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[Tallahassee]

guess it's not that popular, I really enjoyed Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

 

[Ceadeus]

Pandora's Tower
Folklore
Journey
Flower
Dragons Dogma
Demon's Soul (OG)
Eternal Darkness
Tenchu
Beyond The Beyond
Alundra
Just some of my personal favorites; they had a lot heart put into them by there devs. Much love

Is Pandora's Tower worth buying? It's kind of expensive on eBay CIB.

 

[wyvern_bloodfist]

Is Pandora's Tower worth buying? It's kind of expensive on eBay CIB.

its my all-time favorite game...

i love everything about it; so I'm probably the worst person to ask lol, averaging 100 usd now I wasn't a where of that crazy.

 

[synchronicity]

-Ueda
-Killer 7
-Fran Bow
-Souls / KF
-The Elder Scrolls (people can mock mechanics, Todd Howard, etc. but they are obviously passion projects made with love imho.)
-Bayonetta
-Virtua Fighter series
-Minecraft
-Binary Domain
-Puppeteer
-God Hand
-ESPN NFL 2K5
-SMT : Nocturne (etc)
-Okami
-Metal Gear Solid series
-Ratchet and Clank Series
-Deus Ex
-Silent Hill Series
-Metroid Prime series
-Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga

Many others...

 

[ShadowLag]

 

[Pop]

Kingdom Come Deliverance

 

[Danjin44]

Most games agree already mentioned so I go with.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

Even though the overall game wasn't to my taste, Super Mario Odyssey has a lot of soul, and one of the absolutely best moments in the entire history of video games:



+ Wonderfully arranged song with gorgeous vocals
+ Brings back Pauline
+ 2D platforming section combining Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong (the dude that uploaded the video seems like a noob though, homeboy almost died in that easy ass section )
+ Attention to detail everywhere. Even Pauline's footwork during the "Odyssey, yes see!" segment matches the movement from her sprite in the very original Donkey Kong arcade game.

Extending that last point, I feel Smash has an incredible amount of soul. The absolutely INSANE amount of detail that goes into every character is mind-boggling. And not just the gameplay -- the reveals are quite a work of art, too. Just to give ONE example:



As a huge fan of SNK 90's output, they packed an insane amount of love towards SNK in under 2 minutes:
+ The "Neo Geo jingle" -- SNK/Neo Geo fans know what that does to you. So much nostalgia
+ King of Fighters '94 intro customized to Smash
+ Characters from practically all major SNK fighting game franchises: Kyo/Iori (King of Fighters), Geese (Fatal Fury), Ryo (Art of Fighting), Nakoruru (Samurai Spirits) -- all with their own theme songs. And no, no World Heroes representative --- that series is ass, and doesn't count

Too much other stuff to mention. In under 2 minutes. And that's before we even talk about the fighters' moves, associated stages, music, etc.

Super Smash Bros. has so much soul, that the current version (Ultimate) is the closest it gets to a pure celebration of video game history.

I'll write it up in a different post, but most 90s fighting games also had an incredible amount of soul.

 

[Danjin44]

jaysius​

 

[cartman414]

People picking Dragon Age but not Baldur's Gate or Planescape Torment are totally borking this.

 

[plip.plop]

Surprised no one mentioned Inside yet.

 

[SlimySnake]

Notice how every game in this post is polarizing? Gamers tend to focus on flaws, mechanical flaws than appreciate the beauty in the game.

 

[Halo is Back]

COD

 

[Astral Dog]

Games don't have souls

 

[Northeastmonk]

A lot of Japanese developers don’t have jobs because their passion/dream project wouldn’t sell on its own. I read that in The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers. A lot of them have passed away too. You had a lot of the growth inside the game industry along the way, especially with the tech they use to make the games. I could argue that we are living in way better times than before. A lot of what people dreamed about making years ago, can be made now. There’s just way more to pick and choose from. I would say I am much pickier about the games I buy now versus years ago. There’s a lot of game designers that can just make their own game without it being this huge ordeal with $50 million of marketing content.

