A Short List Of Video Games As Art For People Who Don't Play Video Games

publié sur 2024-03-30 35 min de lecture

I'm not at interested in the "are video games art?" discourse. This post isn't going to make an argument for it. This is for if you're already interested in games as an art form but don't know where to start.

In my opinion, most things are art, it's being able to feel emotion and experience what I couldn't otherwise. This is normally what I look for and judge the media I engage with; How well it invokes feeling into me.

If you more or less share this opinion, and you've never played a video game before, I think you are missing out. And I am here to help rectify that for you.

What sets video games apart from other media is the unique experience they offer. Each game is a new language of interaction to learn, distinct from others yet somewhat standardised by genre conventions that, once familiar, make navigating similar games more intuitive.

Video games can encapsulate the essence of all art forms, adding a layer of interactivity. While there is art in game mechanics and button skill, ⁽¹⁾ ⁽¹⁾ Button skill is how good you are at pressing buttons - controlling the video game. Most people starting out have to look at their controller to see what button to press, but as you gain more experience it should start to come naturally. they're harder to appreciate if you don't already play games. So I'm mostly only going to be talking about narrative interactivity.

We'll dive into games that exemplify the medium's unique capabilities, ones that I think couldn't be fully realised in any other form without significant changes to their narrative structure. I'll try to introduce you to titles that are accessible for beginners, both in terms of gameplay mechanics and genre conventions.

But first we need to talk about;

Hardware

The biggest barrier to entry for video games (apart from actually knowing how to play the game) is the hardware it needs to run on. It can get real expensive.

Thankfully, most games don't actually need expensive hardware to run on, because the most graphically intensive games are the most expensive to create, and since capitalism and art don't work together very well, the most expensive to create games pretty similar to each other and usually aren't that interesting.

When I was a teenager I played all my games on a Dell Inspiron 15R 5537 from 2013 that my parents bought for me to do school work on. This laptop is over 10 years old now and would be able to play every game we're going to discuss with little issue.

If already you have a laptop that isn't a Chromebook ⁽²⁾ ⁽²⁾ Chromebooks usually do not have dedicated graphics, and you'd most likely want Windows as your OS for gaming. and was made in the last 5 years, it will probably be able to play most if not all of the games in the list. A MacBook with an M1/M2 chip will also be fine (for games that can run on MacOS, which is unfortunately not many so I don't actually recommend it).

If you don't already have a desktop or laptop that can run games, you should be able to get an okay pre-built desktop PC for around $1000 AUD. I wouldn't suggest buying a "gaming laptop" unless you can find other uses for it, like maybe you also need it for work or school, because they aren't economical at all. Steam is the most popular digital storefront for games on PC and I second buying your games from there.

Otherwise, I'd suggest purchasing a Nintendo Switch console which are pretty cheap and can still run games well enough, but with a more limited selection of games that work on Switch hardware. While not specifically a requirement I had while making the list, every game can be bought and played on the Switch, but bear in mind I only play on a desktop PC so I can't attest to the technical quality of Switch games. I do have a Switch for games that can only be played on a Switch, and those work fine, so I'm assuming these do as well.

Since you're reading a blog post about pretentious artsy bullshit, I'm assuming you're not stupid and have basic critical thinking skills so I won't be explaining everything as I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out, and it's better if you go into all these completely blind.

But if there is something that confuses you, or you need help with - my email is justin@duch.me. Feel free to email me. That's how serious I am about getting you to do this.

With all that out the way, we can begin.

Disco Elysium (2019)

Disco Elysium is the GREATEST piece of media ever made, and if you disagree with me you are NITPICKING and BIASED.

This is actually the only game I want you to play (or at least, play first). You can ignore everything else (but please don't). This game is basically a book (but not actually because it could only work as a game). It could run on a potato (given enough potatoes you could make a battery to run a computer). You have no excuses to not play this game (unless you just don't want to). If I could somehow force you to play this game, I would (I wouldn't, I'm a good enby).

Disco Elysium is a narrative-driven role-playing game that dives deep into themes of personal identity, political ideology, morality, and the human condition through its hauntingly beautiful writing. It will challenge you to navigate complex social issues, mental health, and existential questions, all while solving a murder mystery.

It doesn't have any traditional combat, so button skill shouldn't be an issue. But you may need a primer on role-playing game (RPG) mechanics.

