What is YOUR top 10 list of all time best video games?

Outer Wilds
Hollow Knight
Elden Ring
Baldurs Gate 3
Metroid Prime
Mass Effect 2
Tetris
Shadow of The Colossus
Mother 3
Fallout: New Vegas

Based on an incomplete sampling.

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

In no particular order:

Mass Effect 2
Pokémon Colosseum
Kingdom Hearts 2
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Baldur’s Gate 3
Super Smash Brothers Melee
Ocarina of Time
Ratchet and Clank
Uncharted 2
inFamous 2

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:

Pokémon Emerald
Mariokart 8
Super Mario Sunshine
Mario Galaxy
Sonic Adventure 2
Splintercell
Final Fantasy 7
Halo ODST
Halo 2

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 love how you can tell how old someone is by their favorite final fantasy games :)
- 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 order:

Outer Wilds
Return of the Obra Dinn
Metal Gear Solid
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Super Metroid
Red Dead Redemption 2
Fallout: New Vegas
Stardew Valley
Undertale
Starcraft

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:
  
  Disco Elysium
  
  Final Fantasy 7
  
  Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  
  Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  
  Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
  
  Hades
  
  Dishonored
  
  Banjo Kazooie
  
  Doom (2016)
  
  Dead Space
  
  Psychonauts 2 (part 1 is also A-tier)
  
  GTA 5
  
  Case of the Golden Idol
  
  Mass Effect 2
  
  Paradise Killer
  
  Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
  
  The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (both parts are excellent)
  
  Shadow of the Colossus
  
  Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
  
  Tony Hawk’s Underground
  
  A Dark Room
  
  999 (aka Zero Escape, aka 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors)
  
  edit: How the hell did I forget Portal?!
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).

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.

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.

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.

Crash Bandicoot (especially 2)
Dark Souls (1 and 3)
Deep Rock Galactic
Elden Ring
Escape From Tarkov
Factorio
Half Life (all of them)
Hollow Knight
Hotline Miami
Little Big Planet (especially 2)
Morrowind
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Satisfactory
Terraria
The Binding of Isaac
The Forest (both games)
The Talos Principle (especially 2)
Yakuza (hard to pick one)

…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.

In no particular order:

Elden Ring
Mass Effect 2
Dark Souls 3
Bloodborne
Factorio
Terraria
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Metroid Prime
Alan Wake 2
Outer Wilds

Honourable mentions:

XCOM 2
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2
Fallout 3
Terranigma
Resident Evil 2 (Remake)
Dark Souls 1
Beyond Good and Evil
Half Life 2
Halo 1-3
Mass Effect 1 and 3
TES 5: Skyrim
Zone of the Enders 2: The second Runner
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 🎶
Endless Legend

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:

-Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun Firestorm

-Wolfenstein 3D

-Max Payne

-Railroad Tycoon 2

-Starcraft

-Half-Life

-Fallout 2

-Tropico 3

-Age of Empires II

-Uplink

Firestorm represent! I had the biggest oh shit moment when the core defender came out
Uplink and RRT2... many hours of my childhood lost to those.

In no particular order:

Star Craft: Brood War
Diablo II
Half Life
Counter Strike
Homeworld
Heretic
GTA Vice City
Quake 2 (and 3)
Star Wars Battlefront
Battlefield 2

I bet our birthdays are pretty close to one another's.
- Youngins. Did you never even meet Wirt?
- Yeah I’m showing my age here. lol

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

Nice, I love Yakuza, really very special in the world of gaming! :-)
That's rad!

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..

The Witcher 3 !

Then the rest would be:

Age of Empires II
Minecraft
Overwatch 1
Star Wars Battlefront II (the OG)
Trackmania
Portal
Skyrim

... I'll leave the remaining 2 to others :)

Warcraft 3
Return to the Obra Dinn
Subnautica
Medieval 2 Total War
Counter Strike
Skyrim
Elden Ring
GTA San Andreas
Factorio
Adventure Quest (jk)

There are some really good ones that I remember after reading this thread such as Hades, Slay the Spire and more.

Can't believe I had to read this far down to see the first mention of subnautica.

Team Fortress 2, Team Fortress 2 Classic
A Story About My Uncle
Minecraft
Satisfactory
Portal, Portal 2
Half-Life, 2, 2 Episode 1, 2 Episode 2
Cyberpunk 2077
Quake
Portal Stories: Mel
Tempest

The portals are so much fun, even as a group activity.
The Half Life, Portal, and Left 4 Dead series’s bring me nostalgia like no others. Unbelievably good games

No Order:

Rimworld

Project Zomboid

Deep Rock Galactic

Vintage Story

Fallout New Vegas (+F2)

Civilization 5

Kerbal Space Program

Mass Effect Series

Minecraft

Gothic

Rock and Stone!
Seeing civ V there brought back some real good memories for me, overall you have some real solid choices in no opinion

Okay let's do this. Not in any order:

Diablo 2
Fallout 2 (and to a lesser degree 3 and New Vegas)
Civilization 4
Rimworld
Morrowind
Against the Storm
7 Days to Die
XCOM 2
Factorio
Minecraft

No one said Disco Elysium so far? What's wrong with you, Lemmy?

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.

