this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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For me, Tunic. Well, it's a bit more complicated. I was burnt out on soulslikes and wanted a break. Saw what I thought was a nice little Zelda clone, as in I was scrolling the Steam store home page and did a double take when I saw the one and only piece of promotional art for the game. That character design looked like it was one floppy green hat away from a lawsuit from Nintendo. Instantly downloaded it upon learning that the instruction manual played a big part in the gameplay.

I have fond memories of game manuals when I was a kid, coming home from not-yet-gamestop with a new game looking at all the concept art, or having my parents read to me from the super mario 3 manual when I was little. Anyway, long story short the game was another soulslike. Set in the ruins of a fallen civilization? Check. Spend currency to level up? Check. Opening up shortcuts to previously visited areas as you progress? Check. Difficult bosses? Check.

Oh, but what's this? The whole game is in this indecipherable script that you have to decode? Oh baby! I spent way, way way too much time trying to decipher it. I got so obsessed that it was effecting my sleep and I had to uninstall the game for a few weeks. Never ended up solving it.

spoilerI knew it was an English cipher from the beginning. Nobody ever goes full conlang, as much as I would love that. I got as far as deducing it was phonemic, as the same glyphs kept appearing before cleartext words, which I assumed were "a/an" and "the", and the way "the" was written made me think it was two glyphs, one for the and one for . The last thing I got before giving up and looking it up online was one of hte ghosts standing next to the well in the village and repeating the same word three times. Of course he's saying "well well well".

Anyway, overall the experience was a roller coaster of mild interest to acute dislike shifting to all consuming curiosity and finally to exasperation. I don't think a game has evoked that many varied reactions from me. The music is also amazing.

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[–] MentorKitten@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

Hollow Knight. I tried playing it back when it came out but it wasn't until silksong was about to come out I gave it a shot. Was obsessed with the game and almost did everything in the game. Never thought I'd like a Metroidvania this much before

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Hades. Hate roguelikes. Quite enjoyed that.

[–] ygurin@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Supergiant Games are great if you enjoyed Hades would recommend Transistor

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 2 points 15 hours ago

Transistor is way more tactical.

If you wished you could customize your boons in Hades to a specific style without having to deal with randomness, Transistor is the game for you!

[–] Inkstainthebat@pawb.social 1 points 17 hours ago

It's not that deep, but I thought Ultrakill wasn't something I'd enjoy. Now I don't enjoy any shooter that isn't like Ultrakill

[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 1 points 18 hours ago

I never finished Tunic, I got stuck on some relatively simple fight and it put me right off it. Always vowed to come back but I havent yet.

I loved how it took me back to being 3 years old though playing my dads Nintendo. Can sort of work out what the manual is telling me based on pictures, but cant read the language.

[–] venacava@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

I usually don't have the patience for VNs with minimal gameplay, but the atmosphere, soundtrack and the general mood of the game got me hooked.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago

Added to wishlist, looks really cool

[–] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Disco Elysium..., totally not my kind of game, gameplay-wise. I reluctantly accepted to give it a go after my best friend sold it to me passionately. and damn

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I died sitting in an uncomfortable chair. I'll have to pick it up again when I'm in the mood.

[–] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 1 points 19 hours ago

heh, didn't know that was possible ! I almost died during a standoff, but I pulled it off with the magic of save loading

[–] KingOfTheCouch@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago

Dwarf Fortress.

And, I mean pre-steam release.

The ASCII graphics, controls and everything about it were not appealing to me. I started playing it because of the Boatmurdered story and some friends trying to recreate that. We started playing and rotating fortresses on a random Friday night.

And once things started to click? I put way too much time into it. I'd eventually mod it and make it easier to play but I put many many hours into it.

I wouldeventually put the game down after that initial burst and then years later the steam release came, making it much more enjoyable and well... A couple thousand hours later I still keep going back to it.

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Another non-VN guy, but 1000xResist became one of my favorite games despite being essentially a VN. Like the gameplay is literally just walking up to people and talking, and the dialogue options don't impact the story at all, but damn if the narrative wasn't enough to earn a 10/10 from me

[–] BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

marvel's midnight suns. the only other turn based game ive played was fallout 1. i just expected something to scratch my superhero video game itch and instead found a new favorite. im on my 2nd playthrough now and still loving it. my favorite "relaxing" game

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Midnight Suns is one of the few games I never skip the cutscenes in. Everyone is so cozy and delightful!

[–] Mesa@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago

I played Warframe for about 3 years before I realized it was my favorite game ever. As in I was 12 when I started playing, and at the time, it was just what I had. It wasn't until I got my first personal gaming laptop and began playing on there that I realized how much I liked it, and started engaging in the community more.

JoeAAverage, if you're out there: Thanks, man. It may have seemed like a small gift at the time—especially for an already 3-year player—but now, 11 years in, I still can't be certain that I would've realized how cool of a game I had in my hands had you not gifted me that Limbo set. Limbo may be forgotten by DE, and I may not play him much anymore, but he will always be my favorite frame.

[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Outer wilds, went in blind (as you should) was not disappointed.

[–] SPRUNT@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

I went in to this blind and ended up quitting after a couple hours because there was no save ability and the checkpoint system was useless.

I learned months later, from my son-in-law, that it's a time-loop game. Tried it again with this knowledge and had a MUCH better experience.

So, my advice is to go in 99% blind. The player should know it's a time-loop game before they start.

[–] Stegget@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

I have become an Outer Wilds evangelist. One of my favorite games hands down.

