- Outer Wilds
- Hollow Knight
- Elden Ring
- Baldurs Gate 3
- Metroid Prime
- Mass Effect 2
- Tetris
- Shadow of The Colossus
- Mother 3
- Fallout: New Vegas
Based on an incomplete sampling.
In no particular order:
- Mass Effect 2
- Pokémon Colosseum
- Kingdom Hearts 2
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Super Smash Brothers Melee
- Ocarina of Time
- Ratchet and Clank
- Uncharted 2
- inFamous 2
I realize I included a lot of games that were sequels or part of a series, but these are my favorite of the series in general.
Honorable Mentions:
- Pokémon Emerald
- Mariokart 8
- Super Mario Sunshine
- Mario Galaxy
- Sonic Adventure 2
- Splintercell
- Final Fantasy 7
- Halo ODST
- Halo 2
Hmm, tough choices. In no particular order.
The Legend of Zelda - A Link To The Past This game was great when it was released and it's great now, and thanks to the randomiser community it's now infinitely replayable as well.
Super Metroid A series that literally helped define a genre, Super Metroid was everything that I suspect they wanted Metroid and Return of Samus to be but the hardware couldn't keep up. The world is built for speed running as well with so many shortcuts that experienced players can utilise, and again, with the randomiser community making it infinitely replayable (not only on its own, but with a crossover with ALTTP!), this game easily makes it onto my list.
Final Fantasy VII My original introduction to JRPGs and a game whose story and mechanics still hold up today even if the graphics don't as much. Obviously a lot of people feel the same way thanks to the Remakes, which while slightly out there have had so much nostalgia to play through them.
Final Fantasy XI The original Final Fantasy MMORPG and my introduction to MMORPGs generally, I put about 10 years into this game and still to this today occasionally reinstall it and see where I was last up to.
Final Fantasy XIV I tried several times to start FFXIV, but never got past the first few dungeons until COVID lockdowns hit, and since then am fully on board. The story, while a slow burn, is so good, and being a live service game means there's always new content coming or changes to learn. But really, the story in FFXIV is easily good enough to qualify as a mainline FF title, and any FF players who haven't tried it yet, should.
Doki Doki Literature Club You have to play this blind. Don't watch a let's play, and avoid any spoilers if you can. It's worth it. But when it's all done, if you're playing on PC, people have written entirely new mods and story for it, and the good ones really know how to make you connect with the characters.
Persona 5 Royal I discovered the Persona series with Golden, and was super excited to play Persona 5 when it released, but Royal is the definitive version that you'll want to play. The story is great, the gameplay is lots of fun, and the combination of JRPG and slice of life makes you feel a lot more connected to the loveable cast.
Factorio Just perfectly tickles that itch for resource management. The factory must grow.
Metal Gear Solid 2 A main memory I have of this game is the first time playing it where I bought out a whole box of those chocolates they sell for fundraising - was supposed to sell them to other people but they were great for late night snacking while I played. The stealth, the tension, the weird everything towards the end, it was a trip from start to finish.
Duke Nukem 3D Duke wasn't my first foray into FPS games (Wolfenstein 3D manages that title). But it holds a special place in my heart as it was the first game I ever played online multiplayer on. But I did it before the internet, so literally had a modem to modem connection running over an IPX network. Realistically, there's been plenty of better FPS games since, both modern and classic, but the irreverent humour, plus the fact I was a teen who probably wasn't supposed to be playing a game with strippers and highly pixilated tits in it, just edges it into my top 10.
Not in any order of value, but in alphabetical order. I couldn’t stick to just 10, sorry. And I’m sure I’m missing some good ones.
- Crash Bandicoot (especially 2)
- Dark Souls (1 and 3)
- Deep Rock Galactic
- Elden Ring
- Escape From Tarkov
- Factorio
- Half Life (all of them)
- Hollow Knight
- Hotline Miami
- Little Big Planet (especially 2)
- Morrowind
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
- Satisfactory
- Terraria
- The Binding of Isaac
- The Forest (both games)
- The Talos Principle (especially 2)
- Yakuza (hard to pick one)
…yeah, I’m bad at picking favorites.
Chrono Trigger
Earthbound
Xenogears
Nier: Automata
Vagrant Story
Super Mario World
Hades
Elden Ring
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Final Fantasy XIV
Kind of in order, kinda not. They all deserve 1st place, really, and I'm sure there are many others that could be up there with them that didn't spring to mind as fast.
