Your all-time favorite game? Let's discuss the best options!

Morrowind. One of the few games you can fail the main quest by going on a rampage or by selling the wrong item.
- The spells in Morrowind are so creative & fun too! Levitate & recall were my favorites.
  
  Come on, now.....
  Grind to gather resources.
  Make a potion to fortify intelligence
  Make a potion to fortify alchemy
  Drink potions
  While potions are active, make another set of fortify intelligence and alchemy potions, which - as a result of your potion-enhanced intelligence and alchemy skill - now fortified even stronger and longer.
  Repeat steps 3 and 4 a few times to become the smartest god-like being around for an infinite amount of time.
  Game-breaking, but I would absolutely do it in real life if I had the option. I want the brains!
  
  Night eye is amazing. Don't even know what time of day it is when that spell is active.

Best single game is probably Portal. The pacing, storytelling, innovation, sound, all are top notch even 20+ years later. Graphics aren't phenomenal, but don't need to be. The challenges and easter eggs made it a blast to 100%.
- I'd say that Portal 2 even improved the first one in every aspect.
  
  Portal felt like a very long, pretty well-done tech demo, but Portal 2 is where it's at.
  
  I'm on the fence about which is better. Portal 2 is an improvement, but also has its flaws.
  Part of the reason I would argue Portal 1 was better is because it was so unexpected. I went in expecting "interesting puzzle game" which it is, but I did not expect to also get "excellent humor with strange horror vibes and incredibly good personality."
  If someone didn't know what a Glados was I think the first one is better. I also recognize that many people who have never played Portal are well aware of Glados.
  
  I dunno. Frankly they're both absolutely pantheon, legendary games that deliver a near-perfect gaming experience, but I feel like Portal 1 delivered a kind of tighter package where Portal 2 meanders just a little bit, and while Wheatley is still brilliant I'm not sure I he hit the same way or struck the same tone as GlaDOS. But we're talking about like nanometers of difference in quality here either way as both games are goddamn stellar.
  
  I felt that Portal 2’s difficulty curve was a little off but was perfect other than that. It was too easy for most of the game and then ramped up to what I consider to be a good difficulty level later on.
  The two player portion was fantastic though.

Not just my mood, but I have different flavors of favorite.
In terms of nostalgia and all-time enjoyment, hard to beat Ocarina of Time.
In terms of pure "this game is so good", may have to go with Red Dead Redemption 2. Truly a masterpiece.
In terms of most hours played, Civilization 6 at over 2000 hours.
- I like this way of doing it. For me:
  Nostalgia and all-time enjoyment, probably Pokémon Gen 2 / Remakes (Silver / Gold / Crystal / SoulSilver / HeartGold). I consider them all one game of different “flavours”. If I had to choose one I’d probably go with SoulSilver. The remakes added some much needed modern conveniences, and having your Pokémon follow you around in the overworld was awesome.
  Pure “this game is so good”, probably Elden Ring. Before the DLC I’d probably go with Dark Souls III because of Gael and Friede, but Shadow of the Erdtree blew me away.
  Most hours played, Skyrim at over 5,000. HITMAN is in second place at a bit over 1,300.

Sekiro.
Only hard until you start to understand the dance moves. Then it becomes pure nirvana.
After NG+7 I had to stop playing it and give some other games a chance.
- I'm still surprised how well received it was, not because I disagree, but just because of the numbers. It's currently sitting at 95% positive ratings on Steam, and that's with 229k reviews, for a game that plays so different from what gamers expected out of FromSoft.
  
  I was just reading some of the reviews on Steam the other night (because it's my favorite game), and was pleasantly surprised to see that I was not alone in that view.
  People who know, know.
- Even when I suck at a boss fight it feels like I learn something new every time, such a good gameplay loop
- I got stuck on it and then stopped playing for so long that I feel that I need to start again. I do intend to start it again if I ever get the time to put into it.
  
  Once it clicks, there is no feeling like it. Incredible game.
- Playing that now, just beat fake monk, next is the gorilla. Once the combat clicked for me everything made sense.
- YES.
  Sekiro is my favorite game ever and I wish they'd make a sequel.
  It's so good that it ruins other games for paling in comparison.
- I can't beat Genichiro Ashina, but I think I'm going at him too early, but damnit I should still be able to!
  
