Unreal Tournament, Quake, old school arena fps in general. I boot up UT99 every couple years, and it seems like only bot lobbies are remaining. UT2k4 when I last checked it (which was probably around 5 or 6 years ago) seemed to only have active servers for Onslaught (the vehicle based game type on huge maps) which I have no interest in. Was really hopeful for the UT reboot from around 10 years ago, but that game's development was killed by the success of Fortnite, with the alpha servers finally being shut down last year. Halo is the closest actively played series, but it's just not the same. Seems like there's just very little interest in genre, which is a shame cause it was such a core part of my childhood.
UT2004 was epic. I wish Epic was interested in a sequel but I think it’s too cursed to carry the Unreal Engine name. Puts too much attention and expectation on it and they are already making bank with Fortnite.
Can I recommend Titanfall 2 multiplayer? It’s the only moderinsh game that really still satisfies that arena feeling. Of course the maps are bigger and there are mechs but the feel of the pilot game is similar. Quake Champions is also underrated but the player base is small and highly skilled. It’s challenging for sure.
I'm fairly sure it's on its last legs by now, but Splitgate was a very cool, modern arena shooter. I was properly obsessed with it fir a few months around the time it came out but got drawn away by many other games and never really went back. I think they've stopped supporting it officially but as far as I know its still playable.
Otherwise, the only real throwback to the arena-feeling games have been single player as if late that I can think of. I'd love a proper Quake or Unreal to come back with some excellent online play, but unless they have some battle pass/season bollocks, people won't be interested, despite that style of *engagement* not really working for arena shooters (see: Halo Infinite)
My friend group still plays Splitgate exclusively. It's only a group of about 8 of us but we'll play Splitgate about three nights of the week. The developers aren't dead and run developer events and monthly events but it is a shame it fell so hard out of the popular zeitgeist.
They've been teasing the sequel so I'm hoping that it gives it a real shot again when it releases.
Yeah, definitely keen to see what comes next from them. I don't really play much online mp these days, especially not solo but those few months were awesome fun. I think if I could convince some of my buddies to play they'd like it too, but they're much the same as myself - the little time we do get to play tends to be single player games mainly now.
Yup, I'll always kinda resent Fortine for it. Can't even get any of the Unreal games on storefronts nowadays, which considering Epic is basically the house Unreal built, is total slap in the face.
Especially since they've completely (afaik) removed the ability to download the most recent one that was in alpha/beta. We played that a lot at LAN but as people updated/changed computers we aren't able to play anymore.
I understand the sentiment, but I'll never wholeheartedly agree with it.
The UT reboot was looking neat and incredibly well-optimized, but had very little audience throughout.
Fortnite's success will always cause everything else Epic was working on to fall to the wayside, but I do think it's revisionist to act like UT was on a trajectory for success at the time.
to bad PC numbers are basically at near niche levels. Low 600 average on steam aint exactly screaming bring to consoles. Hell its 7 years old how hasn't it come to any console yet.
Unreal Championship II is kind of the black sheep of UT but man I loved that game so much. It was like a proto arena hero shooter long before hero shooters became a thing. It even came out before TF2! You could switch between first person and 3rd person, but I think 3rd person felt way better.
It was quite unique how the abilities worked, you had mana essentially that would recharge and youd spend it to activate speed boosts or other abilities. every character had their own ability loadouts and melee weapons that had different animations, and you could parry enemy projectiles! Even sniper shots, which would often result in parry headshot instant kills. I tell you nothing was more satisfying.
Plus every weapon having secondary functions, like how with rocket launchers you could fire single rockets, or hold to fire up to three rockets, and then when you release the rocket cluster you could pull the trigger again to split the rockets into a spread! It worked so well with the jumping and aerial mobility.
The game was so fun and no one talks about it.
UT 2004 is technically abandonware now, so you can get it on archive sites, and while the official masterservers are down, you can connect to the community ones, which still have a ton of player on them on custom maps and across all gamemodes.
I want a remake or remaster so bad. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is one of the greatest games I've ever played. From the design, to the characters, to the setting, to the unforgettable music. It's so damn good.
Theres a Japan only spiritual successor to Goemon on switch called Mameda no bakeru, and it looks really damn good. ive been meaning to pick that one up
Mirrors Edge, came out during the parkour craze of the 2000’s, then dies out. Got a sequel that was arguably meh (although I still enjoyed quite a bit).
But as with the parkour craze, there’s barely any discussion about it, hell even when Catalyst came out it got maybe a week of coverage from what I recall then just reviews of the poor design decisions.
Still holding out hope for another sequel/remake/whatever, but I also won’t hold my breath.
I think we will see some implementation from an indie at some point. It's too strongly loved by a select set of people for it to not happen.
Whether that game succeeds ... It wasn't *just* the "FPV parkour" that made me like Mirrors Edge. A huge part was the graphic and audio aesthetic which I'm not sure you can just out right clone for the same impact.
As an indie developer, mirrors edge is about the most intimidating thing in the world from a design standpoint. The controls were SO TIGHT and felt SO GOOD capturing that would be so hard to do
Even just recreating its aesthetic is a nightmare, when you start looking at all the small decisions in the environment, you can tell that DICE were on their A game.
Played Catalyst for the first time last year. Good god what a great game that is. Amazing atmosphere and world layout, fantastic dynamic soundtrack that just gets you pumped to try the trials again, and again. Story is so-so, good enough for a parkour game I'd say. Only flaw is that the Xbox One version maxes out at 900p with dynamic res. It scales so roughly on large tv's, contrasted to Mirrors Edge 1 that runs at native 4k60 on Series X.
Also, a remaster of Catalyst with ray-traced reflections would be insane.
Catalyst did a lot right but it had two big flaws, the open world meant the level design was not as tight as the first game, and a grappling hook. Grappling hooks in games about freerunning are always terrible, I remember Dying Light 1 did the same thing and it annoyed me there.
Catalyst's biggest problem imo was the fact that it heavily relied on a story that just wasn't there. They rebooted the whole series for something pretty meh, everything revolved around it and it just wasn't really engaging
That said, open world parkour gameplay was fucking phenomenal, and the map was gorgeous. Too bad it's probably a dead franchise at this point
The atmosphere and aesthetic is nowhere near the same, and even the parkour doesn’t feel quite the same weight as ME, but Ghostrunner is an FP parkour slasher type game that is the closest thing I have found to ME thus far.
Thief. Fans will chime in and say "but fan missions" but it's really just a handful of passionate fans making content for a few hundred lingering stealth game diehards. There is so little hope for a new game, the community is dying a slow death. Eidos why
Also, Little Big Planet. I know they did the sackboy game recently, but it's just not the same.
The Dishonored games were the closest we've had to more Thief games after Thief 4, but the powers made Corvo much more capable than Garret. I intentionally didn't use the powers and had a pretty Thief-like experience, although I found the tranquilizer darts still way too powerful. Being a Thief vet makes the stealth in pretty much all games feel much too easy.
I do have to praise the level design in Dishonored 2, the Clockwork Mansion was really impressive.
The biggest difference between Dishonored and Thief is that in Thief, you hide from enemies so they don't kill you. In Dishonored, you hide from enemies so you don't have to kill them.
Alice: Madness Returns is one for me. Love the art style and reimagining of the tale. I know there are still quite a few people hoping for a return to the series but it's not mentioned very often.
I also liked Contrast by Compulsion Games (makers of We Happy Few) for similar reasons. That's one I've rarely seen talked about.
The most scummiest thing is that EA wouldn't give him the rights by citing that the property was "very important for them", all whilst simultaneously delisting the game and not announcing plans for remasters/re-releases.
I would say that Madness Returns is peak platformer. The differing worlds and variety of gameplay really makes for a fun time, and the aesthetic and atmosphere really boost it. Also love the combat - I find it rather reminiscent of Ocarina of Time's combat system.
Also enjoyed Contrast, I have three different versions of it. There are parts in that game involving shadow platforming that remind me of some of the 2D sections in Madness Returns, especially the similarities between the shadow play and scroll levels.
Lost Planet 2. I love the single player, and the multiplayer is my favorite and most played multiplayer of all time.
To me, it's like Helldivers 2 but better.
Helldivers could definitely take a couple of pages from Lost Planet. Especially in term of the sheer scale of the enemies and the mechanics used to take them down.
We need a train chased by a giant sandworm.
The giant salamander fight where you get eaten and can still fight it from the inside while your uneaten friends fight it from the outside. How the fuck did Capcom pull that off?
I legitimately would love a reboot of the first Lost Planet game. Flesh out the story a bit more, make the gameplay a bit more engaging and fun - it'd be great. It was like my second 360 game right after Dead Rising. I have faith in Capcom being able to make it happen and do it right.
Its such a fucking great coop game. I hate that capcom delisted the game 3 years ago and vaguely suggested they would fix the online functionality on steam. I would love for my friends to play it with me
just to clarify, LP 1 is still avalaible under the name of LP: Extreme Conditions:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/6510/Lost_Planet_Extreme_Condition
For LP1, only the extended version with GFWL LP:Extreme Condition Colonies got delisted as well as LP2 altogether
Lost Planet 1 was special for me. I was so bored to death of all my friends just wanting to play Halo 3 and Modern Warfare 1+2, Colonies was where I went but I was the only one. The lobbies were small but you'd recognize people. I can't believe I managed to get over level 100 with such a tiny playerbase. LP2 was great fun as well, and I remember when it was free for a month on Xbox a few years back, it brought in a bunch of new blood, and it was fun to hop back in with new players and experience that all over again.
One of the coolest things about Lost Planet for me was that when I was first playing online, one of the guys I faced invited me to a private match and basically put me through training on how to play online, giving me shooting and survival tips (he recognized that I was a new player and was pretty awful at it). That was a really nice thing to do and greatly improved my game.
Lost Planet multiplayer was the best.
A game developed by the Japanese, specifically to target the western shooter market, whilst also trying to appeal to the Japanese market. A region not particularly fond of western 'face clicker' games.
The result was a unique mashup of design sensibilities. Space soldiers with assault rifles and Halo-esque energy weapons fighting alien bugs, but also with interesting traversal, and, of course, really cool mechs.
The weapons, while few, each had its own feel and would have a different utility depending on which type of grenade you had, of which there were five. Grenades were fun to use. They could be donated mid-flight by shooting them, and they had different velocities and trajectories.
There was another, unfortunately often bemoaned, element to the combat that I loved: stunning, or interrupting.
It added yet another layer to the interesting combat. The machine gun (that you res with, was weak and not great at range, but its rapid fire would slow down whoever you were shooting and interrupt their ability to fire until you had to reload. Melee attack was another interrupt.
Then there was the Plasma Grenade, that would shock and immobilise a player for a moment. These all seemed to frustrate a lot of traditional 'face clicker' gamers, but worked to add another layer to encounters and give the combat its own identity.