In no order
Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
Bloodborne
Celeste
Slay the Spire
Monster Hunter: World (+ Iceborne)
Hades
Portal 2
Persona 4: Golden
Advance Wars 2
TES 4: OblivionIn no particular order:
- Elden Ring
- Mass Effect 2
- Dark Souls 3
- Bloodborne
- Factorio
- Terraria
- The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
- Metroid Prime
- Alan Wake 2
- Outer Wilds
Honourable mentions:
- XCOM 2
- Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2
- Fallout 3
- Terranigma
- Resident Evil 2 (Remake)
- Dark Souls 1
- Beyond Good and Evil
- Half Life 2
- Halo 1-3
- Mass Effect 1 and 3
- TES 5: Skyrim
- Zone of the Enders 2: The second Runner
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 🎶
- Endless Legend
Okay let's do this. Not in any order:
- Diablo 2
- Fallout 2 (and to a lesser degree 3 and New Vegas)
- Civilization 4
- Rimworld
- Morrowind
- Against the Storm
- 7 Days to Die
- XCOM 2
- Factorio
- Minecraft
I'm just going to drop my number 1, especially because it's in no one's list but somehow CP2077 is mentionned several times..
- The Witcher 3 !
Then the rest would be:
- Age of Empires II
- Minecraft
- Overwatch 1
- Star Wars Battlefront II (the OG)
- Trackmania
- Portal
- Skyrim
... I'll leave the remaining 2 to others :)
Depends how you define 'top', but lets go with most (estimated) hours played:
Minecraft. It wont track my hours, but if it did in the back end and told me I had played 10,000 hours of minecraft, I'd believe it. Yes I'm aware that's more than a year of playtime, I mean what I said. Almost been playing for half my life, I doubt I will ever truly stop.
Runescape, both RS3 and OSRS. They started tracking hours played well after I started playing, but given my playtime for both of these is listed in days, it probably deserves being here. You never quit Runescape, you merely take extended breaks.
League of Legends. This probably wouldn't show up if it were a list of favourite games, i don't know why I still play it. Around 2,000 hours at last check. Help me.
Forza Horizon 5. 600 hours. I did a lot of races. 400 hours in the previous title. Anyone still playing 5 know if the game works properly now? I remember the online being a disaster and the majority of every leaderboard being cheated times.
Warframe. This is going out of order due to the extremely short time I got those hours. At 500 hours, the first 200 hours were in 2 weeks. More games need bullet jump.
Counterstrike: Global Offensive. Yeah that's about 2k hours again. This game has ruined most other FPS games for me because bullet travel time is a bitch and I never learned it.
Stardew Valley. I think all top 10 lists deserve this game, 400 hours. Level 10 fishing in the first spring, never sided with Joja.
Skyrim. 360 hours, although at least 20 of those hours were mid-crash. Unplayable without mods.
Trackmania 2020. Excellent game, ton of fun. Wish it wasn't behind the Ubisoft launcher, this game is the only reason I have it. 300 hours. Obviously learned about the game from Wirtual.
Stellaris brings out 10th, 170 hours. I have no idea how to play the game and I think I need about 500 more hours to maybe get the basics down. And then I'll have to learn all the DLC!
This list did not end up being some of the games I expected it to be. I thought Skyrim would be lower, and I thought Beat Saber would've made an appearance, but only 145 hours of that. This list also skipped idle games because that's just cheating. Apparently I only have 10 games on Steam over 100 hours, that's clearly not enough gaming and I need to fix that. Did I write too much? Probably. But I spent a couple minutes looking up the numbers for some of these so I'm not just gonna not post it at this point.
-The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
-Chrono Cross
-Dark Souls 3
-Twisted Metal Black
-Final Fantasy IX
-Perfect Dark
-Banjo Kazooie
-Super Mario 64
-Killer Instinct
-Contra
- Final Fantasy VII (might be replaced with Rebirth if I end up replaying it a bunch in the future like I do with the OG)
- Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue
- Theme Hospital
- Mirrors Edge
- Celeste
- Halo 3
- Need for Speed Most Wanted
- Tony Hawk Underground
- Persona 3 Reload (before this it would've been 4 that would've been my favourite of the franchise)
- The Sims 3
I tried to think of games that I keep coming back to, or in the case of Persona and Celeste, ones that stick in my head even years after beating them.
Edit: don't know how this slipped my mind but a kingdom Hearts game should definitely be here. It's my favourite game series, I think I forgot to put it down because I was trying to think of which one I would put down as the best of the series.
