Through the chunky pixels of a CRT computer monitor, I looked out the windows of a tram car as I slowly made my descent deeper and deeper underground into the heart of the Black Mesa Research Facility. Twenty years ago, I took a similar journey, only this time on rails. While listening and observing-and consequently, intensifying my connection to the game world-I drove my crew to Horseshoe Overlook. Instead, I was present for the whole journey. The game could have easily showed me a cutscene and plunked me down at my next location. My ride to Horseshoe Overlook was an experience that set the tone for my new surroundings.
Red Dead Redemption 2, which came out earlier this month, is easily one of the most immersive games of all time-rich with story, full of dialogue, and overflowing with detail. We ride the rest of the way in silence except for the sounds of our rickety carriage and plodding horse hooves, with the river at our side and birds soaring overhead. After a few more minutes of ruminating about the fleeting nature of life, our conversation trails off, but the unnerving words linger in the crisp air. It’s an awful, tragic story, contrasted starkly by the overwhelming beauty of our surroundings. I’m struggling to pay attention as Hosea fills me in on the history of this fertile land and how it was violently ripped away from the Native Americans who once lived here. We’re heading for Horseshoe Overlook, planning to set up camp and lay low for a while.
Hosea, Charles, and I are in a carriage riding south alongside a roiling river. Our series continues today with a look at Half-Life, a revolutionary first-person shooter whose influence has only grown stronger over the years.
Throughout the year, The Ringer ’s gaming enthusiasts will be paying tribute to the legendary titles turning 20 in 2018 by replaying them for the umpteenth time or playing them for the first time, talking to the people who made them, and analyzing both what made them great and how they made later games greater. Art may largely be a matter of taste, but one conclusion is close to inarguable: 1998 was the best year ever for video games, producing an unparalleled lineup of revolutionary releases that left indelible legacies and spawned series and subcultures that persist today.
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