RetroGaming

Portal or Arkham Asylum, something that surprised me in unexpected ways.

Portal because I thought I was getting a neat puzzle game (I was), but GLADoS blew me out of the water.

Arkham Asylum because of how effectively some of the Scarecrow sequences messed with me specifically (making me think my game had glitched, etc.)

FF6, FF9 and Links Awakening

Metal Gear Solid. Going from tooling around in the NES Metal Gear to sneaking thorough Shadow Moses while figuring out 4th wall breaking puzzles was amazing.

Everquest. No other game I've played before or after instilled that feeling of exploration and wonder that this game did. I'm so glad I got to experience that before I got older.

FF3, US version.

There was magic in that game.

I think this is a tie between Bloodborne and Panzer Dragoon Saga. Absolute masterpieces, both. I replay both of them at least once a year, but it would be wonderful to go back in fresh.

TUNIC

Shining Force

There are two games I would love to play for the first time again and those are Portal and Dishonored.

Portal is obvious - it's a well-refined and immersive puzzle game with enough story and atmosphere to keep you invested, but never so much as to pull you away from its puzzles. It may only be a short game, but it is one of the best!
The only people I know who haven't given this game the upmost praise are those who've never played it before.

Edit: Portal 2 is also a fantastic game, but it definitely leans on the story more. That is by no means a bad thing though, as we wouldn't the absolute menace that is Cave Johnson without it.

As for Dishonored, the original is Arkane Studio's best game IMO - the world it's set in is so interesting and brimming with lore; the levels are well crafted, and reward the player's creativity and exploration without ever feeling forced; The gameplay is challenging, but without ever feeling overwhelming. I'm sure it has it's flaws, but all these years later, I still remember how much it got right.

Edit: Dishonored 2 was very much like it, and I remember it for all the same reasons, but the first is the one that really captured that lightning in a bottle for me.

I also loved Prey. It plays in a similar style without feeling too much like it's predecessor. I can't say I liked the Roguelike DLC very much though.

Edit 2 Electric-Boogaloo: I keep forgetting Dishonored uses the American spelling. I always remember it in the British spelling. Oops.

Final Fantasy 6. Still my favorite game of all time.

Either Oblivion or Fable: The Lost Chapters

Half-Life 2 and Shining in the Darkness.

Half Life 2, New Vegas and MGS all blew my young mind and would be great to relive.

Monkey Island or Little Big Adventure

Nier Automata

A game I will never forget

Definitely Subnautica in VR. I didn't play it on flatscreen, only in VR, and it was the most immersive and amazing experience out of any game.

Definitely Xenogears on the PS2. I loved that story

If I were to experience it as I am today (and judge it versus games with modern graphics etc), I'd pick Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It quickly became one of my all-time favourite games, and I finished it three times in a year when I discovered it. Beautiful in so many ways.

Half-Life is probably the game that has had the biggest impact on me, though, so that would be my pick if I experienced it as I did around 1998.

Either:

1. Mario 64 - seeing a fully realised 3d world for the first time was mind blowing. Great music, adventure, and fun.

Or

2. Morrowind - what a wild and rich world to explore for the first time. My best friend and I rotated shifts for weeks during school holidays. Great memories.

Runescape, 2006 sort of era

Ark Survival Evolved.

Peak Ark is when you have no idea what you are doing and keep being shitmixed by velocipators. Huddled in a darkened shack with the outside chewing it's way inside while you scream in terror.

Then you finally get a bit of a handle on what is going on, tame your own raptor and BAM giant snake knocks you out and as you swim back to consciousness a giant croc grabs you in its mouth and launches into the stratosphere.

Later on it's all iron man suits and minmaxing every fucking thing.

For me, World of Warcraft. Everything being new, exploring that huge landscape, figuring out stuff. Aside from all the tedious walking for the first 40 levels (vanilla), I fell in love with nearly everything. A very slow paced, non-soloable Diablo, if you will.

Probably Pathologic 2, assuming I'd retain my fondness towards it.

On my way to completing my first playthrough, I had to spend at least 2 months warming up to the game and actually going through the first hour, after which it was absolutely amazing. I'm still replaying it once a year due to how much I love it.

Mass Effect trilogy.

Or maybe Bioshock.

Either/both.

Very late edit: Deus Ex. I still play it every once in a while and while the graphics are terrible, it's a lot better with GMDX and you get used to it very quickly. That game is still a masterpiece.

Dark Souls 1

Part 2, 3 and not even elden ring did manage to reach the same athmosphere and i mainly atribute it to leveldesign: Dark souls 1 is an apocalypse brought about the fact that every last being is slowly but surely driven insane before losing any semplence of self altogether and bekome huskless zombies. And the world is reflecting this: It's like a surealist painting. When you zoom in very far everything makes sense, ther is a wall and a medieval city and beneath is some sewers, but when you zoom out the city is actually in front of the wall, but then you are on top of the wall which is kinda acting like an entrance the the next area and not like a wall at all. In the other directen you go down the sewer, but then drop into a hole to be on top of a wall again with another city beneath you. And you can go even further down, either to a hell like environment to yet another city even lower, or throug a giant dead tree to come out on a beach with a clody sky above which absolutly does not make any topological sense at all. And yet this map is intricatly interconnected with several passages and elevators. Not from me: It's like with the first flame fading it's not the dead rising, but time and space itself is collapsing, that's why you can't die, that's why other players can be summoned to your world, and that's why the whole world, while still being connected, makes no sense at all.

Also 2nd choice: Obligatory: "Spec Ops: The Line"

If you haven't played it yet: Do it without reading any Spoilers.

Freelancer

one game I didn't see in the whole thread: A story about my uncle While not necessarily my pick, that game is beautiful storytelling and I recommend it to everyone.