I played Nine Sols recently and it had a transformative effect on my gaming experience. I’ve found myself no longer getting mad at fairly structured games and deeply enjoying the personal refinement of my skill set in pursuit of a goal. Suddenly this shift in perspective has allowed me to see difficulty in a new light and truly savor the victory that comes after significant effort. With this new perspective, I decided to try the game that had made me hesitate the most with its reputation for difficulty: Sekiro
Its been truly eye opening to realize that my nervousness has only kept me from a good time. Or maybe I just wasn’t ready for it…
Following that trend, I started Celeste for the first time even though I never play pure platformers, and it has blown my socks off. Do I suck? You bet your ass I do. But I know it’s from a lack of detailed platforming, and developing that skill has been very fun and satisfying.
Now, I’d love to hear from others. What games made you regret waiting so long to try them?
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Love this post! Sekiro is possibly my favourite game of all time and I’m working my way through Nine Sols (currently learning/dying a lot to Lady Ethereal 🫠). Very challenging for my old fingers but I’m having a blast!
I’ve got Hollow Knight in my backlog so I’ll have to try that soon.
Enjoy the ride! She’s my second favorite fight in the game! You’re in the meat of the difficulty curve now.
I recently played Fez for the first time. One of the earliest big indie titles, possibly the first metroidbrainia, I can see obvious homages other games have paid to it that I realize were references (ex. the blue/pink boxes in celeste that toggle to a beat).
did you complete the whole game or just 1 playthrough?
Cyberpunk 2077. I know it’s not as old as some of the other games here, but I totally ignored it. I usually suck at FPS and I thought this one would be no different, but oh my gosh, the cyberware stuff and the stealth takedowns, so so much fun. I really enjoyed the story, I thought V’s female VA (Ilia from RWBY!) did a fantastic job, as did Keanu Reeves. And now I see the DLC is on sale!
The DLC is even better. Idris Elba plays a great character.
Oh that’s awesome!! Steam has it on sale for $18! There goes more of my summer 😉
I finally grabbed it during the GOG summer sale and it quickly became one of my favorite games.
It’s impressive how immersive they made the city feel.
I’m kicking myself for not picking it up sooner, but I read there were a bunch of bugs that were squished in the 2.0 update, so maybe I would have felt differently about it if I got when it first came out.
I preordered the physical disc release for pc with a gog code. I am just now finishing the game, so don’t feel bad lol. I just had a shitty computer for quite a while and wanted to play it maxed out.
Tetris, it turns out, is pretty fun.
Tetris is the game that never age. I’d imagine in 2110 someone will pick up the og version and still enjoy it, without the fancy mancy 22nd century effect.
My wife took my Gameboy pocket solely to play Tetris on it. We’ll have to figure out a time share agreement when I want to replay Pokemon again lol
Space Station 13. I was intrigued when my partner at the time told me about it in, like 2005? but I only ever tried its more modern remake, Space Station 14, about two or three years ago. Basically, think of it as the game Among Us is a “demake” of. Folks work various jobs on a space station, most of them to keep it running and to keep everyone healthy and fed and entertained and busy, but some have nefarious motives and goals, and the clashes and disasters can be utterly glorious.
Hands down the best multiplayer experiences I’ve ever had. Halo 2 and Planetside 2 come close but SS14 still easily wins out.
Also hands down the best open source game I’ve ever played, period.
Outer Wilds, it really is a master piece. Avoid spoilers at all costs!
Needed a guide for parts of it, but I did quite enjoyed it too. Perhaps my brain too smooth
I had Skyrim still wrapped up and not removed from the case for 2 years before I started to play it.
I picked up hitman 1-3 with VR for sale on PSN and holy shit. I’ve had so much fun with this game already. I haven’t even played 2 or 3 yet, or even halfway through 1 yet but I already know I’m getting my money’s worth out of it. It’s only been 2 days and I just can’t wait to get back into it.
There’s so much replayability due to different ways you can get the job done, and they acknowledge and reward replaying missions. I don’t know if it was always that way but I just assumed it was a syphon filter/Bond type game but it’s so much more, at least the remasters or whatever this is. I’ve been having such a great time that I’m excited to get my son into it… It’s just not quite appropriate for an 11 year old lol.
It kinda bums me out I’ve gone this long but at the same time, maybe it’s for the better, to get the full, modern experience out of it? I dunno, but its a great deal for the $45 or whatever, considering it’s 3… Technically 4 games, with loads of replayability.
Love this!
I tried Hitman a few times as i knew I’d love it but just didn’t get it. This year I tried again and it took. I then played it for about 6 months exclusively. There’s just so much to do, threads to pull apart, lore to discover. Its baffling at first but then you realise all the clues are there if you pay attention. Amazing games.
