#mindfulness isn't just about being meditative it can be about enthusiasm and joy and awe and melancholy and empathy

[antitectonic]

Game Amnesia Wanted

Thinking recently about games and media where I wish I could have that first-time blind experience again, where that first time through they grabbed me and opened my head up and poured it full of awe and joy and revelation and melancholy and triumph....

Here are games that come to mind for me. By all means, chime in and add your own so I can go discover what you all found gripping your first time through. (But no spoilers in comments, please, so we can all share these experiences!)

Portal / Portal 2 / Portal 2 co-op - UGH, a great puzzle game with outstanding narrative and character writing. The cooperative storyline is probably at the top of my list for giddy-triumphant-omg-we-did-it, even more than beating some game challenge that's just "hard."

Journey - it's hard to explain what was so mind-bending about this, especially without spoilers. Just trust me, if you aren't yet familiar, that it's gentle and beautiful and spare... and there's a layer atop that that punched me right in the feels when it dawned on me what was happening.

Horizon Zero Dawn - the well-polished action gameplay is great, of course, but the slow unfolding of the world's history, and the climactic moment of revelation, are SO DANG GOOD. I think about this one periodically to this day.

Tacoma - not much of a "game," really; an unfolding story told in interactive flashbacks. Speaking of feels, GOSH. Hopepunk, but still wrenching in the best ways at times.

The Return of the Obra Dinn - the best mystery game ever produced. Yes, some people find it inaccessible because they find the particular visual styling to be a bit queasy-making, and that's a huge shame because that visual styling is explicitly part of the puzzle designs. Similar to Tacoma in being about discovering history through interactive flashback, but explicitly a puzzle game on top of that (and with a totally different vibe). At least two distinct moments in the game that are indelible in the memory of everyone who gets that far.