Not everyone likes every genre of game - so here’s my grouped list:
The “I’m a nerd and like to build things and I like to watch lava lamps flow”
Factorio
The “I enjoy tough but fair games that I can totally become OP in once I figure it out”
Elden Ring
The “I just want to chill” game
Stardew Valley
The “I like to build things” game
minecraft
Honorable mention-Terraria
The “Metroidvania” game
Hollow Knight
The “Arpg” game
Diablo 2
Honorable mention - PoE
The “I like action and smashing things in an open world” game
Neir Automata
Honorable mention - God of war (play one of the originals so you can 1st hate the remake, and then get to THAT point, and then happily eat crow and let Kratos be your baby daddy.
I have so many problems with Elden Ring. I know it is super popular, but the polish just isn't there. Enemies hit you through walls and terrain, you will teleport to the ground dead sometimes when run around the many cliff faces, and most of the character builds seem weak compared to just strength great weapons.
See, after one year everything repeats indefinitely. You literally can’t miss anything. So there’s actually infinite time. If you’re stressing out like “omg spring is gone and I didn’t grow abc”. That’s what’s supposed to happen - you’ll grow it next spring.
Yup. There’s a story reason for it. It’s actually part of the charm of the game. But that first bit (which should be an intro cake walk, but isn’t) is a bad design choice IMO.