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[LazyParrot]

That's the result. Like it or not, the big money people at EA, or Activision, They know video games, They know what works and what they can get away with.

They just aren't the type of games a lof of us are into, I get that, they don't have a soul, yes, but the people approving them very much know what they are doing

 

[Ceadeus]

Yesterday I've plugged in the Xbox 360 and played one of my favorite, Lost Planet 2 by Capcom!

It came out at a time when online co-op matchmaking was kind of new , particularly games that has characters progression. So as a big fan of the first one and pretty much anything Capcom at that period, I grabbed the game on release date.

I really like how, similarly to dead rising, items and weapon feel grounded to the world, if that makes any sense. Picking something up requires a full animation. Each character footstep feels heavy and decided, just like every movement in the game.

There's a constant feel of grandeur and oppression when playing. I do lack time to finish the post, I might edit later on! Anyone else is missing Lost Planet series?

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Death Stranding. Game provides the deepest level of human interactions ever achieved through the internet.

Definitely that!

But you get a mofo doing a prank, which is pretty rare though:

 

[Azelover]

All Shigeru Miyamoto games until after Pikmin.

 

[Jadsey]

Death Stranding

/close thread

 

[Krappadizzle]

Yesterday I've plugged in the Xbox 360 and played one of my favorite, Lost Planet 2 by Capcom!

It came out at a time when online co-op matchmaking was kind of new , particularly games that has characters progression. So as a big fan of the first one and pretty much anything Capcom at that period, I grabbed the game on release date.

I really like how, similarly to dead rising, items and weapon feel grounded to the world, if that makes any sense. Picking something up requires a full animation. Each character footstep feels heavy and decided, just like every movement in the game.

There's a constant feel of grandeur and oppression when playing. I do lack time to finish the post, I might edit later on! Anyone else is missing Lost Planet series?

I always felt like 2 was a big departure from what I loved about Lost Planet. Co-op can make any mediocre game WAY more fun though, so I'll give you that. My buddy and I played it co-op for a few hours both being big fans of the original and just kinda quit after a while. Never tried 3 either as a result.

 

[namekuseijin]

the Soul of Skyrim

 

[Bonsaibäumchen]

You can have one from last year:

Fully explaining just why it's full of soul would be giving the finale away, but it's very much a developer's passion project in a really meta way. If people like point 'n' click games they should play this.

Played this 2 days ago. Best mobile game I ever paid for and played until the end.
Its simple yet still offered a great experience.

 

[CartoonsNCereal]

was curious if anyone in this thread would give cyberpunk 2077 credit for having a soul lol

because it certainly has it...which is why I think the hate it got was actually a bit bad for gaming. As alot of soulless games get away scott free with being soulless; which i think for me...is a far worse crime than being buggy.

anyway, this is why we like games like Kingdom Hearts for example....technically imperfect but boy does it have a soul.

same with Shenmue.


some entries in a series can have a soul where another entry lacks it IMO

for example Morrowind and Oblivion had soul, whereas Skyrim was streamlined and created to ensure longevity in quest design (procedural) rather than handwrite every quest. Yet that one is the most popular in the series; because cosmetically it seems better.

Souls series I'm iffy about, sometimes I feel that they became so similar to each other in pure level of ambition, that it seemed borderline redundant. I liked Bloodborne though, as it seemed like they were actually...progressing with that title, there was ambition there. Then they made dark souls 3, which seemed redundant and not very ambitious...see where I'm differentiating? so From for me, is 50/50.

 

[jufonuk]

Doom original

 

[cireza]

Panzer Dragoon series
Shining Force series
Phantasy Star series
Sonic series
Nights
Burning Rangers
Jet Set Radio and Future
Dragon Force
SEGA (all games)
Nier Automata and Yoko Taro games
Souls games
Steins Gate
House in Fata Morgana
The Talos Principle
Catherine
Final Fantasy series
Outer Wilds
Doom/Hexen/Duke Nukem 3D/Exhumed (all these old FPS)
Shmups (most of them)

These games come to mind. Forgetting a ton...

 

[Ceadeus]

I always felt like 2 was a big departure from what I loved about Lost Planet. Co-op can make any mediocre game WAY more fun though, so I'll give you that. My buddy and I played it co-op for a few hours both being big fans of the original and just kinda quit after a while. Never tried 3 either as a result.

The game is kinda demanding! It's quite difficult navigating through the multiple hasard. From being underwater, into zero G space, into a sandstorm etc... getting used to the various weapons and hidden mechanic.

Can you tell what you dislike of 2 compared to the first ?

 

[Krappadizzle]

the Soul of Skyrim

Other than both having an open world, BOTW and Skyrim are so far from each other. It's apples and oranges in that regard. Love me some very HEAVILY modded Skyrim Requiem, which honestly, I can't even play Vanilla Skyrim anymore, it's so boring, whereas I can play BOTW with very little adjustments and enjoy it. Though tbf, on my most recent replay of BOTW I did mod in 5x longer weapon degradation and faster arrow velocity.