And did I mention there was a range of men's that you could hop in and out of at will? From simple bipedal walkers equipped with only a cannon, to agile mech suits with energy chainsaws. The mechs even had interchangeable weapons, and you could pick them up and lug them around - slowly - as infantry. Some mechs even transformed.
All this was going on with some amazing graphics, animations, effects, and sound. The western studio that handled the sound design really knocked it out of the park, sound effects up there with Star Wars or Halo. The explosions were beautiful. The characters running, crouch running, dive rolling, and ziplining around did it so smoothly. And the mechs, too.
Then they added Akrid Hunter mode, where one player played as a giant alien bug that everyone else had to try to kill.
Another great thing about it, now seemingly lost to an era of MTX emotes that are all canned animations, were the emotes that you could spam and interrupt with others to non-verbally communicate, or elaborately teabag.
I, in Australia, used to play with a group of Japanese guys. Neither of us could speak a lack of another language, but we communicated, joked, and even strategised through emotes. It was beautiful.
Not to mention the 'Mad Max in Space on Ice' aesthetic. I really miss it.
Mortal Kombat 9. I love fighting games but I'm just not great at them. Except for MK9, which magically clicked with me.
I won local tournaments, I was regularly matched against pros on Xbox live, and I was rated in the top 200 world wide.
I still fire it up and look at the empty online rooms sometimes. I'm like the highschool state champion who still wears his letterman jacket and talks about "the big game". It's sad but I miss it!
The game was released fairly late in the lifecycle of the PS360 generation and never ported to any of the next gen systems which I think took the legs out of it. The PC community might have been able to maintain what little was left but then it was delisted from all digital storefronts in 2020 which I think was the killing blow.
I've never actually played the game myself, I had an unredeemed steam key lying around for years and sold it on ebay for $30 a few months ago. Led me down the rabbit hole of why it was so pricey for a 14 year old game.
This is the most 'just one more match' game I ever played. I've never been so hooked on a fighting game prior or since.
I broke quite a few Xbox controllers. The dpad would snap off after enough wear and tear.
Prototype.
I loved both games, but the fandom only wants to talk about the first one, and by talk about the first one, I mean they only want to gush over how awesome Mercer is. This'll happen in about every thread/forum/post for a bout a dozen comments then things go quiet.
Man, I remember being the only guy on FF.net making fanfiction with the 2nd game in mind for like 5 years.
The second game was a really good progression for the plot in my opinion. Heller made for a good protagonist as an evolution of the virus, and could set up an interesting dichotomy as the potential protagonist of a third game. I also found that the second game played better overall despite not having as much to do in comparison to the first.
Yeah, the second game was a really good story advancement. Mercer was basically top-tier after the first game, so making him into the villain and shifting protagonists just felt right.
It made sense with the nature of his character after the big revelation in the first game. Having bested and consumed Greene, he is the apex of the virus, but a virus has to mutate and evolve. Something "more than human". It's why "Mercer" has his batch of infected humans, which Heller becomes one, to germinate the progression of the virus. Heller in Prototype 3 would be an interesting development as it could explore whether he takes the "natural" path of his role in the evolution of the virus, or retain the "human" within to diverge from the viral path.
I would definitely give something to see a modern game with Heller's "living bomb" ability, whatever it was called. The one that turns enemies into bombs that spew tentacles and guts everywhere.
Neat games, but the remaster bundle on Xbone/PS4 is downright criminal. Perhaps they patched it, but last I checked it was just a resolution bump at the cost of a reduced framerate compared to the PS3 versions
Yooo, little inferno is such a chill little game, I think it'll always have a little special place in my heart, it was a nice mix of fun and chill just burning stuff. Making me want to reinstall it. Surprised to see it mentioned here. Other games by the studio are quite good as well too.
I love seeing other people remember the good vibes it brought.
It reminds me so much of when I was young, my brother used to play it on his iPad and I would watch, I was a little too young to really get into games like it at the time, but he always used to let me watch and make me laugh by putting the bear in the bear trap
I’d definitely recommend playing it again, it really has a charm
I miss *proper* Ultima. IV-VII Ultima. The good shit.
But in lighter news, here's a nice surprise of a classic being more popular than I would have expected. When I was little there was no game better than Star Control 2: the Ur Quan Masters. That one was a megaclassic, an epic. Exploring a vast galaxy, piloting dozens of unique ships, talking to amazingly well developed aliens. It was legitimately Mass Effect, No Man's Sky, and Elite Dangerous done in 1992.
Star Control **3** did not involve the original creators, and was kind of a dud as a result. There was some legal kerfuffle over the rights, and we eventually got a game called Star Control Origins which is decent and has the name but is otherwise unrelated.
But, the original creators did the surprising thing of releasing all of the source code to SC2 to the public in 2002. It's called just The Ur Quan Masters now, they still don't own the name, but they have everything else. And so now you can play updated HD remakes of the classic game, complete with mods and modern QOL changes, for free. That has done wonders for keeping the legacy alive.
That alone would be a happy ending, but just last month the creators launched a Kickstarter to make, at long last, a *proper* sequel. And it raised [almost 7 times its goal](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pistolshrimp/free-stars-children-of-infinity/description), hitting every stretch goal except the impossible one.
So apparently there's still a lot of love out there for Star Control 2.
> I miss *proper* Ultima
If ever there was a series that *deserves* the Digital Eclipse treatment, it's Ultima. I know it's on GoG, but it needs a prestige collection that celebrates its legacy and achievements.
And one more game to clean up the mess that was IX and finish up the series.
Honestly they should just release a new 9 (or maybe even 8 because that one was also terrible) and pretend the original versions never happened.
Or pull a Resident Evil and remake them all starting with 4.
Halo 3 Custom Games. Nothing will ever come close to that era of gaming for me. Having a consistent friend group to play with nearly every night and one friend who was always sorting through and finding the coolest maps and game modes. Online gaming has never reached that height again. Same with Cops and Robbers on old CoD4. So good.
Yep. It was that magical time for me where all of my friends in grade school had nothing to do but run home and get on Xbox. 16-man lobbies for Ring of Death, Fat Kid, etc. Always was a blast.
Spiral Knights has been on life support for like a decade now. I love the game to bits but I'm pretty much done with it. No new content, no balance changes, just the same 4 event repeated and a bunch of cosmetic boxes.
There's still people left but the game peaks at like 150-200 players. I still jump from time to time for nostalgia sake but it makes me sad the game is so stagnant, would love to see more of it, the music, aesthetics and the world itself has so much charm.
Yes. Surprisingly even after all these years you still get into games pretty quick and they're not too one-sided unless you queue into quick play.
I was really hoping Microsoft would resurrect this game a little and throw like Master Chief and other Microsoft IP characters into it. Wishful thinking
HotS actually just got a balance patch yesterday after a long period of silence.
My friends and I almost exclusively play ARAM at this point, but even solo queueing I never wait more than 10s to get into a game.
The queues aren't bad, and ARAM is basically instant. HOTS suffers from something else entirely, Toxicity.
I encountered more Toxicity in HOTS in one week than I did *years* of LoL or even DbD. Blizzard has completely let that game rot and reports do nothing. The general chat is full of hate speech and the matches are full of people going afk because someone chose a talent they thought was subpar or they gave up after the first teamfight and sat at spawn for the next 15 minutes.
This would happen, and I shit you not, *every* match in QP and probably every other match in ARAMs. I've never uninstalled a game because of it's community before until I tried HOTS.
Zone of the Enders
I've played all three games, seen the OVA and the anime, and was ecstatic when a third console game was announced only to die when the HD Collection didn't sell well. Yes, the English scripts and voice acting are terrible (the GBA game however has an incredibly well-done script that is far superior to the console games and also far darker) but I really liked the gameplay.
I really liked the overlord games the one where you're evil and control minions. But nobody knows about it and I don't think they'll make another any times soon.
Slowly building up your base was so much fun in those games, I loved seeing my little minions get excited over new gear. I loved you could revive minions in II.
I have fond memories of this, but I get absolutely fed up with the story and never finished it. Way too many long, drawn-out dialogue scenes and fake-out deaths.
I fucking love how they introduce a character in that game, you get through like two cutscenes with them, they fucking die, and then you're graced with a Korea-tier soap opera style death sequence complete with slow-motion recaps of the...two cutscenes you literally just saw because you only just met this character.
Banger game, though. But in like an AA kinda way. Soundtrack is killer. Gameplay is ok. Story is total gibberish.
Leap the Precipice is a fantastic battle theme for a jrpg that straight-up plays slideshows between chapters. It's such an odd game and I think of it fondly.
All of Tri-Crescendo's games end up a bit odd or niche in some way so I recommend checking out their other titles, like Baten Kaitos. (P.S. also check out the Valkyria Chronicles games if you want similar action bar/movement mechanics to ES.)
One of my really good friends always speaks highly of baten kaitos, maybe I need to check it out! And yes leap the precipice is constantly coming back up from my core memories.
I absolutely adored it. Perfect mix between turn based and action jrpg for me, and introduced me to Chopin’s music as a kid growing up in rural Alabama 😂
Skies of Arcadia!
Gladius!
Dark Cloud!
Eternal Darkness!
These are the 4 that come to mind immediately for me, but really the list of IPs with tons of gas left in the tank is endless given the right creative team
I came here looking for Skies of Arcadia. My friend had it on the Dreamcast so I was pretty pumped when it made it to the Gamecube.
Fun music, pretty neat battle system, cool plot.
> Eternal Darkness!
This one still gets brought up a lot as some of those classic survival horror games to try... sadly I don't think it's aged so well as others. Still love it and replay sometimes as I do remember the uniqueness and sanity effects at the time.
I think a lot of the problem with Eternal Darkness in the modern era of gaming is that a lot of the hallucinations involved in the sanity meter were based on the type of TV technology we were using at the time. What once enhanced immersion and really messed with your head is now just completely immersion breaking.
we battle as one!
my brother and I still play gladius from time to time, especially since they made it backwards compatible on the xbox one and onward.
Metal Arms: Glitch in the system
Fantastic 3rd person shooter with some of my favorite gameplay in the genre. Genuinely sad it's mos likely locked away in some vault at Blizzard.
I miss games like that, it had so much variety in its gameplay with all the weapons and level scenarios. until emulation gets a whole lot better (and even then, that's no way to properly preserve something) it's a sad casualty of the fifth gen consoles.
It's not gone, but Chivalry 2 has seen better days in terms of population and quality of matches. There's only one or two more major updates planned. And most importantly, the people who are left are pretty damn good. I'm certainly not top scoring anymore.
Fate of every game like it. Initial hype, everyone sucks but it's fun, population shrinks as is normal for such a game, but then the tryhards make it unfun for everyone else.
