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Started thinking about it and turns out I have a few:
Disco Elysium, easily. I think about it daily, and it was just written so powerfully.
"See you tomorrow", such a casually delivered line that's so heartbreaking in context.
Spec Ops: The Line I thought it was just another military 3rd-person shooter. Boy was I wrong. That thing hit me hard!
Also Oni by bungie. I like the style and I remember that the climax was somewhat emotional for very jung me.
This war of mine I cannot play this game for long and I absolutely love it for that.
There are others too but the common thing is that they were emotional for me. Sure I remember great visuals or gameplay but at the end of the day the games that make me feel stuff stay with me.
I played spec ops knowing what I was getting into, I wish I could experience it blind. I can't imagine how much that would fuck with me.
The final act of Disco Elysium fucked me up for a while
A few that come to mind:
Outer Wilds and Soma.
Both live pretty much rent free in my head since I played them.
When I finished Life is Strange 1, it just felt I lost a friend and it lingered for weeks. Whenever I was hearing the soundtrack, I felt really sad because of stuff that happened in the game.
Kenshi. Kenshi is the single most unique game I have ever played I think. There is no campaign, you are just sent into one of the largest maps ive heard of in a video game with the goal of "survive". So many ways to play, I've had so many different adventures in that game, with stories that I crafted that have stuck with me for years. I am still heartbroken I lost my saves from 2019 :(
Second choice is prototype. I dunno why but I just adore the shapeshifting combat, and edgy early 2000s aesthetic. Alex Mercer is one of my all time favorite supervillian/hero characters, he's just cool, man.
Metal Gear Solid 2. The reveal at the end has stuck with me because 9/11 happened a couple months before and it was so poignant and apropos that my heart rate jumped for the entirety.
Deus Ex. For the same reason as above but in the opposite direction time-wise.
Outer Wilds. Like most have said. Amazing game.
Black & White. Playing god had never been so much fun.
Thief. Stealth in a way that had never been done before.
Morrowind. First RPG I wanted to do every little thing in.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I grew up in LA during the 90s. This game was the closest thing to using a time machine. The amazing story was just a cherry on top.
Life is Strange Might have just been I played it at a point in my life that I could really relate to it but characters have stuck with me since playing it. Looking back, it could have been so much more then it was in terms of choices and such. But I still think overall it was great
I received Eternal Darkness for Christmas in 2002. I will NEVER forget the feelings that game inspired in me thanks to the unique "sanity" system and creepy lovecraftian atmosphere.
I remember my brothers and I huddled around the basement TV into the wee hours of the morning over our Christmas holiday totally creeped out but so driven to complete the story that we pressed onward.
What a fantastic game that was and I'm so grateful for those memories with my brothers. I don't think I've ever had such a deep connection with a game since.
Red alert 2 and counterstrike will be with me forever. I played those games so much growing up that I always find myself going back to them.
So many people mentioning Outer Wilds, think I will have to revisit that. There are a lot of honorable mentions like HL2, SOMA and Ocarina of Time. But for me, the outstanding mention would have to be the original Elite on the Sinclair Spectrum. For such an early, technically simple game it had so much depth and gameplay, and challenge (took me weeks to master that damn docking procedure without crashing!).
Loom
It's been, what, 30 years? I still think about that game pretty frequently.
No game has ever occupied so much of my mind as NieR: Automata. I beat the game, thought "huh, that was pretty good", and then thought about it again the next day. and again. and again. again. again. again. again. again. I just could not stop thinking about what the game was trying to say or how it made me feel, and it's just become more and more important to me as time has gone on. Really incredible game
I echo those exact feelings. Amazing game, great story, but the touch of it still lingers. The story and the mechanics and how they echo eachother is just wow
Ori and the Blind Forest + Ori and the Will of the Wisps. So much can be said
Zelda Ocarina of Time. I was growing up when it came out and I was so little I couldnt' really play it yet, so I watched my big brother play it. Whenever he let me try, I woudl just run around on Epona around Hyrule Field in circles lol
Control, just so much fun
MMOs: Vindictus, BDO, and Lost Ark. Just with playing them for 2+ years ea, that creates a lot of fun and happy memories with the people I played with
world of goo. still my favorite experience in almost 40 years of pc gaming.
Hugos House of Horrors was the first video game I played — I was probably 7 or so and my mother would perm this ladies hair every few weeks. She was a family friend and was in a wheelchair, so we would go to her house. She had a computer that had this game on it and I was just mesmerized by the whole creepy/campy vibe.
Hollow Knight and Ori Will of the Wisps pop up in my head constantly. They're atmospheric masterpieces.
For me it’s Return of the Obra Dinn. I was blown away by how well this game is done. I blew through it in like 2 days. The way the story plays out is so cool. Afterward I hassled my wife to play it because she loves that murder mystery stuff but she bought it and still hasn’t played it lol.
Anyway highly recommend if you’re into puzzle games.
Firewatch, Hellblade, the Mass Effect trilogy, Cyberpunk 2077 to name a few. ME and CP77 are probably the ones that lodged themselves hardest in my mind by far.
Night In The Woods deeply affected me first with the ending, and then again with the whole scenario that unraveled outside of the game. Few things make me feel melancholy like thinking of that game.
Medievil
For me, it's Mirror's Edge, particularly Mirror's Edge Catalyst. I even go running IRL to the soundtrack.
The ending of Unreal 2 (the single player game) when your team have all died and left messages for you to listen to as you fly away alone on a spaceship
Alpha Protocol, cause and effect and replayability just made it one of the best of all time in my opinion.
Neon white was super fun, still working in 100% for the good ending.
Star Wars Galaxies - the open world, the city building, the player housing, the ground and space vehicles, the player market, the world pvp. It was so much goodness. Broke all future games for me.
Outer Wilds and Omori. Both beautiful games and if I had to choose one to play through for the first time again, I couldn't.
Oh yeah omori kind of fucked me up for a few days. I really appreciate it but it's not something I think I'll replay anytime soon.
For me it was Metal Gear Solid 3 and fir, as well as Devil May Cry 3.
I used to have a pretty hard time thinking about what were my favorite games and the ones that changed my tastes and probably perspectives.
I realized that every time get asked this question the first games that come to mind are always these 3.