Great list, duder! I have to push back a bit with your description of Celeste, my personal favorite game of the year. Though I don't doubt your experience was a genuine one and certainly valid, my experience in the harder areas reflected exactly with the main themes of the story. I won't sit here and say that I never got stuck or frustrated throughout my play time but perseverance and pushing through against all odds carried me through any challenge the game through at me.
I think that's why I love it so much. I never felt defeated or not good enough to proceed. The challenges felt challenging and something worth pushing through even just to prove to myself that I could. And when I finally push through and accomplish the seemingly impossible I feel exceedingly gratified and proud even after realizing the only material benefit I have coming out of it were a few steam achievements.
I get these types of game aren't everyone's cup of tea and not everyone will go to such lengths to see it through and that's fine. My only hope is people don't write it off because it's 'one of those'. I mean it is but it's also a lot more, at least to me. Also, more people should play Iconoclasts. That game's dope.
This might be obvious in retrospect but for anyone curious, at the beginning of the movie when the Norwegian guy from the helicopter was screaming at them. What he was saying translates to "Get the hell away from that thing. That's not a dog, it's some sort of thing! It's imitating a dog, it isn't real! GET AWAY, YOU IDIOTS!" in English.
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