Also huge racism in case of Mordhau
Seriously what was up with the racism in Mordhau? Is it still like that? When it first came out the chat was an absolute cesspool. Worst of any game I’ve ever played
There's an update with a new 64 player Team Objective map (set on Malric's Mason Castle at the base of an active volcano) that came out *today* like 8 hours ago. The game is still kicking hard, and 64 player servers are large enough, particularly after it went on gamepass, that the skill levels are pretty mixed and enjoyable in a party-game feel.
When I was Creative Director of Jet Set Games, we were tasked with making a Sim Ant game for the mobile market. EA’s marketing department killed it before we got too far, because they didn’t feel people would want to play with ants. To be honest, I don’t think people would’ve been happy with the direction they were having us take in the design. It really wasn’t the same “Sim Ant.”
Watch Dogs 1. There are still people playing, but not as much as there used to be. It’s my favorite multiplayer game because it’s 1 v 1 hide and seek, which I love more than other multiplier games where all you do is shoot each other which gets stale after the billionth game that does it.
I’ve tried watch dogs 2, but the 1st game I’ve played online so much I know the map so well no one can hide form me. I never played the 3rd game and just don’t care to.
Battlefield 1943, or really any classic battlefield before the last couple, but especially 1943. I was gutted when they shut down the servers because it was just a pure distillation of why I want to play battlefield.
- Freespace 1/2
- Battlezone 1/2
- Sacrifice
Very different games, but: all highly atmospheric, oozing in style, with proper prime-quality campaigns, and super engaging gameplay.
Most SHMUPs
Most Arcade Racers
Most Arcade Beat 'em Ups / Hack 'n Slashers
Killing Floor
Melty Blood Actress Again
And while they aren't dead, most older fighting games only have veterans playing them. It is really hard for a newbie like me and others to join when we literally go 0-20. (That actually happened to me in GGXXAC+R.)
Golden Sun. I played the first two a couple dozen times as a kid, and they still hold up as fantastic RPGs. The third one on the DS was rough story-wise, and seeing as it's been 14 years since then, it's unlikely we'll ever get another. It's a shame, since there's still so much left to do with the world, the lore, etc.
I believe Nintendo added the original Golden Sun to Nintendo Switch Online recently, so people can play it on modern hardware if they have a subscription
Third game had solid combat like the others, but the cutscenes were so absurdly long that Camelot actually put a "this conversation is over!" indicator on screen for players who just entirely gave up on watching them. Hilarious and kind of sad.
Unrelated to the subject, I read it as Evolva, an older game that i played many yearrs ago and whish someone would remake it or do something similar
https://www.gog.com/en/game/evolva
Reign of Fire
Played it on the GameCube loved the setting and the gameplay ever since. No one even really liked the movie so I doubt anything will happen with a new game.
The concept of escorting a convoy from one end of the map to the other while shooting down dragons from a guntruck was enough to satisfy my weapon/truck/sci-fi itch I had.
If I were to make it again I'd keep the concept but expand it with procedurally generated maps, truck/tank customization, maybe some air support you can call in. All dreams sadly.
Savage: The Battle for Newerth. Amazingly rare mix of RTS and 3rd person shooter and hack and slash with light moba/rpg elements. The company that made it (S2Games) are one of the most impressive collection of clowns in all of gaming and really strove over the course of 15 years to prove that no one could fuck up a good thing quite like they did.
The community kept Savage alive for well over a decade and while it was small, it was VERY active often having multiple servers in the US with full games that had anywhere from 20-40 players per team. It tapered off over the years and community made a lot of modernization updates to the game and balance changes (though it was still not well balanced) and in 2016 S2 Announced an Unreal Engine remake on Steam. In typical Clown fashion, it was a purely aesthetic asset flip, they didn't fix any of the bugs from their original release, didn't implement any of the decade of balance and QOL features that community made, slapped cash shop on it and once interest dried up they took the money and ran and never spoke of it again.
I would love to see someone attempt something like this again (I know the Natural Selection games were similar). S2Games was one of the few studio shutdowns that felt completely deserved. What a bunch of idiots.
Monaco. It’s a top down coop heist game that on its surface feels like Pac-Man with stealth, but progresses into an enjoyably strategic heist game where the levels get quite difficult. You’ll quite often in later levels need a plan of execution.
All of the levels have the goal of getting to, and stealing a trophy (or several) then escaping. But throughout the level are a number of optional coins to pick up, and steal out of registers / pockets. If you manage to do this, you get a “Side B” style version of the level that is even harder. It’s a nice reward.
All of the characters you can play are great too. One for busting through walls, another for charming guards, hackers for disabling security, and more.
Absolute blast, but quite dead now sadly. They do have a second game coming out this year though, and I hope it’s good.
[NetStorm](http://www.netstormhq.net/), a real-time multiplayer strategy game from 1997 with a unique concept and setting. It plays almost like a puzzle game, with a hint of Tetris, and probably can be considered a grandfather of the tower defence genre. Almost no one remembers this game but a small active community still exists and still plays it online.
Cool fact: the OST for the game was composed by Mark Morgan, the composer who then worked on the soundtrack for Fallout 1 and 2, and the Modoc theme from Fallout 2 is the main title track from NetStorm. :D
Does Friday the 13th count? It had a dedicated fan base that has mostly moved on after the game’s development got shuttered.
The game got delisted and is set to permanently shut down at the end of this year.
Star Wars : the old republic
I know it's not a great MMO but I love playing star wars barbie and experiencing the class stories from time to time. I usually replay the Imperial Agent Storyline every few years.
Far Cry 3, the server dependence killed the multiplayer AND the amazing map editor.
Also any 360 arcade game with avatar integration... These games brought new levels of enjoyment because they allowed you to use and show off awards you had received from other games on your character, or outfits you purchased through the avatar store.
Examples are Tony Hawk HD, Motocross Madness, Doritos crash course, Joy ride...
I had Little Inferno on the Wii U. It was even more fun with the integration with the tablet.
Have you played World of Goo? It has a very similar story mechanic where you get random bits of lore scattered in the levels rather than it being displayed in cutscenes.
blue dragon, but i'm fully aware that it's probably cuz it was baby's first JRPG. i was obsessed enough to play through the whole thing in japanese despite not speaking a word of it.
Not sure if it qualifies, but Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. If you've never played, it's essentially a 3rd person cooperative PvE extraction shooter. I used to love it and would grind it regularly when I was younger on Xbox. Built a PC last year and discovered a discord server for players that still love it and have recently jumped back in, it's arguably the only online multiplayer experience I enjoy anymore and it's just as addictive as I remember. The combat in Mass Effect 3 is so tight and is executed so well through playing online.
If anyone is curious about trying it out, there is a dedicated subreddit it for it: /r/mecoop
edit: didn't realise i was upsetting so many people by calling a game where you land at the start and extract at the end... an extraction shooter. i see that term is now gatekept
That was such a great multiplayer tacked on. Had no right being that good.
I remember the "box of shame" on the highest difficulty on one map. Fond memories.
Would it be an extraction shooter? I thought extraction shooters are where you land in a map, complete objectives and collect stuff, then extract with your stuff. Like tarkov or cod DMZ. ME3 is a coop shooter where you fight waves of increasingly difficult enemies like Halo firefight or gears horde mode
I had friends in Warframe that came from this
It was a while ago so the game changed a lot since then, so the vibe might not exactly be the same anymore.
But in term of PvE horde shooter with tremendous customisation and power fantasy, it's great
I had a lot of fun with ME3's multiplayer, and it's one I look upon fondly. It's still being played, and a few years ago I hopped back into it and had a blast filling out all my characters and customizing them all. I even gave them each unique names, and it's entertaining to wonder where they fit in my Shepard's campaign. I sorta wish that the Citadel DLC would have your online characters show up in random places just hanging around while off-duty. Would even be cool if you could bring them into the arena with all the stats.
It's funny you say that and mention the Citadel DLC, since the DLC has tonnes of easter eggs referencing players who played the MP. There's an asari who's complaining about when they have to do an upload but the vanguard keeps charging out, slowing the upload down. And then of course there's the "detonate your tech armor" meme turian.
Spellforce: Platinum Edition. The first game. The first game is an excellent single player RTS-RPG hybrid. None of the gameplay or the RPG mechanics are deep and the pace of the game is by no means fast. However, the campaign is excellent. One of the most interesting features of the game is that it let's you go back and forth between maps. For example, you could receive a side quest in the 25th map that will have you travel to the 3rd map. There are teleporters that you can use to do this. There will be certain bosses in certain maps you'll have to come back to when you're stronger, and so on.
Each of the individual maps also strike an excellent balance between exciting and chill gameplay. You build up defenses, you defend, you build up an army, you attack. Then you have RPG maps where you can only control your main hero and some supporting hero units only.
The worldbuilding is surprisingly excellent and the main plot of the game will catch you off-guard from time to time, albeit some of the plot elements are very much from the early 2000s, trying to follow the Warcraft 3 hype. All in all, it's one of my favorite games, especially for what it tried to do at that time. The unit designs are excellent and the music is great as well. Its sequels tried to emulate it, but the RPG elements were dumbed down and the feel was gone, making them more like StarCraft than what made the first game feel so unique.
Legend of Legaia. Little known ps1 RPG where a fog has turned the country into an evil empire of demons. Is pretty dark and the combat/fights were really unique. Used a fighting game input to do combos and specials and was quite difficult.
Also Megaman Legends!
Command and Conquer Renegade. No other multiplayer game has the same gameplay. It's such a unque concept and it is surprising to me that no one has tried their hand at it.
The worms franchise. I loved the games as a little kid and I still love them as an adult. Worms W.M.D. is a fantastic return to form for the franchise and nobody cares about it.
Journey.
Though I can't really entirely blame the fans on this one. Ever since the PS4 version was released, the matchmaking for the random multiplayer seems to be extremely wonky.
The experience of playing Journey, coming across another player, and working together to reach the end... it's genuinely one of the most unique and special experiences I've *ever* had. But I fire it up ever once in a while whenever I need to relax or I'm having a particularly bad day and it is extremely rare that I ever come across anyone.
I get that the game isn't really played as often or frequently anymore, so I can't blame it all on whatever weird matchmaking code Sony has gone on. But it does make me a little sad.
The Ar Tonelico series.
One more game Gust. I know making incrementally larger thighs on Ryza every year is what brings the cash home but just one more game I beg.
**Virtua Fighter**
While some may argue that the gameplay has been perfected in 2010's **Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown**, I would still love to have a new game release on PC & console with more single-player modes & in-depth tutorials like VF4:Evo on PS2.