Outer Wilds
The Return of the Obra Dinn
I'll bunch the Mass Effect trilogy together here
Super Metroid
The Last of Us
Bioshock: Infinite
Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Oxygen not Included
Fallout: NV
Diablo 2

Final Fantasy VII (might be replaced with Rebirth if I end up replaying it a bunch in the future like I do with the OG)
Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue
Theme Hospital
Mirrors Edge
Celeste
Halo 3
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Tony Hawk Underground
Persona 3 Reload (before this it would've been 4 that would've been my favourite of the franchise)
The Sims 3

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 Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

-Chrono Cross

-Dark Souls 3

-Twisted Metal Black

-Final Fantasy IX

-Perfect Dark

-Banjo Kazooie

-Super Mario 64

-Killer Instinct

-Contra

In no particular order:

Elden Ring
Team Fortress 2
Day of the Tentacle
Freelancer
FTL
System Shock 2
Duck Game
Red Dead Redemption 2
Rome: Total War
Diablo 2

Day of the Tentacle is one of my first PC gaming memories. My friend's brother had a PC that could play it, and I was in awe. I remember he had to uninstall it to make room for Duke Nukem 3d...
Have you played Wing Commander: Privateer? It predates Freelancer by a bit but it hit a lot of the same notes for me.
- Yes! That was the best Wing Commander game.

No particular order. Very much based on personal enjoyment - I recognize that a few of these are very flawed!

Ace Combat 4/5/Zero

Slay the Spire

Elden Ring

Dark Souls 3

Escape From Tarkov

Pokémon Sapphire

DOOM (2016)

PUBG (in its heyday)

(Old School) Runescape

Titanfall 2

+1 for OSRS
- name checks out
Honorable mentions include EVE Online, Blacklight: Retribution, Gran Turismo 3, GTA: San Andreas, and Star Wars Battlefront II (PS2)
RIP PUBG. Uninstalled the day they introduced bots. Only three solo wins. Heart rate at 185 the first win.

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.

The OP said top ten best. I don't think "top" is the subjective part.
- Maybe my brain skips words when I read things.
  
  This isn't a maybe.
  
  :)
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.

In no order...

Grim Fandango
Psychonauts (I and II combined)
Fallout New Vegas
Morrowind
Portal (I and II combined)
Thief (1-3 combined)
Civilization II
Space Invaders
Falcon series (F3 and 4.0)
The Pandora Directive

And some bonus games to add to the mix, because there are too many amazing games in the world.

The Longest Journey/Dreamfall
Red Dead Redemption II
Mass Effect

EDIT Also

Pac Man
Quake II

Morrowind was such an amazing experience, it's one of the games I wish I could experience for the first time again.
- You can play TES3MP and hold someone else's hand through it for the first time.
- Morrowind was bundled with a video card I got, and thought I'd at least try it. I had no idea what it was or how it worked, and I fell headfirst into it. WEEKS thrown at it, and I never got bored.
  
  After that, Oblivion was a letdown for me and I didn't get very far into it. Skyrim was great fun, but the lore was clearly secondary. (I eventually went back to Oblivion and found it a better story than Skyrim, but Morrowind is still the best.)
Portal! Wish I’d remembered that one for my list. Such an inventive game.
Hat tip to you for including some classic games. Most of the respondants are making me feel positively antediluvian :)
- Ah, yes. From before the flood of modern content
Both grim Fandango and psychonauts 1 and 2 are absolute gems

In no particular order:

Diablo II
World of Warcraft classic
Path of Exile
Baldurs Gate 3
Yoshi's Island
Banjo Kazooie
TES V: Skyrim
Counter Strike 1.6
Pokémon Crystal
Battle Brothers

Solid list

Yars revenge on Atari 2600.
Kaboom on 2600.
Pitfall on 2600.
Myst on classic Mac.
Dark Castle classic Mac.
Diablo 1.
Star Wars Dark Forces.
That weird Ayn Rand utopia in the sky Bioshock sequel on any platform.
The Star Wars Battlefront game that came out around rogue one on Xbox until the developer started tweaking with it and it became a griefer’s paradise.
Gauntlet arcade and home versions. So fun to play as co-op.
Ms Pac Man arcade.
Tempest arcade.

And a shout out to Arashi, which was a great classic mac homage to Tempest.

I find helldivers has that gauntlet vibe.
Atari 2600 gamez! Very cool. I still have my 2600 and the TV I used when I was a kid. Both still work.

Also, so glad someone put arcade games on their list.
I had a 7800 with custom bios and ram cart and would play a kaboom hack that started at max difficulty and ramped from there

a lot of early 2000s 2600 homebrews would probably make my list but Thrust+ is the GOAT

My favorites:

Breath of the Wild
Tears of the Kingdom
A Link to the Past
Chrono Trigger
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Sim Park
Donkey Kong Country
Mario All Stars
Mario Paint
Super Mario World

Context: I'm pushing 40 and didn't play video games between SNES and Switch.

I read “I’m pushing 40” and was like, “oh, I guess we have different sensibilities.” But then I remembered I’m pushing 40 myself.

Hollow Knight
Hi-Fi Rush
Morrowind
Megaman Zero
Final Fantasy X
Marvel vs Capcom 2
Overwatch (circa 2019)
Megaman Battle Network 2
Kingdom Hearts 2
Final Fantasy Tactics

Overwatch (circa 2019)

I feel that so much. The game sadly got a lot worse over the years.

earthbound
final fantasy 6
chrono trigger
super mario world
mario 64
halo 2
grand theft auto 3
half life 2
bioshock
tears of the kingdom

I remember playing Mario 64 at my grandparent's house when it first came out. My grandpa, who was born in the 1920s, was absolutely stunned. He said, "this is a video game?!" and then just sat and watched me play.
- Haha that’s awesome. I remember playing a racing game on the Sega Saturn as a kid and thinking it was so insanely realistic and there was no way that graphics could get any better.

This might be an unpopular list, but I'm ranking games in terms of overall enjoyment.

