Beat Staffers pick their own 9 GAMES THAT MADE US

For many of us, videogames – like comics – have been a part of our lives for as long as we can remember, so when #My9Games started making the rounds it seemed like a perfect excuse to opine on the games that brought us to the hobby, and helped define our tastes. And since we don’t have the character limitations of social media, we can talk about our choices. Read on!

ASSASSIN’S CREED II(2009): This was the first console game I ever finished by myself, and with very good reason: Ezio Auditore da Firenze’s tale of personal revenge in Renaissance Italy is an enthralling and cinematic coming-of-age story, set in the enchanting world of the era’s art and architecture. Aside from learning how to navigate some tombs, I was able to just pick it up and go, to almost literally run and run as much as its charismatic, Zorro-esque protagonist. I think I can say this about most of the Assassin’s Creed series, which is a very weird and wonderful world where all of history and religion combine into a swashbuckling whole.

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY (2011): As someone who grew up watching the DC Animated Universe, Arkham City’s open-world Batman experience, complete with Kevin Conroy as the Dark Knight andMark Hamill as the Joker, was a dream come true. Basically, while Ezio is Medieval Batman, this was the real deal! And it offers even more freedom, to glide, to hack weapons and machinery, and to truly feel like the ultimate predator and crimefighter. The story isn’t bad either, weaving in most of the Bat’s greatest enemies in a race against time that ends on a still unexpectedly poignant note. Oh, and there was no Batmobile to mess up the flow like Arkham Knight.

MASS EFFECT 3 (2012): Yes, I did play the finale of BioWare’s darker answer to Star Trek first (although I had played the demo for2), and was just blown by all the ethical, galaxy-changing dilemmas it offered me throughout the campaign, controversial ending and all. The combat was simply to die for, with the multiplayer being the only one that I ever really found engaging (and will be, since multiplayer has required a PlayStation Plus subscription since 2014), but it was the story and characters I loved most. Suffice to say, I replayed the previous games to perfect my choices (Shepard can’t romance Garrus without playing 2!), devoured the books, and hopped on theDragon Age train.

JOURNEY (2012): On paper, Journey does not sound like the most interesting game ever made: you’re this anonymous character trying to cross a vast, ruined landscape to reach the top of a mountain, and that’s it, there’s no dialogue whatsoever. But it’s a masterclass in art and music, and yes, very simple gameplay, that results in a relaxing, beautiful, and surprisingly emotional, well, journey, that proves sometimes a great game doesn’t actually need the trappings of film and theater or sports – it can just be an escape ride.

ASSASSIN’S CREED III (2012): Apologies for putting another Assassin’s Creedgame on this list, but I do have to acknowledge the particular importance of this entry, which was where the series reached its apex as an educational experience for me.Brotherhood’s rifts had asked me to consider oppression the story of humanity, but III’s portrayal of an event as familiar as the American Revolution, from the unfamiliar one of indigenous hero Connor/Ratonhnhaké:ton, was a truly eye-opening insight into how history is written by the victors. Is the game flawless? No. Did I start learning a lot about indigenous peoples as a result? Yes.

LIFE IS STRANGE (2015): 2015 was a toss-up between The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Max Caulfield’s first adventure for the honor of my then favorite video game. And while the former is the platonic ideal of an open world fantasy epic, it is Max’s heartfelt coming-of-age story that has stayed with me the most, because it is a relatively grounded drama game, that’s not about the end of the whole world or wars, but what you could do, or not do, if an extraordinary power fell into your lap. It’s no wonder the series became so beloved, despite all the controversies that’ve followed, and it’s because Max and its other protagonists are simply the most relatable game protagonists imaginable.

HORIZON ZERO DAWN (2017): I don’t care for post-apocalyptic settings (never played Fallout for instance), but Horizon’s world is a beautiful, beautiful, post-post–apocalyptic world: it and Sucker Punch’s Ghost are the most stunning games series ever made. Horizon is full of fascinating cultures and robotic animals, and above all, an amazing metaphor for climate change as the backstory. And then you have the tale of foundling Aloy herself, an outcast considered a motherless abomination by her fearful, ignorant would-be people, unaware of who and what she truly is. Full disclosure: I weep every time I watch the ending, because like its approach to climate change, it’s an incredible allegory for how often, what some might consider weird and unnatural, is anything but.

THE LAST OF US, PART II (2020): Speaking of the apocalypse, I’ve never played these games because they’ve always felt too depressing, but the sequel is easily the best game I have not played, because it has sadly only become more relevant since its release. If you know where director Neil Druckmann is from, then it’ll become very apparent what its tale of the cycle of violence and revenge is really about, and tellingly, if I were to compare it to a movie, it would be Steven Spielberg’s Munich. There are many games I will never play or particularly like, but this one absolutely has my respect.

