Strafe Strafe Strafe

01

Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games, 2014)

Brave and shovel-rous, Shovel Knight improves organically and battles his way through so many delightfully different worlds to finally defeat the evil inside his beloved Shield Knight. This game made me care enough to get good at the controls, a process that involved icing my thumbs with frozen peas and my boyfriend looking up hand exercises online. The graphics are colorful and retro, the chiptunes score is wildly catchy, Shovel Knight forever.

 

02

Portal

Portal was the first game I ever played that took my breath away with its narrative. The moment 3/4 through, when you realize you're disposable and the cake is a lie, well holy shit. I didn't get it. I sailed hopelessly into the fire twice in a row, until eventually Jake couldn't take it anymore and shouted at me to check out the suspiciously perfect portal-able wall above my head before the fire consumed me a third time. Beyond the utterly fascinating physics (which, as game mechanics go, rank first for me), the execution of the unreliable narrator trope and the turnaround from test subject to vengeful heroine (all within a counter-revolutionary sci fi context), I still think it's the best gaming experience I've ever had.

 

03

The Beginner's Guide

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04

Journey

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05

Myst

The granddaddy walking sim, Myst is filled with environmental puzzles, strange enormous gears, a fraternal battle fought between enchanted books, and an island I explored every lovely inch of before I figured out how to enter the first world. I'm not sure why I didn't cheat and look online, I'm generally not a purist about that and I cheat all the time, but stubbornness won the day. Or possibly Kurt didn't let me look it up, he *is* a purist. #MetagamePride

 

06

Braid

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07

Mini Metro

Why is there only ever one square station but like 50 square passengers wanting to get there? Why is the square station always on an island when you only have two bridges? Why can't those little shapes wait a goddamn minute, don't they realize that if that whole system gets shut down they *definitely* won't make it anywhere on time?? Whiny triangle assholes. Super delightful, zen-like system management game filled with beautiful moments: proudly having your whole subway system perfectly designed only to be handed a new rare-shape station out in the boonies, anxiously waiting for bounteous Sunday to arrive, hearing diatribes from your boyfriend about how graph theory really should be of more help here (but is not).

 

08

Year Walk

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09

Shadow of the Colossus

 

10

The Binding of Isaac

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