Over quarantine, many of us spent lots of time inside with nothing but our emotions and our computers. I myself am guilty of spending most of that time exploring video games, some new and some older. This article highlights a few of my favorites I found during that time, and I hope if you play them yourselves you’ll love them just as much as I do.

Detroit: Become Human

This one is really an interesting game. “Detroit: Become Human” is a story-based game that centers three starkly different characters. The game is set in Detroit, Michigan in 2023. This is a wild future environment that is very similar to the 2004 hit film, “I, Robot,” starring Will Smith. In this world, many humans have their own personal robots. These robots, called androids in the game, are very human-like, causing them to almost look like people, apart from their uniform and glowing blue LED on the temple of their head. The game’s user interface switches between each different character and you are faced with the challenge of making decisions for these androids.

Kara, one of the androids you play as, is a domestic caretaker android, tasked with the role of nanny and housemaid. She is owned by Todd, a drug-addicted father of a young girl named Alice. When playing Kara, you’ll experience many gut-wrenching scenes with Alice and Todd. Quantic Dream does a great job of telling a strong and compelling story and making the audience really understand each character’s motive, especially Kara’s.

Connor, another android you play as, is an android whose main duty is to help the Detroit Police Department in investigating “deviant” androids. Deviants are categorized as androids that go against their original programming, whether this is through killing their owners or even just running away. While playing Connor, you’ll experience many exciting chase scenes with his partner, Lieutenant Hank Anderson. It’s always really exciting to see a story from the perspective of the villain, and Connor’s storyline is very interesting.

Last but not least, Markus, yet another android, is the caretaker of a famous painter, Carl Manfred. Markus sees Carl as a father figure, and that causes him to be a very important part of Markus’ storyline. Playing as Markus allows you to go on many different adventures in your journey to lead the Android revolution.

“Detroit: Become Human,” in my opinion, is one of the best modern story games to hit the market. Released in April of 2018, you can find Detroit on Steam for $39.99 or play the demo for free. It is also in the PlayStation Store for $19.99. If anyone were to ask me what my favorite game was, I would probably say “Detroit: Become Human.” I think Quantic Dream does an amazing job of being able to tell the stories of these characters while also leaving room for very nuanced topics to come to light. The sound design and the score for the game are perfectly crafted to aid in the storytelling; I honestly find myself listening to the soundtrack to fall asleep and do homework, it is just that good. This game really is a 9/10 in my opinion.

Valorant

“Valorant” has very quickly become one of my favorite games to play with friends. “Valorant” is a team-oriented first-person shooter game where each team’s goal is to defend or attack the “spike”. The spike, similar to “CS:GO”’s bomb, is…well… it’s a bomb. Your goal on the attacker’s side is to be able to plant the spike and eliminate the enemy team to allow for the spike to explode.

While on the attacker’s side, the defenders will be attempting to eliminate your entire team to keep you from planting, or, they will be trying to defuse the spike to win the round. Every month they incorporate new, fun game modes to switch up the classic and competitive versions. For example, spike rush is a shortened version of the classic game mode, called “unrated.” In spike rush, the goals for the attack and defensive sides are the same, but instead of going first to 12 wins, it’s first to four wins. Also unique to spike rush, you will not be able to buy the weapons you want. At the beginning of each round, both teams are given the same weapon, with the difficulty increasing each round. For example, in round one you might start with a simple pistol, but by round four you will probably have an automatic weapon.

“Valorant” is one of my favorites; maybe you’ll love it too if you give it a try. You can download “Valorant” for free on their website.

House Flipper

“House Flipper” is one of those really underappreciated games out there. In this game, you play as an amateur house flipper, hired to do tasks ranging from cleaning garages to fully remodeling houses. This game can be really relaxing to just play after a long day of doing work or even to avoid doing your chores in real life. I find that after a couple of minutes of playing this game I am inspired to pick up a broom and get in some real house chores.

One feature in this game that I love is the ability to have some freedom with the choices of paint and decoration when you’re flipping these houses. Another thing I love is that you will seemingly never run out of jobs to do. Every time you finish a job, you come home to four or five new jobs in your virtual inbox. Also, if you don’t like following the instructions and you want to have complete creative control over how you decorate a house, you can buy a house and flip it. That way, you can decorate, or not decorate, a house however you like. Then once you’re finished decorating the house you bought, you can sell it and buy a new one. This game is very simple and not very time-consuming, meaning you can get a lot done in even one 30 minute session, which I love because you don’t always have a lot of time to play games after a full day of work at GALA.

