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?
I like many types of games. My favorites are probably Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Super Metroid, and Super Mario World.
All time favorite game is so hard to narrow down. I’d traditionally always say Mario 3 and I stand behind that but there are so many great games that stand beside it. Donkey Kong Country, Half Life, San Andreas, red dead redemption 1 and 2.
I think if I was trapped on a desert island, I’d be fine with any of these as my only game
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.
Minecraft
There are so many things you can do in the game, especially using mods
My “nostalgia favorites” will always be Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Sonic 2 (Genesis version). Sonic 2 is just so fun to go back and play any time I want a quick retro sides rolling platformer fix, and I’ve played through it more times than I can count. OoT was the first game I played that showed me what games could be through a combination of story/cutscenes and gameplay, as someone who was never able to get my hands on an SNES to play the epic JRPGs of the console growing up (I loved my Genesis, but let’s be real, those kinds of games on Sega consoles didn’t really come until later).
Nowadays Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have eclipsed OoT for me, and for other more modern games another standout fave is Fire Emblem Three Houses, due in large part to its story and setting having everything I look for in a game, and its characters actually being more fleshed out and developed than the one-note units handed to you in many other games in the franchise. Engage has more… Engaging gameplay (sorry not sorry for the pun) but the story and characters hold it back quite a bit for me. Gameplay-wise, my favorite strategy RPG actually has to be Triangle Strategy, in that it has quite creative maps and every unit is designed with the potential to be useful depending on how you approach your own strategy, but I like the story/characters of Three Houses at least a bit more, and I tend to value story more in general in games. I’m also a big fan of the Ace Attorney franchise for the overarching story, characters and writing that it’s built up through its history. Phoenix, Maya, Edgeworth, Apollo and friends are all among some of my favorite characters in gaming, and I’m glad I decided long ago to give that quirky-seeming series a try. AA7 when, Capcom?
All time faves, it’s a toss up between Fallout: New Vegas and RDR2.
Those two are the ones I still enjoy restarting new games in, and still enjoy playing, despite the cumulative hours logged over the years.
Very special mention to Skyrim though, obviously. I think I’ve logged more hours in Skyrim than the two above, potentially combined, but because I played that so much, I no longer have the desire to play it again whereas when I’m stressed at work, I often find myself daydreaming about riding my good boah through fields of lush grass and fishing in my lil boat.
And I would never have developed the love of gaming I have today if it wasn’t for Oblivion, of all games - so for nostalgia, that gets a mention too.
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.
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
I don’t think there was a single party I attended in high school where Rock Band or Guitar Hero wasn’t present. Such a great party game for players and spectators alike. The younger generations are really missing out.
It is crazy to me that Diablo 2 was not mentioned, yet. Second place: Modded Minecraft.
Gunz: The Duel was my first competitive online game and it’ll always have a soft spot in my heart.
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.
Baldur’s Gate 2. There’s no game I’ve played through more often. BG3 is a very fun successor, but Larian’s writing can’t hold a candle to classic Bioware.
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.
Gothic 2, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, GTA: San Andreas and Arcanum are for og ny favourite games that are a bit too flawed to be all time favourite.
Final Fantasy 6 and 7 were so good, but I can’t play them alone, we used to pass along the controller.
I love point and clicks like Grim Fandango and Monkey island.
I played Planescape: Torment in 2006 and it left such an impression on me.
Of never games there’s Disco Elysium and The Obra Dim.
Not to mention Zelda’s, Illusion of Time, the Mana series, Mario’s, the old Blizzard games, Brotherbound games and other amiga games. Quake…
Maybe Day of the Tentacle?
What about more older games?
Rollercoaster Tycoon series - played it a ton. Playing it right now with the OpenRCT2 version online with a friend. Its fun!
Max Payne? This was something special.
Pro Evolution Soccer - the old ones (4/5/6)