Any platform(s).
Any platform(s).
Final Fantasy VII
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
GoldenEye 007
Metal Gear Solid
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Monkey Island
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
Red Dead Redemption 2
Other honorable mentions would be:
Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
XCOM
Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
Based on an incomplete sampling.
Not in any particular order:
Curse of Monkey Island
Final Fantasy VII
SOMA
Stardew Valley
Anno 1800
The Last of Us
The Last of Us 2
Dark Souls 3
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Hades
I think Curse of Monkey Island is the only Monkey Island game that I haven't beaten. At the time, I really couldn't get over the art style. Might have to give it another shot.
Aw, I really like the art style personally. I do love all the Monkey Islands (though haven't gotten around to the newest one!), but Curse has such a special place in my heart. I say Papapishu in my every day life.
In no particular order:
I realize I included a lot of games that were sequels or part of a series, but these are my favorite of the series in general.
Honorable Mentions:
Not in order:
Dang. This is almost my list as well, and the ones that are different I can totally see why they could be on someone else's list. I like your taste in games.
Thanks. Also now realizing that picking just 10 is super hard and looking back at my list there’s like 2 strong honorable mentions for every title in my list (some might even be swappable).
Just off the top of my head, a few others I’d rate as A-tier or S-tier all-time-greats in my personal list:
Is Obra Dinn that good? I started it but only played for about an hour. If it's on your top 10 I might have to give it another look.
I love Obra Dinn, but not top 10 love. I think the fresh style in an industry of samey games using the same few engines made it really stand out for me. It's retro styled, but also goes beyond that to show you it's world in a new way.
If the art style doesn't do it for you then you might not enjoy it as much.
Subjectively I’d say definitely yes. I adore cerebral games with interesting stories to tell, and this one has that plus a ton of mystery at its core (mystery is maybe my favorite genre of any fiction). The art style can be a little hard for some to get behind, but if you enjoy similar themes & game elements it’s a phenomenal game that will live in your head rent-free for awhile after you’ve finished. It’s one of only maybe three games I’ve ever legitimately referred to as a masterpiece (one of the others being Outer Wilds).
Hmm, tough choices. In no particular order.
The Legend of Zelda - A Link To The Past This game was great when it was released and it's great now, and thanks to the randomiser community it's now infinitely replayable as well.
Super Metroid A series that literally helped define a genre, Super Metroid was everything that I suspect they wanted Metroid and Return of Samus to be but the hardware couldn't keep up. The world is built for speed running as well with so many shortcuts that experienced players can utilise, and again, with the randomiser community making it infinitely replayable (not only on its own, but with a crossover with ALTTP!), this game easily makes it onto my list.
Final Fantasy VII My original introduction to JRPGs and a game whose story and mechanics still hold up today even if the graphics don't as much. Obviously a lot of people feel the same way thanks to the Remakes, which while slightly out there have had so much nostalgia to play through them.
Final Fantasy XI The original Final Fantasy MMORPG and my introduction to MMORPGs generally, I put about 10 years into this game and still to this today occasionally reinstall it and see where I was last up to.
Final Fantasy XIV I tried several times to start FFXIV, but never got past the first few dungeons until COVID lockdowns hit, and since then am fully on board. The story, while a slow burn, is so good, and being a live service game means there's always new content coming or changes to learn. But really, the story in FFXIV is easily good enough to qualify as a mainline FF title, and any FF players who haven't tried it yet, should.
Doki Doki Literature Club You have to play this blind. Don't watch a let's play, and avoid any spoilers if you can. It's worth it. But when it's all done, if you're playing on PC, people have written entirely new mods and story for it, and the good ones really know how to make you connect with the characters.
Persona 5 Royal I discovered the Persona series with Golden, and was super excited to play Persona 5 when it released, but Royal is the definitive version that you'll want to play. The story is great, the gameplay is lots of fun, and the combination of JRPG and slice of life makes you feel a lot more connected to the loveable cast.
Factorio Just perfectly tickles that itch for resource management. The factory must grow.
Metal Gear Solid 2 A main memory I have of this game is the first time playing it where I bought out a whole box of those chocolates they sell for fundraising - was supposed to sell them to other people but they were great for late night snacking while I played. The stealth, the tension, the weird everything towards the end, it was a trip from start to finish.
Duke Nukem 3D Duke wasn't my first foray into FPS games (Wolfenstein 3D manages that title). But it holds a special place in my heart as it was the first game I ever played online multiplayer on. But I did it before the internet, so literally had a modem to modem connection running over an IPX network. Realistically, there's been plenty of better FPS games since, both modern and classic, but the irreverent humour, plus the fact I was a teen who probably wasn't supposed to be playing a game with strippers and highly pixilated tits in it, just edges it into my top 10.
If you like DDLC, you should try Song of Saya. Just a warning, it can get quite graphic, but the storytelling is amazing.
Also Chrono Trigger if you're a Final Fantasy fan.
Chrono Trigger have played and loved as well, but it's not one I've gone back to and replayed, which was one of my key criteria in this list, longevity (for me - I realise Chrono Trigger does have it between the multiple endings and New Game+ mode).
I have a very distinct memory of first playing it via emulator on ZSNES, and running into a bug in a section in the future that required you to hold L and R and activate some controls to open a door. For whatever reason the emulator wasn't handling that properly and I got stuck. Eventually went back to it on Snes9x and was able to progress, but that stuck out.
Haven't heard of Song of Saya though, thanks for the recommendation!
I don't think an emulator bug (especially from a 90s emulator) should factor into how good a game is.
I'd recommend giving it another shot. It's one of my favorite games of all time, and the only game I find myself replaying every year.