RPGs are about assuming the role of a character and "role-playing" as them. At the start of the game, you create your character and decide your mental, emotional, and psychological traits/skills. RPGs with combat will also include physical attributes or combat abilities. As you play the game you gain "experience points" that allow you to put additional levels in your abilities, dictating the path the development of your character takes.

The core gameplay revolves around talking to characters, investigating crime scenes, and solving puzzles. Your traits/skills influence the options available to you in conversations. This means your character's build can open up or close off different paths in the game. For example, if you have a high points in "Authority," you might intimidate a witness into talking, but if your "Empathy" is higher, you could choose to sympathize with them instead.

The choices you make in conversations and how you decide to investigate have real consequences on the story's outcome. Different skills and choices can lead to entirely different experiences and endings.

I'd suggest "role-playing" as yourself at the start. ⁽³⁾ ⁽³⁾ While you will kinda just naturally do this in most games if you're not explicitly set out to role-play as someone you're not, Disco Elysium is especially setup for this, with the main character initially having amnesia. Of course, they still have a past and their memories will start returning. Having to rectify your current self with your history is a large part of the experience. Choose the traits you think you have in real life, and play the game doing what you'd do if you were in this situation. Once you've completed the game, you can play it again, but pretend to be someone else with different views and opinions to you.

Since might be the first game you ever play, I'll give you a few extra tips:

This game has a lot of reading, both for the narrative and game mechanics. Make sure you understand what you're reading.
When you first start, spend some time looking at the user interface. Just start pressing buttons to see what it does or where it goes. Most icons and text can also be hovered over to see extra information, you should do this often.
You can see the controls when you pause the game (press the "Main Menu" button at the top left of the screen). If you see a control you're unsure of, just press it when you're unpaused to see what it does.
When you're comfortable with how to play the game, it's okay to start over to experience the beginning again in case you missed stuff while fumbling around with controls.

This game is so much, I've wanted to talk about it on this blog for so long, and I'm sorry I won't go further into it. But I don't know how to talk about any of it without spoiling it.

Outer Wilds (2020)

Outer Wilds is an exploration-based, open-world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop. It's the perfect example of a game invoking emotions that other mediums simply can't (at least to this extent) - the primary one being curiosity. At its heart, the game revolves around exploration, the acceptance of one's mortality, and the beauty found in the relentless pursuit of truth, regardless of the inevitable end.

Every 22 minutes, the games' universe resets due to a supernova, erasing all progress but retaining your knowledge and discoveries. You start each loop with a small spacecraft to explore the Newtonian physics sandbox that is the solar system, ⁽⁴⁾ ⁽⁴⁾ A fact I learnt soon after finishing the game is that the orbits of all the celestial bodies in the game are actually simulated in real-time instead of being on set, pre-programmed tracks. As in, they're influenced the same gravitational forces that you are. However their own gravity has been tweaked a little as to not follow the inverse square law (essentially, it has a smaller reach). This is so the planets don't affect each other and alter the course of anything they're not supposed to - they should only be affected by the gravity of the sun. and are told to just go, in any direction you like.

Not being given an instructions can be a little daunting at first, but you're really just supposed to find interesting things by simply looking around. Eventually, you'll stumble into rabbit holes of discoveries that guide you to deeper, more hidden discoveries.

This exploration of ruins, deciphering of alien texts, and unravelling of the solar system's mysteries encourage thorough engagement with the games' world, making each loop a chance to piece together the larger cosmic puzzle. The game is quite literally awe inspiring.

I think it is probably the most difficult to control in the list for a person new to games, but mostly because of the physics simulation. Most people don't have a good grasp on manoeuvring in zero-g (for obvious reasons), so it can be hard to get to grips with at first, but I found it easy to build the intuition in the game.

Quick tip, if you're using a gamepad controller, most buttons do something in the game. If you're not using a certain button because you don't know what it does, just press it so you see its purpose, then you can think of ways that it can be applied to the game. ⁽⁵⁾ ⁽⁵⁾ I've been stressing the importance of knowing what your buttons do as I often see people new to games get stuck on something because they didn't know all the controls in the game, so they were unaware of the abilities of their character. I think you get the point now, so I'll stop bugging you with it.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (2017)

I strongly recommend you play this game with headphones. Hellblade is an experience that fully utilises the audio visual spectrum.

It's also conversation about mental illness, with the main character Senua being a woman suffering from psychosis, an abnormal condition of the mind that involves a loss of contact with reality.