  He’s one of the first hard tests. You just gotta keep throwing yourself at him until it clicks. I went the other way and did Lady Butterfly which had its own pain. You have to play aggressively. Hesitation is defeat and all of that

Super Mario World - just a fun game. Lots of little secrets and fun to speed run.
Titanfall - I played an absurd amount of this one and really wished there was a 3rd one. 1-2 remind me of the pattern seen in trilogys where 1 sets the stage, 2 deviaties pretty far and polarizes fans and then 3 uses the best of both while trying to feel more like 1. (Mario 1-3, Halo 1-3). My favorites in this pattern tend to be 3 so I'm disappointed I never got Titanfall 3.
Pubg - when it was new. Lost me years ago now but that first 6 months to a year was awesome. So many crazy games and absurd fun.
- PUBG died the instant they introduced bots. I uninstalled immediately.
  But got damn, while everyone else complained about physics and clothing on the floor, my partner and I had the BEST TIME EVER playing. One of the best games I’ve ever played for sure when it was newer.
  I remember one time I was driving them on the motorbike thing with the sidecar with eight others remaining, and we hit an invisible pebble and were ROCKETED into the sky. We did a ton of flips and were laughing together about how we’re absolutely dead. We fell for ages and finally landed… no bounce. Just perfectly on our wheels. The bike was on fire. We were fine. We got out and ran away, only to die when three people were left. But we laughed sooooo hard when we landed totally fine. Insanity.
  I miss it so much.
  Quick edit: the first time I won in a 1v99, my heart rate hit 185 by the time my watch could calculate, so probably higher. I was vibrating. I had to lie down in bed. It was the most unique feeling a game has ever made me feel.
  
  Yeah, no game has done to my heartrate what pubg did. Absolutely the most intense game I've ever played. Wish I could play that again for the first time.
- I loved Titanfall 1 so much. Titanfall 2’s campaign was absolutely fantastic but I didn’t get on with the multiplayer so much.
  I actually think that was a “me problem” rather than a problem with the game. I think that I had just had enough of multiplayer shooters as I’ve not played one since.

It's easily The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
It has everything I could ask for in a game: Sword fighting. Magic. Secrets. Dungeon crawling. An alternate dimension. Side quests. Different tools and items. There's enough content that it feels fulfilling to complete it. Peak art. Peak music. NPCs don't talk too much, and there are just enough of them to make the world feel alive. Bosses.
- Have you tried A Link Between Worlds yet?
  
  Unfortunately not. Is it only available on the 3DS?

It's a difficult question to answer. I personally barely consider Disco Elysium to be a game, more like an interactive story that uses certain game mechanics as grammar elements and punctuation in its storytelling. It's a novel masquerading as a game. It's three novels in a trenchcoat. But if we do count it then it is my pick, by a landslide.
Otherwise it's probably Baldur's Gate 2. It's the story game I've replayed the most over the years and it was absolutely fundamental in my journey as a gamer, the definition of a formative experience. Even though parts of it are dated now (some clunk is to be expected from a 25-year-old game) I still prefer it to BG3. It's got a great story, great companions and an all-time great villain. David Warner put in an incredible performance and even all these years later there aren't many video game villains who have surpassed Irenicus in sheer aura.
- I personally consider Disco Elysium very much a game (a way better role-playing gamer than most), because an "interactive story" is a game. Combat shouldn't be a necessary condition. Planescape: Torment should have had the guts to scrap its lackluster combat and focus on its strengths.
  
  Disco elysium is the best book I've ever played.
- I played BG1 and 2 for the first time shortly before the release of BG3, and I just wanted to hear Irenicus talk more.
  Disco Elysium, on the other hand, just did not hit for me. The only things I hear about it are praise, but my friends list is filled with people who played it for a few hours, like I did, and stopped, so maybe the dissenters just aren't so vocal.
  
  Like I said, the game itself on its store page claims to be a "detective game RPG" while in reality I would argue it's barely any of those things. So a lot of people probably come into it with the wrong expectations. It's more like a novel about love and loss, about addiction, depression and the past looming over the present like a grey ghost. It's a story about finding hope in the midst of overwhelming nihilism. As someone who has struggled with all those things it hit incredibly close to home, and was the most meaningful experience I've ever had playing a video game.
- For me Disco Elysium is definitely my favorite of all time if we count it.
  If we don't for some reason, then Hi-Fi Rush is an absolute joy of a game and I've loved every second of it. Very obviously a labor of love and far more gamified than Disco Elysium.

