Games that aged well

[Book Thief]

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Virtua Racing is incredible, if you own a Switch you’re missing out if you haven’t picked it up from the eShop. But every version is fun &playable, even the 32X/Genesis ports play reasonably well. The menu music of the 32X port in particular is excellent and some of the best sound anyone ever produced on that console.

Personally, I'm more partial towards the Replay theme on the 32X version. I could listen to that shit for hours.

 

[Jerri's Kid]

Star Control 2 (The Ur Quan Masters) seems to have aged well. I never played it when it was new and I thought I'd have to read a Bible-sized PDF instruction manual like you did with a lot of older games, but it's pretty straightforward and fun. The free version with the 3DO voice acting keeps it fresh.

 

[Product Placement]

NieR for the PS3/360 is a weird one, it looked dated when it came out however over the years it has aged better than most of the graphically cutting edge titles of the time.

 

[Liquid Marlon]

I was re-playing Half Life earlier this year. Still a great game.

I know this post is old as fuck but I wanted to give my retarded two cents on this.

Always been into the Valve's games mainly Left 4 Dead and Tf2, never fully played those games but I become really interested in the world building.

Ironically the two games I never checked out fully were Half Life and Portal, HL being cuz of the episode 3 shit show and Portal just cuz because I'm not that big of a fan of its ecstatic.

But a few years ago I got the game on steam and it's expansion as well, I ended up liking the game way more then I originally thought I would.

The gameplay is pretty solid, plus it's enemy ai is still surprisingly good for the most part (cough cough guards/scientists) but with those guys I think the voice acting helps them be not completely annoying useless meat bags.

Just like Valve's other games the world building is pretty great, the concept of Xen and all it's aliens are very well made.

The expansions are pretty good as well, I think Blue shift is just a neat little extra adventure that should be played before Opposing Force cuz OF is the shit but if I was going to talk about it then I would be here for forever.

Side note: I personally think it's canon even if all the Reddit retards yell that it isn't, everything in that game has actual explanation for why it doesn't show up again and nothing goes against the pre-established lore/story.

I still haven't played Half life 2 nor Half Life: Alyx, again cuz of the whole episode 3 there, that and my computer is pretty shit but I personally don't find it as compelling as the first game's world but that doesn't mean they doesn't have interesting concepts and ideas.

Just think Half life is the superior game compared to what I've seen of Half Life 2, that and I don't really like the Combine all that much.

No idea how good Black Mesa I heard it changed a shit ton of the original games levels and has completely new voice acting so I'm kind of hesitant.

 

[MaxPayne]

Honestly, I never minded the voice acting in 2, Angela is an example I remember being brought up in terms of bad voice acting, but considering how she is and what happened to her, I thought her voice was actually kinda fitting.

I've always thought the aloof and almost "out of it" way the characters were acting actually contributed to the games feel. Every character acts as if they're in a dream, and in a state of confusion as to why they came to the town. Given that everyone's experiencing their own personalized hell it makes sense.

It could just be a convenient excuse for bad voice acting, but I still think the original voices are far more fitting than the new voice actors.

 

[Overcast]

I've always thought the aloof and almost "out of it" way the characters were acting actually contributed to the games feel. Every character acts as if they're in a dream, and in a state of confusion as to why they came to the town. Given that everyone's experiencing their own personalized hell it makes sense.

It could just be a convenient excuse for bad voice acting, but I still think the original voices are far more fitting than the new voice actors.

God right?

Would much rather hear original voice actors than fucking Troy Baker or Laura Bailey for the thousandth time. At some point, it kinda becomes hard to get invested into certain games or shows because it feels like they're everywhere now.

 

[OfficerBagget]

The greatest beat em up ever, that barely anyone every played. Now I love beat em ups, one of my favorites is Rockstars "The Warriors".

But this game for me beats The Warriors, its just more fun and the combat was fluid and filled with lots of Combos. Some of the characters had moves straight out of Tekken, 2 of the characters were straight out of Tekken.

Game is

I suggest looking for an emulator to play this gem. For some reason every physical copy I've owned of this game was fucked and I was only able to beat it through an emulator.

