Games

Planetside 2 as it was many years ago. I'll be forever bitter how they ruined it.

If I look at recorded playtime then its teamfortress 2 which wins just by 0.1h over rimworld and I havent really played tf2 for over 10 years.

I'm a teacher, and as soon as students figure out I play games, they inevitably ask me this question, but I largely think it's an unfair question to ask someone who games as a genuine hobby rather than just a kill time.

I like to tell them that's a really impossible question to answer and instead offer them my favorite franchise of games: Monster Hunter. I feel like I can more reliably say that I am a massive fan of the franchise, with it reliably being my favorite videogame franchise, without that seeming weirdly inaccurate considering the wide variety of genres and sub-genres that make up video game interests.

To say that Monster Hunter Rise is my favorite game would be a massive disservice to the captivating, genre-breaking storytelling power of Hades, my deeply rooted love of the flight mechanics in Elite Dangerous, my history as a brief world record holder for a Mario title, the thousands of hours of Team Fortress 2 I've shared with friends, or my experiences grinding World of Warcraft arenas to the top 0.5% of players. And I've somehow listed 5 formative titles from the top of my head without even representing my deep passion for rhythm games, with Hi-Fi Rush being a genuine contender for that "favorite game" slot that I am arguing doesn't exist. So I don't answer with any of these games, because not only would my answer be fundamentally untrue, but it's not really the question my student means to ask, either. They want to know what I am into, and giving them a standout franchise that automatically gets my money when a title is released gives them a much better answer than any one title could ever do.

It is crazy to me that Diablo 2 was not mentioned, yet. Second place: Modded Minecraft.

Original far cry. Witcher 3. Baldurs Gate 1,2 and 3 Assasins Creed Ezio games Civ

Cant pick one but based on hours played it would be civ

+1 on the Max Payne mention...great game!

Came out near the time of my favorite PC game, Unreal Tournament.

As far as arcade games, I'd say maybe Rygar or Dragon's Lair...but those are so old (like I am) that I might not be remembering them so well?

Baldurs Gate 3 anyone? I’m kind of shocked to not see it in here. I’ve never enjoyed a game more. Only sad thing is that there won’t be official dlcs or expansions… But then again there’s mod support! Other than that I really enjoy EU IV after 2k hours, but all-time-favorite? I don’t think so.

Oh man, same problem. I can't decide what I like more there are just too many good ones. The Witcher 3 is definitely up there for me too, but then I think about Red Dead Redemption 2 and how insanely detailed that world is, and I start second-guessing everything. Then there’s Elden Ring, which just blew my mind with how massive and rewarding it felt to explore. But if I want something more casual, I always go back to Stardew Valley or Hollow Knight both just have that perfect mix of chill and challenge. And of course, Mass Effect 2 still holds a special place in my heart. Also, I like to play online pokies from time to time. This page has some pretty cool no deposit bonus options if you’re into that kind of thing.

What kind of games do you find yourself replaying the most? Do you go back to the same favorites, or do you always try to play something new?

Star Control 2 - it's a mix of RPG storytelling with zany aliens mixed with Asteroids style PvP arcade gameplay. Like Ham and Cantaloupe, you think the combination wouldn't work but it just somehow does. The writing and lore of the whole universe is just super rich and really immerses you into the whole universe.

I can‘t really pinpoint one game, it‘s easier for me to list a top 5ish in no particular order (but even then I‘ll probably answer differently in a month from now when I remember games I‘m forgetting about right now). It goes something like this:

Crusader Kings III

Monster Hunter World/Wilds (the latter if it didn‘t run like shit)

Nioh 2

Rocket League (haven‘t played it in years though)

HITMAN

maybe League of Legends if it still was season 7 lol (haven‘t played that in a while either)

Counterstrike 1.6

Dark Souls II (my first soulslike that I played on release with an active online population, so I have the fondest memories of this one, DS1 and its awful PC port was nothing to make fond memories with for me)

Seems like I‘m a competitive/challenging game enjoyer, but not the „1v1 no-hit bosses“-kind, I enjoy all of these games most in coop if they support it. Overcoming challenges together is my thing.

Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic. It’s one of the most complex city builders made, and while the interface isn’t great and there are lots of obscure, weird, and downright unintuitive mechanics, it’s so rewarding to play because you can actually construct your infrastructure with materials and time, and so unlike Cities: Skylines or Transport Fever, the game doesn’t become trivially easy when you get a late game map. Those games you can eventually afford massive bridges and tunnels, but that’s not the case in Workers and Resources, because no matter how much money you have, bridges take time to build, and you’ll have to reroute traffic during construction, so you’ll only use them when you really need them.

Also I love the scaling, things like gas stations only require a single truck very occasionally, shall industries require a few trucks, and only the big industries like steel require trains (and only a reasonable amount too). As opposed to Cities: Skylines or Transport Fever where every industry ends up with a massive number or trucks or a silly number of trains.

Sometimes Rimworld, sometimes CP2077 and sometimes BG3

Gunz: The Duel was my first competitive online game and it'll always have a soft spot in my heart.

Halo 3 custom games with full party was the golden era for me. All my other favourites are all RPG like baldur's gate, red dead, mass effect ect...

I play and enjoy most genres at this point, but my favorite has to be Skullgirls. There are 18 characters and so many ways to combine them that you can still come up with new strategies in this game over a decade after its release.

do you like sportsball, but think it needs level ups, perks, and gear? no? Me neither. I absolutely loved Pyre though. When a game dev takes a risk on a weird mashup like 3v3 basketball + Fantasy RPGs + visual novels, it's an easy way to score points with me. What really cemented this as my favorite was the characters and the emergent interactions that develop as part of your decisions during the Rites. No spoilers, but the game asks you to make hard decisions at every turn of the wheel, and that particular kind of tension and release is very unique in my experience. It's one of the few games I've 100%'d to see every permutation of events.

