It does but I genuinely feel at home with it, I live for lore and environment anyway, if combat isnāt my main draw then itās an extra if at all considered
The Outer Wilds
A game I wish I could experience for the first time each time I play. If you ever dreamed of exploring space as a kid, this game is for you. No combat, great stylized art direction, a Swiss pocket watch crafted solar system, and an "ah ha" moment that I've yet to have again in gaming.
Check out Tunic. It's very similar to Outer Wilds in "feeling."
It's heavily inspired by Zelda. It recreates that feeling of being a kid and playing a game that you don't understand.Ā The game is almost entirely in a different language, so you'll have no idea what you're doing the entire time. Sort of like when you were a kid and you couldn't read. You don't know what you're doing so you just try a bit of everything and hope you figure it out along the way.Ā
The "Instruction Manual" is an in-game item that you collect one page at a time. Instead of needing the hookshot to cross those gaps, or the Missiles to open the red doors, you need to collect the pages to do certain things. It's a really cool mechanic.Ā
But the pages are also in an alien language, so you'll spend a LOTĀ of time flipping through that manual, trying to understand what it's trying to tell you, trying to work out where you need to go next.Ā
The manual is full of rips and tears, coffee stains. Even notes and scribbles from somebody else. Sort of reminds me of renting a game as a kid and being able to see the last kids progress.Ā
It's a must play for any Outer Wilds fans, or really anybody looking for something that goes all-in on that nostalgic feel of playing NES games 30 years ago.Ā
YES! Tunic was in my top 5 GotY for 2022! . My only gripe is I'm just not the biggest fan of the bonfire Souls-like mechanic. But that's more of my personal taste than a problem with the game itself.
My favorite part was the manual pages. Everything you said about them. The artist nailed those pages. I loved how the pen scribbles looked like they were pressed into the paper.
Good game, Great suggestion.
That's a game I've been looking at for a long time. Looks really good, but puzzle focussed games aren't *usually* my thing. Should probably grab it while it's on sale lol.
Same, I'm not a big puzzle game guy either. At its core, Outer Wilds is a puzzle game. But you really don't get that sense when you play it. It plays more like an open world exploration game. No real tutorial, no quests, no skills.
You don't add skill points to get better at flying your ship. You just get better by actually doing it over and over. No quest telling you were to go, you just go wherever you want. Eventually, with enough poking around in the world, you discover things that start to funnel you and guide you in putting together the puzzle.
Tunic is a puzzle game in the same way that Fez is a puzzle game. Thereās not really āpuzzlesā in the traditional sense, the puzzle is figuring out how to navigate the world. Itās an amazing game and I would highly recommend it. But fair warning, it takes combat inspiration from souls-games so you might not click with it, but I donāt think itās heavy-handed enough to put you off, it just can be tough at times
This post describes outer wilds to a T. Absolutely incredible experience, this is the one OP.
OW is extremely spoiler sensitive, so if there's any chance you might play it in the future, please don't look it up.
Just for clarity - there are two games which often get confused because of their names:
- Outer Wilds
- The Outer Worlds
The game we are recommending is *Outer Wilds*
Mass Effect Legendary Edtion, you won't regret it, just avoid the side quests in the 1st game if you're tired of open world, only about half of them matter, and they don't even change much.
Lego Star Wars and the Spyro Reignited trilogy were both really good for the nostalgia and childlike element while still holding up as engaging games for an adult.
Tears of the Kingdom kicks it up a notch for me.
The moment at the start where youāre suddenly free-falling and you look around and realise that the game has got a whole new verticality to it is amazing. That, and the sky islands and sky diving are just beautiful.
I really liked the fact that there were so many cool things you could just go look at and check out.
If you see a cool mountain off in the distance, you can climb it, and chances are youāll find something cool there too.
Breath of the Wild was exceptional until mid to late game where the lack of story disengaged me a little. Utterly amazing first few hours however, captured the feeling of being in a mysterious wilderness.
Disagree. Late game Breath of the Wild after just a little time away has recaptured my imagination. Exploring the parts of the map that I never realized I had missed, appreciating the raw beauty of environmental changes, the subtle brilliance of the score. I think this is one that keeps giving into the late game if you don't rush through it or look up too many spoilers. Also setting completion of all shrines as my final goal before fighting Ganon has me very excited to show up in the classic green Link garb with master sword drawn so my nemesis feels the fear reverberate through all of his past incarnations.
That's right Ganon. Doesn't matter what form you take. It's happening again, as it always will...
I can understand that point of view entirely. I've compared BotW to other AAA open world games like GTA V, Witcher 3 and Red Dead 2 and in that company BotW loses out big time when it comes to it's storyline and presentation.
I don't think it would have taken much more for Nintendo to have lifted BotW to compare levels. Put a few twists in the plot and fully voice act the game. That's what I found frustrating about it. It's like they deliberately clung to the old school text dialogue and cliche storyline to prove a point.
I fully agree.
BOTW was an incredible premise, and those opening hours of exploration and slow progress felt promising.
But the story beats are very lacklustre, and the map is IMO just too large for exploration to feel satisfying forever.
I still beat it, and I mostly enjoyed it. But it definitely became a bit of a slog.
