GAME RECOMMENDATIONS

This is a page listing my game recommendations, I made it for the 2023 Steam Summer Sale but I keep it around and update it occasionally. I thought this would be more organized than a discord message.

They're separated into odd categories just because, and I'll write descriptions and stuff to try and make this easy to skim to find something you might like. And so you can skip the shooter section if you aren't a shooter person.

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATIONS: games that hurt me

The Beginner's Guide

Writer and game developer Davey Wreden guides you through a series of interesting and abstract games and levels by an old friend of his named Coda.

It's about an hour and 20 minutes and takes no skill to play. You just take in the environments and listen and think. Wreden asks: What can we tell about a person based on their games?
Hypnospace Outlaw

This is the Y2K game. It's 1999, in an alternate history where we go on computers in our dreams. You're an enforcer on the biggest platform: Hypnospace.

It's an internet detective game. As a moderator, you're assigned cases and investigate rule-breakers online, reporting violations and stuff. Witness a hundred tiny stories all playing out, and one big one.
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus

Okay, you probably know what DDLC is already. And everything that happens. If you don't, oh my god hurry up play it before you get spoiled. But still...

This includes a lot of cute new content and also a lot of really interesting background story that recontextualizes the original DDLC completely. And it's also still DDLC.

It's not just the original game that made me put this in here. Plus' extra content is seriously good.

GAMES WHERE YOU SHOOT STUFF in vaguely decreasing order of how much I care about their stories

SUPERHOT series

Did you know SUPERHOT isn't a VR game? I am the only person who cares about SUPERHOT's story. The second SUPERHOT game is a VR game, but that's SUPERHOT VR, the minor spinoff and my least favorite of the 3.

Time only moves when you move. The world is white. The enemies are red. Weapons are black. Your fists are also weapons. It's the most innovative shooter I've played in years

I recommend just the original SUPERHOT and the sequel MIND CONTROL DELETE. Their stories are awesome and underappreciated. No embed here,
here's a link to the bundle of those games.
ULTRAKILL

It has really cool reinterpretations of Inferno in here. Heresy and Violence are my favorite layers. The music alone could carry this, yet every individual part of the experience mixes with better weight in any game I think I've ever played?

The gun combos are insane. The developer has taste. One of my most played games ever.
El Paso, Elsewhere

KILL YOUR VAMPIRE EX GIRLFRIEND SAVE THE WORLD EVERYTHING HURTS

Strange Scaffold made this and they're amazing. This is a slightly more arcade-y Max Payne about a relapsing addict and his abusive ex.
Valve Complete Pack

It has every Half-Life game. It has the Portal games. That alone is enough to make that low price tag insane... But you get EVERYTHING.

Once again, I can't make embeds of packs quickly, here's a link.
Black Mesa

This is a fan remake of Half-Life, made over the course of YEARS. Are you interested in Half-Life, but aren't happy playing slightly janky pre-2000s boomer shooters?

Well, suit yourself, I'm perfectly happy, but if you're that person then this game is a great substitute. Or play both eventually.
DUSK

From the same publisher as ULTRAKILL, New Blood Interactive, and the same developer as IRON LUNG, DUSK is if Quake took place in Pennsylvania.
PREY (2017)

Explore and fight through a massive space station after an alien outbreak claims a ton of lives. Figure out who to trust and what to believe.

If you're new to large-scale immersive sims like this, maybe play on an easier difficulty. This is a long one and it's so cool. It flopped on launch because the publisher forced them to name it after a totally unrelated 2006 first person shooter when they didn't want to. Now Microsoft killed the studio after forcing them to make Redfall when they didn't want to. It hurts.
The Modern DOOM games

The old ones are also good if you like old shooters but I'm specifically listing the modern ones here just because lazy. Also if you get the new ones, the old ones are just sitting there for free in the files.

There's the 2016 DOOM that started the reboot (but DOOM 1993, DOOM 2, and DOOM 64 are all canon and happened first, released in chronological order!), DOOM Eternal from 2020, and Eternal's DLC that released afterwards. It's not a story worth getting too invested into, and most of it's in encyclopedia pages that break up gameplay. But it's DOOM. Story isn't the priority, it goes hard. Two embeds here, but search for the DOOM franchise bundle if you also want the older games with these and save more money.

MISCELLANEOUS

Life Eater

Study people's daily routines and exploit their vulnerabilities and hide and kidnap them and sacrifice them and then be unable to talk about this game to people who haven't played it without sounding insane. One time I described a guy as Easy To Kidnap because this game was on my mind

Love a game with unconventional gameplay.
Teardown

You run a freelance demolition company. Times are hard, so you take some not super legal work.

Take money from rich people to go and break other rich people's stuff and steal their top secret information. It's high quality physics-based voxel destruction. Pretty challenging, too.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

I mentioned The Beginner's Guide earlier so here's the other game Wreden wrote that you probably already know about and/or have. By now you may have noticed that I'm not considering how likely that is for the people I'm sending this list to before sending this list to them.
Yakuza / Like a Dragon (series)

This is the only non-steam thing on this list. The first 6 games in this series will at times go for bit over 30 dollars on GOG.com which is insane. These games are at minimum 30 hours long each.
Here's a link to them, no embed here.

