some good video games according to some rando and descriptions

  The Classics:

Half-Life (series)
 fps staple. got me to think about level design early on. i am constantly being reminded that not everyone has played these.

Thief (trilogy)
 technically classified as an immersive sim but mostly i just like to sneak around

Deus Ex (the first one)
 frequently referred to as the best pc game of all time by snobs. a game where you can try to derail it by killing important characters but the game accounts for that and keeps going

Morrowind (the third one)
 the only elder scrolls game that matters


  These Live In My Brain At All Times:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (the main games are good but so is wandering around in the anomaly mod)
 at a young age i stepped into the thick slavic fog that emanates from this game and i let it in. a welcome poison

Dishonored (giant rat)
 sneaky game (thief), the city is designed by viktor antonov (half life, city 17), and there is a very painterly art direction. of course i like these games.

From Software
 from software does a lot of things with level design and storytelling that light up my brain. and yet, somehow i didn't get around to the rest of their games until i finished dark souls in late 2019


  Big Brain Think Games (but oddly relaxing):

Myst and Riven (the sequel to Myst)
 first video games i played that were not designed for children. puzzle solutions try to be more about understanding systems than making leaps of logic

Zachtronics (developer)
 games with puzzles where there isn't one fixed solution, just target behavior and you have to build something to get there. some get remarkably close to just programming


  Excellent Video Games Please Play:

Outer Wilds
 no i will not spoil anything about this video game other than that it is in space and you should play it. it is very good

Yakuza 0
 WO BREAKING THE LAW!!! BREAKING THE RULES!!!!! KIRISAKE TENDERNESS! this is hands down the best yakuza game and it's even a prequel so there is no story that comes before this

Rain World
 slugcat is but one animal in the ecosystem. try not to die. one thing i will let you in on is that the game may be called rain world but if you were looking forward to a game where you hang out while some nice rain sounds are playing, this is not that game.


  Weird Ones (well i like them):

E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy
 You gain Brouzouf. a strange source engine game, dubiously translated from french. My legs are OK.

Devil Daggers
 run and jump and spew daggers out of your hand and there are so many skulls. shout out to good audio design.

DEADBOLT
 a game designed for that one time where you enter a room with a plan but even though it goes wrong very quickly you still manage to kill everyone