GOD OF WAR: RAGNAROK(2022): I loved 2018’s God of War enough to agree it was better than Red Dead Redemption 2, but I think its sequel is probably the greatest video game I’ve ever played. Core to that is how it eschews an ending that would’ve been in-line with the previous games, in favor of giving Kratos one that reminds us Ragnarok is not just about death and destruction, but rebirth, and the promise of all things made anew. It has a line on par with WandaVision’s one about grief: “To grieve deeply… is to have loved fully. Open your heart to the world as you have opened it to me, and you will findeveryreason to keep living in it.” As sad as the game still is, it is an important reminder that to have hope in a bleak world is to fight, and that cynicism is often as much the enemy as naivety.

Honorable mentions: Saints Row IV and Deadpool. I only played a bit of the former, but god they provided a lot of laughs in my early twenties. And Avengers, for providing half a good game about Ms. Marvel and MODOK.

LOGICAL JOURNEY OF THE ZOOMBINIS(1996) – They let us play games…in school! While used ‘purely’ for educational purposes, and as a little treat, Zoombinis was one of the first times I had ever played a videogame. In the early-to-mid ’90s we were one of the early generations to have a PC in the classroom here in the UK. Our class only had one PC back then, seldom used, it sat in the corner of the room often covered in a cloth. But they let us play Zoombinis (in pairs) as a treat on it. I only recall doing so once or twice but it since earned mythical status in my head for a long time as – while I vaguely remembered playing it – I never knew its actual name until recently. It reached the point that I almost came to believe I imagined Zoombinis,but it was most definitely real.

CHIP’S CHALLENGE(1989) – the first PC game I played on a laptop. On probably my dad’s first laptop, which was mainly a work computer. Not sure how it got on my dad’s computer – possibly it was installed as part of a Windows 3 bundle – but it was the first time I got to game at home when for a long time I wasn’t permitted a console by my parents.

POKÉMON RED (1998 in US, 1999 in UK): the dawn of my obsession with handheld gaming, role playing games, and needing to catch ’em all. Pokémon buzz from the TV show came long before the videogames (or the trading card game) became available in Britain. Pokémon Red/Blue was the reason I saved my pocket money to buy my own device, a used red Game Boy which I dearly loved. I was so excited to play it that halfway home from my local game shop I sat on a bench in my local park and booted the game up. The first games console I bought for myself and the moment handheld gaming clicked. 

CRASH BANDICOOT (1996) – the first home console game that obsessed me. My brother was gifted a PS1 by relatives. He played it a little until he lost interest. In the end, I played it the most, and Crash the wacky bandicoot was almost my generation’s Mario. Almost (in my head, at least).

THE ORANGE BOX – HALF LIFE 2/PORTAL(2007) – I missed Half Life 1 but playingHalf Life 2and the episodes via the 2007 Orange Box compilation as a student was a revelation. I had tried First Person Shooters and always found them dull. This was something else – a first person narrative adventure with shooting mechanics implemented for puzzle solving, and an interactive world viewed in first-person. The Orange Box also contained Portal which – combined – helped me realise FPS mechanics can be used in unconventional, fun ways.

MASS EFFECT (2007) – My first enthralling narrative game where I spent so much time trying to keep everyone alive. Permadeath was introduced to me in Fire Emblem but Mass Effect’s writing made me obsessed to keep everyone alive to see the casts stories continue. It was like a TV show I could control. 

BREATH OF FIRE(1993/2001) – Pokémon lit the spark that I might like (J)RPGs but playing Breath of Fire’s 2001 GBA port confirmed it. The turn based gameplay, the visuals, the fantasy narrative and exploration. I was hooked. From there came Golden Sun, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei, Magical Starsign…I haven’t looked back.

TIME CRISIS(1995) – some of my earliest gaming memories sampling the offerings in the arcade and one in particular stuck in my head. While playing shooters on a controller was fine, a wired peripheral pointed at a screen was perfection. I am rather surprised that I didn’t play as many (any) light gun shooters by the time the Wii came along.

METAL GEAR SOLID(1998) – the first time I played a somewhat convoluted story which broke the fourth wall. Never forgot that first playthrough – the frustrations and fascinations, the wow moments. Not checked how later ports have navigated those (the Psycho Mantis fight requiring you to actually swap controller port, the com frequency being on the back of the game box), but at the time it was incredible.

Honorable mentions:Journey,Resident Evil 4,Dead Space, Xenoblade Chronicles, Dragon Warrior Monsters

POKÉMON PEARL(2006):My first memory is of 10-year-old me getting my new Nintendo DS Lite on Christmas and finding this game specifically in the cabinets since my Mom decided to have a scavenger hunt for my presents that year. I spent hours training up my Pokémon and becoming engrossed in the music and monster designs. This was also my very first introduction to Pokémon.

