‘Games’ by Ian Dick is licensed under CC BY 2.0
If you’re reading this, then it’s likely that you’re in the market for a gift to a close gamer friend or family member for the holidays or looking for something new to play. It’s also likely that you’re somewhat stumped as to what to buy for them, or what to play.
Now, I can only assume that you, or the person you’re shopping is fairly familiar with AAA games and the regular mainstream games we see on the shelves every year. (ie. Call of Duty, FIFA, Assassins Creed) It can be hard to break through the big releases we see on all the advertisements and the big shelves at the front of stores, but there are a plethora of titles hiding in the corner of GAME or deep in the bowels of Steam or PSN.
These are the top 5 games that I would consider must-plays due to their cultural significance and impact on gaming in general. Whoever you’re shopping for, these are games that are simply unmissable, and will help you or the person you’re buying for break out of the brown sludge that is the mainstream gaming space 😉
5. Paper’s Please.
Paper’s Please screenshot. (Taken by me)
It’s hard to sell Paper’s Please to someone. You play as a border control officer on the borders of a fictional communist state called Arstotzka. You are quite literally tasked with checking and approving the paperwork of citizens requesting passage into the country based on a series of ever increasing guidelines and papers as the country becomes even more wary and paranoid of terrorist activity.
There’s more to it than that, however. Making mistakes costs you money. Spending too long checking a person’s papers costs you money. Breaking the rules to help people in need costs you money. Your money heats and feeds a household housing your family. Or rather, it won’t depending on your performance, moral compass, and activity regarding the game’s terrorist group.
This game in an intelligent commentary on politics, the nature of morality in a video game and quite simply one of the most unique and surprisingly fun games I’ve ever played. Both harrowing and charming in its atmosphere paired with intelligent and witty writing culminate together to create a war ridden world that exists as a stark contrast to those we see in the likes of Call of Duty.
Paper’s Please:
Price: £6.99
PC/Mac/Linux (Can run on even the most ancient of computers) and coming soon to Playstation Vita.
Where to buy: Steam
4. The Stanley Parable
‘Stanley Parable at A MAZE. / Berlin 2014’ by Iwan Gabovitch is licensed under CC BY 2.0
What started out as a simple modification for Half Life 2 quickly became a cult classic. The Stanley Parable is as much a witty comedy as it is an in-depth look at the sillier tropes and mechanics in video games today.
You control an office worker named Stanley, and one day you find your workplace abandoned for no apparent reason. From there, the tiniest decisions you make regarding what you do, where you go and so on provide you with distinctly different story lines, each with their own things to say. As a narrator speaks to you, and narrates your every action, you’ll be confronted with some of the funniest, saddest, harrowing and inspirational moments a game could ever offer to you in one single package.
The Stanley Parable offers dozens of story lines and endings, and encourages multiple playthroughs. It’s hard to talk about without spoiling the genius of it all (And you certainly don’t want to be spoiled), but this is a game that just can’t be missed. I cannot recommend this game enough, this is hands down the smartest video game I’ve ever played. (If you can call it a video game, see here:)
The Stanley Parable:
Price: £9.99 (A free ‘demo’ is available. I recommend you check it out before playing)
PC/Mac/Linux (A kind-of-decent laptop/computer necessary to play)
Where to buy: Steam
3. Transistor
Transistor Screenshot (Taken by me)
This is the most recent release to be on this list, but damn is it something worth playing. If you, or your gift recipient has shown even the slightest interest in sci-fi, this is a game for them.
In Transistor, you play as Red. An influential musician in the ambiguously located, sort-of virtual city of Cloud Bank. A political attack from a leading family of self proclaimed ‘royalty’ targets you, and many other culturally significant people with a race of artificial intelligence known as ‘The Process’.
Without spoiling too much, a personal attack on you leaves an unnamed friend or family member trapped in a weapon known as the ‘Transistor’ and Red’s voice in ruins. With this weapon, you embark on a mission to free the man in the Transistor, rescue the digital essences of dying civilians and stop the Process and their creators from destroying Cloud Bank.
It’s a vaguely told tale, to say the least. While the plot is most certainly a strength of the game, Transistor is all about presentation. Fantastic visuals, flawless art design and the best soundtrack I have ever heard in gaming ever. Fans of immersive sci-fi universes and beautifully composed electronic music will sink hours into Transistor, on their first, second and third playthroughs and beyond.
An expertly crafted combat system graces the plot and presentation, also. Created by Super Giant Games, you can expect similar gameplay to Bastion (Call that an honorable mention.) or Diablo. However, the game gives you the ability to freeze time and queue up movements and abilities that will be executed in sequence instantly. Not only this, but each of your abilities can be customized and combined with other abilities to construct entirely new moves.
