Shenmue

This game did a lot of things new for its time and is now a cult classic. By the maker of the arcade game Virtua Fighter 3 among others, he was rewarded with free reign to make a completely unique game for the Dreamcast, SEGA's last console that saw a great year of innovative game releases. Shenmue and its sequel are perhaps the most revered of all those games.

The game lets you run free round a limited but highly programmed set of environments interacting with objects and people all while day/night, season and weather change around you as you slowly uncover the mystery of your situation and pursue revenge. While some areas of the game can waste your time, the level of connection you forge with the environment and characters keep you involved and the addictive beauty of the real-time changing world keeps you hooked.

At the time of release it was at its height of technology but it has aged relatively well while also having a lot of retro charm in its styles. However, it does require your patience.

The game's action involves a combo deep combat system similar to Virtua Fighter games as well as minor combat situations and other fast action moments being dealt with by quick time events (QTE). This is where a button shows on screen to be pressed straight away to succeed at an action, and people generally love QTEs or hate them, but I think they're used well and sparingly in Shenmue.

A feature I love is being able to play a couple SEGA arcade games in full at the arcade within the game although my personal favourite doesn't appear until Shenmue 2. The game is heavily Japanese which feels very authentic. If you don't have the time to invest as a working adult to play, you can find longplay videos online totalling about 8 hours to get an idea of the experience without the full emersion or shortened story videos for highlights.

So yeah, this is a cult classic and worth looking into, but decide your level of interest as acquiring the game for dreamcast can be difficult or costly.