STALKER. The A-Life AI system is something else, and the open-ended survival gameplay and atmosphere are really in a league of their own. Similarly, as a latter-day choice, INFRA. That's a Source engine total conversion that has a similar uncanny and immersive atmosphere where you are just blown away at the total package, map design, and the thought process that went into it. Those are easily the two most immersive games I've played.
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2023
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Unreal. The graphics and the large open levels were jaw dropping when I played it as a kid.
definitely!
Road Rash was the first game that made me love games then it was Need for Speed II I could replay those games for hours. nowadays the only game that gave me good replayability was Hades and live-service games like Valorant.
Probably Warcraft III
I did not grow up with a console. Pretty much just floppies with TLC games on them. My grandma introduced me to Sierra and Blizzard games, and they were exciting yeah but not mind blowing.
But then warcraft III (didn't play Starcraft much at this time, was young) introduced the concept of custom maps to me. Basically going from having one game to dozens. Tower Defenses, RPGs, genres that basically either didn't exist yet or don't exist anymore (rip Enfos...and RP maps seriously wth)
It pretty much shaped my childhood, friends, and all that stuff. Really sad that SCII never really became what Warcraft III was to me.
Gonna date myself a bit, but the Original Descent and MechWarrior 2. The seemless use of a z-axis in a shooter was for some reason mind blowing, and the combination of resource balancing and evaluating pros/cons for how to approach a mission was amazing. TIMBERWOLF is the real Og.
Doom truly blew my mind when it got released. Graphics were so good that it felt like black magic.
Either Mechwarrior 2 or Star Wars X-Wing, probably. Can't really remember that far back but I remember watching my dad play those on his computer, which probably got me into gaming from that moment.
Command & Conquer
Minicar racing. My brother and I used to play split screen multiplayer on the pc for hours. Having mostly only played 2d games before, the 3d aspect of it really blew my mind
The top-down one? Ooh that's a hit of nostalgia. I've been playing Reckless Racing 3 on Android recently which scratches a similar itch.
Yeah, Doom. Ran at like 10fps on my family's 386/16.
I’d have to say the original Half Life. First time I ever felt like I was actually part of the story.
Doom, no question. I was an Amiga owner at the time, and we were used to being the go-to platform for computer gaming. Then Doom came along and pretty much sent the Amiga scene on a quest for a "Doom clone" that it would never achieve.
Apple II GS - The City & The Dungeon
Wing Commander II! I couldn't believe the graphics. I remember a friend diving across the room shouting "it looks real!". It was like that ridiculous 90s kids PC gaming meme.
Earthsiege 2. It had branching mission structures based on previous successes or failures, great resource management mechanics, and a fun plot. I'd love to see a remake.
The first 3d(not top down) GTA game...the freedom to explore was epic
Wolfenstein 3D. It was an incredible leap from what I'd played before.
For me I'd say it was probably playing Carmageddon 2 at my friend's place. I think that was also the first time I played a 3D-accelerated game (Voodoo).
This is a good question; thank you for posting. For me it was probably the original Unreal and having a dedicated 3D graphics card for the first time to play it on. I of course had played its historical predecessors in Wolfenstein 3D and Doom and such, which also amazed me at the time. But Unreal felt like a magical leap forward.
Final Fantasy 8 for me. It was the first FF series I played and even after trying many others, still my favourite.
Squall was a moody douche but I still loved him.
Ultima Underworld for me. Coming from simple 2D NES games, a 3D world populated by NPCs you could hold conversations with and items that respond to rudimentary physics was mind-blowing.
It might have been the first far cry game or possibly doom 3, I forget what came first.
The first one that really got me and I just couldn't stop playing was Fables: The lost Chapters (the PC-Port of Fables 1)
Habbo hotel followed by Runescape. Habbo hotel was my first intro into PC games then Runescape consumed my life.
Oregon trail... xD
Return to Krondor will always have a soft spot in my heart.
Hmm, not sure... possibly something from my childhood. Star Control II (now available free/open source as The Ur-Quan Masters is one of my absolute favorites, but I first played it at 6-7 years old -- and English is not my native language, so I can't imagine I understood anything at all about the story at the time.
That or Half-Life is what I usually point to as my all-time favorite games. Half-Life was pretty mindblowing; me and my friends spent a ton with it, so I think it's the best answer for this thread.
Not to mention that we played Counter-Strike so much that even 23 years later, it's likely to be the game I've played the most, despite barely playing at all after my teens.
The very first Sim City. Before that? Pong. I'd never even seen or heard of a video game before that.