based on how you defeat it. It again plays into that sense of risk vs reward that pervades the design of this game.

And just to finish off my thoughts on risk vs reward in The Surge, the game's take on "souls". Much like any other game in the genre, you collect a form of experience or currency from defeating foes (souls in Dark Souls, blood echoes in Bloodborne, scrap in The Surge). However, something that The Surge does that really stands out above the rest, the longer you go and the more enemies you kill without banking it or resting at this game's bonfire equivalent, the higher the multiplier you build, meaning you'll gain more and more the bigger the risk you take.

On top of that, when you do die and drop your scrap, a timer starts and once it runs out, if you haven't reclaimed your scrap, you lose it forever (and of course the usual Souls rules still apply, if you die before collecting it, it's gone too)m but each enemy you kill on your way adds to that timer, giving you longer to get to it. And on top of that further, if you're engaging enemies in the area around your lost scrap, as long as you have not yet picked it up, you get bonuses (though I can't recall to what exactly, I do apologize) for fighting in the area around it.

The environments are incredibly realistic, they genuinely work to feel like an actual working environment, everything makes sense in the context. The game also would give any fan of the much lauded method From uses for weaving levels back around on themselves and opening shortcuts a raging hard on as this game's interconnected areas and shortcuts are absolutely astounding and well done, From could even learn a thing or two in this regard.

A quick mention to the augment system where you can sort of customize your build around various implants that give you different abilities or enhancements and can be swapped around, the higher your level the more or stronger ones you can equip. There's a decent amount of variety here and everything from your ability to heal to bonuses to the amount of tech scrap you gain to how much your energy meter (used for things like finishers or your drone or other abilities), damage boosts, etc. It's a cool system I look forward to seeing more from.

I've gushed about this game on this board plenty in the past and I will continue to do so in the future, and with a sequel coming this year that looks to really expand upon the world and build on the already solid ground work, I could definitely see that receiving just as much praise before finding its own place on this list if it doesn't replace the first outright.

Music is great too, I think that holds true for just about every game on this list so I'm probably not going to make too much mention of it in further entries unless I have a really specific reason to do so. Story was interesting, there were some really cool twists, the ending was great, yeah, not sure what all else I have to say. I've been going back and forth on handling these as deep reviews or how they've impacted me or just my general feelings playing them, I guess it may just vary from game to game on the list.

NGW

The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth + (Switch)

Another fairly recent addition to the list, I went into The Binding of Isaac pretty much as blind as one possibly could. I had heard about the game years back but never really paid it much mind. Flash forward to shortly after the Switch released and I'm keeping an eye out for anything that may be worth a look at, bulk up my library a bit. I hear about The Binding of Isaac coming out, that it's getting a physical release, that said physical release is including a manual and stickers and stuff, really getting the five star treatment. As someone that likes to support good practices and at least knows the game has a reputation for being, well, a good game. I end up biting the bullet, take a gamble and pick it up from the only Gamestop close to me that actually had a copy in stock (and it was a good 20 minute drive to that particular location). All without having seen a single screenshot or gameplay video or anything.

I currently have well over 500 hours put into the game. It is far and away my most played game on the Switch, it is one of my most played games of all time. I backed the kickstarter for the recently released card game (even backing one of the higher tiers that came with an exclusive expansion, t-shirt, 4-player playmat) and am hyping up both the new expansion to the card game and of course the coming expansion to the video game as well. I've spent a shit ton of hours watching the game played by various Youtubers and streamers. So this little game that I took a blind chance on kinda hit me in a big way.

A lot of that comes from just how replayable it is. Individual runs can take anywhere from (on average) 30 minutes to about 45 or 50 minutes on a slower run, so it's the perfect bite size for the Switch, playing at work on lunch (we only get a half hour at the casino), getting a few runs in before bed, whatever. The random nature of each run owed to the game's roguelike roots make each and every run a unique experience, especially as you play the game more and add more and more content into it by unlocking new characters, items, floors, enemies, bosses, etc. It's a game that literally gets better the more you play it. All of the cool synergies you can get, the occasional bad roll where you have to make a shit run work out in your favor, it all just adds up to these unique experiences.