There's a collection on Steam with the same games and depending on the sale, it may be cheaper. During the 2024 GOG Summer sale, the series bundle was 50 dollars instead...
Not for Broadcast

A Live Action Full Motion Video comedy/political thriller where you manipulate the news. Feels like the limit for FMV.

Switch between cameras to keep the audience's attention on the right thing, censor profanity, pick what advertisements to play, and even more mechanics added on later.

The gameplay loop sometimes feels like a Five Nights at Freddy's game without the horror.
POPGOES Arcade

Hey, speaking of Five Nights at Freddy's, this one only has a LITTLE bit of horror! It's a 6 hour RPG. The mechanics really get interesting in the second half, the first half is simple fun. The base game and second half, the included Machinist expansion, both have some really cool secrets.

I don't usually like RPGs but I played this to completion.
Psychonauts

This one has really fun writing and puzzles. It has the feeling of something I would have watched on TV years ago. The sequel also rules and I've played it and am too lazy to put it into this webpage.
IMMORTALITY

A FMV game about watching old movie clips and understanding what those movies are about and also understanding what happened to the people involved in making them. This one's got nudity, fair warning.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Do cool weird ghost puzzles and find out how and why you died before you cease to be! I think this is the best job at remastering a game I've seen. This game is incredible, I can't believe this was on the DS. The best thing in the DS library, and one of the best things in my Steam library. Shu Takumi directed this after doing Ace Attorney, which is also on Steam and you should also get.
FAITH

It's published by New Blood Interactive again! This time it's a super retro horror game. The story is really fun, it plays simple but does a lot with it.
Scribblenauts Unlimited

I played so much of this whole series. Here's the one that's on Steam, which stands pretty well on its own.

VR GAMES (Steam only)

Vertigo Franchise Bundle

This is 2 games. Vertigo 2 is the greatest VR game of all time, and the first one, Vertigo Remastered, is pretty awesome too. They're mainly inspired by Half-Life but have stories that go way differently, aside from the hostile aliens in a research facility thing.

The developer has said he's interested in porting these to the PS5 for the PSVR2, but he's said Quest versions will never happen.
Here's a link to them, no embed here either. It may be cheaper to buy them on sale individually as this includes a ton of soundtracks, I haven't checked.
Amid Evil VR

One last New Blood Interactive game: This is a VR port of their Heretic/Hexen-like boomer shooter Amid Evil. You could just get that if you want but I'm specifically plugging the VR version here because it's the fastest of these VR shooters.

I don't really care for dark fantasy worlds but it's just a fun game.
BONEWORKS

This is also Half-Life inspired, but it leans super hard into the physics. It's about corporate espionage in a Virtual Reality operating system and MMO.

The story is interesting but holds itself back, the developers at Stress Level Zero might be allergic to storytelling that goes any deeper... But it's good to play and a VR classic. I recommend it over the sequel, BONELAB, because this one has an actual campaign. It plays great and the ending of the story really did get a good reaction out of me, but some people don't even notice the game HAS story.

GAME RECOMMENDATIONS

This is a page listing my game recommendations, I made it for the 2023 Steam Summer Sale but I keep it around and update it occasionally. I thought this would be more organized than a discord message.

They're separated into odd categories just because, and I'll write descriptions and stuff to try and make this easy to skim to find something you might like. And so you can skip the shooter section if you aren't a shooter person.

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATIONS: games that hurt me

The Beginner's Guide

Writer and game developer Davey Wreden guides you through a series of interesting and abstract games and levels by an old friend of his named Coda.

It's about an hour and 20 minutes and takes no skill to play. You just take in the environments and listen and think. Wreden asks: What can we tell about a person based on their games?

Hypnospace Outlaw

This is the Y2K game. It's 1999, in an alternate history where we go on computers in our dreams. You're an enforcer on the biggest platform: Hypnospace.

It's an internet detective game. As a moderator, you're assigned cases and investigate rule-breakers online, reporting violations and stuff. Witness a hundred tiny stories all playing out, and one big one.

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus

Okay, you probably know what DDLC is already. And everything that happens. If you don't, oh my god hurry up play it before you get spoiled. But still...

This includes a lot of cute new content and also a lot of really interesting background story that recontextualizes the original DDLC completely. And it's also still DDLC.

It's not just the original game that made me put this in here. Plus' extra content is seriously good.

GAMES WHERE YOU SHOOT STUFF in vaguely decreasing order of how much I care about their stories

SUPERHOT series

Did you know SUPERHOT isn't a VR game? I am the only person who cares about SUPERHOT's story. The second SUPERHOT game is a VR game, but that's SUPERHOT VR, the minor spinoff and my least favorite of the 3.

Time only moves when you move. The world is white. The enemies are red. Weapons are black. Your fists are also weapons. It's the most innovative shooter I've played in years

I recommend just the original SUPERHOT and the sequel MIND CONTROL DELETE. Their stories are awesome and underappreciated. No embed here, here's a link to the bundle of those games.

here's a link to the bundle of those games.