Any of those three
Disco Elysium
Death Stranding
Outer Wilds
- Great list. But I love reading trough the reasoning behind the picks. What are yours?
  Personally I think outer wilds is a one of a kind game which represents am artistic message about existence that cannot be conveyed the same way in any other medium.
  
  I think the common denominator is a strong / immersive story and universe that appeals to me (big fan of sf), interesting mechanics and gameplay in a way that makes the game unique in its own way, and the artistic approach behind the game, so for each of those :
  Outer Wilds was a fantastic experience that you can only live once, the freedom of exploration is crazy, the feelings you can go through in the span of a single minute make it so memorable, I connected with this game like no other
  Death Stranding I played during one of the lockdowns, and after hiking in Iceland, it was a continuity of these two experiences that felt very personal. It was also my introduction to Kojima games. I found it to be such a premium experience and statement about video games, I loved the insanity of the plot, and once you dug deeper, you find all the artistic inspiration and process that went behind the game, it's an insane work of interactive art
  Disco Elysium I was already fully on board just learning about the game, I sympathise with the authors, the fact that it started as an rpg campaign, with immense lore behind it, love the art style, the narration, the story and its themes, I haven't lived in post USSR Europe but the game make me nostalgic/melancholic for a time, aesthetic, struggles I didn't know
  They're my absolute favourite but some games come close, Inscryption, Pyre, Spiritfarer...
- Based list. Outer Wilds in particular chef's kiss.

StarCraft: Brood War

Fallout 2 is probably one of my favourite games of all time. Absolutely amazing game, if a bit sprawly. I've played through it many times and expect I will do again.
Red Alert 2 - the pinnacle of the isometric RTS genre. Bordering on too silly but without tipping into absolute farce. Mechanically very strong, the art is lovely, and even has nostalgia for me.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Massive game but a run can be completed relatively quickly. I always disable the music because I don't like games that try to scare and intimidate me. I'm pretty good at the game so it tends to be pretty relaxing for me, if a bit fugue-state-y.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2: the apex of the Battlefield multiplayer games for me. The others have plenty going for them, but BFBC2 was the best compromise between destructibility, player counts, etc. for my tastes. Sniping took significant skill and one couldn't go prone - it meant that open areas didn't feel like a death sentence (looking at you, later BF games!).
Assassin's Creed: Origins/Odyssey two open world games with beautiful maps and locations to explore. I think I preferred the setting of Origins but the story of Odyssey. A bit of escapist fantasy, I suppose. I loved the Ezio trilogy too, mind you.
- Fallout 2 is absolutely stellar. I get the arguments some old-heads levy against in when they prefer Fallout 1, but I think I just played FO2 at the perfect time. The wackiness and pop culture references and humour hit with me when I first played it. It is sprawly, but it is also amazing for how big it is and how much there is to do in it.
  Did you ever play it modded? The Restoration Project, Updated has two amazing addons that add more talking heads and more voice acting and they're both of phenomenal, basically seamless quality. It's really like putting on a fresh coat of paint on the old thing.
  
  I agree that the original is tighter, but I love the free-form adventure of 2.
  Did you ever play it modded? The Restoration Project, Updated has two amazing addons that add more talking heads and more voice acting and they're both of phenomenal, basically seamless quality. It's really like putting on a fresh coat of paint on the old thing.
  Played it? I voiced a talking dog in it!

Shadow of the Colossus was barely even a game, it was art. I don't think I even played it for more than 20 hours total but just a simple masterpiece.

Dark Souls.
It fundamentally changed me as a person. All of the other fromsoft games are great but none of them really encapsulates the experience that is the first Dark Souls game.
- You can't say something like that without elaborating! How did it change you?
  
  So I first played Dark Souls when I was 17. As a kid that was going into my senior year of high school, completely obsessed with games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Uncharted 2 - Dark Souls was such a drastic change in how you interacted with a game. No constant ADHD flick shots in a cod game, no mindless story based progression with a complete lack of difficulty.
  Dark Souls taught me three things: Slow down, think critically, and never give up.
  Looking back on it, it's some real basic knowledge to impart on someone. But I feel like they apply to everything in life and nobody around me seems to think the same.
  It kinda blows my mind when you look at YouTube and see the absurd amount of videos there are of people describing how dark souls made them a better person mentally. The game is clearly special in a way no other game is to a lot of people and not to mention it popularized a whole new genre.
  If anyone reading this hasn't tried Dark Souls or has tried it once and bounced off of it quickly. I really recommended giving it a(nother) shot.

