this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2026
110 points (95.8% liked)

Games

48546 readers
1975 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm curious what game you guys have sunk the most hours into. Mine has to be RuneScape, I don't know the total hours because I've had so many accounts over the years I don't even remember half my passwords, but it's definitely in the thousands of hours now. I've played on/off RS2, OSRS, and RS3 since 2004.

I've also probably sunk anywhere from hundreds to 1000+ hours into Skyrim and Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura, though I don't know the counts there either since neither were through Steam. Embarrassingly enough I've never completed either of those two games - I get sidetracked making so many alt characters.

What about you guys? & What got you hooked on said game?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 33 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (7 children)

Rocket League

Games are short (5 mins). Queues are short (less than 1 min). Cross platform. Runs on Linux. Controller support (preferred). Easy to understand, but high skill ceiling. Amateur leagues are fun. Keeps my reflexes sharp. Can turn chat off. A decent esports scene.

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

What a save!

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] Tanoh@lemmy.world 20 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

Did not care much for the expansion, just didn't like the game play. Didn't even finish it, so it is almost all base game and mods.

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

T H E F A C T O R Y M U S T G R O W

I I keep getting stuck once I get to blue science packs. I usually play without enemy spawns.

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 14 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I have been playing Unreal Tournament (1999) since 2000. It is impossible for me to tally up those hours.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] RecursiveParadox@piefed.social 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Late to the party, but for me Endless Sky: https://github.com/endless-sky

As far as I know, it's the only open source and crowed developed game out there.

If you remember EV series, it's basically that. But better and under constant development.

[–] Knoxvomica@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Allow me to introduce you to BAR. (Also open source)

https://www.beyondallreason.info/

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Arkive@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Endless Sky looks cool. Definitely going to give it a try.

My two favorite open source games are Thrive and Cataclysm DDA

Thrive is an evolutionary survival game. Similar to Spore, you start as a single-cell microbe. You gather nutrients, evade dangers, and evolve adaptations. Eventually, you can progress to the multicellular stage, then macroscopic, etc. up to spacefaring. Currently everything after multicellular is placeholder, but the cellular gameplay is fun and has enough viable strategies to make replaying interesting. https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive

Cataclysm DDA is a zombie-survival rogue-like simulation game. You start as a single survivor and need to scavenge for food, shelter, and protection. If you like games that focus on system/simulation complexity over visuals (e.g. dwarf fortress) I'd recommend this one. For example, the vehicle system allows you to build custom vehicles, which can be anything from a dinky wooden bicycle to a monstrous RV-turned deathdozer+mobile base-on-wheels. https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

I’ve got over 2500 hours in Civ VI, and probably double that or more for all previous versions of Civ

[–] Berin@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Final Fantasy XIV and it's not even close... need to grind to get my girl new outfits

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] y0kai@anarchist.nexus 11 points 3 weeks ago

altr

This isn't a recent photo but also I havent played much since switching to PC sims

[–] vritrahan@lemmy.zip 10 points 3 weeks ago
[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

According to Steam it's Terraria with over 1200 hours. I bought it in 2012 and have replayed it regularly alone and with friends.

My second place isn't even close, and it's not actually a game. I bought Aseprite during the summer sale last year to see if I could stumble my way to something resembling visual art and I have about 250 hours logged, though I think a lot of that is me leaving the app open overnight.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] grueling_spool@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I haven't touched it in years, but I don't think anything is going to surpass World of Warcraft in hours played anytime soon.

Next up would be Monster Hunter World and Dark Souls III with 2000+ hours each.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I actually just started playing it again after a nearly 2 year long break too, so that can't possibly turn out to be a bad life decision.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] westingham@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] iamericandre@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 9 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] arcine@jlai.lu 8 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Minecraft.

It doesn't keep track in general, but I've had multiple worlds go over 1000 hours individually.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] HeHoXa@lemmy.zip 7 points 3 weeks ago

Red light, green light

About to play a couple more rounds now on my way to the grocery store

[–] sunshine@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 weeks ago

I wish I had a total hours count for all the combined Pokemon games; I got Pokemon Blue when I was in middle school and spent just an unfathomable number of hours in it. I'm not sure if that, plus all the time I spent later in Gold, Sapphire, HeartGold, Black, Black 2, screwing around with romhacks, comes to more than my highest known amount of time logged in a video game, which is around 2,600 hours in Dota 2.

[–] nycvin@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Elite: Dangerous

You can sink a ludicrous amount of time traversing a 1:1 scale galaxy even with FTL.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Lexam@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

No Man's Sky 1556.5hrs

[–] Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

I don't have specific numbers since some of these games were played on various platforms or outside of environment which keeps track of play time. Still, these are the things that come to mind in regards to where I spent most of my game time.

