Every gamer has those formative titles. The ones that did more than just entertain us; they defined us. They shaped our tastes, our habits, and sometimes even who we are outside of gaming. For some it was sneaking into brutal shooters we were far too young to play. For others it was losing hours to colourful adventures or competitive showdowns with friends.
In this article each of us at Respawning have picked three games that left the biggest mark on our gaming journeys. From childhood discoveries to teenage obsessions and adult rediscoveries, these are the games that made us the gamers we are today.
Alexx
The first game that made me has to be my first gaming experience ever: Pokémon Red. Despite the hardware limitations of a game released in the 90’s, this (and Blue / Yellow) was the ultimate power fantasy for an aspiring Trainer. Now, eight generations and totaling over 1000 Pokémon later, the core formula remains largely unchanged; even if the games themselves fluctuate wildly in quality. I might not be able to play Red anymore as I hugely prefer later generations but will always have fond memories of the original Pokémon games.
My second pick is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on PlayStation 2. Delivering what felt like the whole of Hogwarts at my fingertips, even if the main objective in my mind was collecting all the Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, when I wasn’t training my choice team of Pokémon on my Gameboy I was exploring the slimmed down version of Hogwarts that wouldn’t be fully realised until Hogwarts Legacy in 2023; my current favourite game of the generation.
Lastly, the GOAT of JRPG’s: Dark Cloud. I played the demo to death until I could get my hands on the game, and played through it multiple times when I eventually did. Dark Cloud and its spiritual successor Dark Chronicle were ported to PlayStation 4 in 2015, meaning I can still play them to my hearts content to this day!
LUKE
Resident Evil
I borrowed Resident Evil off my uncle when I was around 8 years old and hid it from my parents so that I could get back and play it before they confiscated it from me – stopping me from playing it for good. I told myself this game for 15 year olds won’t pose anything too scary for me and I definitely will be able to handle it… well I made it to the first Zombie that’s feeding and then turns it’s head and I ran off crying to my dad and then proceeded to hide behind the sofa watching him play as I acclimatised myself to the game
No media has scared me as much as that first Zombie did but damn if I haven’t chased that high ever since
Final Fantasy X
I received Final Fantasy X as a Christmas present from my brother and my immediate reply was: “Why have you got me this? I don’t like japanese games or these weird turnbased RPGS” and my mum said to stop being ungrateful and to just give it a go. With a sigh I said fine then… I will try this stupid game and I went up to my room at 7am and put the game into my PS2…
WELL 6 hours later I was so hooked that I almost missed christmas dinner and have since made Final Fantasy my entire personality. Good times
Silent Hill 2
After Resident Evil… nothing ever gave the same high ever again across the PlayStation 1 and then into the PS2 era. This was until I played Silent Hill 2, now because the remake is giving alot of gamers their first experience of the title, I am not going to say much more than this but this game scarred me for life
Colin
I want to be able to stop and say, I’m unique. Let’s face it, I’ve been writing for Respawning for years, and it’s been a long time since we’ve done something like this. I’ll be 37 soon, which means I’ve been adventuring through modern gaming since the days of the Mega Drive. The funny thing is, a lot of those early titles didn’t really stick with me. So, in true cheesy fashion, here are the three games that did. The ones that made me who I am today.
FINAL FANTASY
If you’ve been reading Respawning for a while, you’ll know I’ve got a soft spot for Final Fantasy. It all started back in 1997 when I was just 10 years old. Someone who worked with my dad — who also happened to be in a touring musical of Cats (yeah, what the hell?) — handed me a box full of PlayStation 1 games, demo discs, and magazines.
Buried in there was Final Fantasy VII. That game changed everything. It wasn’t just about battles and levelling up, it was about story, music, and characters that stuck with me for years. From then on, RPGs weren’t just a genre I liked, they were a core part of who I am. The end of disk 1, still makes me cry. I’m listening to the music while writing this, right in the honey nut feelios.
ZELDA
Where Final Fantasy gave me sprawling worlds and complicated plots, Zelda was pure adventure. While The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time wasn’t my first, that goes to the Philips CD-i games. I still remember the magic of stepping into Hyrule for the very first time. It was the sense of freedom, of discovery, of finding secrets tucked away just for me. It wasn’t just about getting from A to B, it was about everything in between — exploring, solving puzzles, messing around with mechanics until something clicked.
This was the beauty of Ocarina of Time back when it launched, the game felt massive, open-world before that was even a unique selling point in games.
MONSTER HUNTER
Fast forward a bit and you get to Monster Hunter. This one was less about nostalgia and more about obsession. The grind, the hunts, the sheer satisfaction of finally taking down a beast with friends, I remember late nights, Pizza Hut and Monster Hunter on PSP with Mr Rich. It got its claws into me hard. Monster Hunter taught me patience, timing, and that sometimes the best victories aren’t the ones you achieve alone.
TONY
Being one of the older members of the team, my games and genres have been fairly mixed over the almost 30 years in gaming, dating back to the original Snes, Amstrad, Sega and even the birth of the founding of pc computer gaming which has shaped the multitude of the gaming industry we know today, so here is my take on some of the games that not only shaped the gamer i am today, but even a little of the industry as a whole as we know it .
Gauntlet (Oct 1985)
One of the very first hack and slash games out there with multiple characters to choose from and some multiplayer options as well, nothing beat growing up as a kid as the words LAN Party round at your friend’s house, prior to the days of internet and dial up. Gauntlet paved the way for numerous genres from roguelike to standard RPG with its dungeon crawling hack and slash, combined with some of the original dungeon master pre-recorded voice files for basic interactions it even today holds both replay ability and nostalgia in abundance.