The Witcher 3, followed by the Mass Effect trilogy (I consider it as a whole)
And honestly, Cyberpunk 2077 could complete the top 3
But if I have to consider multiplayer games, with 3000+ hours on Warframe (considering I haven't touched it for years), I guess it could also be considered my favorite (I think I also spent 1000h on ME3 multi)

Minecraft
There are so many things you can do in the game, especially using mods
- The mod packs just keep coming and there has been a number of interesting packs since 1.20 was released.
  Its got a billion accounts its the most played game in the world ever so its surprising to find it so far down this list.

Sekiro.

Curse of Monkey Island.

same deal, favorites change according to mood, but there are overall few mainstays:
Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis.
It's a childhood favorite I return to every now and then. It's a point&click adventure, and to me it's essentially the 4th (and last) Indiana Jones movie. :D
Apart from one or two bad bits the game pulls, it's otherwise pretty logical from start to finish. 3 different paths from mid to late game, and mostly good voice acting (for the time). I know the game by heart at this point, but still it feels fun to play, every time. Nostalgia-goggles probably play a big part.

Cyberpunk 2077
I know it's a divisive game, don't care, works for me. The bleak vibes of the game just speak to me. Have played it through several times since launch, occasionally still find new things here and there. Not the deepest rpg around, but a good action-rpg with neonlights.
Unnamed Space Idle
I've been on this idle/timewaster for way over a year, slow progress raising the numbers all the time. Sure it's a bit low on gameplay, but absolutely neat little game to occasionally click few times when watching some longform content or so.
- Happy to see an idle/incremental here as a lover of that genre. Wish the Mbin side of incremental.social worked, I'd love to participate on !incremental_games@incremental.social or use my account there.
  
  I don't see any new posts since 7 months ago. (Unless my instance stopped federating.)

World of Warcraft!
I know people like to look down on it here but it's trully an amazing theme park metaverse experience.
I don't have much time for it these days but just playing couple of hours every week is such a joyful experience. There's just so much to do in the game, great writing, legendary characters, great people playing it. True metaverse experience everyone has been chasing lately.

I feel like my “all-time favorite” changes depending on my mood, but if I had to pick just one, I’d probably go with The Witcher 3. That game just hit all the right notes—amazing story, incredible world-building, and so much stuff to do without feeling like pointless filler. Plus, the expansions were just as good, if not better than the base game.
I replayed the entire game after completing Cyberpunk 2077 and finished it this weekend. Sadly for me the game doesn't hold up that well in various aspects and it was one of my favourites. The story is great, the ending is really well done, but the combat is too simple, the leveling of the game is all over the place, the RPG aspect of the game is really underwhelming and the game is just too damn long. I actually ended up enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 more at the end, but TW3 is a better game in general.
As for my "all-time favorite", that depends.
Nier: Automata changed me, the game had a real impact on me.
Zelda BOTW is the game that made me feel happier while playing it.
Sekiro is the game that just clicked perfectly.
DAO was my all time favourite RPG but Divinity 2/BG3 both took that spot.
Chrono Trigger is the game that I'll always remember, the singleplayer game that I've replayed the most.
Terraria is my favourite indie game.
I have a real soft spot for Bloodstained, I loved Casltevania Symphony of the Night and I waited so long for Bloodstained and the guys delivered what I expected. The first game that I wanted to do 100%.

Gothic 2, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, GTA: San Andreas and Arcanum are for og ny favourite games that are a bit too flawed to be all time favourite.
Final Fantasy 6 and 7 were so good, but I can't play them alone, we used to pass along the controller.
I love point and clicks like Grim Fandango and Monkey island.
I played Planescape: Torment in 2006 and it left such an impression on me.
Of never games there's Disco Elysium and The Obra Dim.
Not to mention Zelda's, Illusion of Time, the Mana series, Mario's, the old Blizzard games, Brotherbound games and other amiga games. Quake........
Maybe Day of the Tentacle?

definitely Deus Ex
but also The 7th Guest lol
- The 7th Guest defined my childhood, along with Quest for Glory I.
  
  I'm obsessed with The 7th Guest lol
  !stauf_mansion@lemmy.mods4ever.com

For me, Elden Ring. I enjoy open world exploration and collecting-heavy games, and I also enjoy soulslikes for the strategic combat and variety of options. So ER was like two of my favorite ice cream flavors combined into one delicious meal.
- Came here to say the same thing. 2 of my favorite genres rolled into one epic game.
  Before Elden Ring my favorite was RDR2. Didn't think it was going to get bumped down anytime soon.

