What are your desert island video games?
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island, and for some reason you could bring 5 video games with their required hardware and means to power them, what would they be? No compilations or online multiplayer if you want to be a purist about it, but I'm still interested if you have thoughts about them :)
In no particular order:
Modded morrowind,ultrakill, metal gear rising, modded Minecraft, modded skyrim
Honorable Mentions:
I'm just going for maximum time sink.
Can I mod them? Because if so
Half-Life 3 through 7.
Quake 3, UT 2004, Heroes 3, GTA2, Beavis & Butthead Hock a Loogie
Minecraft as a reference guide for how to survive on said island.
Animal Crossing so I have someone to talk to.
Elden Ring to remind me how bleak and hopeless everything is.
Solitaire and Minesweeper. In case I get bored.
Yeah, all the best survival guides start with "find the nearest tree and punch it a couple of times"
Island: A Game of Survival
Lately:
Balatro
Tetris
Absolute Drift
art of rally
SnowRunner
Those would be the extremely moddable games with a good all around base set for replayability, so for me:
As long as I can also archive some amount and variety of mods for each, of course.
If mods aren’t on the table, I think it would still look pretty much the same, except maybe civ 5 in place of 6, and in place of luanti perhaps Witcher 3, or 4 if it manages to release before this thing.
Edit: Actually hold that a bit: I need Stellaris there, especially if mods are ok. But even without. I’d skip luanti/witcher for that.
Minecraft: Java Edition
Universe Sandbox²
Subnautica (never played it, but heard it's fun so I might like playing it in a desert island surrounded by ocean)
Deltarune (I'd have all the time in the world to wait for the next chapters)
ENA: Dream BBQ (same as above)
Transport Fever 2
OpenTTD
Factorio
Factorio
Factorio
Probably something like this:
I'd also like to bring Factorio (with mods of course) but I'm not sure what to replace
Gotta be one of the Paradox strategy games. I have two reasons for this: the first is that a good game unavoidably takes ages on them, so they have staying power; the other is that I know how to mod them, so I can make myself new scenarios once I get fed up of it. I'll bring Crusader Kings 3 and Victoria 3 because I like them but haven't yet played them much
I'll add in Assetto Corsa and Dirt Rally 2 for some driving. Both have very high skill ceilings that I am nowhere near, so that gives me a lot to do. I also don't own a wheel, so if I get that as part of the deal then that'd be fun to try. These two also have an odd bonus for me: they both have courses set near my home. I can sort of visit them by playing when I get a bit homesick
Lastly I'll have Deep Rock Galactic for low effort shooty fun. I can't always be putting mental energy into games
There are games I like as much or more than these five but which lack the replayability for this scenario. Like I adore Outer Wilds, but you can only really play it once
Why does it have to be a desert island? I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating… and it gets everywhere.
Cave in mountain side then surrounded by a forest with grizzly bears.
Minecraft: Java Edition
Stardew Valley
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Geometry Dash
Hogwarts Legacy
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
WipeOut 2097(XL)
Tetris (arcade) or Karate Champ (arcade) or Speed Rumbler(arcade)
Descent II
Simon Tatham Puzzles collection
For me, it would have to be:
Kerbal Space Program with mods
Cities:Skylines with mods
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Dota 2 (I would be playing against and programming my own bots for it)
Trackmania with all current maps
Terraria
Celeste
Expedition 33
Horizon: Forbidden West
F-ZERO GX
About as much variety and quality as I could hope to fit.
Roguelites are the way, fam:
Any time someone mentions FTL, I use it as an opportunity to let people know about the Multiverse mod. It's been praised by the original devs and is like 4x bigger than the base game.
It's set 20 years after the first game and adds hundreds of new ships and weapons, several new races, new sectors, thousands of new events, new win conditions, new achievements, everything. It's essentially FTL 2.
If you liked the original FTL, seriously check out Multiverse, it's breathed new life into the game in a way I've never seen another mod do.
Thanks for the rundown. My biggest problem is that the literal only copy I have is from the DRM-free Humble Bundle from way back then (I gave away the Steam key to a friend of a friend), which is on a higher version than with what Multiverse is compatible, so I've never been able to play it all these years even though I've been itching to try.
You'd better bring a copy of the Noita wiki with you so that you can decipher what half the late game stuff is/does. Or even just where it is. Although I suppose if you have basically unlimited time, you could just do your alchemy from first principles
No Man's Sky, but without any other players. More or less how I play it anyway 😁
Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition on the MegaDrive
Red Dead Redemption 2
EA FC/FIFA/whatever
Tetris
Age of Empires 2 Transport Tycoon Deluxe Ufo: Enemy unknown (x-com) Might and magic vii Heroes of the might and magic 3
If I could smuggle more it would be: Starcraft, Red Alert 2, Teenagent, Master of Orion 2.
L.A. Noire
Mafia 1-3
Master of Orion 2
the best sim, the best 4X, the best FPS, my favorite level-editor engine, my favorite action platformer
Stardew Valley, Skyrim and ADOM for games that you can keep going back to over years and playing in different ways and still discovering new things. Vegas Solitaire for more of a mindless time passer when you don't want something immersive and involved. Burnout Paradise for something in between complex and mindless and something different once in a while.
Edit: I hope I eventually get rescued though because there's a LOT of shorter titles that I'd miss.
Sekiro
Lies of P
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
Slay the Spire
Balatro
X4 mentioned 👀
No Endless Space 2..? Sad.
I dig it but tough to fit that in my top 5
Every new version of Civ, I hope they reintroduce live action advisors like the ones from Civ II.
Why didn't I put them on the same USB stick? You're guess is as good as mine...
Do one of those minecraft modpacks with a thousand mods count as a compilation? Because you could take out over 80% of them, and create a bunch of smaller packs for variation.
State of Decay 2
Sid Meier's Civilization V
Stellaris
Terraria
Retroarch as I currently have it set up
Subnautica if Retroarch is beyond the scope of this.
I would consider Ark or some version of Mount & Blade as well. Minecraft might also be an amazing time killer.
Tetris, Dwarf Fortress, Quake (if I can bring tons of mods,) Portal 2 (if I can download use maps,) and probably Baldurs Gate 3 so I would finally play it.
If I can't bring all those additions, then substitute Portal 2 with Kerbal Space Program. But I'd keep Quake.
RDR2, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Path of Exile 2, Tetris
DayZ, Minecraft, Cities: Skylines, Age of Empires 2 Definite Edition, Grand Theft Auto 5
I see DayZ, I upvote.
Dark souls 3 / dlc
Elden ring / dlc
Armored core 6
Armored core 4 Answer
Terraria (with tmod loader)
To be honest, it wouldn't matter. I'd be too busy enjoying my new primitive survival adventure and quoting lines from the Gold Top commercial. It is the big game.
One of them will have to be minesweeper because I can pretty much play it endlessly. The other 4, I'm not so sure. I love some of suggestions other people made.
I've sunk many an hour into Simon Tatham's no-guess Mines, yeah, as well as Slant and various other titles from his free puzzle collection. Try Inertia!
This may be my favourite app ever!
Any logic-puzzle fan should get this. Endless fun and immensly customizable. My latest obsession from it, is Unequal.
Android version.
It's free, has no ads or in-app selling, Dark mode available, no time limits and many different kinds of puzzles. It is as brilliant as it is simple.