One has to be Crusader Kings III considering the amount of time that died in that game. I did Lingua Franca (world domination) when mods and savescumming voided achievements, my whole empire fell apart literally 20 seconds after I achieved world domination lol, could barely hold it together to achieve the feat.
The other one is probably Rocket League. Low skill floor, skyhigh skill ceiling, wonderfully designed esports game. If you could still freely go in and out of casual games, I‘d probably still play it. But I peaked and don‘t feel the need to play ranked anymore and casuals started to feel like ranked.
After these two I can probably name ten more but I can‘t say which takes a top 3. League of Legends, Counterstrike 1.6, Battlefield 3, HITMAN, Dark Souls II (yep lol, I could probably draw a map of this game from memory), NIOH 1/2, Monster Hunter World, Sleeping Dogs, Muse Dash, all these games killed countless hours with fun, but it‘s hard to put one above the other. Apart from League of Legends, that one takes the rear.
I know these are very bland choices, but these games had a huge impact on me. I’ve only played disco Elysium recently, but it truly is a masterpiece. FNV gives me warm memories of [the good parts, at least.] of my childhood, and outer wilds… I don’t even really know how to describe it.
This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, and there are some other games that affected me on the same level, but I could only pick 3 :)
I adored Disco Elysium while playing it, but the ending felt kinda rushed/soured for me so it didn't quite hit top 3. However, the book Sacred And Terrible Air by Robert Kurvitz that was fan translated to English semi recently helped a great deal with unanswered questions about the world the game takes place in that I had which really helped brighten my overall opinion of the game in retrospect.
The book isn't very approachable I think with almost zero exposition, so it actually helps to have played the game first.
My platinum collection on PlayStation started with Uncharted 1 on PS3. So switching gears to PC and another Naughty Dog franchise is like coming full circle
Witcher 3 was one of the first “big games” I got to experience. I still think of the characters occasionally and it has some very memorable quests. It’s been on my “to replay” list for a while to see if it still holds up against my memories of it.
Nier: Automata
This is another early “big game” I played, though I didn’t finish it then. I won’t spoil it, but at some point I was up against a boss, way under levelled and didn’t feel like grinding. However I started a new playthrough this year, got further along and it’s still very good. The story telling and world building are simply excellent, combat is fun (except a certain section I won’t spoil) and I really want to see what else happens in my current play through. My only gripe is that keyboard & mouse sucks without an overhaul mode, which unfortunately doesn’t work on Linux.
Other games
I couldn’t think of a third game, so here’s a list of other good games that don’t quite make it.
Cyberpunk 2077: I like it, but it hasn’t really had as much of an impact as my two favourites.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Very good contender for my 3rd favourite spot, but I need to play through it a bunch more times.
Dishonored: I haven’t thought of this game in a while. It’s still very good, just not a contender for favourite.
Skyrim: One of my higher playtime games, but I see it more as a modded sandbox à la Minecraft that’s fun for 2 weeks.
Receiver 2: Very neat gun mechanics with an important central message
1000xResist: Interesting story and message, though you won’t play this for the gameplay. Some awe inspiring visuals occasionally
Wing Commander 4 - At the time, I was very young, and this game changed how I looked at videogames. For my little brain, the FMV cutscenes and genuinely decent acting (ffs, it has Mark Hammil) somehow made it click that games could have compelling narrative
Kingdom Hearts - this game changed my life in many ways. I can genuinely say I wouldn’t be doing what I do today if it weren’t for this game and my involvement in the fan community around it. This game is very special to me because of its themes and major plot beats, and how those interacted with my life at the time. This game taught me that you could go beyond “compelling narrative” and break my heart with a video game lol
Natural Selection 2 - I wish this game were more popular in its prime. This is the epitome of what I think good competition looks like, and a great manifestation of what I personally love in esports
ME has stuck with me as my favorite game for fifteen years now. I love it visually, the soundtrack is incredible, and the gameplay is fantastic.
Lingo and its sequel are a bizzare, unmatched puzzle experience. I don’t know what else to say there.
And Yet It Moves is… something else. An indy platformer from the heyday of Indy platformers. It is an interesting example of how story can influence art style.
Jump Ultimate Stars, this is the dream game for any Otaku, the fact that we can still play it in 2025 thanks to custom servers is a blessing.
God Of War 2018, I was having a bad streak gaming related due to personal and work life, but when this game was released I got it immediately, something that I rarely do (patient gamer gang), anyway, this game kept me awake late nights, I know this is not something that one should brag about, but I was enjoying it completely thus the nights felt that happened too quickly.
Toy Story 2, this game will never age for me, I honestly don’t know if it should deserve this spot, but if there is a game that I have replayed the most in my life, this would be it, the platform mechanics and graphics are top notch for me (and hey, PS1 graphics are making a comeback, so no shame at all with that style).
Maybe another game deserves that last spot, but those 3 games were the 1st ones that came to my mind.
Honorable mentions:
Mario Kart DS
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy
Hotel Dusk & The Last Window (can you guess my favorite console by this point?)
Pokémon Soul Silver
TWEWY
Time Hollow
All the other God of War games (even Ascension)
Batman Arkham saga (even Origins)
The Witcher 3
Xenoblade
And a bunch others that would make this list absurdly big, which is not the main point of this post.
My favorite type of games were really always the story-rich non-linear storytelling of the Baldur’s Gate/Fallout style but in my youth I was far more attracted to Fallout than Baldur’s Gate. However, there are no modern iterations of Fallout in the same style. New Vegas is fun and all, but what I would give for a modern fallout in the style of BG3.
Both are equally as monumental, so it’s shared between Obra Dinn, and Outer Wilds
That being said, i’ve excluded any mmos out of this list, purely because sometimes i struggle to call them my favorite games, despite having playing several thousand hours of each. Some of them have been unbelievably impactful at certain times in my life, but i’m afraid the embers are getting cold now
bin.pol.social
Aktywne