Apart from the online thing. That’s a huge stain on an otherwise awesome experience
Once you play each map a few times, Freelancer is kind of an incredible addition.
It’s a blast because as much as you think it’s just brutal violence, it really isn’t. It’s about outsmarting literally everyone in the radius.
So glad to see these games getting more recognition. It’s my second most played game of all time if you count it all as one game like IOI now does. I’m currently making my way through the rest of the achievements I’m missing.
Yeah there’s just so much depth that I’m really excited to keep playing and doing missions in different ways. I have a friend’s birthday to go to tonight and I’m bummed I won’t have time to play lol. Once I get into the VR stuff I’m sure it’ll be really hard to put down.
It’s really fun to do the story, it’s also really fun to replay and get every mission story. It’s even more fun to figure out your own assassinations. It’s easily one of my favourite games of all time, I just really hate the online semi-requirement.
Yeah, that always grinds my gears. Especially in Gran Turismo…
I haven’t redone any missions yet. I’m still working my way through the story, but I don’t know if I’ll stop at the end of 1 and go back, or finish 3 before redoing them. Currently on the hotel level with the cross family and having a hard time finding a costume to get anywhere useful. There’s just so many people around it’s hard to get someone alone.
Ah, Bangkok, that’s a fun one. A bit challenging as you’re learning, but rewarding.
Sapienza is my all-time favourite, but there’s lots of great locations. I won’t spoil anything, but my three runner-ups for best map are still ahead of you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
It’s kind of hidden, but Contracts mode is where the game becomes infinitely replayable. Every single NPC can be made a target, up to five per mission, and there are millions of contracts the players have made. So there are millions of unique missions to play.
Edit:
I also sat on that game till a few years ago. I was a huge fan of the 2000s games which each had like 20 levels so between the reviews of Absolution and the fact that Hitman 2016 had only 6 maps, I just assumed the franchise had been completely enshittified. But I grabbed Hitman 2016 when it went on sale for a dollar and was pleasantly surprised. I got the other games and was disappointed by the whole series just having 21 levels (Hitman 2: Silent Assassin had 22!). But then I discovered Contracts mode and realized how insanely replayable the game is. It’s an infinite Hitman game generator.
There’s also Freelancer, the roguelike mode. My friend plays this exclusively, she has like 500 hours in it alone, probably more
Since couple of years I’m hard working on playing old games I slept too long for.
DOOM (PC, 1993): Yes, the original DOOM! Well, I had the game on my SNES console. The problem was, that version was not good and it lacked a save or password function. Still had a blast because that was the only version available to me. Later when I got a PC in 2001, it didn’t occur to me to play that. Its’ much, much later in probably 2020 or so when I started with RetroArch, that I then played the original DOS version on DOSBox-Pure. What a blast, even 3 decades later!
Metroid Prime (Gamecube, 2002): Another huge Nintendo game (actually not even developed by Nintendo) I slept on is the original first Metroid Prime, had no idea how good it is. My friend always talked highly on this game, but I completely dismissed it because it was in 3D. Yes, I was a Super Metroid junky. What a mistake! I feel ashamed thinking back. Started playing the original for Gamecube with Dolphin on RetroArch emulator a few years ago, but never finished it (really need to, I feel ashamed again!). I know there are some enhancements via specialized emulators and even the official Remake. But prefer the original oldschool way, even down to CRT filters.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild + Tears of the Kingdom (Switch, 2017 + 2023): Probably the biggest game I slept on for too long. I entirely played both games on Yuzu emulator (take that Nintendo), starting over 2 years ago. Since then I have 147 + 237 = total 384 hours. There was couple of problems, because my gamepad did not support gyro (thanks Microsoft) and I had to cheese out on a challenge (no cheats). And there were a few technical difficulties due to emulation, but I managed to do everything. :-) These modern Zelda games changed my mind a lot about Open World games, and I became more open to these kind of games.
The Stanley Parable + The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe (PC, 2013 + 2022): This is a fun story. So back then I purchased the original Stanley Parable just for the lolz to get the “infamous” Achievement “not to play the game for 5 years straight”. Yes, it’s true, I’m an idiot. Or I am not an idiot. Maybe I am both. Or None. Because you see, after 5 years passed I started the game and wondered why I do not get the Achievement. Turns out the game should have been started at least once! Facepalm. Ok, I’m an idiot…
… Well since I started the game (The Stanley Parable) and was curious, I started playing it. Or it started playing me, I don’t know. Had no idea what the game was and is about. And oh boy it was fun. Well since then I wait another 5 years and I think next month I can get it! And while I am at it, also played “Ultra Deluxe” and it is more than I expected, no spoilers off course here. The special Achievement is now 10 years in this version. The Stanley Parable changed my mind about games that are more experience oriented and weird, like walking simulators.