In no particular order:
Tunic, Outer Wilds, Undertale, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Celeste, Hollow Knight, Ori And The Blind Forest/Will of the Wisps, Citizen Sleeper, The Talos Principle
If you force me to choose a top 3 of those:
- Tunic
- Outer Wilds
- Celeste
In no order...
- Grim Fandango
- Psychonauts (I and II combined)
- Fallout New Vegas
- Morrowind
- Portal (I and II combined)
- Thief (1-3 combined)
- Civilization II
- Space Invaders
- Falcon series (F3 and 4.0)
- The Pandora Directive
And some bonus games to add to the mix, because there are too many amazing games in the world.
- The Longest Journey/Dreamfall
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Mass Effect
EDIT Also
- Pac Man
- Quake II
Probably incomplete list that I may update after a nap.
- Outer Wilds The most sublime game I've ever played. I can't begin to describe how this game made me feel. It's also an excellently designed game. If you've never played it before, go in blind, because even the smallest spoilers risk diminishing your experience. It's an open world, exploration adventure game, which involves space travel, a quaint setting and fun physics
.
- Disco Elysium Another game that made me feel things. One of my favourites
.
- Tetris Played it on a Gameboy back in' day. It's a great game
.
- Rollercoaster Tycoon 2
.
- Halo Reach I don't even know if I believe this was the best Halo game, I was just indecisive and I'm biased because I like the DMR and the SWAT multiplayer game mode (no shields, so a headshot kills in 1)
.
- Deep Rock Galactic Feel like it's the peak of the four person squad based kind of game. I've literally got hundreds of hours in this game.
.
- Stardew Valley I didn't actually vibe with this too much personally, but I've got to respect it for how accessible it is to many different kinds of gamer. It executes what it set out to do perfectly.
.
- Faster than Light
- I don't even like rogue likes generally. The soundtrack is great.
(Edit 1: formatting)
In my playtime order. (I know OP asked best game of all time. But, this list is according to games which I think is best.)
- Minecraft
- Geometry Dash
- Brutal Doom
- Brotato
- Ultrakill
- Balatro
- Zortch
- Rythia or Sound Space Plus
- Stardew Valley
- Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
Honourable Mention
- Tetris
- Quake I & II
- Binding of Isaac
- Dusk
- Slice and Dice
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
- Monkey Island 3
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Minecraft
- Mass Effect 3
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Baldurs Gate 3
- Pokemon Silver
- Terraria
- Spider-Man 2 (the one for PS5)
Out of those probably Terraria and Minecraft take up ranks 1 and 2, just because i START playing them again every few years
- Yars revenge on Atari 2600.
- Kaboom on 2600.
- Pitfall on 2600.
- Myst on classic Mac.
- Dark Castle classic Mac.
- Diablo 1.
- Star Wars Dark Forces.
- That weird Ayn Rand utopia in the sky Bioshock sequel on any platform.
- The Star Wars Battlefront game that came out around rogue one on Xbox until the developer started tweaking with it and it became a griefer’s paradise.
- Gauntlet arcade and home versions. So fun to play as co-op.
- Ms Pac Man arcade.
- Tempest arcade.
And a shout out to Arashi, which was a great classic mac homage to Tempest.
- Outer Wilds
- The Return of the Obra Dinn
- I'll bunch the Mass Effect trilogy together here
- Super Metroid
- The Last of Us
- Bioshock: Infinite
- Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Oxygen not Included
- Fallout: NV
- Diablo 2
A lot of my gaming experience has been on Nintendo consoles, and a lot of this list is going to be viewed through nostalgia goggles with a lot of my first ranking higher than games that might have done the same thing better.
Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt- this is where it all began for me, and I still wish light gun games had become more of a thing
Tetris- timeless classic, everyone knows and loves it, no further explanation needed.
Pokemon red/blue/yellow- my first forray into RPGs
Kotor- first forray into RPGs that actually involved playing a role, the fact that you could be a bad guy was revolutionary to me. I also think this may have been one of the first games that I played completely through, I've always had a bad habit of never finishing a lot of games even if I really loved them. Also one of my first PC games and the first time I needed to install a graphics card in the family PC to play a game.
TES: Oblivion - look, you could pretty much insert any of the elder scrolls or 1st person fallout games into this spot, and quite a few others that arguably do it better, but this was my first real taste of an open world where you could go do (moru-or-less) whatever you wanted, everything felt so alive, and the imperial city still kind of feels to me like one of the most alive and actually functional cities in a video game and not just a level that's dressed up to look like a city.
Portal 2: I don't think there are many games out there that are just this much fun, and everything the first portal did great (which was pretty much everything,) 2 expanded on and made even better.
