Hi guys, this is my first post in this forum!
Wow, there are a lot of good suggestions here.
I personally recommend a HL2 EP2 mod (and of course the Half-Life series itself) called
Radiator, it was the first game that showed me what games can be (you know, more than just shooting dudes in the face). It's semi episodic, two episodes have been realesed yet and the creator is working really hard on the next one, but he has also alot of other stuff to do, that's why it takes him quite long.
Also I recommend
Heavy Rain, it has alot of problems (uncanny valley, inconsequent, arguably misogynist, etc.), but also has some very memorisable scenes and is one of the few games I know that handles violence in a mature way.
Also I recommend
Norrland, the less you know about it the better 8) . It's laso free, just like Radiator.
Another game I recommend is
Red Orchestra, a multiplayer game, it comes quite close to being an anti-war game. It forces you in an indirect way to work together with your team and to use real life strategies from war. Its fights are really intense and the atmosphere is quite bleak. A sequel is comming out next month (Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad).
I have another one,
Flower made by thatgamecompany, it's a very interesting and relaxing game for the ps3 that uses innovative controls and gives you a cool feeling in general. And I can't wait for their next game
Journey that will come out this year. It has huge beautiful landscapes and an interesting new coop/mmo feature (don't worry it won't kill the immersion nor the atmosphere, the developers made that impossible). Also the way you move in this game is really cool. And damm it just looks gorgeous, such an amazing artstyle!
Link to the page of the creator of Radiator:
http://www.radiator.debacle.us/
Link to Norrland:
http://cactusquid.blogspot.com/2010/08/ ... loads.html (download link beneath the second trailer)
Link to an interesting article about Red Orchestra:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/2545 ... lowers.php
Link to the Flower trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJam5Auwj1E
Link to the Journey trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boPHncFbmII
You have to check out
Stephen Lavelle's (sorry if I misspelled his name here)
website, there are alot of tiny, free, experimental games made by him.
Link:
http://www.increpare.com/