Games I've enjoyed

Criteria

I've tended to gravitate towards games with a strong story and well fleshed-out world, and/or RPG elements. I also started gaming at around the late 1990s, so I haven’t had exposure to many good games before then. Hopefully this list can help someone find their next game to play, if we share similar interests! This list is also something for me to remember the fun I've had playing these games.

Dislcaimers - I haven't had very much time to play, so there's probably a lot out there that I've missed. Also the below is not in any order, just whatever comes to my mind first. I also tend to favour short, indie-ish games, but some big-name games will still make it to the list. I also have a weakness for piexl art.

The list

RPGs

• Planescape Torment for strong story and world. The level of detail is pretty mindblowing, I remember spending hours in a shop just looking at all the weird items on sale and none of them had any actual use in the game.
• Divinity 2 - love the combat and skill mechanics and flexibility of what you can do in battles. Hanging out for Baldur’s Gate 3.

Adventure/point and click

• The whole Monkey Island series - my favourite is number 3 (Curse of Monkey Island) for its beautiful artwork, but the first two are pretty cool too. Haven’t played through the fourth one.
• Thimbleweed Park - Very much in the same style of Monkey Island 1 and 2. Very cool plot and use of swapping characters too.
• Disco Elysium - Beautiful art, amazing world, beautiful writing, amazing soundtrack, love it!
• Techno Babylon - interesting storyline, had fun with the characters. I hear they're planning a sequel!
• Machinarium, Creaks and others from Amanita - I really admire their game design for its simplicity, there are no written instructions at all, everything about the game and story is conveyed through pictures and animations. Love their art and sound. Creaks is their latest release and it’s more of a puzzler, but still very fun to play.
• Grim Fandango - played the remastered version recently. Very likeable characters, and pretty kickarse storyline. The voice acting brought heaps of style to the game too.
• Undertale - the cult classic? The characters were pretty loveable, and I liked the "meta" take on the game. The music was great - even bought the piano score (it's tough)

Story-driven, their own category

• Fallen London - Incredibly complex world with lots of lore. Their associated games Sunless Seas/Skies are also fun, but I’m too uncoordinated to survive the sky/sea battles unfortunately.
• Hypnospace Outlaw - I started "surfing the web" around the time when Geocities first began. I fondly remember browsing through the virtual streets of the neighbourhoods. I’m a prime target for this game, and I love it, even all the tacky wallpapers and viruses. Discovering the secret sites for myself was a real treat too.
• Cloudpunk - I hate driving and finding parking and this game needs you to do both, but I stuck through with it to the end because the story was that compelling.
• Oxenfree - interesting premise, slightly spooky, kinda cool. Spoilery Apparently you can also tinker with events in the past...
• Night in the Woods - love the portrayal of small town tensions, the angst of finding your identity in the world, and growing up.
• Kentucky Route Zero - Interesting world, lovely writing. I wish there was a bit more to get into the characters, though, it only feels like I've only scratched the surface of the very real characters they've created. Perhaps this itself is a testament to the character design. But the ending was definitely a bit too soon.

Miscellaneous games I occasionally get into

• Loop Hero - it really sucked us in, trying to figure out the different combinations and expanding the base. Also, pixel art!

Couch co-op games

(games where couch co-op really shines)

• It takes two - great game from a developer specialising in exclusively co-op games. Husband and I really enjoyed the ingenuity of the puzzles, and they're pitched just right. There's a bit of an action element in the game, especially with the miniboss fights, but the game is pretty forgiving. I think I've actually learnt something about relationships from this game!
• Divinity (mentioned above) has a pretty smooth couch co-op setup, and the split screen works pretty well. We played through 1 and 2 co-op.

and also

• Watchdogs 2 - can I just say here that I love this game for being able to takeout npcs by dropping shit on them from cargo drones

Hanging out for

• Chinatown detective agency
• Eastward