The developers collaborated with neuroscientists and people who experience psychosis to portray the condition authentically. They used binaural audio to very accurately simulate a three-dimensional space, something very few games have been able to do, to create a completely immersive experience.

You will hear the unnerving and jarring voices all around, some near, some far, always insistent.

Hellblade is shaped by Senua's psychosis, where you'll never fully certain of what's real or the reliability of your perceptions. This uncertainty affects decision-making in the game, as you must choose paths and solve puzzles based on incomplete or distorted information.

The game goes beyond mere representation to foster empathy and understanding. You are not just observers of Senua's journey; You experience a facsimile of her reality, confronting the challenges and stigmas of mental illness.

Combat in the game is simple and a good introduction to third person action games. I think it's very accessible - there isn't much to say about this, you should be good to go, it's pretty straightforward once the game teaches it to you.

This is also by far the most graphically detailed and intensive game on the list. So look at the recommended specs of the game if you're on a lower-end PC. I was also a little worried about the Nintendo Switch version in this regard, so I actually looked it up for you. ⁽⁶⁾ ⁽⁶⁾ I've not done this for the other games. I am pretty sure they're fine though. And I'm pleased to report that it's surprisingly impressive in how well it runs on the little thing. Possibly the best looking game on the Switch even 5 years later (the Switch version released in April 2019).

Tip: PLAY THE GAME WITH HEADPHONES.

Firewatch (2016)

Firewatch is considered by many to be a "walking simulator," which are exploration games played often from the first-person perspective to explore an environment and to discover a narrative about the game, but often have little to no direct interaction with the environment itself.

There are very few choices that matter.

There's little freedom in what you can do.

It's just linear.

Firewatch could probably be a good movie or book with very little changes. But I still put it in this list, because there is still value that it (and all other walking simulators) has with being a game. There are intrinsic qualities that is given to it as a game that allow you just exist in it.

Walking, even in a virtual environment is pretty neat. As Nathalie Lawhead describes in "walking sims and the joy of existing in a virtual space."

Travel can be a beautiful thing. Moving from one place to another, being an observer to the tiny interaction in the world around you. Taking the train to LA is probably one of my favorite things because I get to just take everything in. Traveling on the buss at night is beautiful for all the lights, sounds, the tiny phone screens of other passengers lighting up the buss, looking into the car windows of other drivers passing the buss, staring into lit office windows wondering how it’s like in that room… I’m probably not the only one that enjoys just looking while traveling. People are observant, and curiosity about what we are looking at is what makes traveling fun.

I find it interesting to compare narratives in walking sims to what I would imagine they would be if they were in different medium. And I always return to an idea around the "ownership of the experience." Firewatch has many beautiful vistas it wants so show you, ⁽⁷⁾ ⁽⁷⁾ Fun fact, there's a disposable camera somewhere in the game. You can snap pictures of whatever you want and save the images to your device. Upon finishing the game (if you played the PC version), you're given a link to buy actual physical prints of those pictures! and if I were to recall what I saw to someone else I'd say something like this.

I saw a gorgeous lake.

But if this was another other medium it would be more like this.

There was a gorgeous lake.

Even though that lake doesn't actually exist, and Henry (the main character) was technically the one who saw it, I still use the first person ⁽⁸⁾ ⁽⁸⁾ This would not change if the game was using a third person perspective as well. when recounting it. I dunno, it's a very simple observation but I just find the implications of that incredibly fascinating.

Firewatch is one of the more "game-like" walking simulators. There are dialogue options, interactable objects, and an inventory system. It is unquestionably a game. But that honestly doesn't matter.

It's also a very enjoyable narrative about human connection set in the Wyoming wilderness of 1989. Yeah that's right, I'm giving you the synopsis at the end of the section, the fuck you going to do about it?

Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)

The Obra Dinn, an East Indian trade ship, has drifted into port at Falmouth with damaged sails and no visible crew. Everyone is dead, find out what happened. ⁽⁹⁾ ⁽⁹⁾ I'm sorry I swore at you >.< The synopsis is first this time to make up for it.

You're equipped with an enchanted timepiece, allowing you to witness these moments of demise as frozen snapshots in time with each corpse you encounter. The game is one large puzzle, where you're tasked with determining the fate of all souls on board, including their names, where and how they met their fate, who or what their killer was, and their location should they be alive.

