Games

Probably Morrowind.

Properly distinct beast races, freedom to fuck up the world, really rewarding exploration, awesome scenery and concepts, great soundtrack, you can free slaves, and Argonians have never looked better overall.

Second place, probably Red Dead Redemption 2. Every single aspect of that game is outstanding. The pacing, the story, the characters, the combat, the exploration, the horse genitals, the music, the graphics, the massive scale of the world.. Just truly a masterpiece of a game, and I think Rockstar will never surpass it.

Honorable mentions for Caves of Qud, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy 7 (original AND remake/rebirth) and Starflight (mostly played on C64 but Genesis/Megadrive version is far better)

Oh, fuck, and Silent Hill 2, that's somewhere in the top three. Both original and remake. Fucking exceptional works of art.

That's a tough one to answer. I have to say league of legends, because it's always our friends fallback game.

But other favorites are:

• Terraria
• Subnautica
• Bravely Default
• Warcraft 3 - mainly the custom maps, we played so much of that
• Slay the spire

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.

The OG X-Com is probably up there as a game that I keep coming back to. Especially after I learned about some of the total conversion mods for it.

My all-time favorite game is Factorio. If I were stranded on a deserted island and could bring only one game, it would undoubtedly be Factorio. That said, Crusader Kings II will always hold a special place in my heart—even though I tried diving into Crusader Kings III, it just never captured the same magic.

World of Warcraft!

I know people like to look down on it here but it's trully an amazing theme park metaverse experience.

I don't have much time for it these days but just playing couple of hours every week is such a joyful experience. There's just so much to do in the game, great writing, legendary characters, great people playing it. True metaverse experience everyone has been chasing lately.

+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?

Transport Tycoon was fantastic and thanks to OpenTTD I still play it from time to time.

Gothic 2 is by far the best Action RPG of all time. Witcher 3 comes close, but still fails to surpass it in so many places.

Banished always gets me with it's atmosphere. It feels cozy but at the same time you are close to complete annihilation. Oxygen not included hits the same mark, but also has a distinctive art style and humor to it which I love.

Stanley Parable (and it's Deluxe edition) never fails to make me laugh. But it can get tedious sometimes...

I play almost every genre (minimal interest in sports games, admittedly), and my favorite changes all the time. But in general, here are some of my all-time top games:

Final Fantasy Tactics

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (people who think BL2 is better than TPS are wrong)

Spider-Man (PS4)

Hades

Civilization 6

By played hours the Binding Of Isaac probably.

By impact in my heart Metal Gear Solid.

Age of Empires II is my all time favorite game. Gears of War 1 - 3 are a close second.

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!

I can't choose an absolute favorite, that's like choosing a favorite child.

It's a toss up between the Mass Effect Trilogy, Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher (in partiuclarly 3) and (most) of Fallout games (but in particular 1 and 2).

If you were to put a gun to my head I'd probably pick either Mass Effect Trilogy or Cyberpunk 2077, probably based on what game i've played for the millionth time most recently.

With endless replay. Rollercoaster Tycoon 1&2. Shout out to Open RCT (sim city 3000 is a close second)

Console favourite- The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening

Sound track - Chrono Trigger

That long play (where you forget what you were doing if you put the game down) - Metroid Fusion/Prime

Pokemon - Emerald or Soul Silver depending on my mood.

Probably Metroid Prime but some days I think it is Dark Souls 1. Both are similar in terms of trying to embody an adventure with strong environmental storh telling.

Take a guess

Morrowind. One of the few games you can fail the main quest by going on a rampage or by selling the wrong item.

Best single game is probably Portal. The pacing, storytelling, innovation, sound, all are top notch even 20+ years later. Graphics aren't phenomenal, but don't need to be. The challenges and easter eggs made it a blast to 100%.

Not just my mood, but I have different flavors of favorite.

In terms of nostalgia and all-time enjoyment, hard to beat Ocarina of Time.

In terms of pure "this game is so good", may have to go with Red Dead Redemption 2. Truly a masterpiece.

In terms of most hours played, Civilization 6 at over 2000 hours.

Sekiro.

Only hard until you start to understand the dance moves. Then it becomes pure nirvana.

After NG+7 I had to stop playing it and give some other games a chance.

Super Mario World - just a fun game. Lots of little secrets and fun to speed run.

Titanfall - I played an absurd amount of this one and really wished there was a 3rd one. 1-2 remind me of the pattern seen in trilogys where 1 sets the stage, 2 deviaties pretty far and polarizes fans and then 3 uses the best of both while trying to feel more like 1. (Mario 1-3, Halo 1-3). My favorites in this pattern tend to be 3 so I'm disappointed I never got Titanfall 3.

Pubg - when it was new. Lost me years ago now but that first 6 months to a year was awesome. So many crazy games and absurd fun.

It's easily The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

It has everything I could ask for in a game: Sword fighting. Magic. Secrets. Dungeon crawling. An alternate dimension. Side quests. Different tools and items. There's enough content that it feels fulfilling to complete it. Peak art. Peak music. NPCs don't talk too much, and there are just enough of them to make the world feel alive. Bosses.

It's a difficult question to answer. I personally barely consider Disco Elysium to be a game, more like an interactive story that uses certain game mechanics as grammar elements and punctuation in its storytelling. It's a novel masquerading as a game. It's three novels in a trenchcoat. But if we do count it then it is my pick, by a landslide.

Otherwise it's probably Baldur's Gate 2. It's the story game I've replayed the most over the years and it was absolutely fundamental in my journey as a gamer, the definition of a formative experience. Even though parts of it are dated now (some clunk is to be expected from a 25-year-old game) I still prefer it to BG3. It's got a great story, great companions and an all-time great villain. David Warner put in an incredible performance and even all these years later there aren't many video game villains who have surpassed Irenicus in sheer aura.

Any of those three

• Disco Elysium
• Death Stranding
• Outer Wilds

StarCraft: Brood War

Fallout 2 is probably one of my favourite games of all time. Absolutely amazing game, if a bit sprawly. I've played through it many times and expect I will do again.

Red Alert 2 - the pinnacle of the isometric RTS genre. Bordering on too silly but without tipping into absolute farce. Mechanically very strong, the art is lovely, and even has nostalgia for me.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Massive game but a run can be completed relatively quickly. I always disable the music because I don't like games that try to scare and intimidate me. I'm pretty good at the game so it tends to be pretty relaxing for me, if a bit fugue-state-y.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: the apex of the Battlefield multiplayer games for me. The others have plenty going for them, but BFBC2 was the best compromise between destructibility, player counts, etc. for my tastes. Sniping took significant skill and one couldn't go prone - it meant that open areas didn't feel like a death sentence (looking at you, later BF games!).

Assassin's Creed: Origins/Odyssey two open world games with beautiful maps and locations to explore. I think I preferred the setting of Origins but the story of Odyssey. A bit of escapist fantasy, I suppose. I loved the Ezio trilogy too, mind you.

Shadow of the Colossus was barely even a game, it was art. I don't think I even played it for more than 20 hours total but just a simple masterpiece.

Dark Souls.

It fundamentally changed me as a person. All of the other fromsoft games are great but none of them really encapsulates the experience that is the first Dark Souls game.