Red Alert 2
Mass Effect 1 - 3
Doom 2016
Doom Eternal
Cyberpunk 2077
Starfield
Doom (the original)

Universal Paperclips
Dark Souls
Return of the Obra Dinn
Golden Sun (duology)
Persona 3 FES
Night in the Woods
Pseudoregalia
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Splatoon 2
Stacklands

This may be the first time I've ever heard someone mention spirit tracks positively
Pseudoregalia is so fucking good

Roughly in order, I think:

StarCraft: Brood War
Subnautica
FTL: Faster than Light
Spec Ops: The Line
Risk of Rain Returns
Portal
Dead Cells
Hades
Team Fortress 2
Borderlands 2
Satisfactory

Honorable mention:

Unreal Tournament 2004
The first two Golden Sun games
SOMA
Diablo II
Diablo III
TLoZ: Link's Awakening

Looking over this, it seems like I'm drawn to games that have either unusually good writing, very long skill curves, or (e.g., #1) both.

UT2004 sneaks in for being the absolute best LAN-party game ever (fight me). I think Link's Awakening is mostly just nostalgia though. 😋

Edit: bumped UT2004 down to "honorable mention" because I somehow forgot the billion hours I've sunk into Satisfactory. Still very curious to see where that game goes story-wise after the 1.0 launch, though.

Spec ops is amazing
- Funny story about that one: my first time playing it, I actually found it a bit too... visceral, and had to stop after getting a couple hours in - I only came back to play it all the way through several years later.
  
  In the intervening time, I learned that one of the developers, when asked whether the game had a "good ending", said something along the lines of "that's when the player stops playing in disgust".
  
  Guess I got the good ending.
Can’t stop playing FTL years later.

Weirdly Monster Train has a similar flavor to me in play style.

A lot of my gaming experience has been on Nintendo consoles, and a lot of this list is going to be viewed through nostalgia goggles with a lot of my first ranking higher than games that might have done the same thing better.

Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt- this is where it all began for me, and I still wish light gun games had become more of a thing

Tetris- timeless classic, everyone knows and loves it, no further explanation needed.

Pokemon red/blue/yellow- my first forray into RPGs

Kotor- first forray into RPGs that actually involved playing a role, the fact that you could be a bad guy was revolutionary to me. I also think this may have been one of the first games that I played completely through, I've always had a bad habit of never finishing a lot of games even if I really loved them. Also one of my first PC games and the first time I needed to install a graphics card in the family PC to play a game.

TES: Oblivion - look, you could pretty much insert any of the elder scrolls or 1st person fallout games into this spot, and quite a few others that arguably do it better, but this was my first real taste of an open world where you could go do (moru-or-less) whatever you wanted, everything felt so alive, and the imperial city still kind of feels to me like one of the most alive and actually functional cities in a video game and not just a level that's dressed up to look like a city.

Portal 2: I don't think there are many games out there that are just this much fun, and everything the first portal did great (which was pretty much everything,) 2 expanded on and made even better.

Octodad: Dadliest Catch- I'm a sucker for short games with a good gimmick and intentionally weird controls.

Saints Row 3- it was stupid, it was fun, I could honestly entertain myself for hours just running around the city, stealing cars, and beating luchadores with a giant dildo for hours and have a blast the entire time.

Super Mario 64- my first experience with 3d gaming, and I'd argue still one of the best 3d platformers out there (wonky cameras and such from that era aside) I like simple, lightheaded games.

Ocarina of time- enough has been said about this game elsewhere on the Internet that I don't feel like I need to say any more.

I'm a pretty casual gamer, so I've pretty much only played the "hits" a few years after they've been out.

These are the ones I remember feeling the most groundbreaking and spending the most time with over the years.

Doom 2
GTA San Andreas
Yakuza 0
Last of Us
Zelda: Link to the Past
Duke Nukem 3D
Carmageddon 2
Eternal Darkness
Red Dead 2
Metal Gear

I got a good laugh out of the other post that is all the Yakuza games, because that's how I spent a ton of my Covid work from home time playing them on the cheap. They had the fun of the GTA games, but I never like the main characters were bad people, so Yakuza gave me the games I've wanted through all the GTA years and then some.

Surprised I had to scroll this far to see DooM 2. Guess I'm getting old.
- Right?! I saw new Doom on here which I haven't played, but the lack of people listing Doom 1 and 2 on here is pretty surprising, esp as the Lemmy crowd seems to skew older.
  
  I took a minute to pick between 1 and 2, but 2 felt bigger and I felt I spent more time with it, at least unmodded.
  
  Oh shoot, I forgot the original Deus Ex too! I don't know if I saw that on here anywhere either. Just too much gold for only 10 picks. I was sad I had to bump off American Magee's Alice as well.
Aww man. I remember playing lots of LAN DN3D in highschool, after hours in the computer lab. Sometimes an idiot kicked out the BBC cable from one of the ring-topology connected PCs by accident, interrupting fun for everybody.

I used to be a top dog, until some first grader snot nosed kid started playing with M+KB at the same time, sniping all of us keyboard turners with the shotgun on the american football arena map.
- I never got to have a LAN party but we did do a weekly StarCraft night via modem. It felt so amazing at the time to be able to sync up a game online.
  
  StarCraft doesn't make my list though cuz I always sucked at it! 😤

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
Monkey Island 3
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Minecraft
Mass Effect 3
Left 4 Dead 2
Baldurs Gate 3
Pokemon Silver
Terraria
Spider-Man 2 (the one for PS5)

Out of those probably Terraria and Minecraft take up ranks 1 and 2, just because i START playing them again every few years

In my playtime order. (I know OP asked best game of all time. But, this list is according to games which I think is best.)

Minecraft
Geometry Dash
Brutal Doom
Brotato
Ultrakill
Balatro
Zortch
Rythia or Sound Space Plus
Stardew Valley
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Honourable Mention

Tetris
Quake I & II
Binding of Isaac
Dusk
Slice and Dice

In no order:

Diablo 2
Chrono trigger
The incredible machine
Loom
Bravely default
The secret of monkey island
Prince of Persia
Rampart
Papers, please
Zak McKracken and the alien mindbenders

Probably incomplete list that I may update after a nap.