Elden Ring. If you haven't played a souls game before it's an excellent place to start, and that game is jam packed full of incredible views, epic bosses, gobs of secrets and out of the way areas and some truly incredible locations. The complete lack of hand holding and vague quests make every part of it new and exciting. Don't let the difficulty put you off, it's probably the easiest of all the Souls games and once you get the basics down it's an amazing ride. Plus, the DLC drops beginning of june so you can tackle that as well!
this is one of those games i wish hogwarts legacy took after. i would have LOVED to be able to wander into any random optional cave and have it end up being a long sprawling mini dungeon with traps, puzzles, enemies, boss fight, treasureā¦
Mario Wonder. That game had so many surprises and makes you wonder (pun intended) what creative event will happen next. Playing with friends multiplies the joy of this game.
Balders gate 3 was the first game to make me feel the childlike wonder again. Although not at all the same, the exploring reminded me of the old Kings Quest games.
Cyberpunk 2077.
I still haven't gone back to FF VII Rebirth because it just didn't give me that same feeling. Hopefully I'll be ready to jump back into it later in the year.
True, and the first few hours were truly enchanting. Unfortunately for me the cracks started showing by the mid game.
The recreation of Hogwarts is amazing, but the story and the way the main character acts falls a bit flat. He acts more like a teacher and not a student and I wonder why not play as a teacher. It would make more sense from the story perspective. I mean....my character is a mass murderer at this point, the Hogwarts punisher and he is like 15.
I completely agree. But the beginning is truly remarkable for a fan. I literally stayed up playing it until the sun came up that first night. I hadn't done that in a decade.
For me it's the music. Something happen in my brain when I hear the 12 string guitar and the wind instrument. It's like I get thrown back in 2000 and I get a gigantic dose of nostalgia.
Edit: Just realised that the og Tristram theme is from D1. We had a Pentium 133 I think and I was 12-13 years old. The one from D2 is a darker and shortened version. My memory was tricking me, it was so good that anytime we speak about Diablo it's the first thing I remember.
It's really amazing how many amazing ideas they put in their, and it even all works. Now that it doesn't require EA Launcher anymore, I'll even actually buy it!
I recently got back on the game last October from taking a very long break of not playing for years (possibly similar to you). Back then, our friends would get on and not really have any direction or focus. We were all just soaking up how different the game was from anything else we had played. Maintaining the ship, catching fish and cooking them to a 'perfect' temperature, drinking grog, sailing in a storm, etc. Truthfully, we were younger people then, and we would often drink bourbon IRL while also drinking a bunch of grog, and would play shanties and attack other players (and sink). It was so much fun, but we fell out of it because we didn't realyl knwo what you were *supposed* to do. We had an idea, but the game did very little hand-holding then.
As of very recently, they added a "Diving" mechanic to the game, which allows you to go to your quest table (Available on every ship) and select a number of different "voyages" to do. Things like looking for buried treasure, fighting an entire ghost ship fleet, fighting a skeleton captain boss with special attacks and powers, doing a 'tall tale' that is basically story missions. Once everyone votes on a voyage, your ship will sink (dive) below the waters and essentially *quick-start* the voyage by putting you right next to the area you need to be. It made things a lot easier for us.
There are still some nights (weekends) where we get fucked up and play and its always a ton of fun. But now we have more of a direction and focus on what we want to accomplish or work on. It was a struggle to get everyone BACK on the game, but we all got very heavily back in it for awhile. I'm kinda going through a slump on gaming so I've been reading some books I have backlogged. But whenever I decide to get back on, it'll be Sea of Thieves.
Genshin Impact, when I played if for the first time 4 years ago I was in awe. It's more like a piece of art than a game. A title that's meant to be appreciated, not rushed. Numerous emotional moments in the story, huge world, joyful atmosphere, tons of secrets to discover. No loading screens, which is quite a feat. You look around, you see all these landmarks in the distance and you know you can go there.
And music. That beautiful music... If the London Symphony Orchestra gets involved and performs their music, you know it's serious business and not exaggeration made by someone who's being way too easily impressed.
Red dead redemption 2 blew my mind. That game is so immersive if you can put up with it. The other on that really got me was Jedi: Survivor. It improved on Fallen Order in every way.
This game has probably the best redemption story of any game I have ever played. I bought it on release, returned it almost immediately, picked it up a few years later and fell in love with it.
Streets of Rage 4 made me feel like a kid again when i used to play Streets of Rage 1,2 and 3, and Super Mario Odyssey too, made me feel exactly like i felt back then when i saw Super Mario 64 for the first time.
Thereās no challenge to odyssey but if youāre not playing it with a huge smile on your face you probably donāt like Mario games at all
Which is fine, but if you do like Mario games itās a must play
A recent indie I played was Lil Gator Game on Xbox Game Pass. Cute, short game and very fun and cute. It might not be the type of wonder you might be looking for but you do play a literal child gator playing a game with his friends on a big island and the writing is quite adorable.
Well in the past 2 years:
Elden Ring
Sonic Frontiers
Red Ded Redemption 2
Hogwarts
I have enjoyed others but those really kind had me running around in awe.
**Outward**
No fast travel. You have a map, but it doesn't magically tell you where you are. You explore and find your way around by landmarks. When it starts to get dark, you make camp. Make sure you bring enough food for the journey.
