Puzzle Pirates, frankly. Made by people who knew what they were doing, were extremely talented, independent, although eventually tried to hook onto Sega as publisher, almost killed the game and then re-purchased the game from Sega to continue as “re-indie” devs. Still going to this day with a stable player base of a few hundred. The game itself is very clearly hand-crafted and every one of the (few) developers left their mark on it. Feels completed and polished.
Baldur’s Gate 3
A lot of folks are listing their favorite games but this is the one that truly fits.
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Unusually long development time by a studio known for DnD-simmiliar RPG games getting the next installation for the series that defined the genre.
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Cast voice actors for several years, ones that are still playing their characters on a variety of platforms.
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Just chock filled references to DnD lore, cute in-jokes, and faithful updates on old characters.
Everyone involved clearly loved it!
It got people not previously interested in DND to actually enjoy DND.
Also, as a literal interpretation, it occurs over 3 arcs.
Unusually long development time
No joke, I installed the open-beta/pre-release years ago, played for a bit, and uninstalled it. When the actual release dropped, I had the most intense déjà vu about it all because I forgot that had even happened. I had to go back to my Steam library to puzzle it all back together.
The real question is what is Larian’s equivalent to Peter Jackson’s “Meet the Feebles”?
Divinity: Dragon Commander, duh.
Part of the reason development took so long was due to them using early release for the right reasons. They listened to the player base and changed the game based on feedback from the fans
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As far as labors of love go, Stardew Valley is probably the most current example. People paid for this thing years ago, but Concerned Ape keeps adding new features anyway. The retro graphics give this thing a timeless quality out of the box, so it already looks “dated” - this hasn’t stopped the robust player community around it. We’ll probably see this game stay relevant for a long time.
And that’s before you start talking about modding the game.
The amount of mods for this game is insane. From simple QoL stuff through to full expansions.
No replay of the game ever has to be the same.
Do people ever do total conversion modifications anymore? Are there any Stardew Valley mods that turn it into something totally different?
I have no idea. Only recently tried an expansion mod for the first time. I never even considered conversion mods might be a thing for this game.
I was just reminiscing on how people used to do stuff like that for the early FPSes. And honestly, since I never really got into Stardew, I thought it might be cool to see a totally different world.
Hope you’re enjoying the expansion!
Yeah it’s been great. Stardew Valley Expanded adds areas and characters and stuff to the game that feels like they belong in the original world. The creator did an amazing job.
Dwarf Fortress.
Objectively correct answer.
Strike the earth!
Half-life.
Yeah this is it for me. Half Life was such a technical marvel and a step change in story telling through gaming.
☼Dwarf Fortress☼
!!FUN!!
Had to scroll too far for this. It’s the best equivalent of this for me.
Deep Rock Galactic
ROCK AND STONE! oT
FOR KARL!
WE’RE RICH!
Baldurs Gate 3.
Terraria
Java modded Minecraft.
Thaumcraft, my love 😍
Morrowind
Chrono trigger
The announcer at gay bingo knows someone that named their kid Chrono. :(
I need to know what gay bingo is.
Imagine straight bingo turned gay
It’s the same as regular bingo except the announcers are drag queens and they dance between rounds. It’s awesooommeee
One Shot
Outer Wilds
PortalOuter wilds is just ridiculously good. Somehow the DLC matches the OG story’s level of insanely good. Best game I’ve ever played, or probably ever will.
outer wilds my beloved <3 <3 >.<
Outer Wilds
Inscryption
Expedition 33
Expedition 33
Woah. Would you really put Expedition 33 in the same class as the other two? This is the highest indirect praise I’ve seen of the game.
absolutely!
it’s of course a very different game from the other two but brilliant nonetheless
i dislike turn based combat, i dislike jrpg, but Expedition 33? i adore. the world building, the story, the voice acting- are absolutely incredible. It’s one of those lightnings in a bottle that suddenly appear out of seemingly nowhere
Yes. The story is gut-wrenching, the world is rich and engaging, the gameplay is interesting. If I had one complaint it’s that the rare platforming segments don’t quite work… but being a masterpiece isn’t about perfection, it’s about impact, and Clair Obscur hits like a hydrogen bomb.
I would too. It’s just really well crafted world building , story, and side content. There’s so much to do and all of it feels fun.
Really? I’ve seen Clair Obscura praised as a masterpiece.
I heard of people liking it, but imagined it was good for its genre like BG3, or Bloodbourne.
Putting it next to those other two makes it seem like everyone should play it regardless of their tastes.
man i tried so many times and couldn’t get into outer wilds. it’s so fucking boring to get started that when things start getting even remotely interesting I’m already checked out. the game’s all “here’s a bunch of threads, which one do you want to pull” and I’m like “I don’t care”
Outer Wilds is best started on rainy evenings around late summer, it took me a couple of tries to get into it as well, i bounced off at least 2 times. but the 3rd time it grabbed me and now it’s my all time favourite game.
basically, don’t stress it :) it’s a brilliant game and honestly after you finish it one day you’ll long for the time when it was still ahead of you as you can only play it once for the first time
I love Outer Wilds. I’ll never forgot the moment of resignation when the all too familiar music starts playing only to realize, Oh no, it’s quite different this time.
The DLC though… not for me. It’s like a completely different guy, different genre, with the only thing in common being the looping. I started feeling like such a chore that I just installed some mods to blaze through it and at least see the conclusion.
- Half-Life/Half-Life 2
- The original Fallout
- The original Doom
- Brutal Doom (the campaign)
- Star Control 2 (The Ur’Quan Masters fan-made modernized version)
- The Neverhood
- Subnautica (not Below Zer0)
- Duke Nukem 3D
- Total Annihilation
- Megaman (the first one)
- Megaman X (the first one)
- Team Fortress 2
- Portal 2
This is by no means an all inclusive list. These are just games that I personally played that fit the criteria.
You could have said the orange box and saved yourself a couple bullets.
If only I could play subnautica for the first time again. Such an incredible atmosphere. Another one of my favorites is Hollow Knight.
Terraria, amazing game that is still supported to this day, best 5€ I’ve spend on a game.