The destiny of each of the crew members is distilled into a succinct sentence capturing their end, focusing solely on their moment of death. Scattered across the ship, these fragmented stories are embodied by the deceased, awaiting discovery.

Return of the Obra Dinn cleverly morphs the narrative into interactive elements, organising them within a framework of gameplay mechanics and rules, showcasing an ingenious approach to storytelling.

I think Ian Danskin (more known as Innuendo Studios) says it best.

Determining the fates of all 60 crewmen and passengers on the Obra Dinn becomes a kind of literary archeology. Each death helps piece together a timeline of events, collecting scattered snapshots and the puzzle design demanding that you place them in a mental sequence of cause and effect, motivation and happenstance, until an unstructured series of fantastical images starts to take shape as an actual story with beginning, middle, and end. And, not for nothing, every time the game confirms that you’ve solved another series of fates, you feel like a fucking genius.

A truly satisfying experience that caters to my narrative and intellectual demands in ways few adventure games do.

Thoughts on Return of the Obra Dinn

Of course, there's no discussion of Return of the Obra Dinn without mentioning its distinct art style.

If you've seen a few posts of my blog before, you may have seen an image that looks like this (the contents of the image have no relation to the game, it's just an image of my mum (and her criminal, murderous underlings but let's not get into that)).

MOMMY KAFKA!!

I apply this "noise" to all the images in this blog, in part as a form of compression, ⁽¹⁰⁾ ⁽¹⁰⁾ This does not actually reduce image sizes by much, I do not recommend it for compression. but mostly because it looks interesting. I got the inspiration to do this from Return of the Obra Dinn and after stumbling across this article from Surma. So imagine this image, but as an interactive game with the style actually made for it instead of just being a filter added programmatically over an existing image.

You should watch the trailer for the game or something to see what I mean. I think it's more impressive to see it in motion than as a still image on some blog. ⁽¹¹⁾ ⁽¹¹⁾ Also the dithering I add to images here would ruin it. I know you can "click image to load original" (I made the thing), but I don't think people actually do that.

Signalis (2022)

An android named Elster awakens to a crashed ship and a deadly mystery on an arctic planet, embarking on a harrowing journey to find her lost companion.

Pixel art isn't scary, inventory management is.

At the heart of Signalis lies a dystopian tale wrapped in layers of mystery and psychological horror. It's an ode to the survival horror classics, demanding you to navigate a delicate balance between conservation and progression. Ammunition and resources are scarce, so every shot fired and item used requires intention and deliberation before committing to using something you can't replenish easily. It also tests problem-solving skills through many intricately designed puzzles that are as satisfying to solve as they are challenging.

The difficulty, particularly in resource management and puzzle complexity, could be daunting for you if you're unfamiliar with the genre. But, it's this very challenge that fans of survival horror find most rewarding. The game does an excellent job of capturing the essence of what makes survival horror engaging - the thrill of overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds through wit, patience, and perseverance.

Signalis employs a narrative structure that eschews the traditional linear storyline in favour of a more fragmented, multi-perspective approach, which mirrors the complex process of memory retrieval and identity formation - central themes to the games' plot. It presents the story in pieces that you must collect and assemble, transforming itself into the act of understanding its narrative into a personal journey of discovery.

For me, the narrative and atmosphere are the stand out aspects of the game as I've never personally cared much for survival horror mechanics. It has a compelling blend of German and Japanese aesthetics and one of the best executions of a multi-layered story I've seen. Signalis is a game you "finish" multiple times to truly understand what is going on. ⁽¹²⁾ ⁽¹²⁾ Literally, just because the credits rolled and you got sent back to the title screen doesn't mean the game ended.

Tip: this is a survival horror game, and as is so often with this genre, sometimes when you can't progress forward you have to go back. This isn't a cryptic riddle or anything, I mean that literally. You need to "backtrack" a lot in these games.

Rain World (2017)

This game is frustrating, obtuse, and confusing. Rain World is like being thrown scared and naked into the wild, having to survive in a world in which everything wants to and will very easily eat you. I mean I say it's like that, but in reality, that's exactly what it is - except if you were a cute little slugcat (half slug, half cat) instead.

It took me 4 attempts over 3 months to actually get into and start enjoying the game, for it to click, and for me to know what to do and how to understand the systems of the game. This is not a game you should be attempting to play first, or second, maybe even third, hence why it's at the bottom at the list.

