I’ve always been more into competitive games, like FPS and MOBA. But now, I’m starting to like more story-focused games that will add something to my life, or just awesome games that everyone should play at some time.
Do you guys have any to recommend? Edit: I play exclusively on PC.
So far I’ve played both Portal games, truly awesome, Hollow Knight and Celeste.
I am going to recommend, perhaps, my favorite game of all time, Outer Wilds from the studio Mobius Games.
But please please promise to go in completely blind. Your awareness and knowledge of the world is the key mechanic, so almost any info not only spoils the mystery, but also robs you of literal measurable minutes in gameplay.
All I can say - it is a very touching first-person immersive stimulation game in space about, essentially, alien archeology. Expect wonder, discovery, some frights, have your mind completely blown every 10-20 minutes. It will probably make you cry a couple times as well.
It is one of those games when, after finishing it, you immediately get sad because you will never experience it again in the same way. So you start annoying everyone into playing it, just to enjoy discussing it and seeing someone else play.
And the DLC is equally awesome.
Agreed.
But, to be clear without giving spoilers, by “simulation game in space” it means getting in a ship and flying from planet to planet, while dealing with things like gravity and momentum. In my opinion just the right amount of challenge that it starts hard but doable, but is possible to get good at in the late game. So that was lots of fun.
Also, while I will not reveal plot here, I feel given feedback from some of my friends that didn’t like it the way I did, that maybe setting some tone expectations may help. The gameplay experience is mostly about exploring the planets, learning stuff, observing things, and making connections in you, the player. There’s archeological evidence out there in space, and it’s your job to figure out the history. It’s not boring, though! It feels more like a giant puzzle. But you should go in with an exploration mindset and if a particular path doesn’t work out, maybe it’s not time yet. Just try exploring something else!
One of my friends was too “goal oriented” and just kept hammering a given path over and over and it made them frustrated, which is a shame.
Also, while the DLC is also good, I waited until after the main game to play it, and I’m glad I did. I don’t know how it works to have the DLC running at the same time as the main game, but they’re two pretty independent stories / investigations and I wouldn’t want to get accidentally caught up in one while trying to piece together the other. I feel like that would be pretty confusing.
To any followup posters, remember no spoilers!
I’ve only ever heard good things about Outer Wilds. I wish I could play it but my current PC can’t handle it :/
Right now is a great time for PC gaming as the Steam summer sale is happening! If you enjoyed Portal, you might enjoy other Valve games like Half Life. At the moment, you can pick the franchise up for a few dollars.
Half life is another one of those series like Portal that I feel like everyone is required to play at some point
Morrowind is a fantastic game even if its clunky by modern standards, def use OpenMW and a UESP guide tho.
Both Knights of the Old Republic games are great (the second is a lot better imo) if yr into star wars.
With Those we Love Alive is a surrealist hypertext game with an awesome creepy ambient soundtrack.
Morrowind vanilla
Just tell them to keep their stamina bar up, as it’s more important than they will ever realize. And they’ll likely rage quit otherwise.
If you’re getting into other types gaming, I think you can afford to wait for Skywind rather than playing the modded original. Plenty of other things to do
Journey, Spiritfarer, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last of Us.
Upvoted for Shadow of the Colossus, I am a gamer who plays the oldies.
I’m a diehard firewatch fan if you’d like a slightly spooky, heart full, storytelling masterpiece about the Wyoming forest. Everyone should play this game at some point.
Seconded! I happened upon this years ago and played straight through it, didn’t expect to enjoy it so much! It’s also super simple to play and understand, if someone is quite new to that general genre of games.
I will never not recommend Subnautica.
It’s a brilliant game, probably my all time favourite. I wish I could play it again for the first time.
If you have never played the Halo games, they are worth it too, Halo 1 to Halo Reach are fantastic.
I bought Subnautica today to play for the first time and I’m trying to decide between playing it on steam deck or blow some cobwebs off the vive.
