Which games will make the cut and ascend to the realms of the PC gaming elite?
Here are the rules, in case you’re in need of a reminder.
We’re also going by PC release dates here, not when they first came out more generally.
I’m currently about 750 hours deep.
That’s only a steady 100 hours a year since the game launched, though.
I’m sure I don’t have a problem.
The wonderful thing aboutThe Simsis that it can be approached from so many different angles.
Is it an architect simulator?
A character modelling studio?
A soap opera storytelling machine?
A time- and resource-management challenge?
I sometimes think no two Sims players are actually playing the same game.
The metaverse could never.
That counts for a lot when deciding what to encase in lucite for future generations to enjoy.
And I have not, nor will probably ever finishAlien: Isolation, because it is terrifying.
But I think Isolation needs to be preserved for a couple of reasons.
Secondly, Alien: Isolation is agreat horror gamebecause it is, just, a masterpiece in set design.
The developers keep you scared all the time without even having to try!
Excellent ratio of terror:action.
Good work, those people.
2:22am
Alice0:2:22am is a most terrible time capsule of my 2014.
The game is a mix of interactive scenes, blown-out video footage, and poetic title cards.
Wander around city streets.
Watch the city go by.
Leap through a meadow, trailing stars.
Rocket through the stars, burning.
Stare at cherry blossoms.
Stare out your window at that grave.
Be buried alive in that grave.
Watch the sun set over the ocean.
Climb an endless ladder into the sky.
I wince every time that knife raises for the final time.
2:22am picks different scenes on repeat playthroughs too, or sometimes offer a surreal version of a mundane scene.
2:22am captures the feeling of dreams and dreaming more than any other game I’ve played.
I did not enjoy 2014. kindly, video game, get into this time capsule to perfectly preserve this terrible feeling for posterity.
“Play alone,” the instructions say.
“Play at night.”
The best, for my money.
And if we cant bring it back, we should at least preserve it as it was.
For me,The Roomremains the pinnacle of the growing Room series.
In it, you’re tasked with opening a single, cast-iron safe.
It looks simple enough, but this intriguing machine is like a ticking, cog-powered onion.
Blazkowicz is awoken in the middle of the night by Tekla, a statistics-obsessed member of the resistance.
Shes been watching you sleep and is concerned about what happens when someone drifts off.
When you lose consciousness, do you lose yourself?
Every night, when we fall asleep, do we die?
Blazkowicz listens patiently, before nodding and delivering a simple yet poignant response:What about the soul?
The original FPS protagonist.
Machine Games knew what players would expect from such a generic player character and played with those expectations beautifully.
What a delight to see kindness behind his eyes.
To hear pain in his voice (thanks to a terrific performance by Brian Bloom).
To see him fall in love gently and naturally over the course of the games campaign.
An AAA FPS character falling in love!
In 2014, no less!
Thats what The New Order brought to the table.
Forget great shooting, exceptional set pieces and a lengthy campaign.
Machine Games gave Wolfenstein asouland created something worthy of preservation in the process.
Supergiant Games have delivered nothing but masterpieces, butTransistorwill forever hold a special place in my heart.
I don’t want to say any more than that.
just, just, discover this game for yourself.
The combat is wonderfully creative.
The world is alive like no other game-world I’ve ever seen.
The characters and story are wonderful, and heartbreaking, and ingenious.
The music is just…
There are no words.
This game is a concentrated explosion of creativity, emotion, and beauty.
Dark Souls II
Ed:How controversial of me!
To pickDark Souls…The Second One?!
Yeah, you’re damn right.
The game is a vast scattershot of poison swamps, castles, haunted woods, and shrines.
You aren’t ascending or descending but pinging between bonfires in distant or bizarre lands.
He broke the curse, managing to exist outside of light and dark!
What the heck are you on about Ed?
Essentially, he’s a figure of what I’d consider, anyway importance with cracking dialogue.
His narration of Dark Souls II’salternate endingstill gives me goosebumps.
It’s a flawed journey of fantastic scope, and you’re able to’t knock its ambition.
You could even go so far as to say it bears great resemblance toElden Ringin its structure.
Hed just unboxed a new gaming PC, of which I was incredibly jealous.
Nidhoggs greatest strength, though, is that the controls are just as easy to understand.
