5: Sekiro - One of the best modern works of gothic horror in any medium (yes better than Bloodborne and Souls). A tight central narrative tied into a much deeper lore than is apparent at first glance. Also informed by Buddhist morality, which is pretty cool.

4: Ark - You can shoot a rocket launcher at robots from the back of a Giganotosaurus. What's not to love?

3: Spec Ops: The Line - A controversial game, but one of the only shooters in existence to actually critique the bloody imperialist power fantasy that all modern shooter games inherently are. It spat on Call of Duty and gave the finger to every ooh-rah Marine dipshit who thought they were buying another game to fellate themselves with.

2: Disco Elysium - self explanatory

1: Journey - Less a game and more an interactive therapy tool. Helped bring me out of a major depressive spiral way back when. Play it on mescaline and it becomes a spiritual experience. Also a playable deconstruction of The Hero's Journey story framework, which I just enjoyed aesthetically.

  • machiavellianRecluse [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago
    spoiler

    Hmm winning and losing controls who gets to escape the prison world right? There are many people who want to go and you might want to lose and let certain enemies escape. This controls a lot of plot threads. Sending certain characters together will change their ending - the harp sisters, Jodarius and Ignacius (the two horned demons end up together if you send Jodarius - which requires you win at some point and let Ignacius also escape - which requires that you lose in a fight with them), etc