 

[Dom Cruise]

Graphics wise probably Wind Waker and I don't even mean the HD version, last time I played it was the GameCube original on a CRT and it's still a gorgeous game and it's almost 20 fucking years old now.

It breaks my heart Nintendo only used that style once for a console entry (though it was clearly an influence on BOTW's style)

Side note: I personally think it's canon even if all the Reddit retards yell that it isn't, everything in that game has actual explanation for why it doesn't show up again and nothing goes against the pre-established lore/story.

I see no reason to assume Opposing Force isn't canon.

 

[Mimic]

ActRaiser on SNES. Solid action game with a simple but fun city builder tacked on. Fantastic soundtrack too.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

View attachment 1922771
Just about everything but the graphics has aged well.

And admittedly, the graphics were pretty underwhelming even back when it came out. The gameplay/controls has some jank to it, you can tell some aspects would later on be smoothed out by other games, but there is nothing in this game that prevents you from enjoying it gameplaywise even today.

That being said, it's almost scary how relevant it has become politically. It came out shortly before the 911 attacks, so even back then, aspects of the surveillance state, terrorism and so on were very relevant, nowadays with all the shit that's been going on, it has become even more so. I replayed it last year during the early stages of the Coof, so that makes for an eerie connection with modern times as well.

But what blew me away is the love to detail and the worldbuilding in the game. There are only a few things that I'd improve (and that is mostly cosmetic stuff), Deus Ex is a masterpiece in every meaning of the word and the awkwards graphics aside, it's still great fun.

Now, Deus Ex 2. Oh boy. For over a decade, I didn't play it, cause I disliked it upon release so much, I gave up halfway through. I often heard that it's a solid game if you consider it independently of DE, so I gave it a shot and played it back to back after finishing DE, but tried to keep an open mind.
It's infinitely worse in every way than I remembered. It's bad when you look at it in its own right, but comparing it to DE, it is worthless trash and everything about it is terrible. I really tried to give it a chance, but at no point did I even get close to caring about anything that was going on. At best, I was just looking for the next major letdown of the game.

The ammo system is terrible, the plot structure is terrible, the design is terrible, the layout of the levels is terrible, the game mechanics are terrible and the game is overall just really dumb.

But the weirdest thing to me is how everything about DE2 aged so much worse than DE itself. While DE has somewhat basic graphics, they are perfectly servicable today and I think they made really smart design choices to get the most out of the UT engine, which makes DE look aged, but not in a bad way. DE2 straight up jumps into uncanny valley territory with their character models, the female MC model doesn't even have animated eyes, she looks like a blowup doll. I don't get that at all, when you choose her, she's one of the character models that you will see so often during conversations, yet it looks so bad.
DE has a lackluster physics engine (no ragdolling, objects always stay upright), but DE2 makes everything feel floaty and every object or character seems to be made of styrofoam. You will mildly bump into a fridge-sized supercomputer and it will merrily bounce down the hallway like it had no weight at all.

 

[Stalphos Johnson]

And admittedly, the graphics were pretty underwhelming even back when it came out. The gameplay/controls has some jank to it, you can tell some aspects would later on be smoothed out by other games, but there is nothing in this game that prevents you from enjoying it gameplaywise even today.

That being said, it's almost scary how relevant it has become politically. It came out shortly before the 911 attacks, so even back then, aspects of the surveillance state, terrorism and so on were very relevant, nowadays with all the shit that's been going on, it has become even more so. I replayed it last year during the early stages of the Coof, so that makes for an eerie connection with modern times as well.

But what blew me away is the love to detail and the worldbuilding in the game. There are only a few things that I'd improve (and that is mostly cosmetic stuff), Deus Ex is a masterpiece in every meaning of the word and the awkwards graphics aside, it's still great fun.

Now, Deus Ex 2. Oh boy. For over a decade, I didn't play it, cause I disliked it upon release so much, I gave up halfway through. I often heard that it's a solid game if you consider it independently of DE, so I gave it a shot and played it back to back after finishing DE, but tried to keep an open mind.
It's infinitely worse in every way than I remembered. It's bad when you look at it in its own right, but comparing it to DE, it is worthless trash and everything about it is terrible. I really tried to give it a chance, but at no point did I even get close to caring about anything that was going on. At best, I was just looking for the next major letdown of the game.

