Recommendations Part 4: Those that All Should Play

 

Nearly every gamer has a list of games they think are the best and that everyone should play. This isn't a list of the best games, or my favorite games. They're games that I think everyone should play at some point. They're games that can help a gamer understand what makes a good game, the development process of a game or understand the history of modern games to appreciate what they have more and understand that there is more to understand and learn about game design. This list is to also explain to a non gamer what a game is and how it isn't all "Rooty Tooty McShooty" or waste of time repetitive violence fests and are instead an art form that stimulates more than just the eyes and ears. There will be difficult games on this list, but I don't expect players to 100% these games nor do I expect people to play them at all. Maybe it's for the lore, storytelling, and art design. It's also difficult to make this list because games I think should be on it aren't accessible to most players without emulators. I'll put those games in Honorable Mentions, but there might be a couple in it that will be difficult to find.

Either way, This isn't a list of my favorite games. If anyone wants that, let me know and I'll make something, however that list would also not be definitive and would be more fluid. Again, like all lists, this isn't in any particular order, more just which order I thought of them. This list is also subject to change over time.

List 4: Games I Recommend

1. Portal/Portal2: Portal is a first-person shooter by Valve. That being said, you don't really shoot at anything. Instead you solve puzzles using a portal gun that shoots two connected portals. The game is probably the most accessible 3D game of all time. Anyone can play it. The beginning has a slow burn of concepts showing players how things work without throwing them all at you at once. The game begins with no portal gun. You just solve puzzles using pre set portals or portals on a timer. Eventually you get half the gun and then the other half. As the game progresses, more hazards are added that flow seamlessly together. Portal 2 does this as well. Coming from the first game, you're placed into familiar rooms from the beginning of the first game, now dilapidated but with the same purpose: to teach the player. This is all brought together with a story unlike any other game at the time. The lore itself is a slow trickle at first. You are being guided by a disembodied robotic lady's voice. The things she says are a little off putting like disclaimers saying the portals might make you taste blood or forcefields that may disintegrate your teeth. This ramps up throughout the game culminating in an intense escape sequence that ends in a fight against the unhinged AI. Portal 2 continues this story with more characters. Overall it's a fantastic, simple game that I believe anyone can play, as long as you don't get motion sick.
2. Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: Again, Ocarina of Time appears on a list, and for good reason. This game revolutionized 3D adventure games. The lock on combat inspired by old samurai movies is still seen today in so many games. Sure the combat can be seen as clunky nowadays, but I just played the newest Sonic game (Frontiers) and OoT's combat still holds up compared to that. The design of the world and its aesthetic is still phenomenal. Up until that point, most games, even older Zelda titles, had cut and paste designs to their dungeons either with layout or just aesthetic. In OoT, every dungeon is recognizable at a glance. From the caves of the Dodongo's Cavern to the mansion in the Lost Woods. Something that's even lost to modern Zelda games is the boss design. These enemies got terrifying. The first boss Ghoma is a crazy, one eyed spider hand that climbs on the ceiling the lays eggs. Bongo Bongo is the ghost of an executed traitor whose weak spot is an eye where his head used to be. The lore of this game is deep as well, especially for the time. On the surface, you're just adventuring and saving people, but bits of lore are scattered throughout that sheds light on the world. I thought about including A Link to the Past in this one for similar reasons, but the story is only ok. 
