for me mine are 1. Elden Ring, 2. RDR2 3. BOTW, all because they genuinely blew my mind when playing them for the first time and changed how I saw and played video games.
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Betrayal at Krondor. A huge world for exploring, at a time when that didn’t exist.
Chrono Trigger. The replay value is so high.
Wolf 3D or Doom or Doom 2 or Quake 3, for similar reasons.
StarCraft, at a time when BattleNet was small and the ladder rankings and fights were all global.
My best friend and I used to spend summer afternoons trying to figure out the answers to all the riddles on the chests (in Betrayal at Krondor). We sucked at it (lol) but when we finally managed to crack one, the feeling was euphoric.
The music was awesome. I used to listen to the CD while I slept.
Minecraft and Factorio are definitely my top 2, after that it gets difficult. Probably Mario Kart (not necessarily a specific one, but if you’d ask me to nail it down it’d be Double Dash (for the nostalgia) and 8 Deluxe (currently best imo) at the top).
These are the only games I have consistently played for over a decade and that I keep coming back to in one way or another because I enjoy them so much. And that to me is the most important aspect of a game: my actual enjoyment of it
Edit: Honorable Mentions:
- Chants of Senaar
- Opus Magnum
- Sea of Thieves
- Supreme Commander
- The Settlers Series (preferably 3-4)
Probably:
- Fallout 2
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
- Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
Fallout 2 isn’t as refined and tight as Fallout but I personally enjoy it more. It’s arguably far too big but as I’ve played it so many times (unusual for me - I’m usually a one-and-done person when it comes to time sink RPGs) that isn’t a bad thing. I enjoy the writing, mechanics, and atmosphere. Also I voice a robot dog in a mod for it.
Red Alert 2 is the best C&C game ever. I do not care for any of the 3D ones and Red Alert 1 is rather too difficult for me. However RA2 I have finished on hardest difficulty several times. I’ve never really bothered with the multiplayer for it outside of co-op because I don’t play to be competitive. I tend to take my time and like it that way.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is maybe my favourite point and click RPG. I go back to it every few years and it always sucks me in. I know most of the puzzles off by heart but I’m more there for the sense of escapism and gentle humour. There’s other amazing point and click games but for whatever reason this one really speaks to me. It’s not even a nostalgia thing - I’ve only ever played the 2009 director’s cut! I’m old enough to have played the '90s version but never did.
Honourable mentions:
*Startopia
*The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
*Theme Hospital
*What Remains of Edith FinchStartopia’s music, humour, and gameplay are all top notch. Runs on a potato, makes me laugh, and features my old pal, Arona.
BoI:R is great. I’ve put a ridiculous number of hours into it. The latest DLC has made it a bit too big for my tastes but in general I enjoy it a great deal.
Theme Hospital is like Two Point Hospital but tighter, funnier, and prettier. Lots of fun.
What Remains of Edith Finch is art. It’s funny, moving, tragic, and beautiful. I encourage everyone to play through it. It won’t take that long - a few hours. Such a fantastic experience. Gone Home is pretty damn good too.
Impossible to rank, so I’ll pull from at random from a top 25 I did not long ago:
- Trails to Azure - This one had a massive impact on me, from musings on depression and self-worth to love for a city, a community, and the hard choices that come from that love. Incredible story and character writing. All boosted by a well-developed world with a lot of moving parts and a crazy good soundtrack.
- WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames - Endlessly replayable. Holds up even to this day. Every time I think about it, I’m amazed at how they got lightning in a bottle with this new idea.
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Just one of those games where every single facet clicked for me. Visuals, writing, setting, soundtrack, gameplay, meta-gameplay, decision points. All of it.
- Doom/Doom II. They somehow lucked the hell out on mechanics, speed of movement, ease of modding etc. John Carmack did us all a massive solid and got the game released under GPL license only four years after it came out. As a result of the incremental improvements enabled by that, the game keeps my interest to this day.