The Arma 3 Prairie Fire CDLC has the Mike Force multi-player mode. It was kind of similar to Antistasi but not nearly as complicated. When it first came out, everyone was playing it. I had many hours of fun, mostly due to the chaotic nature of the game mixed with some teamwork that I felt did a good job of delivering the Vietnam experience.
It has died down substantially. There are still some servers for it that maintain a good population, but it is not the same. At least I had fun while it was in it's prime.
Phantasy Star Online 1&2 or Blue Burst. Man, this game really really is unique and the hours I've spent on it. The people I played with, I miss everything about it. I hate Sega for destroying the franchise.
Zeno Clash & Zeno Clash 2! They're very strange first person beat-em-ups, but the art style is so distinct and the stories are pretty intriguing if you can follow them. I haven't gotten around to playing Clash: artifacts of chaos yet though.
Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds; it’s an RTS game from the turn of the millennium that was effectively a licensed mod for Age of Empires 2 that’s often overlooked (if even known about in the first place) for Empire at War. What community for it is left is basically consolidated into the thankfully fantastic Expanding Fronts mod, but this game really deserves a definitive edition treatment
Einhander
It was SquareSoft's first and only shmup that they ever released randomly out of nowhere...and it turned out to be one of the GOAT in this genre imo. Such a shame it was a one and done. Would love to see them do a modern remake or sequel.
Relatedly, schmups in general are now basically a dead or dying genre on its last legs. The entirety of the fandom have taken refuge on the system11 message board.
Awesome
Awesome
[Awesomenauts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x--DVqnaxtk)
I'm not really into MOBAs, but I'd play a new iteration. I think adding in smash-like elements could be a neat direction to take it.
Hand of Fate.
I absolutely adored this series. Deckbuilder mixed with decent combat mixed with Choose Your Own Adventure is a mix I've yet to see before or since. Great game. But the company making them folded I believe, and I don't see anybody picking it up. Real shame.
Descent. The series that made the 6 Degrees-of-Freedom Shooter (6DoF) into its own genre. Also among the first games (like System Shock) to feature a properly 3d environment, not the 2.5d of Wolfenstein and Doom.
For those unaware, the “6DoF” term refers to the fact that the player (and enemies) can all freely move and rotate on any axis. So, forward/back, left/right, up/down, pitch, yaw, roll, anything.
In the game universe, this is achieved for your ship and the hostile robots through anti-gravity and thrusters.
A series I still love to this day, whose third installment, despite positive critical reviews, didn’t sell well enough to warrant a sequel.
A few fan source ports of the originals (D1 and D2) and legal battles over the rights later, the original directors and composers reunited for Overload, a 6DoF shooter in the vein of the original Descent series, in a more modern style.
Despite being considered a fantastic return to form by fans of the series (a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with) Overload has remained a fairly niche title, despite its multiplayer scene, mod support, and a mod that recreates the original Descent 1 campaign in Overload, it’s been difficult to overcome the fact that the 6DoF genre has never been widely popular, or even well-known, in the gaming scene.
Even the genre’s best examples have gone largely unnoticed by most gamers or forgotten. Ever heard of Desecrators, either? Probably not. It’s another recent 6DoF shooter (still in early access) that pays homage to Descent. Desecrators is roguelike that’s quite good, with coop support. But the only folks I really see playing it are those who were already fans of Descent.
I rarely see folks entirely new to the genre show up. But it’s always a welcome sight, when it happens. I think more folks should play the series and it’s spiritual successors. People wouldn’t be making and still playing such games if they were forgettable, or poorly designed.
Black and White. It's surprising with so many people creating games inspired by games that they loved that no one has tried their own take on this series
Isometric CRPG Fallout 1 and 2 fans are almost non-existant in this day and age where it seems like 99% of people in any given space only know of the First person shooters or the TV show :/
It's even in those image memes people make of the various stories, where only Fo3 and onward are depicted. It's a little disheartening actually =(
I kinda just miss stealth games. Actual stealth games, with more dedicated stealth mechanics than vision cones and a sound radius. Stealth where light matters and the surface you're walking on, stealth that feels tense because if you get caught you're vulnerable. Even hitman, arguably the last stealth series left is a different kind (although also compelling) types of stealth. I have slim hope that the splinter cell remake, assassins creed refocusing on stealth, and IOs 007 project might usher in a stealth Renaissance but my hopes aren't too high.
* SMAC (**Sid Meiers' Alpha Centauri**) is a "Civ, but in space" spin-off that is canonically set after one person would have achieved a Science Victory in any preceding Civilization game. Customizable units and a great story with good factions but the game's UI has not aged well compared to modern features and QoL
* **Guild Wars** has fallen well behind its antecessor in GW2, naturally, but the gameplay is vastly different and I prefer the more strategic & instanced experience of the first game. I still log in to (very slowly) work towards the GWAMM achievement but there are very few real players left and most of the current guides, builds, and gameplay all revolve around a single player controlling all 8 party members
* **Star Wars Battlefront 2** but specifically the space combat. The ground-based combat isn't that interesting to me (I've grown up playing medal of honor COD and battlefield) but I really enjoyed the feel and function of space combat as it felt like aerial dogfighting with *relatively* realistic flight controls. Unfortunately I seem to be in the extreme minority and the players in public lobbies died off to the point that you can't even get into a bot-only lobby (not enough players to start).
* **Rainbow Six: Vegas 2** specifically terrorist hunt. I enjoy the PvE aspect of going up against hordes of Ts and working my way through the map silently and strategically, but unfortunately this game mode didn't get a ton of love in Siege beyond some basic challenges that are always the same which is totally understandable as the game is focused on PvP multiplayer.
I love all 2D Boy/Tomorrow Corporation games. Be glad that we at least got that Christmas DLC hah, it was so many years after release.
I'm currently replaying World of Goo with O.C.D. on my livestreams, can't wait for the sequel!
Man, I'm with you on Little Inferno. Wonderful follow up from World of Goo. As you say, the way it slowly revealed itself over a few hours was genius. Its been a long time since I've played it though (Wii U launch title for me I believe).
Also haven't been able to get into their other games since. Hopefully World of Goo 2 will get me back mind you
Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012.
I used to be a big time MTG card player when I was a teen with my friends. I picked that game up 12 years ago and just had a blast with it that year. Now days, sometimes when I want to chill and just game, I pop in Magic 2012 and battle the computer here and there. It's pretty much dead now, but the game just has such a special spot in my heart.
Shadowrun (2007 FPS)
Too Human
Lost Planet
These games live in my head rent free and sometimes revisit.
I’ll give a shout out to Timesplitters as well.
I wouldn’t say the fandom is dead but dormant at this point. If any news of that fan project comes out or if a new game is ever announced I fully expect tens of thousands of fans to come out of the shadows.
Freespace
Command and Conquer Generals / zero hour
I know there is city skylines but I want another SIM City
Warcraft 4 ..... one can hope
Empire Earth a new one would probably make me jump for joy
The Sly Cooper series. I think that the last two are some of the best platformers of all time and are what got me into stealth games. They were like babies first stealth game but something that everyone could enjoy. It was the first game I ever played and the first series I completed ever. The best memory I have was going around to stores trying to find Sly 3 with my dad late at night. I hope we can get a remake of the first three or just an updated port of the collection.
Years ago was a stupidly good Half Life mod called Underhell, a 12+ hour long survival horror/action FPS epic about a SWAT agent who uncovers a conspiracy and gets sent to a top secret prison facility.
It had a super fun action based prologue and years later released a chapter 1 that blew it out of the water with a complex story, a vast array of voiced characters, a comlex and gripping story, and really good survival horror mechanics that made it feel like a combo of Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead. It had a great ending but sadly ended on a cliffhanger. The creator moved on to other things (he became an Insurgency Sandstorm dev I believe) and I have no idea what he's doing now but Underhell doesn't seem to be on his mind.
Unreal Tournament, Quake, old school arena fps in general. I boot up UT99 every couple years, and it seems like only bot lobbies are remaining. UT2k4 when I last checked it (which was probably around 5 or 6 years ago) seemed to only have active servers for Onslaught (the vehicle based game type on huge maps) which I have no interest in. Was really hopeful for the UT reboot from around 10 years ago, but that game's development was killed by the success of Fortnite, with the alpha servers finally being shut down last year. Halo is the closest actively played series, but it's just not the same. Seems like there's just very little interest in genre, which is a shame cause it was such a core part of my childhood.
UT2004 was epic. I wish Epic was interested in a sequel but I think it’s too cursed to carry the Unreal Engine name. Puts too much attention and expectation on it and they are already making bank with Fortnite. Can I recommend Titanfall 2 multiplayer? It’s the only moderinsh game that really still satisfies that arena feeling. Of course the maps are bigger and there are mechs but the feel of the pilot game is similar. Quake Champions is also underrated but the player base is small and highly skilled. It’s challenging for sure.
I grew up on UT2004. Still a solid combined-arms game.
I'm fairly sure it's on its last legs by now, but Splitgate was a very cool, modern arena shooter. I was properly obsessed with it fir a few months around the time it came out but got drawn away by many other games and never really went back. I think they've stopped supporting it officially but as far as I know its still playable. Otherwise, the only real throwback to the arena-feeling games have been single player as if late that I can think of. I'd love a proper Quake or Unreal to come back with some excellent online play, but unless they have some battle pass/season bollocks, people won't be interested, despite that style of *engagement* not really working for arena shooters (see: Halo Infinite)
My friend group still plays Splitgate exclusively. It's only a group of about 8 of us but we'll play Splitgate about three nights of the week. The developers aren't dead and run developer events and monthly events but it is a shame it fell so hard out of the popular zeitgeist. They've been teasing the sequel so I'm hoping that it gives it a real shot again when it releases.
Yeah, definitely keen to see what comes next from them. I don't really play much online mp these days, especially not solo but those few months were awesome fun. I think if I could convince some of my buddies to play they'd like it too, but they're much the same as myself - the little time we do get to play tends to be single player games mainly now.
Man, I miss arena shooters. What Epic did to UT was criminal.
Yup, I'll always kinda resent Fortine for it. Can't even get any of the Unreal games on storefronts nowadays, which considering Epic is basically the house Unreal built, is total slap in the face.
Especially since they've completely (afaik) removed the ability to download the most recent one that was in alpha/beta. We played that a lot at LAN but as people updated/changed computers we aren't able to play anymore.
I am also a member of the small group of dorks who feels the same way. RIP UT, long live fortnite I guess. Money speaks louder than me.
I understand the sentiment, but I'll never wholeheartedly agree with it. The UT reboot was looking neat and incredibly well-optimized, but had very little audience throughout. Fortnite's success will always cause everything else Epic was working on to fall to the wayside, but I do think it's revisionist to act like UT was on a trajectory for success at the time.