My nostalgia faves are still The Longest Journey and Grim Fandango. My love of stories told with games started here. I do need to think about what my all time favorites are, though. That's a big question.
- oh man, The Longest Journey has been on my todo list for eternities. Ages ago I was being a pixel-peeping-perfectionist and I hated the aliasing on the character models - but now that ScummVM does the game perfectly I really have no reason to wait... but... here we are.
  Since the game is dear to you, how about some motivational sales pitch for it? Why should I drop everything else and go play the game right now? :D
  
  One thing I really loved about it was even though the character models were as weird looking as you'd expect from the era, the backgrounds were beautiful and when i played it years later with more modern sensibilities, I still was fond of them. The story took advantage of the fact that the main character was an artist, so there were a number of colorful or visually interesting segments.
  The whole experience felt so vast, and even not being a child any more (which can make stories seem vast because of your own imagination), there still feels like there's a lot to both worlds. And history to characters, just out of view.
  It also lives up pretty well to its name. There's a lot of it. A lot of lore and locations and puzzles. Some of the puzzles are obtuse to the extreme, and silly. There's one that's almost legendarily bad, so it has that bit of history if you're interested lol.
  It's tough to say what's nostalgia and what's my preference and what's genuinely great. You'd probably have to play it to find out!

That's a tough one to answer. I have to say league of legends, because it's always our friends fallback game.
But other favorites are:
Terraria
Subnautica
Bravely Default
Warcraft 3 - mainly the custom maps, we played so much of that
Slay the spire

Probably Morrowind.
Properly distinct beast races, freedom to fuck up the world, really rewarding exploration, awesome scenery and concepts, great soundtrack, you can free slaves, and Argonians have never looked better overall.
Second place, probably Red Dead Redemption 2. Every single aspect of that game is outstanding. The pacing, the story, the characters, the combat, the exploration, the horse genitals, the music, the graphics, the massive scale of the world.. Just truly a masterpiece of a game, and I think Rockstar will never surpass it.
Honorable mentions for Caves of Qud, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy 7 (original AND remake/rebirth) and Starflight (mostly played on C64 but Genesis/Megadrive version is far better)
Oh, fuck, and Silent Hill 2, that's somewhere in the top three. Both original and remake. Fucking exceptional works of art.

Transport Tycoon was fantastic and thanks to OpenTTD I still play it from time to time.
Gothic 2 is by far the best Action RPG of all time. Witcher 3 comes close, but still fails to surpass it in so many places.
Banished always gets me with it's atmosphere. It feels cozy but at the same time you are close to complete annihilation. Oxygen not included hits the same mark, but also has a distinctive art style and humor to it which I love.
Stanley Parable (and it's Deluxe edition) never fails to make me laugh. But it can get tedious sometimes...

I play almost every genre (minimal interest in sports games, admittedly), and my favorite changes all the time. But in general, here are some of my all-time top games:
Final Fantasy Tactics
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (people who think BL2 is better than TPS are wrong)
Spider-Man (PS4)
Hades
Civilization 6
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (people who think BL2 is better than TPS are wrong)
  Are you Australian by chance? I have a lot of complaints about TPS, but then after watching some taskmaster Australia I had a theory; I wonder if there is some fundamental difference in preferred pacing that causes those to fall flat for other audiences? In dialog, humor, events, etc.
  
  East Coast USA, born and raised and lived in all my life. So no, not Australian.

My "nostalgia favorites" will always be Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Sonic 2 (Genesis version). Sonic 2 is just so fun to go back and play any time I want a quick retro sides rolling platformer fix, and I've played through it more times than I can count. OoT was the first game I played that showed me what games could be through a combination of story/cutscenes and gameplay, as someone who was never able to get my hands on an SNES to play the epic JRPGs of the console growing up (I loved my Genesis, but let's be real, those kinds of games on Sega consoles didn't really come until later).
Nowadays Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have eclipsed OoT for me, and for other more modern games another standout fave is Fire Emblem Three Houses, due in large part to its story and setting having everything I look for in a game, and its characters actually being more fleshed out and developed than the one-note units handed to you in many other games in the franchise. Engage has more... Engaging gameplay (sorry not sorry for the pun) but the story and characters hold it back quite a bit for me. Gameplay-wise, my favorite strategy RPG actually has to be Triangle Strategy, in that it has quite creative maps and every unit is designed with the potential to be useful depending on how you approach your own strategy, but I like the story/characters of Three Houses at least a bit more, and I tend to value story more in general in games. I'm also a big fan of the Ace Attorney franchise for the overarching story, characters and writing that it's built up through its history. Phoenix, Maya, Edgeworth, Apollo and friends are all among some of my favorite characters in gaming, and I'm glad I decided long ago to give that quirky-seeming series a try. AA7 when, Capcom?