The ammo system is terrible, the plot structure is terrible, the design is terrible, the layout of the levels is terrible, the game mechanics are terrible and the game is overall just really dumb.

But the weirdest thing to me is how everything about DE2 aged so much worse than DE itself. While DE has somewhat basic graphics, they are perfectly servicable today and I think they made really smart design choices to get the most out of the UT engine, which makes DE look aged, but not in a bad way. DE2 straight up jumps into uncanny valley territory with their character models, the female MC model doesn't even have animated eyes, she looks like a blowup doll. I don't get that at all, when you choose her, she's one of the character models that you will see so often during conversations, yet it looks so bad.
DE has a lackluster physics engine (no ragdolling, objects always stay upright), but DE2 makes everything feel floaty and every object or character seems to be made of styrofoam. You will mildly bump into a fridge-sized supercomputer and it will merrily bounce down the hallway like it had no weight at all.

Most of the graphics issues with Deus Ex can be fixed easily with mods, like the HD texture pack, but everything else about the game is still amazing. I just finished another playthrough after seeing the intro and seeing how close it was today, and it does kind of scare me. I guess the "conspiracy theorists" were far more correct than I would have liked. You can't forget the soundtrack, absolutely amazing, even today.

I'm still surprised more modern action RPGs haven't taken more mechanics from it, like the inventory system or aiming system, but I still need to do a Revision or GMDX playthrough, so I can scratch that itch.

Deus Ex 2 was really consolized, if that's a word, and you can view most of the problems because of that. The thing I miss the most from DX is the wide-open levels. It had a way of making the original feel really alive and like a real world. Wandering around Hell's kitchen the first time was great, and had a feel that a lot of modern open world games are missing today. Shame that the devs of Human Revolution and Mankind Divided took some of the wrong lessons from the DX2, at least with writing, or I would have enjoyed those games a lot more. Ross from Accursed Farms did a good job going over the problems with those games if you're interested:

Spoiler: Videos

 

[Mr. Popo chan]

I think anyone who thinks Ocarina of Time or pretty much any 3d N64 game has held up is viewing through nostalgia glasses.

That era of 3d games (n64 and PS1 especially) aged horribly. 10 polygon count characters, poor cameras, iffy controls.
Yes there are a few that are better than others in that group (Mario 64, OoT, )but even they are still frustrating and annoying in many parts due to these issues.
Sprite based snes and the like games aged so much better. People still make in that style that are in some cases almost direct copies of games from that time.
Link to the Past Held up way better than OoT.
Don't see many people making games with the poor 3d models, controls and camera from early 3d games, at least not intentionally.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Deus Ex 2 was really consolized, if that's a word, and you can view most of the problems because of that. The thing I miss the most from DX is the wide-open levels. It had a way of making the original feel really alive and like a real world. Wandering around Hell's kitchen the first time was great, and had a feel that a lot of modern open world games are missing today.

Absolutely.
And DE2 really doesn't feel like an open world game. When there's an alternate route into a building or room through an airduct, that airduct is almost always right next to the regular entrance. DE allowed you to pretty much explore an entire building through the airducts, in DE2, they are really short and awkwardly placed. Worse still, the entire Seattle-hub feels smaller than the UNATCO HQ in DE1. It doesn't hold a candle to Hells Kitchen, let alone the amazing hub that is Hong Kong.

One of my favorite silly moments right at the beginning of DE2, that highlights the terrible design, has to be the locked route to some elevator due to a chemical spill. The cops don't want civilians to enter that area, since they might get hurt by the poisonous fumes, so what do they do? They send out 2 patrolling drones with fucking machineguns, that shoot you on sight. And of course, they are conveniently evaded by crawling into an airduct that is literally next to the entrance door to the closed off area. The fucking chem-spill has a tighter security than the MJ12 base in DE
Then there's the cops with armed flying drones literally standing within earshot of gangbang muggers that accost you the moment you approach them.

DE's world was a very believable, breathing environment and exploring it was a lot of fun. I went out of my way to speak with everyone, read all newspapers, news-bulletins, books and datapads, that I could find. I also hacked into every computer and read every E-Mail. When I say DE had perfect worldbuilding, I mean it without the slightest hint of exageration.

