I’m trying my best to dive back into the past and play all the gems that I missed as a kid because I was either born too late or too much of a kid to consider playing them. I found myself really disappointed going back to the old mario nes/snes titles because they felt really bad to play as I’ve become accustomed to modern platformer design sensibilities (like coyote time and responsive movement).
Are there any oldies+goldies that have stood up to the test of time and not shown their age in the same way? Or are so good that they’re worth playing despite showing their age? Preferably avoiding racing, sports, and final fantasy-esque titles. Not really interested in anything more recent than PS2 era either.
I already have Earthbound in my sights as it isn’t one I’ve played before but it comes highly recommended.
Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age (PC, 1998/2000). (the second game is essentially just more of the first, but more refined)
Still the best stealth games to date if that’s your cup of tea, and holds up excellently.
Huh, I’ll see if they’re available anywhere. I’ve heard excellent things about the thief games but for some reason never taken them on.
The Thief games are all available on GOG, probably Steam, too, but I prefer GOG.
Do note that in your post you mentioned things that have aged well, and while I think it’s fine, they can feel a bit clunky, especially in comparison to some of the games heavily influenced by them (e.g. Dishonored, among others).
Edit: I’m mostly referring to direct melee combat here, and not the rest of the game. Truth is, you probably won’t find yourself using it much against humans, but the sword can feel a bit dated against some of the nonhuman creatures. And now that I think about it, Dishonored’s swordplay isn’t exactly super fluid either unless you’re countering and parrying.
You might want to add some mods just to touch some things up.
Also, while the second game is my favourite, don’t sleep on the third, especially if you like horror because one of the later levels is fucking incredible. I say all of this as someone who ordinarily hates supernatural-type horror.
And the third game also expands on the lore, which I like.
All of them are available on GOG and Steam.
Similar to Thief, the original Deus Ex is a great game which might also show its age a bit, but I think stands the test of time for the most part.
I’ll look into mods, thank you for the recommendation :)
I do love having GOG versions available.
I remember playing the original Deus Ex and I think my mum forced me to stop playing because it was too violent or some such nonsense (this being the same mother that had me playing Oddworld while I sat on her lap at the ripe old age of like 5. A game that routinely features people and monsters being blown/crushed/ground/shot/shredded/chewed to giblets). I may have to look this up again.
The main patch you’ll want is TFix/T2Fix, posted on TTLG Forums. I think it comes prepatched from GOG, on Steam you’ll have to patch it yourself.
@[email protected] what do you mean by very clunky? I don’t think they are at all. Except maybe the default control scheme which is pretty bad today, but you can rebind everything (or use my bind file, works for both games)
Maybe “very” was too strong a word, but I mainly meant the melee combat.
Although to be honest, other than the blackjack, people shouldn’t really be using melee much, so it’s not that much of a problem.
It’s mostly when the zombie dudes come into play that the sword combat can feel dated if you take them on directly.
Both excellent games, and better than Thief 3, Thief 2014, and Dishonored.
Edit: wrong year for the latest Thief game
I think you meant 2014, unless there’s something I missed from last year.
Yep, that’s the one. I misremembered the year. Maybe I got it in 2023, I dunno.
Huh, confusing last year for a decade ago is unusual
post-covid time experience is wild