- TIE Fighter. I used to be a massive Star Wars fan, and this game was just the best thing ever for a detail-oriented kid. I memorized the stats of every single ship and for the rest of time was pissed whenever someone got it wrong. The missions truly require you to use your brain and every advantage at your disposal (in-flight map; reinforcements; wingmates; ship characteristics; good tactics). 've’never come across a better flight sim to this day (although the Freespace series comes close).
- Diablo II. I was 15 when this game came out. I rollerbladed all the way across town to buy this game without my parents knowing. The clerk almost didn’t sell it to me because he thought I looked too young but in the end he did me a solid. The game was worth it and then some. It consumed the rest of my teenage years. Digital crack.
Games that deserve to be in the top three but don’t fit:
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PlanetSide. I still remember being in shock watching a hundred people shoot at each other without massive rubberbanding etc. It totally redefined what was possible in a game. I was obsessed with making loadouts for every situation. TR forever!
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Dark Souls. They totally nailed the feeling of being in some sort of dark fantasy fever dream. So beautiful, and I love how the lore is relevant to how you feel trying to overcome the adversity of the game. First half of the game has some of the best world design I’ve ever seen.
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World of Warcraft. I flunked out of college because of this game. I think it was worth it.
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- Super Smash Bros. Melee
- Phantasy Star Online: Episodes I & II
Those are all relatively new games. How old are you? Just decade, not specifics. I’m in my 40s. I’d say my top 3 are World of Warcraft, Factorio, and Final Fantasy 6.
- Portal 2
- Hollow Knight
- Minecraft
- Skyrim
- Minecraft
- Destiny 2
- Prey 2016 - I love the designs, the art, the story, the lonely feeling in space, the soundtrack (Mick Gordon!).
- Nier Automata - The only game that ever made me cry - multiple times. Great Soundtrack too!
- Grim Dawn - for me personally the best ARPG ever made, and they are working on a new expansion, after all this time!
Edit: Honorable Mentions: x) Fallout NV, but i can’t be arsed to mod it AGAIN, and vanilla is too buggy, so currently no NV for me x) Dragon Age - Origins: played this through on the Xbox 360 3 times! x) Dead Cells: i wish i were young enough for the reflexes needed to get to 5 boss cells. Doesn’t stop me from trying, tho!
- Satisfactory
- Stardew Valley
- Baldur’s Gate 3
Not that they’re the best games, but they’re definitely my favorites. Though if I’m being honest there’s a large gap between number one and number two, and anything other than Satisfactory feels like it could move in the top 10 depending on my mood.
So I guess if I’m being honest with myself it’s more like
1: Satisfactory~massive gap~
2-∞: any other traditionally well-liked game, depending on my mood on a given day
Morrowind - the first game that let me leave the path. It completely changed RPGs for me, and I loved it.
Solasta - this game captured the D&D feeling like no other game has. My wife and I have spent hundreds of hours playing this together.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard - this game touched me emotionally, more than any game before it. The whole 3rd act is an emotional rollercoaster. Plus it has one of my favorite action sequences ever, in The Siege of Weisshaupt.
- TF2
Its just so good, played it a fair bit when I was a young teen and picked it up again a couple years ago and haven’t stopped playing 8 - 20 hours a week. Best game ever imo, never gets old.
- Garry’s Mod
Easily my favorite game when I was in middle school and high school, and it still holds a very dear spot in my heart and memories from that era of my life. Excited for s&b
- Cyberpunk 2077
I remember seeing the teaser trailer when I was a preteen and was so hyped, took like 10 years but when it did come out I had covid (which was lucky for me because I didn’t feel that sick and I got paid leave for 14 days to play the game). Played on PC from day 1 and beat the game In a week or so, it wasn’t that buggy imo. I loved the story and I encountered minimal issues during my play through, and only one that caused me to need to reload a save.
Other favs probably rimworld, gta 4, stanleys parable
- Starcraft II
- Mount & Blade: Warband
- Heroes of Might & Magic III
Honorable mentions
- Anno 1404
- Far Cry 2
- Witcher 3
- Tropico 4
- Factorio
Civilization (the OG dos version)
Planetside 2
Warframe