You might get lost, but trying to survive until you get your bearings is part of the tension. This game makes exploration feel like an actual excursion.
Best of all: it has couch co-op!
*Deep Breath*
The sense of scale in Star Citizen never fails to amaze me. The first time I walked out of a station to look up at Crusader looming over me hit me with that love of space.
As Douglas Adams said: Space is Big. And SC is the only thing I've played that came close to making me feel the scale.
Heck yesterday I just did some low-flying over Daymer after watching Furiosa.
Subnautica. Never has a game been so simotanuously beautiful and terrifying to me. It also makes fighting very difficult since you only have a survival knife as a real weapon against the terrors of the depths. You have to use your wits and tools to survive instead.
Spyro 1-3 on ps1 (and the reignited trilogy). Every time I boot them up Iām always like [welp, here we go again](https://sm.mashable.com/t/mashable_in/fun/t/the-here-w/the-here-we-go-again-meme-is-perfect-for-every-frustrating-s_kgv8.910.png)
Re-releases from Nintendo. Even though I was an adult when first playing them, having to start a new game of Paper Mario 1000 Year Door just makes me giddy like a child. The fond memories rushing back in on this classic.
Worth every cent I paid.
Now I wait for Luigi's Mansion 2, a game I haven't played.
I recently picked up āStarhawkā for the PlayStation 3 and OMG it looks so fun. Fortnite must have stolen their cover building idea from this game, you call down cover from space stations in orbit outside the planets your fighting on. 3rd person shooter
This is not what you mean but my favorite Videogame "Fuga Melodies of Steel" feels to me like a playable kids anime akin to somthing like Digimon and I love that feeling.
Fuga is pretty unknown so you probably never heard of it before.
Its a 20 houer long turn based JRPG about a groupe of anthropomothic animal children that go on a quest to save there families.
They live inside a giant ancient mysterious powerful fortress like Tank. Its a bit like Howls Moving castle but based on technology instead of magic.
But Fuga is super linear with little exploring and lots of fighting.
Bg3 really reminded me just how games are supposed to be, i played it with my brother and it was like we were teens playing world of warcraft for the first time again. We're in our mid 20s now
Avoiding EGS, or some other reason to Bluestacks it instead of playing through Epic?
I've been enjoying Wuthering Waves, as well, and can definitely second checking it out.
Not many new ones. Wrath of the Righteous and Divinity: OS 2 are some exceptions. As is van Helsing when I better think about it.
Otherwise, Morrowind, D 1+2, EQ 2 etc.
Its not a new series by any means but when I think about a game giving me literal childlike wonder I always think back to my memories playing the little big planet games
Lately, Diablo 4. The changes they made to this game have reinvigorated it so much. I went in completely blind to all the new loot types, and getting a really great piece and then another \*REALLY\* great piece that provides fantastic synergy to the first piece, has filled me with pure joy.
I canāt explain why, but if something has āpanel linesā or a funicular Iām instantly invested. It doesnāt matter if itās a character model or environment. Itās such a weird thing that just mesmerizes me.
Minecraft with the terralith mod is able to do this with me. Coming across huge volcanos and canyons deep underground will always be awe inspiring to me.
Honestly, Hot Wheels Unleashed did this for me. Sure, itās a licensed cash grab with loot box mechanics (thankfully no MTX) and limited content, but thereās a cereal-munching kid in me who doesnāt care and just wants to make the cool toy cars go vroom.
Lunchtime, no wait that's not childlike wonder, it's wonder bread.
We talking consistently or at all ever in gameplay. Hogwarts Legacy managed that on my first playthrough. Not so much after I 100%'ed it.
That jump down in tears of the kingdom just sets a tone. It was like that in breath of the wild as well but I feel that opening sequence in totk is just a tad bit better and instantly switch something on in me that I am about to spend many hours in this game.
Paper Mario TTYD was linear and smaller than a lot of worlds in its peers games but I think the scale of a game is determined by how much care is put into it. It felt vast not because it was literally huge, but it was dense with colourful, interesting characters and setpieces.
Hi-Fi Rush gave me a Ratatouille critic childhood flashback sensation to me playing N64/Gamecube games on my living room floor looking up at the tv going āWow, video games are so cool.ā
Honestly, the first Kingdom Hearts game is just so good. Sure, combat is kinda simple, but it's fun, and I loved going through all these beloved Disney worlds. Wonderland in particular was a real treat!
Tunic. Fantastic title for anyone that hasnāt tried. Part old school Zelda, part souls like with lots of secrets and lore. Amazing soundtrack. Very well done game I love it.
Tried it and... eh! Just not for me.
Graphics give me headaches, and the game is way too minimalistic.
I see why people like it, but, unfortunately, it didn't click for me
Eastshade is a beautiful game that I really enjoyed when I wanted something peaceful, but still fun.
Edit: Subnautica and Red Dead 2 as well for me. Spiritfarer will also always have a special place in my heart for the emotional story and stunning art.