POKÉMON MYSTERY DUNGEON: EXPLORERS OF TIME/EXPLORERSOF DARKNESS(2008):My first introduction to the roguelike genre as a child. Dare I say one of the best storylines for a non-mainline Pokémon game. I have very vivid memories of crying due to frustration after blacking out in a dungeon and then cryingagainwhen I finished the game. (I pray for Nintendo to remake this version ofMystery Dungeon specifically). 

STARDEW VALLEY(2016):20-year-old me’s first glimpse into “farming Sim” life games. I was hooked by the nostalgic pixel design and the no rush design of managing your own farm. I have played over 400 hours according to my Switch 2 yet I never feel rushed to 100 percent the game. Even now, I still find myself navigating my farm and interacting with my animals whenever the game gets a new update.

SILENT HILL 2(2001): Introduced to the Silent Hill series by my husband and I was immediately hooked. Between the unsettling vibes and the even creepier music (shoutout to Akira Yamaoka), navigating the trauma of the main character while also defeating grotesque enemies is forever cemented into my head.

HADES(2020):Being in a moment where everyone was stuck in their homes, this game came out at a perfect time to combat boredom. I was playing SuperGiant’s other game Bastion, but this roguelike has and still continues to have me hooked with its incredible soundtrack and stunning visuals. Plus the combat feels amazing and the character voice acting is stellar.

POKÉMON SUN (2016):Oh, to experience this game for the first time again. Trying to catch all the new Pokemon (which is where my favorite Pokemon Mimikyu comes from) and completing the trials, I was hooked by the island aesthetic and new moves that made battling fun. I recall after beating the main game I spent hours shiny hunting for the first time and taking my 3DS with me everywhere.

BORDERLANDS 3(2019): There’s something so nostalgic about this game. Aside from my husband and I frantically trying to beat Gears of War 5 in our small living space in order to monopolize all of our time for this game’s release, Borderlands 3 is one of my favorite games in the series (with a wholeheart shoutout toBorderlands: Pre Sequel). The character dialogue is hilarious along with the main Vault Hunters, the guns feel great to use, and it’s an overall fun way to kill time when you’ve got nothing else to do.

RESIDENT EVIL 6(2012):The first co-op game my husband got me into when we had started dating. I remember following him through Chris’s campaign and feeling so immersed in the Resident Evil franchise. It’s a game I remember vividly; the laughs of setting off traps for the thousandth time and then the overwhelming sadness at the end of Chris’s campaign. The memories sit heavy in my heart. 

SILENT HILL 4: THE ROOM (2009):I played this installment in the Silent Hill franchise recently and, despite its (many) flaws, it’s a game I have not stopped thinking about. The idea of being trapped in your room and the only way to navigate out is through giant holes that spawn in your bathroom while being led further and further into a descent into madness captures the overall essence of the Silent Hill series perfectly in my mind. Dare I say, it leads the franchise in aesthetics and the overall unease keeps this game in my head. 

Honorable mentions:Pokopia, Hades 2, Borderlands The Pre Sequel

POKÉMON RUBY(2002)– This was my very first video game. One of my earliest memories was the dayRubycame out, shopping at Walmart with my dad. Being super into the cards and the show, I turned to him and begged him for the game. I was so young, I couldn’t even read yet so he asked the employee if that would be a problem and the guy said, “He’ll figure it out.” I went home and booted up the game for the first time, Professor Birch introduced me to the world of Pokemon… and then my uncle fell through our ceiling. (True story). This game taught me to read and has made me who I am.

MARVEL’S ULTIMATE ALLIANCE (2006) and its sequel – This series is what made me fall in love with the Marvel Universe at a very young age. There weren’t many places to buy comics where I grew up so this was how I discovered new characters.Ultimate Alliance 2is myCivil War.

JUSTICE LEAGUE HEROES(2006)– Similarly,Justice League Heroeswas also a formative part of my childhood. I’ve always been a DC kid at heart and this was such an incredible game to experience. (And the story was written by Dwayne McDuffie!)

GUITAR HERO II(2006)– Most of my current listening trends and taste in music can be traced back to this game. I loveGuitar HeroandReptiliaby The Strokes is one of my favorite songs of all time.

SUPER SMASH BROS. MELEE(2001)– I have incredibly fond memories of playingMeleewith my younger brothers. Each time a new Nintendo character would appear, we’d get so excited. I also really enjoyed channeling my inner Hungrybox to Jigglypuff + Rest my brothers into oblivion.

GOD OF WAR(2018) – I’m a sucker for father-child dynamics in media. Kratos’ speech to Atreus at the end gets me every time. “Who I was is not who you will be. We must be better.”

