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?
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?
