The best 4X combat. Huge variety of units and sides (need DLCs though). Unique game in that it just focuses on combat, no diplomacy (it sux in all games anyway) no spies (also sux in other games), and simple but reasonably good (and different for different races) economy. It focuses at one thing - combat, drives it to perfection and the rest of the game design narrow focused to support that.
Being W40K helps with richness of the fluff, if this is important for you.
What’s not to like? Super cool main character with telekinetic and space gun abilities. Explosions like crazy. Regular upgrades. Not too complicated. Lots of exploring. Plenty of storyline, but not too much. Intriguing characters. “Open world”, but with a mostly clear sense of direction.
Probably one of my fave games of all time. Even though I hated Alan Wake.
I have an unhealthy cycle of this with Hearts of Iron IV a WW2 grand strategy game. I'll realize the embarrassing number of hours that I've put into the game and then I'll stop playing for a while. But then one of the big mods for it will update and then I dive back in and lose a weekend and then the process repeats.
The other game I consistently come back to is Threads of Fate or Dewprism it's a PS1 action-RPG with dual protagonists where each one has their own campaign or story to play through. I guess it's nostalgia that keeps me coming back to it, but it really wasn't a favorite game growing up and I didn't beat it until years after I'd gotten it. But every few years I'll just remember it out of the blue and get the urge to play through it again.
Metal Gear Solid V (on PC with mods that greatly expand/enhance free roam, and add more side ops)
Tomba 1 and 2 (Tombi in the EU)
Chrono Trigger
Megaman Legends (love the sequel, but haven’t ever completed it, life keeps getting in the way)
Castlevania Syphony of the Night
Sonic Adventure (it’s trash, but fun trash, especially with mods)
Sonic Mania, Sonic 3 and Knuckles
Minecraft
Some that I haven’t come back to in a while, but I’m overdue:
Ape Escape
Crash Bandicoot (1-3)
Spyro (1-3)
Digimon World 3
Any of the GBA or DS Castlevanias
Actraiser
Rayman 2
Megaman Battle Network series(3 and 4 are my favorite entries)
Dissidia Duodecim
Zone of the Enders 2
God Hand
Wipeout Pulse/Pure
Pretty much any Kirby game
Most of these games I find just plain fun. Thanks for asking, I was starting to get burned out and not finding stuff as fun, but writing this out has me hankering to revisit some old favorites again.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, Dwarf Fortress. Highly-replayable, open-world and they keep being developed, so when you come back, there’s new stuff.
Skyrim, Fallout 4. Same idea, but the modders have added a lot of content.
Some of the city-builders, like Tropico 5. I play for a while, get tired, uninstall, but tend to come back, because the game is replayable.
Chase the Sun and Nova Drift are action games that I have spent some time away from and then come back and played. Nova Drift has seen regular development.
Pinball sims. I think that one can only play so much pinball, but I find myself thinking “I’d like to play a pinball game” down the line and reinstall.
I think that most of the games have some common characteristics:
Didn’t live-or-die based on their technology or graphics, because they’re invariably obsolete by the time I’ve come back.
Need to be highly-replayable. I’ve played games with story, like Fallout: New Vegas but I don’t really go back to play them for the story (though I’ll concede that specifically Fallout: New Vegas does have multiple paths to explore). They can’t be appealing because of a surprising or tense plot or a plot twist.
Often see continued development or modding, so there’s some reason to go back and see what’s there (though pinball would be a notable exception…you don’t go back for new content).
One thing I’ve gotten into doing is instead of starting a new game I just run off in some random direction for an hour. It’s neat to stumble across things you built years ago
Not OP, but I like both for different reasons. V doesn’t have the districts, which changes gameplay pretty significantly. I also prefer the art style of V. That being said, I like the districts and usually play VI, but go back to V almost as often
That reminds me about the music of Leonardo Workshop world’s miracle in Civ 2. I remember very little about Civ 2, but this wonder is with me forever:)
Oops, my b, misunderstood. I prefer civ V, and seems like a fair number of people do too. I like the art style, and game mechanics better in V. Admittedly though I could never really get into VI, but it seems like a lot of people prefer it too.
Don’t Starve ticks pretty much all the boxes for a game that I should like…but I just don’t.
I like a number of action roguelikes, like The Binding of Isaac.
I like the open-world nature.
But the game just doesn’t do it for me. I dunno. I guess that a lot of the gameplay is clicking on things to gather them, which I am not that blown away by. I don’t feel like I change things up much based on what the world throws at me, which I think is an important aspect for a roguelite/roguelike to have. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead does a better job of this, The Binding of Isaac a much better. I think that the low-sanity graphical artifacts might build mood, but are obnoxious.
Genre mismatch might be a factor? Don't Starve is not an action-roguelite like Binding of Isaac; it's a survival-crafting game. They are aiming to be vastly different experiences.
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