At its core, Isaac is a simple game. You go room to room, clear out the enemies, find treasure, get items to power you up or otherwise modify your character, fight a boss and do the same on the next floor. But again, the random layouts, the cool synergies, just repeating myself here, it makes this otherwise repetitive process way way more fun than it sounds on paper. And it's a hard game. Some of the challenges and unlocks are hair pulling lessons in absolute tedium, but some of my most satisfying moments in gaming come from stuff like unlocking Godhead, finishing the Keeper's unlocks, beating the Ultra Hard challenge, I will always remember those and damn did it feel good doing them.

At the end of the day, Isaac is the game I almost always go back to. It's just too easy to say "just one more run". I've had newer games get put on the shelf and ignored for weeks because of Isaac, my backlog has become fucking ridiculous in part due to it. I know "perfect for Switch" is a running meme, but it really does apply here, the console versions may not have the mod support of the PC, but there is already so much content here and having it on the go is just hard to beat. I still go back to Isaac now and I know I will even years from now. If Northernlion can get THOUSANDS of episodes out of Isaac, I see that 550+ hours I have growing and growing in the years to come.

NGW

Digimon World (PS1)

So here is my nostalgia pick. That isn't entirely fair as there's more to its inclusion than just a sentimental attachment to it and the associated memories I have of my childhood it brings, but it is definitely a factor I can't deny.

Growing up in the 90's, one of the biggest fads to seize the youth was the monster trainer genre. Be it anime or video game or virtual pet, it was a huge phenomenon. Obviously Pokemon was, and remains, the biggest franchise to arise of this era. You had things like Monster Rancher, itself a very unique take on the genre with the fantastic use it put the Playstation's disc drive to and a really really good anime adaptation to boot. There was even an almost sub-trend with collectible robots and such as seen exemplified with stuff like Medabots. But the biggest rival to Pokemon was without question, Digimon: Digital Monsters.

Originating as a virtual pet, basically the "boy" counterpart to the already fairly gender neutral Tamagaotchi, Digimon first arrived on the scene in June of 1997. It, much like many others, would go on to be a multimedia machine with everything from games to anime, manga, radio shows, toys and even a theatrical film. And while, as I mentioned, there would be an anime inspired by the virtual pet, the game we are looking at today is one that takes its inspiration from the virtual pet itself and having very little in common with Digimon as we know it today.

Digimon World released for the original Playstation in Japan in 1999 and a year later stateside. In it you take on the role of a young boy obsessed with the popular digital pet keychain, having been sucked into the device and the world of Digimon. You learn that the once populous city is now just a small town, its residents having lost their memories and fled into the wild. It's your job to find them and convince them to return to town while learning what is causing the phenomenon and stop it.

You won't be doing this alone however as you are joined by your very own partner Digimon that you must train and raise to battle the various wild Digimon that inhabit the land. This is where the game really differentiates itself from both its competition and the anime that would follow.

While the anime more or less presented Digimon as having single evolutionary chains similar to Pokemon, in the virtual pet and most of the video game adaptations they actually have vast, branching evolutionary lines. Which Digimon your partner digivolved into was determined by a combination of factors, everything from stats to how well you cared for them, weight, battles, etc.

It was a somewhat obtuse system and the game really doesn't hold your hand when it comes to raising your Digimon, something that was quite off putting to most and greatly mitigated in future titles. Your Digimon would grow old, die and be reborn, just like the virtual pet. It's actually a part of the game that I personally really enjoyed and in conjunction with the structure is ultimately why it's my favorite game in the series.

When playing you would have to divide up your time between training your digimon, battling wild Digimon and learning new moves, exploring the land of File Island, and recruiting new Digimon to come back to town and help build and expand it. Many simply required you beat them in battle, others had more obscure quest lines that could take place over several in-game days if not longer. The feeling of growing this little town you start the game in into a more fleshed out city with everything from a hospital to an arena added a great sense of progression to the game and it was really satisfying to see things shape up.