Meanwhile, DE2 had worse atmosphere and it felt way too video-gamey.

I enjoyed DEHR a lot, it wasn't perfect, but it had its heart in the right place. I was insanely hostile before it came out. I thought it was a shitty cashgrab that will be a letdown like IW, but then the demo got leaked (intentionally, it seems), watched someone stream it. Downloaded it myself and played it... and I loved it. Again: Not perfect, but for me, it deserves the name Deus Ex.
Ironically, I think DEHR aged about as badly as IW. DEHR looked pretty neat when I first played it, now a lot of it looks kinda awkward, especially when it comes to character models.
Never played Mankind Divided (though I bought it during a sale), wonder how that'll fare.

 

[Stalphos Johnson]

Absolutely.
And DE2 really doesn't feel like an open world game. When there's an alternate route into a building or room through an airduct, that airduct is almost always right next to the regular entrance. DE allowed you to pretty much explore an entire building through the airducts, in DE2, they are really short and awkwardly placed. Worse still, the entire Seattle-hub feels smaller than the UNATCO HQ in DE1. It doesn't hold a candle to Hells Kitchen, let alone the amazing hub that is Hong Kong.

One of my favorite silly moments right at the beginning of DE2, that highlights the terrible design, has to be the locked route to some elevator due to a chemical spill. The cops don't want civilians to enter that area, since they might get hurt by the poisonous fumes, so what do they do? They send out 2 patrolling drones with fucking machineguns, that shoot you on sight. And of course, they are conveniently evaded by crawling into an airduct that is literally next to the entrance door to the closed off area. The fucking chem-spill has a tighter security than the MJ12 base in DE
Then there's the cops with armed flying drones literally standing within earshot of gangbang muggers that accost you the moment you approach them.

DE's world was a very believable, breathing environment and exploring it was a lot of fun. I went out of my way to speak with everyone, read all newspapers, news-bulletins, books and datapads, that I could find. I also hacked into every computer and read every E-Mail. When I say DE had perfect worldbuilding, I mean it without the slightest hint of exageration.

Meanwhile, DE2 had worse atmosphere and it felt way too video-gamey.

I enjoyed DEHR a lot, it wasn't perfect, but it had its heart in the right place. I was insanely hostile before it came out. I thought it was a shitty cashgrab that will be a letdown like IW, but then the demo got leaked (intentionally, it seems), watched someone stream it. Downloaded it myself and played it... and I loved it. Again: Not perfect, but for me, it deserves the name Deus Ex.
Ironically, I think DEHR aged about as badly as IW. DEHR looked pretty neat when I first played it, now a lot of it looks kinda awkward, especially when it comes to character models.
Never played Mankind Divided (though I bought it during a sale), wonder how that'll fare.

The level design was a much better in the original. I loved how the keypad, multitool, lockpicking, and door strength system all worked together. You could find the code by hacking into computers, finding datapads or the key, or talking to NPCs, you could bypass the keypad or pick the lock, by spending multitools and lockpicks, or spend a LAM or GEP rocket to blow open the door at the expense of stealth. Or you could just break a window and stack crates to get in, or find a vent on the other side of the building, or open the door from a security terminal. I really haven't found a modern game with this level design and something I wish more games would have.

The worldbuilding was another amazing part of the original, and it absolutely was a reward for exploring the world. Everett's house could be completed in maybe 5 minutes if you didn't do any exploration, but then you would miss conversations with Alex, DeBeers, and Morpheus who would foreshadow the Helios ending. Your conversation with Everett would change depending on what you would do with DeBeer, and the mechanic. So much packed into such a small area. Paris had a lot of this, where you could find public terminals showing how the media changed the first mission from you saving UNATCO on Liberty island, to you being the one that led the attack, a family concerned about their son joining Majestic 12, a drug lab based in a bakery, Icarus calling you out for robbing other people's hotel rooms, news about martial law being declared in the US, etc. It was probably a space limitation and funding limitation to make so much of the worldbuilding text you had to go out of your way to find, compared to having voiced characters just spell it out for you, but the game turned out much better because of it. A great example of adversity producing great art.

