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.
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
Mostly based off hours played: EU4, Borderlands 2, Bioshock.
I excluded League of Legends even though I probably have the second most hours in that. Toxic as shit and I’m glad I gave it up.
Read everyone else’s picks and Tales of Phantasia is one RPG I’ve gone back to countless times. Might be the only one where I can come back to it months later and pick right back up where I left off. I know it that well.
RimWorld - I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game care so much about making the player feel like part of the story; just all around amazing. Damn near everything is configurable and for anything that isn’t the modding community probably has a fix for (and then some).
Terraria - Certainly has its quirks and annoyances, but I like that it has sandbox elements to be creative and do whatever, but also always feels like the game has an objective to work towards. I’ve probably played though at least half a dozen times between solo runs and multiplayer games with friends/ family and I just keep coming back to it.
Stardew valley - it’s just cozy with a slight hit of nostalgia. I have childhood memories of staying up entirely too late monopolizing the TV/ GameCube playing Harvest Moon and this scratches the same itch. Beyond that you can feel the love and attention to detail that the dev has poured into the game. Plus the skill ceiling is pretty low, so even my non-gamer friends/ family can play and have a good time.
I can’t deny that nostalgia has to do with the first two fossils in the list, though I still maintain that I like them more than their latest counterparts in their franchises.
Not Half Life though: it was ~15 years old when I first played it, no nostalgia there.
Still, between the many games I would gladly build a monument to, those are games that I can play beginning to end without getting bored, annoyed or burnt out (as long as you allow me to use the Ship Of Harkinian randomizer for Z:OoT, otherwise replace that game with Perfect Dark ig).
Street Fighter II for getting me into fighting games. While I don’t play that version anymore it is a favorite because of how much I did play it and later fighting games.
Valheim - hundreds of hours of enjoyment from the first moment I was dropped into the world by a giant crow. So much fun time with friends, building stuff, and just exploring. Such a well done game with fantastic lighting, sound, and things to do. Only long tine gripe is fighting on slopes!
Helldivers 2 - yeah, another more recent game but it is also just the exact thing I am looking for in a mutiplayer game with friends. Nearly everything is viable in most difficulties, the game has mechanics for accidental team kills, the setting evolves, but in a way that encourages participation in scheduled events without forcing it, and the devs have listened when the player base pushes back on changes that don’t mesh with the tone of the game.
Enjoyed a lot of other games too, but those are ones that hit specific things that I love and enjoyable to replay over and over and over and over…
It’s hard to tell because I have played a lot of games but that comes to mind immediately right now. I would say:
Red Dead Redemption 2.
Garry’s Mod.
Titanfall 2.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game that I absolutely fell in love with and it’s one that I regularly go back to just lose myself in and still find new things in it. Arthur Morgan might just be my favorite protagonist of anything ever. It’s still one of the best looking games ever made. The game looks like a painting. And you know they did something truly special when they managed to make my ADHD ass enjoy just walking in a game without running.
Gary’s Mod is an odd pick for me because I almost thought about leaving it out because I cannot like don’t see it as a game. I have thousands of hours on it and most of my time has been spent exploring empty maps. It’s more of a tool of relaxation for me than anything else but it’s deeply meaningful to me. If I had to summarize it, I would say that the Source engine is my home.
Titanfall 2 is simply the best FPS I’ve ever played. Both multiplayer and solo. It’s amazing. I have spent weekends just playing the main campaign on max difficulty on loop without ever getting bored and the multiplayer was fucking fantastic.
i'm gonna cheat and give some honorable mentions. :3- Thief: The Dark Project - Terraria - A Short Hike - Portal 2
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