I'd be remiss to not mention the music and sound design. It can come across a bit harsh these days, but this is a big part of the nostalgia factor to me the game has and I absolutely adore it. From the catchy earworm that is the File City day theme to the beautiful music of the Ice Sanctuary, the game is full of memorable tracks that I still find myself randomly humming along to myself. There's also a really special charm to the sounds of your Digimon pattering along or stomping as they get bigger and the various noises they make.

There's plenty of content, tons of Digimon to recruit, a plethora of evolutionary lines to complete, a bunch of trading cards to collect, even a bit of post-game content with an extra final boss.

Digimon World is a challenging game, a lot of the difficulty comes from its obtuse nature, harsh and secret digivolution requirements that often resulted in players with literal shit partners. I never beat the game as a kid. I put hours and hours into it, it's far and away my favorite game on the original Playstation, but I just could never finish it. It wasn't until I was an adult over a decade later that I finally pulled it off through a combination of just knowing more of what I was doing and being a better gamer, it was incredibly satisfying to finally do it.

There's some great full length let's plays online (I highly recommend MeowingKitten's: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5640E0FFE1480170) and I also find myself regularly rewatching speedruns of the games, such as those done by sparsie, he's incredibly knowledgeable on the game and gives some cool tidbits and strategies, definitely check them out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyAJmTw7Aoc

Other consideration - Digimon World: Next 0rder

Digimon World continued for several games after its original release and none of them were anything like the first and I just didn't care for them at all, it wasn't what I wanted out of my Digimon games. And while I would go on to really enjoy the very Shin Megami Tensei-esque Cybersleuth RPG, I was completely stoked when a proper return to the original Digimon World formular would finally be making its way stateside (there had been a sort of remake of the first game released some years prior but it was a Japanese exclusive), and not only did it feature many mechanics and concepts used in the first game, it was a direct sequel.

Digimon World: Next 0rder released in an already jampacked year of high quality titles. 2017 saw the release of the Nintendo Switch and several incredibly high profile games including the critically lauded Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. It also saw the release of other games on my top 10 including The Surge and The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth +. 2017 was an amazing year for games and Digimon World: Next 0rder had some steep competition. It certainly did deliver on everything I had hoped it would and found an easy spot on my top 10 games for the year.

However, while having a modernized take on a classic formula I loved was a childhood dream come true, I did ultimately end up enjoying it less than I did the first. It was a slower game and much more restricted by a greater focus on its overarching plot. This was its biggest drawback as it lost a lot of the freedom I loved from the original. It's a hard and grindy game, to the point that you never really want to be walking around with anything less than a champion level partner and even then you don't want to go far beyond the starting area without at least an ultimate.

They simplified and streamlined a lot of aspects, which is both a good and bad thing as it's a nice convenience feature but part of the appeal of the original to me was that sorta random, obtuse nature it had, I dunno. I loved a lot of what they did expand, the story was interesting, there was a bigger cast, having two partner digimon ended up being a pretty neat gimmick, the city really expands into a full fledged city rather than the two screen town of the first game. Combat is better and more involved. It did a lot right, but as I said, that lack of freedom really does hurt it and while it does play heavily into the nostalgia (OMG the remixes and remasters of the original soundtrack made my heart sing), there was a rough charm the first game had that's obviously missing here.

Still a fantastic follow-up and a must for any fan of the first game or the franchise, but it just barely misses out on a spot on my top 10 proper.

NGW

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC)

There are few games that have fully immersed me in their worlds in the same way that Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series has. From the idyllic Cyrodiil to the vast Skyrim and of course the mysterious island of Vvardenfell, the setting of the third Elder Scrolls game, Morrowind.

My first exposure to Bethesda's hit RPG series came when a good friend of mine brought over his copy of Morrowind for the original Xbox. He had just bought the game and was coming over to stay the night, this was back in like 7th grade I think, maybe 8th? I don't know where he had first seen the game, why he picked it up, whatever, but he hadn't played it yet so we dove into the world together. Some hours later he's long since fallen asleep and I'm up making a small fortune on my own save file as I steal things to sell back to the shop in Balmora. I just had to get that awesome armor the guards were wearing and I just need a few more gold to do it! And that is all it took, I was hooked.