3. Undertale: When it comes to accessibility in a turn based RPG, it's difficult to find one nowadays. Most are series that have so many things added onto them at this point, you feel as though your jumping in at the middle. Newer stand alone titles are trying to be the next best thing and become oversaturated with gameplay elements like customization and overly complicated stories. Now I've mentioned it before that I don't like turn based RPG's with the exception of Pokemon, Paper Mario, Persona and Undertale (Skies of Arcadia too for nostalgia alone). But there are so many out now with repetitive gameplay and anime style stories that they blur together. There was a Nintendo Direct like a month ago that had like seven new turn based RPG's that all looked the same and all had terrible names. Among newer titles, Undertale stands out. Inspired by the Mother series as evident with the 8-bit art style and similar looking battle screens, this game sought to make a different story with a different style of play. Instead of some intense anime war, it tells the story of a child who fell into the realm of monsters. These monsters, however are pretty human. The game gives you the choice to not fight them. It gives you the choice to befriend them instead; and unlike Shin Megami Tensei, you don't recruit them to fight, you just leave. The game has a beautiful and kinda sad story that gives the player bits and pieces with each ending, in which there are three: Neutral, Pacifist, Genocide. The game knows you can save and quit. It knows that you can reset and start over. I accidently killed a character at the beginning, quit to a save before the fight, and the game called me out for it. You can leave with the full story after two of the endings, you don't have to do the Genocide run, and the game actively tries to stop you from doing it, even making it the hardest run. But characters will remember you doing that in later runs. The combat is like a combination of a turn based RPG and a bullet hell. Your attacks need to be timed right and when the enemy attacks, you control a heart (your soul) to dodge their attacks with each enemy having a different series of attacks making them feel even more unique. Building your character isn't complicated and a full run is only a couple hours (well Genocide will take a lot longer cuz you will die....a lot) so there's no need to make the combat more complicated than it needs to be. Overall it's a fantastic game that's easy to learn and you will obsess over the story and the music for years to come. 
4. Super Mario 64: Platformers are the most common type of game. Even non-gamers have played the original Super Mario Brothers from the NES era. After that, even, so many platform games rose up and so many of them were fantastic. When gaming switched to 3D, however, platformers had a rocky start. Ranging from alright with Crash Bandicoot, to downright awful with Bubsy 3D. Nobody really knew what to do with it. Controls were clunky, cameras were set in one position, and the worlds were either linear or undetailed. The standard was set, however with the release of Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64. The movement was fluid, the levels were sizeable and the camera could be moved. This game is fun and still holds up to this day. A hub world you could mess around in, a creative level select and secrets galore. The levels were modeled after dioramas, being large islands in the air which allowed the levels to be concentrated and filled with various challenges and secrets without making the game feel streamlined. The game isn't perfect compared to nowadays, but it's still fantastic and helped future games improved from what they may have been. 
5. The Beginners Guide: This game is a little different than most of my other choices here. This is a game by the creator of The Stanley Parable. But unlike a game with a normal narrative, it's a story about the creators friend. Here you play through various small games the friend made with a narration by the game designer. This narration talks about his friend, his mental state and the phases of life that he was in. It becomes a heart wrenching narrative but the main reason I put this here is it gives insight into game design as well as has a beautiful story. It's not a long game to play but it's something that stuck with me and gave me a better understanding of how video games are an art and not just some distraction. This game helped push me to actually act on my desire to create games and I credit it, in part, to being a reason I am in classes now to learn how to create games.
6. Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion OR 5:Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls series is huge in the gaming world, and for good reason. Skyrim first came out 11 years ago and they still keep re-releasing it to this day. The reason I put the "OR" is because I think Oblivion is better, however Skyrim is more accessible and more simplified. The series is an RPG that allows you to forge your own path. With hundreds of deep quests, random events and a lot of customization with skills, no two playthroughs will be the same. They thought these worlds through. The lore is incredibly complicated, but you don't need to know any of it to enjoy the game. You choose a race, design them how you want and some starting perks and you just go. You don't just level up generally, but you level up specific skills as well. In Oblivion, you even can level up your ability to jump. The company, Bethesda, is notorious for releasing glitchy games and Elder Scrolls is no exception. I recommend saving often and with 3-5 different files for the one character. The glitches aren't always game breaking, but they can be sometimes. These games, however are incredibly fun. My brother played Oblivion for two days straight. After that, he swore off gaming for like 6 or 7 years cuz he was so appalled with the fact he wasted so much time.
