Summary

• Gaming in the '90s reflected the era's themes & style, with titles like Resident Evil 2.
• Sonic The Hedgehog remains an iconic '90s character, embodying the era's vibrant colors & music.
• Jet Set Radio captures the countercultural spirit of the '90s through its rebellious graffiti theme.

What was the '90s? Not the literal time period, there's no ambiguity when that happened. No, that question relates to what the '90s represented. Every decade has its own personal flavour and much of the '90s was characterised by bombastic sounds and colours, counter-cultural styles, and a lot of social upheaval.

Carrying from their strong foundations of the '80s, gaming became a much bigger phenomenon in the '90s as well, getting wrapped up in those same aspects of the decade. Nowadays, we're seeing a return to the ethos of the '90s, if not outright recreations of the style of that era. Let's check out some games that personify that.

10 ඣ Papers, Please

You might be questioning why Papers, Please, a game that very heavily and obviously pulls from older Soviet aesthetics, is considered a game inspired by the '90s. But you see, the collapse of the Soviet Union occurred formally in 1991, and Papers, Please is (fictionally) set precisely at this breaking point.

Using the incredible power of retrospection, Papers, Please uses the aesthetic of early Soviet art to push a theme that exemplified the '90s - cascading independence movements that shook the foundations of the world. With a little extra digging, you can even apply Papers, Please to the modern day.

9 ꩵ Resident Evil 2 Remake

Originally launched in 1998, Resident Evil 2 is very obviously a '90s game and is heavily inspired by it because of the very fact that it was contemporary. A more interesting conversation to have is the reimagining of what was a contemporary game to be a retrospective one.

With Resident Evil 2 Remake, the conventions of the '90s were directly looked at to create a game that carried much of that original horror experience into a modern style. In many ways, the remake loses much of the edge that defined the '90s feel, yet by merit of the fact that it's a remake cannot ever fully divorce itself from the '90s either.

8 🅺 Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic is one of gaming's most beloved characters, sprawled across more than just the games but a figurative media empire since his debut in 1991. So yes, Sonic himself is a product of the '90s. What's all the more impressive is how it never lost the touch of that '90s origin.

Look at anything that exists for Sonic and compare it to what came first. Many will look at those original games as the height of Sonic, but at the same time, it is the very same Sonic. The music that's used, the bursting colours, the sharp personalities. Sonic never stopped being Sonic, and that '90s feel remains almost untouched to this day.

7 Mirror's Edge

One of the most burning symbols of the '90s is the rising punk and counterculture movements. The establishment was (and still is) an oppressive force, and plenty of the media then was a vehicle to be a voice for that. It could at times be cynical, though it's the lasting view of the period.

Mirror's Edge pushed those themes heavily, but in a setting that may not feel immediately apparent. By the modern lens, the '90s very much had its own rendition of retrofuturism. Slick and minimal, devoid of colour. 'The world if...'-esque cities. No individuality, and the only splashes of colour coming through in human perseverance against the system.

6 Signalis

While 3D gaming made massive strides in the '90s, it wasn't until the latter half of the decade that it started to become commonplace. For the majority of the decade, pixel art still ruled the scene. On the opposite side, we had 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the rise of survival horror. Mash those two things together and you get a game that feels more '90s than you'd think.

Signalis takes place far beyond our own world but pulls its themes and style very heavily from it. As you explore through this desolation, you'll discover more of yourself and the world you're trapped on, though the oppressive choices that lead to this existence are never far behind you.

5 Life Is St🌼🌸range

While Life Is Strange has far outgrown the foundations laid for the series by original developers Don't Nod, it is that very first entry in the series that has cemented itself most heavily in the hearts of its fans. And even if it feels very early 2000s at first, the '90s are so inextricably tied to it.

Max is a self-professed 'old soul', finding comfort in the things that were popular before her own time. S much of this is seen in her love of instant cameras, a symbol of the '90s. But then you look at its deeper inspirations, like Twin Peaks and that burgeoning growth of connection that occurred in the '90s, and the years preceding the 2000s it's set in become impossible to ignore.

4 𝄹 ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077's setting is not one of CD Projekt Red's own invention, but an extended adaptation of Mike Pondsmith's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyberpunk TTRPG. Pondsmith's own version of Cyberpunk pulls heavily from '80s aesthetics like Blade Runner, though in advancing the period in which it takes place, CD Projekt pulls from later periods in actual reality as well.

While the '80s roots of Cyberpunk 2077 are impossible to avoid, there are aspects of the '90s that start creeping in. Aspects of that unique brand of retrofuturism when you get to the wealthy, the punk styles of those in poorer areas, examinations of certain themes that were viewed differently by the end of the '90s. It's a fascinating amalgamation of decades of social views.

3 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

What's more '90s than skateboarding? A lot of things, but skateboarding is one of those icons of the '90s in how it came to represent the 'delinquent youth', and it still carries that messaging to that day. A lot of things peaked in the '90s, and skateboarding culture was one of them.

And another was Tony Hawk. While the first set of Tony Hawk's games launched in 1999, his own retirement came a short few years later. Yet the Tony Hawk's series kept growing beyond the fame of its inspiration and came to encompass much of the feel of the '90s, up to its latest entries and remakes today.

2 𒆙 Jet Set Radio ไ

And following on from skateboarding as a countercultural symbol of the '90s, we now have the next piece of propaganda that was used to demonise teens - graffiti. While Jet Set radio came out in 2001, it carries the '90s in its digital veins and in many ways feels like a game that came out at the peak of the '90s rather than its aftermath.

To call it inspired by the '90s feels unfair because in many ways it is the '90s. You are the loud music, you are the colour in the world. You move through the world with freedom. There are no rules but the ones you make for yourself, and Jet Set radio wears its colours proudly.

1 Gone Home

Gone Home is a game that's more focused on a specific aspect of the '90s. None of the large-scale themes that come from living in that moment or introspection after the fact, but the smaller realities of the era. There's little in the way of the internet, communication is slower, and phones are still tethered.

You come back home after years away and find things empty. Not a soul in sight, yet the house is just as you remembered. Yet in all of those stagnant things, one aspect has changed - your sister. She found herself in an isolated place where she couldn't find others like her and ran away to find them. No online communities, but the hope that the world would be better literally anywhere else. That isolation, too, is part of the '90s when you get past the retrospective rosy shades.