I grew up in poverty and felt permanently inferior among my rich peers at my scholarship-funded private school. I toned down my nerdiness, to not appear like Hermione and be the subject of peer scrutiny, since at the time intelligent people were immediately lowered in status in the chimp-like hierarchy that's middle school (wish I could have gone to school in Asia instead...). In any case, life was truly shit. Add to the mix a depressed, completely broke Dad brooding and toxifying at home, a burnt-out barely making ends meet mom always out on this job or that, dysfunctional relationship between step parent and step child, witnessing alienation and blatant racism at school, being a charity-case by donning donated clothes or by moving with that dysfunctional family to the oppulent houses of friends so we're in a nice place at least for the holidays – even though on the outside I was sunshine kid, inside I was just fucking through everything and hated everything.

But I had an escape of this shitty life. Sailing across the world of Zelda: The Windwaker, countering constant gloom with shouts of winning joy in sibling/friend contests on Super Smash Brothers, immersing myself in the intricate and epic story of Metal Gear Solid, or being moved to tears by the music of Kingdom Hearts. I truly don't know what I would have done without games, my escape into worlds that were better.

It reminds me of a story I once read in a forum, a 13-year old who had planned his suicide and was very close to executing around Christmas time, when his mom scratched together enough money for a Playstation and Assasin's Creed: Blackflag. He was moved by it, and decided to delay his end for a bit just to weave some last, small, fond memories for his small brother. So he played, with his brother watching intently in the typical little-brotheresque fashion. They immersed themselves in the world, and it brought them escape from the domestic misery. They bonded with the game and with each other. This kid is now a well-off man who managed to build a content life for himself. A tattoo of the Assassin's Creed logo marks his lower arm, and when people ask him about it he says "Oh I'm just really an embarrasingly huge fan of the AC series". Little do they know that this game saved his life.

This list is a tribute to the personally meaningful games of my life.