The game is kinda demanding! It's quite difficult navigating through the multiple hasard. From being underwater, into zero G space, into a sandstorm etc... getting used to the various weapons and hidden mechanic.

Can you tell what you dislike of 2 compared to the first ?

Honestly it's been so long I don't even remember much about it.

I should reinstall it and see if my feelings have changed.

 

[HYDE]

Easy mode for thread: List old games you have nostalgia for.

Hard mode for thread: List modern games with soul(has to be PS4 gen or higher).

Challenge accepted:

Bloodborne
Dark Souls 3
Sekiro
Nioh 1 & 2
Last Guardian
God of War
Uncharted 4 & LL
Last of Us 2
Resident Evil 2 Remake & 7
Zelda Breath of the Wild
Super Mario Odyssey
Splatoon 1 & 2
Hollow Knight 1
Ori 1 & 2

Hopefully Elden Ring, Silksong, RE8, RE4 Remake, R&C Rift Apart, God of War Ragnarok, and Ninja Gaiden 4* are full of soul also.

* Hopefully it is being made.

 

[fart town usa]

I'd say Dragon Quest 11. Lots of people are turned off by it's old school approach, but that's why it's so charming and resonates with so many people. It has tons of small details that are just charming as hell.

Resident Evil 2 remake as well. Capcom absolutely nailed it.

Xenoblade Chronicles X, the game is bonkers but that's what makes it so memorable. It just comes off as a total passion project and something that will likely never happen again. It's a total riot playing it.

ZombiU, people trash it but the developers nailed it and it's clear that they were passionate about the game and really wanted to create an experience that had been lacking in gaming for quite some time.

edit-

The Skate series, Black Box was clearly passionate and excited about bringing a truly unique skateboarding experience the the gaming world. Those games are incredible, endless entertainment. There's still YouTube channels dedicated to the games because they are open in the best sense of the world. You can pretty much do anything you want.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Halo Infinite has the soul of xbox in it.

 

[Rikku-X]

Disco Elysium

Its amazing how every single conversation you have with anybody is written so wonderfully. The way the character icons look that complements the weird in game models to the way the dialogue box is set on the hud. The way the music comes and goes during a convo.
Just had an hour interviewing a lady on a balcony and it was legit more involving than the 5 hours i spent shooting things in Outriders.

This, just the karaoke scene alone has more soul then any Ubisoft or EA game.

 

[lunnuyu]

Soulcalibur

 

[A Rifter in Space]

Trails in the Sky

 

[Reality Czar]

SOTC

Can't think of another game that made me empathize so much with the bosses. Every time you defeat one, that little cutscene plays, and it is so sad and strange. The ending of the game hits you with so many feelings. Just incredible.

 

[GeorgPrime]

By that, I mean games where developers put a lot of risks and passion-infused into them. These games transcend and evolve the gaming landscape in unexpected ways.

A lot of games are AAA productions with extremely large teams that often feel pedestrian. They feel like knocking off a checklist, feeling exploitative with microtransactions, games made with the idea to just make money or appease the corporate honchos above.

I like the good old days where you have small to medium teams working on a game, and if one developer thought there was a good idea they would create it and implement it into the game and the team would playtest around it.
There wasn't any approvals from management or getting feedback from playtesters. We saw what happened there, remember FUSE. Developers thought hey, this would be cool if and implement it in, rather than constant rejections in the AAA industry or by upper management who gets paid more then developers or who create assets for the game.
Games are reaching to a wider audience and it in that comes sacrifices. More games are targetting the minority of transgendered people, where Male and Female are now Type A or Type B. Characters are unfortunately iconically known for their sexual preference than their character development, sacrificing story in some regards.

Anyway, don't confuse budget and effort with soul. A game with a soul is one where attention is paid to in all areas, it was built from passion instead of exploitative business practices, and developers didn't suffer crunch or released a broken project.
It was a group of developers thinking they could build something special without approval from people who know nothing about video games.

Here are some examples of games with a soul:

Super Mario 64 - the first iconic 3d platformer
Banjo Kazooie - evolving the 3d platformer from super mario 64
Dark Souls - carefully crafted levels, attention to detail
Minecraft - digital lego
Monster Hunter - no loot boxes
Super Smash Bros. - fun game with special guests from the gaming universe, the avengers of video games
Dragon Age: Origins - awesome narrative
Mass Effect - awesome sci-fi narrative and choices.
Witcher 3- amazing
Journey - amazing short adventure, something to experience, embedded with metaphors.
Dead Space - One of the few games that did horror justice then they fucked up the series when corporate people exploited the fuck out of it in 3 with paid content in single-player when crafting. Jesus fuck.

