Pi0h1

This article serves as my personal list of favorite games of all time and it's intended to serve as a sort of live article I will keep updating.

I like thinking of games inside their greater context. Collections and bundles help illustrate that. It also avoids redundancy.

Hence their inclusion.

1. DEATH STRANDING 2: On The Beach The first Death Stranding game is on the tier of Kojima games where I'm not personally crazy for them but can understand how it would be someone's favorite (MGS4, P.T.). Then there are Kojima games that I love and have an absolute blast playing (Metal Gear '87, Snatcher, Policenauts, MGS3, Ground Zeroes), and finally the games that hit so close to home on a such a profound emotional and interactive level that they straight-up feel like they were made specifically for me. (MG2: Solid Snake, MGS1, MGS2, Peace Walker, The Phantom Pain)

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach sits comfortably in that latter tier. Not only is it a technical, visual and game design marvel with a distinct authorial voice filled to the brim with love and hope for the future, but its storyline resonated with me on a profound emotional level. It's one of those incredible once-in-a-lifetime coincidences that a game by one of my favorite studios with a storyline that deals so heavily with grief just so happened to come out as I was dealing with grief of my own.

2. METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION & METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE DEFINITIVE EXPERIENCE

I played through Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear for the first time in 2020 amidst the Covid pandemic, long after I had already decided to become a game developer and that I wanted to tell stories through games.

And yet, it somehow managed to completely change the way I saw the medium and made me feel much more hopeful for its potential when it comes to storytelling. Playing through them made me take note of a lot of prejudices I held in regards to what I wanted and expected out of a game.

METAL GEAR SOLID (1998) has the honor of being the first videogame to ever make cry and METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN's ending left a lasting impression on me.

I recommend playing all the games in release order and to treat the whole series as one continuous story. It has the most beautiful yet consistent writing you can expect out of a franchise that started in the 1980s and ended in the mid 2010s. Although the bulk of it was written in the 2000s.

3. Hotline Miami Collection

The game series that inspired me to pursue game development. It forever changed the course of my life. Hotline Miami is a fast-paced action game with a phenomenal soundtrack by Swedish game development duo Dennaton. It uses abstraction and style to deliver a story that explores the usage of violence in media and how it affects different types of people.

4. Valve Complete Pack & Half-Life: Alyx

The Half-Life series is some of the best dystopian sci-fi I've seen in games with some incredible lore behind them. I've spent so much time thinking about the universe these games take place in. Half-Life: Alyx is my favorite VR game. It's absolutely beautiful and brilliant.

5. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy

Nothing makes me more nostalgic than booting up Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, or San Andreas and losing myself in the eras each one uses for their respective setting. They're all great games that have aged incredibly well and offer up so many gameplay scenarios

6. The Stanley Parable & The Beginner's Guide

I wish there were more games like The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's guide. Davey Wreden's interactive storytelling is brilliant.

7. Resident Evil 4 (2005), Resident Evil 4 Remake (2023) & Resident Evil: Village

Resident Evil 4 is in my opinion the closest thing there is to a perfect videogame.

I was not expecting 2023's Resident Evil 4 remake to be any good. I felt it was impossible to capture the lightning in a bottle the original Resident Evil 4 was. I was then more than pleasantly surprised when it did.

Resident Evil: Village doesn't do anything mind-blowing, but it takes what worked from 4 and gave it an engaging and compelling narrative.

8. The Document of Midnight Animal & The Exegesis of John The Martyr

And it never dies. No, it never dies.

Midnight Animal is a very important game that holds a great deal of emotional and artistic relevancy to me personally. If Hotline Miami is inspired me to pursue game development, Midnight Animal inspired me to never give up no matter how tough the road gets.

9. Doom Classic Complete

The classic Doom games from the 90s have a more indie and edgy feel to them when compared to the recent ones that simply appeals to me more. I have so many fond memories of playing this game as a kid in the school computers...

10. Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Bundle

Sonic was one the first few characters I recognized as coming from a videogame. Its earliest titles are still a ton of fun to this day and full of detail and surrealist imagery seen through the lenses of beautifully crafted pixel art that turned its own technical limitations into strengths.

11. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Smash Bros is one of the games I've probably played the most and have had the most fun with. Its latest installment "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" is what I always wanted a game in the series to be.

12. Super Mario: All Stars + Super Mario World

13. DEATH STRANDING: DIRECTOR'S CUT

14. The POSTAL Package: Curated Classics

15. Keyboard Drumset Fucking Werewolf

16. Cactus Arcade I & Cactus Arcade II

17. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3

18. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

19. Pavlov VR

20. Mega Man: The Power Battle

21. Mega Man: The Legacy Collection 1 & 2 Combo Pack

22. Garry's Mod

23. Marvel's Spider-Man