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Not really computer games.
Camarilla. A LARP that I was part of for about ten years. I met hundreds of people. A few girlfriends. There were chapters all over the world with a couch to crash on and a group of nerds into the same shit I was. I drifted from my local group and they fell apart a few years later. I’ve recently reconnected with some remnants of that group and in the blink of an eye I’ve found twenty friends and have a busy social life.
JiuJitsu. I don’t see it as an art. I don’t see it as a way to beat someone up. I see it as IRL PvP. I got into it from the early Joe Rogan podcasts where he had obscure interesting guests rather than the coco bananas direction he’s been on for the last 10+ years.
World of Warcraft 2. A pirated copy got me a job at my local collectible card store. They had a computer in the store but weren’t IT nerdy kids like I was. I’d downloaded it from a pirate BBS, YES BBS, that a friend at school ran. I like that Steam sees developers getting paid but man was DOS piracy next level easy, you were more likely to need the “decoder” that came with the game to act as the license.
Enderal and its not even close. It shows a world that is in a deep decline and an apocalypse that is all but inevitable but manages to still feel hopeful in a way. Throughout the game there is this theme of how even if everything might fade at some point your interpersonal actions are still meaningful. The Rhalata sidequest alone easily outmatches most games that where published by “real” game studios and the main story just seals the deal.
Osu!, but not in the good direction… the game might have deleted what little confidence I have left in myself and gave me crippling perfectionism issues. Also permanently changed my music taste. May or may not have set me up on a hyper-competitive career path as well so there is that. Upside is… I’m fun at the club and the arcade maybe??
I’m still playing it: sons of forest.
How it changed my life: I have a much deeper appreciation to go into nature and feel more confident
Also having that deeper understanding to put together an earth quake survival kit.like you never know if you have to bail and you just gotta be ready to evacuate and survive.
Other games: Titan fall 2. I bawled at the end. I’m just now playing it through again. And I’m not one to replay a game but I would with that one given the bond. Never thought I’d cry at a game but that one …that one was special for me.
Xenogears. That game changed my teenage life and shaped many things I did after.
Outer Wilds, Nier Automata, and SOMA are all fantastic runners up. Would love to put many others on this list, but I’ll try to keep it short.
Just finished Xenogears last night. It’s such an incredible game.
i just wish they hadn’t run out of funding halfway through
Red Dead Redemption 2
I am an emotional person, and I regularly cry during movies, shows and books. But this is the first and only game to day, where I cried. I don’t mean just teary-eyed, actually crying. And on more than one occasion.
It made me want to be a better person. Hopefully I am succeeding.
Cyberpunk 2077 is close second.
I didn’t play Expedition 33 yet, but I saw the prologue and it was very emotional. There is a really good chance this game will be on my list too.
I couldn’ finish Enderal, because I did not want to make one of the two shitty decisions in the end and cried about it. “Just a mod” had me in tears and sobbing twice.
It wasn’t the story of the game that was life-changing, but I met people on PSO that encouraged me to pursue a different career. Without them, I don’t think I’d be the person I am today.
Penis Smoke Omicron?
Dance Dance Revolution 3rd mix. It sounds stupid, I know, but hear me out. I really sucked at this game at first. My friends use to play every weekends at the arcade, so I really wanted to get better. So I really trained hard and became the best player in our group. People gattered around the arcade when I was playing. I was good enough for tournaments.
Now when I face something difficult, I’m confident I can overcome it if I really want to. I wasn’t like that before. Thanks Konami.
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Im not much of a gamer. Im gonna have to say Minecraft. Not really a story but did feel like major achievement. Ah the good ol’ days
The Witcher 3! I never played 1 or 2. However 3 did a great job of story recap and finishing up said story. DLC was a must as well. All in all, I was engaged with the story.
And of course, RDR2.
I loved RDR but every time I try to play RDR2 I struggle to stay engaged for more than a couple hours. Then it’s 6-12 months before I play it again. Still haven’t finished a single play thru. Just can’t put my finger on why.
Chess* enhanced my cognitive skills and consequently improved my confidence.
The vanishing of Ethan Carter.
I was thinking about the ending for days. I wish someone else could experience it for the first time so I can finally talk about it with someone. This game is so good, audio, graphics and story wise, it’s a shame it’s not widely known.
The game STILL looks good considering its age and budget.
Death Stranding. Ok not sure if that actually really changed my life, but it left me in a bit of a mixed emotional state.
See the thing is that I became a dad not that long ago and during the pregnancy and maybe a year or so after the birth of my kid I had this somewhat irrational fear of finding my kid just dead at some point in the crib or something like that. I fought past that fear eventually and the kid is now three and as healthy as one can be.
Then was it 2024 or something when the Director’s Cut was released on Xbox. I never had a PlayStation (not for any other reason other than I just never happened to get one) so I was exicted to finally start playing this game I’ve heard so much about. I bought the game and played whenever I had time (if you have kids, you know how it can be) and loved the game, especially for the atmosphere and the sort of weird lore that was exciting to uncover for me.
Rest of the post contains spoilers
Then I got the the part where you have to cut the umbilical cord of Mama’s BT baby.
I wasn’t prepared for that at all and it kinda just broke something in me. I had to stop playing and didn’t play for like at least 6 months or so. It brought back too many of the feelings and fears I had previously gone through so I just needed to take a break. Like don’t get me wrong, I actually DID like the scene for the beautiful moment it was and think it was amazing storywriting, it just caught me so off guard that I had to take a moment or ten.
After the break I kept going and the game still managed to keep me hooked and the story just kept getting better and better imo.
And then the ending.
I cried. A lot. I have never ever cried out loud to any piece of media, but I could literally feel Sam’s emotions when he noticed that BB wasn’t moving and was likely dead already. That was pretty much exactly the fear I had so you’ll probably understand why it hit me so hard. And then when I hear that cry come from the game, the relief I felt was something I can’t really describe well.
And after that I was sitting there in the living room, tears in my eyes, laugh-crying and just… wow. I don’t know, if I’d played the game when it came out in 2019 before my kid was born and before the pregnancy and everything, I would’ve probably just thought it to be maybe a decent story and maybe tear up a bit at the end. But with all the other stuff that piled on before I got to play the game, it just added it’s own effect to the experience. I really don’t know if I can say that I was changed in any meaningful way, but I do kinda think that it might have at least helped me deal with the past fears a bit better so maybe in the future if I need to face them again, I can do it with more confidence.
One thing that I can say for sure at least is that I loved the game and I kinda wish I could play it again for the first time. The emotional roller coaster might’ve been a bit rough at times but damn it was a good one.
As someone who loves watching but not playing horror games, I am still waiting for someone to play this for me to watch. I bought the game ages ago!
In case you didn’t know, SOMA has a safe mode in which enemies don’t attack you.
A friend of mine who gets scared at everything finished it for the story in that mode.
Excellent game.
Man that game was 10 levels of fucked and creepy all wrapped in existential crisis and the definition of who is ‘you’? Still fucked up on that game, but damn was it good.
Halo 3 to cap off the original trilogy