This game can also be found on Steam for $24.99, but is frequently on sale for as much as 75% off!

Tell Me Why

I am a huge fan of the “Life is Strange” franchise, so when I heard the creators were making another game I just had to check it out. “Tell Me Why” is another decision based, story game, similar to “Detroit: Become Human.” You play as a pair of twins, Tyler and Alyson, who are on the journey to discover the truth about their troubled childhood, years later. You’ll journey into the minds of these characters to discover the differences in how they recall key memories from their childhood, and to ultimately decide who remembered it correctly. “Tell Me Why” has multiple fun games and puzzles integrated into the story, as these two were very creative in their youth, and loved to go on adventures in their own little worlds.

In 2021, the game was free for pride month, as one of the main characters, Tyler, is transgender. I am not sure if the game will be free again this year but if not, you can see prices on the download page on Steam.

Life is Strange 2

Controversial opinion incoming! “Life is Strange 2” is my favorite of the three released games in the series, with “Life is Strange 3: True Colors” being my second favorite, and “Life is Strange” being my least favorite. I just seem to really connect with the main characters, Sean and Daniel Diaz, more than I can with Max Caulfield, the protagonist in the first game in the series, “Life is Strange.”

All that being said, “Life is Strange 2” is yet another decision-based story game, centering the two aforementioned brothers. Sean and Daniel Diaz are a pair of brothers whose lives are changed by a run-in with the police. One afternoon, 16-year-old Sean is preparing to go to a party with his friend Lyla when he hears a kerfuffle outside. He finds his younger brother in an altercation with their racist neighbor when the police are called by a neighbor. When the police arrive to assess the situation, the brothers’ father comes outside and is berated by the police. Daniel, clearly upset by the situation, accidentally causes a horrible accident to occur, killing their father.

As the player, you get to control Sean and dictate his decisions when it comes to his brother as you fight to protect him while the both of you are on the run from the police. You’re traveling south from Seattle, all the way down to Puerto Lobos, a small beach town in Mexico that the boys’ father talked about for as long as they could remember.

“Life is Strange 2” is available on many different platforms.

Beyond Two Souls

Last but not least, “Beyond Two Souls.” I’m not sure if you can tell yet but I really enjoy decision-based story games, and this is yet another one that ends up in my top 10 favorites. This one, made by the same studio that made “Detroit: Become Human,” has a star-studded cast. Starring Elliot Page and Willem Dafoe, this story follows Jodie Holmes (Elliot Page), in her adventure in discovering and understanding herself.

Nevertheless, she struggles with having a connection with a separate entity, one that partially controls her. Many experiments were done on Jodie in her youth, causing her to have a severe distrust of most people. Explore new places around the world as you navigate her differences with others. Your decisions have a massive impact on the story and the outcome of the story, so choose wisely. Quantic Dream has always done a fantastic job of incorporating interesting psychological implications of characters and Jodie is a perfect example of this.

You can also find this game on Steam.

Concluding Thoughts

Something I chose not to mention earlier was the controversy surrounding Quantic Dream and their politics. As a brief synopsis of the issue, many Quantic Dream staff reported instances of racist, sexist, and homophobic experiences with administration and other employees. This included photoshopped images of employees in Nazi uniforms. Another thing that many find offensive is the way that they depicted concentration camps in the game “Detroit: Become Human.” In one storyline, if you play as Kara and get caught by the U.S. Army trying to flee America, you will be sent to a camp where you are deactivated and sent to a dump to be deconstructed. Now, people are not complaining that this imagery is too graphic, people are rightfully upset that it seems that Quantic Dream lightly brushed over the fact that they were concentration camps and didn’t fully address the issue with careful consideration of the people that were involved. Many players were greatly offended that a French company was depicting something so similar to the Holocaust when France denies having such a large part in the Holocaust itself.

Similarly, the lead writer of Detroit, David Cage, has gotten himself into trouble as well. Many Quantic Dream staff members have filed complaints regarding inappropriate behavior, exploiting staff, and “promoting a culture in which misogynistic and racist jokes thrived,” according to FanByte. This has caused many people within the gaming community to boycott his games and anything related to Quantic Dream, rightfully so.
Well, those were some of my favorite games over the years. As you can see, I really enjoy story games. I think that most of the time these games play out like movies and that makes them incredibly entertaining. Now take everything I say with a grain of salt because you might find that you don’t like any of these games, but I think it would be nice for everyone to explore something they’ve never heard of before. I hope you all at least try some of these games and enjoy them.