The video games we’re most grateful for this Thanksgiving

It is the time of 12 months when everybody’s speaking quite a bit about gratitude. However video games appear to hardly ever come up in these conversations, regardless of their important private and cultural impression. So, within the spirit of the season, eight of us at Polygon received collectively to create an inventory of the video games we’re grateful to have performed. It is not an exhaustive listing, after all — we might be right here all day if that had been the case. As a substitute, we every picked one recreation that we really feel fortunate to have skilled.

Some titles launched a brand-new recreation mechanic, some modified your complete business perpetually, and a few merely generated fond reminiscences. However all of them have earned a particular place in our hearts, and are undoubtedly value taking for a spin should you’ve but to expertise them your self!

These are the video games we’re grateful for.

Kingdom Hearts (2002)

I’m grateful for Kingdom Hearts on such a stage that I take into consideration how grateful I’m for this recreation on a weekly foundation. My finest pal’s older brother — the one who first received each of us into JRPGs — was the one who informed us about it. My pal received the sport first and instantly demanded I observe go well with. I’d heard the legends of Sephiroth and Kefka however had by no means really performed a Ultimate Fantasy recreation, and naturally, I grew up on Disney motion pictures. The second that iconic intro hit — the PlanitB “Easy and Clear” remix, Riku within the ocean with a large wave behind him, Sora falling into darkness — I used to be a fan for all times.

It’s the primary approach I really fought Sephiroth, and that second went on to dictate my exploration into the Ultimate Fantasy collection, a franchise I now maintain very expensive. It taught me the worth of friendship and easy methods to be a greater particular person. It taught me, as an grownup, to guard my gentle as a result of it is likely one of the issues that make me uniquely particular. It’s a supply of energy. The primary recreation is sensible in its simplicity, leaning on broad, common themes, very like Star Wars with its gentle and darkish sides, earlier than the collection later turned delightfully tangled in its personal lore.

I used to be 12 once I first performed the sport in 2002, and I’m now 35; a closeted Disney Grownup who makes enjoyable of Disney Adults, with greater than two Kingdom Hearts tattoos and one other on the way in which. Bless you, Justin and Jared, and sure, even you, Tetsuya Nomura. —Isaac Rouse

And Roger (2025)

I knew And Roger was a couple of dementia affected person earlier than I began, however I did not count on it to be fairly so figuring out. Within the first 5 minutes, it creates the uncanny sensation of being adrift in a actuality you vaguely acknowledge, however cannot perceive, simply by asking you a set of straightforward questions you’ll be able to’t reply. You are compelled to pursue irrational strains of thought and do issues that do not make sense as frustration mounts and panic rises in the beginning shatters and you find yourself someplace far-off.

And Roger even recreates issues that the majority media depictions of dementia by no means hassle to, like the truth that you progressively lose management of your physique, so issues like sitting up in mattress grow to be a bewildering activity of seemingly Herculean scale. I wanted a break after seeing that, which set the sample for a way I performed And Roger — 10-15 minute bursts earlier than having to cease, else danger being bodily sick.

For many of my 20s, my mom and I had been live-in caregivers for my maternal grandparents, who each had dementia. And Roger made me bear in mind moments I by no means need to take into consideration once more and unearth emotions I’ve slowly buried for the final decade. And I am glad it did. These are the sorts of experiences nobody else can perceive until they’ve gone by means of it themselves, and if they’ve, there is a fairly good likelihood they do not need to, or cannot, speak about it. That is the purpose of storytelling, to present title and voice to the issues in ourselves we barely perceive and do not know what to do with. To remind us we aren’t alone. —Josh Broadwell

Outer Wilds (2019)

Outer Wilds is a recreation that you could solely totally expertise as soon as. It’s so distinctive that you simply’ll want you possibly can wipe your reminiscence simply to have a style of its universe another time, however all good issues should come to an finish. Such is likely one of the many themes of Outer Wilds. As you discover the photo voltaic system and uncover its tragic mysteries, you study — and are possibly compelled — to grab the day, but additionally should settle for that issues don’t at all times work straight away. Generally, while you’re dealing with an issue, it may be solved instantaneously. Generally, it’ll require a multistep course of. And generally, it’ll span generations. But, nevertheless massive an issue could seem, you’ll be glad that you simply stopped and smelled the pine bushes alongside the way in which.

I’m grateful for Outer Wilds, not just for being one in every of my favourite video games, however for reminding me that generally it’s not the tip of the world should you’ve roasted your marshmallow to smithereens. That’s only one puffed cylinder from a pack of many extra similar to it, and it’s going to be smushed between two graham crackers and a chunk of chocolate anyway. —Johnny Yu

Fallout 76 (2018)

I am grateful for Fallout 76, which I could not have predicted. I am a large Fallout fan, however the MMO offshoot by no means caught my curiosity till I replayed the franchise earlier this 12 months. As soon as I completed Fallout 4 (which nonetheless is not nice), I nonetheless wished to play in that world, so I made a decision to lastly attempt Fallout 76 in earnest. I wasted approach too lengthy not enjoying this recreation.