The game stands out for its complex simulated ecosystem, where every creature has its behaviours and place in the food chain. Its varied and numerous inhabitants are semi-persistent and can be hostile, neutral or even sometimes friendly, with it being up to you to work out which. Some will compete with you for food, some will hunt you, others will leave you alone if you don't bother them or if they see something tastier. They're sophisticated AI capable of remembering acts of kindness and can conversely bear grudges too.

This boundless, relentless natural environment surrounds you, demanding your understanding and navigation. You cannot conquer it. Your survival hinges on your ability to learn and to adjust. Remember to take shelter from the Rain.

I think it's best to learn the games' mechanics and story yourself, so I'd rather not explain any more than that. You should be thrown into the deep end just as I was.

There are many games that have gained a reputation for being difficult. People often misinterpret this aspect as the being "point" of the game, and that beating it is meant to be held as some kind of badge of honour proving your superiority over others. This is almost entirely incorrect. Very few games seek to be difficult in and of itself (most games do want you to succeed and see the end), but they have specific emotions they want the player to feel, and difficulty often occurs as a side-effect of chasing that vision.

For most other games, that emotion would be accomplishment.

For Rain World, that emotion is harmony.

My only tip is to ~~GIT GUD~~ keep at it. It will take some time to appreciate.

Special Mention - KID A MNESIA EXHIBITION (2021)

There were many other walking simulators that I wanted to put into the section that was eventually handed to Firewatch. I just find them an interesting genre of games. This is another interesting one that I'd like to mention because of how different it is.

KID A MNESIA EXHIBITION is a virtual exhibition created for the Radiohead albums "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" for the PlayStation 5 and PC (not Switch, sorry). As explained by Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood on the PlayStation blog, it was initially supposed to be an in-person installation, but those plans got ruined by COVID.

Kid A is my favourite album ever, ⁽¹³⁾ ⁽¹³⁾ Because of course it is. It's a musical panic attack, I have to like it. I mean, have you seen the games I've just recommended to you? and I found it as a wonderful way to experience the album in a way that I've not seen before or since. It's beautiful and unsettling.

I don't really know how to talk about music or art (as imagery), so I'll defer you to this article written by Taylor Ruckle that I found quite insightful.

Where to go from here

Most of the games on this list take at most 10 hours to complete one playthrough, with the exception being Disco Elysium which I'd say is 20 hours. Games vary drastically in length, generally correlating with their development budget, and some never actually end - either from not having an "ending" or new content being continually added through updates.

I've mainly recommended lower budget games with less of a time commitment from smaller developers because I know they can run on lower-end hardware and they're generally more interesting pieces of art.

But you should probably get a good idea of the mainstream for context on the industry, as they can be fun in their own right (especially if you've never played something like them before), if not else just to be able to understand other games that comment on the industry and the conventions that come from multi-million dollar budget games.

I'm not trying to diss high budget games, I recognise they do their own thing and it's just that thing most of the time doesn't appeal to what I'm looking for (although on very rare occasions the stars can align and all that money can create phenomenal art). But to be fair and balanced, I'll tell you about some of the things I like about a few mainstream AAA franchises that may be overlooked by people like me.

Assassin's Creed

Ubisoft have made some of the most beautifully detailed worlds ever created. So much so that I've been legitimately impressed by their "Discovery Tours", which are "[…] dedicated games that let visitors freely roam Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt and the Viking Age to learn more about their history and daily life. Students, teachers, non-gamers, and players can discover these eras at their own pace, or embark on guided tours and stories curated by historians and experts."

And even while Discovery Tours weren't introduced much later into the franchise, I learnt more about Parisian geography and landmarks playing Assassin's Creed Unity then I did actually going to Paris for 2 weeks.

The Last of Us

This one probably isn't actually overlooked. Though I think the fact that the first game (and soon to be second) could get turned into a critically acclaimed TV show with very few changes to narrative structure and pacing is a mark against it as a video game but w/e, ⁽¹⁴⁾ ⁽¹⁴⁾ To put it short: I think the gameplay and story are too separated, I don't think it's good that you can just take the gameplay out and still have the story, and its themes/mood completely intact.

With walking simulators like Firewatch, gameplay and story happen concurrently, which allow you to intertwine their themes together more easily. With The Last of Us, it's mostly - you play the game to get to a cutscene where the story happens. Don't get me wrong, both elements of the game are excellent, but they don't really interact or affect each other.

