I feel like my “all-time favorite” changes depending on my mood, but if I had to pick just one, I’d probably go with The Witcher 3. That game just hit all the right notes—amazing story, incredible world-building, and so much stuff to do without feeling like pointless filler. Plus, the expansions were just as good, if not better than the base game.
What about you? Are you more into RPGs, shooters, or something else entirely?
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.
By played hours the Binding Of Isaac probably.
By impact in my heart Metal Gear Solid.
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.
+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?
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
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.
X-Com: UFO Defense (1994) is definitely up there for me as well, but I don’t think it can dethrone Baldur’s Gate (1998) which I have to give top spot.
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.
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.
Age of Empires II is my all time favorite game. Gears of War 1 - 3 are a close second.
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.
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.
Have you tried A Link Between Worlds yet?
Unfortunately not. Is it only available on the 3DS?
Yeah, unless you emulate it of course. It’s not a direct sequal, but it’s heavily inspired by A Link to the Past
Morrowind. One of the few games you can fail the main quest by going on a rampage or by selling the wrong item.
The spells in Morrowind are so creative & fun too! Levitate & recall were my favorites.
Come on, now…
- Grind to gather resources.
- Make a potion to fortify intelligence
- Make a potion to fortify alchemy
- Drink potions
- While potions are active, make another set of fortify intelligence and alchemy potions, which - as a result of your potion-enhanced intelligence and alchemy skill - now fortified even stronger and longer.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 a few times to become the smartest god-like being around for an infinite amount of time.
Game-breaking, but I would absolutely do it in real life if I had the option. I want the brains!
Night eye is amazing. Don’t even know what time of day it is when that spell is active.
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.
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%.
I’d say that Portal 2 even improved the first one in every aspect.
I dunno. Frankly they’re both absolutely pantheon, legendary games that deliver a near-perfect gaming experience, but I feel like Portal 1 delivered a kind of tighter package where Portal 2 meanders just a little bit, and while Wheatley is still brilliant I’m not sure I he hit the same way or struck the same tone as GlaDOS. But we’re talking about like nanometers of difference in quality here either way as both games are goddamn stellar.
I’m on the fence about which is better. Portal 2 is an improvement, but also has its flaws.
Part of the reason I would argue Portal 1 was better is because it was so unexpected. I went in expecting “interesting puzzle game” which it is, but I did not expect to also get “excellent humor with strange horror vibes and incredibly good personality.”
If someone didn’t know what a Glados was I think the first one is better. I also recognize that many people who have never played Portal are well aware of Glados.
I guess something Portal 2 lacked was the element of surprise.
Portal felt like a very long, pretty well-done tech demo, but Portal 2 is where it’s at.
I felt that Portal 2’s difficulty curve was a little off but was perfect other than that. It was too easy for most of the game and then ramped up to what I consider to be a good difficulty level later on.
The two player portion was fantastic though.
Difficulty balance is especially hard for puzzle games, I guess. You can get a good estimate with lots of testing (ha!) with many participants, but even then you or me personally can be outliers.
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
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (people who think BL2 is better than TPS are wrong)
Are you Australian by chance? I have a lot of complaints about TPS, but then after watching some taskmaster Australia I had a theory; I wonder if there is some fundamental difference in preferred pacing that causes those to fall flat for other audiences? In dialog, humor, events, etc.
East Coast USA, born and raised and lived in all my life. So no, not Australian.