Zork the Grand Inquisitor (Oct 1997)
Zork was a grand entry into the RPG puzzle verse, albeit ahead of its time, the game had numerous puzzles and challenges, various quips and humor from your lantern, and the various array of video cutscenes with various actors from the late 80’s and early 90’s, the game was fun, challenging and a stepping stone for the genre at the time, along with other heavy weights like Myst, it was a great early addition to Activision’s lineup during the early 90’s rebrand.
Asherons Call (November 1999)
Whilst there were many MMO releases in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, games like Everquest, Asherons call and ultima online were my main go to games, this was before the world of warcraft craze that kicked in by mid 2004-2005, the true first early MMORPG to the genre and that defined and captured the magical worlds that we have all come to know and love. Asherons call was new, it was refreshing and most of all it did not hold your hand with modern day quest systems, from the integration of the first mods to the game to assist with spells, or online Wikipedia dedicated to everything the player base had found i.e Maggies, just to be able to find all 30+ steps required just for a single quest objective in order to progress, the game provided everything with a challenge, which we take for granted in today’s modern games.
Mr Rich
Hey everyone, I’m Rich. I’m new here at Respawning and just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to read this. I put a lot of myself into my writing and hope you find it entertaining and insightful!
Monster Hunter Series
I fondly remember playing Monster Hunter for the first time on my PS2 and after about 30 minutes exclaiming “This game sucks.” About 3 months later after thinking about it I begrudgingly picked up my controller and gave it one more chance. What came next was the biggest turning point in my life as far as gaming was concerned. I Was Hooked!
I recall as the years passed I picked up a PSP with my friends, Colin among them and visiting their houses for intense weekend gaming sessions of Monster Hunter Freedom 2. Later still Monster Hunter Tri released on Wii where I enjoyed playing with friends from home using online play. Monster Hunter remains my favourite gaming franchise and that’s in no small part due to the memories I hold onto from so long ago.
Warcraft Universe
As a kid I played Warcraft: Orcs & Humans on my dads Windows 98, I had no idea what I was doing. Some time later I recall sitting in a neighbours house playing their Playstation and being mesmerised by Warcraft 2: The Dark Saga. A few years on and I was standing in Electronics Boutique in Plymouth City Centre, staring at the back of a video game case labeled Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos. It looked cool so I took it home and instantly fell in love with it. I was blown away! Arthas’ story in particular may have been the first moment a game made me feel an emotional pang. That woke me up to the realization that games can be so much more than just fun to play, done well they can make you feel.
Then in 2004 I heard that Warcraft was expanding into the MMO genre, I was instantly locked in on playing that game, though my PC at the time couldn’t run it. I managed to play it over Friends houses and on occasion with my Dad’s PC. To this day I’m still playing and enjoying WoW, so much so that after writing this I might have to dive into a couple delves!
Dynasty Warriors Series
A friend I used to go to school with invited me to a sleepover where we played Dynasty Warriors 2. I never played anything like it, I knew this was something I wanted to play more of. I remember not being able to find the game anywhere, however a few years later I found a copy of Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends. I played that game for what felt like years!
Another very close friend from school owned a copy of Dynasty Warriors 4, the next entry into the series. We stayed up many nights both over at his house and at mine, cutting through waves and waves of enemies.
These core memories led me into picking up almost every subsequent game in the series. Earlier this year I enjoyed the most recent entry Dynasty Warriors: Origins on PS5 and I eagerly await whatever the next game in the series will entail!
Salman
Megaman and Bass
I remember the first game I played so clearly. My brother handed me a Purple Gameboy Advanced and on it was Megaman and Bass – I was barely a human when I first played it and thought it was the greatest thing to ever exist. Years later, it’s not that great – I don’t know how I beat it cause I sure as hell can’t now without some Emulator tricks. Everything from the music, visuals characters and presentation made me an instant fan of the Blue Bomber for years to come, even though I exclusively played Bass.
Hollow Knight
Since Silksong has just crashed into our living rooms, I’ve been thinking a lot about how and when I was playing it. It was a rough time, the only way I coped was by playing Hollow Knight and becoming fully immersed in it’s world, its characters and immaculate game design. Hollow Knight you will always be famous.
Devil May Cry 3
This is the game that taught me the rule of cool. It cannot be understated how important this game is for the Action Genre as well as how future games inspired by DMC3 design their progression and pacing. The rule of cool is so deeply ingrained in this games design, from Secret Mission, Distortions and learninf you could play the final fight in co-op all add to how full this game felt. Even now, I revisit this game with my jaw on the floor at how complete a game this feels.
Clarissa
Rugrats search for Reptar
I absolutely loved this game as a child, you basically went around the house and searched for objects that would take you to one of the levels, the levels were different I remember the mini golf the best. There was also bonus levels as well. But the aim of the game was to find all of the missing puzzle pieces for Tommy’s reptar puzzle. I think this is where my love for exploring and puzzle based games began, whilst the pickles household is a small area to explore in comparison to today’s games, I still remember it to be challenging and fun (I was a child).
Similarly aged game would be spyro gateway to glimmer, or riptos rage in different regions.
This I think is where my love for a good story based game with puzzles and a little exploration was really cemented. I remember playing this game for hours! I loved it then and I love it now, I still play the remakes now
Animal crossing: wild world.
This was the first animal crossing I played and I remember logging into it religiously every day, I remember trying to make the perfect snowmen in winter and collecting for my museum and all the fun things you do in animal crossing games. This is the game that for me really started my cozy game obsession as I’m sure it did for many others.