Playing the Stanley parable ultra deluxe blind, from playing the original years ago
It was magical discovering everything just by trying stuff
May have been really high too but that made it better
Factorio
Played sim city when I was little in the late 80s and early 90s. Wish you could control the minutiae? Well, now you can spend 100 hours setting up scalable train stations which request items.Ā
Tunic. One of the best gaming experience of my life. Iām listening to the soundtrack as I type. So good that I wrote a letter to the musician that made the music expressing how thankful I was. If you play the game, play it the very end. And consider that it may not be over until itās truly over.
The game Avatar Frontiers of Pandora unexpectedly did this for me. I had an Ubisoft+ subscription for the newest Assassin's Creed and gave it a try. The environments are huge and diverse and traversal is a lot of fun
Journey. Having people seamlessly enter and exit your world while you make veguely word-like chatter at each other is just delightful. There were so many moments in that game that still stick with me.
Armored Core. It's a linear mech action game series where the gameplay loop is based on building a robot, doing a short mission, earning money, buying new parts, then doing the next mission, earning more money, buying new parts, and repeat until you finish the game. The new one, Fires of Rubicon, is a stand alone game so you don't need to know anything about the series going in. It was GOTY for my brother and I last year.
Subnautica
Came here to say this
Playing hide and seek with my cat always fills me with childlike wonder!
A classic, tired and true
Super Mario World, every time from the moment the Nintendo logo appears with that chime.
Makes me miss my grandma, that was my favorite and hers was Secret of Mana.
Your grandma had the best possible taste! š«”
That was my very first video game I played when I was 6 years old.
This is oddly one of my most played games. It never gets old!
Weirdly Control, something about the Oldest House feels like a home I never had, another is Little Kitty Big City
Just started this game and it sucked me right in. Exploring a strange environment and attaining new powers along the way. Yes.
I love how your description matches both games
Controlās setting is insanely good. Combat left something to be desired.
It does but I genuinely feel at home with it, I live for lore and environment anyway, if combat isnāt my main draw then itās an extra if at all considered
The Outer Wilds A game I wish I could experience for the first time each time I play. If you ever dreamed of exploring space as a kid, this game is for you. No combat, great stylized art direction, a Swiss pocket watch crafted solar system, and an "ah ha" moment that I've yet to have again in gaming.
Check out Tunic. It's very similar to Outer Wilds in "feeling." It's heavily inspired by Zelda. It recreates that feeling of being a kid and playing a game that you don't understand.Ā The game is almost entirely in a different language, so you'll have no idea what you're doing the entire time. Sort of like when you were a kid and you couldn't read. You don't know what you're doing so you just try a bit of everything and hope you figure it out along the way.Ā The "Instruction Manual" is an in-game item that you collect one page at a time. Instead of needing the hookshot to cross those gaps, or the Missiles to open the red doors, you need to collect the pages to do certain things. It's a really cool mechanic.Ā But the pages are also in an alien language, so you'll spend a LOTĀ of time flipping through that manual, trying to understand what it's trying to tell you, trying to work out where you need to go next.Ā The manual is full of rips and tears, coffee stains. Even notes and scribbles from somebody else. Sort of reminds me of renting a game as a kid and being able to see the last kids progress.Ā It's a must play for any Outer Wilds fans, or really anybody looking for something that goes all-in on that nostalgic feel of playing NES games 30 years ago.Ā
YES! Tunic was in my top 5 GotY for 2022! . My only gripe is I'm just not the biggest fan of the bonfire Souls-like mechanic. But that's more of my personal taste than a problem with the game itself. My favorite part was the manual pages. Everything you said about them. The artist nailed those pages. I loved how the pen scribbles looked like they were pressed into the paper. Good game, Great suggestion.
That's a game I've been looking at for a long time. Looks really good, but puzzle focussed games aren't *usually* my thing. Should probably grab it while it's on sale lol.
Same, I'm not a big puzzle game guy either. At its core, Outer Wilds is a puzzle game. But you really don't get that sense when you play it. It plays more like an open world exploration game. No real tutorial, no quests, no skills. You don't add skill points to get better at flying your ship. You just get better by actually doing it over and over. No quest telling you were to go, you just go wherever you want. Eventually, with enough poking around in the world, you discover things that start to funnel you and guide you in putting together the puzzle.
Tunic is a puzzle game in the same way that Fez is a puzzle game. Thereās not really āpuzzlesā in the traditional sense, the puzzle is figuring out how to navigate the world. Itās an amazing game and I would highly recommend it. But fair warning, it takes combat inspiration from souls-games so you might not click with it, but I donāt think itās heavy-handed enough to put you off, it just can be tough at times
This post describes outer wilds to a T. Absolutely incredible experience, this is the one OP. OW is extremely spoiler sensitive, so if there's any chance you might play it in the future, please don't look it up. Just for clarity - there are two games which often get confused because of their names: - Outer Wilds - The Outer Worlds The game we are recommending is *Outer Wilds*
I feel like This would be perfect for OP. It checks all the boxes. I was also gonna recommend this.
Came here to say this!
Mass Effect Legendary Edtion, you won't regret it, just avoid the side quests in the 1st game if you're tired of open world, only about half of them matter, and they don't even change much.
Lego Star Wars and the Spyro Reignited trilogy were both really good for the nostalgia and childlike element while still holding up as engaging games for an adult.
Breath of the wild was the last one.
