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What ten games define me, part two

Posted on November 15, 2025 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

I have been musing about the ten games that define me, and I made it to number four in the time I allotted to myself yesterday. Quite frankly, I’m pleasantly surprised I got that far, and let’s see if I can get four more today. I doubt it, but know hope!

Before I dive in, I want to say that this is not necessarily a list of my ten favorite games, but of the ten games that you need to know are important to me in order to know me. With that distinction in mind, let’s dive in.

5. Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall). This game broke me. I didn’t expect it, too, and it wasn’t an immediate break. I will be frank. The reasons I played it was because I dug the graphics, I dug the vibe, and I really dug that the protag was a small, awkward black cat. I will be honest. I did not gel with the game for the first few hours. I felt I was fighting the game more than I was playing it. And, I missed a very important mechanic of the game for my entire first playthrough.

I really liked the protagonist of the game. I identified strongly with her as a morose, depressed, anxiety-ridden, quite possibly neurospicy, bisexual, self-loathing individual who was convinced that everyone hated her. Plus, she was a black cat. Black cats are my favorite animal of all, so that was a plus in her favor, too. In addition, the relationships were so well drawn in the game, they hit me hard.

I played it through three times, and I fell in love more with the game with each playthrough. This game was genius in the way it opened up story-wise. Depending on how you play it, you could be given a story that while rich, was just a narrow strip of what the game had to offer.

I have not seen another game like it, quite honestly. And I have not had another game hit me as hard as this one did. I have not felt seen by a game like I have with this one. I full-on ugly sobbed while playing it, and I felt it deep to my bones. Not only did the game capture the personality of Mae perfectly, it showed how bleak it was in rust town, USA, how hopeless it can feel, what good friendships you can build, and how families can be fractious and loving at the same time. I related to so much of this game, I have it at number one of my favorite non-FromSoft games of all time. And it’s not even close. I have thought about going back to it, but I think it’s better to leave it as a very fond memory.

What ten games define me

Posted on November 14, 2025 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

There’s a meme going around in Instagram (I saw it on a video, not on Insta itself) about posting an image of you in a book author pose surrounded by the ten games you’ve played that you would tell people if you wanted them to get to know you. It’s emphatically not a list of your ten favorite games, but the ten games that define you. I was intrigued by the idea because I would have thought they were one and the same. The more I thought about it, though, thne more I understood the difference.

I decided to make my own list, and I think there are a few really surprising choices on the list. Several are what you would expect, and then there are a few that are just what they are. I’ll explain that more when I get to them. These are in no particular order. They might be loosely chronological, but maybe not. We’ll see!

1. Ms. Pac-Man (Atari). When I was a teenager, my parents would drag my brother and me to various Taiwanese events that went on for hours. It didn’t help that they NEVER started on time, so that added an hour to the wait.

The events were often at the local uni student union. In the basement was a bowling alley with a few arcade games. One of them was Ms. Pac-Man, and I would play it for hours to pass the thime. It was a comfort game, plus it planted the idea in the back of my brain that the protag of a video game could be a woman. Or at least female-coded. Yes it was just Pac-Man with a bow, but still! It was also a beacon of light during a very dark period of my life, and I will always appreciate it for that.

2. Pitfall! (Activision). This was the first video game I played. Well, among the first video games I played and my favorite. We had an Atari, and I would play this over and over. This game really scratched the itch that my neurospicy brain has in that playing it over and over again soothed the savage beast within. I have fond memories of playing this with my brother when I was a preteen–one of the only pleasant memories I had as a child.

3. Torchlight (Runic Games). During my twenties and early-to-mid thirties, I only played casual games. I loved them, but I wanted to spread my wings. I asked my new buddy, Ian, what game he would recommend. He thought about it and said I might like a new game called Torchlight. I booted it up, saw that there was a choice of three characters. One of them was a woman who looked vaguely Asian, and the other two were dudes. I immediately chose the woman because that’s always going to appeal to me more. She was the ranged class, which also suited me. and I had a pet cat who took items to town for me, sold them, and brought me back the money.