No matter its state at launch, Fallout 76 is a incredible addition to the Fallout franchise that fills the post-apocalyptic-shaped gap in my coronary heart. And should you’re a fan of Fallout lore like I’m, it is turning into an more and more necessary piece of the general story. The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) arrives in Fallout 76 in December. I’ve by no means been happier about being so improper a couple of recreation —Chris Hayner

Dragon Age 2 (2011)

If BioWare’s dark-gritty RPG Dragon Age: Origins made you’re feeling like a hero as a Gray Warden, its sequel Dragon Age 2 was desperate to remind you of the price of being one. Stepping again from the epic trappings of Origins, BioWare’s sequel put you within the footwear of Hawke, a Ferelden refugee who flees to the town of Kirkwall to start a brand new life with their household. Alongside the way in which, Hawke makes new mates, misfits and outsiders every person, and tackles every drawback that comes knocking on the town of Kirkwall’s doorways.

Whereas not as critically acclaimed as Origins or Inquisition, Dragon Age 2 stays expensive to my coronary heart due to how its smaller scope allowed you to concentrate on the tragedy of the Hawke household and the way that runs parallel to the tragic downfall of Kirkwall over 10 years. It is probably not the epic excessive fantasy journey you are in search of, however should you’re after a character-driven RPG and an intriguing backdrop the place everybody is aware of your title, Dragon Age 2 suits the invoice. —Aimee Hart

Slay the Spire (2019)

The streamer Northernlion as soon as stated, “If we’re indexing it to what the common recreation prices versus what I’d describe as the worth of the common recreation, Slay the Spire ought to in all probability price as a lot as a Toyota Camry,” and I utterly agree. It’s arguably one of the genre-defining video games of all time, being one of many first to digitize the deckbuilding components of tabletop video games like Dominion and pepper in a roguelike aspect.

With a whole lot of hours below my belt attending to know the playing cards and enemies, popping right into a run after a protracted day looks like a heat, acquainted hug. But, concurrently, it’s a recreation that I’m grateful to nonetheless study new issues from and discover new surprises in, even after a lot time with it. —Deven McClure

Ultimate Fantasy 8 (1999)

Very similar to voice actor Ben Starr, I’m extremely grateful for the indelible Ultimate Fantasy 8, a stable however underappreciated entry within the collection — largely simply because it’s overshadowed by Ultimate Fantasy 7 and Ultimate Fantasy 9.

I used to be 10 or 11 when I discovered my older cousin’s copy of Ultimate Fantasy 8. Up till that time, my gaming weight loss program had virtually solely consisted of lighter platformers, journey video games, and beat-’em-ups on the N64 and Sega Saturn. However I had not too long ago gotten a PlayStation 1 and was hungry for one thing new. I didn’t even know that long-form cinematic storytelling existed in video games at such a excessive caliber till I booted up Ultimate Fantasy 8 and commenced enjoying. To say it blew my thoughts is an understatement. The sport translated the lengthy, lore-heavy fantasy novels I beloved studying to the display screen for an interactive and immersive expertise with beautiful graphics and a narrative that places a fascinating romance on the core of the story.

Ultimate Fantasy 8 completely redefined my id and urge for food as a gamer, remodeling me right into a Ultimate Fantasy mega-fan. I can admit that another Ultimate Fantasy video games could be higher, however there’s no entry within the collection that I cherish extra. And most of the time, when I’ve gripes a couple of Ultimate Fantasy recreation, it’s that I want it had been extra like Ultimate Fantasy 8: edgy, romantic, and deeply private even when the stakes are so excessive that every one of time and house may get destroyed. —Corey Plante

The Sims (2000)

The Sims creator Will Wright initially wished to name the sport Dollhouse, however was met with resistance as a result of fears that Wright’s most well-liked title could be seen as too female, and thus unappealing to male gamers. No matter its title, the primary entry in The Sims franchise was magical. Actually magical, should you picked up the Makin’ Magic growth pack, which was simply my favourite as a child.

When the sport first got here out, I bear in mind sitting in my third-grade classroom and mentally plotting out what I used to be going to do in The Sims once I received dwelling. I sketched out ground plans in my pocket book and introduced them to life in Construct Mode. I got here up with little storylines to implement in-game. I crammed homes with extraordinarily flammable rugs after which let unskilled Sims use the range. I deleted pool ladders. Generally, if I threw a very superior occasion, a Sim-version of Drew Carey would present as much as congratulate my Sim and be part of within the festivities.

The Sims was totally unhinged at occasions, and the reminiscences of enjoying it with my finest pal within the early 2000s stay, to this present day, a few of my fondest. The very first Sims recreation was intelligent, satirizing our capitalistic world whereas additionally managing to be each genuinely humorous and fascinating. I am grateful for the great reminiscences I fashioned whereas enjoying it as a child, however I am additionally grateful it proved that the idea of a digital dollhouse actually is not ‘too female’ to promote like hotcakes. Seems the sound of a burglar sneaking onto your private home lot is sufficient to scare anybody, no matter gender. —Claire Lewis