Outer Wilds The most sublime game I've ever played. I can't begin to describe how this game made me feel. It's also an excellently designed game. If you've never played it before, go in blind, because even the smallest spoilers risk diminishing your experience. It's an open world, exploration adventure game, which involves space travel, a quaint setting and fun physics

.

Disco Elysium Another game that made me feel things. One of my favourites

.

Tetris Played it on a Gameboy back in' day. It's a great game

.

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2

.

Halo Reach I don't even know if I believe this was the best Halo game, I was just indecisive and I'm biased because I like the DMR and the SWAT multiplayer game mode (no shields, so a headshot kills in 1)

.

Deep Rock Galactic Feel like it's the peak of the four person squad based kind of game. I've literally got hundreds of hours in this game.

.

Stardew Valley I didn't actually vibe with this too much personally, but I've got to respect it for how accessible it is to many different kinds of gamer. It executes what it set out to do perfectly.

.

Faster than Light
- I don't even like rogue likes generally. The soundtrack is great.

(Edit 1: formatting)

Not in any order:

Half-life.

Sim city.

Smb3.

I know you don't mean super monkey ball 3, but, there is the smallest chance you do. :)
- Super Monkey ball 2 and 3 both slap.

Worms Armageddon

Subnautica (original and Sub Zero, plus a nod to Planet Crafter which captures some of that same vibe)
Metroid Prime (and all the other Metroids)
StarCraft (1 and 2, though fuck Blizzard today)
Diablo (2 and 3, though to a lesser extent for 3, and still fuck Blizzard)
WoW (I'm done with it now but there was a reason I was addicted for those years, but fuck Blizzard)
Oblivion (and Skyrim)
Factorio (and Dyson Sphere Project)
Beat Saber (and a nod to the rhythm games that predated it, like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and Frequency I believe it was called)
Paradox games (HOI4, CK3, Europa (uh current?), Stellaris)
Hades

Many others could have been listed here instead. Oxygen not included, smash Bros, DBZ kakarot, xenosaga 2, transport fever, city skylines, risk of Rain 2, King's quest series, civ, Halo, Mario games, Zelda games, Mario Kart, Lego games, Minecraft... And I'm sure I'm missing many more that I have tried and others that I haven't.

Oblivion I find somewhat questionable due to just how awful that leveling system was. Holy fuck did mods ever save that fucking game.
- Oblivion holds a special place in my heart as the first elder scrolls game I played and as one of the few games that rewarded players that jumped everywhere they went. My mind was kinda blown the first time I saw athleticism or acrobatics level up just from jumping from one place to another.
  
  And I have fond memories of getting into the mage's guild and making a custom spell that increased acrobatics to a crazy level and then jumping around the roofs of that section of the town. That was the last time I played the game, actually. It came out early in my WoW addiction and interrupted the addiction for a month or so, but then I got pulled back into WoW and ended up going pretty hardcore with the character I rolled on my return and didn't have time for... well, anything else lol.

Minecraft
Factorio
Danganronpa
Danganronpa UDG
Danganronpa 2
Danganronpa V3
Pokemon: FireRed
SuperTuxKart (because best FOSS game ❤️)
Pick any two classics from Valve

Elder Scroll series. Skyrim for the modding and eyecandy potential, Oblivion for the madness that is spellcrafting (also Shivering Isles is the best ES DLC), Morrowind for the true alien fantasy.

Thief II is the quintessential first-person sneaker.
Independence War II still has one of the best flight models and a great story.

X3: Terran Conflict is the best first-person strategy game.

Half-Life 1 and 2.

Il-2: Great Battles is the best WWII combat flight sim.
DCS is the best jet combat sim.

Elite: Dangerous is the only space sim with actual 1:1 scale galaxy, including many real-life stars and is the best life-in-space simulator with flight model as good as I-War 2 and decent enough on-foot parts (even though there is some jank and glitches).

I have not been seeing half life enough. Cheers
Wow, I'm all in with these, except I'd have added Subnautica and I would have had Dishonored instead of Thief II. I Never played this game but I may fix that.

A few favs:

Max payne
twisted metal 2
contra 3
tetris
super mario world
super metroid
diablo 2
starcraft
warcraft 3
red alert 2

You get a point for red alert 2.
Something about Twisted Metal 2… absolute top of that franchise

In no particular order:

Super Mario 64
Sonic 3 and Knuckles
Cyberpunk 2077
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Watch Dogs
Portal 2
Doom (original shareware version)
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Half Life
Half Life 2

Dwarf Fortress

Factorio

CS 1.6

Dunno after that - probably one of the civilizations, I'm partial to Test of Time personally.

The factory must grow.

No order in particular:

Elder Scrolls 3-5
KOTOR 1 & 2
Dota 2
Mass Effect
Grim Dawn
Kerbal Space Program
Warframe
Age Of Empires II
Battle for Middle Earth 2
Counter Strike

Metal Gear Solid 1

Cyberpunk 2077

Civilization V

Gods Will Be Watching

Portal

Splinter Cell Blacklist

Dead Cells

Sniper Elite 3

Dirt Rally

Ghost of Tsushima

I was so close to putting Dead Cells on my list, but I opted for Hades instead. Dead Cells is so damned good, though.

Half life 2 (especially episode 2), HL: Alyx, Mario 3, Sonic 3 (with Sonic and Knuckles attached), Sonic 2, space station 13, dead by daylight, portal 2, guitar hero 3, I dunno, one of the metal gear solids or Garry's mod

In no particular order:

Hero's Quest (from Sierra On-line)
Valheim
Fallout: New Vegas
Skyrim
No Man's Sky
City of Heroes (can you believe it's legally back?!?)
Red Dead Redemption II
Planescape: Torment
Stardew Valley
Starfield

(I'm sure that last one will raise some eyebrows, but I've already got over 1k hours in it since launch. For all its faults, it scratches some itch of mine just right.)

