For me it was definitely DOOM 2! Miles ahead of anything else I had played before.
Morrowind, by far. I still remember the sense of freedom and exploration I got
Also Morrowind. The systems of that game blew my young mind, and I was far too dumb to notice most of the jank.
I was too young for Morrowind and started at Oblivion, but yeah, it’s the Elder Scrolls games 100%. At the time, to me (age ~9), gaming was jumping and gunning around blocky worlds full of fake doors and imagining how cool it would be if GTA felt like an actual world instead of a blocked-out setpiece full of people whose only thoughts were to walk around, drive, or fight each other.
I started Oblivion and it was insane. I could go in nearly every house, I could have conversations with everyone, I could walk around picking up whatever objects and stealing stuff, then break out of jail when I got caught, I could get inducted into an assassination cult (even if I was really bad at lockpicking and struggled to get in the front door), etc. It was mindblowing and those sorts of features are why I prefer Bethesda titles even to these major titles everyone loves like Witcher 3.
This is 100% my experience too. My mind was blown when I saw what you could do in oblivion.
Same. One of my friend’s dad played all the old school DnD games and what not. I remember going over one day and seeing him play that, and when I asked him he was showing me a bunch of things with the open world and the characters. As soon as I was able to get it, I did, and I put in so much time into that game.
Duke Nukem 3D.
Yeah, Wolfenstein 3d and DOOM were great but Duke 3D was some next level shit. Being able to take a leak at the urinal was so cool.
Shake it baby. Wanna dance?
One of my most nostalgic games! I replay it yearly - the ambient sound effects and drone and atmosphere is incredible - the space levels have a creepy feeling despite the comedic tone it often goes for.
Hell, Duke Nukem 2 was pretty amazing even.
I remember getting my first 2 computers connected over 10base2 LAN with T connectors and terminators and all that stuff just so me and my brother could play duke nukem 3d. It was awesome. I also remember one of the computers could barely run it and then only if shrinking the screen down. If more than 3 laser trip bombs went off at once… instant slideshow.
definitely!
Has to be portal
My first? Probably roller-coaster tycoon. I was amazed how big and intricate the would could be, and all these coasters and everything were running at once. Led to other things like Sim city and such to find more world building games.
Myst has always stuck with me as looking amazing at the time. I totally sucked at the game but its graphics have a fond place in my mind for some reason!
For me, the original browser demo of Minecraft was really exciting. I grew up with LEGO, and the Minecraft demo really brought back the joy of just making things for no other reason than to make them. I’ll always have a soft spot for it
There is definitely a sort-of wonder I felt in the early days of Minecraft that I’ve been striving to find in a game since, and have been left wanting.
MechWarrior 2,
It was the first real experience I ever had playing a game that was 3D. I was pretty young and didn’t know what I was doing. But I thought it was so cool.
Prince of Persia. I remember being blown away by how realistic the movement was
Yeah they used rotoscoping to do the animations. It turned out amazing and captured such realistic movement in just basic pixels.
Half Life 1. Never before and never again I’ve got so totally immersed in the plot.
Wolfenstein 3D. I’d played ‘3D’ games like The Bard’s Tale before, but the ability to turn around and look in 360’ just blew my mind.
For me GTA 3.
GTA Vice City for me. The soundtrack was just awesome
At its time I can’t think of anything like it that I had access to. Really was a game changer for open world style games.
I would say Descent and Doom early on, Skyrim and Mass Effect later. Unfortunately, games don’t blow my mind nearly as much as they used to.
Mass Effect definitely up there. Everything was right with that game (perhaps not the excessive time in the lifts). The story line and sound tracks were beyond amazing.
I remember my first time playing Half-Life was pretty incredible. What really wowed me was the intro being so slow, and you just starting in a normal world, with no combat for like 45 minutes. I’d never seen anything like it before, and I loved the feeling so much. I used to hang out in the intro area for as long as I could, just enjoying how immersive and calm it felt. To this day I really dislike games that have little to no down time to them - I love just hanging out in a world. My favourite genre wound up being JRPGs since they handle that balance so well.
I played half life way later (2014-ish) and it’s hard to imagine how crazy it must have seemed back then. Even now, delaying the combat for that long is pretty rare. Back then I can’t imagine how groundbreaking it must have been.
Probably Return to Castle Wolfenstein was one of the first games i ever played
Even with the view window reduced so it would run decently on my 12mhz 80286, I was amazed.
Hello fellow old person! You’re thinking of Wolfenstein 3D, which I also played on a 286. Return to Castle Wolfenstein was from around the year 2000, I believe.
oops, that’s right. It’s been some years. :)
I didn’t own it, but my dad’s friend had it on a computer in the back of his shop. I spent hours back there when he was visiting his friend.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t this game also the engine upon which Enemy Territory was built? I logged soooo many hours in that multiplayer mode…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iweK-Z99MwQ
I believe it was one of the early games to implement classes/roles in a team-based shooter
Arguably the best free game ever released. “I’m a medic!”
This is what did it for me.
Myst is the one that stands out for me.