RATCHET & CLANK: GOING COMMANDO (2003)– Big guns and big jokes. The first time I ever sat up all night was to play this game all the way through and then using a GameShark to play it backwards after it was over.

WIZARDS 101(2008)– I wanted to choose an MMO for my list but I had a hard time choosing just one.Wizards 101was one of my very first. My friends and I spent hours learning magic and exploring together. Honorable mentions toElder Scrolls Online, WoW, and Guild Wars 2.

MASS EFFECTSERIES (2007-2012),SPECIFICALLY 2(2010)– I put off playing theMass Effectseries for so long as rumors of remakes kept cropping up but I finally played through the whole trilogy when the collection came out. The sprawling sci-fi space opera was absolutely incredible. I loved the world and the characters and it has really stuck with me for years. “Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.”

Honorable Mentions:Arkham Asylum, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, Battle for Bikini Bottom, Link to the Past, Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door, Skyrim, Hollow Knight

FINAL FANTASY XIII (2009):My uncle has been a gamer for basically his entire life, and for a short period in my childhood he lived with me and my mother. I have to basically entirely credit him with getting me into video games, as many of my foundational gaming experiences involved watching him play on his PS3, includingFinal Fantasy XIII, which I thought was just about the coolest thing I’d ever witnessed. The beautiful background design, Lightning’s cool sword and spikey hair, the JPRG-ness of it all just seemed so awesome and it was one of many games that made me fall in love with the medium as a child. 

POKÉMON BLACK (2010)This is the first game I ever bought myself, as I got a Nintendo DS for my next birthday and gotPokémon Blackon launch week. I probably sank hundreds of hours if not more into this game, sneaking my DS into school and on trips and holidays. Oshawott will always be thePokemonstarter who has my heart, and N remains easily my favorite villain in the series. Volcarona is still my favorite Pokemon to this day too! While I ended up preferring other regions more, I’ll always have a soft spot for Gen 5. 

BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM (2009)About a year later, I got myself an Xbox 360 after squirreling away Christmas and pocket money for ages. I had seen videos ofArkham Asylumon YouTube and was desperate to check it out myself, and then voila, a friend gifted me a copy!  The game didn’t disappoint, and at the time I had just begun to read comics as they serialised as well, so my love of DC Comics and superheroes as a whole was forever cemented here. I’ll never forget the intoxicating feeling of being terrified at the Scarecrow level, and how much of a primal impact that had on my taste in fiction to come. 

Portal 2 (2011)My original ‘favorite game’, I got it on sale and proceeded to play it, replay it, and then replay it again. My best friend and I have a longstanding tradition of playing the co-op mode together every few years that started here when we were kids and just played it all the time. I can recite scenes by heart, and this was the first time I had really connected to a games’ narrative and thought abouthowgames are able to tell stories differently than movies or comics or shows. GLaDos is still my favorite video game villain of all time in what I genuinely think is a perfect voice acting performance, and whilst it may not hold the number 1 spot to me anymore, it’ll always be very close. 

THE WOLF AMONG US (2013)The game that got me into noir aesthetics that would go on to define my academic work and much of my taste in media for over a decade to come, this was another game that made me consider how games can tell stories differently to other mediums, and further cemented my love of comics by introducing me toFables.The style just resonated with me so intensively, waking something in my brain.I obsessively replayed it to get every option and every bit of dialogue available, but my favorite will always be to play Bigby as a big softie. I can’t wait for the sequel to finally come out, as well as a remastered version later this year. 

TERRARIA (2011)My go-to game to play with my friends, I have hundreds of hours in this too and yet have somehow never finished it. So many of my favorite memories involve sleepovers with those I love, and am lucky enough to still know today, playingTerrariaand staying up later than we should’ve. It really inspired me to think creatively in my problem solving and encouraged me to try and think out of the box wherever I could. Maybe one day I’ll finally finish it! 

HALF LIFE 2 (2004)A couple years later, once I was a bit older, I started playing more ‘mature’ games and trying to engage with new genres and styles of fiction. PlayingHalf Life 2for the first time hit like a truck, completely changing how I viewed the medium of gaming and showing me how games build and develop on top of the work of previous games. The gritty aesthetic and wonderfully inventive gameplay got me hooked, and it quickly became one of my favorites. I even made a head crab out of paper mache at school – and got told off for it, of course. Valve was the first developer I really got into learning about and following their trajectory, and I do think it’s a shame we haven’t gotten many more games from them in the years since. One can dream…

BIOSHOCK (2007)The game that changed it all. There’s my love of games before and afterBioshock,which took all of the ideas I was starting to consider and think about and codified them into a genuine passion for games, game design and media analysis in and of itself. It was thrilling and scary and so viscerally immersive, with a smart and shocking story that kept you on your toes and had something to say. I was 12 and falling in love with horror and the ability it had to make stories that really resonated with the emotions I wasn’t particularly in touch with. It’s also the first game that ever inspired me directly to try to make something, a stop motion short film about a Big Daddy and Little Sister that sadly never got completed. It dethronedPortal 2as my favorite game and still is in my top 5 games to this day. 