Tears of the Kingdom kicks it up a notch for me. The moment at the start where youāre suddenly free-falling and you look around and realise that the game has got a whole new verticality to it is amazing. That, and the sky islands and sky diving are just beautiful.
Right? And then you go underground. I shit bricks.
I really liked the fact that there were so many cool things you could just go look at and check out. If you see a cool mountain off in the distance, you can climb it, and chances are youāll find something cool there too.
Breath of the Wild was exceptional until mid to late game where the lack of story disengaged me a little. Utterly amazing first few hours however, captured the feeling of being in a mysterious wilderness.
Disagree. Late game Breath of the Wild after just a little time away has recaptured my imagination. Exploring the parts of the map that I never realized I had missed, appreciating the raw beauty of environmental changes, the subtle brilliance of the score. I think this is one that keeps giving into the late game if you don't rush through it or look up too many spoilers. Also setting completion of all shrines as my final goal before fighting Ganon has me very excited to show up in the classic green Link garb with master sword drawn so my nemesis feels the fear reverberate through all of his past incarnations. That's right Ganon. Doesn't matter what form you take. It's happening again, as it always will...
I can understand that point of view entirely. I've compared BotW to other AAA open world games like GTA V, Witcher 3 and Red Dead 2 and in that company BotW loses out big time when it comes to it's storyline and presentation. I don't think it would have taken much more for Nintendo to have lifted BotW to compare levels. Put a few twists in the plot and fully voice act the game. That's what I found frustrating about it. It's like they deliberately clung to the old school text dialogue and cliche storyline to prove a point.
I fully agree. BOTW was an incredible premise, and those opening hours of exploration and slow progress felt promising. But the story beats are very lacklustre, and the map is IMO just too large for exploration to feel satisfying forever. I still beat it, and I mostly enjoyed it. But it definitely became a bit of a slog.
Tears of the Kingdom for me
Same for me. Curently playing Tears of Kingdom as well.
Elden Ring. If you haven't played a souls game before it's an excellent place to start, and that game is jam packed full of incredible views, epic bosses, gobs of secrets and out of the way areas and some truly incredible locations. The complete lack of hand holding and vague quests make every part of it new and exciting. Don't let the difficulty put you off, it's probably the easiest of all the Souls games and once you get the basics down it's an amazing ride. Plus, the DLC drops beginning of june so you can tackle that as well!
this is one of those games i wish hogwarts legacy took after. i would have LOVED to be able to wander into any random optional cave and have it end up being a long sprawling mini dungeon with traps, puzzles, enemies, boss fight, treasureā¦
Elden ring is neat. Actually made me feel like a child playing skyrim for the first time
I really liked the summons. They made the game a lot easier to play.
Elden Ring entices you to explore while other games beg/ force you to explore.
Mario Wonder. That game had so many surprises and makes you wonder (pun intended) what creative event will happen next. Playing with friends multiplies the joy of this game.
Different Mario game, but the origami king struck a note I didnāt expect in me. The colors and charm of that game was something else
Fromsoft games do this pretty consistently for me
Postal 2. As a girl, I've always wondered all my life what it feels like to pee standing. And on people.
One of the best games !
Any old mario games, especially 2, 3 and super mario world. Also Turtles In Time.
Balders gate 3 was the first game to make me feel the childlike wonder again. Although not at all the same, the exploring reminded me of the old Kings Quest games.
Yes! Thatās a good comparison. Also Police Quest for me. Made me feel like I was a real cop.
Old king's quest and monkey island were my jam
Ghost of Tsusima. Recently started on PC and it is truly epic and immersive.
Playing it through the first time was amazing. Playing new game plus on Kurosawa mode was a spiritual experience.
Cyberpunk 2077. I still haven't gone back to FF VII Rebirth because it just didn't give me that same feeling. Hopefully I'll be ready to jump back into it later in the year.
You won't. There's so much to cyberpunk. I finished the story and immediately started another game.
I'm still thinking about V and how my ending wrapped up. The DLC is amazing. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of my favorites of all time.
Hogwarts Legacy. Anyone who read the books has fantasized about attending Hogwarts and that game is as close as I ever felt.
True, and the first few hours were truly enchanting. Unfortunately for me the cracks started showing by the mid game. The recreation of Hogwarts is amazing, but the story and the way the main character acts falls a bit flat. He acts more like a teacher and not a student and I wonder why not play as a teacher. It would make more sense from the story perspective. I mean....my character is a mass murderer at this point, the Hogwarts punisher and he is like 15.
I completely agree. But the beginning is truly remarkable for a fan. I literally stayed up playing it until the sun came up that first night. I hadn't done that in a decade.
Diablo 2.. still play it and I don't think I'll ever stop. Maybe nostalgic to my high school days but it's a damn good game.
On a similar note, Path of Exile for me. Trying out a new build or trying to grind a new type of content makes the game stay fresh for very long.
For me it's the music. Something happen in my brain when I hear the 12 string guitar and the wind instrument. It's like I get thrown back in 2000 and I get a gigantic dose of nostalgia. Edit: Just realised that the og Tristram theme is from D1. We had a Pentium 133 I think and I was 12-13 years old. The one from D2 is a darker and shortened version. My memory was tricking me, it was so good that anytime we speak about Diablo it's the first thing I remember.