I'm putting each title into a spoiler to avoid a huge wall of text. I tend to get a bit rambly when talking about games, sorry.

Civilisation VI never played IV and I don't really like VI, Civ V however managed to grab me in a way few other 4X game could. I haven't played it in a few years but I still remember the feeling of "one more turn" - this stuff is addicting.
The Division (both games)I was curious about the story concept for the first game but didn't like the idea of a modern shooter with bullet spongy enemies so I avoided it for a good few years before giving it a shot. When I did jump in however, my initial hesitation evaporated pretty quickly as the atmosphere of winter New York grabbed me 100%. There are still times where enemy tankiness or firepower can be annoying but that's mostly end game issues and something I can deal with if I lock in.

I probably have more playtime in the second game by this point but I still think there are some things the first game did way better than the sequel (writing, atmosphere, enemy factions, some skills, cosmetics). It's why I tend to alternate between the two whenever I'm in the mood for more TD.

Girls' FrontlineCame for girls with guns, stayed for the story. It's a gacha game, which I know many people might scoff at, but it's from the time when the monetisation practices and tactics where very different to the current landscape (there's no premium pulls, paid weapons or anything like that, the only thing you'd really spend your money would be skins - if you want).

Gameplay is pretty simple (build your squads, traverse node based stages, partake in semi-autobattler combat and complete objectives) but it's pretty enjoyable for the most part. It also does a great job of combining stage challenges/difficulty with what's happening in the story (something its sequel is simply unable to do due to a modern, dupe based character gacha and progression).

We're two weeks from the final main story event of the game, which after more than 7 years of playing feels somewhat bittersweet. It was a fun journey though.

Gothic 2Played it multiple times, never finished it - usually because I got distracted or just had my fill of fun.
I actually like the Gothic series more than any of the Elder Scrolls titles. These games feel somewhat more alive and immersive to me, to the point that even the unusual control scheme, preset protagonist (I really like making my own characters) or lack of "forever fun" aren't enough to make me lean the other way. There's some "magic" in Gothic that's missing from TES games for me, even if they're great in their own right.

I finally managed to finish the first game a few months ago so I hope I'll do the same with this one "soon". I'd like to scratch it off of my backlog, if only to give myself some closure in that regards.

SkyrimI don't really like Skyrim. I find it to be pretty shallow and boring in its vanilla state and the only reason I spent as much time on it as I did is mods. I pretty much use all Elder Scrolls and (modern) Fallout games as a base for a modern life-sim experiences where I just do whatever I feel like at the time - anything except for being the hero. So yeah, it's just a backdrop but I guess it counts.

I wish Cyberpunk 2077 had as big modding scene as Skyrim. It's another title I like to use for my "be whoever, forget the story" playthroughs and one I vastly prefer in pretty much every aspect.

Team Fortress 2I haven't touched it in years but it's still one of my most played multiplayer titles ever (or at least it feels like it). I tried going back to it a few times over the years but modern TF2 is simply not the same. I also really don't care for PvP these days so while I was curious about the classic mod/rework released some time back, I never even gave it a shot. I think I had my fill of competition.

There are probably a few more titles with similar play times but I don't want to make it look like I had no life as a kid (I didn't). I love games man.

load more comments (8 replies)
[–] B0NK3RS@lazysoci.al 5 points 3 weeks ago

Squad is by far the most with about 3.5k hours. I dont really like playing other games online nowadays but Squad really hits the sweet spot of 80% social 20% gameplay.

The rest of the list is probably Megadrive, N64 and Dreamcast stuff :D

[–] kazerniel@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago
  1. Guild Wars 2 with 5,004 hours since 2015 :)
  2. Guild Wars 1 with 2,507 hours since 2018 (yes, I started it after sequel; also spent a few weeks afk farming, so probably a few hundred hours less)
  3. Genshin with 2,248 hours since 2021
[–] Acidbath@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Not me but a friend of mine has 10+ IN GAME YEARS in Everquest. Apparently he has been playing with his dad since he was 4 or 5 lmfao. I don't understand it but I respect it.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Gonzako@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Guilty Gear Strive? I remember playing a lot of skyrim too. Anything past 2k hours kinda gets lumped together

[–] Sacah@aussie.zone 5 points 3 weeks ago

Eve online, 11.6k hours. Much of that time was running multiple clients too. It's a young persons game, I no longer have the time.

