There are personal preferences or toward someone with a certain taste. Everyone got a certain taste, it can not be helped. Iconic to me would mean if a game is able to pass a certain quality, either at a very unique spot or in general, simply a game able to "set a certain special mark in its genre".
In this term i can only point at the outstanding games at a certain genre.
Which is:
JRPG: Legend of Heroes Series and the YS series, everything available on GoG now.
RPG: Witcher 3, Baldurs Gate 3 and Grim Dawn, with Horizon Zero Dawn having some special place in my heart°
Retro Style 2D RPG: Chained Echoes and Cross Code are surely outstanding
Horror Adventure: Alan Wake, Beyond Two Souls and Silent Hill 4 are among the best of them. Probably as well Resident Evil 1-3, which got no bundle discount on many countries... "it is just to good".
Open World RPG: Guess not hard to say, Morrowind and Skyrim... just do not forget to use mods, tons of it, a huge work.
2D Action Adventure (kinda comparable to Metroidvania): Hollow Knight and Bloodstained: Ritual are surely at the very edge. Honorable mention for Frontier Hunter Erza with its general "art direction" i enjoy a lot.
C RPG (games primarily designed for PC, may lack pad support) Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, Dragon Age Origins, Divinity II and the true classics "Star Wars KotoR 1&2: Will need lot of modding but there might be a remake soon".
C Action Adventure (this time with no or low RPG elements): Thief 2 The Metal Age and Vampire the Masquerade
Action Adventure: Huge genre but the Tomb Raider Series, God of War and Shadow Man Remastered is at the top. Worth to mention: Yakuza and "Like a Dragon"-Series, although GoG is struggling getting the newest releases so far.
Abstract 2D Action Adventure: New and rather difficult to describe genre, which has been evolved from a certain minimalist design. Not huge yet but the best of them are "Hyper Light Drifter" and "Unsighted".
Space Shooter: "Freespace 2" is surely the all time classics which, when played with mods... is till the newest age, still a milestone any other games of this genre may have to watch out for. From the newest release it clearly is Everspace 2 with its in many term unique approach, outstanding almost fully handcrafted°° graphic and combat... but a rather weak story. No Mans Sky as an special example of a game where everything is procedurally generated, perhaps in the now most refined way we ever had on any game. °°Everspace 2 got procedurally generated stuff too but only inside a Leviathan which is part of the endgame, as i said a very interesting game.
Space Sim: A rather niche genre but it is clearly the "X-series", especially X3 and X4. Astrox Imperium got potential but unfortunately no one knows if the dev will ever continue developing it.
RPG Shooter: Deus Ex (there is a great mod), Control Ultimate Edition and Days Gone as good examples.
Shooter: System Shock 1+2, Stalker-series and Metro-series.
Retro Style Shooter (minimalist design recreated): Dusk and Amid Evil
Strategy/Tactics: Civ 3 + 4 and Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga
RTS: Supreme Commander (Multiplayer with Fanservers available) and a RTS with a unique sound design "Dark Reign 2", playable on LAN.
Jump and Run: Phoenotopia Awakening, Freedom Planet and Owlboy.
Visual Sim: Life is Strange CE, The Walking Dead
J-Visual Sim: Opus CE and Evenicle
J-Visual Novel: BaldrSky and Full Metal Muramasa.
Arcade: KoF Series, Space Ranger HD
Puzzle: The Talos Principle, Disco Elysium and Battle Chief Brigade
Isometric CRP: Baldurs Gate 1+2 Classic (either with mods or the remaster), Titan Quest and Tyranny.
°Aloys roots is that of an outcast, someone barely accepted or understood by society, yet she slowly was able to slowly lurk into the heart of a huge crowd. Kinda my own situation in many terms.
Post edited September 29, 2024 by Xeshra