Games

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.

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'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.

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

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...

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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...

Sometimes Rimworld, sometimes CP2077 and sometimes BG3

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.

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.

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

Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic. It’s one of the most complex city builders made, and while the interface isn’t great and there are lots of obscure, weird, and downright unintuitive mechanics, it’s so rewarding to play because you can actually construct your infrastructure with materials and time, and so unlike Cities: Skylines or Transport Fever, the game doesn’t become trivially easy when you get a late game map. Those games you can eventually afford massive bridges and tunnels, but that’s not the case in Workers and Resources, because no matter how much money you have, bridges take time to build, and you’ll have to reroute traffic during construction, so you’ll only use them when you really need them.

Also I love the scaling, things like gas stations only require a single truck very occasionally, shall industries require a few trucks, and only the big industries like steel require trains (and only a reasonable amount too). As opposed to Cities: Skylines or Transport Fever where every industry ends up with a massive number or trucks or a silly number of trains.

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.

Shenmue II

A revenge story set in 1980s Japan. Shenmue was excellent but Shenmue II is just another level in every way. For me it is the perfect combination of story, open world (which I don't normally like nowadays) and fighting game. It's quite a mixture of different genres but it works so well.

Oooh very difficult. For representing moments in time rather than necessarily being the best overall games, I'd say one of Rome: Total War, Dino Crisis, San Andreas, Oblivion, and Mass Effect

Kingdom come deliverance 2

My previous favorite game was Kingdom come deliverance 1

I like many types of games. My favorites are probably Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Super Metroid, and Super Mario World.

I'm with you that my favorite changes with my mood but probably final fantasy tactics. Story is great, graphics have aged like wine, great variation in play styles, the death cries of my enemies will always play like music to me.

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.