There are more games to mention off course. And yes I play modern games too, just started Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. I still have to finish lot of them. The problem is, I start new games all the time and don’t even have time to play them all. Then there are games I know that I regret waiting for too long, such as Hades, . I could go on for an eternity, you probably don’t want to read an endless stream of a comment.
i have already played TOTK and loved it.
would it be worth my time and $ to give BOTW a shot?
thanks!
I played BOTW first and then TOTK. The world is the same (without underworld and sky), but there are changes off course. Still lot of places, characters and enemies are the same. There will be stuff you will be missing in BOTW (building mechanic in example or custom teleport places, or weapons break faster because you cannot attach anything to it). So it doesn’t feel like a complete new game, as TOTK “feels” like a DLC (admittedly its more than that). After lot of playtime in TOTK I went back to the previous game recently to complete more of the tasks. And its is super confusing which parts of the maps I already visited; thank god I can enable the footsteps in the map to see where I was already.
Sooo, is it worth playing the predecessor? I say yes, if you really like the world and did most stuff in TOTK, but want more of it. It has ton of shrines and I loved the big dungeons as well. And it has some interesting DLCs I still have to do. But in some ways it feels like a step down, because of the skill sets. But it has some tricks on its own on the sleeves. If you are okay with playing in the same world, want more of the game, then maybe yes if you can get it for cheap. I wouldn’t call it a must have in my books.
Nine Sols is awesome. Completely underrated game. Default mode was unreasonably hard IMO, even the story mode is quite challenging
For me I really slept on Inscryption and Hollow Knight. With Inscryption, I was never really that into card games, and I’ve never really liked dark/edgy games. But it ended up being unexpectedly good
With Hollow Knight, it took me a couple tries to really get into it. I didn’t really like the fact that I couldn’t find anything that I wanted (including things that I’ve already found - I got lost a lot). And sure, I know that getting lost was the point of the world design, but my version of getting lost was the unproductive, frustrating kind with a lot of backtracking. In the end, I figured that I just needed to have a wiki open while playing, and thing got a lot more bearable
I found Nine Sols’ default difficulty to be quite hard, but not unreasonable. I went straight for the true ending and Eigong took me about 7 hours of playtime. It was the first time I’ve played a game that forced me to truly master the combat, and sometimes I wish I could go back and do it for the first time again
I’m pumped to have so many games to add to my queue from these posts lol
Brütal Legend
Released in 2013. I’ve had it in my Steam library for long enough that I don’t even remember where I got it from. Probably from some Humble Bundle. Anyway, I figured it was just some cheap game with heavy metal theme as a gimmick, and never bothered to even install it.
I bought a Steam Deck a couple of years ago, and figured I’d play less demanding games on it. Looked in my Steam library for games I’ve never played, and there’s Brütal Legend. Turns out, it’s actually a pretty solid game. Sure it has some issues, but overall it’s a humorous action game that’s full of heavy metal references, and even has some unique game mechanics to boot. And, not only is there licensed music from a number of metal bands, but some of the metal legends, such as Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy Kilmister, appear in the game.
The graphics are a bit outdated by today’s standards, and the RTS sections can be a bit janky. But I didn’t mind those, the rest is too good.
If you are a metalhead, definitely pick this game up. Or if you like comedy or unique games. It’s currently only €3 on Steam, and even has a native Linux build.
That game has arguably the best curated playlist ever.
I loved Brütal Legend when I was a kid. I was obsessed with Psychonauts, so when I found out Double Fine was making a new game I went apeshit and gobbled up every bit of news I could find for it.
I even bought the game before I had a console to play it on.
Edit: and yes, so many Metal greats actually voiced characters in the game. Ozzy, Lemmy, Rob Halford (who plays two characters), Lita Ford…
I didn’t play Dark Souls 1 until 3 came out because all I ever heard was how hard it was, which because it chose to be hard in an era when everything was super hand-holdy, I did not think it was gonna be challenging at all and would find it as boring as any other major games of the day.
Man was I wrong. Now the genre itself is almost all I play.
Probably Ocarina of Time. It left an indentation in my side of the cartridge. I guess I should have moved it before laying down …
Stardew Valley
By the time I started seeing posts where people turned every square inch of farmland into a microbrewery, I decided I should give it a try.
I had the opportunity to buy Xenoblade 1 on the Wii back when the Wii was still pretty new. I hadn’t heard of the game or Operation Rainfall and I certainly didn’t know how hard it was to actually find it in stock on a shelf, and I got something else instead. Much, much later, I picked it up on Switch, having heard something about it a couple years prior and remembering that I had seen it for the Wii that one time. The gameplay was weirdly addictive, the first act has a solid hook, and the back half of the game getting increasingly into wtf territory is exactly the kind of thing I like narratives doing.
