As we near the end of the second decade into the new millennium, I have been looking back at some of the biggest and best gaming moments of the past ten years. As I look over some of the games that have been released, I realize there’s still so many games that I haven’t ever played and even more that I may have played for a while but never saw through to the end( like The Witcher 3 and Persona 5). For today’s post I’ve made a list of five games that sheepishly admit I have never played. The titles may be either: a) games that have become such a significant part of gaming culture that everyone and their mother has played it or b) generally regarded as one of the best the medium has to offer. In the past month, I was able to cross Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from my list of games I was ashamed to admit I had never played and restore some credibility to my tarnished reputation as a true gamer…
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
In a previous post, I mentioned Shadow of Mordor specifically as a game that I have never played, though pretty certain I would enjoy it. The movie games from the Two Towers and Return of the King were great(EA published even!) and I’ve always loved hack and slash games. The game was released in 2014 and its sequel – Shadow of War released in 2017 and have received much acclaim and controversy in that time. Shadow of Mordor has also been part of many sales on the Playstation Store reducing the price of the game to around $8, so I’m very short on excuses for why I haven’t gotten around to playing this yet….
Minecraft
The open-world building game Minecraft was first released back in 2011 and with assistance of platforms like YouTube and Twitch it quickly became part of popular culture, as one can hardly walk through any Walmart or Target store without noticing Minecraft(or Fortnite) toys, shirts, and other assorted products. While many proudly state how they have played neither Minecraft or Fortnite, they have had an enormous impact on gaming in the last decade, for better or worse. I aspire to stay open-minded about pretty much anything and everything gaming-related, so I intend to at least give something like Minecraft a try…regardless of how “embarassed” I should feel about never playing it.
World of Warcraft
Another example of a phenomenon within gaming culture, Blizzard’s MMORPG juggernaut World of Warcraft was released in 2004 and in 2009 boasted having roughly 10 million different players, making it the most played MMO at the time. WoW was popular enough to be the setting for the South Park episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft” and even had commercials featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Mr. T.
World of Warcraft was released just as I was graduating high school and didn’t have much money to spend on games, along with the fact I lived out in the country where my parents were still using…dial-up internet. Once I moved into my own place, I felt like I didn’t have enough time to justify a monthly subscription as I was working full-time hours to save up for college tuition…in hindsight, I would have accomplished just as much sitting at home playing WoW.
Undertale
In the past decade or so, we have seen an influx of indie titles that as a result of having greater creative freedom, have been able to present gamers with unique stories and endearing characters. One of the most universally beloved indie games in recent years has been Undertale. I regretfully admit I have not played the game, even after several years since its initial release. I have heard in this time the amount of love people have for the story, characters and humor within the game, as well as soundtrack. I currently have Undertale at the top of my list of games I need to catch up on and play.
Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger was released by Squaresoft for the Super Nintendo in 1995 and is still considered one of the all-time great RPGs featuring time travel and an epic storyline complete with multiple endings. This is a game that I’ve known for nearly my entire life, but have regrettably never sat down and played. I have mentioned before that RPGs in general have been one of the game genres I have played much less compared to others, but a game as revered as Chrono Trigger surely is worth going out and experiencing for myself. Luckily for me, the Nintendo DS version is considered an excellent port of the game, and for a lot less money than a used copy for the SNES. Now that I have Symphony of the Night out of the way, I have decided to make a stronger effort to track down a copy and play through…my backlog of games isn’t THAT enormous. 😉
What are some games that you’ve always known about but have never gotten around to playing yourself? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!
Gaming Omnivore 