Octodad: Dadliest Catch- I'm a sucker for short games with a good gimmick and intentionally weird controls.
Saints Row 3- it was stupid, it was fun, I could honestly entertain myself for hours just running around the city, stealing cars, and beating luchadores with a giant dildo for hours and have a blast the entire time.
Super Mario 64- my first experience with 3d gaming, and I'd argue still one of the best 3d platformers out there (wonky cameras and such from that era aside) I like simple, lightheaded games.
Ocarina of time- enough has been said about this game elsewhere on the Internet that I don't feel like I need to say any more.
This might be an unpopular list, but I'm ranking games in terms of overall enjoyment.
- Red Alert 2
- Mass Effect 1 - 3
- Doom 2016
- Doom Eternal
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Starfield
- Doom (the original)
Elder Scroll series. Skyrim for the modding and eyecandy potential, Oblivion for the madness that is spellcrafting (also Shivering Isles is the best ES DLC), Morrowind for the true alien fantasy.
Thief II is the quintessential first-person sneaker.
Independence War II still has one of the best flight models and a great story.X3: Terran Conflict is the best first-person strategy game.
Half-Life 1 and 2.
Il-2: Great Battles is the best WWII combat flight sim.
DCS is the best jet combat sim.Elite: Dangerous is the only space sim with actual 1:1 scale galaxy, including many real-life stars and is the best life-in-space simulator with flight model as good as I-War 2 and decent enough on-foot parts (even though there is some jank and glitches).
Roughly in order, I think:
- StarCraft: Brood War
- Subnautica
- FTL: Faster than Light
- Spec Ops: The Line
- Risk of Rain Returns
- Portal
- Dead Cells
- Hades
- Team Fortress 2
- Borderlands 2
- Satisfactory
Honorable mention:
- Unreal Tournament 2004
- The first two Golden Sun games
- SOMA
- Diablo II
- Diablo III
- TLoZ: Link's Awakening
Looking over this, it seems like I'm drawn to games that have either unusually good writing, very long skill curves, or (e.g., #1) both.
UT2004 sneaks in for being the absolute best LAN-party game ever (fight me). I think Link's Awakening is mostly just nostalgia though. 😋
Edit: bumped UT2004 down to "honorable mention" because I somehow forgot the billion hours I've sunk into Satisfactory. Still very curious to see where that game goes story-wise after the 1.0 launch, though.
I'm a pretty casual gamer, so I've pretty much only played the "hits" a few years after they've been out.
These are the ones I remember feeling the most groundbreaking and spending the most time with over the years.
- Doom 2
- GTA San Andreas
- Yakuza 0
- Last of Us
- Zelda: Link to the Past
- Duke Nukem 3D
- Carmageddon 2
- Eternal Darkness
- Red Dead 2
- Metal Gear
I got a good laugh out of the other post that is all the Yakuza games, because that's how I spent a ton of my Covid work from home time playing them on the cheap. They had the fun of the GTA games, but I never like the main characters were bad people, so Yakuza gave me the games I've wanted through all the GTA years and then some.
- Worms Armageddon
Obligatory "No particular order and this was really fucking difficult to distill into just 10 games":
- The Witcher 3
- BioShock
- Minecraft
- Baldur's Gate 3
- Monster Hunter: World
- Dying Light
- Transistor
- Borderlands 2
- Elden Ring
- ARK: Survival Evolved
Just the ones I know, of course. In the order I fell in love with them:
- Combat
- Duke Nukem
- Herzog Zwei
- Streets of Rage 2
- Mario Kart
- Outpost
- Sim City 2000
- Warcraft 2
- Unreal Tournament 2004
- Halo
Darn that’s ten and it only gets me up to two decades ago, when I was ending college.
My ten from after college:
- FarCry 2
- EVE Online
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Minecraft
- Grand Theft Auto V online mode
- Factorio
- Battlefield 5
- Sea of Thieves
- Space Engineers
- Overwatch 2
- Minecraft
- Factorio
- Danganronpa
- Danganronpa UDG
- Danganronpa 2
- Danganronpa V3
- Pokemon: FireRed
- SuperTuxKart (because best FOSS game ❤️)
- Pick any two classics from Valve
- Disco Elysium
- Jade Empire
- Eternal Darkness
- Knights of the Old Republic
- Starcraft 2
- Quake
- Chrono Trigger
- Portal
- Resident Evil 4
- The Last of Us
In Order with contender from the same gameline between brackets.
- Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
- Valkyrie Profile Lenneth
- Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones (Path of Radiance & Awakening)
- Monster Hunter Worlds (Hunter 4 Ultimate & Rise)
- Need for Speed Underground 2
- World of Warcraft
- Final Fantasy IV (IX)
- League of Legends
- Dwarf Fortress
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (& Echoes of Times)
Honorable Mentions
- Midnight Club 2
- Sid Meier's Civilization VI
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
- Tekken 3
Satisfactory RDR2 Cyberpunk2077 Mass Effect trilogy Cities Skylines, GTA 5 Halo series then probably a bunch of simulators
Outer Wilds
and
Inscryption
Not in order: Dark Souls 1 Dark Souls 3 Elden Ring Witcher 3 Undertale Baldurs Gate 3 NieR: Automata Skyrim Hollow Knight Minecraft
- Neverwinter Nights
- Kingdom of Amalur
- Warcraft III: Frozen Throne
- Battle for Middle Earth
- Deux Ex
- KOTOR I
- Morrowind - Oblivion
- Red Alert 2
- XCOM2
- WH: Total War II
No order in particular:
- Elder Scrolls 3-5
- KOTOR 1 & 2
- Dota 2
- Mass Effect
- Grim Dawn
- Kerbal Space Program
- Warframe
- Age Of Empires II
- Battle for Middle Earth 2
- Counter Strike
In no order:
- Diablo 2
- Chrono trigger
- The incredible machine
- Loom
- Bravely default
- The secret of monkey island
- Prince of Persia
- Rampart
- Papers, please
- Zak McKracken and the alien mindbenders
In no particular order:
- Hero's Quest (from Sierra On-line)
- Valheim
- Fallout: New Vegas
- Skyrim
- No Man's Sky
- City of Heroes (can you believe it's legally back?!?)
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Planescape: Torment
- Stardew Valley
- Starfield
(I'm sure that last one will raise some eyebrows, but I've already got over 1k hours in it since launch. For all its faults, it scratches some itch of mine just right.)
Half life 2 (especially episode 2), HL: Alyx, Mario 3, Sonic 3 (with Sonic and Knuckles attached), Sonic 2, space station 13, dead by daylight, portal 2, guitar hero 3, I dunno, one of the metal gear solids or Garry's mod
- Subnautica (original and Sub Zero, plus a nod to Planet Crafter which captures some of that same vibe)
- Metroid Prime (and all the other Metroids)
- StarCraft (1 and 2, though fuck Blizzard today)
- Diablo (2 and 3, though to a lesser extent for 3, and still fuck Blizzard)
- WoW (I'm done with it now but there was a reason I was addicted for those years, but fuck Blizzard)
- Oblivion (and Skyrim)
- Factorio (and Dyson Sphere Project)
- Beat Saber (and a nod to the rhythm games that predated it, like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and Frequency I believe it was called)
- Paradox games (HOI4, CK3, Europa (uh current?), Stellaris)
- Hades
Many others could have been listed here instead. Oxygen not included, smash Bros, DBZ kakarot, xenosaga 2, transport fever, city skylines, risk of Rain 2, King's quest series, civ, Halo, Mario games, Zelda games, Mario Kart, Lego games, Minecraft... And I'm sure I'm missing many more that I have tried and others that I haven't.
In some sort of order
- Sim City 2000, City Skylines
- Halo 1, 2, 3 , Modern Warfare 2, 3
- Civilization 4,5,6
- Kerbal Space Program
- Minecraft
- BioShock
- Final fantasy 7
- Game Dev Story
- FTL
- BG3
Alphabetical Order
- TBOI Rebirth
- BTD6
- DOOM Eternal
- GMod
- Pizza Tower
- Post Void
- Super Meat Boy
- SUPERHOT
- TF2
- Titanfall 2
Tic tak toe,
Solitaire,
Snek,
That one with the bubbles that you just watch and you can’t do anything (I think it actually a screen saver)
Uh. That’s it.
In no particular order:
- kenchi
- ghost recon wild lands
- s.t.a.l.k.e.r
- ready or not
- arma 3
- dayz
- mag
- cities skylines
- red dead redemption
- skate 3
dragon age origins
mass effect 2 red dead 2 baldurs gate 3 witcher 3 cyberpunk 2077 tetris horizon zero dawn dragon age inquisition resident evil 4I'm probably a little biased but... (I'll also include my fave music track from each game as a little bonus!)
