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Help me get back into video games

Moonlight_Sonata

Well-Known Member
So, in short: I'm in my mid-thirties and was a huge video game geek as a teenager. Loved all the classic PS, DC, and N64 games like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Ocarina of Time, etc. The Resident Evil franchise was always my favorite and kept me obsessed up until RE4 or RE5. That era was a perfect balance of cinematic, character rich story telling with just enough limits on technology that games still felt like games rather than interactive movies.

I kind of started losing interest in video games around the time first person shooters really came into vogue. I was never a fan of that style of game and it seemed to be all that was on the market. The Final Fantasy series, with part X, had become a weird CGI film that occasionally prompted you to press a button or two, and my beloved Resident Evil franchise had morphed into something inspired more by Michael Bay than Richard Romero. I was also in college and grad school and had less and less time to sit around working through 25 hour campaigns, especially since my enthusiasm was already dwindling. As a result, for the past ten years or so, I've played very few "real" games and my gaming activity has been limited to sports stuff and fighting games. Things you can play quickly, for short bursts, and then do something else.

I recently got a PS4 to play Fire Pro World, and my brother urged me to try the RE2 remake. I begrudgingly did and fell completely in love with it. It actually brought back a lot of the feelings I had when playing older games, particularly the early RE games. It's made me want to play more, but - aside from trying to backtrack and play the RE games I missed - I have very little clue of what's out there. Especially stuff that might be consistent with my tastes.

I like something with a story, but that isn't too reliant on cut scenes. I also enjoy an element of exploration, but not something so open that it feels directionless. I want there to be some linearity and sense of progress, even if it's not all that clearly defined. Complete open world stuff is just too overwhelming. I also am not a huge first person fan, and I like themes relating to fantasy and horror and traditional drama more than military or special ops stuff.

I played a bit of the first Last of Us and that felt like the closest thing to something I might like that I had played in a long time. It was still a bit overwhelming, but it seemed to have a lot of the tenets of early RE games and felt kind of appealing from both a narrative and structural level. I know a new one came out recently, so I'm thinking of buying the remastered version for PS4 and then trying to play that series after I finish some RE games.

Any other suggestions?
 

Turo602

The King of Kings
Sounds like you enjoy action adventure/Metroidvania games. If I'm being honest, that's gotta be my favorite kind of game too. Which is why I fell in love with Resident Evil 2 REmake so much.

I don't know if you're into Batman, but the Batman: Arkham games and the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy fit that mold as well. Everytime I try to think of what my absolute favorite games have been in recent times, those come to my head first and it always makes me want to replay them.
 

UniqTeas

G Virus Experiment
Give us your top 5 or 10 games of all time and we can help even more. But Turo's suggestions are spot on. The Arkham games are unbelievably good. Even Origins, the black sheep of the series is an incredible game.
 

Moonlight_Sonata

Well-Known Member
Give us your top 5 or 10 games of all time and we can help even more. But Turo's suggestions are spot on. The Arkham games are unbelievably good. Even Origins, the black sheep of the series is an incredible game.

If I limit games to one per series, it'd probably be:

Original Resident Evil 2
Metal Gear Solid
Final Fantasy VIII
Jet Grind Radio
Parasite Eve
Ocarina of Time
Viewtiful Joe


Honestly, thinking back on it, a lot of my video game playing must've just been all the RE games over and over.
 

Jen

Girly Gamer
Premium Elite
Premium
I played a bit of the first Last of Us and that felt like the closest thing to something I might like that I had played in a long time. It was still a bit overwhelming, but it seemed to have a lot of the tenets of early RE games and felt kind of appealing from both a narrative and structural level. I know a new one came out recently, so I'm thinking of buying the remastered version for PS4 and then trying to play that series after I finish some RE games.
I will say that if you found the first game overwhelming you might find the second one even more so. It's largely the same in terms of gameplay, but it takes probably 30 hours to get through. I'm not saying don't try them, but just wanted to give you a heads up.

That being said, I will say that you should try and keep an open mind. I used to be very close-minded in terms of games and just played Resident Evil pretty much exclusively. Then I realised what I was missing out on when I started branching out.

As Turo said above, the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy might be ideal for what you're looking for. Maybe try the Uncharted series too, they're a fun bunch of games.
 

UniqTeas

G Virus Experiment
That is a great list of games from typically my favorite gaming era (PS1-PS2), but it's still hard to translate to modern games.

All of the Uncharted games are really fun. As are The Last of Us and The Last of Us 2.
The 2018 God of War is a standout game, Spider-Man had a lot of action to it, Horizon Zero Dawn starts off slow, but ends up being amazing.

Other than that, I do recommend FFXV Royal Edition and I have heard a lot of good things about Persona 5 Royal Edition too.

Wish I had more info on good horror games during this gen. But I am sure someone has some good suggestions!
 

Rain611

You can't kill me.
You seem to like a lot of the same games that I like, so I'll just share a few that stood out to me, not necessarily sticking to any one genre and I'll try not to list anything that was already mentioned.

One of my favorite games is Journey. There is no dialogue, no clear objectives, no real explanations for anything really. But the game is easy enough to learn and follow and the story is actually very rich for having zero spoken words throughout the game. It's one of those games that sticks with you for reasons you may not even be able to pin down.

Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice was a great game. It is openworldish with a clear enough path of progression. It had be a little much at times as you are able to hear the voices that plague Senua as she goes about her journey, which is generally unpleasant, but still worth playing in my opinion. I don't want to give anything away about this one so I'll leave it at that.

Ok, so hear me out - Death Stranding is amazing. It is open world and has the potential to last a very long time depending on what all you're trying to accomplish before the end of the game. I personally was trying to 100% my first run and I think it ultimately took me something like 90 some odd hours. That being said, I think if you were just running with the story you could finish it a lot faster than that. Combat is generally disencouraged throughout the game because dead in general tends to have very bad consequences in this game. The story is top notch in my opinion, the characters are relatable and I did become attached to my BB even though I wasn't supposed to. I am also in love with Low Roar now, a band that was featured heavily in the game. Suffice it to say, this is the first game that I ever gladly forked over $200 for the collector's edition. Can't go wrong with Hideo Kojima.

If you want a game that's less serious but still is kinda open worldy but has notable progression, you might try Man-eater. It's everything you ever loved about RPGs except you're a shark. It's pretty fun and very ridiculous. It was made by the same studio that made Killing Floor 2, which is another favorite of mine but I don't think you would like that one so much....

Other games I would suggest have already been mentioned, but if I think of anything else I'll swing back by and add another post.
 
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