Ballots: Richard Clark

Games

1. Minecraft (20)
2. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (15)
3. Bastion (15)
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (10)
5. Battlefield 3 (10)
6. The Binding of Isaac (10)
7. Forget-Me-Not (5)
8. Rayman Origins (5)
9. Ms. Splosion Man (5)
10. Bumpy Road (5)

Comments

There are two types of games on my list: games that create their own meaning and present it to you so holistically and convincingly that you can’t help but be drawn into their reality, and those that simply aim for a sort of consistant resonance that the player calls “fun”. The first group rests in your mind like a good book—a provocative, convincing narrative made all the more powerful by allowing you to involve yourself in it, grappling with your own feelings toward the world, the objective, and the protagonist. The second group winds up the toy and the player, allowing for a kind of free interaction that seems to elevate both the game (which often comes across at first as overly simple) and the player (who is bored).

But who am I kidding? Most of these games fall somewhere in the middle, allowing for a freedom of expression from the player and infusing those expressions with even more meaning. Sometimes that results in a uniquely personal experience—other times it’s a shared experience. But in each of these games, those moments that stick with you are fraught with surprise and wonder—even if (and perhaps because) the games that contain them are small and unassuming.

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