I’m glad we are getting the games we are now. Dark Souls opened up a whole other world for game designers and its own genre to grow on. Dragon Age and Mass Effect had their time in the spot light and we all saw what happened to BioShock. Dead Space and many other games. What I think is we will see developers hit that mark or they won’t be given another chance at it. Passion could come from a game that never gets a sequel, but at least we have that experience of playing the game. I don’t exactly want to go back in time. If anything, it’s a teaching tool for future game designers.

I do however see your point. When Roblox is a billion dollar game company and the hottest game for people is a F2P shooter with skin DLC. Are those passion products or just filling the gap for someone who just wants to mess around in a video game? There are a lot of talented designers out there who bring good ideas and new challenges to the table. Fighting games and JRPGs would benefit greatly if the companies maybe took away the paywall for the entire experience. Other areas like survival horror and action RPG have gained a lot of soul over the years. There’s so much history with video games that it is incredibly hard to sum up. There’s far too many examples (past and present) that make up what the industry is today.

 

[luffie]

XCOM2 : this game has so many time sensitive features that would be exploited to the max with mtx, but it didn't.

Souls & Sekiro: Sekiro feels very finished. Whule fans asked for sequels and dlc, it felt like they didn't hold back any content.

Hollow Knight: God damn it's good, period.

Baldur's Gate 2: Back when Bioware was run by the best people. They tried to give us everything and more.

Divinity 2: The new Baldur's Gate 2.

 

[DelireMan7]

Never enough mention of Soulsborne so :
Dark Souls, Demon's Souls and Bloodborne.

Came here to mention Hollow Knight but luffie beat me. I haven't fall in love so much with a game since the Souls.

 

[sephiroth7x]

I would say this is a personal feel rather than something tangible.

I know what you mean - I tend to use this point as a difference between MGS and MGS2 - Sons of Liberty. MGS felt as if it had a soul, a kind of energy behind it whereas MGS2 felt utterly soulless and sterile.

Then again, I believe GTA3 had a soul and Vice City didn't, but this is more to do with nostalgia and playing one game to death before another etc.

 

[Vae_Victis]

I found the one percent

You dropped a few more percents there, buddy.

 

[Cutty Flam]

Nothing can ever fuck with the GOATs - Paper Mario, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Super Mario 64, SSX Tricky, Resident Evil series, Mario Party series. I would Swanton Bomb off a roof and onto a cactus if it meant the Paper Mario and Mario Party series returns to form

Fumito Ueda, one hell of a director

 

[cartman414]

Also, Bioshock without System Shock.

This is games with their own soul, not their lesser descendants.

 

[TwiztidElf]

Wreckfest is the first driving/racing game to have a soul and character since Blur.
All those Forza games are so soulless and sterile.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Ghost of Tsushima one of the most recent ones. It was like playing in a dream.

 

[RoadHazard]

Demon's Souls
Dark Souls
Dark Souls 2
Dark Souls 3

Not Bloodborne though, no souls there.

 

[Ferdinandthecowfish]

Hollow Knight: God damn it's good, period.

I've tried multiple times to get into this game and I just don't get it.

What makes it so good, in your opinion?

 

[A Elbereth Gilthoniel]

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver.

 

[SebastianShaw]

Kingdom Come

The entire Metro series

 

[HotPocket69]

What a weird thread. Figured it would soon devolve into “Here are some of my favorite games.”

 

[ToTTenTranz]

I just lost around 80k souls in Demon's Souls during a boss fight.
I had a lot of souls in that game, but now I have none.

 

[Elder Legend]

World of Warcraft 2004.

 

[Marcinkowski]

Add Fallout 1 and 2 to the list

 

[levyjl1988]

I also want to add all of Cing's games. Brilliant pieces.

Also, fuck Reggie, they didn't bring Another Code: R and Last Window to NA thus Cing closed and filed for bankruptcy.
Such an amazing series and will be remembered as spirits and trophies in future Smash Bros. Titles.
Nintendo of America is fucking incompetent compared to Nintendo of Europe, they always get the better CE and better releases.
Nintendo of America has such fucking poor management you look at the drop in quality.

Also Riviera The Promised Land, amazing!

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Are usually Japanese made

 

[amigastar]

I also want to add all of Cing's games. Brilliant pieces.