I am embarrassed that I didn't name Torment... that game was amazing and so far beyond Baulder's Gate 2.
- I was so excited when I stumbled across the Enhanced Edition on Steam! (I hadn't played it since it was first released, and had lost the original disc)

Not in order: Dark Souls 1 Dark Souls 3 Elden Ring Witcher 3 Undertale Baldurs Gate 3 NieR: Automata Skyrim Hollow Knight Minecraft

Obligatory "No particular order and this was really fucking difficult to distill into just 10 games":

The Witcher 3
BioShock
Minecraft
Baldur's Gate 3
Monster Hunter: World
Dying Light
Transistor
Borderlands 2
Elden Ring
ARK: Survival Evolved

Outer Wilds

and

Inscryption

Suikoden 2
Final Fantasy 7 (original)
Dark Souls
Resident Evil 1
Castlevania SOTN
D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun
Resident Evil 1 Remake (GC)
Gran Turismo 4
Road Rash 2
Oblivion

Big shout out to SFA2, FFT:A/2, BOF series, Roadwarden.

10 feels too little to condense 40 years of games.

Road Rash 2

Oh man, this one takes me back.

Neverwinter Nights
Kingdom of Amalur
Warcraft III: Frozen Throne
Battle for Middle Earth
Deux Ex
KOTOR I
Morrowind - Oblivion
Red Alert 2
XCOM2
WH: Total War II

Street Fighter 2 Turbo (Arcade)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Contra (NES)
Dark Souls
Warcrat 3 TFT (non remaster)
OpenXCom with X-COM data
XCom
Slay the Spire
OlliOlli
Mark of the Ninja
Yakuza0
Horizon Chase Turbo

(No order, might be not exactly 10 :-P)

Yay, another Chrono Trigger fan!
Crazy how I can tell we'd get along just from this :D
- Because we are men/gals of culture! :-P Hadouken! ;-)

Rimworld

Mount and Blade Warband (/Bannerlord)

Crusader Kings 2/3

Slay The Spire

Stellaris

Darkest Dungeon

Civilization V

Fallout New Vegas

Borderlands 2

Kerbal Space Program

Borderlands <3

Gothic 2
Gothic
The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
Age of Empires 2
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Guild Wars
Minesweeper
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
Football Manager 2024 (or one of the old EA ones?)

Minsweeper was unexpected. But I actually get it. It's such a good game to pass a short amount of time
- There was a time where I was addicted to this game. Achieved a 23 second run on intermediate once.

Halo 3
Viva Pinata
Fallout 3
Kingdom for Keflings
Red Alert 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Warframe
RuneScape 2 (pre eoc)
Minecraft
Borderlands 2

Just the ones I know, of course. In the order I fell in love with them:

Combat
Duke Nukem
Herzog Zwei
Streets of Rage 2
Mario Kart
Outpost
Sim City 2000
Warcraft 2
Unreal Tournament 2004
Halo

Darn that’s ten and it only gets me up to two decades ago, when I was ending college.

My ten from after college:

FarCry 2
EVE Online
Left 4 Dead 2
Minecraft
Grand Theft Auto V online mode
Factorio
Battlefield 5
Sea of Thieves
Space Engineers
Overwatch 2

Ranking is tough but I'll give it a go. The ranking is based on the impact and enjoyment I got out of them regardless of playtime.

What Remains of Edith Finch & Kentucky Route Zero (shared 1st place)
Life is Strange
Stray
GRIS
Cyberpunk 2077
SOMA
Heaven's Vault
The Town of Light
FAR: Lone Sails
Portal 2

That last one is a bit of an outlier but I have laughed so much while playing it, it deserves a place at the table.

I see you like narrative-driven games. Have you played Detroit : become human? It scratched the itch for me when I ran out of life is strange
- Yup, I have. I liked it, but it did not make the top 10 for me, purely because two of the storylines were amazing imo (Connor & Kara) and one was centered around a trope that I absolutely despise (Markus). It didn't ruin the game for me, I still loved it and will play it again at some point, but because of that I cannot put it in my top 10.
Oh, look, my list, slightly rearranged, missing some star wars stuff, and with some extras for me to try!
- Enjoy the new games!

Ultima VII
Baldur's Gate 1
Daggerfall
Morrowind
Oblivion
Deus Ex
Thief
Ultima Underworld
Kerbal Space Programme
Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Honourable mentions for Baldur's Gate 3, Crusader Kings 2, and Tears of the Kingdom.

How was Ultima VII compared to Ultima VIII? Origin has totally sucked me in to VIII with its awesome graphics and buggy yet intriguing gameplay, but I've heard in every other aspect it was a farcry from its predecessors' complexity and story.

I really liked Ultima IX as well, but Origin was already on its death bed by then iirc, and I encountered a bug that did not let me progress.
- I never played any of the others so I can't really comment.
  
  I just really loved the living world - it's why I tried the game after playing Oblivion.
  
  So few games have that - Dwarf Fortress, Ultima and Oblivion still stand far ahead of the rest.