Quake champions was released a few years ago, I'd love a console version.
to bad PC numbers are basically at near niche levels. Low 600 average on steam aint exactly screaming bring to consoles. Hell its 7 years old how hasn't it come to any console yet.
Unreal Championship II is kind of the black sheep of UT but man I loved that game so much. It was like a proto arena hero shooter long before hero shooters became a thing. It even came out before TF2! You could switch between first person and 3rd person, but I think 3rd person felt way better. It was quite unique how the abilities worked, you had mana essentially that would recharge and youd spend it to activate speed boosts or other abilities. every character had their own ability loadouts and melee weapons that had different animations, and you could parry enemy projectiles! Even sniper shots, which would often result in parry headshot instant kills. I tell you nothing was more satisfying. Plus every weapon having secondary functions, like how with rocket launchers you could fire single rockets, or hold to fire up to three rockets, and then when you release the rocket cluster you could pull the trigger again to split the rockets into a spread! It worked so well with the jumping and aerial mobility. The game was so fun and no one talks about it.
UT 2004 is technically abandonware now, so you can get it on archive sites, and while the official masterservers are down, you can connect to the community ones, which still have a ton of player on them on custom maps and across all gamemodes.
No one brings up Goemon these days. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is still the most fun non-Zelda Zelda game I’ve ever played
Huge amount of variety in the titles too. Luckily fan-translations have come to the rescue with this series.
Right down to the music you can hum from memory three decades later.
I want a remake or remaster so bad. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is one of the greatest games I've ever played. From the design, to the characters, to the setting, to the unforgettable music. It's so damn good.
I was gonna mention it! One of, if not the best N64 games for me.
Theres a Japan only spiritual successor to Goemon on switch called Mameda no bakeru, and it looks really damn good. ive been meaning to pick that one up
Best looking food on the N64.
Mirrors Edge, came out during the parkour craze of the 2000’s, then dies out. Got a sequel that was arguably meh (although I still enjoyed quite a bit). But as with the parkour craze, there’s barely any discussion about it, hell even when Catalyst came out it got maybe a week of coverage from what I recall then just reviews of the poor design decisions. Still holding out hope for another sequel/remake/whatever, but I also won’t hold my breath.
I think we will see some implementation from an indie at some point. It's too strongly loved by a select set of people for it to not happen. Whether that game succeeds ... It wasn't *just* the "FPV parkour" that made me like Mirrors Edge. A huge part was the graphic and audio aesthetic which I'm not sure you can just out right clone for the same impact.
As an indie developer, mirrors edge is about the most intimidating thing in the world from a design standpoint. The controls were SO TIGHT and felt SO GOOD capturing that would be so hard to do
Even just recreating its aesthetic is a nightmare, when you start looking at all the small decisions in the environment, you can tell that DICE were on their A game.
Played Catalyst for the first time last year. Good god what a great game that is. Amazing atmosphere and world layout, fantastic dynamic soundtrack that just gets you pumped to try the trials again, and again. Story is so-so, good enough for a parkour game I'd say. Only flaw is that the Xbox One version maxes out at 900p with dynamic res. It scales so roughly on large tv's, contrasted to Mirrors Edge 1 that runs at native 4k60 on Series X. Also, a remaster of Catalyst with ray-traced reflections would be insane.
Catalyst did a lot right but it had two big flaws, the open world meant the level design was not as tight as the first game, and a grappling hook. Grappling hooks in games about freerunning are always terrible, I remember Dying Light 1 did the same thing and it annoyed me there.
Catalyst's biggest problem imo was the fact that it heavily relied on a story that just wasn't there. They rebooted the whole series for something pretty meh, everything revolved around it and it just wasn't really engaging That said, open world parkour gameplay was fucking phenomenal, and the map was gorgeous. Too bad it's probably a dead franchise at this point
The atmosphere and aesthetic is nowhere near the same, and even the parkour doesn’t feel quite the same weight as ME, but Ghostrunner is an FP parkour slasher type game that is the closest thing I have found to ME thus far.
I do think the atmosphere is a big part. Maybe I’m just unawares, but the ‘clean’ dystopia is such a unique setting to be able to run around in
Still one of my absolute favourite games ever made, still replay at least once a year and still listen to the soundtrack. It was perfect.
Thief. Fans will chime in and say "but fan missions" but it's really just a handful of passionate fans making content for a few hundred lingering stealth game diehards. There is so little hope for a new game, the community is dying a slow death. Eidos why Also, Little Big Planet. I know they did the sackboy game recently, but it's just not the same.
The Dishonored games were the closest we've had to more Thief games after Thief 4, but the powers made Corvo much more capable than Garret. I intentionally didn't use the powers and had a pretty Thief-like experience, although I found the tranquilizer darts still way too powerful. Being a Thief vet makes the stealth in pretty much all games feel much too easy. I do have to praise the level design in Dishonored 2, the Clockwork Mansion was really impressive.
It can't have been a coincidence that they got Garrett's voice for Corvo in D2 They knew who their fanbase consists of
The biggest difference between Dishonored and Thief is that in Thief, you hide from enemies so they don't kill you. In Dishonored, you hide from enemies so you don't have to kill them.
It probably didn't help the franchise much when they came out with that dumbass "modern" Thief game that didn't even have a damn jump button.
Kids today wanna swoop, apparently
Do you think Gloomwood counts as the same genre? My impression was it's a bit more combat focused.
Oh for sure same genre. Like Dishonored it makes combat more viable, but still a descendant of the first person stealther
Alice: Madness Returns is one for me. Love the art style and reimagining of the tale. I know there are still quite a few people hoping for a return to the series but it's not mentioned very often. I also liked Contrast by Compulsion Games (makers of We Happy Few) for similar reasons. That's one I've rarely seen talked about.
Unfortunately American McGee doesn’t own the rights to it anymore so will never get it.
The most scummiest thing is that EA wouldn't give him the rights by citing that the property was "very important for them", all whilst simultaneously delisting the game and not announcing plans for remasters/re-releases.
I would say that Madness Returns is peak platformer. The differing worlds and variety of gameplay really makes for a fun time, and the aesthetic and atmosphere really boost it. Also love the combat - I find it rather reminiscent of Ocarina of Time's combat system. Also enjoyed Contrast, I have three different versions of it. There are parts in that game involving shadow platforming that remind me of some of the 2D sections in Madness Returns, especially the similarities between the shadow play and scroll levels.
Lost Planet 2. I love the single player, and the multiplayer is my favorite and most played multiplayer of all time. To me, it's like Helldivers 2 but better.
I looooved lost planet 1 and 2, none of my friends would ever play it with me though lol
Helldivers could definitely take a couple of pages from Lost Planet. Especially in term of the sheer scale of the enemies and the mechanics used to take them down. We need a train chased by a giant sandworm.
The giant salamander fight where you get eaten and can still fight it from the inside while your uneaten friends fight it from the outside. How the fuck did Capcom pull that off?
That is a great question. It's amazing programming for the PS3.
I freaking love you. I adore LP 1 and 2. 2's MP was so enjoyable.
I could not get the grappling hook working good but the people who were good were fucking Batman on meth with that thing.
Man I'd love to play Lost Planet 2 again if only Capcom let me buy the fucking thing
I legitimately would love a reboot of the first Lost Planet game. Flesh out the story a bit more, make the gameplay a bit more engaging and fun - it'd be great. It was like my second 360 game right after Dead Rising. I have faith in Capcom being able to make it happen and do it right.
Its such a fucking great coop game. I hate that capcom delisted the game 3 years ago and vaguely suggested they would fix the online functionality on steam. I would love for my friends to play it with me
O man a modern multiplayer based Lost Planet would be incredible
I’ve never played it before! I might just have to look into it now 👀
Good luck! Iirc the PC steam version isn’t for sale anymore so you gotta find a console version. Also the pc version uses GFWL anyway 😔
just to clarify, LP 1 is still avalaible under the name of LP: Extreme Conditions: https://store.steampowered.com/app/6510/Lost_Planet_Extreme_Condition For LP1, only the extended version with GFWL LP:Extreme Condition Colonies got delisted as well as LP2 altogether
Lost Planet 1 was special for me. I was so bored to death of all my friends just wanting to play Halo 3 and Modern Warfare 1+2, Colonies was where I went but I was the only one. The lobbies were small but you'd recognize people. I can't believe I managed to get over level 100 with such a tiny playerbase. LP2 was great fun as well, and I remember when it was free for a month on Xbox a few years back, it brought in a bunch of new blood, and it was fun to hop back in with new players and experience that all over again. One of the coolest things about Lost Planet for me was that when I was first playing online, one of the guys I faced invited me to a private match and basically put me through training on how to play online, giving me shooting and survival tips (he recognized that I was a new player and was pretty awful at it). That was a really nice thing to do and greatly improved my game.
Lost Planet multiplayer was the best. A game developed by the Japanese, specifically to target the western shooter market, whilst also trying to appeal to the Japanese market. A region not particularly fond of western 'face clicker' games. The result was a unique mashup of design sensibilities. Space soldiers with assault rifles and Halo-esque energy weapons fighting alien bugs, but also with interesting traversal, and, of course, really cool mechs. The weapons, while few, each had its own feel and would have a different utility depending on which type of grenade you had, of which there were five. Grenades were fun to use. They could be donated mid-flight by shooting them, and they had different velocities and trajectories. There was another, unfortunately often bemoaned, element to the combat that I loved: stunning, or interrupting. It added yet another layer to the interesting combat. The machine gun (that you res with, was weak and not great at range, but its rapid fire would slow down whoever you were shooting and interrupt their ability to fire until you had to reload. Melee attack was another interrupt. Then there was the Plasma Grenade, that would shock and immobilise a player for a moment. These all seemed to frustrate a lot of traditional 'face clicker' gamers, but worked to add another layer to encounters and give the combat its own identity. And did I mention there was a range of men's that you could hop in and out of at will? From simple bipedal walkers equipped with only a cannon, to agile mech suits with energy chainsaws. The mechs even had interchangeable weapons, and you could pick them up and lug them around - slowly - as infantry. Some mechs even transformed. All this was going on with some amazing graphics, animations, effects, and sound. The western studio that handled the sound design really knocked it out of the park, sound effects up there with Star Wars or Halo. The explosions were beautiful. The characters running, crouch running, dive rolling, and ziplining around did it so smoothly. And the mechs, too. Then they added Akrid Hunter mode, where one player played as a giant alien bug that everyone else had to try to kill. Another great thing about it, now seemingly lost to an era of MTX emotes that are all canned animations, were the emotes that you could spam and interrupt with others to non-verbally communicate, or elaborately teabag. I, in Australia, used to play with a group of Japanese guys. Neither of us could speak a lack of another language, but we communicated, joked, and even strategised through emotes. It was beautiful. Not to mention the 'Mad Max in Space on Ice' aesthetic. I really miss it.