[–] M137@lemmy.today 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

No way to really check but I'm pretty sure it's Minecraft. Played it since the very first public build, it's been less and less each year the past few years but it has to be over 5000 hours total. Got over 2000 hours in Warframe, Destiny 2, Rocket League and over 1000 hours in No Man's Sky, Terraria, Starbound, Halo 1, 2, 3 and Reach. There's surely one or two games more that I'm not remembering ATM and over 500 hours in many, many others.

Yes, I play games a lot, and a lot of games.

[–] Koenig2005@feddit.org 5 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I don’t have an exact number but if I had to guess it’s Minecraft. Over all those years, quite a few hours must have added up. I think that has to be much more than any of my Steam games.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Skullgirls, for sure. Steam has me at over 1800 hours, but I've also played at locals and tournaments. It had 14 characters for the longest time, but now it's got 18, and the ways you can combine them are nearly limitless, so there's a high chance one of its most powerful strategies hasn't even been discovered yet even though it's now 14 years old. Now and then I'll see a tournament match where someone brought out something brand new that I've never seen before, and I love it for that.

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Approaching my first 1000 in Elite:Dangerous. Got myself a Fleet Carrier and a Squadron and I feel like I’ve just started the mid-game. It’s a seemingly endless game world.

[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Well and truly over 10K hours in World of Warcraft, and I last played until midway through Shadowlands.

But I was also playing it pretty consistently since the two week open beta before it first launched - so yeah.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I have 4000 hours in Wurm Unlimted as tracked by steam. A fantastically wonderful game, that was sadly abandoned by developers, and even more sadly doesnt seem you can find a stable server for anymore because the servers are either weird, scummy places, or eventually implode due to weird admin dramas.

I have two other 1000+ hour games as officially tracked by steam, that i wont mention because i need to pretend it didnt happen for my own sanity, lol.

beyond this are older games that I know I have more time in, but steam was really buggy at the time about tracking played time... like TF2, which I'm sure is my actually most played game, because you can't play that game 5 hours a night, almost every night, for 5+ years, and only have 700 hours played. My real played time is probably in the 5 digits.

Arma 2 (for original DayZ mod/DayZero/Epoch) is probably up there in the 5 digit range too, if steam tracked time properly.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] orenj@leminal.space 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Probably Warframe, followed by rimworld. i say probably, because I pirated rimworld because its so expensive with all the expansions, heh. Only got 200 hours logged on steam.

Actually, WoW might be #1 because I played it since I was a kid, theres no hour counter though so I have no idea. Haven't touched it since the blitzchung era tho, and its really hard to even guess

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] kindenough@kbin.earth 4 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Borderlands 2, 1200+ hrs. Only game I was comfortable playing multiplayer without getting anxious and the 14 steam friends I have over the years are all BL2 players.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] PumaStoleMyBluff@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

World of Warcraft, split between a vanilla private server and official Classic. I have a character on each with over 150 days of playtime (although significant chunks of that are leaving the game open while doing other things, and also programming addons while otherwise afk at the bank).

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Factorio and RimWorld are actually within 4 hours of each other right now, at just over 1200 hours.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Final Fantasy XI. I actively played from April 2004 to November 2011, and casually from around 2019 to 2021. My playtime in game says something like 500ish days, although that would include time I was logged in but not actively playing, but honestly that wouldn't account for much time, so it's still a fairly accurate representation.

Rocket League and Minecraft would probably be the next closest games, I think each somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000-3000 hours.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Griffus@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I have over 5000 hours on Skyrim, even though I've never finished the main story.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] absquatulate@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Probably spent waay too much in Starcraft, Homm3 and AoE2 over the years, but recorded by steam time tracker Elite: Dangerous has been top and it's not even close, with about 5000h. Fml.

[–] calibanor@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Arma 3 with custom mods. 3500hrs... In my defence we were playing in a fairly big clan in team based pvp

[–] galbraith@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Destiny 1 and 2. Next would be kingdom hearts 2. Over 400 hours getting to level 99.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

For me it's Minecraft and Space Engineer (1,600 hrs). Maybe 1/4 of the time it's AFK while machines are gathering the work.

[–] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

My top game is Tabletop Simulator with 365.1 hours. Kinda surprised. But I've been playing boardgames online with my mates weekly since I moved abroad some years ago.

Some really good games have official versions for Tabletop Sim, it's an excellent way to play.

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Trackable? Terraria at just over 1,350 hours plus another 147 in tmodloader since it moved to steam 7 Days to Die at 711 Binding of Isaac at 572

Untrackable? Probably Breath of Fire 2, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, or maybe Secret of Mana I play a randomizer of one of them almost every night before I go to bed or when I'm bored.

load more comments
view more: next ›