1) Half-Life:Alyx (VR)
2) Alien: Isolation (VR)
3) Metroid (NES)
4) Goldeneye (N64)
5) Mariokart (Super Nintendo, N64)
6) Zelda (NES) & Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
7) Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy & Zork started a love for this stuff (Infocom, DOS PC based)
8) Grand Theft Auto 5 (2014 this helped when I was grieving about losing my dog and got me back into gaming)
9) Heroes of Might and Magic III (PC)
10) Diablo (original PC)
 
honorable:
  1. Pitfall, Pole Position, Joust, Adventure, Combat, River Raid, Kaboom, Haunted House, and all the Atari games that got us started.
  2. Punch Out, Double Dribble, Ring King, Tecmo Bowl, Castlevania, Tetris, Excitebike, Kid Icarus, Contra, Ikari Warriors, Gauntlet, Spy Hunter, Gauntlet, Ghost & Goblins, Wizards & WArriors, R.C. Pro-Am, Streetfighter, Ninja Gaiden, and all the amazing NES games. All of them.
  3. Mario64 & Mario Party (N64), and that entire franchise being mind blowing.
  4. Lode Runner, Aztec, Simcity, Sam & Max, Prince of Persia, Star Wars Tie Fighter/Xwing 1993, Wolfenstein and Doom, and all those PC games that ramped this up.
  5. Shoutout to all the relaxing and meditative and trippy VR stuff, and the relaxing or goofy games from a beautiful and moving “Moss” scrolling puzzle game to Virtual Virtual Reality, Accounting+, Rick and Morty, or Vacation/Job Simulator just for not taking itself seriously and lovely anxiety diversion from the pandemic.