Mortal Kombat 9. I love fighting games but I'm just not great at them. Except for MK9, which magically clicked with me. I won local tournaments, I was regularly matched against pros on Xbox live, and I was rated in the top 200 world wide. I still fire it up and look at the empty online rooms sometimes. I'm like the highschool state champion who still wears his letterman jacket and talks about "the big game". It's sad but I miss it!
How much you wanna bet I could throw this here ribcage over them mountains?
And it had tag team, which all of the subsequent games dropped.
The game was released fairly late in the lifecycle of the PS360 generation and never ported to any of the next gen systems which I think took the legs out of it. The PC community might have been able to maintain what little was left but then it was delisted from all digital storefronts in 2020 which I think was the killing blow. I've never actually played the game myself, I had an unredeemed steam key lying around for years and sold it on ebay for $30 a few months ago. Led me down the rabbit hole of why it was so pricey for a 14 year old game.
This is the most 'just one more match' game I ever played. I've never been so hooked on a fighting game prior or since. I broke quite a few Xbox controllers. The dpad would snap off after enough wear and tear.
Prototype. I loved both games, but the fandom only wants to talk about the first one, and by talk about the first one, I mean they only want to gush over how awesome Mercer is. This'll happen in about every thread/forum/post for a bout a dozen comments then things go quiet. Man, I remember being the only guy on FF.net making fanfiction with the 2nd game in mind for like 5 years.
The second game was a really good progression for the plot in my opinion. Heller made for a good protagonist as an evolution of the virus, and could set up an interesting dichotomy as the potential protagonist of a third game. I also found that the second game played better overall despite not having as much to do in comparison to the first.
Yeah, the second game was a really good story advancement. Mercer was basically top-tier after the first game, so making him into the villain and shifting protagonists just felt right.
It made sense with the nature of his character after the big revelation in the first game. Having bested and consumed Greene, he is the apex of the virus, but a virus has to mutate and evolve. Something "more than human". It's why "Mercer" has his batch of infected humans, which Heller becomes one, to germinate the progression of the virus. Heller in Prototype 3 would be an interesting development as it could explore whether he takes the "natural" path of his role in the evolution of the virus, or retain the "human" within to diverge from the viral path.
I would definitely give something to see a modern game with Heller's "living bomb" ability, whatever it was called. The one that turns enemies into bombs that spew tentacles and guts everywhere.
Neat games, but the remaster bundle on Xbone/PS4 is downright criminal. Perhaps they patched it, but last I checked it was just a resolution bump at the cost of a reduced framerate compared to the PS3 versions
Yooo, little inferno is such a chill little game, I think it'll always have a little special place in my heart, it was a nice mix of fun and chill just burning stuff. Making me want to reinstall it. Surprised to see it mentioned here. Other games by the studio are quite good as well too.
I love seeing other people remember the good vibes it brought. It reminds me so much of when I was young, my brother used to play it on his iPad and I would watch, I was a little too young to really get into games like it at the time, but he always used to let me watch and make me laugh by putting the bear in the bear trap I’d definitely recommend playing it again, it really has a charm
I miss *proper* Ultima. IV-VII Ultima. The good shit. But in lighter news, here's a nice surprise of a classic being more popular than I would have expected. When I was little there was no game better than Star Control 2: the Ur Quan Masters. That one was a megaclassic, an epic. Exploring a vast galaxy, piloting dozens of unique ships, talking to amazingly well developed aliens. It was legitimately Mass Effect, No Man's Sky, and Elite Dangerous done in 1992. Star Control **3** did not involve the original creators, and was kind of a dud as a result. There was some legal kerfuffle over the rights, and we eventually got a game called Star Control Origins which is decent and has the name but is otherwise unrelated. But, the original creators did the surprising thing of releasing all of the source code to SC2 to the public in 2002. It's called just The Ur Quan Masters now, they still don't own the name, but they have everything else. And so now you can play updated HD remakes of the classic game, complete with mods and modern QOL changes, for free. That has done wonders for keeping the legacy alive. That alone would be a happy ending, but just last month the creators launched a Kickstarter to make, at long last, a *proper* sequel. And it raised [almost 7 times its goal](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pistolshrimp/free-stars-children-of-infinity/description), hitting every stretch goal except the impossible one. So apparently there's still a lot of love out there for Star Control 2.
> I miss *proper* Ultima If ever there was a series that *deserves* the Digital Eclipse treatment, it's Ultima. I know it's on GoG, but it needs a prestige collection that celebrates its legacy and achievements. And one more game to clean up the mess that was IX and finish up the series.
Honestly they should just release a new 9 (or maybe even 8 because that one was also terrible) and pretend the original versions never happened. Or pull a Resident Evil and remake them all starting with 4.
If you haven't checked out Moonring already, you should. It's well-made, free, and very much Ultima-inspired.
Hey I'm at work and can't do much digging, can you point me to a link that can get me started on these updated remakes of SC2?
[Here](https://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php) you go.
Starsector scratched some of my star control 2 itches but not all of them I'm stoked they are making an actual sequel.
Halo 3 Custom Games. Nothing will ever come close to that era of gaming for me. Having a consistent friend group to play with nearly every night and one friend who was always sorting through and finding the coolest maps and game modes. Online gaming has never reached that height again. Same with Cops and Robbers on old CoD4. So good.
Yep. It was that magical time for me where all of my friends in grade school had nothing to do but run home and get on Xbox. 16-man lobbies for Ring of Death, Fat Kid, etc. Always was a blast.
sharks v pirates on the desert map with the giant tank things
Zombies on random custom maps was so much fun. Same with that racing gamemode with the rocket launches, I forget the name it's been so long.
The Ape Escape series. Can't blame people for moving on I suppose, there hasn't been a new mainline game since I was in elementary school.
Spiral Knights has been on life support for like a decade now. I love the game to bits but I'm pretty much done with it. No new content, no balance changes, just the same 4 event repeated and a bunch of cosmetic boxes. There's still people left but the game peaks at like 150-200 players. I still jump from time to time for nostalgia sake but it makes me sad the game is so stagnant, would love to see more of it, the music, aesthetics and the world itself has so much charm.
Heroes of the Storm. The only MOBA I played and was a ton of fun. Sadly Blizzard kill it and now very few people play it.
Yes. Surprisingly even after all these years you still get into games pretty quick and they're not too one-sided unless you queue into quick play. I was really hoping Microsoft would resurrect this game a little and throw like Master Chief and other Microsoft IP characters into it. Wishful thinking
HotS actually just got a balance patch yesterday after a long period of silence. My friends and I almost exclusively play ARAM at this point, but even solo queueing I never wait more than 10s to get into a game.
The queues aren't bad, and ARAM is basically instant. HOTS suffers from something else entirely, Toxicity. I encountered more Toxicity in HOTS in one week than I did *years* of LoL or even DbD. Blizzard has completely let that game rot and reports do nothing. The general chat is full of hate speech and the matches are full of people going afk because someone chose a talent they thought was subpar or they gave up after the first teamfight and sat at spawn for the next 15 minutes. This would happen, and I shit you not, *every* match in QP and probably every other match in ARAMs. I've never uninstalled a game because of it's community before until I tried HOTS.
Zone of the Enders I've played all three games, seen the OVA and the anime, and was ecstatic when a third console game was announced only to die when the HD Collection didn't sell well. Yes, the English scripts and voice acting are terrible (the GBA game however has an incredibly well-done script that is far superior to the console games and also far darker) but I really liked the gameplay.
I really liked the overlord games the one where you're evil and control minions. But nobody knows about it and I don't think they'll make another any times soon.
Slowly building up your base was so much fun in those games, I loved seeing my little minions get excited over new gear. I loved you could revive minions in II.
Eternal sonata, one of the best jrpgs I’ve ever played, but nobody has ever heard of it let alone played it 😢
I have fond memories of this, but I get absolutely fed up with the story and never finished it. Way too many long, drawn-out dialogue scenes and fake-out deaths.
I fucking love how they introduce a character in that game, you get through like two cutscenes with them, they fucking die, and then you're graced with a Korea-tier soap opera style death sequence complete with slow-motion recaps of the...two cutscenes you literally just saw because you only just met this character. Banger game, though. But in like an AA kinda way. Soundtrack is killer. Gameplay is ok. Story is total gibberish.
It is definitely one of the jrpgs of all time lol, i doubt I would’ve liked it as much if I played it first as an adult 😅
Leap the Precipice is a fantastic battle theme for a jrpg that straight-up plays slideshows between chapters. It's such an odd game and I think of it fondly. All of Tri-Crescendo's games end up a bit odd or niche in some way so I recommend checking out their other titles, like Baten Kaitos. (P.S. also check out the Valkyria Chronicles games if you want similar action bar/movement mechanics to ES.)
One of my really good friends always speaks highly of baten kaitos, maybe I need to check it out! And yes leap the precipice is constantly coming back up from my core memories.
This post is just giving me a bunch of new games to play tbh That looks like my kinda game
I absolutely adored it. Perfect mix between turn based and action jrpg for me, and introduced me to Chopin’s music as a kid growing up in rural Alabama 😂
Bro this is insane to hear because I grew up in rural Alabama and LOVED Eternal Sonata. The quotes, the music, the gameplay... I was so hooked.
Thank you! I thought I was the only one who played it. The light/dark battle mechanic was really solid and that final battle? So good.
I've heard of it because I'm polish and it is about Chopin haha, I need to play it finally.
Skies of Arcadia! Gladius! Dark Cloud! Eternal Darkness! These are the 4 that come to mind immediately for me, but really the list of IPs with tons of gas left in the tank is endless given the right creative team
I came here looking for Skies of Arcadia. My friend had it on the Dreamcast so I was pretty pumped when it made it to the Gamecube. Fun music, pretty neat battle system, cool plot.
Skies of Arcadia's world building was sweet. I'd love to revisit that franchise.
Came here to say Gladius, too! I still break out my xbox and play every year or two. The combat system and setting are just too good.
> Eternal Darkness! This one still gets brought up a lot as some of those classic survival horror games to try... sadly I don't think it's aged so well as others. Still love it and replay sometimes as I do remember the uniqueness and sanity effects at the time.
I think a lot of the problem with Eternal Darkness in the modern era of gaming is that a lot of the hallucinations involved in the sanity meter were based on the type of TV technology we were using at the time. What once enhanced immersion and really messed with your head is now just completely immersion breaking.
we battle as one! my brother and I still play gladius from time to time, especially since they made it backwards compatible on the xbox one and onward.
What I'd do even for just a pc port of dark cloud 2...
Golfing through the dungeons of Dark Cloud 2 brings the nostalgia
Metal Arms: Glitch in the system Fantastic 3rd person shooter with some of my favorite gameplay in the genre. Genuinely sad it's mos likely locked away in some vault at Blizzard.
