We all have our comfort games, whether they’re cosy farming sims to come down from the tribulations of the latest Souls-like, or an ultraviolent Boomer Shooter to palette-cleanse a fiercely competitive online shooter.
But then there areretrocomfort games; those games that you keep going back to because they transport you to the carefree haze of childhood and, crucially, are still a joy to play today. Team DS open up about the oldest games we keep going back to, and why they remain a part of our gaming playlists to this day.
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Thief 2 (2000)
Robert Zak - Features Lead
Let’s get it out the way that Thief 2 is a brilliant game, an all-time classic that’s often overlooked on account of the fact that it was a PC game from the cerebral minds at Looking Glass Studios. But there were many brilliant games released around this time, so why Thief 2 specifically?
It’s a game of slow movements, close listening, and mastering the environments of massive intricately designed levels.
Well, there’s nothing quite like it to this day for a start - a lo-fi, distilled first-person stealther that takes its stealthreallyseriously (the closest modern comparison isDishonored, and I also play that religiously). With sound, different surfaces, and light levels affecting your chances of detection, it’s a game of slow movements, close listening, and mastering the environments of massive intricately designed levels, which can often be approached in any number of ways.
The game’s atmosphere is fantastic too, with distinctly ‘2000s’ cavernous sound loops, drips, and grumblings of guards turning it into an immersive, nostalgic space that I just love getting returning to.
Thief 2: The Metal Age
Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
Jack Coleman - News Lead
This is kind of cheating because what I actually do is play the fantasticMaster Chief Collectionwhich was released in 2014. I genuinely believe releasing the MCC is the best thing that 343 Industries has done for the series. A comprehensive remaster of six critically acclaimed games, complete with multiplayer and the seamless ability to toggle between classic and updated graphics? It’s honestly kind of wild when you think about it.
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Why the original game, though? It’s no secret that my heart lies withHalo 3, a game that was so influential in my childhood. However, as I’ve aged, my appreciation for Combat Evolved has grown immensely. The narrative teeters on the edge of being typical B-movie science fiction shlock but a couple of compelling main characters in Master Chief and Cortana keep the plot elevated. It’s a well-designed campaign, first sending you through the tight corridors of the Pillar of Autumn before completely changing tone by dropping you onto this vast open level. It feels intentional, like Bungie was saying ‘Look at this, see the potential of Halo?’
The stakes get higher with every level, culminating in a legendary ‘warthog run’ with galaxy-saving stakes. I admit I don’t play CE multiplayer too much, only when I want to take advantage of the absurdly powerful original iteration of the magnum pistol. Most fans of the series will point toHalo 2, Halo 3 or evenReachas its peak, but Combat Evolved was an absurdly good launching pad that I keep being pulled back to.
Halo: Master Chief Collection
Metroid: Zero Mission (2004)
Jeff Brooks - Evergreen Lead
Metroid: Zero Missionis probably my ultimate comfort throwback. I played the originalMetroida lot,but I don’t think I ever played more than the first 15-20 minutes of the game. I was 5, and I barely managed to get the morph ball and rockets before needing to shut the game off (which of course meant I’d need to start over the next time).
With a quick completion time of about 5 hours, it’s easy to squeeze in over a couple of late nights or in-between major new releases.
Fast-forward to the lead-up toMetroid Dread’s release in 2021. I hadn’t played any Metroid games since those early days on the NES, but I was taken with the urge to play through all the 2D Metroid games in anticipation of Dread’s launch. DespiteSuper Metroidbeing perhaps the idealized version of the Metroid formula, Metroid: Zero Mission quickly became my favorite in the series (andone of my favorite Metroidvanias). It provided all the nostalgia of what I remember from the original Metroid, with enough quality-of-life improvements and additions (like the Zero Suit section on the Space Pirate Ship) to deliver a more fully realized experience.
While I only played it for the first time some three years ago, I’ve since played it a half-dozen times. I still get at least a little lost in its labyrinthine tunnels and passageways, but it guides me just enough to keep me from getting frustrated, while giving enough fluidity of movement not to feel too stiff or unwieldy. It has become a great palate-cleanser game—with a quick completion time of about 5 hours, it’s easy to squeeze in over a couple of late nights or in-between major new releases. I do probably enjoy Metroid Dread as a game more, but there’s just something about that classic GBA pixel art style that is so comforting.
Metroid: Zero Mission
The Last of Us Factions Multiplayer (2013)
A little bit of a wildcard here as it’s not technically a full-blown game and rather a multiplayer add-on to the belovedLast of Us, but I just can’t help it - I adore Factions. Initially, I never even knew The Last of Us had a multiplayer due to Naughty Dog’s horrendous promotion of it (which was basically non-existent), but after I played the base game, I accidentally stumbled across it and almost 10 years later, here I am, still a sucker for its unique take on the multiplayer genre.
You have eight players, split up into groups of four on a small map, so straight off the bat there’s an almost claustrophobic tension in the air before the battle even begins and, instead of running and gunning your way to your enemy, you plan out the best routes, use sneak attacks with a shiv and Molotov the hell out of unsuspecting victims.
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The slow pace, the almost unbreathable intimacy and the clever strategic approach is something I have yet to experience in any other online game, and it has enough core elements brought over from the base game to really whet that post-apocalyptic, survival appetite.
It’s truly about the survival of the fittest and more times than not, you will die - many times in fact, and sometimes to an annoying noob who shivved me by hiding behind a car, making me all kinds of pissed off. Either way, Factions is fantastic, and you should play it, and no, I don’t want to talk about the canceled Factions 2, thanks very muchsobs.
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