These games when initially crafted sparked an idea and took risks to evolve the gaming landscape.
Now we have AAA productions that fail to meet our expectations and feel like lazy cash grabs such as:

Assassin's Creed franchise - auto-generated landscapes, muddled u.i all over the screen, yearly release, exploitative dlc, faster levelling up for money, chart for different versions.
Pokemon franchise - lazy as fuck with sword and shield, paid content, two versions, no effort in animations, garbage
Overwatch - lootboxes, fomo, fuck this crap,
Call of Duty - another one, holy fuck
Marvel Avengers - not the avengers game you want to play or imagine.

I'm sure the initial games were monumental when they initially released, then they rode the wave without much evolution and it became stale.

These games muddled the gaming landscape with microtransactions, gaming skins, FOMO, all of the exploitative business practices, they all lack a fucking soul.
You can tell if a game is lacking soul when it is turning to exploitative practices, it's a game as a service, or they get you hooked in bad ways where it is often beyond the $79.99 game + taxes, in Canada games are $79.99 and taxes here are 13%.
It's lazy as fuck when you see lazy reskins of a different colour selling for $15 a pop. Like Fuck you Marvel Avengers, you lazy fucking cunts, I hope you fail /rant

Anyway, what are some games that have a soul in them.

Literally the whole golden age of point & click adventures

 

[SEGA_2012]

Shenmue

 

[LectureMaster]

13 sentinels immediately comes to mind when speaking game having a soul. If you haven't, I sincerely recommend tying it out.

It is the experience that can never ever be replicated by any other games.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Well written Science fiction at it's best, if a game can make you feel something and make you think about the events that happend well after the credits roll then I guess it has soul..

 

[WizeVibez]

Outer Wilds
Death Stranding
Noita
S.T.A.L.K.E.R series

 

[zaanan]

Agree with a lot of answers here, plus:
Resistance 1
Resistance 3
Borderlands 1
Duke Nukem 3D

 

[iHaunter]

Demon's Souls and Nier: Automata

 

[T8SC]

Nothing since 2006.

Before that - Half Life, Doom, Resident Evil Remake, Morrowind, Super Mario Bros 3, Shadow Of The Beast 2, Turrican II & Final Fantasy VII.

 

[Belmonte]

Devil May Cry.

But despite Dante's efforts, it is a very dark soul unfortunately.

 

[Little Chicken]

Outer Wilds
Spiritfarer
Ori

 

[iorek21]

I partially disagree with the OP. Assassin's Creed franchise is a mixed bag, but some games have a LOT of soul, those being: AC1, AC2, Black Flag and Origins.

 

[bender]

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

Ah "soul" The buzz word everyone uses when they don't want to say "nostalgia".

 

[Raven117]

Neir. Persona 5. Morrowind.

Really, its game with a strong creative director that have souls....and not ones done by committee.

 

[ValiantTraveler]

I could mention a lot of games, but I’ll go with Fantasian. Between the meticulously crafted dioramas, the increasingly interesting story, the well directed cutscenes, and the beautiful music, it’s very charming and feels like a game I could’ve played in my childhood. Fantasian is wholesome and a joy to play — I can tell the people at Mistwalker had fun expressing themselves while making it.

 

[Rat Rage]

Soul:

1. You want to make an awesome game.
2. You want to make money

Soulless:

1. You want to make money
2. You think about what game or "product" can bring you the most money

 

[CitizenZ]

I dont really agree with anything here listed. A majority of them are well established dev. teams/franchises and some being copy paste sequels or more. A more appropriate term for what i think this thread wants to be is heart. Heart is from small dev teams(or single dev) risking everything in hopes of being successful, and if not they gave it their all and the end product was still good and sometimes great.

 

[MrS]

Cuphead and Death Stranding are labours of love and it shows. Two masterpieces. Beautiful games.

 

[SinDelta]

Long list but there are a lot of amazing games out there.

Spoiler: Soul

 

[Ten_Fold]

I would say pretty much every Nintendo IP. Their games usually feel complete and full of life.

 

[SinDelta]

Goes without saying but every Vanillaware Game.

 

[vodka-bull]

Celeste came to mind.

 

[Eric187]

Soul Caliber

 

[MasterDerico]

The list is looong, so only two examples;

Cuphead
Streets of Rage 4

 

[Eric187]

Red Dead Redemption 2 meticulous open world made with the same love a linear naughty dog game would get. The standard of all games until the next R* game

 

[wyvern_bloodfist]

Pandora's Tower
Folklore
Journey
Flower
Dragons Dogma
Demon's Soul (OG)
Eternal Darkness
Tenchu
Beyond The Beyond
Alundra
Just some of my personal favorites; they had a lot heart put into them by there devs. Much love

 

[Krizalidx11]

 

[Gone]

Both Ori games.

 

[Batiman]

Cuphead
Ori
Spelunky

 

[StreetsofBeige]

For its time, it didn't look bad. Although the game was unbalanced (dark side was way better as the Dragon was the best character and the light side's Phoenix was shit), but this game had character.

Even the cover art perfectly fit. The image I pasted looks like the shitty Apple II version I played.