Related to a post I made last year, but a little different because (1) you get to choose 10 now instead of 5, and (2) other games don’t get deleted, you just aren’t able to play them, so you don’t need to think about the good of humanity or anything, purely just selfish picks because it only impacts you.
A couple notes:
- Any equipment necessary to play the games, you’re obviously allowed to have
- You can play any DLC for the games you choose
- You’re not allowed to make any games for you to play. If you make video games, either as a career or hobby, only other people are allowed to play them
- Mods are allowed, but you’re not allowed to make any for you to play. You can try to commission someone else to make them for you, though
- If there was historically a trilogy, for example, that now is sold on a major storefront (Steam, Xbox, PlayStation) as a single game (such as Mass Effect or Hitman) that counts as one game now. Game bundles, though, do not count. Basically, if it’s in one entry in your steam/xbox/ps library, it’s one game
I’m interested to see what this community chooses, and hopefully it’s different enough from my old post to warrant some good discussion here.
- Super Mario 64 - Need a platformer and great for speedrunning
- STALKER Anomaly - Best shooter, dynamic gameplay, horror elements
- Falcon BMS - Deepest combat flight sim with dynamic campaigns
- IL2 1946 - Same but WW2
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 - Because you need a game where you can explore the world, plus VR
- Dwarf Fortress - Deepest RPG + colony sim
- rFactor 2 - Deepest racing sim and mods support all F1 seasons
- Morrowind - Another RPG but also great moddability and VR
- Lucas Chess - Deepest board game
- Minecraft - For randomly generated worlds, sandbox world, mods, and VR support
Stuff I had to leave out:
- Majora’s Mask - Nostalgic RPG and good for speedrunning
- Civ 4 - Good strategy game but beaten by chess
- Paradox games - Same as Civ 4
- DCS - Falcon BMS beats it because of the dynamic campaign
- Medieval 2 Total War - The best Total War
For me, I’d probably have to go with:
- Skyrim - my most played game of all time, and nearly endlessly moddable
- Elden Ring - probably my favourite game, if you twisted my arm and forced me to choose
- Hitman: World of Assassination - my second most played game of all time, and tons of content there. Way more replayable than a lot of people realize
- Dishonored - the best linear stealth game of all time imo
- Pokémon SoulSilver - I’ll get in occasional Pokémon moods and this is my favourite one
- Forza Motorsport 6 - maybe a weird choice, but I play this game every Christmas with my dad, and I wouldn’t want to throw that tradition away
- Halo: Master Chief Collection - CE was my first ever video game, and I played the hell out of Reach back in the day, so this is mostly a nostalgia pick, but seriously who’s gonna argue against some Halo
- Batman: Arkham City - I have such strong nostalgia for this game for some reason, way more than lots of other games I’ve played. Not too sure why, but it definitely draws me back every now and then
- NHL24 - I guess it could be any NHL game since they’re all basically the same just with updated rosters and occasionally a new feature, but 24 is the most recent I own so I’ll stick with that one. Anyway, I love hockey and this is a great game to pull out when friends come over
- GTA V - when my wife and I first got a place together, we used to play this game together (pass the controller back and forth) after work every night. We still occasionally pull it out to play together, and I wouldn’t want to put a stop to that
GTA V - when my wife and I first got a place together, we used to play this game together (pass the controller back and forth) after work every night. We still occasionally pull it out to play together, and I wouldn’t want to put a stop to that
You inspired me to see if my partner would want to share playing GTA 6 in this way. That sounds fun! Thanks :)
There’s lots of fun stupid stuff you can do, at least in 5. Obviously I can’t comment on 6.
- Set a countdown timer and you have to switch right at the timer, then right before the timer goes off drive off a cliff or jump out of a helicopter and the other person has to try and survive. Basically death swap
- Try to steal a tank or fighter jet from a military base and switch after every death
- One person exclusively controls the left half of the controller, one person exclusively controls the right half of the controller, try to complete a mission or a custom objective
- Start a timer and see who can get a five star wanted level the fastest
Basically do stupid shit and don’t take it seriously. Extra points if you both suck at the game.
Yeah my wife enjoyed watching me play the GTA v campaign and we played a bit of online together for a while but the used GPU on her PC would always start to crash out
Games with tons of replayability, where I have already spent a ton of hours:
Roguelikes:
1 - Dwarf Fortress
2 - Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
Resource/construction based:
3 - Satisfactory (sorry, Factorio fans)
4 - Valheim
5 - Minecraft or Terraria
RPGs with deep systems
6 - Divinity: Original Sin 2 or Fallout: New Vegas + mods
7 - Baldur’s Gate 3
Classics that I want to play from time to time
8 - Dark Souls: Prepare to Die edition
9 - Bloodborne
Some skill-based game that I’m never going to get amazing at, therefore infinite playtime:
10 - Either some fighting game (Skullgirls?) or something like Crypt of the NecrodancerNot a perfect list, but I probably would have enough stuff to play until I die :P
3 - Satisfactory (sorry, Factorio fans)
Everything is are good choices. It’s surprising you made the wrong one here. Even if you like the base game of Satisfactory better, for some crazy reason, keep in mind we get mods. Factorio has a modding scene as good as Skyrim, or maybe better. There are essentially totally new games available as mods for Factorio. Also, let’s say you’re a total expert after decades of playing it. There are mods that crank up the difficulty/complexity to the point where it takes thousands of hours to complete. It’s clearly the superior choice.
