izigame.me

This easily one of my favorite games ever. I played it to completion multiple times on ps4 and bought it for PC just to stream it for my friends, something I've only ever done once. The game has one of the best stories, one of my favorite soundtracks, and mini-games unlike anything else in this genre.
This game's story is in a league of its own, as I've gone through it multiple times with only slight deviations from the main choices because I feel bad for not committing to one part of the story. The characters feel like genuine people that I've met in real life, and this causes simple choices like "who to hang out with" to take minutes of consideration. The struggles of every character feel real and grounded in reality. This game is heavy, and gets heavier as it goes on. This is one of the few games that I've cried at, and I cry at the bits that make me cry every time I play this amazing game. The main cast of characters are unforgettable, but the side characters are no less well-written. I will be lying on my death bed and I will still remember Germ Warfare and Rabies.
The game's world is almost as notable as the story itself, the way that it expands slowly over the weeks that the story takes place through is well done and really helps the feeling of a small town. This game also encapsulates how America feels, the abandoned grocery stores that sit on the outskirts of town, the dead machinery in factories used by past generations, the universal feeling of crushed dreams and barely scraping by. The feeling of the setting, is crafted by someone who truly lived through it, and it's done so incredibly well. The warm autumn setting is also great for the story and the setting just oozes charm and hopelessness.
The mini-games that are sprinkled around the game are fun and shockingly varied, from the rouge-lite dungeon crawler that I could never get past the DAMN FOURTH LEVEL, to the musical bits. I totally sucked at the band practice bits, but I actually managed to get a perfect score on die anywhere else and I will never forget that moment. The ability to practice four times every day is a very cool addition to a rhythm mini-game that you can really feel yourself improve upon. The parkour is also something that ended up being decently easy to grasp once you got a hold of it, but walking across the telephone lines in possum springs has always been fun. There's small things like throwing water balloons at the city council, and shoplifting that gave quick breaks from heavy story beats.
If you never play this game, listen to the soundtrack at least. If you have played this game, listen to the soundtrack anyways. The soundtrack gives so much to the game that you never really realize until you listen to it isolated. It's like how bits of Disco Elysium's soundtrack get so engrained into your memory that they simply stop being a part of the soundtrack and a part of the world. This game has multiple tracks that I cannot listen to without imagining the sequences of gameplay that they're paired to. This game pairs all of these factors into an almost perfect harmony that I cannot stop playing. This is one of my favorite games ever, and if you haven't played it, give it a try. If you have played it, give it another playthrough, it's just that good.