Community Question of the Week: What have you played recently that reinvigorated your love for game dev?

Each week we pose a question to our game developer community on the Microsoft Game Dev Discord. The beating heart of our online developer community, our Discord server allows developers to connect with each other, share their projects, get support, and network with peers in a thriving discussion space. 

This week’s question is: What is a game that you’ve played recently that reinvigorated your love for game development? 
 
Arjun “ColdAtNight” Singh, developer of MVNES: “Devil May Cry 5. I played it at the lowest point of my life, and it reminded me why I love games. The flow of action, gameplay, the B-level baller writing, and the overall charm of everything just sparked so much personality, I had to one-up them.” 

Pijinguy, currently working on Blast-a-Finn: “Oneshot. I know it's kind of old, but I first played it in 2020 during lockdown. And wow. On the surface it's just a quaint little puzzle game with some unique ideas, cute art, and good music. As much as I like those aspects, that's not why I love the game so much.  The story, the world, the characters, and especially the protagonist "Niko". I have never experienced such an intimate connection with a work of fiction. Maybe it was the solitude of lockdown and being away from family, but I genuinely wanted the little non-cat-person to be ok, to achieve their objective, to be happy. I would go deeper but I don't want to spoil the game. If I can make anyone feel half as much through playing my game, that would be an absolute dream. 

Amirtha “Chaak” Krishnan, currently working on Tooth and Nail for this year’s lowrezjam: “Loop Hero! This game challenged the fundamental stratagem that carried me across multiple games, mostly FPS and TPS shooters. The game opens up beautifully over time and the story is thrilling! Defeating newfound foes is always interesting and cool. Loop Hero was also a passive game for me that meant I could get distracted for hours. I sincerely recommend it. To me, it is one of the few games I would say have pushed modern video game storytelling forward.”  
 
Clément "Cheo" Delfour, currently working on Purple Eye: “It's difficult to pick only one, but I recently replayed Deus Ex Mankind Divided, and it reminded me why I loved the immersive sim and stealth genres. Despite being unfinished and imperfect, it's still generous, with its small but dense Eastern European hubs filled with creative side quests. Most importantly, it shows how satisfying pacifism in video games can be — completing an objective by sneaking in unseen or by winning an argument with an NPC always makes you feel like a smooth problem solver. My current project Purple Eye will feature a lot of linear and lethal action, but it will also contain stealth sequences inspired by this kind of game with all sorts of air vents, back doors and non-lethal takedown options, with the aim of giving players the opportunity to change their ways and gain a similar satisfaction.” 

YongJu Lee (이용주), aka "Kumunua", game development student: “Blue Archive is a tactical strategy RPG game with collecting elements that sparked my desire to become a game developer. The reason is because it was different from the genres I had played before. Most importantly, while playing Blue Archive, I was able to clearly identify the target audience for such games, which inspired me to create something similar. The game brought me joy, and it solidified my passion for game development (though the game I am currently developing is in a different genre!) In the end, I couldn’t create a game quite like Blue Archive, but playing it gave me various ideas that continue to influence my development process.” 
 
John "Linuxydable" Benard, Isabit Studio: “I recently replayed Astérix & Obélix XXL 2: Mission Las Vegum. It's a 2006 game but it is quite impressive how well it has aged. The game is a huge satire and parody of the video game industry with so many awesome references. The art direction is inspired by World of Warcraft, and I always loved this cartoon-like art style. This game is a huge homage to the entire video game industry and history. Sadly, the owner of the studio Etrange Libellule passed away and the studio has closed since, but I always enjoy playing this awesome game that showed me how a game can be inspired by so many different games and genres, and how this industry has a huge legacy and a need to be protected. I respect Microsoft & Xbox for saving these games. 

Jana “2DPixx” Ochse, 2D game artist: “Elden Ring and all the Souls games. There is so much graphical detail. Not in the sense of realism but true visual story telling. I love how these games don't run you over with too much information but choose subtle methods of forming an emotional connection with their players via their whole world building instead of movie sequence after movie sequence or endless dialogs to click through. It makes it easier to enjoy the games on a deeper level and allows the experience of an active imagination as a human to fill in the gaps and makes playing these games a personal journey. I enjoy it and would love more games with this kind of ‘open to interpretation’ approach.” 
 
Alan “Kazu” Nguyen, game dev student: “Recently, I've played Metal Gear Solid V. I'm a big fan of Kojima's works, especially that one. That game alone would make me sit in front of my laptop for hours to immerse myself in the beautiful world of video games. It reminded me of how great it is and maybe how I can make one in the future. I'm obsessed with the Metal Gear Solid V stealth system along with immersive sim mechanics; it makes you feel like you are one with the character and every action of yours can leave a mark. I've seen so many YouTube videos about all kinds of playstyles in the game. I want to have the system of immersive sims in my dream game. But I slowly realized how ambitious and vague that is for me to make as a beginner, and I wasn't ready for it. But because of it, I have more motivation to learn video game programming and strive to build my portfolio to land in the game industry. 
 
Want to join in on the fun? Visit the Microsoft Game Dev community on Discord to hang out with us, we’d love to see you there!