DXHR was solid in gameplay, adding unarmed takedowns was a good addition that I would have loved in the original. The main problems for me was the writing, especially for the minor characters or NPCs you would find wandering around, and the art style. The writing certainly had its moments, I liked the plot with the firmware and biochip upgrade, espcially with software as a service and the internet of things becoming much bigger since 2011. The art style was way too yellow (I get it's a Gilded age metaphor, but that is way too on the nose) and seemed to be too far of a departure from the modern but not-too-far advanced art style of the original.

DXMD I haven't played, but I heard it went heavily into the augs are oppressed and BLM parallels and handled it as well as you would expect a bunch of game devs living in Montreal would handle this. I also heard it was shorter and smaller in terms of both level size and length, so I decided to skip it. I'm probably not missing much.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

The worldbuilding was another amazing part of the original, and it absolutely was a reward for exploring the world. Everett's house could be completed in maybe 5 minutes if you didn't do any exploration, but then you would miss conversations with Alex, DeBeers, and Morpheus who would foreshadow the Helios ending. Your conversation with Everett would change depending on what you would do with DeBeer, and the mechanic. So much packed into such a small area. Paris had a lot of this, where you could find public terminals showing how the media changed the first mission from you saving UNATCO on Liberty island, to you being the one that led the attack, a family concerned about their son joining Majestic 12, a drug lab based in a bakery, Icarus calling you out for robbing other people's hotel rooms, news about martial law being declared in the US, etc. It was probably a space limitation and funding limitation to make so much of the worldbuilding text you had to go out of your way to find, compared to having voiced characters just spell it out for you, but the game turned out much better because of it. A great example of adversity producing great art.

I think the smart use of their limited resources is what made the game age so well. The graphics weren't spectacular, but they made them look nice and did a few smart things (like actually animating the mouths), that helped make the game look nicer, even when you're used to modern graphics.
In terms of worldbuilding, you can just breeze through and get a basic but fun plot about conspiracies and terrorism, when you take your time, you get so much more to flesh out everything. I think the way how the game puts a lot of the developements into the background is also in favor of the game/atmosphere. The threat of FEMA taking over the USA is something that looms in the background and slowly becomes worse and worse. By being exposed to that via sporadic news outlets, you can really tell how the average citizen would experience it.

One of the unintentional and purely coincidental aspects of DE's overlap with reality has to be the thing they did with the skybox in NY. They couldn't use a full image of Manhattan for that skybox, so they had to mirror half an image of Manhattan and they decided to mirror the part without the WTC, cause it would look weird to have two of those buildings. Fast forward like 3 months after release and it turns into a very eerie, outright prophetic, choice.

DXHR was solid in gameplay, adding unarmed takedowns was a good addition that I would have loved in the original. The main problems for me was the writing, especially for the minor characters or NPCs you would find wandering around, and the art style. The writing certainly had its moments, I liked the plot with the firmware and biochip upgrade, espcially with software as a service and the internet of things becoming much bigger since 2011. The art style was way too yellow (I get it's a Gilded age metaphor, but that is way too on the nose) and seemed to be too far of a departure from the modern but not-too-far advanced art style of the original.

Yeah the piss-filter, as it was lovingly dubbed, is a bit too harsh, I think the game later allowed to switch it off? It was a bold artistic choice and I never minded it too much, but I can see why people disliked it. But to the game's credit: They were at least inspired when it came to the visuals of the game, and that whole renaissance shtick might not be very "Deus Ex", but it at least had a lot of flavor.

DEHR looked more modern than DE, that's true. It's a bit unfortunate, but much like the piss-filter, I could live with that. Much had changed in terms of technology/ideas about the future in the 11 years between DE and DEHR, so I can see what the motivation was. I was a lot more lenient with DEHR than with IW I guess, but IW pissed me off with many designs alone. Everything looked way too futuristic, with floating robot drones and shit like that, and the overall feel was nothing like in DE. In DE everything looked functional and industrial, in DE:IW, everything looked like it was inspired by an iPod, but nothing looked functional.
DEHR wasn't as far removed from the feel of the world of DE as IW I would say.

The IW cleanbot looks like out of the Jetsons, the IW Security Bot looks like a Cylon. And in both cases, their DE equivalent just looks much more believable and better.