Gnome Mahjongg
Ltris
Bejeweled
Gnome Tetravex
Frozen Bubble
Xye
- Portal 2
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Gothic 2
- Mass Effect 2
- Uncharted 2
- Dragon Age Origins
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
- Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines
- The Last of Us
- Max Payne 2
sly 3
mirror’s edge
also portal 2 somewhere in there
- Chrono Trigger
Okay done
Ranking is tough but I'll give it a go. The ranking is based on the impact and enjoyment I got out of them regardless of playtime.
-
What Remains of Edith Finch & Kentucky Route Zero (shared 1st place)
-
Life is Strange
-
Stray
-
GRIS
-
Cyberpunk 2077
-
SOMA
-
Heaven's Vault
-
The Town of Light
-
FAR: Lone Sails
-
Portal 2
That last one is a bit of an outlier but I have laughed so much while playing it, it deserves a place at the table.
-
My top 10 in decreasing order (the first series' games I listed individually to give due credit to these masterpieces):
- Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos (Gothic universe)
- Gothic 2 + Night of the Raven
- Gothic 1
- Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 2, Fallout 1
- Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 3
- UFO Enemy Unknown (OpenXcom variant)
- Warcraft III + The Frozen Throne
- StarCraft, StarCraft II
- Unreal Tournament 2000 G.O.T.Y.
- No Man's Sky or Minecraft (contenders for 10th place)
No particular order, but it seems I hit quite a few different genres.
- Starcraft
- Stardew Valley
- Subnautica
- Final Fantasy Tactics
- Infamous
- Hades
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Halo 2
- Super Smash Brothers Melee
- Rome: Total War
Tekken 3
Raiden rtype
Diablo
Unreal Tournament
Blakestone
Alien vs predator
Ultimate Doom
Team fortress 2
Overwatch 1 R.I.P
Battlefront 2-
Nethack : old school roguelike
-
Tale of Maj Eyal : removing of tediousness in old school roguelike
-
Baldur Gate 2 : D&D implementation
-
Civilization 2 : just one more turn
-
Fallout 2 : narrative based on character build
-
XCom : tactical combat with base building
-
Jagged alliance: tactical combat with squad building
-
Knight of Legend : best original turnbased combat system never done again
-
Slay the Spire: For deck building
-
Quake: playing with friend
-
I have not kept up with gaming much for the past decade, so my list is going to be very dated. In no particular order:
- Starsiege: Tribes (Tribes 2 gets an honorable mention)
- EarthSiege 2
- EverQuest (very begrudgingly, but it did kick the era of MMORPGs into overdrive, and I was addicted to it for almost a decade)
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Mass Effect Legendary Edition (I'm counting the trilogy as a single game)
- X-Wing Vs. Tie Fighter
- Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe
- Cities: Skylines
- Star Trek Online (only because of storylines)
- Battlefield 1942
No console games on my list, because PCMR! :P
[Edit] Almost forgot Star Control 2!
Once again in no particular order: Ultimata IV - Quest of the Avatar
Sim City 2000
The Last of Us
Breath of the Wild
Trade Wars
Kingdom Hearts
Knights of the Old Republic
Civ 6
Omega - a dos game where you programmed Tanks and set them loose
And right now: Balatro
Halo 3
Viva Pinata
Fallout 3
Kingdom for Keflings
Red Alert 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Warframe
RuneScape 2 (pre eoc)
Minecraft
Borderlands 2Boom Blocks - Wii - top of my list. Not because it's a good game, but because my kids and I had uproarious hours spent playing it together.
Video game I have not yet figured out the name of. It came out in 1986(ish?) and it had a robot/cyborg in a kind of metroidvania level set. Macintosh.
Doom, the original. Scared the PISS out of me. Then I played it hardcore after that. Doom II came out and I set up LAN parties and opened up my nascent IT outsourcing business for those. Helldivers 2 - Honestly, I haven't actually engaged with a game this hard for decades. Senua's Sacrifice - This game helped me considerably, in understanding the people I love. Doom 2016 - What's not to like. It's perfect. Starcraft II - When it came out. Excellent weaving of story and gameplay. HI-FI Rush - Unexpected fun. Zork - I would have never expected this level of amazing story telling this many years ago.
I know I am short of 10, but I can't think of anything else.Might and magic III
F19
Submarine Commander (Atari computer game)
B17 (intellivision)
Counterstrike.1.6
Half-life
Castle Wolfenstein
WOW
WoT
Witcher 3
Cyberpunk 2077
I play them still.
- Total annihilation.
