In no particular order ( mostly cos i think ranking beyond a certain degree of precision hurts the art involved ):

• NieR Automata
• NieR Replicant (ver 1.22.. , realistically)
• The Talos Principle ( one of the most suprisingly brilliant games that too many people haven't played)

then i suppose one tier below, not consequent of any particular shortcomings, but rather just not being at the same "transendent" level as the above:

• Crosscode
• Citizen sleeper
• What Remains Of Edith Finch
• Portal & 2

NieR automata literally changed my life, so it kinda deserves it's own top spot, but placed as is in spirit of the question.

Not gonna rank them because I can't.

Age of Empires II I've played since release and still do occasionally.

Everhood 1 everything about it I love. During covid things got very dark for me personally and this game just hit perfectly on some stuff plaguing my mind at the exact right time I most needed it. The devs were one hit wonders unfortunately. Coming from that, the sequel was atrocious.

Thief 2: The Metal Age. It's like crack to this brain of mine. Yes I play The Dark Mod too.

Runners up:

LISA: The Painful

Diddy Kong Racing

Only three is a cruel restriction; I grant myself at least a top four.

• Morrowind
• The Neverhood
• Diablo 2
• Hyper Light Drifter

Probably:

• Fallout 2
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
• Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

Fallout 2 isn't as refined and tight as Fallout but I personally enjoy it more. It's arguably far too big but as I've played it so many times (unusual for me - I'm usually a one-and-done person when it comes to time sink RPGs) that isn't a bad thing. I enjoy the writing, mechanics, and atmosphere. Also I voice a robot dog in a mod for it.

Red Alert 2 is the best C&C game ever. I do not care for any of the 3D ones and Red Alert 1 is rather too difficult for me. However RA2 I have finished on hardest difficulty several times. I've never really bothered with the multiplayer for it outside of co-op because I don't play to be competitive. I tend to take my time and like it that way.

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is maybe my favourite point and click RPG. I go back to it every few years and it always sucks me in. I know most of the puzzles off by heart but I'm more there for the sense of escapism and gentle humour. There's other amazing point and click games but for whatever reason this one really speaks to me. It's not even a nostalgia thing - I've only ever played the 2009 director's cut! I'm old enough to have played the '90s version but never did.

Honourable mentions:

*Startopia
*The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
*Theme Hospital
*What Remains of Edith Finch

Startopia's music, humour, and gameplay are all top notch. Runs on a potato, makes me laugh, and features my old pal, Arona.

BoI:R is great. I've put a ridiculous number of hours into it. The latest DLC has made it a bit too big for my tastes but in general I enjoy it a great deal.

Theme Hospital is like Two Point Hospital but tighter, funnier, and prettier. Lots of fun.

What Remains of Edith Finch is art. It's funny, moving, tragic, and beautiful. I encourage everyone to play through it. It won't take that long - a few hours. Such a fantastic experience. Gone Home is pretty damn good too.

It's really hard for me to separate my nostalgia for older games with what I'd think about them now. There are some games I've played a LOT but haven't touched in years for one reason or another.

Some pre-Steam games would be things like Halo 3, World of Warcraft, Runescape, and few Pokemon games.

On Steam my most played game BY FAR is DoTA 2 at ~2100 hours. I loved that game and I still think it's really well designed... I just haven't played it in years because it makes me too mad to play with randos and it's impossible to get 5 friends who play DoTA online at the same time anymore.

If I was going to pick a top 3 outside of those nostalgic outliers, maybe:

• Slay The Spire
• Dark Souls
• Deep Rock Galactic

Minecraft Borderlands 2 Bioshock

honourable mention for Zelda on N64

but the top 3 are based on replayability and just how easy it is to spend time playing them

1. Prey 2016 - I love the designs, the art, the story, the lonely feeling in space, the soundtrack (Mick Gordon!).
2. Nier Automata - The only game that ever made me cry - multiple times. Great Soundtrack too!
3. Grim Dawn - for me personally the best ARPG ever made, and they are working on a new expansion, after all this time!

