What games were turning points for you?

[Buck]

Personally, a few come to mine that shifted my taste.

• Lost Planet: this was the first game that really got me into multiplayer shooters and gaming in general. Being able to pilot a mech, navigate the map using grappling hooks, being able to play as Akrids in multiplayer opened up a lot of different ways to play. Also the taunts added plenty of humor to the game.
• Metal Gear Solid 4: arguably the best single player of any game I've ever played, actually got me interested in games with expansive stories. It was a great break from CoD at the time.
• Team Fortress 2 & Gmod: both of these games converted me into a pc gamer. Custom servers were great and the quirkiness of both of them keep me hooked to this day.

 

[Volley]

System Shock (1994, Origin Systems, Looking Glass Studios, Electronic Arts).

First Person Shooters were changed forever after this game was released, and funny enough, DooM also changed everything barely a year earlier.

 

[Gvaedyn]

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat. First online game I played, back when the PS2 needed an adaptor to connect online and I had no idea how computers, internet etc worked. I spent many hours on that game and it was great for it's time. I wish they'd do a remake, quite honestly. A shout-out to Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory for being another gem.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion introduced me to open-world RPG's. I never knew anything like it existed, and was gob-smacked for how beautiful and large the game was. I spent ages reading the manual! Admittedly, I only bought it because I like the idea of hunting deer in the woods.

Final Fantasy XIII introduced me to the franchise and made me tear up. For all it's faults, I think it's great!

Killing Floor introduced me to PC Gaming. I haven't looked back since.

 

[McStabStab]

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion introduced me to open-world RPG's. I never knew anything like it existed, and was gob-smacked for how beautiful and large the game was. I spent ages reading the manual! Admittedly, I only bought it because I like the idea of hunting deer in the woods.

This 100% - my roommate introduced it to me in college and it quite possibly is the reason I'm a PC gamer to this day.

CS & CS:GO: My CS games have more hours on Steam than any of the other titles. I remember playing cs_desert back in 1999 at my local LAN pay-per-minute hub. This was the true beginning of PVP for me.

The Culling: My first foray into Battle Royale style combat. All I knew was I didn't want to stop playing it... until PUBG came around.

Battlefield 1942: I don't think this really needs explanation.

There are many more but I feel like the PvP / Multiplayer ones were the real game changers for me (besides Oblivion).

 

[Dan]

Medal of Honor Allied Assault - This was the first game where I really got invested in the community. I would come home from school every day and join the same server, play with the same people.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - The first game I played on X360. How realistic the graphics were compared to my PS2 made my jaw drop

The Elder Scrolls Oblivion - Probably the first open world 3D game I played where you could go wherever you wanted. I remember standing on a hill miles away from the Imperial City, and I said to my dad 'You can walk all the way over to there if you wanted to'. I hadn't played many RPGs like this before (only top down CRPGs).

 

[Zloth]

Graphics-wise? Doom was a big leap forward. Then Crysis leapt even further. 3D Vision isn't a game but seeing that for the first time was another leap. VR should do the next one if it can get a killer app and I can find a headset that can work with my nasty prescription lenses.

Myst for using CDs instead of those little floppy disks.

Wing Commander 4's intro was the first thing that really made me think games could be big budget

 

[MatBane]

Battlefield 1942 hands down. I went from single player only to mostly multiplayer just like that.

 

[brad]

gmod was one of the biggest things to push me into pc gaming. it was a simple game, but it was nothing like anything id experienced before. to this day its still one of the more unique games out there

 

[MacLeod]

I'm gonna go way back here to One on One with Larry Bird and Dr J. I had been playing Atari 2600 games for about a year and went to a friend's house who had a Commodore 64 and that was the first game I saw. I could not believe the graphics quality and game play! I had to have a Commodore 64 and bugged my parents for one all year and scored one for Christmas 83 lol....been a PC gamer ever since.

 

[DesolationGod]

the mass effect and fallout series really got me into RPGs, prior to that i was more into shooters/racers/sports games primarily.

 

[MeFirst]

Super Meat Boy, which brought back my love and interest of Platformers.

The original Red Orchstra Mod for Unreal Tournament, which introduced me to so called "realism fps" (most of them are actually not that realistic).

Unreal 1 pointed me towards multiplayer fps.

 

[JC_Denton]

The original Red Orchstra Mod for Unreal Tournament, which introduced me to so called "realism fps" (most of them are actually not that realistic).



Unreal 1 pointed me towards multiplayer fps.

UT99 introduced me to PC gaming, still a hell of alotta fun playing Face CTP with snipers today for a nostalgic revisit

 

[Cooper88]

Team Fortress Classic for the original Half Life showed me just how much fun multiplayer games could be. That game was a considerable part of my youth.

