You have to remember the people who make video games are people too--and the stories and characters they chose to bring to life is because it deeply resonated with them. It takes a lot of work to make a game, so they did it for a reason. If there's one thing I've come to realize whether it be irl or online is that people are miserable this day and age, and they turn to their distractions and talents as a means to escape or vent. Keep this in mind when playing the video games you enjoy. Especially the ones that have a rich lore, fleshed out characters and worlds.
An important thing to note: Nothing in a video game is just pointless filler or purely for aesthetic. Question everything.
Here are some games I think people should really play or at least look into their stories--which with a quick youtube search, might lead to a 17min to 40min video at most.
Little Nightmares l and ll: A game where children have to navigate their environment and outwit the monsters that were created as a product of their environment. In Ln1 you play as a little girl named Six (note that she does not have a name only a number), as Six you have to solve puzzles and play a game of cat and mouse in order to survive. In Ln2 you play as a little boy named Mono (note that his name also means one but also can be short for Autophobia, or monophobia, the fear or extreme anxiety of being alone.) Keep this in mind while playing the game.
Alice Mcgee - Alice Madness Returns: A woman named Alice Liddel has her wonderland destroyed by a dark force called the Infernal Train, (note that the train is portrayed as a cathedral) which houses the game's final boss, Alice's psychiatrist Dr. Bumby (homeowner of a children's home) a.k.a The Dollmaker. In this game you encounter various symbotic enemies that reflect Alice's mental state, merging both her reality and her imagination in order to cope with survivors guilt over her family's untimely demise, especially that of her big sister Lizzie.
Fran Bow: A little girl loses her parents and is taken to a children's asylum--where they carry out horrible experiments, she manages escape by enlightening herself with the use of an experimental red pill known as dopamine. In it you'll encounter a lot of strange creatures that brings Fran's sanity and reality into question. Also the morality and intentions of those who had placed her in their care.
Bioshock Series (One of my favorites holy crap): A utopic underwater city called Rapture is thrown into chaos as a chemical substance known as Adam and Eve allows the cities inhabitants to rewrite their genetic code. In the midst of this, the fight between the haves and the have-nots ensues and a civil war breaks out in a fight between individualism and collectivism--both of which are tainted by power, ego and greed. There's a lot of religious undertones, cultists, seedy and shady underground businesses--y'know, much like our own reality.
There's other games out there of course, like Portal, Mass Effect, Inside, Unravel, Soma, Transistor, Borderlands, Binding of Isaac, Detroit Become Human, Detention, The Cat Lady, Assassins Creed--the list goes on, you get the gist, but these were just some of my favorites and biggest eye-openers.
Upcoming games I'd recommend: Bramble.
Movies I'd recommend: Coraline, 9, Maleficent, Studhio Ghibli movies, Nope, Us, Getout, The Matrix (it's a metaphor, not to be taken literally) and the Candyman 2021, because it perfectly highlights the deadly cycle that humans have created and perpetuated out of hate, ego and greed, lack of love, honesty and understanding, and also because of that last haunting scene where The Candyman turns to Teyonah and says ''tell everyone''. Bioshock Infinite attempted something similar, but the message kind of got lost in translation.
Also music too, they may all seem like pointless love songs but they're not. Most of the time it's someone trying to beat it over peoples head what's actually going on behind the scenes. Oh and Spongebob has a lot of gold nuggets and social commentary too, Alex Bale covers a lot of them. Stephen Hillenburg and his team are geniuses, may he rest in peace.
An important thing to note: Nothing in a video game is just pointless filler or purely for aesthetic. Question everything.
Here are some games I think people should really play or at least look into their stories--which with a quick youtube search, might lead to a 17min to 40min video at most.
Little Nightmares l and ll: A game where children have to navigate their environment and outwit the monsters that were created as a product of their environment. In Ln1 you play as a little girl named Six (note that she does not have a name only a number), as Six you have to solve puzzles and play a game of cat and mouse in order to survive. In Ln2 you play as a little boy named Mono (note that his name also means one but also can be short for Autophobia, or monophobia, the fear or extreme anxiety of being alone.) Keep this in mind while playing the game.
Alice Mcgee - Alice Madness Returns: A woman named Alice Liddel has her wonderland destroyed by a dark force called the Infernal Train, (note that the train is portrayed as a cathedral) which houses the game's final boss, Alice's psychiatrist Dr. Bumby (homeowner of a children's home) a.k.a The Dollmaker. In this game you encounter various symbotic enemies that reflect Alice's mental state, merging both her reality and her imagination in order to cope with survivors guilt over her family's untimely demise, especially that of her big sister Lizzie.
Fran Bow: A little girl loses her parents and is taken to a children's asylum--where they carry out horrible experiments, she manages escape by enlightening herself with the use of an experimental red pill known as dopamine. In it you'll encounter a lot of strange creatures that brings Fran's sanity and reality into question. Also the morality and intentions of those who had placed her in their care.
Bioshock Series (One of my favorites holy crap): A utopic underwater city called Rapture is thrown into chaos as a chemical substance known as Adam and Eve allows the cities inhabitants to rewrite their genetic code. In the midst of this, the fight between the haves and the have-nots ensues and a civil war breaks out in a fight between individualism and collectivism--both of which are tainted by power, ego and greed. There's a lot of religious undertones, cultists, seedy and shady underground businesses--y'know, much like our own reality.
There's other games out there of course, like Portal, Mass Effect, Inside, Unravel, Soma, Transistor, Borderlands, Binding of Isaac, Detroit Become Human, Detention, The Cat Lady, Assassins Creed--the list goes on, you get the gist, but these were just some of my favorites and biggest eye-openers.
Upcoming games I'd recommend: Bramble.
Movies I'd recommend: Coraline, 9, Maleficent, Studhio Ghibli movies, Nope, Us, Getout, The Matrix (it's a metaphor, not to be taken literally) and the Candyman 2021, because it perfectly highlights the deadly cycle that humans have created and perpetuated out of hate, ego and greed, lack of love, honesty and understanding, and also because of that last haunting scene where The Candyman turns to Teyonah and says ''tell everyone''. Bioshock Infinite attempted something similar, but the message kind of got lost in translation.
Also music too, they may all seem like pointless love songs but they're not. Most of the time it's someone trying to beat it over peoples head what's actually going on behind the scenes. Oh and Spongebob has a lot of gold nuggets and social commentary too, Alex Bale covers a lot of them. Stephen Hillenburg and his team are geniuses, may he rest in peace.
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