Here's a list of my favorite games in reverse alphabetical order.
Wasteland
Interplay Productions 1988
Wasteland made a huge impression on me when I played it as a kid, even though I did not really understand much of what was going on at the time. The radioactive cities, bizarre enemies, and harsh post-apocalyptic world completely blew me away. It felt dangerous, strange, and unlike anything else I had seen.
Ultima VII: The Black Gate is my favorite game because, when I played it as a kid in the 1990s, its world felt alive in a way I had never seen before. I loved the tiny details, like baking bread, watching NPCs follow their daily routines, and feeling that Britannia existed even when I was not the center of it.
Arnaud de Bock, Remi Forcadell, Alan Zucconi, Calum Bowen 2019
Pikuniku surprised me with how outrageously good its story is. It looks simple and silly at first, but it keeps unfolding in clever, funny, and unexpected ways. I ended up playing it 100% through, which is rare for me.
Nethack was the game that made me want a PC as a teenager in the 486 era. It felt impossibly deep, mysterious, and full of strange systems waiting to be discovered. My first ascension was with a tourist, which still feels like a perfect example of how strange and memorable the game can be. Still one of my favorite games of all time.
Another masterpiece. Chrono Trigger is one of those few games I've played through several times and still remember fondly. Its story, music, characters, and time-traveling adventure all fit together so perfectly that it never feels old.
Cave Story+ stands out to me as a masterpiece. It feels both tiny and enormous at the same time. It has simple controls, memorable characters, and a strange, melancholy world that is slowly revealed. There is something special about how much personality and emotion it managed to project.
The Captain is a masterpiece, but an incredibly stressful one. It constantly puts you in situations where every decision has consequences and they can be painful. I admired it the whole way through, but I never finished it because playing it felt tense and exhausting.
