Related to a post I made last year, but a little different because (1) you get to choose 10 now instead of 5, and (2) other games don’t get deleted, you just aren’t able to play them, so you don’t need to think about the good of humanity or anything, purely just selfish picks because it only impacts you.
A couple notes:
- Any equipment necessary to play the games, you’re obviously allowed to have
- You can play any DLC for the games you choose
- You’re not allowed to make any games for you to play. If you make video games, either as a career or hobby, only other people are allowed to play them
- Mods are allowed, but you’re not allowed to make any for you to play. You can try to commission someone else to make them for you, though
- If there was historically a trilogy, for example, that now is sold on a major storefront (Steam, Xbox, PlayStation) as a single game (such as Mass Effect or Hitman) that counts as one game now. Game bundles, though, do not count. Basically, if it’s in one entry in your steam/xbox/ps library, it’s one game
I’m interested to see what this community chooses, and hopefully it’s different enough from my old post to warrant some good discussion here.
1 - Skyrim 2 - Morrowind 3 - Fallout New Vegas 4 - Megaman X8 5 - Castlevania Curse of Darkness 6 - GTA San Andreas 7 - Streets of Rage 2 8 - Megaman X Collection 9 - Final Fantasy V 10 - Age of Empires II
Minecraft Java Edition.
That’s it. Could probably mod in just about any other game I’d want to play.
- Monster Hunter World
- Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix
- Hitman WoA
- Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion (toss-up with Skyrim)
- Titanfall 2 (with populated servers)
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Yakuza 0
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Elden Ring
- Tabletop Simulator
It’s interesting because only a couple of these I would call my “favorites”, but they’re the games I can keep coming back to and enjoy. Yakuza 0 has so many games within itself that I could get so much enjoyment from just playing Outrun. Similar to Tabletop Sim where mods could keep me engaged for a long time.
In terms of games I actually play all the time, Monster Hunter & KH2 are up there. In theory I actually prefer Bloodborne, but Elden Ring offers so much more exploration and variety that it feels like the better choice for this kind of list.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who chose Hitman! It’s so under-appreciated on this site imo.
Oof, going to have to trim my favorites (story, single-player) simply for the replay value ones.
- Minecraft: been a decade or so but the open-ended style means almost infinite replay value.
- Cyberpunk 2077: Just love the lore and world. I have over 1k hours, another 1k won’t be hard. With mods, even more.
- Metal Gear Solid Master Collection 1: These games are ridiculous and I love them.
- RDR2: Story-based but I can kill a LOT of time just by not rushing. Lovely game.
- Stardew Valley: So much replay value, so much to do in one playthrough alone. Easy pick.
- Minesweeper: Great for killing small amounts of time.
- Timberborn: Scratch that colony sim itch.
- Subnautica: scratch that survival-craft itch.
- Balatro: for variety i guess. Enjoy it well enough.
- Sekiro: Haven’t finished but I need a hard skill check for when im feeling masochistic.
Runner Up: Mass Effect trilogy LE. Fantastic games, and I need that space itch scratched too. Bumped for genre variety reasons.
Open world, ending and moddable games with huge modding communities are the best bet
- Minecraft
- GTA VI
- Roblox (yes, I know, but that’s the most game-engine-like game out there with the largest dev community)
- Skyrim (mods)
- RE9
- etc
- Also, aren’t there games that contain retro games emulators as part of the gameplay?
- Factorio
- Hollow Knight
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Runescape
- Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
- Path of Exile
- Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage (PS2)
- Elden Ring
- Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
- Lies of P
OK, let’s see if I get to 10.
- Factorio - easy first pick, it’s not even a contest
- Kerbal Space Program - now I have already enough for the rest of my life 😅
- FTL (with Mods)
- Civ V - haven’t played in a long time, but I guess it’ll fill some hours again
- Oxygen Not Included
- Cities Skylines
- Deep Rock Galactic - I’m not too much a shooter player, but something different for the list
- Valheim
- Minecraft/Luanti - never really played those, but I guess there’s a lot to do in it
- Flight Simulator - I am not sure of that one
Maybe some Paradox Grand Strategy instead of Flight Simulator…if I’d have to chose probably Stellaris or Europa Universalis
Stipulating what happens with MMO’s in this timeline might be prudent. I’m assuming that live servers remain online and/or reputable vanilla like private servers are available.
Path of Exile 1
Final Fantasy XIV
Minecraft
Escape from Tarkov
Beatsaber
Elite Dangerous
Dark Souls 3
Skyrim
EVE
Mario Party (maybe 6?)
Grand theft Auto 5 (assuming FiveM remains)
My tenth spot stayed open and I didn’t feel compelled to fill it with anything. I was writing out all the games which could have taken that slot and noticed that GTA V fills an important void in my original list, so for the sake of completeness I decided it deserves the last spot.