 

[6BQ5]

Pac-Man in 1983 on my Atari 800 because it felt like a fast action game to a little kid in the early 80s. It also looked super cool compared to the crap 2600 version.

M.U.L.E. on my Atari 800 in 1984 because that was the first game that wasn't a "dumb" arcade game.

Test Drive on my Atari ST in 1989 because it felt so real to a tween-ager. I got to drive a car!

Mega-Maze, a PD clone of Dandy, that I also played in the late 80's, maybe early 90's. It was the first large world immersive experience for me. Moving between mazes and levels was cool!

The original Castle Wolfenstein because it was my first FPS quickly followed by DOOM soon after.

Those games blew my mind and changed my world view.

 

[Johnway]

I'm sure there are loads but here are 2 that are my defining moments. For FPS games anyway.

Doom - Blew my mind away when i was a kid. The graphics looked great and the controls were simple and intuitive and made for an entertaining game.

half life: When all games were just a bunch of maps and a corridor shooter, half life changed everything weaving narrative and action together. It was full of awesome ideas, areas and set pieces.

 

[Sarafan]

Fallout and Planescape Torment changed my approach to RPG games. The first two Fallout games did that to RPG genre in overall and Planescape Torment changed my approach to fantasy RPGs. If it wasn't for this three games I'd probably be a different player today.

 

[Zloth]

M.U.L.E. on my Atari 800 in 1984 because that was the first game that wasn't a "dumb" arcade game.

Did you ever play Spore long enough to get into space? I got to one planet and some music started playing. I knew that song! I could sing along with it immediately but I couldn't remember where it was from. I knew there weren't any words to it so it was probably a game's song, but what? After about 5 minutes it hit me.

 

[Inspireless Llama]

Dota 2 made me switch from console to PC in 2014. For some reason that's still unclear to me I started playing Dota 2. But it made that I had a steam account and started building a library where I still haven't played 90% of the games from. It also caused me to buy my first gaming PC and build one after.

I did play some PC games before but the years prior I mainly used a PS3.

 

[Frindis]

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion introduced me to open-world RPG's. I never knew anything like it existed and was gob-smacked for how beautiful and large the game was.

My jaws dropped the first time I played Oblivion and exited the sewer starting area. I stood there for minutes just enjoying the fantastic view.

 

[BornAgainPCGamer]

Playing the original Duke Nukem on PC for the first time. I was about 10 years old and was hooked instantly. I knew then and there i had to get my own PC.

Playing Morrowind for the first time. I knew from just hearing the music at the menu screen i was in for something special. It was my 1st ES game experience and my, oh my, was it a great one. I had never experienced anything like it.

MGS...This was on my ps1 but it was my introduction to the Metal Gear franchise, like many others I'm sure and it didn't disappoint. I was gripped from start to finish.

The Legacy of Kain and Soul Reaver franchise..got its hooks in me bad as well.

I mean were do i stop there have been so many fantastic and unique gaming experiences in my life, i could literally go on and on. There are so many that have been influential and while not exactly marked a turning point, they in one way or another, raised the bar for what i could experience in a video game.

Baldurs Gate 1+2
Planescape Torment
The Dark Forces franchise
Resident Evil franchise
Vampire TM Redemption + Bloodlines
Aliens vs Predator franchise
Swat 3+4
Thief 1+2
Delta Force
Knights of the Old Republic
Mass Effect

There is literally too many to name. Great question by the way.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

I have been gaming so long it's hard to pick a definitive point that I would call a turning point. It always seems like every time I turned around there was another game waiting to blow me away. I guess I kinda have to go at this backwards and say that my earliest experience with strategy games turned me off them altogether. I didn't like them back then and I still don't care for them today.

 

[AlyxTrace]

Halo: CE // Demo // Silent Cartographer

I had played games made before the 1st Halo, but nothing got me more invested as a kid than that demo, to the point that i know the dialogue for that level so darn well, jumping around the island in the Warthog and finding new ways to complete that open ended level was what convinced me that gaming was something i wanted to persue

"You Know Our Motto: We Deliver" - Echo 419

 

[GaminGOAB]

0A.D. was my first multiplayer RTS and i got addicted AF to the genre. Looking forward to similar rts AOE4 that will go out in 2020.
WA was my first mmorpg of unusual type and I got addicted AF. Was shutdown though. Looking forward to similar games.

 

[mkultrafanboy]

visiting the Disney World server in Minecraft. That was one of the best moments I've ever had in gaming. Such a wholesome, innocent, happy server.

 

[firefly]

When I was a kid, and all I knew were consoles, then I got Championship Manager 2 for my parents' PC. After that, I just loved that genre where I can get lost in stats and numbers.