In no particular order:

Wing Commander: Privateer
Rim World
Kotor + Kotor 2
Any first person Elder Scrolls Game
Europa Universalis games
Portal + Portal 2
Cyberpunk 2077
Elite Dangerous
Eve Online
Dwarf Fortress

Damn I've been trying to start KOTOR on Steam but it doesn't play well with aspect ratio... I should try again I know it's worth taking the time to troubleshoot

Satisfactory RDR2 Cyberpunk2077 Mass Effect trilogy Cities Skylines, GTA 5 Halo series then probably a bunch of simulators

Elden ring

Borderlands 2

Pokemon emerald

Fallout 4

Monster Hunter world

Chivalry II

Gears of war 2

PUBG

Escape from Tarkov

Call of duty: World at war

Roughly in that order

Honorable mentions that could be swapped with any of my bottom 4:

Eve online

Total war Warhammer 2/3

Baldurs gate 3

Minecraft
- Aww man. I've tried Eve online for about two years. In the end even got into a C5 and farmed like mad with a carrier and a dread until we got evicted by one of the bigger WH alliances. But could never really get past the carebear mentality of not wanting to lose ships in the end. And that, plus the perceived latency of 1sec game ticks without prediction kind of soured the fun.
  
  The best that came out of it is that I've managed to get my name on the monument, which I've then visited in 2018. Coincidentally I've signed up to the game using my real name (which I've fought multiple times to get changed), so I have my actual name on the slab instead of just a character name in the end.

Bard's Tale
Ultima IV
Neuromancer
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star Online
Super Street Fighter II: Championship Edition
Destiny
Impossible Mission
Halo
Gain Ground

Ultima IV !!! Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time.

I played that on my Commodore 64 and waited a loooong time for the (actually floppy) disk drive to spin up.

I bet most people here don't know any of the Ultima games.

In Order with contender from the same gameline between brackets.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Valkyrie Profile Lenneth
Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones (Path of Radiance & Awakening)
Monster Hunter Worlds (Hunter 4 Ultimate & Rise)
Need for Speed Underground 2
World of Warcraft
Final Fantasy IV (IX)
League of Legends
Dwarf Fortress
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (& Echoes of Times)

Honorable Mentions

Midnight Club 2
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
Tekken 3

No particular order, but it seems I hit quite a few different genres.

Starcraft
Stardew Valley
Subnautica
Final Fantasy Tactics
Infamous
Hades
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Halo 2
Super Smash Brothers Melee
Rome: Total War

Not in order:

Farcry 5
civilization VI
cyberpunk 2077
portal 2
Minecraft
Hitman 2
Hearts of Iron IV
watchdogs
oxygen not included
The binding of Isaac

Nethack : old school roguelike
Tale of Maj Eyal : removing of tediousness in old school roguelike
Baldur Gate 2 : D&D implementation
Civilization 2 : just one more turn
Fallout 2 : narrative based on character build
XCom : tactical combat with base building
Jagged alliance: tactical combat with squad building
Knight of Legend : best original turnbased combat system never done again
Slay the Spire: For deck building
Quake: playing with friend

Dat amulet of yendor doe...

Tekken 3
Raiden rtype
Diablo
Unreal Tournament
Blakestone
Alien vs predator
Ultimate Doom
Team fortress 2
Overwatch 1 R.I.P
Battlefront 2

Alphabetical Order

TBOI Rebirth
BTD6
DOOM Eternal
GMod
Pizza Tower
Post Void
Super Meat Boy
SUPERHOT
TF2
Titanfall 2

Portal 2
Shadow of the Colossus
Gothic 2
Mass Effect 2
Uncharted 2
Dragon Age Origins
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines
The Last of Us
Max Payne 2

dragon age origins
mass effect 2 red dead 2 baldurs gate 3 witcher 3 cyberpunk 2077 tetris horizon zero dawn dragon age inquisition resident evil 4

In no particular order:

kenchi
ghost recon wild lands
s.t.a.l.k.e.r
ready or not
arma 3
dayz
mag
cities skylines
red dead redemption
skate 3

In no particular order:

Zelda Twilight Princess
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Dragon Nest (back when they had Level 60 cap)
Kirby Planet Robobot
Lost Odyssey
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Mother 3
A Hat in Time

Honorable Mentions:

Blue Dragon
Dragon Quest VII
Cloudbuilt
Epic Battle Fantasy 3
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Witcher 3
Minecraft (I stopped at version 1.11)
The Evil Within 1
Layer of fear

Chrono Trigger

Okay done

Boom Blocks - Wii - top of my list. Not because it's a good game, but because my kids and I had uproarious hours spent playing it together.
Video game I have not yet figured out the name of. It came out in 1986(ish?) and it had a robot/cyborg in a kind of metroidvania level set. Macintosh.
Doom, the original. Scared the PISS out of me. Then I played it hardcore after that. Doom II came out and I set up LAN parties and opened up my nascent IT outsourcing business for those. Helldivers 2 - Honestly, I haven't actually engaged with a game this hard for decades. Senua's Sacrifice - This game helped me considerably, in understanding the people I love. Doom 2016 - What's not to like. It's perfect. Starcraft II - When it came out. Excellent weaving of story and gameplay. HI-FI Rush - Unexpected fun. Zork - I would have never expected this level of amazing story telling this many years ago.
I know I am short of 10, but I can't think of anything else.

Hylics 1/2

Half Life 1

Myst

Jet Set Radio Future

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Factorio

Doom II (heavily modded)

OpenRCT2

Voices of the Void

The Sims (I like the series as a whole, I feel like each game has its own pros and cons)

I'll add mine in no particular order:

Zelda: tears of the kingdom

Diablo 3

Secret of Mana

Skyrim/Oblivion

Super Mario Odyssey

Zelda: ocarina of time

Command: aces of the deep

Halo 3

Metal gear solid

Donkey Kong country 2

These are the games over gotten the most enjoyment out of over the years

If I had a #11 I'd have listed Halo3. GREAT game :)

I'm probably a little biased but... (I'll also include my fave music track from each game as a little bonus!)

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

Pikmin 3

Pikmin 4

Pikmin 2

Pikmin

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Super Mario Sunshine

Super Mario Galaxy

Final Fantasy X

Super Paper Mario

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

Halo CE
THPS 1+2
Portal 2
Super Mario Bros Wii
Skate 2
Guitar Hero Ii
Goldeneye 007
Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
Myst
Sonic 2

... Honorable mentions:

Half-Life 2, 1

Counterstrike series

THPS 3, 4, THUG, THUG2

Rayman

Portal

Dark Souls II, III, I

Halo 2, 3, even 4.