No simracers here, I see.
- Assetto Corsa - wheel, pedals, tripples. Could finish the list here
- Creeper World III
- Planetside 2
- Dirt Rally 2
- Dead cells
- Deadzone rogue
- Portal
- Minecraft Java 1.8.0
- Back4blood
- F.E.A.R
Off the top of my head…
Oh, wow, F.E.A.R. now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while!
It still absolutely holds up. You will be amazed. Phenomenal shooter.
since any dlc is allowed, maybe by picking Minecraft you get all the other versions with it?
Approved.
If Planetside 2 had offline bots, I would never touch any other shooters. I have yet to find other ones with the same type of recoil patterns and gun stats system where every different carbines and smg have personalities and traits making them something to master, besides CS which I can’t enjoy.
Out of all the reasons I love Planetside 2, it basically ruined shooters for me.
You should opt for Richard Burns Rally instead of Dirt. Unlimited content like AC.
I agree, but I’m also a fan of Neil Cole’s work in DR2. I suppose I could pick RBR with Neil Cole mod. Btw, just saw my RBR folder the other day…100GB:-)
Assetto Corsa is pretty cheap right now. I saw it and it seems interesting. Would you recommend it to someone who wants something more casual? (I don’t mean arcade, but not something I need equipment and a lot of time for.) I’d probably play with a controller, but I do have a wheel with force-feedback and pedals, but I’m not sure they work on Linux (and I don’t use Windows anymore), and I’d prefer not setting it up.
Also, I think this studio has a rally game they’re working on. I’m pretty sure they’re the page I saw that. I hope it’s good, because Dirt Rally is dead sadly.
AC is like 7€. I would suggest taking it, even without the wheel. Wheel use is A LOT better though, especially for online racing. ACR is good. Still early access, getting better. Can be compared to DR easily. For me, force feedback is lacking a bit but the rest is awesome. Set up the wheel!:-)
- Factorio with all mods like A&Bs
- Manor Lords and I have all the source code to mod it
- One of the total war games, maybe Warhammer because dinosaurs and jungles, ditto with source code for mods
- Dark Souls
- Elden Ring
- Ocarina of Time
- Minecraft with all mods
- Dwarf Fortress
Final Fantasy XWorld of Warcraft all expansions with plenty of players to guild, sorry FFX but I’ll drop like 100x more time in WoW- Age of Empires 2
Ocarina of Time
I am incredibly excited for the Switch 2 remake. My kiddo can experience it around the same age I did originally!
Have you played FFXIV? The story is amazing, and I’ve seen more people going from WoW to FFXIV than vice versa.
I have not… but I’m intrigued
WoW is more about my personal nostalgia than any particularly compelling game loop. I’ve got really fond memories of playing at different seasons of my life.
I’ll check out FFXIV though, I’m sure it’s a banger
You mean the source code to the full game? How’d you get it?
I assumed wishes were a part of the package of getting whatever game you wanted
Skyrim
Civilization 5
Tears of the Kingdom
Red Dead Redemption 2
Stardew Valley
Factorio
Balatro
Ocarina of Time
Pokemon Heartgold/Soulsilver
Super Mario Odyssey
- Galaga
- Burnout Paradise
- Mahjong
- Grim Dawn
- Just Cause 3
- Destiny 2
- Unreal Tournament (1999)
- Dwarf Fortress
- Star Craft 2
- Baldur’s Gate 3 (I’m assuming that community campaign mods will continue for many years to come)
EDIT: Dead Cells, the Hollow Knights, the Hades games, and a solid deck builder like Slay The Spire would complete my lifetime list.
deleted by creator
For number 10, I know that exists for Crystal so I don’t see why not for Emerald. Hacked Crystal is the only way I play Gen 2 these days.
deleted by creator
Upon looking into it, it seems like Emerald Final is another ROM hack that seems more in depth, so I might give that one a shot at some point. I may try both though just to see what’s up.
Doom
World of Warcraft
Animal Crossing
No Man’s Sky
Minecraft
Just Cause 3
Legend of Zelda Link’s Awakening
Legend of Zelda Minish Cap
Super Mario Maker
KPatience
This is a great list. I think I could switch mine to yours and still be happy lol
Nightreign - hundreds of hours in and I can’t get enough. The gameplay loop is so satisfying. I think they made this game just for me.
Noita - infinite wand tinkering
Bloodborne - greatest game ever, and I will die on this hill
Elden Ring - obvious masterpiece and widely replayable
Hades - perfection of the genre, great storytelling, masterful voice acting
Crusader Kings 2 - always lose a hundred hours to this when I dip my toe back in
Half Life Alyx - another perfecting of the genre
Morrowind - dated but truly the best of the series
Mario Kart - loved each iteration and I’d need something a little more lighthearted in my ten games
Terraria - another one I end up spending dozens of hours in when I start it back up. i always loved crafting and building in this more than similar 3d games.