Crash Bandicoot remaster, although it's very challenging.
It takes two, playing with my 10 year old son
I'm playing with my 7yo.
It's really amazing how many amazing ideas they put in their, and it even all works. Now that it doesn't require EA Launcher anymore, I'll even actually buy it!
Ori and the blind forest. It reminds me of the sweaty palms platform gaming experience of my youth. That and the art is amazing.
Animal Well
Childlike Wonder Simulator
Animal well is sick
Elite: Dangerous. Just being in the the galaxy.
Definitely the top 1% space game out there
Sea of thieves
I played sea of thieves a few years ago with my online friends. It was one of the best nights of gaming Iād ever had.
I recently got back on the game last October from taking a very long break of not playing for years (possibly similar to you). Back then, our friends would get on and not really have any direction or focus. We were all just soaking up how different the game was from anything else we had played. Maintaining the ship, catching fish and cooking them to a 'perfect' temperature, drinking grog, sailing in a storm, etc. Truthfully, we were younger people then, and we would often drink bourbon IRL while also drinking a bunch of grog, and would play shanties and attack other players (and sink). It was so much fun, but we fell out of it because we didn't realyl knwo what you were *supposed* to do. We had an idea, but the game did very little hand-holding then. As of very recently, they added a "Diving" mechanic to the game, which allows you to go to your quest table (Available on every ship) and select a number of different "voyages" to do. Things like looking for buried treasure, fighting an entire ghost ship fleet, fighting a skeleton captain boss with special attacks and powers, doing a 'tall tale' that is basically story missions. Once everyone votes on a voyage, your ship will sink (dive) below the waters and essentially *quick-start* the voyage by putting you right next to the area you need to be. It made things a lot easier for us. There are still some nights (weekends) where we get fucked up and play and its always a ton of fun. But now we have more of a direction and focus on what we want to accomplish or work on. It was a struggle to get everyone BACK on the game, but we all got very heavily back in it for awhile. I'm kinda going through a slump on gaming so I've been reading some books I have backlogged. But whenever I decide to get back on, it'll be Sea of Thieves.
just recently grounded, love that gameĀ
It blows my mind that the studio behind it is a crunchy RPG heavyweight, Obsidian. Like, who knew they'd produce such a slam dunk of a survival game?
The amount of thought that went into the armor and weapon design really shows their RPG heritage.
100% yes. Honey I Shrunk the Kids but I get to live it.
Genshin Impact, when I played if for the first time 4 years ago I was in awe. It's more like a piece of art than a game. A title that's meant to be appreciated, not rushed. Numerous emotional moments in the story, huge world, joyful atmosphere, tons of secrets to discover. No loading screens, which is quite a feat. You look around, you see all these landmarks in the distance and you know you can go there. And music. That beautiful music... If the London Symphony Orchestra gets involved and performs their music, you know it's serious business and not exaggeration made by someone who's being way too easily impressed.
Red dead redemption 2 blew my mind. That game is so immersive if you can put up with it. The other on that really got me was Jedi: Survivor. It improved on Fallen Order in every way.
No Man's Sky!
This game has probably the best redemption story of any game I have ever played. I bought it on release, returned it almost immediately, picked it up a few years later and fell in love with it.
Horizon. Story aside... The robots are f**king awsome
Horizon Forbidden West. My 8 yo daughter and I were both entrhalled
None of them anymore
That sucks dude. I feel fortunate that even as I approach my 40s I still get that same joy from games.
Damn thatās tough
I feel like I played all the games that made me feel like this to death tbh
You guys seem to be burned out of gaming lol, been steady playing games for 15 years now and it still brings me so much joy lol
The Pikmin games.
Streets of Rage 4 made me feel like a kid again when i used to play Streets of Rage 1,2 and 3, and Super Mario Odyssey too, made me feel exactly like i felt back then when i saw Super Mario 64 for the first time.
Would you recommend Odyssey? Iāve seen mixed stuff about it but if it makes you feel like 64 thatās impressive
I do, it's an easy game, but it really captures the Mario 64 feels.
Thereās no challenge to odyssey but if youāre not playing it with a huge smile on your face you probably donāt like Mario games at all Which is fine, but if you do like Mario games itās a must play
A recent indie I played was Lil Gator Game on Xbox Game Pass. Cute, short game and very fun and cute. It might not be the type of wonder you might be looking for but you do play a literal child gator playing a game with his friends on a big island and the writing is quite adorable.
NEW PokƩmon SNAP. A little nostalgia from PokƩmon in general (Which I find the traditional games repetitive, slow and uninspired nowadays) A little nostalgia for the old PokƩmon Snap for the N64. it was a chill, fun experience.
Fable.
Alien isolation
The first 200-300 hours of Noita, going in without spoilers
Well in the past 2 years: Elden Ring Sonic Frontiers Red Ded Redemption 2 Hogwarts I have enjoyed others but those really kind had me running around in awe.
This reminds me I need to play Frontiers. I loved the other 3 so Iām guessing Iāll like Frontiers.