And while there are definitely attempts to tell the story through gameplay, very few couldn't also just be a cutscene.

I still stand by saying Firewatch would make a good book or movie, but I feel you'd be missing more from its adaptation then with the TV adaptation of The Last of Us compared to the game.

Okay I admit, this wasn't actually that short. it's still great by itself and in my (apparently controversial) opinion, is elevated even higher by the bold subversions made by the second game.

I think going where what the second game did with its narrative was a huge risk (as shown by the audience reaction), am I'm honestly just impressed that a multi-million dollar game would do that in the first place, and then be able to pull it off (for pretentious pricks like me, a lot of people hated it).

Grand Theft Auto/Red Dead Redemption

These are probably some of the most influential games to have been created in terms of world building. All those millions of dollars have to go somewhere, and like other AAA companies, Rockstar puts it into the fine details. But unlike the other AAA companies, that detail is for making sure horses defecate correctly.

Okay, I'm saying it's more like they put their work in making the worlds feel real through environmental systems rather than environment fidelity. Although the fidelity in Rockstar games are actually still on par, and a lot of the time exceeding the other big players. Which is kinda crazy.

Battlefield

I've not yet talked about a multiplayer game, and this is the only time I will. The artistry in these are normally from things like character/weapon balance, game mechanics/systems, map design, etc. which as I've said before, are harder for outsiders to appreciate. ⁽¹⁵⁾ ⁽¹⁵⁾ Trust me, I'd love to talk at length about how I think Rocket League is mechanical perfection and the only competitive multiplayer game that truly deserves the title of "eSport."

There is a whole other layer to games that occur when you add other people to the equation, either cooperatively or competitively. In particular, the multiplayer sandbox environment of Battlefield gives rise to what are commonly known as "Battlefield moments." These are hard to define, but is what happens when you strap a bunch of C4 to the bottom of a tank, detonate it so the tank is sent flying upwards, then shoot a passing by fighter jet with the tanks' cannon while still mid air.

There is art in being cool as fuck.

Anyway back on topic, if you're still using the Nintendo Switch, you'll most likely need to move on from it. A proper desktop PC would be the ideal, but another console like the PlayStation 5 would be perfectly fine as well, although you will be more limited in terms of games and control methods. Very few games that are on a console aren't on a PC, and even then, depending on the age of the console, the game can be very easily emulated.

In terms of where to find more games, I don't really know, that's sort of dependant on you and where you like to get information from. I'm not even completely sure on where I get my information of games from, it sort of just completely surrounds my experience on the Internet so that a good game will usually just find me by itself.

I guess you could just browse the storefront of your platform for a little while, and lookup games that seem interesting to you. Apart from that, if you already have a process for finding recommendations of a different media, try finding a similar alternative for games.

But if you really want recommendations RIGHT NOW, I'll give you the long-list of games that I considered putting in the short-list but decided not to for various reasons that I will never share and will bring with me to my grave, just to spite you >:) This is also in descending order of closest to furthest from being put on the short-list.

Undertale (2015)
Elden Ring (2022)
What Remains of Edith Finch (2017)
The Forgotten City (2021)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (2010)
Minecraft (2011)
Kentucky Route Zero (2020)
Dragon's Dogma 2 (2024)
Fallout: New Vegas (2010)
SHENZHEN I/O (2016)
Journey (2012)
Hollow Knight (2017)
Celeste (2018)
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)
Nier: Automata (2017)
Inside (2016)
Death Stranding (2019)
A Hand With Many Fingers (2020)
ZeroRanger (2018)
Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
Papers, Please (2013)
Fez (2014)
Life is Strange (2015)

Also I recognise that I've only been recommending games made after 2010. This hasn't exactly been on purpose, but as a 24 year old, it's harder for me to appreciate games on older tech. ⁽¹⁶⁾ ⁽¹⁶⁾ To put it long (I've learnt my lesson): I'm not saying old games are bad, it's just that in the context of me growing up with more technologically sophisticated games where game design is a more established field with more well known good practices, I don't find it that enjoyable to play older games as a product on their own merits.

But, that doesn't mean they don't have any value! I can look at a game like the original Doom and understand the incredible influence it had on the industry. I just don't want to play Doom. Because it sucks. And I'd rather play Ultrakill (a game you can very clearly trace back to Doom) for another hundred hours.