Also, fuck Reggie, they didn't bring Another Code: R and Last Window to NA thus Cing closed and filed for bankruptcy.
Such an amazing series and will be remembered as spirits and trophies in future Smash Bros. Titles.
Nintendo of America is fucking incompetent compared to Nintendo of Europe, they always get the better CE and better releases.
Nintendo of America has such fucking poor management you look at the drop in quality.

Also Riviera The Promised Land, amazing!

I freaking loved Hotel Dusk, great game indeed.

 

[Farawayfromhell]

Spirit farer
Arise a simple story
Old man's journey
Far lone sails
Beyond eyes

Are the first that come to mind without looking at my endless list

 

[Danjin44]

 

[luffie]

I've tried multiple times to get into this game and I just don't get it.

What makes it so good, in your opinion?

Are you into Souls-like games? If not, then I'd understand, probably not for you.

1st, the artworks are gorgeous, almost every panel looks like an art. I'm not into cute chibi stuffs like HK, so when they can wow me, I consider it very good.

HK encourages discovery and experimentation, it only holds your hands ever so slightly in the beginning, and then it let's it go. For the curious, there are a lot of places to explore, secrets to uncover, and there are always clues to it if you are attentive.

The controls are very precise, and the movements are simple, yet it allows for a lot of mobility.

The game is some what moderately challenging as a whole, not too difficult, and definitely not easy, but they still leave a lot of optional contents that are very very challenging for those who seeks it. So it's fun enough without making it too frustrating.

TLDR: If you are not into exploration or metroidvania, then perhaps it's not for you. But there's legitimately good reasons why people says HK has brought metroidvania through the roof. It's a meticulously crafted game for only 10 bucks. I only happened to play it because I was curious and it's cheap, and once I've played it to the end, I can finally understand why people are so excited when looking at Silksong.

 

[lachesis]

I remember talking to this creature at night, after a long day of work. What a strange sensation that was back then.
It was rough, but also funny & thought provoking in many ways too.

 

[BusierDonkey]

Almost anything from the 8-bit and 16-bit era had soul.

The Square RPGs, the platformers (good and bad), everything was incredibly memorable. Micro Machines was a piece of shit, but dammit the tracks were all so creative. Games like Lost Vikings, Lemmings, Kirby, Metroid, Ape Escape, Parappa, etc. They all started by going outside the box.

The closer you get to the creation of a genre the more you'll find that subsequent games in those genres , while advancing in things like visuals and refinement, often lost many of the details that made the early games so memorable. I've been taking a trip back in time playing through series I missed as well as series I loved and seeing the changes in that way in such a short span really highlights the big push for games to be less like a game and more like film. There are still plenty of games that exude soul, but they are harder to find than they used to be.

 

[M1chl]

Kingdom Come Deliverance

Well history without a soul would be pretty fucking boring, also we are not brits ; )

 

[Dav-Kripler]

Demon's Souls
Dark Souls
Dark Souls 2
Dark Souls 3

Not Bloodborne though, no souls there.

Saving that for the thread : which games have the most echoes

 

[Dav-Kripler]

I'd give a shout to some modern indies like edith finch, sayonara wild hearts and oxenfree

 

[16Bitnights]

I'd give a shout to some modern indies like edith finch, sayonara wild hearts and oxenfree

Yes I totally agree, those game got strong points on atmosphere, personality, and emotion trigger

 

[VGEsoterica]

Grim Fandango. 100%. That game has more life and soul than basically any game ever made IMO

 

[Onironauta]

All Team Ico games, most of Japan Studio's works.

 

[SSfox]

Oh there are a lot of games with souls, each generation you have a lot, specially Japanese games. MGS Saga, Fromsoft games, most FF Saga, Ico Team games, most Tekken and Street Fighter games, most Dragon Quest games, DMC1 and Bayonetta 1, Most RE games, and so on (it's impossible to name all of them). When it comes to Western games it's mostly Sony Santa Monica, Rockstar, and also Naughty Dog during ps123 era, and someother games like Skyrim and so one (again it's impossible to name all of them)

 

[Beer Baelly]

Took 3 pages for somebody to mention Metroid

 

[newel8576]

When I think soul I automatically think Musashi the Brave Fencer and blockman go apk

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Ghost of Tsushima one of the most recent ones. It was like playing in a dream.

Fucking THIS