Guitar hero 1, 3, 4, 80s

Sonic 1, 3, pinball

Super Mario Bros, 64, 2, 3, Mario Tennis 64, Kart 64, Kart Wii, Land

SSX Tricky, 2, 1

Midnight Club LA, Dub edition, 2, 1

WCW vs NWO: Revenge

Riven

Skate, 3

Splinter Cell series

Syphon Filter series

Grand Turismo series, Forza series.

Need For Speed series.

Perfect Dark

Twisted Edge Extreme Snowboarding

Cool Boarders series

NBA Street series

NBA Jam

NFL Blitz

Super Monkey Ball series

Dave mirra freestyle BMX, 2

Dave Hoffman pro BMX, 2

Twisted metal series.

Crazy taxi

Trackmania series

Probably others...

This is such an awesome list
- I should add
  
  Driver 2, 1
  
  GTA 4, 3, 5, 2
  
  Sim City 2000, Sim copter.
  
  Dead To Rights 2, 1
  
  Max Payne 2, 3, 1

Gnome Mahjongg

Ltris

Bejeweled

Gnome Tetravex

Frozen Bubble

Xye

sly 3

mirror’s edge

also portal 2 somewhere in there

Might and magic III

F19

Submarine Commander (Atari computer game)

B17 (intellivision)

Counterstrike.1.6

Half-life

Castle Wolfenstein

WOW

WoT

Witcher 3

Cyberpunk 2077

Once again in no particular order: Ultimata IV - Quest of the Avatar

Sim City 2000

The Last of Us

Breath of the Wild

Trade Wars

Kingdom Hearts

Knights of the Old Republic

Civ 6

Omega - a dos game where you programmed Tanks and set them loose

And right now: Balatro

In some sort of order

Sim City 2000, City Skylines
Halo 1, 2, 3 , Modern Warfare 2, 3
Civilization 4,5,6
Kerbal Space Program
Minecraft
BioShock
Final fantasy 7
Game Dev Story
FTL
BG3

R360

Operation wolf

GTI club

VideoPoker

Coin pushers

Fussball

Bar billiards

Darts

Bowling

Paintball

My top 10 in decreasing order (the first series' games I listed individually to give due credit to these masterpieces):

Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos (Gothic universe)
Gothic 2 + Night of the Raven
Gothic 1
Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 2, Fallout 1
Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 3
UFO Enemy Unknown (OpenXcom variant)
Warcraft III + The Frozen Throne
StarCraft, StarCraft II
Unreal Tournament 2000 G.O.T.Y.
No Man's Sky or Minecraft (contenders for 10th place)

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3

Katamari Damacy

Sims 2

Stardew Valley

Skyrim

The 101 Dalmatians Puzzle Game for Gameboy Color.

These are the games I have the fondest memories of 💜

Tic tak toe,

Solitaire,

Snek,

That one with the bubbles that you just watch and you can’t do anything (I think it actually a screen saver)

Uh. That’s it.

Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan & Dylan.

Hades.
Rocket League
Deep Rock Galactic
Warframe
Heroes of the Storm
DotA. (I'm talking original WC3 mod here)
Street Fighter 2
Starcraft 2
Tropico 4
World of Warcraft (pre fuck-you-Blizzard days)

Honorable mention for all of the Diablo's really, been playing them since the first one, and all of the Fallouts, playing since the 2nd. Shoutout to my X-Com homies.

In no real particular order, games with highest impact on me:

battlefield 1942 - desert combat mod

Ground breaking at the time. Physics and gamespeed have never been captured by any other game. Consumed my free time for a long time.

2 counter strike

Simple concept, extreme depth. I've clocked several thousand hours into this franchise.

The witcher 3

In terms of world building and story telling... Incredible.

The Witness

Absolute masterclass in game design, world design. Puzzle design.. This is an incredible puzzle game that will shift your perspective.

Faster than light

I haven't found anything else quite scratch that replay ability, that tethering on the brink of losing, itch. It's a unique game.

Guild wars 2

Completely changed the way mmorpgs were played, and was a great mmo.

Monkey Island

I wanted to mention a point and click, several spring to mind, but this still series lives in my mind the most. Although space quest is another that impacted my young brain.

Minecraft

Like... I was there since its debut. Still watching and enjoying mc related content.

Elite

Space is pretty big and cool

Eve online

Getting back stabbed by the person you've been back stabbing for, so you join the enemies of your friends to be able to backstab your backstabbers.

HalfLife
Zelda ALTTP
Journeyman Project: A Legacy Of Time

Football Manager phone versions.

All on Windows XP:

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Max Payne

Max Payne 2

Aliens Versus Predator 2

Half Life

COD 1,2 and 3

Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

I play them still.

Total annihilation.
Zero-k
World of Warcraft, as long as I can avoid cataclysm

I don't play them but would easily

The settlers III + Amazons
Torchlight
Diablo II as it was in like 05
Quake II + lithium (slow hooks; hi Nelson crew)
Dune 2
WCII as in 98

Huh. That's it. StarCraft is out as I played for a day before cavedog ruined it for me forever, but it get it if you still love it.

I LOVED TA back in the day. I recently bought it again off Steam.

StarCraft Chrono Trigger Tetris Super Mario World Super Mario Bros 3 Wolfenstein 3D Doom 2 Skyrim Minesweeper 百万人の漢検

That's eight. Not to recommend them, only to note what made my life exciting

Heroes of Newerth
Outerwilds
Quake 2
Star Control 2
Dark Souls
Another World
Street Fighter 2
Flashback

All older games as I can't fit games into adult life:

Starcraft I and II
Max Payne
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
Thief I
Red Faction
The Sims I and III
Ski Free
Worms Armageddon
Chips Challenge
Doom original

And honourable mention of the only game I recently play, which is Cooking Fever.

