Holy cow, I’m shocked that Unreal doesn’t even have its own slice here.

Wow, that’s really good insight! Thank you!

• Shenmue: Rereleased with a wonderful port on PC/Xbox One/Playstation 4 in 2018, it’s an investigative adventure game that takes place in a small town in Japan in 1986. The thing that sticks out to me about it is how unlike any other game in its class before or since, it feels like an authentic depiction of a regular-ass suburb from that period, from people who lived in similar places growing up.
• Freespace 2: Space dogfighting game that gets right to the point, feels intense, and while you’re there you find yourself in the middle of an excellent sci-fi radio drama. Holds up great today when you pair your purchased GOG copy with the fan-maintained Freespace Open Source Project engine. Joystick + Keyboard control recommended, but Mouse + Keyboard is fine!

Recently I discovered Harvard’s CS50 series of classes.

• It’s a series of pre-recorded video classes
• Each class comes with a programming assignment
• You complete the programming assignment using an online Codespace they provide in VS Code (zero setup!)
• It’s all completely free

A really excellent way to learn programming in a class structure without actually going out to classes and having hard deadlines.