The OG X-Com is probably up there as a game that I keep coming back to. Especially after I learned about some of the total conversion mods for it.
- X-Com: UFO Defense (1994) is definitely up there for me as well, but I don't think it can dethrone Baldur's Gate (1998) which I have to give top spot.

Into the Breach for sure. Extremely satisfying strategy gameplay with a ton a variety with the different teams/units, heaps of replayability especially after the content update from a couple years back, and it being a run based game is great for folks who only get an hour or two to play on any given day.
Tabi (ey/it)

There's probably a lot of nostalgia in the choice, but my all time favorite game is Quest for Glory: So You Want to be a Hero. The game was just the right mix of fantasy, adventure and humor for a young me, and I still go back an play it about once a year. A close second is Valheim. It's kinda my "cozy game". I find building and exploring relaxing, and there's enough fighting to keep the game from getting boring.
- Oh my god. I NEVER see someone else suggest Quest for Glory in this kind of post, and I am SO HERE FOR IT! I was introduced to it when it was still Hero's Quest (and EGA) but have played and replayed the entire series many many times over the decades since. Once I managed to get 500/500 puzzle points, by playing a thief that had every skill unlocked and doing all the various side quests.
  Perhaps it comes as no surprise that Valheim is also my close second. I've got over 4K hours in that one, spread across many characters and worlds, and I just keep going back for more. Heck, I once found a patch of Meadows surrounded on 3 sides by Mountains, and with a narrow strip of Black Forest connecting it the the rest of the island and I build an homage to Spielburg in the middle!
  
  I was introduced to it when it was still Hero’s Quest (and EGA)
  This is the version I always play. There's something just "right" about the EGA graphics and text parser. A clicky interface will never replicate:
  Hut of brown, now sit down

Star Control 2 - it's a mix of RPG storytelling with zany aliens mixed with Asteroids style PvP arcade gameplay. Like Ham and Cantaloupe, you think the combination wouldn't work but it just somehow does. The writing and lore of the whole universe is just super rich and really immerses you into the whole universe.

My all-time favorites have been in place for many years now.
It's a tie between Sonic 2 (Genesis) & Final Fantasy 6 (SNES).
They are two very different games that represent two different concepts in gaming. For Sonic it's all about smooth, fun gameplay. With FF6 it's all about the story and the experience of controlling an ensemble cast of characters. I can beat the first in under an hour, as while the latter usually takes 60+ hours. They're like the yin and yang of videogames for me.

I probably can't decide on a single one but if I had to list:
Operation Flashpoint (a big candidate on best)
Mafia 1
Giant: Citizen Kabuto
Half-Life series
Portal series
Dark Souls/Elden Ring
Age of Empires II (also big candidate on best)
Mass Effect series
And I'm gonna stop myself here because there's way more which just complicates choice
- Giant: Citizen Kabuto
  Deep cut. Such a strange game.
  I remember playing 3-person multiplayer with no router in that game. A friend had two Ethernet ports but couldn't bridge them, so he'd host and the other two of us would join. Some stuff worked smoothly, but other stuff was super broken.

Baldur's Gate 2. There's no game I've played through more often. BG3 is a very fun successor, but Larian's writing can't hold a candle to classic Bioware.
- I honestly wish Larian had just left the IP alone and done a standalone D&D game. There is absolutely no narrative reason for any of the tie-ins and callbacks, it was literally just a case of wanting the brand recognition for better marketing and then shoehorning in some old fan favourites and calling it a day. Seeing Sarevok and Viconia as they were in BG3 just makes me sad.
  
  It was still pretty inherently tied to Bhaal under Baldur's Gate, so it made enough sense to have continuity.