- Zero-k
- World of Warcraft, as long as I can avoid cataclysm
I don't play them but would easily
- The settlers III + Amazons
- Torchlight
- Diablo II as it was in like 05
- Quake II + lithium (slow hooks; hi Nelson crew)
- Dune 2
- WCII as in 98
Huh. That's it. StarCraft is out as I played for a day before cavedog ruined it for me forever, but it get it if you still love it.
Hylics 1/2
Half Life 1
Myst
Jet Set Radio Future
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
Factorio
Doom II (heavily modded)
OpenRCT2
Voices of the Void
The Sims (I like the series as a whole, I feel like each game has its own pros and cons)
This is off the top of the dome and given more time I'd probably change this significantly, but here's 10 of my favorites from a multitude of genres:
- Rain World
- Outer Wilds
- Stephen's Sausage Roll
(Those are pretty firmly my top 3, all totally mindblowing experiences that surprised and awed me multiple times)
- Spelunky 2
- Getting Over It
- Peaks Of Yore
- Satisfactory
- Dark Souls PTDE
- Hunt: Showdown
- Morrowind
Honorable mentions for Guilty Gear and Tekken as series, and I have a special place in my heart for the 2000 title Sacrifice, which is my eternal top pick for a remaster/remake.
R360
Operation wolf
GTI club
VideoPoker
Coin pushers
Fussball
Bar billiards
Darts
Bowling
Paintball
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3
Katamari Damacy
Sims 2
Stardew Valley
Skyrim
The 101 Dalmatians Puzzle Game for Gameboy Color.
These are the games I have the fondest memories of 💜
In no particular order:
- Zelda Twilight Princess
- Xenoblade Chronicles X
- Dragon Nest (back when they had Level 60 cap)
- Kirby Planet Robobot
- Lost Odyssey
- Super Mario Galaxy 2
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Mother 3
- A Hat in Time
Honorable Mentions:
- Blue Dragon
- Dragon Quest VII
- Cloudbuilt
- Epic Battle Fantasy 3
- Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- The Witcher 3
- Minecraft (I stopped at version 1.11)
- The Evil Within 1
- Layer of fear
In no real particular order, games with highest impact on me:
- battlefield 1942 - desert combat mod
Ground breaking at the time. Physics and gamespeed have never been captured by any other game. Consumed my free time for a long time.
2 counter strike
Simple concept, extreme depth. I've clocked several thousand hours into this franchise.
- The witcher 3
In terms of world building and story telling... Incredible.
- The Witness
Absolute masterclass in game design, world design. Puzzle design.. This is an incredible puzzle game that will shift your perspective.
- Faster than light
I haven't found anything else quite scratch that replay ability, that tethering on the brink of losing, itch. It's a unique game.
- Guild wars 2
Completely changed the way mmorpgs were played, and was a great mmo.
- Monkey Island
I wanted to mention a point and click, several spring to mind, but this still series lives in my mind the most. Although space quest is another that impacted my young brain.
- Minecraft
Like... I was there since its debut. Still watching and enjoying mc related content.
- Elite
Space is pretty big and cool
- Eve online
Getting back stabbed by the person you've been back stabbing for, so you join the enemies of your friends to be able to backstab your backstabbers.
Permanently Deleted
- Hades.
- Rocket League
- Deep Rock Galactic
- Warframe
- Heroes of the Storm
- DotA. (I'm talking original WC3 mod here)
- Street Fighter 2
- Starcraft 2
- Tropico 4
- World of Warcraft (pre fuck-you-Blizzard days)
Honorable mention for all of the Diablo's really, been playing them since the first one, and all of the Fallouts, playing since the 2nd. Shoutout to my X-Com homies.
Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan & Dylan.
It's mostly a heartfelt list... although arguably most of those are quality games too, regardless of emotional connection
- Streets Of Rage 2 (Megadrive)
- Flashback (Megadrive)
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
- Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC)
- Star Wars Episode I: Racer (PC)
- Omikron: The Nomad Soul (PC)
- Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (Xbox)
- Halo (Xbox)
- Morrowind (Xbox)
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PC)
- HalfLife
- Zelda ALTTP
- Journeyman Project: A Legacy Of Time
You people lack some serious games:
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Silent Hill 1-2-3
- Monkey Island 1-2-3
- Outer Wilds (happy to see it on many list)
- Alley Cat
StarCraft Chrono Trigger Tetris Super Mario World Super Mario Bros 3 Wolfenstein 3D Doom 2 Skyrim Minesweeper 百万人の漢検
That's eight. Not to recommend them, only to note what made my life exciting
Separated into top 5 and the rest.