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

X-COM Enemy Unknown weirdly enough. Turn based strategy was not my cup of tea until then. X-COM sucked me in to the point where is go to work, go home, play X-COM until two in the morning, sleep and start the cycle again for about four days.

[–] Tuxman@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Gris

I was looking for a game to play with my daughter and I saw it included in the Apple Arcade subscription.

…. I don’t remember ugly bawling like that at the end of a game. Truly a work of art.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago

My kid and I recently got Split Fiction and love it. It's so simple, but can be tricky in parts. Not hard enough to rage quit, each area is just long enough and interesting enough to keep you engaged. 6.5 hours straight the first night, streams to TV very well, controls are awesome and fluid. We're loving it, haven't finished yet. Looking at A Way Out next.

Deep Rock Galactic. Even after a few years, I still regularly play this one with a group of friends.

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Hellblade. Senua's sacrifice

I don't particularly like "medieval" games. Which I thought this was. It isn't. But I played it because I heard somewhere it was a psychological game. It is.

It also was cheap when I bought it. Like $10.

I really like it. I ended up watching all the dev log videos on it. I have a background in psychology and was rather impressed by how many things in the game are based on the perception distortions common in schizophrenia.

Like the mask thing is part of that too. The pattern matching from perspectives. Seeing faces in trees or rocks (paraedolia). That's all part of the condition.

The story itself was also very good and it is a personal story of her journey.

However that said. Hellblade 2 was awful in every way that made the first one good. Bad puzzles. No real personal journey. Story was garbage. And very little player autonomy. No exploration. Fixed speeds and at the start of every single enemy encounter, the enemy, a man, beats the piss out of you.

Almost to the point it felt exploitive, and for people who like watching men beat up women.

Sad to see the 2nd so terrible. But the first is brilliant. It's also the perfect length. Not too long.

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

The first game was a trip. Played it in a pitch black room with noise canceling headphones. It's wild how quickly I got used to hearing Senua's voices. World felt empty when I stopped playing. I still go back and listen to that one cutscene every couple months

[–] WagnasT@piefed.world 66 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Subnautica, I thought it was just minecraft under water, which sounded ok. Didn't expect it to have a story, absolutely didn't expect it to have an interesting story. The audio logs had some charming characters, ham and cheese had me cracking up whilst trying not to die. BUT, the exact moment I realized this game was special was the translated message you get after getting your arm poked, suddenly hours of environmental story telling snap into place as you realize what is about to happen. 11/10 would buy again.

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[–] DeepThought42@lemmy.world 45 points 2 days ago (12 children)

Horizon Zero Dawn - From what I saw from the marketing seemed just odd. Relatively primitive looking humans fighting animal shaped robots. It just looked a bit too gimmicky. Several years after it's initial release I saw that it was on sale and gave it a shot. I was genuinely surprised by the depth of the story. It was much more emotionally impactful than I expected and the story now feels almost prescient.

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[–] JDPoZ@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Arc Raiders and Helldivers 2.

Also was surprised at how much I enjoyed goofing around over the past year or 2 in Fortnite with my good friends… ended up being a semi-weekly poker night type thing with people I don’t live anywhere close to anymore.

[–] binarytobis@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Talos Principle 2. It’s a solid chamber puzzle game like Portal, but the philosophy audio logs were so good that they shifted my real world views into a less nihilistic place.

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[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 32 points 2 days ago (3 children)

These three jump out at me. I went blind on all three.

  • Portal 2 - I genuinely had no idea what it was about when I started, and I certainly did not expect comedy.
  • Titanfall 2 - Bought it on release because I wanted a solo FPS game. Amazing. I wish I could experience it for the first time again.
  • Spiritfarer - I cried. A lot.
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[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Detroit: Become Human. I skipped it it when it was released and totally never played it. Recently I got it on discount and tried it out. Even my wife is extremely invested in the story and she doesn't even play games.

Psychonauts. I just saw a few times this game on some top game lists and decided to try. Man, this game fucking rocks! Also, Psychonauts 2 is also epic and Compton's level should be made into a standalone game! What an epic imagination devs at Double fine have!

Rust. I was there during Beta. Me and one my friend had fun. But once Garry had remade it to what it is today, we tried to play with more people. I hate the game but it is also so much fun with friends.

Heavy modded Minecraft. Once only vanilla payer, my friends finally convinced me to play TPPI with them. Never going back to vanilla.

[–] SaraTonin@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There’s a great video on YouTube of a speedrunner doing Psychonauts in front of a room full of the devs, at least some of whom are a bit drunk

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago

I have watched both Psychonauts and Psychonauts 2 speedruns. Second one was fun cause they only had this game released for a year. So speedrunner was rubbing their bugs all over their faces during that. Hilarious watch it was.

[–] obelisk_complex@piefed.ca 32 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Control. I've always had a fondness for SCP-related stuff so when I saw Control on sale for $3 or $4 it was an instant mindless purchase. Bored a few days later I decided to give it a go, and then I went and beat the entire game and the DLC. Great power fantasy, great lore, great voice acting, fun moment to moment gameplay balanced between exploring, upgrading, story beats, and boss fights. Also ties in to their other games like Alan Wake; I haven't played that one, but I've strongly considered it just because of Control and wanting more of that universe.

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[–] Mofy@piefed.social 27 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Inscryption, I went in expecting a short card based escape room with a lil bit of meta story. I found so much more, by the end the risk investment was great!

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[–] pi3r8@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (3 children)

The saboteur

Picked it up randomly back in the day with 0 expectations . I loved playing this game. The way it uses black and white to express the despair of ww2 France , slowly transforming to colour as you destroy nazi infrastructure and the tide of the war changes is so satisfying .

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