Edit: Honorable Mentions: x) Fallout NV, but i can't be arsed to mod it AGAIN, and vanilla is too buggy, so currently no NV for me x) Dragon Age - Origins: played this through on the Xbox 360 3 times! x) Dead Cells: i wish i were young enough for the reflexes needed to get to 5 boss cells. Doesn't stop me from trying, tho!

Disco Elysium

Hi-Fi Rush

...third is hard. Maybe Mass Effect Trilogy. Maybe Rogue Trader/Pathfinder WOTR.

Dwarf Fortress, Kenshi, and Ocarina of Time

1. Earthbound. I replay it every few years for nostalgia and just a feel good game.
2. Xenogears. Hands down one of the best stories for an RPG.
3. SOMA. The dark, post apocalyptic world is so gritty, I just love it. The ending really left me speechless.

Factorio Minecraft And 3rd is split between rimworld and baldur's gate 3

1. GTA San Andrays
2. Halo 3
3. AOE 2

These games are rooted in my childhood and connected to memories of simpler times and good friends. I Still play video games but I don't think I could ever experience the same level of joy and excitement that I got from gaming as I did when I was younger. These days I'd rather just go for a nice walk with my dog like the boring old man that I am.

1. Minecraft
2. Fallout: New Vegas
3. Portal 2

1. Oldschool Runescape
2. Halo 2
3. GoldenEye 007

• Ultima Online: One of the greatest lore and social experiences of my life
• Project Zomboid: Been playing for over 10yrs and still come back for a new character every few months
• FO: NV
• CIV V
• L4D2

For what has my attention currently:

• BG3: Trying my damnest for a durge run but I keep picking middle-evil responses instead of full-evil, too hard for me to be a baddie

1. World of Warcraft
2. TES V: Skyrim
3. Minecraft

cyberpunk 2077

eve online

counter strike source

I'll cheat because picking just 3 is impossible.

1. Nethack / Alundra (PS1) / Sim City 2000 / Transport Tycoon Deluxe / Prey / Doom 2016 / Elite / Dwarf Fortress / Rimworld / International Karate / Paradroid

2. System Shock / Ultima 3-8 / Alpha Centauri / GTA5 / Titanfall 2 / Control / Eye of the Beholder / Sensible Soccer / Star Control 2 / Total Annihilation / Impossible Mission

3. Undertale / Bioshock Infinite / S.O.M.A. / Nemesis the Warlock (entirely because of the title song) / Pirates! / Stardew Valley / Revenge of the Mutant Camels

• NieR: Automata (Replicant is also as good)
• Metal Gear Solid 2
• Yakuza 0

Copy Kitty

Anno 1800

Satisfactory

I tend to run an unranked top 10 so three of those would be.

• Elite (1984). Very cool graphics engine, combat and gameplay.
• The Chaos Engine (1993) IMO The best bitmap brothers games when they were kings of the 16 bit era.
• Metroid Prime (2002) Great environments, design and soundtrack.

Minecraft and Factorio are definitely my top 2, after that it gets difficult. Probably Mario Kart (not necessarily a specific one, but if you'd ask me to nail it down it'd be Double Dash (for the nostalgia) and 8 Deluxe (currently best imo) at the top).

These are the only games I have consistently played for over a decade and that I keep coming back to in one way or another because I enjoy them so much. And that to me is the most important aspect of a game: my actual enjoyment of it

Edit: Honorable Mentions:

• Chants of Senaar
• Opus Magnum
• Sea of Thieves
• Supreme Commander
• The Settlers Series (preferably 3-4)

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Phantasy Star Online: Episodes I & II

• Uncharted (series)
• RDR2
• Minecraft

Honorable mention: No Man’s Sky

Tears of the Kingdom was amazing. The only thing BotW did better was how it felt riding on horseback through Hyrule field dodging lasers. But that was the high point, the average experience in BotW was less fun that TotK for me.

TotK really might be one of my top 5.