- Slay the Spire
- BeamNg
- Trackmania (not any of the games specifically more the concept)
- Disco Elysium
- Portal 2
- Balatro probably
- FTL
- Mario Kart (8 and/or Wii)
- Maybe Baldus gate 3
- Thalos principle 2
The hearthstone battlegrounds auto battler mode is perhaps also in here but hearthstone itself I've never played.
I’m not very nostalgic, so not much of old games on this list (in no particular order):
Bloodborne Red Dead Redemption 2 Dark Souls The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom Hades Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Shadow of the Colossus Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Super Mario Galaxy 2 Elden Ring - Heroes of Newerth
- Outerwilds
- Quake 2
- Star Control 2
- Dark Souls
- Another World
- Street Fighter 2
- Flashback
Games that I have spent an incredible amount of time playing, in no particular order (games where I have noted time, I have played those exclusively without playing any other games):
- Enter the Gungeon (two years)
- Master of Orion (& sequels and likes)
- UFO/TFTD
- Sim City 2000
- Command & Conquer (just the first one)
- Quake World (5 years)
- Ragnarok Online (5 years)
- Transport Tycoon Deluxe (& Open TTD)
- Wizardry 7
- World of Warcraft (5 years)
I'd like to mention that there comes a certain point in skill based games like fps and twitchy MMOs, where your character's movements are so ingrained in muscle memory, your knowledge of the game engines' ins and outs are so thorough, that even just standing around in one spot you know at any moment what action or reaction is going to happen upon your next few key presses, and you have a hundred percent confidence in executing those without a flaw, if you bothered to lift your finger.
That's when you quit, I guess.
Edit: honorary mention for Fallout 1/2/3/NV, TES3&5, Elite/First Encounter, Syndicate, Starcraft 2, Creatures 1&2, Civilization, Master of Magic, King's Bounty & HOMM, DOOM 1/2, Scorched Earth/Worms, Diablo 1&2
- Joust (1982 arcade game by Williams)
- Marble Madness (arcade, 1984)
- Fantavision (PS/2 - also Fantavision 202x - remake for modern PC)
- Bioshock
- Stardew Valley
- Oxygen Not Included
- Another World (Amiga)
- Populous (Amiga)
- Lemmings (Amiga)
- Star Raiders (Atari 8 bit)
I wonder if posts like these are used by someone to train some LLM to create an actually intelligent, relevant and civilised AI.
Civilization III Final Fantasy IX Valheim Kerbal Space Program Stellaris Empire Earth Borderlands 2 Morrowind Halo: Reach Rimworld
The must be mentioned: KOTOR Bioshock(and Infinite) Final Fantasy 4, 14, 5, 6 in that order AOE 2 Red Alert 2 Total War: Rome, Rome 2, Medieval 2, and Shogun Lords of the Realm 2 No Man's Sky Horizon series Space Empires V Battlefield 1942 Medal of Honor(the first one from the 90's, not that bullshit reboot from 2010) Smash Bros Melee, 64, Brawl in that order Crysis Warcraft II: The Tides of Darkness Theme Hospital MDK2 Chrono Trigger
It was tough leaving some of those mentioned ones out of the top ten, but the top ten belong where they are for me for how definining they were/are for me.
This is just out of the games I can recall off the top of my head and no order besides the first title being number one:
• Borderlands (specifically on xbox360 with all DLC)
• Fallout New Vegas (despite never actually beating it once)
• SuperTuxKart
• Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum Edition
• Sonic Mega Collection Plus (PS2 since I've never played it on original xbox and because I still think it's a pretty good way to experience classic Sonic for those that don't want things like savestates and those that do)
• Crazy Taxi (on Dreamcast)
• Hitman Blood Money/Absolution (purely for how much fun I manage to find in them regardless of their flaws and yes I'm counting them as a single game because I can't say I like one more than the other)
• Spyro Reignited Trilogy (so far the only game remaster I can think of where I'd recommend it over the originals because fuck Year of the Dragon and the portals leading to the minigame like sections in levels causing the music to turn off if you get too close in the original)
• Pokemon Uranium (that one fangames that got banned but is still being updated/my first experience with pokemon fangames and ROM hacks)
• Portal 2 (both on xbox360 and PC because I beat co-op on 360 by myself once and also because level editor on PC and the one level I have saved that I cannot beat despite trying on and off for years)
Portal 2
RDR2
Half life alyx
Cyberpunk
Skyrim VR
Fallout 3
L4D2
Witcher 3
Assetto Corsa VR
Disco Elysium
Permanently Deleted
Solitaire and SkiFree.