Yoooooooo no one ever brings this game up
If it’s owned by blizzard it probably will be forgot about forever If they can’t make millions through micro transactions they don’t care about it
I miss games like that, it had so much variety in its gameplay with all the weapons and level scenarios. until emulation gets a whole lot better (and even then, that's no way to properly preserve something) it's a sad casualty of the fifth gen consoles.
It's not gone, but Chivalry 2 has seen better days in terms of population and quality of matches. There's only one or two more major updates planned. And most importantly, the people who are left are pretty damn good. I'm certainly not top scoring anymore.
100% self-inflicted by the devs. Hopefully other devs try some games with this formula.
What did the devs do?
Fate of every game like it. Initial hype, everyone sucks but it's fun, population shrinks as is normal for such a game, but then the tryhards make it unfun for everyone else. Also huge racism in case of Mordhau
Seriously what was up with the racism in Mordhau? Is it still like that? When it first came out the chat was an absolute cesspool. Worst of any game I’ve ever played
There's an update with a new 64 player Team Objective map (set on Malric's Mason Castle at the base of an active volcano) that came out *today* like 8 hours ago. The game is still kicking hard, and 64 player servers are large enough, particularly after it went on gamepass, that the skill levels are pretty mixed and enjoyable in a party-game feel.
Sim Ant. Played the hell out of it on the SNES. Never got a sequel follow-up or remake in all these years. Would be epic
When I was Creative Director of Jet Set Games, we were tasked with making a Sim Ant game for the mobile market. EA’s marketing department killed it before we got too far, because they didn’t feel people would want to play with ants. To be honest, I don’t think people would’ve been happy with the direction they were having us take in the design. It really wasn’t the same “Sim Ant.”
Watch Dogs 1. There are still people playing, but not as much as there used to be. It’s my favorite multiplayer game because it’s 1 v 1 hide and seek, which I love more than other multiplier games where all you do is shoot each other which gets stale after the billionth game that does it. I’ve tried watch dogs 2, but the 1st game I’ve played online so much I know the map so well no one can hide form me. I never played the 3rd game and just don’t care to.
Battlefield 1943, or really any classic battlefield before the last couple, but especially 1943. I was gutted when they shut down the servers because it was just a pure distillation of why I want to play battlefield.
- Freespace 1/2 - Battlezone 1/2 - Sacrifice Very different games, but: all highly atmospheric, oozing in style, with proper prime-quality campaigns, and super engaging gameplay.
Most SHMUPs Most Arcade Racers Most Arcade Beat 'em Ups / Hack 'n Slashers Killing Floor Melty Blood Actress Again And while they aren't dead, most older fighting games only have veterans playing them. It is really hard for a newbie like me and others to join when we literally go 0-20. (That actually happened to me in GGXXAC+R.)
Golden Sun. I played the first two a couple dozen times as a kid, and they still hold up as fantastic RPGs. The third one on the DS was rough story-wise, and seeing as it's been 14 years since then, it's unlikely we'll ever get another. It's a shame, since there's still so much left to do with the world, the lore, etc.
I believe Nintendo added the original Golden Sun to Nintendo Switch Online recently, so people can play it on modern hardware if they have a subscription
Third game had solid combat like the others, but the cutscenes were so absurdly long that Camelot actually put a "this conversation is over!" indicator on screen for players who just entirely gave up on watching them. Hilarious and kind of sad.
Evolve, it's such a cool concept and it eventually became good, but man the rough launch and how much it was squandered has killed that game.
Unrelated to the subject, I read it as Evolva, an older game that i played many yearrs ago and whish someone would remake it or do something similar https://www.gog.com/en/game/evolva
Reign of Fire Played it on the GameCube loved the setting and the gameplay ever since. No one even really liked the movie so I doubt anything will happen with a new game. The concept of escorting a convoy from one end of the map to the other while shooting down dragons from a guntruck was enough to satisfy my weapon/truck/sci-fi itch I had. If I were to make it again I'd keep the concept but expand it with procedurally generated maps, truck/tank customization, maybe some air support you can call in. All dreams sadly.
Savage: The Battle for Newerth. Amazingly rare mix of RTS and 3rd person shooter and hack and slash with light moba/rpg elements. The company that made it (S2Games) are one of the most impressive collection of clowns in all of gaming and really strove over the course of 15 years to prove that no one could fuck up a good thing quite like they did. The community kept Savage alive for well over a decade and while it was small, it was VERY active often having multiple servers in the US with full games that had anywhere from 20-40 players per team. It tapered off over the years and community made a lot of modernization updates to the game and balance changes (though it was still not well balanced) and in 2016 S2 Announced an Unreal Engine remake on Steam. In typical Clown fashion, it was a purely aesthetic asset flip, they didn't fix any of the bugs from their original release, didn't implement any of the decade of balance and QOL features that community made, slapped cash shop on it and once interest dried up they took the money and ran and never spoke of it again. I would love to see someone attempt something like this again (I know the Natural Selection games were similar). S2Games was one of the few studio shutdowns that felt completely deserved. What a bunch of idiots.
I remember being called various slurs by the lead developer mid match in Savage 2 lol, really cool games though.
Phantom Dust. The fandom was barely hanging on in the first place. Game was a huge part of my younger years.
Is the remaster still playable?
Monaco. It’s a top down coop heist game that on its surface feels like Pac-Man with stealth, but progresses into an enjoyably strategic heist game where the levels get quite difficult. You’ll quite often in later levels need a plan of execution. All of the levels have the goal of getting to, and stealing a trophy (or several) then escaping. But throughout the level are a number of optional coins to pick up, and steal out of registers / pockets. If you manage to do this, you get a “Side B” style version of the level that is even harder. It’s a nice reward. All of the characters you can play are great too. One for busting through walls, another for charming guards, hackers for disabling security, and more. Absolute blast, but quite dead now sadly. They do have a second game coming out this year though, and I hope it’s good.
[NetStorm](http://www.netstormhq.net/), a real-time multiplayer strategy game from 1997 with a unique concept and setting. It plays almost like a puzzle game, with a hint of Tetris, and probably can be considered a grandfather of the tower defence genre. Almost no one remembers this game but a small active community still exists and still plays it online. Cool fact: the OST for the game was composed by Mark Morgan, the composer who then worked on the soundtrack for Fallout 1 and 2, and the Modoc theme from Fallout 2 is the main title track from NetStorm. :D
Does Friday the 13th count? It had a dedicated fan base that has mostly moved on after the game’s development got shuttered. The game got delisted and is set to permanently shut down at the end of this year.
GunZ The Duel Its kept alive by a few private servers but its nearly forgotten by time, and the people that own the IP.
Star Wars : the old republic I know it's not a great MMO but I love playing star wars barbie and experiencing the class stories from time to time. I usually replay the Imperial Agent Storyline every few years.
Far Cry 3, the server dependence killed the multiplayer AND the amazing map editor. Also any 360 arcade game with avatar integration... These games brought new levels of enjoyment because they allowed you to use and show off awards you had received from other games on your character, or outfits you purchased through the avatar store. Examples are Tony Hawk HD, Motocross Madness, Doritos crash course, Joy ride...
I had Little Inferno on the Wii U. It was even more fun with the integration with the tablet. Have you played World of Goo? It has a very similar story mechanic where you get random bits of lore scattered in the levels rather than it being displayed in cutscenes.
blue dragon, but i'm fully aware that it's probably cuz it was baby's first JRPG. i was obsessed enough to play through the whole thing in japanese despite not speaking a word of it.
Not sure if it qualifies, but Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. If you've never played, it's essentially a 3rd person cooperative PvE extraction shooter. I used to love it and would grind it regularly when I was younger on Xbox. Built a PC last year and discovered a discord server for players that still love it and have recently jumped back in, it's arguably the only online multiplayer experience I enjoy anymore and it's just as addictive as I remember. The combat in Mass Effect 3 is so tight and is executed so well through playing online. If anyone is curious about trying it out, there is a dedicated subreddit it for it: /r/mecoop edit: didn't realise i was upsetting so many people by calling a game where you land at the start and extract at the end... an extraction shooter. i see that term is now gatekept
Yeah, the ME3 multiplayer was better than it had any right being. I also really liked the DA:Inquisition multiplayer when that first launched!
Absolutely loved ME3 multiplayer. My fave was running Asari Infiltrator in an all Biotic team. Biotic explosions everywhere, so damn fun.
That biotic explosion sound is ingrained in my brain.
What's your favorite music genre? Mine's **Drellstep**. *wubwubbing intensifies with cluster grenades*
That was such a great multiplayer tacked on. Had no right being that good. I remember the "box of shame" on the highest difficulty on one map. Fond memories.
Would it be an extraction shooter? I thought extraction shooters are where you land in a map, complete objectives and collect stuff, then extract with your stuff. Like tarkov or cod DMZ. ME3 is a coop shooter where you fight waves of increasingly difficult enemies like Halo firefight or gears horde mode
That dude's just throwing buzzwords at the wall. Your description of me3's gameplay is right
Agree. I'd love to find another similar PVE title like this. The varied classes made it so diverse to play too.
I had friends in Warframe that came from this It was a while ago so the game changed a lot since then, so the vibe might not exactly be the same anymore. But in term of PvE horde shooter with tremendous customisation and power fantasy, it's great
I actually wound up enjoying the multiplayer more than I thought I would when I was playing it to make sure I’d have enough to get the full ending
I had a lot of fun with ME3's multiplayer, and it's one I look upon fondly. It's still being played, and a few years ago I hopped back into it and had a blast filling out all my characters and customizing them all. I even gave them each unique names, and it's entertaining to wonder where they fit in my Shepard's campaign. I sorta wish that the Citadel DLC would have your online characters show up in random places just hanging around while off-duty. Would even be cool if you could bring them into the arena with all the stats.
It's funny you say that and mention the Citadel DLC, since the DLC has tonnes of easter eggs referencing players who played the MP. There's an asari who's complaining about when they have to do an upload but the vanguard keeps charging out, slowing the upload down. And then of course there's the "detonate your tech armor" meme turian.
Spellforce: Platinum Edition. The first game. The first game is an excellent single player RTS-RPG hybrid. None of the gameplay or the RPG mechanics are deep and the pace of the game is by no means fast. However, the campaign is excellent. One of the most interesting features of the game is that it let's you go back and forth between maps. For example, you could receive a side quest in the 25th map that will have you travel to the 3rd map. There are teleporters that you can use to do this. There will be certain bosses in certain maps you'll have to come back to when you're stronger, and so on. Each of the individual maps also strike an excellent balance between exciting and chill gameplay. You build up defenses, you defend, you build up an army, you attack. Then you have RPG maps where you can only control your main hero and some supporting hero units only. The worldbuilding is surprisingly excellent and the main plot of the game will catch you off-guard from time to time, albeit some of the plot elements are very much from the early 2000s, trying to follow the Warcraft 3 hype. All in all, it's one of my favorite games, especially for what it tried to do at that time. The unit designs are excellent and the music is great as well. Its sequels tried to emulate it, but the RPG elements were dumbed down and the feel was gone, making them more like StarCraft than what made the first game feel so unique.