ULTRAKILL

It has really cool reinterpretations of Inferno in here. Heresy and Violence are my favorite layers. The music alone could carry this, yet every individual part of the experience mixes with better weight in any game I think I've ever played?

The gun combos are insane. The developer has taste. One of my most played games ever.

El Paso, Elsewhere

KILL YOUR VAMPIRE EX GIRLFRIEND SAVE THE WORLD EVERYTHING HURTS

Strange Scaffold made this and they're amazing. This is a slightly more arcade-y Max Payne about a relapsing addict and his abusive ex.

Valve Complete Pack

It has every Half-Life game. It has the Portal games. That alone is enough to make that low price tag insane... But you get EVERYTHING.

Once again, I can't make embeds of packs quickly, here's a link.

Black Mesa

This is a fan remake of Half-Life, made over the course of YEARS. Are you interested in Half-Life, but aren't happy playing slightly janky pre-2000s boomer shooters?

Well, suit yourself, I'm perfectly happy, but if you're that person then this game is a great substitute. Or play both eventually.

DUSK

From the same publisher as ULTRAKILL, New Blood Interactive, and the same developer as IRON LUNG, DUSK is if Quake took place in Pennsylvania.

PREY (2017)

Explore and fight through a massive space station after an alien outbreak claims a ton of lives. Figure out who to trust and what to believe.

The Modern DOOM games

The old ones are also good if you like old shooters but I'm specifically listing the modern ones here just because lazy. Also if you get the new ones, the old ones are just sitting there for free in the files.

MISCELLANEOUS

Life Eater

Study people's daily routines and exploit their vulnerabilities and hide and kidnap them and sacrifice them and then be unable to talk about this game to people who haven't played it without sounding insane. One time I described a guy as Easy To Kidnap because this game was on my mind

Love a game with unconventional gameplay.

Teardown

You run a freelance demolition company. Times are hard, so you take some not super legal work.

Take money from rich people to go and break other rich people's stuff and steal their top secret information. It's high quality physics-based voxel destruction. Pretty challenging, too.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

I mentioned The Beginner's Guide earlier so here's the other game Wreden wrote that you probably already know about and/or have. By now you may have noticed that I'm not considering how likely that is for the people I'm sending this list to before sending this list to them.

Yakuza / Like a Dragon (series)

This is the only non-steam thing on this list. The first 6 games in this series will at times go for bit over 30 dollars on GOG.com which is insane. These games are at minimum 30 hours long each.

Here's a link to them, no embed here.

There's a collection on Steam with the same games and depending on the sale, it may be cheaper. During the 2024 GOG Summer sale, the series bundle was 50 dollars instead...

Not for Broadcast

A Live Action Full Motion Video comedy/political thriller where you manipulate the news. Feels like the limit for FMV.

Switch between cameras to keep the audience's attention on the right thing, censor profanity, pick what advertisements to play, and even more mechanics added on later.

The gameplay loop sometimes feels like a Five Nights at Freddy's game without the horror.

POPGOES Arcade

Hey, speaking of Five Nights at Freddy's, this one only has a LITTLE bit of horror! It's a 6 hour RPG. The mechanics really get interesting in the second half, the first half is simple fun. The base game and second half, the included Machinist expansion, both have some really cool secrets.

I don't usually like RPGs but I played this to completion.

Psychonauts

This one has really fun writing and puzzles. It has the feeling of something I would have watched on TV years ago. The sequel also rules and I've played it and am too lazy to put it into this webpage.

IMMORTALITY

A FMV game about watching old movie clips and understanding what those movies are about and also understanding what happened to the people involved in making them. This one's got nudity, fair warning.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

FAITH

It's published by New Blood Interactive again! This time it's a super retro horror game. The story is really fun, it plays simple but does a lot with it.

Scribblenauts Unlimited

I played so much of this whole series. Here's the one that's on Steam, which stands pretty well on its own.

VR GAMES (Steam only)

Vertigo Franchise Bundle

This is 2 games. Vertigo 2 is the greatest VR game of all time, and the first one, Vertigo Remastered, is pretty awesome too. They're mainly inspired by Half-Life but have stories that go way differently, aside from the hostile aliens in a research facility thing.

The developer has said he's interested in porting these to the PS5 for the PSVR2, but he's said Quest versions will never happen.

Here's a link to them, no embed here either. It may be cheaper to buy them on sale individually as this includes a ton of soundtracks, I haven't checked.

Amid Evil VR

One last New Blood Interactive game: This is a VR port of their Heretic/Hexen-like boomer shooter Amid Evil. You could just get that if you want but I'm specifically plugging the VR version here because it's the fastest of these VR shooters.

I don't really care for dark fantasy worlds but it's just a fun game.

BONEWORKS

This is also Half-Life inspired, but it leans super hard into the physics. It's about corporate espionage in a Virtual Reality operating system and MMO.

I recommend just the original SUPERHOT and the sequel MIND CONTROL DELETE. Their stories are awesome and underappreciated. No embed here,
here's a link to the bundle of those games.