(ie. Crash() is a melee move that leaves targets stunned and vulnerable and Breach() is a powerful ranged ability. Combined, Breach() can become an exceptionally strong ranged ability that leaves targets stunned, but loses some of its range in the process.)
Quite simply, Transistor is my GOTY (Game of the year) and should not go unplayed.
Transistor:
Price: £14.99 (And I highly recommend picking up the soundtrack for an extra £7.49 also)
PC/Mac/Linux and Playstation 4.
Where to buy: Here
2. The Walking Dead: Season 1.
‘The Walking Dead Game Series on PSN’ by Playstation Europe is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Chances are, you’ve heard of The Walking Dead TV show. It’s also likely that you and/or your gift recipient have had at the very least a fleeting interest in the zombie genre at one point or another. It’s also VERY likely that anybody who spends a lot of their time watching people stream games on Twitch or Youtube has seen at least a snippet of an online personality playing (And probably unnecessarily screaming at) Telltale’s The Walking Dead.
Probably the most popular game on this list, The Walking Dead game deserves to be played. No, not watched. I don’t care if you watched someone play the entire game and/or season 2. No, watching a game being played is NOT the same as playing it, and you are everything that is wrong with the world.
*Eh hem*
The Walking Dead is a rather grim exploration into the realities of being a person in post-apocalyptic America. Surprisingly enough, this isn’t a game about the zombies; this is a game about the people you meet, talk to, protect, kill, live with, die with and so on. In The Walking Dead, you play as Lee. A criminal arrested for murder, you are set on a course for survival as fate sends you a little girl named Clementine to protect in a world beset by the undead.
This is a game about decisions. Who do you save? Do you kill them? How are rations distributed among your group? Who do you trust? Who trusts you? How will your actions make the people around you react to you? Do you tell the truth? Do you lie? Are you in it for yourself? Or do you protect the people you care most about? It’s not an easy game to play. For all of its basic gameplay mechanics, the challenge of choice can present more difficulty than any boss battle.
The Walking Dead may not be much of a ‘gamey’ game, but it is excellent. 2012’s game of the year was one that surprised many. The Walking Dead: Season 1 is a game that was in many ways a pre-cursor to the kind of emotionally impacting, zombie orientated story line you (probably) played in games like The Last of Us. And I’ve heard everybody wants more of that.
The Walking Dead: Season 1:
Price: £18.99 (On PC, prices will be different for console and mobile)
PC/Mac, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, iOS, Kindle Fire HDX, Android.
Where to buy: Location will vary depending on desired platform.
1. Spec Ops: The Line
Spec Ops: The Line by Joshua Livingston is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Spec Ops: The Line is a game even the most casual of shooter fans can play. It’s a simple, yet robust third person shooter with all of the necessary check boxes ticked in order to offer a functional shooting experience. Decent cover mechanics, challenging enemies and everything you’d need to lose yourself in some mindless violence.
‘Then why would you put this seemingly average game on your number one spot?’ you may be thinking to yourself. That’s a fair question, but believe me when I say: Spec Ops: The Line has the most important story to tell of any game of the last generation. There’s a point being made in its bland game mechanics, a harrowing message being put across about violence in gaming that all gamers need to at least be aware of.
Inspired by works such as Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, Spec Ops has you assume the role of a soldier known as Captain Walker. You are tasked with a recon mission into Dubai after a catastrophic sandstorm demolishes the city. What starts out as a fairly ordinary story of a squad searching for a surviving American Soldier known as Joseph Conrad amongst other things, turns into a horrifying exploration of humanity, morality and violence.
I know this all sounds like fluff, but I mean it when I say Spec Ops is more than anything a horror game: It delves deeply into the natures of morality in war, the relationship between player and character, the role and validity of a ‘hero’ in war and our desensitization to military violence in video games in ways that emulate the same psychological horrors found in the horror genre.
Specific scenes throughout the game made me realize just how unaffected we have become to violence in war, and made me feel physically sick at just how horrific war is. A particular scene had me put down the game for days, and made me feel personally guilty and responsible for an action I took during the game. If that’s not impactful, I don’t know what is.
Spec Ops is something you, your brother, your sister, your friends, even your dog if it can NEED to play. No video game story has ever been so relevant to the medium, and is especially relevant regarding the shooter loving crowd. If anything, buy this game for your friends and family just so you can watch their faces as they are taunted by the loading screens for being fans of the shooter genre. They may never pick up Call of Duty again, but I guarantee that they will love it.
At the very least; The ending will blow your mind 😉
Spec Ops: The Line
Price: £19.99 (On PC)
PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Playstation 3.
Where to buy: Steam, online retailers. (Game may be hard to find in stores)
Jordan Doyle: I like rambling about video games. 