So then, we could get into the discussion of whether to or in what circumstances you should judge a game by its value in the contemporary era or its historic environment. And that would be a fun discussion I would enjoy having. More fun than playing Doom in fact.

And FYI, to put it into perspective as to why I don't really touch games before Y2K (this digression is actually for someone who plays video games and knows what I'm talking about) the first FPS I've ever played was Far Cry 3. Feel old yet, boomer? There are a lot of "older" games that I haven't played on or near their release date but have loved playing in retrospect though, I'll add some of them to the list if you were curious. I still recommend playing them now, I believe they all hold up well in today's landscape.

Deus Ex (2000)
Metal Gear Solid 1 (1999), 2 (2001), and 3 (2004)
Planescape: Torment (1999)
Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
Okami (2006)
System Shock 2 (1999)
Portal (2007)
Diablo II (2000)
Metroid Prime 1 (2002), 2 (2004), and 3 (2007)
Final Fantasy X (2002)
Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)*

* Okay, you might think this one definitely needs some explaining. Too bad, I'm still not going to explain it :)

Epilogue

I've gone through this post assuming you know how to read art and critically think about it. I don't really know what the "benefits" of critically reading texts are. But I find it as a way to further enjoy media I like, even for those that don't seem that "deep" at first. ⁽¹⁷⁾ ⁽¹⁷⁾ The latest example of this for me is Armored Core VI, a game about big robots shooting the shit out of each other in space for magic space oil. The story of the game is given to you by what is essentially Zoom meetings where everyone has their camera off, yet by the end of the game I started to become attached to these disembodied voices. Playing it again, making different choices in story and gameplay, and dissecting the game to help me understand why was just as fun as doing the shooty.

If you have literally any thoughts about media you've seen, you've already done some critical thinking, but probably in a less nuanced way. I recommend at least trying a more critical read of your favourite text (video game or otherwise) so that you can perhaps appreciate it more.

Critically reading something involves analysing and evaluating the content in a thoughtful, questioning manner, rather than passively consuming it. It's about engaging with media on a deeper level to understand its messages, intentions, and impacts. Here's a few general things I think you should attempt to do while reading your text.

Understand the context

At some point you should try looking into the context in which the text was created. Consider who created the media and their potential biases or perspectives. This includes the designers, writers, directors, producers, and funding sources. If I don't already know about the context, I usually do this after I've finished the text so I can determine if I liked the text enough for it to be actually worth looking into.

Analyse the content

Identify the central messages or themes. Ask yourself what the media is trying to communicate, whether explicitly or subtly. Notice the techniques used to convey messages or emotions, such as camera angles, lighting, sound, and special effects, or even level design for video games.

Question the purpose

Think about who the media is aimed at. What demographic is it targeting, and how does that influence its content and style? Consider whether the media has a specific goal, such as informing, entertaining, persuading, or selling something.

Consider your own reaction

Reflect on your emotional response to the media. Why did you react the way you did? How might your own experiences, values, or biases influence your reaction? And assess the quality of the media. This can include the coherence of its arguments, the originality of its approach, or its artistic merit.

Compare with other sources

I think it's important to seek out other critiques on the text from different creators or perspectives. This can provide a more rounded understanding, and it's also just fun to hear other peoples' opinions. For video games, I highly recommend watching video essays by Noah Caldwell-Gervais and Jacob Geller to start.

Finally, I realise that is the longest posts I ever written on this blog so far. ⁽¹⁸⁾ ⁽¹⁸⁾ And I actually tried keeping it short. It could have been a whole lot longer, there are so many more games I could have and wanted to talk about. There was even an entire section about modding I planned for, but that got cut. I can see the irony in calling it a "short list," so thanks for sticking it out so long. As you can probably guess this is a topic I'm very passionate about.

Video games are something I think about a lot, and I'd like more people to be able to talk about them. With most gamers it's a little obvious that they don't really - for lack of a nicer term - pay attention.

To be fair, I don't think that is a major problem, there are certainly more pressing issues in the world. Most people don't really think that much about their entertainment in general, they have other things to worry about. I recognise that having the spare time to spend dissecting video games is certainly a privilege many others don't have.

I only started going down this road in 2015 when Metal Gear Solid V came out, which was a certain… je ne sais quoi. I don't know, the best I can describe it was that I couldn't really understand its existence, and I became determined to use the spare time I gained by ignoring my school work because I had this cool laptop to play games on to understand what it really was.

But that's a story for another time.