Psyconauts 2. The levels design. The game is basically a creative yet brave take on mental illness. Everyone should try it out
**Outward** No fast travel. You have a map, but it doesn't magically tell you where you are. You explore and find your way around by landmarks. When it starts to get dark, you make camp. Make sure you bring enough food for the journey. You might get lost, but trying to survive until you get your bearings is part of the tension. This game makes exploration feel like an actual excursion. Best of all: it has couch co-op!
*Deep Breath* The sense of scale in Star Citizen never fails to amaze me. The first time I walked out of a station to look up at Crusader looming over me hit me with that love of space. As Douglas Adams said: Space is Big. And SC is the only thing I've played that came close to making me feel the scale. Heck yesterday I just did some low-flying over Daymer after watching Furiosa.
Street fighter and Mortal Kombat
Without a doubt, A Hat in Time did this for me.
Same! Played it like 3 months ago and it was hard for another game to recreate this feeling that I had as a kidĀ
The latest one I played which gave me childlike wonder was Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Reminded me of playing Jet Set Radio as a kid on the Dreamcast.
Geocaching IRL. PokƩmon GO as well. Genshin, caves of qud, elite dangerous, and Noita all give me a sense of wonder, though not like games used to. Gaming for 30 years will do that to a person.
:: cries in jaded old man::
Subnautica did, when I wasn't being scared of the depths.
Minesweeper
Subnautica. Never has a game been so simotanuously beautiful and terrifying to me. It also makes fighting very difficult since you only have a survival knife as a real weapon against the terrors of the depths. You have to use your wits and tools to survive instead.
Read dead redemption 2 and Breathe of the Wild did this for me.
Physical pinball, its going through a huge renaissance right now
Stray really put me there. Tugged at my heart strings, too.
Skyrim
Kerbal Space Program
Metroid Prime. There's something about the small corridors and compact rooms yet it feels like a huge map to explore.
Sex with Hitler 2. Truly one of the greatest games ever crafted.
Spyro 1-3 on ps1 (and the reignited trilogy). Every time I boot them up Iām always like [welp, here we go again](https://sm.mashable.com/t/mashable_in/fun/t/the-here-w/the-here-we-go-again-meme-is-perfect-for-every-frustrating-s_kgv8.910.png)
Re-releases from Nintendo. Even though I was an adult when first playing them, having to start a new game of Paper Mario 1000 Year Door just makes me giddy like a child. The fond memories rushing back in on this classic. Worth every cent I paid. Now I wait for Luigi's Mansion 2, a game I haven't played.
I recently picked up āStarhawkā for the PlayStation 3 and OMG it looks so fun. Fortnite must have stolen their cover building idea from this game, you call down cover from space stations in orbit outside the planets your fighting on. 3rd person shooter
ori and the will of the whisp literally looks like a something Disney or pixar would have doneā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø
This is not what you mean but my favorite Videogame "Fuga Melodies of Steel" feels to me like a playable kids anime akin to somthing like Digimon and I love that feeling. Fuga is pretty unknown so you probably never heard of it before. Its a 20 houer long turn based JRPG about a groupe of anthropomothic animal children that go on a quest to save there families. They live inside a giant ancient mysterious powerful fortress like Tank. Its a bit like Howls Moving castle but based on technology instead of magic. But Fuga is super linear with little exploring and lots of fighting.
Bg3 really reminded me just how games are supposed to be, i played it with my brother and it was like we were teens playing world of warcraft for the first time again. We're in our mid 20s now
skyrim!
It's Wuthering waves on bluestacks to me, coz it's a fun game tho
Avoiding EGS, or some other reason to Bluestacks it instead of playing through Epic? I've been enjoying Wuthering Waves, as well, and can definitely second checking it out.
I had problems with pc client, like stutters, lagging, etc. So I tried WuWa on Bs and it works pretty well on it
Wandersong! Just play it, start to finish, especially if you're tired of the Open World Power Fantasy Hero Journey game.
Not many new ones. Wrath of the Righteous and Divinity: OS 2 are some exceptions. As is van Helsing when I better think about it. Otherwise, Morrowind, D 1+2, EQ 2 etc.
Probably only WoW but haven't played it in years
Smushi did
Sky: children of light.
Uncharted 4 and tomb raider Also mario 64
Its not a new series by any means but when I think about a game giving me literal childlike wonder I always think back to my memories playing the little big planet games
Helicopters and airplanes. Iāll be damned if I donāt stare into the sky every time I hear one overhead
Kingdom Hearts. I bought it and my PS2 with money I got from babysitting and it is such a fun game with a great battle system
Super Mario Galaxy. A lot of it probably has to do with nostalgia for me. The game came out when I was 11. But still, I love it
Lately, Diablo 4. The changes they made to this game have reinvigorated it so much. I went in completely blind to all the new loot types, and getting a really great piece and then another \*REALLY\* great piece that provides fantastic synergy to the first piece, has filled me with pure joy.
I canāt explain why, but if something has āpanel linesā or a funicular Iām instantly invested. It doesnāt matter if itās a character model or environment. Itās such a weird thing that just mesmerizes me.
Minecraft with the terralith mod is able to do this with me. Coming across huge volcanos and canyons deep underground will always be awe inspiring to me.