UNDERTALE (2015)Lastly, i’ll talk about the first game I ever followed the development of – I even tried to get my mom to donate to the Kickstarter! – Toby Fox’s masterfulUndertale.As a lover of all things weird and esoteric my whole life, this game struck a nerve with me at a time in which I felt so different to everyone around me and so out of place. It was one of the first games that really impacted how I approach day-to-day life outside of games, and gave me something I really needed at the time, a healthy bit of escapism mixed with a genuine push to get better. I carry this game with me in my heart wherever I go, and no matter how much I change, because it represents a turning point for me as a person, when my love of art and media started to become something that brought me joy and passion in life, when all of the games I had loved growing up finally culminated into the person I would become. The soundtrack’s brilliant too – I mean,Death by Glamour,come on. 

SPYRO THE DRAGON(1998): Literally the very first videogame I played in my life. I would play that game so much after school from Pre-K through to the first grade. It was a game that had a very colorful art style, memorable catchy music, and the level designs just let my imagination run wild as a child. Sometimes I would be actually trying to complete these worlds, other times I would just kill time and explore the worlds, hop around to see what I can find, backtrack, just make-pretend of some scenarios that were in my mind. I even remember discovering some of my old notebooks to find childish illustrations I have made of Spyro and his friends. That’s how much this game had an impact on me.

POKÉMON SILVER (2000): If Spyro was a timesink in my life, then Pokémon Silver was the timesink when I was away from the PlayStation. It was also my very first Pokémon game which I would play on the atomic purple GameBoy Color that was a hand-me-down from my Aunt. I would put so many hours into that game despite trying and failing to even beat the Elite Four in the Johto region. So much so I had no idea there even was a post-game section to the game set entirely in Kanto leading up to the most iconic moment of battling Red on Mount Silver. Surprisingly I had been playing that exact copy up until 2006 when I found a photo of myself playing that game on a trip to Greece. Sadly I lost my copy sometime after. But nostalgia is quite a drug because I was able to get an authentic copy during ANYC ‘26 to re-experience the game all over again. 

HALO 2(2004): Imagine this, it’s 2004. Your current obsession isStar Wars, and Revenge of the Sith is just around the corner. You go spend the weekend with your dad and your stepmother and hang out with her son and he invites you to go over his friend’s house in the same apartment complex. That friend has the Xbox and he boots up Halo 2. You get blessed with the startup video for Bungie Studios with the electric guitar notes from the Mjolnir Theme before you see the title screen accompanied by the Gregorian chant of Halo’s theme. You are handed a controller and you spend hours of the day playing custom games and campaign co-op with no prior knowledge of the plot from the first game. But the gameplay was fun and before you know it, it’s time to head back home. Just the experience to sit down in front of the same TV with other kids and try out these game modes and play together through a story was so new to me, it was an experience that I would never forget.

LEFT 4 DEAD 2(2009): There’s too much to cover for this specific game. While at first many protested the game as a $60 expansion to Left 4 Dead releasing barely a year later, once the original Left 4 Dead campaign was included, especially for free on PC, many stopped complaining. But the biggest draw was introducing me to mods. Custom campaign, custom survivors, custom infected models, weapons, sounds, textures. It led me to spend over 10 years even contributing to the modding scene making hundreds of Halo-themed mods that transformedLeft 4 Dead 2into an unofficial Halo horror game. 

THE ELDER SCROLLS III: MORROWIND (2002): At the time the only Role Playing Games I ever really cared about was the Pokémon series. But then I was introduced toThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the Xbox 360. Despite that, on PC I was drawn to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind through a Steam sale. It was visually- and gameplay-wise very different from the simplified gameplay of Skyrim, but despite the graphics, the world and lore hooks you in. A world unlike those from typical fantasy stories set on an island of ash, volcanoes, ancient cities, reptilian and bug-like creatures, and living gods. On PC the mods just add another layer as you get more locations to explore, more costumes, weapons, hairstyles, spells, characters, and quests. I would devote so many hours to this game that I completely forgot about Skyrim for a long while.

THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE (2014): By this point I was already an obsessed Elder Scrolls fan. I always wanted to play an MMORPG but subscriptions always were a huge factor as to why I never played them. The Elder Scrolls Online released the Tamriel Unlimited update which ditched the subscription model. From there I made my first character and was introduced to a lot of features the game had: Two sets of main storylines, one from the zones and the other being a throughline main quest. There was countless side quests, guilds, PVP with thousands of players and open siege warfare, role-playing guilds, crafting, trading, an in-game economy, and fishing. I have made many friends during that time, many who still persist to this day and many wonderful memories I would cherish for a long time. 