By this point in my life I was no stranger to the role playing genre. Be it the likes of Ultima, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Digimon World, Diablo, Nox, but I really hadn't seen or played anything quite like Morrowind. This was a living and breathing world, the landscape was massive and interconnected, there were tons of characters living their lives, giving you quests, existing just to exist, it all felt so real and so tangible. You were given a quest and it was up to you to follow directions to find where you were going, there was no blinking marker in the sky saying "go here" or "do this". And your actions had real consequences. Sure, you could kill the living God in the city of Vivec. Good luck completing the main quest if you do though, ass. Morrowind was the first game that really made me feel like I could do what I wanted to and play how I wanted to.

Shortly after my brief weekend playing the game with my friend I went out and got a used copy from Gamestop myself. I can't recall now if there was an issue with the game itself not working or if I had just found out that there was a more complete version, but that copy ended up back at Gamestop and I took home the game of the year edition instead, which included two full expansion packs, one of which let you be a freaking werewolf!

I remember spending part of new years at my mom's cousin's house and taking the Xbox with me. I had a little guide I copied off of the internet, probably from here, for how to exploit the magic system to buff your stats and make you nigh immortal. Sure, it broke the game, but that was part of the fun of Morrowind, it was such a broken game but in all of the right ways and a big part of that came from magic. I loved being able to literally fly over everything or to run so fast you'd hit the edge of the world in just a few steps. Making a weapon that, when swung, would kill an entire city.

I didn't really follow the storyline a ton my first time through the game, especially because I challenged that fucker Vivec to a fight and beat his damn ass good. I ended up having to find a series of workarounds to actually finish the damn game, but that was ok, that was fun, it made my story more interesting to me. There were some really memorable sidequests and characters, gorgeous and alien landscapes and architecture. I poured hours upon hours into the game, and that was just on the console version. Obviously Bethesda's games are best experienced on PC with access to the robust modding community and while I never got into Morrowind on the PC as much as I did Oblivion, it's clearly the way to go here.

Morrowind was such an impressive milestone for the roleplaying genre, it offered the player so much choice and so much freedom in a massive world full of characters, an interesting culture, amazing lore, beautiful music, unique environments, badass armor (still probably my favorite Daedric set), awesome quests and sidequests. It really was just a unique experience for me, just nothing really compared to it. I thoroughly enjoyed both of its sequels and have since played its predecessors, but none of them really hit it just right like Morrowind. Arena has just aged relatively poorly, Daggerfall was too big for no real benefit (a problem Skyrim suffers as well), Oblivion and Skyrim really dumbed down a lot aspects without improving on too many. Sure it had some technical issues and I can understand the complaints in regards to combat, but Morrowind was still the first time I ever really felt like I was living in a game's world and it deserves a spot on this list for that alone.

Other consideration - Elex (PS4)

Speaking of incredibly detailed, living worlds and wonderfully immersive RPGs with technical issues.

Piranha Bytes is pretty damn hardcore when it comes to their roleplaying games. Never entirely stable and incredibly difficult, they cater to their audience hard and it really shows. Their works are incredibly love it or hate it, they are difficult to get into, but fuck if they don't reward you for sticking it out.

I wish I could recall where I first saw footage of Elex. It may have been a random post on Facebook advertising it or showing it off at GDC or E3 or something or catching it on a random Youtube video, I dunno. Here was a game that sold me first and foremost on the world it was presenting me with. This game promised me mechs meets Mad Max meets Lord of the Rings. I mean, you can (not literally) punch a Balrog with a suit of power armor. I mean, wtf?!?!? That's awesome, right?

So yeah, this mishmash of genres had me on board from the word go, and barring the game being completely broken and unplayable, I was pretty sure I was going to like it on that point alone. Thankfully the game was playable. To call Elex clunky would be..honestly a pretty apt description. Moving around and fighting just never REALLY feels good, but then again, it never really did in Morrowind and I absolutely loved that game. Elex was also incredibly difficult, your character gains experience and levels painfully slowly, the method of increasing your abilities and what you can use and your stats was rather different, basically using levels to allow you to use trainers to increase different skills and your stats ultimately existing for the purpose of using better equipment, it wasn't really easy wrapping your head around how it all worked at first, it's not really like other RPGs.

