I’m trying my best to dive back into the past and play all the gems that I missed as a kid because I was either born too late or too much of a kid to consider playing them. I found myself really disappointed going back to the old mario nes/snes titles because they felt really bad to play as I’ve become accustomed to modern platformer design sensibilities (like coyote time and responsive movement).

Are there any oldies+goldies that have stood up to the test of time and not shown their age in the same way? Or are so good that they’re worth playing despite showing their age? Preferably avoiding racing, sports, and final fantasy-esque titles. Not really interested in anything more recent than PS2 era either.

I already have Earthbound in my sights as it isn’t one I’ve played before but it comes highly recommended.

  • No prob. The first game actually has some fantastic mods and also a ton of incredibly well-crafted fan-made levels.

    You might want a few tiny mods for Deus Ex as well, though it doesn’t really require much.

    Kind of funny that it was “too violent” because you can go through most of the game without even killing anyone. It’s my preferred playstyle, just sleep darts and stealth stuff.

    Actually, you’ll have a bit of a rough time if you go in guns ablaze. A lot of people used to shooters end up being obliterated on the first level when they initially play it, which is what happened to me when I first played it on release. Came back to it years later after I’d discovered Thief and suddenly felt right at home.

    Edit: Oh, and it’s also available on GOG. Most of the earlier immersive sims (Thief, Deus Ex, System Shock, Ultima, Arx Fatalis, etc.) are.

    • Awesome to hear

      And yeah, like I was quite young so the idea of having weapons and not using them probably went a bit over my head at the time so it ended up being violent. I was also coming off of the back of games like Duke Nukem 3d and DOOM (which I somehow was not discouraged from playing - go figure)