I can‘t really pinpoint one game, it‘s easier for me to list a top 5ish in no particular order (but even then I‘ll probably answer differently in a month from now when I remember games I‘m forgetting about right now). It goes something like this:
Crusader Kings III
Monster Hunter World/Wilds (the latter if it didn‘t run like shit)
Nioh 2
Rocket League (haven‘t played it in years though)
HITMAN
maybe League of Legends if it still was season 7 lol (haven‘t played that in a while either)
Counterstrike 1.6
Dark Souls II (my first soulslike that I played on release with an active online population, so I have the fondest memories of this one, DS1 and its awful PC port was nothing to make fond memories with for me)
Seems like I‘m a competitive/challenging game enjoyer, but not the „1v1 no-hit bosses“-kind, I enjoy all of these games most in coop if they support it. Overcoming challenges together is my thing.
- CK3 is really cool. It's completely spoiled me on games like Civilization now. Being able to play as a person instead of some abstract concept of your empire is so fascinating to me. Things like worrying about how your child's holdings will look once you die based on succession is fun.
  
  I always thought CIV was „that game“ for me until I played CK3 and realized that what CK3 does was what I had looked for in CIV but had never really gotten

+1 on the Max Payne mention...great game!
Came out near the time of my favorite PC game, Unreal Tournament.
As far as arcade games, I'd say maybe Rygar or Dragon's Lair...but those are so old (like I am) that I might not be remembering them so well?

Original far cry. Witcher 3. Baldurs Gate 1,2 and 3 Assasins Creed Ezio games Civ
Cant pick one but based on hours played it would be civ

Baldurs Gate 3 anyone? I’m kind of shocked to not see it in here. I’ve never enjoyed a game more. Only sad thing is that there won’t be official dlcs or expansions… But then again there’s mod support! Other than that I really enjoy EU IV after 2k hours, but all-time-favorite? I don’t think so.

I'm a teacher, and as soon as students figure out I play games, they inevitably ask me this question, but I largely think it's an unfair question to ask someone who games as a genuine hobby rather than just a kill time.
I like to tell them that's a really impossible question to answer and instead offer them my favorite franchise of games: Monster Hunter. I feel like I can more reliably say that I am a massive fan of the franchise, with it reliably being my favorite videogame franchise, without that seeming weirdly inaccurate considering the wide variety of genres and sub-genres that make up video game interests.
To say that Monster Hunter Rise is my favorite game would be a massive disservice to the captivating, genre-breaking storytelling power of Hades, my deeply rooted love of the flight mechanics in Elite Dangerous, my history as a brief world record holder for a Mario title, the thousands of hours of Team Fortress 2 I've shared with friends, or my experiences grinding World of Warcraft arenas to the top 0.5% of players. And I've somehow listed 5 formative titles from the top of my head without even representing my deep passion for rhythm games, with Hi-Fi Rush being a genuine contender for that "favorite game" slot that I am arguing doesn't exist. So I don't answer with any of these games, because not only would my answer be fundamentally untrue, but it's not really the question my student means to ask, either. They want to know what I am into, and giving them a standout franchise that automatically gets my money when a title is released gives them a much better answer than any one title could ever do.
- Aw man I’ve been playing MH since the first PSP game (even went as far as to hack all my friends’ PSPs and install English patches individually for MH 3rd cuz that’s what you had to do at the time) and I really enjoyed Rise, but honestly I thought it was a bit of a step back from GU and World. Still an excellent game!

Oh man, same problem. I can't decide what I like more there are just too many good ones. The Witcher 3 is definitely up there for me too, but then I think about Red Dead Redemption 2 and how insanely detailed that world is, and I start second-guessing everything. Then there’s Elden Ring, which just blew my mind with how massive and rewarding it felt to explore. But if I want something more casual, I always go back to Stardew Valley or Hollow Knight both just have that perfect mix of chill and challenge. And of course, Mass Effect 2 still holds a special place in my heart. Also, I like to play online pokies from time to time. This page has some pretty cool no deposit bonus options if you’re into that kind of thing.
What kind of games do you find yourself replaying the most? Do you go back to the same favorites, or do you always try to play something new?

StarCraft 2 was the perfect competitive RTS, with the best pro scene. I lived and breathed that game for years. Sucks that Blizzard decided to stop supporting it.

Planetside 2 as it was many years ago. I'll be forever bitter how they ruined it.
If I look at recorded playtime then its teamfortress 2 which wins just by 0.1h over rimworld and I havent really played tf2 for over 10 years.

I play and enjoy most genres at this point, but my favorite has to be Skullgirls. There are 18 characters and so many ways to combine them that you can still come up with new strategies in this game over a decade after its release.