Beyond the interesting world and its primary factions (you basically have your traditional fantasy trope that hates technology, your religious zealots that worship technology, your Mad Max anarchists, your cold and emotionless bad guys) the thing that really sold me on Elex was just how immersive everything was and the attention to detail in a game you really wouldn't expect it in. This is roleplaying at some of its finest.

I'm just going to quote myself here, some things that just really stood out to me while I was playing the game.

"So something I have to bring up, as I find it to be a great little detail of the game, the little nuances to some of the quests.

So I have become an Acolyte of the Clerics, one of my first tasks is to..deliver soup rations to various members around the Hort.

I decide to go to the one nearest to the cafeteria, because that makes the most logical sense, and it is Xander, the guard at the entryway to the Hort. Now I had worked with him previously, naming someone during an investigation that he had requested be accused, and with what little evidence there was towards anyone else I went ahead and went along with him, no reason I saw not to. He had rewarded me prior with a strange claw, telling me its value would show itself in time. Now here I am delivering his ration and he mentions a sort of arrangement where he actually receives double the rations (and food rations are quite low in this area) due to his duties as the sole guard at the gate, and that the woman running the cafeteria need not know about this. I could of course give him the double portion, but I opted not to, saying that it wouldn't be fair to the others. Not sure if the option exists that I can now report this to Martha or not, I almost assume I can. I also am not sure what would have happened had I take the others their portions first and only had one ration left, I also am left assuming that the conversation would have been different then too.

Just so much to the sidequests, I love it."

"Another detail I love, NPCs actually follow through on shit. Turned in a quest, guy said he was going to go talk with the head honcho about this. I followed him as he left, all the way to said head honcho and sat in on their talk. Feels so alive."

"There are so many ways to approach quests and influence things. Like, before getting to the first town, a place that has banned tech, I found some Cleric (the tech faction) weaponry in a ruin. My companion informed me that it is customary to turn them in, but some guards would turn a blind eye. I spoke with someone willing to buy them, or I could hold onto them, another person asked me to turn them in elsewhere, etc.

I've heard from people about following some NPCs after finishing quests and seeing the results of their actions, including seeing someone exiled after a confrontation with another NPC, then killed by monsters after leaving town. All just because he was invested and decided to follow him and see what happened."

Stuff like that just really resonates with me. There are so many ways to go about solving quests, characters actually follow through on stuff and there are consequences to be had, even if there's a chance you never actually see or realize it. I never actually got around to finishing the game, it was just a bad timing on its release for the scale of game that it is, my backlog was and remains huge and it's still on my list of games I want to get back to in the near future. I can overlook its technical flaws and clunky nature, its extreme difficulty (even just stepping outside of the starting town is likely to get you killed by even the lowliest of enemies), all for the same reasons I didn't really mind Morrowind having its own issues, it gave me a real roleplaying experience and an incredibly interesting world that I truly believed in.

Also, apparently Elex 2 was confirmed back in September and I'm only now just hearing about it. What the hell? That's awesome. Both The Surge and Elex getting sequels? And people said AA gaming was dead.

NGW

Woooo boy, I know that all was a really long read and if you actually do take the time to read through it all I really do appreciate it, a lot of time and heart went into this list. It may not be super in-depth or technical, may come across a bit rough around the edges here and there and for that I do apologize. It's the first time I've really tried to put into words how I really feel about these games in this manner and I'm really excited to share it with a group of such like minded people and hopefully see what you guys think about it. While I know some games on my list are fairly standard top 10 fare, I also like to think aspects of it are fairly uniquely mine and maybe there's a game or two on there that you hadn't really given a second look and may be more interested in checking out because of this, I know I've won some people over on The Surge and they ended up enjoying it quite a bit, which I consider sort of a personal victory because that game was criminally overlooked.

So yeah, consider this my welcome to the forums, I'm sure you'll have a really good idea of the kind of gamer I am after this, what I really look for and enjoy in games, what I may be more willing to forgive and why. Thank you so much for sticking through it to get to this point. I look forward to your thoughts!