I played Journey and that game jerked a tear out of me. The very last section was extremely immersive and "spiritual" because of sensory deprivation. It was bazaar in a good way and sublime at the same time. The story and the world were interpretive, of course, but the clothing and setting were inspired by the middle eastern culture, and it was interesting to witness outside of war games.
Shovel Knights' artistic design mimics that of 8-bit games, but it still borrows a lot of graphical design tricks from games that came on stronger hardware like the moving background, memory constrains on the numberof objects on the screen, ect. It played like that classical era never went away but it still incorporated some modern design choices. The Platforming is accurate and solid, and the levels were short and tightly designed. The dialogue is cheesy but appropriate and it actually has a compelling non-obstructive story and interesting symbolism.
Rogue legacy. A metrovania with a randomly regenerated dungeon. The game relies on simplicity and has a ton of upgrades but the difficulty is used to artificially extend the length of a rather short game. The story is told through a journal that pokes fun and deconstructs the design choices of metrovania games.
Two Brothers. The dialogue was just gibberish because it wasn't important at all, it was only supposed to show the player how the characters felt in different situations and their attitudes when they interacted with each other. All in all, this game was it's own thing and the players input was important in this story. It showed how just how powerful video games can be in telling stories.
Honorable mentions:
-fez
-Braid
-Thomas was alone (minimalistic, and the gameplay and story were intertwined with each other)
-The Lone Survivor (a side scrolling horror game that takes a lot of inspiration from Silent Hill 2 but it's still it's own thing)
-Guacamelee (a beat-em-up/metrovania game and the combat mechanics are used in platforming)
-Proteus (sensory deprivation)
-Sound Shapes (A "musical" platformer with the best online community)
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