Which Mario Kart?
I guess the Switch version just because there’s so much to do, but I’d take any. I cut my teeth on the SNES version way back in the day. Haven’t played the newest one yet tho.
I think 8 Deluxe is the best choice here.
If you make video games, either as a career or hobby, only other people are allowed to play them
But how do I test them???
My list:
- Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. This game has so much stuff in it and it gets updates roughly two times a year with lots of rebalance and new stuff.
- Dark Souls. One of the best games ever made - how could I leave it out?
- Dark Souls 2. My second favorite Souls-like. It’s different enough from DS1 to be included here.
- Lunacid. Objectively a bad choice because it’s not very replayable but I love it and replay it all the time.
- UFO 50. Technically one game ;)
- Minesweeper. Sometimes I just want to kill time on my smartphone.
- Yume 2kki. For all my casual “I just what to wander around mindlessly” needs.
- Minetest (Luanti). Mod-heavy sandbox for my sandbox needs.
- Doom 2. Mod-heavy FPS for my FPS needs. (If I can get Doom+Heretic+Hexen I’d pick it.)
- My girlfriend’s future game of her choice so I don’t miss out on her important achievement.
If you make video games, either as a career or hobby, only other people are allowed to play them
But how do I test them???
Hire a QA team? I’m not sure, I don’t make the rules.
Oh wait, huh. Uhhh… I sort of don’t have any experience with game dev so I didn’t think of that. Maybe you can playtest but can’t play through the whole game? Or maybe you get a QA team for free to help out on passion projects, I’m not sure. I’ll let you decide on this one maybe, I’m assuming you know more than I do with this.
Little things like picking sounds and determining timings for various actions requires a lot of trial-and-error so you have to test it as you do it. Doing all of that through a QA team would slow down development very hard. Not to mention that I’m a hobbyist game dev and I don’t have money to hire anyone :D
I suppose I could always ask my friends to help me out with that… adding scheduling as another problem during development :D
Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, maybe you can playtest while you’re still developing the game, but once the game is ready to be played in full, you can’t continue to play it unless it’s for making updates or whatever. Basically you can only play it for the purposes of development, not for the sake of playing a game.
Or maybe you can’t playtest at all and you do everything blind and the end result is a chaotic mess, that could be fun too. But probably the first one.
Okay, maybe you can playtest while you’re still developing the game, but once the game is ready to be played in full, you can’t continue to play it
Development hell never was so fun!
What does this and ‘no making your own mods’ even do for the hypothetical? I’m pretty sure most people aren’t going to solo-dev (m)any additional top-10-worthy games that they’d also consistently enjoy. Maybe for some (simple) classics, but at that point I say so what?
Even accomplished solo-devs lose motivation (also constant reminder of room for improvement is sort of its own curse), if anything I’d say paying for mods to be created probably a less of a patient-gamers thing (and probably more exploitable).
Since online games are a thing, honestly 10 games is a huge list for me personally:
- FFXIV (I could probably live with just this one)
- Slay the Spire 2
- Europa Universalis 4
- Elden Ring
- Dyson Sphere Program
- DCS:World (idk if this will have the longevity once I finally learn every plane)
- Guild Wars 2
- Terraria
- Victoria 3
- Baldur’s Gate 3
Oof tough because Sts1 I think is the better game, but both games are great
STS1 is better right now, STS2 will be better once they finish early access.
- minecraft
- slay the spire 2
- risk of rain 2
- osu (since it has 4k and taiko with it)
- silksong (or hk depending on if you get future dlc)
- bloons td 6
- tf2 (Titanfall and team fortress both ok)
- mindustry (haven’t played factorio like everyone else here apparently)
- super smash Bros melee (with slippi mod for online play)
- guess I’ll take ufo50 even though I haven’t played it yet
Congrats yours is the closest to mine yet!
- Minecraft
- Melee (slippi) or rivals 2
- Osu
- Mario kart wii, (retro rewind or modded online)
- TF2
- Risk of rain 2
- Balatro
- Tetris (in any capacity but jstris has been my current pick)
- Deadlock (new but I see myself dumping so much time into this)
- Path of exile (1 or 2)
Honorable mentions go to
- Celeste
- Trackmania
- guitar/cloneclone
- Olli olli world or skate 3
- quake (1 or live)
- Elden ring/Bloodborne/Sekiro
lol, I was considering Tetris (tetrio tho) and balatro (I think slay the spire 2 has more replayability)
Thats absolutely fair, I’ve got 250 hours in balatro but have only recently picked up slay the spire 1. I’m sure I’ve got a lot to learn
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
Borderlands
Final Fantasy V
Terraria
Doom II
Persona 2: Eternal Punisment
Final Fantasy IX
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Salt & Sanctuary
Mother 3Ooooo shattered pixel dungeon is a great choice
- Civ 5
- Star Wars Battlefront (old and new)
- Smash Brothers Melee
- Need for Speed Underground 2
- Star Wars Racers Revenge
- Super Monkey Ball
- Battlefield 1
- Spyro
- Mario Kart Double Dash
- Katamari