DEHR departed a lot from DE's look, but I can still believe it takes place in the same world.

 

[Ken Barlow]

Canis Canem Edit or Bully.

Took me back to my school days.

Kissing bitches for extra health, free sugar water, wedgying nerds for a bronze trophy and booting the fuck out of greasy motorbike faggots just because it be fun.

• Bully aged terribly and it is Dragon Quest 8 for the win.

 

[Stalphos Johnson]

I think the smart use of their limited resources is what made the game age so well. The graphics weren't spectacular, but they made them look nice and did a few smart things (like actually animating the mouths), that helped make the game look nicer, even when you're used to modern graphics.
In terms of worldbuilding, you can just breeze through and get a basic but fun plot about conspiracies and terrorism, when you take your time, you get so much more to flesh out everything. I think the way how the game puts a lot of the developements into the background is also in favor of the game/atmosphere. The threat of FEMA taking over the USA is something that looms in the background and slowly becomes worse and worse. By being exposed to that via sporadic news outlets, you can really tell how the average citizen would experience it.

One of the unintentional and purely coincidental aspects of DE's overlap with reality has to be the thing they did with the skybox in NY. They couldn't use a full image of Manhattan for that skybox, so they had to mirror half an image of Manhattan and they decided to mirror the part without the WTC, cause it would look weird to have two of those buildings. Fast forward like 3 months after release and it turns into a very eerie, outright prophetic, choice.


Yeah the piss-filter, as it was lovingly dubbed, is a bit too harsh, I think the game later allowed to switch it off? It was a bold artistic choice and I never minded it too much, but I can see why people disliked it. But to the game's credit: They were at least inspired when it came to the visuals of the game, and that whole renaissance shtick might not be very "Deus Ex", but it at least had a lot of flavor.

DEHR looked more modern than DE, that's true. It's a bit unfortunate, but much like the piss-filter, I could live with that. Much had changed in terms of technology/ideas about the future in the 11 years between DE and DEHR, so I can see what the motivation was. I was a lot more lenient with DEHR than with IW I guess, but IW pissed me off with many designs alone. Everything looked way too futuristic, with floating robot drones and shit like that, and the overall feel was nothing like in DE. In DE everything looked functional and industrial, in DE:IW, everything looked like it was inspired by an iPod, but nothing looked functional.
DEHR wasn't as far removed from the feel of the world of DE as IW I would say.

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The IW cleanbot looks like out of the Jetsons, the IW Security Bot looks like a Cylon. And in both cases, their DE equivalent just looks much more believable and better.

DEHR departed a lot from DE's look, but I can still believe it takes place in the same world.

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Yeah, DXIW designs did depart from the original's, but I don't really agree that it was worse than DXHR. I think DXHR took some more design cues from IW than the original. IW was more of a let down for me than rage inducing. That was probably because I played both the original and IW years after they came out, so I was aware of IW's problems going in.

I think the problem with discussing the DX sequels is that the original was such a great game, it overshadows them. Any sequel or prequel was always going to disappoint some people for different reasons because it would be very difficult to replicate the conditions that made the original great in the first place.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

surprisingly when i think about it, de blob 1/2 have held up decently for old games.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

ActRaiser on SNES. Solid action game with a simple but fun city builder tacked on. Fantastic soundtrack too.

Soulblazer holds up as well today as it did then, meaning that it is still a bit tedius and can be obtuse in two or three places.

One of my favorite silly moments right at the beginning of DE2, that highlights the terrible design, has to be the locked route to some elevator due to a chemical spill. The cops don't want civilians to enter that area, since they might get hurt by the poisonous fumes, so what do they do? They send out 2 patrolling drones with fucking machineguns, that shoot you on sight. And of course, they are conveniently evaded by crawling into an airduct that is literally next to the entrance door to the closed off area. The fucking chem-spill has a tighter security than the MJ12 base in DE

It was when I was trying to refresh my memory of that area that I found this gem:
(timestamped, let it run for 10-15 seconds)

That's a great voice. what a weird name for a dude, "laila"

 

[Geralt of Rivia]

Even before the remaster, I felt like Persona 4 Golden was a game that still feels good to play years later.