The 2025 Desert Island Video Game Draft

[Capt. Factorial]

We are SO back! It looks like it has been five years since our last TDOS draft, but we've got a crew of 12 lined up to pick some video games.

As always, you're stranded on a desert island with food, water, shelter, bathroom facilities, electricity, an internet connection...and access to all the electronics necessary to play what we would culturally call a "video game". (Actually, that doesn't really sound like all that bad of a gig!) Unfortunately, your access to the games themselves is limited. You may draft them here, and any game you draft you may then play to your heart's content until your eventual rescue, probably several years down the road.

The draft will be a "snaking" draft, with 15 selections per participant. Following the completion of the draft, the participants will vote amongst themselves to rank each drafter's list of video games, after which we will hold a tournament-style public vote (open to all, including non-participants). As there are 12 participants, the top four ranked lists will get byes in the first round of voting.

I think by now most of us have a pretty good feel for what is allowed in these drafts and what is not. I will set out some guideline rules below, but as this particular topic seems to have a lot of gray area, please note that violation of the letter or the spirit of the rules is not allowed, and that I will be the final arbiter for any dispute.

How to participate

• Make your selection in its own comment. Include both the game title and the platform you will be playing it on. Include as much or as little supplementary material as you wish: write-up, personal love letter to the game, images, video of game play (OK, limit 1 video embed) - all of these are fine if you like. You should make your selection ASAP and return to edit your write-up later if you know what game you are selecting, but do not have time to complete a write-up.
• Make your selection timely. For simplicity, we will stick with the standard 24-hour clock. If you do not select in 24 hours, your time expires and the next participant is automatically on the clock. Missed picks can be made up at any time - including when other players are on the clock - but a participant who has missed one or more picks will have their turn skipped until they make up all outstanding picks.
• Send a Direct Message to the next drafter informing them that it is their turn once you have made your selection.

What is eligible

• Games on any of the following platforms are eligible:
• Console (anything that hooks to a TV/monitor)
• Arcade/standalone
• Handheld
• PC/Mac/Linux/other computer
• Online

What is not eligible

• Any game that has already been selected, regardless of platform. Reissues, knock-offs, community mods, games that are substantially the same game (even if the "levels" are different) on different platforms - all are considered the same game. (Spirit: no repeats)
• Expansions: Any game that requires the purchase of a separate, base game to play. (Exception: If you have already drafted the base game, you may use a separate pick on an expansion that relies on the base game. Note: Normal updates and patches expected with the original purchase would be included with a drafted game.)
• Multi-pack/bundled games. (Spirit: we all understand what one title is)
• Games that are merely implementations of a game that frequently is or could be played without a screen, e.g. chess, solitaire, Risk, Scrabble... (Spirit: it's a video game, not just a game that happens to be on a screen)

Draft order was randomized by an impartial third party (maybe he *wasn't* so impartial, I bet he put me last on purpose!):

1. @hrdboild
2. @Insomniacal Fan
3. @Turgenev
4. @Sluggah
5. @SLAB
6. @Warhawk
7. @Löwenherz
8. @whitechocolate
9. @Padrino
10. @Spike
11. @Tetsujin
12. @Capt. Factorial

The draft will open with @hrdboild tomorrow morning - let's call the clock to start at 8 AM PDT

 

[Capt. Factorial]

hrdboild​

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[Capt. Factorial]

SLAB​

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[Capt. Factorial]

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Capt. Factorial​

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[hrdboild]

R1.P01 (#1 Overall)
METAL GEAR SOLID

(Art source: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/yJ0q0K )​

Format: PS1
Year of Release: 1998
Developer: Konami Entertainment
Genre: Action-Adventure / Stealth
Why I picked it: Gameplay Innovation

Once I knew I would be picking first overall (and would have to watch 22 games come off the board before my next selection) there were only 2 titles I even considered taking in this spot. I'm conceding that the second one (a strong contender for best game ever made in my opinion) is almost certainly going to someone else but that's okay because it's tough to beat Hideo Kojima's pioneering masterpiece of interactive storytelling in terms of gameplay innovation, overall artistic presentation, and perhaps most importantly its expansive influence on future game design. Almost 30 years later this series is still going strong with another title slated for release later this year. This game laid out the groundwork for an entirely new genre and it's hard to even quantify how many spiritual successors and copycats have followed in its wake.

Right from the opening credits sequence, which plays out like the cold open of a Mission Impossible movie, it's clear that we're in store for something very different. Gameplay sequences are repeatedly broken up with cinematic cutscenes and animated radio conversations which are equal parts game tutorial, story exposition, and social commentary. This was the 90s and self-referential media was very much in fashion. At no point are you unaware that you're playing a game (most infamously in the Psycho Mantis boss fight which I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't already played it or read about it) but what this allows Kojima to do is tell a story about paranoid Cold War hysteria where you as the game player are challenged by the game designer to follow his directions (these are your enemies, these are your mission objectives) while simultaneously being inundated with themes that highlight the need not to blindly follow directions.

Looking back at the game's story through 2025 eyes, one clear criticism emerges. We could all tabulate the abundance of action-spy-thriller movie cliches utilized throughout because we've seen them dozens of times before and since. (Impending nuclear disaster, check. Surly masculine loner protagonist, check. Corporate greed masquerading as patriotism, check. Giant doomsday mechs... if only!) Nothing about this game is subtle. But given how Kojima has gone on to refine his artistic vision, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here and conclude that he's leaning in to the cliches in order to find something human underneath them. The origins of the Cold War go back to the 19th century clash of empire between Great Britain and Russia for complete dominance (economic and military) of central Asia after all -- a period of history which is often referred to (both ironically and unironically) as "The Great Game". Like James Bond and Ethan Hunt before him, our hero "Solid Snake" is both all-powerful as a singular force of destruction and tragically impotent to resist the forces of global domination arrayed around him. The great game of statecraft cannot ever be won, there is always a new opponent to defeat, but it can be lost and so like our heroes on the big screen we try our best as merely a player in this drama to survive each challenge into the next.

But even if you ignore all of the heady intellectual underpinnings foregrounded in the dialog, what you're left with is that feeling which happens every time you slip up and allow an enemy to spot you. It's the feeling of seeing a little exclamation mark appear above an enemy's head, of watching your omniscient map view disappear from the screen, and then the pulse-pounding race to flee from danger while every enemy on the map triangulates toward your last known location. That feeling alone is one of the greatest moments in gaming for me and even if that's all that this game had on offer it would be worthy of a recommendation. What we have here is so much more than just one great gameplay idea though, it is the rare case where a game designer pushed themself to keep raising the bar sequence after sequence from beginning to end and it's almost unfair the extent to which Kojima succeeded. It certainly elevated my understanding of what a video game could be when I first played it and all these years later it stands out as the best example I can think of for why the cultural significance of games as art should not be ignored.




(DM has been sent to @Insomniacal Fan)