This post was initially a blog post from 2023 that I've now split into multiple sub-posts, following digital gardening practices.
Overview
I was recently looking through my library and was surprised how many years had passed since some of my favorite games were released. Many people are always focused on new titles — which makes sense, as fresh technology and ideas will deliver new experiences, building off of the learned techniques of the past — but I wanted to highlight some slightly older games that were prime at their release and might be worth revisiting.
This list will include some of my favorite titles, by year, mostly as a personal artifact of my experience, but also a log of how the industry has changed. Worth calling out that I’m listing these games based on the year I played them, not when they were actually released.
I think it’s also worth mentioning I see these as noteworthy games, not necessarily the best games; most titles are doing something new in the genre / space, even if execution isn’t perfect.
To me, it makes sense “spiritually” for this to be released (and updated) at the turn of the year, so I’m listing that as the release date. Without further ado, here are the games:
- 2014: The Stanley Parable
- 2015: Fez
- 2016: Undertale
- 2017: The Witness
- 2018: Doki Doki Literature Club
- 2019: Return of the Obra Dinn
- 2020: Disco Elysium
- 2021: Inscryption
- 2022: Neon White
- 2023: Baldur’s Gate 3
- 2024: Balatro
My Reflection
This post took a while to write — more than I expected (I initially started it as a warm up for my Neon White review, though that might take even longer). It was satisfying to take a look at some old favorites and give a quick shoutout, despite the effort.
Plus, now that this list exists, I can update it with a much more manageable game-per-year. Who knows what 2023 will bring? Currently, I’ve got my eye on Pikmin 4, Jonathan Blow’s Sokoban-inspired game (if it ever comes out) and Tunic (which I haven’t played yet, so it still counts).