Uhhhh Sim City 3000?

OT -

31. Immersive sim with Borderland's art style. Kinda.

30. Medieval world's burning to ashes.

Yes!

To be honest I couldn't remember any exact broccoli quote but it sounded like Sim City humor to me haha.

Still listen to that OST from time to time.

Yep. According to this list there's 15 news reports about broccoli. There's also a bunch about a shortage of cat food. SimCity 4 has a thing with llama's. I agree the music was great, SimCity 4 as well, they have a real 'urban' vibe.

36: Vampire Survivors. Should have gotten that with the first hint honestly.

Yeah, you should've Correct obviously.

32. Metroid Prime
I actually never played the original release for this one. My first Metroid game was actually Prime 3 and I loved it so much I bought the Trilogy for the Wii. While I can't really speak much about the base game, I loved what I played on the Wii. The environments were beautiful but more importantly they were extremely immersive. I felt I was the person exploring these places, and pointing the wiimote to aim was part of what made it feel so natural. Retro also made certain to include a host of other little touches that made the world feel real, like the TV was only a thin visor separating you from an alien planet: the way rain would patter the screen if you looked up, how you can see the bones of your hand in x-ray mode, the static interference from electrical enemies, the way steam would cause the screen to fog.

31. Super Mario 64
It's insane both perfect the movement is in this game. The camera is rightfully infamous, but Nintendo somehow nailed the fluid and enjoyable movement necessary to make a platformer work despite this being their first attempt making it in 3D. The various level are great and Castle is a fun hub world. There are plenty of places to explore and secrets to ferret out, and the OST had some great tunes but at the end of the day a platformer depends on how much the player enjoys controlling the character and Mario was a blast to run around as.

About my 40-31:

40. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (PC)

Not my favorite Monkey Island and I feel it's overrated, but I do love the 90's Lucas adventures.

39. Rogue Trooper (PC)

While I had read some of the comic, I'd never heard of the game when I happened to pick it up and was surprised they'd make one of such obscure title. It's a good shooter because you can play in many ways: sniper, stealth, go Rambo, use mines and other tricks. But especially it is great example about how to use a license, really makes most of the source material.

38. Ridge Racer Type 4 (PS1)

While there's much bad in the general system of grinding same tracks over and over, but the driving... that feeling of getting a drift just right...

37. Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord (SMS)

Miracle Warriors is refreshing as JRPG because it's from the early days of the genre and thus does things differently than later more generic ones. And I like how there are several game changing points.

36. Carmageddon (PC)

Smashing and crashing and splashing, what could be more fun?

35. Defenders of Oasis (GG)

Lovely little JRPG, snack-size to play in a week instead of month. Some pretty unique details, like the Genie being your only character to use magic.

34. Mean Streets (PC)

First of Tex Murphy scifi detective games, adventure game with also simple shooter and flight sim parts. Incredible sound system for PC without sound card and genius keyboard controls to replace the lack of mouse support.

33. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (PC)

FPS games tend to be gray and brown (plus little red). Mix that with Soviet scifi full of Slavic melancholy and you have the most atmospheric gray rain ever.

32. Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)

A modern tribute to Lucas adventures - you'll want to play MI2 before this. Kind of Discworld-ish RPG/fantasy parody with one very special playable character...

31. Phantasy Star Gaiden (GG)

I do love the old Phantasy Star series and Gaiden is the fifth, Japan-only game of the series if something is to be included besides the four numbered ones. It may be small and simple, but the charm is there.

#32 - There was a battle between order and chaos, and chaos won - this game is a result of that.
Hint 2 - Since then, these kinds of battles have had three sides, because this is the third entry in the series.

#31 - Probably the most significant redemption story in the gaming industry.

#31: This must be No Man's Sky.