When it comes to nostalgia, my favourite game is a 90’s German demo of the DOS version of the original Command & Conquer.

„Jawohl, Sir!”; „Bestätigt!”.

The soldiers were still robots there, too, because of German law forbidding a realistic depiction of war.

The best game I’ve ever played is without a doubt Red Dead Redemption 2. I’ve never cried over a game, and with RDR2 I cried nearing the finale myself, then I cried again when I watched it being played in a let’s play series on YouTube. RDR2 is a masterpiece, plain and simple.

I’ve also never loved a fake horse as much as I’ve loved my RDR2 fake horse. Hell, I felt more attached to my horse in RDR2 than I’ve felt to 99% of characters in other games.

Pathologic 2!

It's a rich world & narrative that throws you in the midst of an incredibly stressful seemingly impossible scenario and asks you to try your best. I love how the intense survival mechanics caused me to compromise my morals, starting the game trying not to kill anyone and then playing day 8 seeking out people to kill & steal stuff from. The mind map is also one of the most genius "quest logs" I've ever seen, giving you a feel for your characters emotions and providing hints on what to do next. The fact that anyone can die of disease & end quest lines makes it that much more important that you do your best to save them.

pronably rock band 3 i played it non stop until rock band 4 came out

and then theres skyrim which i cannot stop replaying every year

Total War: Warhammer 3. I play it more or less exclusively with a buddy in multiplayer. Been playing since part 1 came out. I love how the addition of magic and flying creatures changed the Total War formula up, the immense size of the map, the mixture of races.

Rimworld with a couple of hundert mods is still at the top, although I tend to let it rest for some months before I pick it up again.

Baldurs Gate 3 and Divinity Original Sin 2 are my favourite RPG games.

Used to play Skyrim with a bassilion mods a LOT and love it for the hours of enjoyment, but after so many years I have possibility played enoth of it... But who knows, might feel the itch and spend 48 hours trying to get every mod to run just to stop playing after one hour again at some point.

Loved the Mass Effect Triology. Only did one playtrough, that was intens and great.

Binding of Isaac is still my go to for a quick 30 minutes gaming session when I feel like it. I realy suck at it too, so after 12 years there's still a lot left to do.

Ender Lilies

It's a mechanically strong Metroidvania with branching paths, hidden areas, and exploration, but what I love about it is the atmosphere and the juxtapositions is uses.

It is a crumbling decaying kingdom full of monstrosities, and the main character is an innocent little girl in a pure white dress. Lily does not attack, some of the monsters she is able to purify to restore their mind at which point they help her. So when you attack a monster appears to do the attack animation, while lily cowers a bit behind it.

One thing I love is when you are in a boss fight and shit is going down hard, the sound track is extremely chill piano music. The soft and beautiful contrasts against the harshness of the situation is a very compelling way.

The sequel Ender Magnolias is good as well. Mechanically there are some improvements, but I don't feel like the atmosphere or world building is as good. That may be because I played Lilies and was used to it. If your haven't played either I'd suggest starting with Lilies, and if you like Magnolias is worth your time.

RISK OF RAIN 2

Better Than Wolves and Portal come to mind first.

BTW is just a labour of love of IMO a genius game designer FlowerChild (RIP) who out of spite for adding wolves to MC made the best game possible, it's extremely rewarding, all the small details are thought through. And now the community has taken over the torch and are updating it faithfully further.

Portal is just a gem of the game, already mentioned in the thread so not gonna start another one.

This is really hard. Dungeon Master on the Amiga500 is up there, as is Unlimited Adventures. Today, these don't look so interesting, but man they were great at the time. Amiga also had a neat RPG maker as well whose name I can't recall.

I have to say for me, I know this won't be everybody, my favorites are going to be the ones that change the way I felt about gaming, not necessarily ones that I would want to play again.

In fact, I have found that going back to some of the seminal games, or the ones that were most impactful to me, hurt my feelings because they were from a time... Where let's be real, technical limitations made a lot of very basic quality of life things nearly unavailable.

I think the 1st that changed the way I felt about gaming was Ultima 4 - they had flushed out the systems of the earlier three, which were pretty primitive, and made morality, all kinds of wonderful internal game systems, relationships, secrets, optional paths, total exploration. 5 and 6 were games that I explored and played molecularly because they were just a joy for me as well.

Another one I talk about a lot is a game called Squares Deluxe which the developer thankfully changed as freeware a few years ago. So anybody with DOSBox can download it and play it legally, and in my view, it's the best shape packing game ever made - there are so many amazing mechanics, and if you play Extreme mode and get a great run going, it can be the most thrilling experience!

How can I forget the very first game I played in arcades which was Atari Warlords at Fiesta Foods! I was bedazzled by the cabinet and I had to have a teenager explain to me what it was! I went flying home and explained what I saw to my mother and she was incredulous, and she took me back to play!

Runestone Keeper. I know that really if you distill it down, you're kind of playing a probability-based card / slot machine game. But play your choice is broad, and I love the fact that the entire playfield changes with every move potentially. Yes you can get screwed over, yes you can have amazing runs, but it's that unpredictability that keeps me salivating. I can't actually recommend anybody play this outside of steam version because the app one keeps changing - I've bought it a few times and I keep losing my license/progress when they change publisher agreements, to hell with that noise!