What are 5 must play NON-Nintendo games?

[spookyheart]

caligula effect 2
twewy
parasite eve
xenogears
ff7

 

[Daku Rinku]

1. Halo CE
2. Halo 2
3. Resident Evil
4. Resident Evil 2
5. Star Wars Battlefront II (2005)
It has a engrossing campaign that bridges the Prequels and Original Trilogy. The Multiplayer is phenomenal!

 

[Yoshrek]

1. Sonic The Hedgehog 1, 2, 3, & Knuckles and Sonic Adventure 1 & Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes
2. Crash Bandicoot 1, 2, & 3 and Crash Banidcoot 4
3. Spyro The Dragon 1, 2, & 3
4. Halo series
5. Ty The Tasmanian Tiger Series

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

It's a difficult subject to limit to just five. There are countless excellent games out there, but lemme break down just a few of my favorites. The first one is obvious:

1) Dark Souls is the best Zelda game I've played. It's a cold adventure that emphasizes player skill, caution, and adventure. I'm not sure there's yet been a series that mimics the sheer danger that the world of Dark Souls represents. It's a difficult journey, but one worth diving into. It isn't for everyone, but I'm confident it's for a lot of people.

2) Divinity: Original Sin 2. Despite the big 2 in the title, this isn't a game that depends on player knowledge of other games in the franchise. Divinity 2 is not only one of the best RPGs I've played, but one of the best games I've played period. Until the early access release of Baldur's Gate 3, it was the closest you could come to playing Dungeons and Dragons in video game form.

3) Prey. Often referred to as Prey 2017 by people who are stupid and wrong, Prey 2 is my favorite example of the "immersive sim". This vague genre emphasizes interaction with the environment and within game systems. It's a tense game of mystery and survival aboard a space station barely hanging on in the wake of an alien outbreak.

4) Resident Evil 2 (2019). Resident Evil 2 is one of the best games I've played. A remake of the old 1990s horror classic (?), it is one of the tightest and best horror games I've played. It's a game oozing with content that begs to be played multiple times.

5) Warhammer: Vermintide 2. The best multiplayer game I've played in years. I picked up the original game in 2015, but the sequel is such a significant step forward that playing the original is only for those diehard fans willing to tolerate a significantly worse loot design. If you played Left 4 Dead and wanted more, Vermintide 2 is more of that, better, and in a vaguely magical medieval setting.

Since it released after my original post, let me make one addition:

5.5) Baldur's Gate 3. It is the best CRPG made to date. That's a heck of a statement to make without added backing, but no game is quite as dense as BG3. It's the sort of tightly packed RPG to account for thousands and thousands of player choices through well acted dialogue, full motion captured cutscenes, and bear sex the most straight forward adaptation of D&D 5e rules out there. The early access portion that released in September 2020 was bigger and denser than almost all finished games. The complete game is probably the best game I've played to date, and I don't see that likely to change for at least another ten years.

When you're told that Baldur's Gate 3 is 140 GB it doesn't surprise you. You nod and say, "Yeah, that makes sense."

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

3. Resident Evil
4. Resident Evil 2

are we talking remakes or originals here?

 

[Daku Rinku]

are we talking remakes or originals here?

Originals.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

an idea came to me to do a small tally and make a list of 5 games based on what others have said, so from all our posts, seems like a commonality for must play games are:

• Sonic Mania
• Resident Evil 2 Remake
• Halo
• Dark Souls
• Streets of Rage

 

[Azure Sage]

• Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA - one of my all-time favorite games ever and a fantastic action rpg with a thrilling story and endearing characters. Dana's storyline is still one of the best and most emotional I've ever seen in gaming. You don't need to play other Ys games to play this one, all of them reference each other but are for the most part pretty self-contained. This one was my introduction to the series, too.
• Granblue Fantasy: Relink - my personal game of the year for 2024. Another amazing action rpg with hours of fun after the main story ends. It's packed with tons of optional lore to catch you up on the worldbuilding and characters and story that's relevant from the main game so it's a fair entrypoint to the franchise.
• Rune Factory 4 - another one of my all-time favorite games. The special version on the switch is a fantastic choice and like Ys, you don't need to play the others to dive in. It's half-rpg half-life sim, and the story and characters are all fantastic.
• Astral Chain - I feel like this one got a lot of attention when it first dropped and then fell under the radar, but it's still a fantastic action game. It's by the Bayonetta people so you know it's a fun time. It's not one you want to miss if you're into the thrill of combat against eldritch horrors.
• Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - This is where I started with the series and you can find it pretty easy if you're willing to emulate. I think especially with how big the series has grown it's nice to go back and appreciate its early stages, because it still holds up really well. This is mainly for those folks who love monhun, though. Another action game with heavy resource management to keep you operating smoothly. Rather than progression through levels, it's through upgrading your gear, so the gameplay mostly falls to player skill. It can have a steep learning curve, though the newer games are way more tame in the beginning. The only game series I like more than monhun is Zelda, so I can't recommend it enough.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

an idea came to me to do a small tally and make a list of 5 games based on what others have said, so from all our posts, seems like a commonality for must play games are:

• Sonic Mania
• Resident Evil 2 Remake
• Halo
• Dark Souls
• Streets of Rage

but there are no good sonic games

 

[Dio]

The Witcher 3 - Great and unforgettable characters, Story and music. It's a brilliant immersive fantasy RPG that wraps you up in it's masterfully crafted world and provides hundreds of hours of enjoyment. Not to mention the best DLC updates which provide a massive new story and world, one of which has more content than the entire game of Skyward Sword!

Halo Reach - The Halo shooters (Not 5!) are fantastic and probably the best shooters out there. Amazing soundtracks and interesting lore. For the best story, Halo Reach has got to be the one I'd recommend. It's a tragedy with doom assured from the start but it's a journey I'd highly recommend

Nier Automata - Id also recommend Replicant but Automata is newer and has better gameplay. Again an amazing soundtrack like the previous mentions but a deep emotional story that will make you question what it means to be human.

Dark Souls- I recommend everyone complete this once in their life. If you can finish this then you definitely have the mentality and work ethic to achieve something in your own life. Many people choose not to and instead only put effort in to things that make them no money such as gaming but skilling up and getting good are transferrable, it's just finding the enthusiasm for something else as much as you had for beating dark souls is the real trick.

Soulcalibur 6- Best fighting game out of the lot as far as I am concerned. Tekken and Street Fighter are not nearly as fun when you can play Soulcalibur and have your fighter wield a giant sword or axe! Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher and 2B from Nier also feature so you not only get the great characters from this series but from two other great series that I have already mentioned!

 

[twilitfalchion]

1. Ghost of Tsushima - I'd call it my favorite adventure game, period? The story is so nicely told, the combat system is well-thought out, and the atmosphere is pretty much perfect, honestly. It's not too often I actively want to play a game on higher or even highest difficulty settings, but Ghost is different. You eventually get into such a solid flow that taking down enemy camps is something you look forward to doing by diving in headfirst versus stealthing your way through (though I still like stealth more haha). You feel incentivized to master the combat. To master the way the game plays. That's good design. Great, even.

It's got soul. It's made with love, and it shows through. You could be cliché as hell and call it "like playing a movie" but I think it's accurate and fair to say so. One of the best games of the generation, or even across multiple generations as I see it. I will be double dipping sooner rather than later for the Steam version.

2. Yakuza 0 - I've praised this game to no end, but if you haven't played it, you really need to. So much to do, managing to mix a great, emotional story with the wealth of side content that can be downright insane and silly most of the time. I have spent an unreasonable amount of time in the bowling alley send help.

It's wonderful, and a great entry point to the series, only burdened by being so good that what you play after might not seem as impressive. The flexibility on how you experience the game sells it as much as anything does, since you're in for a baller time whether you throw yourself into everything the game has to offer or just the story itself.

3. Sonic Adventure - Rough transition to 3D my ass. It hasn't aged any worse than its 3D contemporaries, and I think it's just as worthy of being played as they are. The first Adventure game is really good, and an example of why jank (or whatever you'd call it) isn't necessarily a bad thing for a game to have. Adventure's jank is as much its charm as the aspects of the game that are intended to be charming. The way Sonic controls allows for a lot of freedom with platforming to the point you wonder if there are any restrictions to it. That's adventure. Yeah, the other characters aren't as fun, but I'd still say they have merit and are enjoyable in their own way.

They peaked musically and aesthetically with Adventure in a way the series hasn't reached since. Other styles the games have gone with have their own merit, but Adventure is a special one. Something I'd return to pretty easily.

4. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix - Peak street racing. Atmosphere par none. I have really great memories of playing this as a kid and it still holds up beautifully on revisiting it recently. So much customization, a soundtrack that you want to physically bop to, I'd even say its visually stunning for its time considering it's a PS2 game. MC3 fires off on all cylinders. It's got style, it's got gameplay, it's street racing with funk and flair. I couldn't ask for better. Makes me wish Rockstar would get on the stick shift with a remaster or port.

5. Rune Factory 4 - I use the word a lot to describe games that draw me in, but RF4's got soul to spare. I've sung its praises before on ZD, and I'll keep doing it. It's a great game that blends some of the better aspects of RPGs, life sims, and the like with its own brand of self-aware humor. Similar to Yakuza 0 as well in being an easy pool to step into, but a deep experience to fall into if you want to engage with it that much.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

Yakuza I could get behind being one of those games everyone has to play