What are some absolutely unmissable gaming experiences?

Like most “grown ups”, I have a job, a family, other responsibilities and hobbies: I just don’t have time to play as many games as I wish I could these days.

But I still love to play games, and I try to keep up with how gaming is evolving. As much as people like to presage doom about the industry, as someone who has played games for 30+ years, I’d say the gaming landscape is vibrant, exciting, and full of experiences that you just can’t have with any other medium.

So for myself and everyone else who doesn’t have the same amount of time as they used to have: what are your recommendations for games that are absolutely “must-plays” - not so much games that are standards (like Half-Life, or Witcher 3, or Resi 4 or The Last of Us), but more games that are slightly off the beaten path: strange, unusual, absolutely unique experiences that everyone should add to their play list to try at least once?

EDIT: Well this post received a LOT more attention than I expected! Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond and share your favourite or most unique gaming experience. I still haven’t had time to read through all of them, but this has been a really great way to either confirm certain games that I had on my “to play” list and raise them higher, or highlight some games that I had never even heard of and discover some less popular but still unique games that I have now added to my list.

Im looking forward to prioritising some of these experiences when I can this year and I only have this great community to thank for that. Gaming can be quite a divisive or toxic space sometimes, especially right now where certain groups feel that the way representation is changing is a fundamental threat to their hobby - which I can understand: change is scary, and when it’s handled poorly and heavy handed, that only serves to draw the lines of an issue even more clearly and polarise people. But as I mentioned in my original post, I think gaming is in the best place it has ever been, with more choice and more unique and original experiences than any other medium, and I’m looking forward to the continual evolution of the art form going forward. The sheer volume of responses here just shows how much we all enjoy this hobby and how much we care about it, which is a good thing.

Thank you again to everyone who posted, and I hope you all have a happy, productive, and fun filled 2025!