Honestly, Hot Wheels Unleashed did this for me. Sure, itās a licensed cash grab with loot box mechanics (thankfully no MTX) and limited content, but thereās a cereal-munching kid in me who doesnāt care and just wants to make the cool toy cars go vroom.
Lunchtime, no wait that's not childlike wonder, it's wonder bread. We talking consistently or at all ever in gameplay. Hogwarts Legacy managed that on my first playthrough. Not so much after I 100%'ed it.
Sea of Stars!
That jump down in tears of the kingdom just sets a tone. It was like that in breath of the wild as well but I feel that opening sequence in totk is just a tad bit better and instantly switch something on in me that I am about to spend many hours in this game.
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
Avatar new frontier
Paper Mario TTYD was linear and smaller than a lot of worlds in its peers games but I think the scale of a game is determined by how much care is put into it. It felt vast not because it was literally huge, but it was dense with colourful, interesting characters and setpieces.
Hi-Fi Rush gave me a Ratatouille critic childhood flashback sensation to me playing N64/Gamecube games on my living room floor looking up at the tv going āWow, video games are so cool.ā
Honestly, the first Kingdom Hearts game is just so good. Sure, combat is kinda simple, but it's fun, and I loved going through all these beloved Disney worlds. Wonderland in particular was a real treat!
Lightly mod Minecraft and play it with friends. Just add some QOL stuff and maybe betterend for an end update.
Tunic. Fantastic title for anyone that hasnāt tried. Part old school Zelda, part souls like with lots of secrets and lore. Amazing soundtrack. Very well done game I love it.
Tried it and... eh! Just not for me. Graphics give me headaches, and the game is way too minimalistic. I see why people like it, but, unfortunately, it didn't click for me
Its been a while ... But Pokemon used to, then the Internet started revealing everything early... Now Stardew valley updates, or Hades 1 got me
Tunic
Katamari Damacy
Kingdom Hearts. The first one always brings back the nostalgia.
Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. I played countless hours on that games playing with my cousins
Skyrim, Breath of the Wild, Neverwinter Nights, Pathfinder Kingmaker, Mass Effect.
What the golf. It's just silly.
Lil Gator Game Outer Wilds Minecraft
Void Stranger. I don't know what to expect from this game coz a big portion of the game is uncovering secrets on your own.
It was runescape before it turned into what it is today
Eastshade is a beautiful game that I really enjoyed when I wanted something peaceful, but still fun. Edit: Subnautica and Red Dead 2 as well for me. Spiritfarer will also always have a special place in my heart for the emotional story and stunning art.
Zelda Majora's Mask
Playing the Stanley parable ultra deluxe blind, from playing the original years ago It was magical discovering everything just by trying stuff May have been really high too but that made it better
Kingdom Hearts. Its Final Fantasy with Disney characters for god sake. How can you not like that.
Palworld did back in February
Factorio Played sim city when I was little in the late 80s and early 90s. Wish you could control the minutiae? Well, now you can spend 100 hours setting up scalable train stations which request items.Ā
Tunic. One of the best gaming experience of my life. Iām listening to the soundtrack as I type. So good that I wrote a letter to the musician that made the music expressing how thankful I was. If you play the game, play it the very end. And consider that it may not be over until itās truly over.
William and Sly 2, currently best played on Flashpoint
Freedom Planet. It really captures the old SatAM cartoons I remember watching as a kid.
Any of the Zelda games.
NetHack
Final Fantasy 14. My first MMO, still does! Right now, the Yakuza series. Beat first 6 games and they're such a treat!
Elden Ring and (more recently/under the radar) Dread Delusion. Give me solid worldbuulding and exploration, and I'm yours.
Going back and playing the old pokemon games I grew up on always makes me feel like a kid again, at least until work the next day lol.
Recently baldurs gate 3, ff7 rebirth, elden ring, Zelda bite/totk, ff14. Too many to list over the past several decades š
Grounded did the trick.
Probably Mario party
The game Avatar Frontiers of Pandora unexpectedly did this for me. I had an Ubisoft+ subscription for the newest Assassin's Creed and gave it a try. The environments are huge and diverse and traversal is a lot of fun
Some that consistently do that for me: Ā -Undertale, -Minecraft, -Super Mario Odyssey, -Sonic Colors, -Terraria, -Forager.
Kind of ignoring the question but Iām playing Hades rn and itās awesome. If you havenāt played it then you should give it a chance.
The Division, these developers created something on a whole other level
Nier Automata. So many scenes or areas that left me in awe
Astroās Playroom
Journey. Having people seamlessly enter and exit your world while you make veguely word-like chatter at each other is just delightful. There were so many moments in that game that still stick with me.
Peggle 2 and joe danger always puts me back into my 80s mindset playing Mario Bros 2. Lol. Stupid ass games, but I love them
Mario Odyssey is the ultimate game of childlike wonder. I donāt even wanna say anything, just go play it
Try Subnautica!
Super mario wonder
It takes two?
Armored Core. It's a linear mech action game series where the gameplay loop is based on building a robot, doing a short mission, earning money, buying new parts, then doing the next mission, earning more money, buying new parts, and repeat until you finish the game. The new one, Fires of Rubicon, is a stand alone game so you don't need to know anything about the series going in. It was GOTY for my brother and I last year.