QotW: Thief. For sure. That kind of fantasy rogue simulator with an atmospheric story and setting is probably my favorite type of game of all time. And the only other franchise that really does that is Dishonored.
Mine is Punch Out! A game I'm consistently surprised gets so few imitators despite being recognizable and generally beloved. The only examples I can even think of in the last several decades are 2004's Wade Hixton's Counter Punch and 2022's Thunder Ray. I'm really surprised there isn't more!
Addendum - I actually did a little research and learned that there was one last year called Retro Knock-out that looks completely bonkers. It features a bunch of extremely thinly veiled parody wrestlers such as "Bulk Brogan" and "Tike Myson" and apparently has "frequent nudity and sexual content"
Additional update: apparently the developer is making a whole series of games based on this "Vanilla Beast" character who is like this corny coolguy version of leisure suit larry and he solves mysteries with a harem of porn stars??? I blame you for this nightmarish rabbit hole I've fallen into
Comments
Bulletstorm. I 100% agreed with GR's 10/10 and fully assumed we were going to see years of clones with those innovative shooting mechanics.
Sadly, the game did just ok and we never got the sequel.