GARRY’S MOD (2006): This was one of those games I would boot up to just kill time, mess around, do insane mashups of various IPs, and try out different game modes. Depending on the mood I can make Garry’s Mod be a Halo game, a Fallout game, a Call of Duty game, or a Parkour game to name a few possibilities. I can watch random NPCs battle it out with each other like having the US Military fight aliens who are also fighting zombies and monsters from hell. Or spawn a black void with eyes named Munchy who will endlessly chase you around and kill you instantly if it touches you. But there are also relaxing moments where I would hop onto a movie theater map with friends in game and we’d all watch music videos or YouTube videos for hours, or hop on a RP server and watch how people get so into character that it makes for some very funny moments that put their voice acting skills on display. 

FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS (2010): Ain’t that a kick in the head! Another Role-playing game I thoroughly enjoyed playing. It was my very firstFallout game and what an entry it was to start off on. Unlike previous titles, you are not a Vault Dweller, but a courier in the post-apocalyptic remnants of the Mojave desert. Your character barely survived getting shot in the head and having their package intercepted, from thereafter you’re patched up by Doc Mitchell, the entire world is free to explore. The game gives you a lot of freedom from the start. You could head to New Vegas where the main quest wants you to go, or head any other direction where you’ll encounter other factions, companions, quests, and enemies. Pop on some of that good ol’ radio from the pipboy to enjoy some 1950’s and 1960’s tunes and it creates quite a memorable experience that I never was able to enjoy from another Fallout game since. 

PROJECT ZOMBOID(2013): When you think of surviving a zombie apocalypse, you usually think about how you will just survive the outbreak and deal with the infected all around you. But do you ever think about the mundane day-to-day elements that go into surviving the days afterwards? It’s why I loveZomboid so much. This survival RPG makes you learn that the zombies aren’t the only thing you need to worry about. You also have to take into account the little things like food supply, tools, entertainment, medicine, and how you will get clean water and power once the electrical grid shuts off and water is cut off. It’s a really amazing game that makes you take for granted how every person has a role in keeping one another alive, and just how difficult it will be to survive the end of the world alone when all of those safety nets and resources are no longer available to you. Really opens your eyes to the larger world around you. 

SUPER MARIO ADVANCE 2: SUPER MARIO WORLD (2001): For the majority of my childhood, the only gaming system I had was my GameBoy Advance. I would play it all the time when going on long car rides to visit my grandparents in Florida or my aunt in Pennsylvania. There were a lot of games that I played from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire to Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. But perhaps the one that I have the fondest memories of is Super Mario World. I’d spend hours finding the various coins, secret worlds, and bosses.

GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK (2007): When I turned 12 or 13, my mom finally caved and got us a PlayStation 2. My brother and I would play a lot of games together (mostly WWE). I would try my hand at Kingdom Hearts, God of War, and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies. But the game I spent the most hours diving into wasGuitar Hero III. I have fond memories of playing “Ruby” by Kaiser Chiefs, beating the devil at a guitar duel, and some rather teenage fantasies about certain characters.

PORTAL 2 (2011): I would, of course, continue on to the PlayStation 3. Mostly gotten because of its capabilities as a BluRay player, I had many fond memories of playing games rented from my local Blockbuster. Among the games I actually bought was Portal 2, which made me laugh extremely hard throughout.

DEPRESSION QUEST (2013): My favorite game of all time. While in college, I’d largely miss out on videogaming due to focusing on studies. I’d play some games: My roommate’s copy of GTA IV andV, watching other roommates play FIFA or Paper Mario. Generally, I spent these years playing board games. But one game that caught my eye (alongside the larger zeitgeist) was Depression Quest. The first time I played it, I bawled my eyes out. There are some limitations, sure. But man was the game a sight to behold.

KENTUCKY ROUTE ZERO (2013): It would take some time for me to be fully back into gaming properly. I’d do some games for reviews like Hiveswap or because they were recommended to me like God of War: Ascension. But generally speaking, I was out of the loop. One of the few exceptions was Kentucky Route Zero, a game I spent an entire week playing until the final moments of community building in the face of a bleak, uncaring capitalistic system that abuses addicts.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION II (2018): The PlayStation 4 was a system I didn’t play as much as I should’ve. I got a few games for it like The Last of Us and Control. I did check out Spider-Man at my local library. But the game that rocked my socks and brought me completely back into gaming was Red Dead Redemption II. It truly is the most immersive game I’ve ever played. I want to get lost in its wilderness.

ALAN WAKE II (2023): SHOW ME THE CHAMPION OF LIGHT! I’LL SHOW YOU THE HERALD OF DARKNESS!!! LOST IN A NEVE-ENDING NIGHT! DIVING DEEP TO THE SURFACE, OH!