It's too hard to really rank every game. I spent a ton of time on Minecraft over the years but haven't recently. Like over a decade ago I liked gmod and still spent so much time on it but haven't played recently.

Lately colony management games have been scratching the itch. Do id probably say Dwarf Fortress, Rimworld, and Oxygen Not Included.

Favourites

Witcher 3

Witcher 3 was one of the first "big games" I got to experience. I still think of the characters occasionally and it has some very memorable quests. It's been on my "to replay" list for a while to see if it still holds up against my memories of it.

Nier: Automata

This is another early "big game" I played, though I didn't finish it then. I won't spoil it, but at some point I was up against a boss, way under levelled and didn't feel like grinding. However I started a new playthrough this year, got further along and it's still very good. The story telling and world building are simply excellent, combat is fun (except a certain section I won't spoil) and I really want to see what else happens in my current play through. My only gripe is that keyboard & mouse sucks without an overhaul mode, which unfortunately doesn't work on Linux.

Other games

I couldn't think of a third game, so here's a list of other good games that don't quite make it.

• Cyberpunk 2077: I like it, but it hasn't really had as much of an impact as my two favourites.
• Baldur's Gate 3: Very good contender for my 3rd favourite spot, but I need to play through it a bunch more times.
• Dishonored: I haven't thought of this game in a while. It's still very good, just not a contender for favourite.
• Skyrim: One of my higher playtime games, but I see it more as a modded sandbox à la Minecraft that's fun for 2 weeks.
• Receiver 2: Very neat gun mechanics with an important central message
• 1000xResist: Interesting story and message, though you won't play this for the gameplay. Some awe inspiring visuals occasionally

Portal 2 and Warframe. I'm not sure about a third, several contenders. And can't really say which spot any are in, feels more like they share 1st.

Questions like this are always hard, it's never a certain answer and it shifts over time, no matter if something new comes along to take a place or not. It's as fluid as anything else.

• Oldschool RuneScape
• Factorio
• Baldur's gate 3

1. Horizon: Zero Dawn
2. Ghost of Tsushima
3. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Elden Ring, Dwarf Fortress, and Disco Elysium.

• Diablo II
• Chrono Trigger
• Halo 3

I don't get to play games much nowadays but I was a rank 50 lone wolf back in the day. Good times.

Dota 2

Starcraft: Brood War

Vagrant Story

Disco Elysium sits completely unchallenged at the top spot as the most meaningful experience I've had playing a video game. I resonated deeply with its themes and its main character as someone who has struggled with depression, addiction, obsession and trouble moving on. It's an astonishing achievement in both writing and in the use of a game as a storytelling medium, an one of the best ever examples of "video games as art".

The rest of the list is almost impossible to order, because there are so many different ways to rank them. Games I've played that I think are the objectively best? Games I would like to just sit down and play right now the most? Games that made the biggest impression on me as a person, especially growing up?

Regardless, it's probably any two out of:

• Dark Souls 1
• Baldur's Gate 2
• Civilization 5
• Final Fantasy VI
• Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005)
• Bioshock 1
• STALKER SoC/CoP/Anomaly
• Alan Wake 2
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
• EVE Online (up until 2015-16 or so)

Will probably add Expedition 33 to it in the future, but need the dust to settle on it first. EDIT: Hell, Blue Prince has a good shot at making the list too.

EDIT 2: Somehow forgot Dishonored 1&2 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. It really is impossible to list just three!

1. Mirror's Edge
2. Lingo (2?)
3. And Yet It Moves

ME has stuck with me as my favorite game for fifteen years now. I love it visually, the soundtrack is incredible, and the gameplay is fantastic.

Lingo and its sequel are a bizzare, unmatched puzzle experience. I don't know what else to say there.

And Yet It Moves is... something else. An indy platformer from the heyday of Indy platformers. It is an interesting example of how story can influence art style.

Dark Cloud

Dark Cloud 2

I don't like it actually but I have over 5k hours in Dota 2.