Oh god I cannot imagine playing it in VR, it’s already scary enough on a normal screen
It’s pretty nice so far on the Steamdeck, though I haven’t got as far as base building yet
If you want to mildly shit your pants, Steamdeck is my recommendation.
If you want to fully shit your pants, VR all the way.
Halo 1 is a bit repetitive and honestly nothing special, but not bad. They do get steadily better in every regard though, and the later ones (by release date) are excellent in terms of both gameplay and story. I picked up the Master Chief collection a while back on sale, and it’s one of the few game series I’ve played back to back all the way through
Jesus Christ I cried my eyes out at Spiritfarer. (Also I was on the final beta test, so I’m in the credits for that one!)
If you liked Portal, any of the games that run on the source engine would be a good fit for you. Half Life 2 has an amazing single player story in FPS style and is on sale right now for $.99. Left for Dead 2 is another classic - probably the best zombie shooter of all time (and has a world of third party content) - also on sale right now for $.99. Straight military, go for CS:GO, or Team Fortress II if you prefer more of a Fortnite style game. All of these are older games, so run amazingly well on even the most mediocre hardware.
- Disco Elysium
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Sayonara Wild Hearts
- Gorogoa (really pretty much anything by Annapurna)
- Stardew Valley
- Night in the Woods
- Gris
- Firewatch
- Slime Rancher
- Oxenfree
- Fallout 3
- Fallout: New Vegas (Fallout series isn’t so much about great stories though)
- The Witcher 3 (Pretty good story, but imo it’s more focused on world building)
- A Short Hike
More games that are more about gameplay then story:
- Factorio
- Satisfactory
- Deep Rock Galactic (Rock and stone!)
- Goat Simulator
- Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
- Townscaper
- Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel (maybe 1 as well, avoid 3)
- Papers, Please
- Tomb Raider
- The Stanley Parable
I’m always glad when I see someone recommend Night in the Woods. It took me to a place no other game has.
I highly recommend Hades! It’s a top-notch game with excellently balanced combat (and I say this as someone who doesn’t really like combat in video games), an awesome story, and outstanding art direction and voice acting. Because of its structure as a roguelite, you’re restarting every time you die but getting a little further every time, so it basically trains you up. It really made other combat games much more accessible to me. Plus you can use God Mode to lower the learning curve a bit while still keeping it moderately challenging.
I don’t like roguelikes, I got it for the character interactions and what do you know, the gameplay is fun too!
Still not going to change my mind on roguelikes though. Just this one is nice.
Based on your description and games played I’d say “Furi” and “Transistor”. Second is made by Supergiant Games and all thier stuff is fantastic. I loved thier stories and the gameplay was unique in each.
Hades, which is also made by Supergiant, is also fantastic. It’s a great intro to the roguelite genre. I’ve also heard that their first game, Bastion, is great too, but I haven’t played it
Can confirm, Bastion is a fun little hack and slash that does a couple of very clever things narratively.
Even then their work was top shelf aesthetically. The art, story, music, atmosphere were all amazing. The gameplay was good at the time, but Hades does similar stuff better.
Can confirm Bastion is great.
Seconding Transistor. Opened the world of indie games to me. Great gameplay, atmosphere/music/art direction, and I love the voice acting even if it’s a bit sparse. “Hey, Red…”
Doom Eternal. So smooth for an FPS.
I much preferred DOOM 2016 to Eternal, it felt like it had more of the old DOOM essence.
I haven’t actually played 2016 yet but it’s on my list.
An FPS with a grand story, play Mass Effect if you haven’t already.
Mass Effect is notably not an FPS.
And then Dragon Age for the transition to fantasy.
I cant believe nobody has recommended any of the Fallout games. New Vegas is much loved and I really enjoyed Fallout 3 as well. I havent played either of the new ones, but I think especially 4 was well received.
Yeah, 4 was great mechanically and in the world-building, but the main story and choices may disappoint if you’re coming from New Vegas. However, Far Harbor did add a great expansion in that respect. I still very much enjoyed 4 and I’d highly recommend it
Hades
I second this. One of the few games I have gotten all the achievements for