SILENT HILL F(2025): Quite literally the scariest game I’ve ever played. I still have nightmares about the implications of the game’s first ending, let alone the boss fight where you kill your parents.

IMMORTALITY (2022): It’s just a beautiful game about the nature of art in the wake of eternity.

FINAL FANTASY IX (2000):Maybe more than most young teenagers who stumbled upon the whimsical ninth entry in this venerable RPG series, I found a deeply relatable kindred spirit in the existentially pensive and awkward young black mage Vivi. What is otherwise a high fantasy story of kingdoms and realities in peril full of broad and memorable characters takes on a melancholy bent as a young boy ponders his mortality and place in the world. The gameplay is standard turnbased but what truly sets FFIX apart is the lively, colorful world and cast and the deep heart at its core. 

KINGDOM HEARTS (2002):A fun and melancholy mashup of Disney and Final Fantasy, this game transported this young teenage writer into an engaging story about friendship and sacrifice. The franchise remains one of my favorites, and there are better games in the series, but this is one that inspired my imagination and one of my favorites to revisit every few years.

SONIC ADVENTURE 2 (2001):I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease when I was 10 years old after two years of constant tests and dead ends. That night my parents came home from purchasing medication with a copy of Sonic Adventure 2 on Dreamcast. I spent the next week absorbed in the escapist absurdism of the spiky blue hedgehog and his dark mirror counterpart. It doesn’t exactly hold up to modern standards but the memories of the comfort this game gave me when I really needed it are foundational to how I think about the power of art and entertainment. 

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER (2002):With its cel-shaded art style, Wind Waker is simply a joy to look at. The little artistic flourishes and details really bring the game to life. Sailing the seas feels like setting out on an epic adventure even today, especially combined with the incredible score. It also features what I think is the best individual story in the whole franchise.

MEGA MAN 4 (1991):It might be the most overlooked title in the history of the Mega Man games, but 4 was the one I poured hours into on the NES back in the day. It has some of the most offbeat robot master designs and that classic funky music. It’s rip your hair out difficult like every Mega Man game but the introduction of the charge-shot adds new gameplay mechanics that have lasted. It’s a game I can revisit over and over. Mega Man is one of those minimalist 8-bit games where you can attach any story you want to it, and in that way, it helped spark my young imagination.

DIABLO 2 (2000):The countless hours poured into the online co-op mode of this top-down action RPG classic dwarfs almost any other game I’ve ever played. With its pre-rendered graphics, sprawling labyrinthine maps and melodramatic cutscenes, it’s an all-time classic. No matter how many times you charge through the same battles, there seemed to be new ways to play.  With an AIM chat window open in the corner to coordinate next steps and a Mountain Dew by my side, 3 AM never came on quicker.  I still miss my little Necromancer army.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK (2000):Don’t let the fact that I never actually beat this game distract you from how formative it was. With its chilling narrative and ticking clock that filled me with dread, it was the first piece of media that inspired me to engage in critical analysis. Discussing theories and symbolism of various parts of the story, notably its “Elegy of Emptiness” song led me to an online community that changed my life and formed friendships which continue to this day. The connective power of art!

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS (2005):Has any game ever made you feel worse about winning? An exercise in isolation and unique design that merges puzzles and boss fights into one awe-inspiring confrontation after another, few games have ever conjured a greater sense of wonder. The ominous score and the small details in how the giants move and react to your assaults make every battle feel like you’ve engaged in something you should regret. A game that challenges your very purpose.

HORIZON ZERO DAWN (2017): Most of my memorable video game experiences are from when I was a kid or teen when I had a lot more time for them.Horizonwas the first game I played as an adult that really bowled me over and changed something in me. With its epic, post-apocalyptic story and a narrative that unfolds through discovery and collectible details, it is one of the most compelling 21st century works to grapple with the existential dread of the climate crisis. At turns hopeful and mournful, it’s a game that I have never stopped thinking about since finishing.

JAZZ JACKRABBIT 2 (1998): An old PC game, the Jazz Jackrabbit games came out around the time “animals with attitude” took the genre by storm, headed bySonic the Hedgehog. It was a 2D platformer that qualified as a shooter since that was your main weapon and getting different kinds of ammo was key to beating levels. It was one of the only games my dad had on the family computer and the only one that didn’t take forever to load. It probably introduced me to the entire concept of recreational trial-and-error. Jazz and Spaz hold special places in my heart.

BANJO-KAZOOIE (1998): The first video game I ever actually owned! I got it the birthday I got my Nintendo 64. Everything about this game seemed incredible to me. It was bright, cheery, puzzly, storybook-y, and it was also something I got to choose. I also got the Nintendo Power official guide to go along with it, which might’ve honestly been the book I read the most times as a kid. The silly bear-and-bird got me hooked and I haven’t been the same since. Also, yes I went absolutely ballistic in the stock room of a Barnes & Noble the moment they got announced forSuper Smash Bros Ultimate.