7. Bioshock: Bioshock was said to have revolutionized FPS games. It didn't but only because companies didn't take the right ques from it. The game was art. You play as a mysterious character who is the lone survivor of a plane crash in the middle of the ocean. All that's there is a lighthouse that brings you down into Rapture: an undersea city that fell apart years ago. The remaining occupants have mostly gone insane, splicing up their genes for weird powers. You are tasked with finding a way out by splicing up your own genes to do things like shoot fire, hack machines better, turn invisible and so much more. The story is a critique on Ayn Rand's ideals with a 1960's aesthetic and crazy genetic human experimentation overtones. During this time in gaming, morality mechanics were relatively new thing. Only really being seen in Fable. This game measures it with little girls possessed by slugs filled with gene modifying substances (it makes sense, trust me). You have the choice with each one to save or harvest them. This makes one of 3 endings. There's a secret 4th too but it's irrelevant to the morality. Bioshock 2 is only ok and Infinite (the third one) is great, but doesn't hit the same story elements and feels lacking in some respects.
8. Half-Life 2: Is another first person shooting game by Valve where you do shoot things. This game revolutionized FPS games. It had an advanced physics engine, intense story and a really cool selection of weapons. Saying this game had physics manipulating weapons, different vehicles and tight controls doesn't really mean anything today, but at the time of its release these were mind blowing. Along with the engine the game runs on, this game plays better than many modern games. 
9. Paper Mario: I mentioned in the Undertale recommendation about Paper Mario being an accessible Turn Based RPG. This game has a simple story and simple mechanics, but they work incredibly well together, making a memorable experience. The game keeps the silly and whimsical as one would expect with Mario, but adding in the idea that the characters are made of paper. Compared to later games in the series, it doesn't play too much on the paper theming. I mean, it does play on it a lot, but not as much. It gives the game a craft like feel that other "craft style" games like Kirby Epic Yarn and Yoshi's Wooly World were inspired by. The gameplay is turn based combat where, as Mario, you can jump on enemies or hit em with a hammer. You unlock different versions of these and special abilities, but basically that's how Mario fights. He is partnered with a variety of helpers with their own attacks and abilities you can use both inside and outside battle. What really sets the combat apart is you don't just choose your attack, you have to perform it. Weather timing your jump, button mashing or pressing button combos, the game does a great job of making you feel in control instead of just selecting and hoping for the best. The story is all over the place, in a good way. Playing on the basic "Defeat Bowser to save Peach" story, Mario travels to different areas with different cultures, enemies and quirky characters. Many of these characters being recognizable creatures like Goombas, Koopas or Bomb-Omb's. This is a game I think about a lot. The sequel: The Thousand Year Door is also fantastic, but after that, the gameplay stopped being like the first couple games. (Super Paper Mario has an amazing story). Many people miss this older gameplay, so games from indie developers like Bug Fables have been popping up to draw on this nostalgia. 
10. Super Metroid or Metroid Fusion: I talk about Metroidvanias a lot. I think it's important to have on here what a Metroidvania is. The name is a combination of Metroid and Castlevania. These two games had a similar idea: travel a large map that has areas inaccessible until you get a specific powerup or item. Many games, both 2D and 3D take inspiration from these series. The idea is the map expands as you play and you can traverse it more easily. The Metroid series isn't too deep story wise. It's all pretty easy to follow as long as you know the chronologic order of the game. I specifically say these two games because, in my opinion, are the peak of the series. I did enjoy the newer Metroid Dread, however I found it much more difficult than these two. I'm sorry I don't have much experience with Castlevania, I'm sure something like Castlevania Symphony of the Night is just as good of an example, but I haven't played it. 

Honorable Mentions: The Stanley Parable, Rayman 2, Fable 2, Castle Crashers, Banjo-Kazooie, Wario Land 2-4 and Shake it, Celeste, The Path, Bastion, Inscryption, Hyper Light Drifter, Night in the Woods, Persona 5, Untitled Goose Game