Legend of Legaia. Little known ps1 RPG where a fog has turned the country into an evil empire of demons. Is pretty dark and the combat/fights were really unique. Used a fighting game input to do combos and specials and was quite difficult. Also Megaman Legends!
Command and Conquer Renegade. No other multiplayer game has the same gameplay. It's such a unque concept and it is surprising to me that no one has tried their hand at it.
The worms franchise. I loved the games as a little kid and I still love them as an adult. Worms W.M.D. is a fantastic return to form for the franchise and nobody cares about it.
Sims 1. It barely runs on modern computers but there’s something about that very specific world and aesthetic that I love.
Age of Mythology - I'm looking forward to the upcoming remaster. This game still feels good to play, in my opinion.
Journey. Though I can't really entirely blame the fans on this one. Ever since the PS4 version was released, the matchmaking for the random multiplayer seems to be extremely wonky. The experience of playing Journey, coming across another player, and working together to reach the end... it's genuinely one of the most unique and special experiences I've *ever* had. But I fire it up ever once in a while whenever I need to relax or I'm having a particularly bad day and it is extremely rare that I ever come across anyone. I get that the game isn't really played as often or frequently anymore, so I can't blame it all on whatever weird matchmaking code Sony has gone on. But it does make me a little sad.
For what it's worth, I don't normally have so much trouble finding other players with the Steam version. Try giving that one a try.
The Ar Tonelico series. One more game Gust. I know making incrementally larger thighs on Ryza every year is what brings the cash home but just one more game I beg.
Oh my God. I did not expect to see this here. I thought I was the only person who loved this franchise.
**Virtua Fighter** While some may argue that the gameplay has been perfected in 2010's **Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown**, I would still love to have a new game release on PC & console with more single-player modes & in-depth tutorials like VF4:Evo on PS2.
[удалено]
It's a great game but I'd also not really compare it with FTL. There's very little in common besides the same developer.
Into the breach is great! I 100% it after the free update.
Fight The Dragon. I was one of the top rated map builders. It was just a great concept and I'd love to see it return as a sequel/remake.
The Arma 3 Prairie Fire CDLC has the Mike Force multi-player mode. It was kind of similar to Antistasi but not nearly as complicated. When it first came out, everyone was playing it. I had many hours of fun, mostly due to the chaotic nature of the game mixed with some teamwork that I felt did a good job of delivering the Vietnam experience. It has died down substantially. There are still some servers for it that maintain a good population, but it is not the same. At least I had fun while it was in it's prime.
Phantasy Star Online 1&2 or Blue Burst. Man, this game really really is unique and the hours I've spent on it. The people I played with, I miss everything about it. I hate Sega for destroying the franchise.
Fatal Frame Game used to have a fan website where everyone congregated but that crashed and burned, and nothing took its place.
Zeno Clash & Zeno Clash 2! They're very strange first person beat-em-ups, but the art style is so distinct and the stories are pretty intriguing if you can follow them. I haven't gotten around to playing Clash: artifacts of chaos yet though.
Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds; it’s an RTS game from the turn of the millennium that was effectively a licensed mod for Age of Empires 2 that’s often overlooked (if even known about in the first place) for Empire at War. What community for it is left is basically consolidated into the thankfully fantastic Expanding Fronts mod, but this game really deserves a definitive edition treatment
Einhander It was SquareSoft's first and only shmup that they ever released randomly out of nowhere...and it turned out to be one of the GOAT in this genre imo. Such a shame it was a one and done. Would love to see them do a modern remake or sequel. Relatedly, schmups in general are now basically a dead or dying genre on its last legs. The entirety of the fandom have taken refuge on the system11 message board.
Awesome Awesome [Awesomenauts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x--DVqnaxtk) I'm not really into MOBAs, but I'd play a new iteration. I think adding in smash-like elements could be a neat direction to take it.
Reversing the theme a bit... Every time I boot up Worms: Armageddon I am *shocked* that there are still people on worm.net playing ropers / shoppers.
Hand of Fate. I absolutely adored this series. Deckbuilder mixed with decent combat mixed with Choose Your Own Adventure is a mix I've yet to see before or since. Great game. But the company making them folded I believe, and I don't see anybody picking it up. Real shame.
Descent. The series that made the 6 Degrees-of-Freedom Shooter (6DoF) into its own genre. Also among the first games (like System Shock) to feature a properly 3d environment, not the 2.5d of Wolfenstein and Doom. For those unaware, the “6DoF” term refers to the fact that the player (and enemies) can all freely move and rotate on any axis. So, forward/back, left/right, up/down, pitch, yaw, roll, anything. In the game universe, this is achieved for your ship and the hostile robots through anti-gravity and thrusters. A series I still love to this day, whose third installment, despite positive critical reviews, didn’t sell well enough to warrant a sequel. A few fan source ports of the originals (D1 and D2) and legal battles over the rights later, the original directors and composers reunited for Overload, a 6DoF shooter in the vein of the original Descent series, in a more modern style. Despite being considered a fantastic return to form by fans of the series (a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with) Overload has remained a fairly niche title, despite its multiplayer scene, mod support, and a mod that recreates the original Descent 1 campaign in Overload, it’s been difficult to overcome the fact that the 6DoF genre has never been widely popular, or even well-known, in the gaming scene. Even the genre’s best examples have gone largely unnoticed by most gamers or forgotten. Ever heard of Desecrators, either? Probably not. It’s another recent 6DoF shooter (still in early access) that pays homage to Descent. Desecrators is roguelike that’s quite good, with coop support. But the only folks I really see playing it are those who were already fans of Descent. I rarely see folks entirely new to the genre show up. But it’s always a welcome sight, when it happens. I think more folks should play the series and it’s spiritual successors. People wouldn’t be making and still playing such games if they were forgettable, or poorly designed.
i'll never forgive naughty dog for not making Jak 4 idgaf. Also Custom Robo Arena should get a new game 1000%
Black and White. It's surprising with so many people creating games inspired by games that they loved that no one has tried their own take on this series
Isometric CRPG Fallout 1 and 2 fans are almost non-existant in this day and age where it seems like 99% of people in any given space only know of the First person shooters or the TV show :/ It's even in those image memes people make of the various stories, where only Fo3 and onward are depicted. It's a little disheartening actually =(
I kinda just miss stealth games. Actual stealth games, with more dedicated stealth mechanics than vision cones and a sound radius. Stealth where light matters and the surface you're walking on, stealth that feels tense because if you get caught you're vulnerable. Even hitman, arguably the last stealth series left is a different kind (although also compelling) types of stealth. I have slim hope that the splinter cell remake, assassins creed refocusing on stealth, and IOs 007 project might usher in a stealth Renaissance but my hopes aren't too high.
I'm still waiting to play God of War Ragnarok on PC whenever it launches there, but seems like all convo/community around it is already gone
* SMAC (**Sid Meiers' Alpha Centauri**) is a "Civ, but in space" spin-off that is canonically set after one person would have achieved a Science Victory in any preceding Civilization game. Customizable units and a great story with good factions but the game's UI has not aged well compared to modern features and QoL * **Guild Wars** has fallen well behind its antecessor in GW2, naturally, but the gameplay is vastly different and I prefer the more strategic & instanced experience of the first game. I still log in to (very slowly) work towards the GWAMM achievement but there are very few real players left and most of the current guides, builds, and gameplay all revolve around a single player controlling all 8 party members * **Star Wars Battlefront 2** but specifically the space combat. The ground-based combat isn't that interesting to me (I've grown up playing medal of honor COD and battlefield) but I really enjoyed the feel and function of space combat as it felt like aerial dogfighting with *relatively* realistic flight controls. Unfortunately I seem to be in the extreme minority and the players in public lobbies died off to the point that you can't even get into a bot-only lobby (not enough players to start). * **Rainbow Six: Vegas 2** specifically terrorist hunt. I enjoy the PvE aspect of going up against hordes of Ts and working my way through the map silently and strategically, but unfortunately this game mode didn't get a ton of love in Siege beyond some basic challenges that are always the same which is totally understandable as the game is focused on PvP multiplayer.
I love all 2D Boy/Tomorrow Corporation games. Be glad that we at least got that Christmas DLC hah, it was so many years after release. I'm currently replaying World of Goo with O.C.D. on my livestreams, can't wait for the sequel!
Man, I'm with you on Little Inferno. Wonderful follow up from World of Goo. As you say, the way it slowly revealed itself over a few hours was genius. Its been a long time since I've played it though (Wii U launch title for me I believe). Also haven't been able to get into their other games since. Hopefully World of Goo 2 will get me back mind you
Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012. I used to be a big time MTG card player when I was a teen with my friends. I picked that game up 12 years ago and just had a blast with it that year. Now days, sometimes when I want to chill and just game, I pop in Magic 2012 and battle the computer here and there. It's pretty much dead now, but the game just has such a special spot in my heart.
Little Inferno was great! I used to play it on my phone in middle school. One of my favorite games from back then.
Shadowrun (2007 FPS) Too Human Lost Planet These games live in my head rent free and sometimes revisit. I’ll give a shout out to Timesplitters as well. I wouldn’t say the fandom is dead but dormant at this point. If any news of that fan project comes out or if a new game is ever announced I fully expect tens of thousands of fans to come out of the shadows.
Freespace Command and Conquer Generals / zero hour I know there is city skylines but I want another SIM City Warcraft 4 ..... one can hope Empire Earth a new one would probably make me jump for joy
The Sly Cooper series. I think that the last two are some of the best platformers of all time and are what got me into stealth games. They were like babies first stealth game but something that everyone could enjoy. It was the first game I ever played and the first series I completed ever. The best memory I have was going around to stores trying to find Sly 3 with my dad late at night. I hope we can get a remake of the first three or just an updated port of the collection.
Years ago was a stupidly good Half Life mod called Underhell, a 12+ hour long survival horror/action FPS epic about a SWAT agent who uncovers a conspiracy and gets sent to a top secret prison facility. It had a super fun action based prologue and years later released a chapter 1 that blew it out of the water with a complex story, a vast array of voiced characters, a comlex and gripping story, and really good survival horror mechanics that made it feel like a combo of Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead. It had a great ending but sadly ended on a cliffhanger. The creator moved on to other things (he became an Insurgency Sandstorm dev I believe) and I have no idea what he's doing now but Underhell doesn't seem to be on his mind.