POKÉMON CRYSTAL (2001):I was firmly swept up in PokéMania when it hit North America in the late 90s. I loved the anime and the card game, but I didn’t have a GameBoy to play the original games. I had something close (that I’ll get to in a moment), but my first Pokemon adventures wouldn’t come until Gold & Silver. Then, the next year, their “definitive” edition came out in Pokemon Crystal and that’s all she wrote. Talk about opening up the heart and imagination. It became my building block for my love of Pokemon, handhelds, and prioritizing fun. It is the title I consider my absolute favorite game of all time to this day. 

POKÉMON STADIUM 1+2 (2000, 2001):Before I ever owned a proper Pokemon game of my own, I gotPokemon Stadium, a spin-off game where the main focus was to battle with Pokemon like they do in the show. Both games were also stupid hard and you couldn’t beat them without plugging in your own homegrown Pokemon. Mostly, they showed me what competitive video gaming was, what you needed to do in order to be good at them and how much work it took. I could feel myself losing my love for the hobby while trying to beat them. I love the games and always will, but more importantly, I think I treasure what they taught me: video games are supposed to befunand they helped me swear off any meta or competitive gaming for any hobby I ever got into (Yu-Gi-Oh notwithstanding).

WWF NO MERCY (2000): Still hailed as one of if notthegreatest wrestling video game of all time and also began my love for professional wrestling. My cousin moved into our town and his parents had bought him games my parents never would have bought me. He brought all those games with him and this one was the best of the best. Everything about this game was ahead of its time – the branching storytelling, the creative-a-wrestler system, the wrestling mechanics themselves, all of it. It and eventually wrestling itself were things that me and my cousin fell in love with and could enjoy together, which wound up giving me one of the best friends and important people in my life. Between that and being the beginning of wrestling taking over my life, WWF No Mercy has given me more than a video game probably ever should.Dig dig diggidy, dig diggidy dawg.

TEKKEN 3 + TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT (1998, 2000):Got dragged to a skating rink I didn’t care for at summer camp, but they did have a massive arcade. I was gobsmacked to see such an array of some of my first fighting games:SoulCalibur,Virtua Fighter,Street Fighter,Mortal Kombat, the works. The one that stuck the most, though, wasTekken 3. When I finally got a PS2, the first game at the top of my list wasTekken Tag Tournament, the next Tekken title. They’re here together because TTT is pretty muchTekken 3with better graphics.Tekken 3got my attention, but pouring hours intoTekken Tag Tournamentopened me up to fighting games and the insane amounts of character driven drama of a bunch of martial artists (and, eventually, those who are really good at controlling them). 

DYNASTY WARRIORS 3 + 4 (2001, 2003): Back when you could play demos at some stores, you could also give yourself a hell of a neck crank because they kept the monitors to them so high up. I wound up playing and replaying the Battle of Nanman for the next 45 minutes in something calledDynasty Warriors 3. It wasn’t until later I’d getDynasty Warriors 4: Empires. The 1-vs-1,000 hack-and-slash action of Medieval China floored me, and did even more so when I discovered they were based on a book that was also based on actual history. My fascination with Dynasty Warriors and Romance of the Three Kingdoms would lead me to a) understanding that you can indulge in whatever titles you want no matter their critical reception and, miraculously, b) a career in video games journalism.  

DRAGON QUEST/DRAGON WARRIOR III (2001): When I turned 12, my mom let me pick out my first Rated T game to own, but she had to approve it. I saw the box of Dragon Warrior III on GameBoy Color and something about it seemed both cool and…familiar? Later I learned the character designer of the franchise wastheAkira Toriyama of Dragon Ball fame. I was stunned at the level of depth a handheld game could get to. Little did I know it was a port of a 1988 blockbuster for the NES. This game, along with Pokemon and the turn of the millennium Anime Boom, pretty much laid the groundwork for my fascination with JRPGs as a kid. I wouldn’t be able to play or afford most of them until much, much later, but I was lucky enough to cut my teeth in the genre on one of the most influential games in all of video game history.

OKAMI (2006):At a time when I was “coming of age” or whatever and my video game tastes were supposed to mature with me towards stuff likeGrand Theft Auto: San Andreasand the originalGod of War, I instead found interest in a game about art and a dog. The visuals and charm of this game is undisputed for me to this day and reaffirmed my faith in the medium a good bit. The 2018 remaster was the first game I ever wrote a review for! For sure one of the most important games of my life.

Honorable Mentions: Super Smash Bros. (1999), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelists of the Roses (2003)