The list of games which could have had the spot I was writing… Fellowship, World of Warcraft, Sea of Thieves, Civilization V, Breath of the Wild, Dark Souls 2 SOTFS, Hogwarts Legacy, Oblivion Remastered… If I think on it enough there could be more. And in fact, I’d probably rather have Hogwarts legacy in that 10th slot if it wasn’t unfortunately abandoned so quickly after launch, it desperately needs and deserves a new game plus mode and further story expanding DLC.
My logic with my list is pretty simple, as there’s only a handful of experiences in gaming that really compel me any more, so I just picked my favorite game for each of those categories. ARPG, sweaty ability based tab-target MMO, fantasy sandbox, sci-fi sandbox, rhythm, soulsborne, party game. EVE, Skyrim, and GTA5 don’t fit into any of the categories I listed, but I don’t really know how to classify them articulately.
- Luanti
- OpenTTD
- The Sims 2
- Mahjong
- Brutal Doom
- OpenRCT
- Sim Tower (Haven’t played. Looks fun)
- One of the early Sim City games
- Euro Truck Simulator 2
- Unciv
Dark souls Bloodborne Elden Ring OSRS Death stranding series Caves of Qud Dwarf fortress Crusader Kings Anno 1800 Mechwarrior 5 mercenaries
I like your taste
Jarvis, generate a list of games with the most replay value.
- DotA 2
- Dwarf Fortress
- Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup
- The Sims 4 or something
hmmm, I’ll want some classic RPGs
- TES V: Skyrim
- Fallout New Vegas
- Red Dead II
better throw some MMOs in there
- WoW
- Runescape
one more… I guess
- Minecraft
Oooh sims 4 is a really good take.
Doom 2016 Carmageddon Battletech Deus Ex Titanfall 2 StarCraft C&C Yuri’s revenge Neverwinter Nights Saint’s Row 3 Mass Effect 2 or 3
Ironically I’m probably not going to choose my favourite games because those are usually just very simple story based games, and can be just as enjoyable to read as a book instead.
The games which instead give the most fun-value and replayability:
- Balatro (my go-to “I’m bored and don’t know what to do with myself” game.)
- Stardew Valley. Super good, something is so satisfying in the art, animations and little gameplay loops. I replayed it to death earlier this year and now I’ll try not to think about it again until that time next year.
- “The Sims Medieval” is one I keep on coming back to, so I’ll definitely add that.
- Shattered Pixel Dungeon (don’t think this counts as a mod.) Super good replayability, I’ve been playing it intermittently for about 11 years now.
- Anno 117. Gotta have some strategy games - I’m kind of boring in that I only do anno and not more complicated stuff like city skylines.
- Fields of Mistria is a new farming sim that I have high hopes for.
- Pentiment has a lot of replayability despite only being a linear story game.
That gives me enough time to add 8. Minecraft, which I don’t play anymore but it’s a great boredom buster, and 9. Life and Suffering of Sir Brante and 10. Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian - afforementioned visual novel stories which are also fine to enjoy in book form.
- Diablo 2
- Grim Dawn
- Path of exile 2
- Celeste
- trackmania
- Valheim (itd be enshrouded if it had mod support)
- hollow knight
- silksong
CyberpunkOxygen is not Included!- Skyrim (only because of mods, otherwise id pick morrowind)
Edit: I cant believe i forgot oxygen is not included! Sorry cyberpunk.
I love lists, so this is an easy one for me:
- Bayonetta: unfathomably high skill ceiling. I could spend forever getting better at this game and consistently having fun.
- The Wonderful 101: same as Bayonetta.
- God Hand: not many games provide the exhilaration of a perfect God Hand run. I would have the best time spending the rest of my life perfecting my God Hand gameplay.
- Ninja Gaiden 2: peak action groove. Playable crack cocaine. Would never get tired of it.
- Gunvein: no shmup encourages you to concquer and obliterate the screen like Gunvein, even though it’s tough as nails. It’ll take me forever to no death the highest difficulty, and I’ll savour every moment.
- Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R: I would like to be Shadow Gallery-looping people into eternity with Zato/Eddie.
- Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes: immensely deep systems with one of my favorite fighting game characters of all-time: Chaos. Infinite potential to get better at both the game and playing Chaos.
- Persona 4 Arena Ultimax: Ken Amada is the most lighthearted fun I’ve had in a fighting game. I will need him to always be available.
- Hellsinker: easily most mechanically dense shmup of all-time. Easily at least hundreds of hours to digest and internalize everything.
- Gravity Rush: best traversal in gaming. I’m content to just boot it up and float for hours.
With your tastes (impeccable btw) you might enjoy HYPER DEMON. I think it’s a little too fast and overstimulating for me but it’s still on my to-do list. I’ve had it heavily recommended.
