Years later, did these games pass their best-before date?

[Triple A]

Blow’s a prick and I found The Witness to be massively pretentious even for a hyped up indie game.  Indie games are so tied to their creators in my head - I struggle to separate the art from the artist.  That said I may go back to try it again sometime, now the launch hype has died down.

 

I really really liked Fez even though Fish is a bit of a prick - that awful roasting of Japanese game devs that he and Blow did was nasty - though some of the puzzles were too, again, pretentious.

 

I’m a little meh on Hollow Knight and, shoot me, tend to view it as a bit of a SotN/Metroid derivative with worse graphics.  I appreciate that’s reductive, though I would rather put my time and money into more concept-driven indie games - Obra Dinn?  Telling Lies?  If found…?  

[Alan Stock]

Telling Lies is a good reminder that its preceding game, Her Story, is a fantastic detective game that due to its unique presentation should stand the test of time pretty well. Definitely play Her Story if you haven't already folks, its dirt cheap too!

[SMD]

If you're forgiving of presentation and trends then most games hold up pretty well regardless of when and how you play them. The ones that don't are either the ones that have horrendous mechanics, controls and/or design (like those shite platformers churned out for 8bit machines or early 3d games) or games that rely on whatever the prevailing fashion was at the time of release (a lot of AAA games and clones).

 

Weirdly enough I'm forgiving of most games but find it hard to play anything with wired controllers or need upscaling/setting up the CRT. I just want to play stuff wirelessly on my living room TV.

[Rayn]

14 hours ago, Darwock said:

FEZ

The Witness

Hollow Knight

 

 

These are all fantastic games but very different from eachother. I think they all "suffer" from needing an aquired taste to be fully enjoyed. 

FEZ was the first game I played since the 90s that had me sit down with a actual pen and actual paper while playing. I was writing down clues and made rough maps for each region I found tricky. 

 

The Witness haunted my mind and my dreams whenever I wasn't playing it and I was connecting virtual dots whenever I saw circular objects in the real world. As far as puzzle games go, this will remain a timeless classic and I would love to see a VR version of it. 

 

Hollow Knight is possibly the hardest of the three to get properly in to but once you're hooked you don't want to play anything else. It can be a frustrating game at times, especially if you have long pauses between sessions as getting lost in the labyrinthine corridors can make you wander aimlessly around for hours. 

[Cyhwuhx]

4 hours ago, Triple A said:

I’m a little meh on Hollow Knight and, shoot me, tend to view it as a bit of a SotN/Metroid derivative with worse graphics.  I appreciate that’s reductive, though I would rather put my time and money into more concept-driven indie games - Obra Dinn?  Telling Lies?  If found…?  

 

Totally get this, as this was how I approached it initially as well. "What's this for weird-ass Flash game attempting to do Metroid?" It's so much better though. And in the end the graphics do give it a bit of a timeless quality as the hand-drawn aspect is actully working in its favour.

 

Kind of surprised so many are down on this. Figuring it might have something to do with it looking cutesy and melancholy at the same time, but being rather difficult to start with. The first boss is very much a gatekeeper in that respect.

[metallicfrodo]

19 hours ago, Fletch said:

Never played The Witness is it on the xbox? 

 

Yes.

 

As has been said many times already in the thread it's an outstanding game.

[Dudley]

On 17/11/2021 at 22:02, robdood said:

Truly good games don't age. 

 

Only the bad ones expire. 

 

I'm not sure that's entirely true, especially games that rely on a measure of realism.

 

A simulation focused driving game for instance can age simply because subsequent ones tend to do it better.

[womblingfree]

Hollow Knight, Fez and The Witness could be released today or in ten years and would still be good.

 

I still play Mr Digger. Still great.