Halo 3 custom games with full party was the golden era for me. All my other favourites are all RPG like baldur's gate, red dead, mass effect ect...

When it comes to nostalgia, my favourite game is a 90’s German demo of the DOS version of the original Command & Conquer.
„Jawohl, Sir!”; „Bestätigt!”.
The soldiers were still robots there, too, because of German law forbidding a realistic depiction of war.
The best game I’ve ever played is without a doubt Red Dead Redemption 2. I’ve never cried over a game, and with RDR2 I cried nearing the finale myself, then I cried again when I watched it being played in a let’s play series on YouTube. RDR2 is a masterpiece, plain and simple.
I’ve also never loved a fake horse as much as I’ve loved my RDR2 fake horse. Hell, I felt more attached to my horse in RDR2 than I’ve felt to 99% of characters in other games.

do you like sportsball, but think it needs level ups, perks, and gear? no? Me neither. I absolutely loved Pyre though. When a game dev takes a risk on a weird mashup like 3v3 basketball + Fantasy RPGs + visual novels, it's an easy way to score points with me. What really cemented this as my favorite was the characters and the emergent interactions that develop as part of your decisions during the Rites. No spoilers, but the game asks you to make hard decisions at every turn of the wheel, and that particular kind of tension and release is very unique in my experience. It's one of the few games I've 100%'d to see every permutation of events.

Pathologic 2!
It's a rich world & narrative that throws you in the midst of an incredibly stressful seemingly impossible scenario and asks you to try your best. I love how the intense survival mechanics caused me to compromise my morals, starting the game trying not to kill anyone and then playing day 8 seeking out people to kill & steal stuff from. The mind map is also one of the most genius "quest logs" I've ever seen, giving you a feel for your characters emotions and providing hints on what to do next. The fact that anyone can die of disease & end quest lines makes it that much more important that you do your best to save them.

Gunz: The Duel was my first competitive online game and it'll always have a soft spot in my heart.

pronably rock band 3 i played it non stop until rock band 4 came out
and then theres skyrim which i cannot stop replaying every year
- I don't think there was a single party I attended in high school where Rock Band or Guitar Hero wasn't present. Such a great party game for players and spectators alike. The younger generations are really missing out.

Total War: Warhammer 3. I play it more or less exclusively with a buddy in multiplayer. Been playing since part 1 came out. I love how the addition of magic and flying creatures changed the Total War formula up, the immense size of the map, the mixture of races.
Rimworld with a couple of hundert mods is still at the top, although I tend to let it rest for some months before I pick it up again.
Baldurs Gate 3 and Divinity Original Sin 2 are my favourite RPG games.
Used to play Skyrim with a bassilion mods a LOT and love it for the hours of enjoyment, but after so many years I have possibility played enoth of it... But who knows, might feel the itch and spend 48 hours trying to get every mod to run just to stop playing after one hour again at some point.
Loved the Mass Effect Triology. Only did one playtrough, that was intens and great.
Binding of Isaac is still my go to for a quick 30 minutes gaming session when I feel like it. I realy suck at it too, so after 12 years there's still a lot left to do.

Sometimes Rimworld, sometimes CP2077 and sometimes BG3

Ender Lilies
It's a mechanically strong Metroidvania with branching paths, hidden areas, and exploration, but what I love about it is the atmosphere and the juxtapositions is uses.
It is a crumbling decaying kingdom full of monstrosities, and the main character is an innocent little girl in a pure white dress. Lily does not attack, some of the monsters she is able to purify to restore their mind at which point they help her. So when you attack a monster appears to do the attack animation, while lily cowers a bit behind it.
One thing I love is when you are in a boss fight and shit is going down hard, the sound track is extremely chill piano music. The soft and beautiful contrasts against the harshness of the situation is a very compelling way.
The sequel Ender Magnolias is good as well. Mechanically there are some improvements, but I don't feel like the atmosphere or world building is as good. That may be because I played Lilies and was used to it. If your haven't played either I'd suggest starting with Lilies, and if you like Magnolias is worth your time.

It is crazy to me that Diablo 2 was not mentioned, yet. Second place: Modded Minecraft.
- Diablo II is maybe the best game I’ve ever played. The remaster was so faithful and perfectly done, too. D3 was okay but got worse with the expansion (thanks for taking our trading and economy, making items feel worthless) and I refuse to play D4 or the mobile game that I shall not mention.