Oh, sorry, please don't read it that way! It's a game I very much enjoyed when I played it, and I do still today watch speed runners race it occasionally. The bug didn't impact my enjoyment of it in the longer term, it's just a fun fact I remember about it from when I did play it all those years ago that I thought I'd share.
Ah. Makes sense. The early days of emulators were something I really enjoyed. One of the reasons I even got into computers was ZSNES (although glitching Pokemon 1st gen was another)
You're right, you really can. That being said if it's purely personal favourites I'd put FF6 into that list as well. I would love if they gave that the Remake treatment.
Not in any order of value, but in alphabetical order. I couldn’t stick to just 10, sorry. And I’m sure I’m missing some good ones.
…yeah, I’m bad at picking favorites.
Stalker was fantastic. It's been years but can't wait for Stalker 2. The Half-Lifes too, kind of similar eastern gloomy atmosphere. I'm currently stuck in Talos Principle, near the end... haven't even tried 2 yet. And Morrowind of course : the greatest fantasy adventure of my teenage years, if we set aside my french teacher. Hollow Knight, what a blast. Hoping Silksong is going to be vaaaast. I love exploration.
Chrono Trigger
Earthbound
Xenogears
Nier: Automata
Vagrant Story
Super Mario World
Hades
Elden Ring
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Final Fantasy XIV
Kind of in order, kinda not. They all deserve 1st place, really, and I'm sure there are many others that could be up there with them that didn't spring to mind as fast.
Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Yakuza 3
Yakuza 4
Yakuza 5
Yakuza 6
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Dragon Quest 11
in no particular order:
-Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun Firestorm
-Wolfenstein 3D
-Max Payne
-Railroad Tycoon 2
-Starcraft
-Half-Life
-Fallout 2
-Tropico 3
-Age of Empires II
-Uplink
In no particular order:
Honourable mentions:
Extremely close to my list - I'd probably only add Starcraft and Minecraft.
And maybe switch wind waker for Ocarina, twilight princess, or BOTW.
In no order
Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
Bloodborne
Celeste
Slay the Spire
Monster Hunter: World (+ Iceborne)
Hades
Portal 2
Persona 4: Golden
Advance Wars 2
TES 4: Oblivion
In no particular order:
Okay let's do this. Not in any order:
There are some really good ones that I remember after reading this thread such as Hades, Slay the Spire and more.
I tried Disco Elysium, and I really appreciate everything it did/was trying to do, but I simply could not get over the pacing, long-winded conversations, and lack of guidance.
Don't get me wrong, I love narrative-based games and open-ended exploration, but what amounts to turn-based game mechanics are too slow, and a complete absence of any obvious paths to take makes the game unapproachable.
I'm just going to drop my number 1, especially because it's in no one's list but somehow CP2077 is mentionned several times..
Then the rest would be:
... I'll leave the remaining 2 to others :)
Depends how you define 'top', but lets go with most (estimated) hours played:
Minecraft. It wont track my hours, but if it did in the back end and told me I had played 10,000 hours of minecraft, I'd believe it. Yes I'm aware that's more than a year of playtime, I mean what I said. Almost been playing for half my life, I doubt I will ever truly stop.
Runescape, both RS3 and OSRS. They started tracking hours played well after I started playing, but given my playtime for both of these is listed in days, it probably deserves being here. You never quit Runescape, you merely take extended breaks.
League of Legends. This probably wouldn't show up if it were a list of favourite games, i don't know why I still play it. Around 2,000 hours at last check. Help me.
Forza Horizon 5. 600 hours. I did a lot of races. 400 hours in the previous title. Anyone still playing 5 know if the game works properly now? I remember the online being a disaster and the majority of every leaderboard being cheated times.
Warframe. This is going out of order due to the extremely short time I got those hours. At 500 hours, the first 200 hours were in 2 weeks. More games need bullet jump.
Counterstrike: Global Offensive. Yeah that's about 2k hours again. This game has ruined most other FPS games for me because bullet travel time is a bitch and I never learned it.
Stardew Valley. I think all top 10 lists deserve this game, 400 hours. Level 10 fishing in the first spring, never sided with Joja.
Skyrim. 360 hours, although at least 20 of those hours were mid-crash. Unplayable without mods.
Trackmania 2020. Excellent game, ton of fun. Wish it wasn't behind the Ubisoft launcher, this game is the only reason I have it. 300 hours. Obviously learned about the game from Wirtual.
Stellaris brings out 10th, 170 hours. I have no idea how to play the game and I think I need about 500 more hours to maybe get the basics down. And then I'll have to learn all the DLC!
This list did not end up being some of the games I expected it to be. I thought Skyrim would be lower, and I thought Beat Saber would've made an appearance, but only 145 hours of that. This list also skipped idle games because that's just cheating. Apparently I only have 10 games on Steam over 100 hours, that's clearly not enough gaming and I need to fix that. Did I write too much? Probably. But I spent a couple minutes looking up the numbers for some of these so I'm not just gonna not post it at this point.
Well, OP's question could be read as "choose your top games out of a list of all time best video games" and this is probably what the person you've replied to read.
I debated on adding League of Legends to my list. It really is a good game, but it doesn't make you feel good playing it. So I decided to leave it off.
I tried to think of games that I keep coming back to, or in the case of Persona and Celeste, ones that stick in my head even years after beating them.
Edit: don't know how this slipped my mind but a kingdom Hearts game should definitely be here. It's my favourite game series, I think I forgot to put it down because I was trying to think of which one I would put down as the best of the series.
The Half Life, Portal, and Left 4 Dead series’s bring me nostalgia like no others. Unbelievably good games