I don't know about the rest of you guys on here, but I have been alive and interested in videogames since they first became a widespread thing in the early 80's. There were games before that of course, but it wasn't until the Atari 2600 came out that it became something that just about everyone was familiar with.
We have been through so much since then such as when Nintendo came along and changed everything for the better forever and put Atari nearly completely out of business - which they deserved. Things changed a lot over the next several decades and for people that weren't here for all of that, you may not even be super-aware of how much things changed over the course of the past 40 years.
Thankfully, there is a really cheap and interesting game that you may actually even be able to get for free that walks you though all of that called Evoland.
While it doesn't take you all the way back to Atari days, it takes you back pretty far, to something that looks like what a Game Boy would be capable of.
Every time you find a chest you end up upgrading not your character, but the graphical and play-style that the gaming world went through at some point in time in the past.
The game looks so much like the evolution of Zelda that I am kind of surprised that they managed to not get sued by Nintendo seeing as how Nintendo just really seems to enjoy suing everyone.
Eventually you unlock something that changes the game to a style that I am sure most people recognize and it was a very important part of my personal gaming history because of all the games I played as a kid, I think I enjoyed the Final Fantasy sort of games the most. These were the first truly immersive and complicated RPG's that I recall ever playing, and nothing could really compare to them.
Not just graphics improve as you "level up" but the music goes from blips and bloops to 8-bit to 16-bit and eventually to what would qualify as modern CD-quality (or whatever we are calling it today) style music. For me this was a lot of fun and every time I got a chest some sort of memory went through my mind about how I was there for most or all of these game-changing advances in the gaming world.
As you get further and further towards the end of the game you start to notice how the game basically turned into Diablo,which if you were around for that you probably know that this game put Blizzard on the map for everyone and basically invented a genre that exists to this day.
Most of the styles they explore into are Final Fantasy and Zelda esque, but there are some brief moments that will make you laugh as they pay homage to other important moments in gaming history.
Sometimes I had to pause the game because I had a big smile on my face remembering all the fond memories of when I was young and playing games of this sort for hours on end with friends and while I think it would be a better experience if you had been alive during those times I don't think it is completely necessary. For people who are younger and weren't around for these evolutions in gaming, it can be a bit of a history lesson that is also entertaining.
Now there is a downside though and that is the game isn't at all challenging and it isn't meant to be. You will very easily make it through the entire game in a maximum of 3 hours or so, and this is why you need to find this game for free or near free if you can. It isn't a new release so it shouldn't be that difficult to find. It was released for PC, all major consoles, as well as IoS and Android back in 2015.
or if you don't want to play it and just want to see it, there is a guy that did a complete playthrough with no commentary a few years ago.
For me this was a delightful trip down memory lane and although I haven't yet played it, I have read that there is an Evoland 2 which is more challenging and functions like an actual game with 20 hours or so of gameplay.
This was a hidden gem for me because it didn't get a ton of recognition when it was released back 10 years ago. If you can find it for free I think it is worth checking out!
Non-sourced images are my own screenshots