Good choices!

The original Thief is such an incredibly atmospheric experience. Nothing quite like slinking around in the shadows watching that visibility meter...

This is off the top of the dome and given more time I'd probably change this significantly, but here's 10 of my favorites from a multitude of genres:

Rain World
Outer Wilds
Stephen's Sausage Roll

(Those are pretty firmly my top 3, all totally mindblowing experiences that surprised and awed me multiple times)

Spelunky 2
Getting Over It
Peaks Of Yore
Satisfactory
Dark Souls PTDE
Hunt: Showdown
Morrowind

Honorable mentions for Guilty Gear and Tekken as series, and I have a special place in my heart for the 2000 title Sacrifice, which is my eternal top pick for a remaster/remake.

YES for Sacrifice. This game is a piece of art. I don't get how it was never remade or it never got a sequel. Such a loss...

You people lack some serious games:

Shadow of the Colossus
Silent Hill 1-2-3
Monkey Island 1-2-3
Outer Wilds (happy to see it on many list)
Alley Cat

No Rolkercoster Tycoon???

I'm split between that one and Restaurant Tycoon. I think I switched between them every day lol

I’m not very nostalgic, so not much of old games on this list (in no particular order):


Bloodborne
Red Dead Redemption 2
Dark Souls
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom
Hades
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
Shadow of the Colossus
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Elden Ring

It's mostly a heartfelt list... although arguably most of those are quality games too, regardless of emotional connection

Streets Of Rage 2 (Megadrive)
Flashback (Megadrive)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC)
Star Wars Episode I: Racer (PC)
Omikron: The Nomad Soul (PC)
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (Xbox)
Halo (Xbox)
Morrowind (Xbox)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PC)

Separated into top 5 and the rest.

Slay the Spire
BeamNg
Trackmania (not any of the games specifically more the concept)
Disco Elysium
Portal 2

Balatro probably
FTL
Mario Kart (8 and/or Wii)
Maybe Baldus gate 3
Thalos principle 2

The hearthstone battlegrounds auto battler mode is perhaps also in here but hearthstone itself I've never played.

Joust (1982 arcade game by Williams)
Marble Madness (arcade, 1984)
Fantavision (PS/2 - also Fantavision 202x - remake for modern PC)
Bioshock
Stardew Valley
Oxygen Not Included
Another World (Amiga)
Populous (Amiga)
Lemmings (Amiga)
Star Raiders (Atari 8 bit)

Solitaire and SkiFree.

Civilization III Final Fantasy IX Valheim Kerbal Space Program Stellaris Empire Earth Borderlands 2 Morrowind Halo: Reach Rimworld

The must be mentioned: KOTOR Bioshock(and Infinite) Final Fantasy 4, 14, 5, 6 in that order AOE 2 Red Alert 2 Total War: Rome, Rome 2, Medieval 2, and Shogun Lords of the Realm 2 No Man's Sky Horizon series Space Empires V Battlefield 1942 Medal of Honor(the first one from the 90's, not that bullshit reboot from 2010) Smash Bros Melee, 64, Brawl in that order Crysis Warcraft II: The Tides of Darkness Theme Hospital MDK2 Chrono Trigger

It was tough leaving some of those mentioned ones out of the top ten, but the top ten belong where they are for me for how definining they were/are for me.

This is just out of the games I can recall off the top of my head and no order besides the first title being number one:

• Borderlands (specifically on xbox360 with all DLC)

• Fallout New Vegas (despite never actually beating it once)

• SuperTuxKart

• Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum Edition

• Sonic Mega Collection Plus (PS2 since I've never played it on original xbox and because I still think it's a pretty good way to experience classic Sonic for those that don't want things like savestates and those that do)

• Crazy Taxi (on Dreamcast)

• Hitman Blood Money/Absolution (purely for how much fun I manage to find in them regardless of their flaws and yes I'm counting them as a single game because I can't say I like one more than the other)

• Spyro Reignited Trilogy (so far the only game remaster I can think of where I'd recommend it over the originals because fuck Year of the Dragon and the portals leading to the minigame like sections in levels causing the music to turn off if you get too close in the original)

• Pokemon Uranium (that one fangames that got banned but is still being updated/my first experience with pokemon fangames and ROM hacks)

• Portal 2 (both on xbox360 and PC because I beat co-op on 360 by myself once and also because level editor on PC and the one level I have saved that I cannot beat despite trying on and off for years)

Games that I have spent an incredible amount of time playing, in no particular order (games where I have noted time, I have played those exclusively without playing any other games):

Enter the Gungeon (two years)
Master of Orion (& sequels and likes)
UFO/TFTD
Sim City 2000
Command & Conquer (just the first one)
Quake World (5 years)
Ragnarok Online (5 years)
Transport Tycoon Deluxe (& Open TTD)
Wizardry 7
World of Warcraft (5 years)

I'd like to mention that there comes a certain point in skill based games like fps and twitchy MMOs, where your character's movements are so ingrained in muscle memory, your knowledge of the game engines' ins and outs are so thorough, that even just standing around in one spot you know at any moment what action or reaction is going to happen upon your next few key presses, and you have a hundred percent confidence in executing those without a flaw, if you bothered to lift your finger.

That's when you quit, I guess.

Edit: honorary mention for Fallout 1/2/3/NV, TES3&5, Elite/First Encounter, Syndicate, Starcraft 2, Creatures 1&2, Civilization, Master of Magic, King's Bounty & HOMM, DOOM 1/2, Scorched Earth/Worms, Diablo 1&2