Edited my list to include Unpacking. I’ve discussed it a little bit elsewhere and my feelings on it are slightly complicated.
It’s certainly not a game I would’ve normally even considered for a best-of list, but after finishing it two days ago it kept coming back to me. Partly because of the story itself, a fair bit of it is up to your own imagination and head canon and so you have to get a little bit invested in it as you play it, so it makes sense that since part of the story is your own invention, you’d keep thinking about it afterwards.
And partly I kept thinking about it because I sort of didn’t like how it made me feel, and I’ve been re-examining my own thoughts on it. Basically, I found myself really disliking the main character, or at least really disliking several of her personality traits. And, to make matters even more complicated, some of those personality traits are stuff that I invented in order to explain what it was that I was unpacking! And so what does that say about me, inventing something about someone that I actively dislike? Like I said, it’s a little bit complicated.
Anyway, I figured any game that makes me think about it this much deserves a spot on the list. It might even deserve a higher spot than where I put it, but the very simplistic nature of the rest of the game is preventing me from slotting it in higher.
edit: Just want to ping @CallMeCraig as we talked a bit about this game in the ‘currently playing’ thread, but didn’t want to double-post these exact comments.