I think everyone should play factorio for at least a few hours. It will be some of the most interesting 17 months of their lives.

I would add Outer Wilds to the list.

You can really only play it once in a lifetime but I think it's the best video game experiences available.

Honorable mention for Tunic and Cocoon for the same reason

To give something that most likely has not been mentioned: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. The character banter is the best I've encountered in any video game thus far.

Voices of the Void.

Oh, wait. It's free right now??? Go get it!

Command & Conquer, Tie Fighter, Simpsons Doom, Quake, Portal, and DDR.

Skyrim. I know, it's been re-released a dozen times now, it's buggy as fuck, etc etc, but fuck me if it isn't an enjoyable game, even without mods.

Fallout New Vegas. It doesn't treat you like mr savior of the universe, you're a (un)lucky nobody caught in the middle of a power struggle. No essential NPCs, you can kill everyone you come across.

Age of Empires 2. Old as fuck, still enjoyable. Thank god the remaster lets you play with higher screen resolutions.

Don't hate me, but I like Cyberpunk 2077. It may have had its problems at launch, and I heard people were promised all kinds of stuff that was not delived, or was delivered only much later, but I never listen to hype anyway. I've played this for many hours. There are great mods for that game that make it even better, and it has such cool characters, such a fascinating world, good music, great design, the combat is fun... I love it.

You can't buy them anymore. They're all got delisted from every store by the publisher.

Katamari! It's just such a wild and fun experience. Even the sequels.

Nier Automata: It's a game that uses every aspect of the medium. From the story, the music, game play, even the end credits, it feels like they took such care in crafting a memorable experience and didn't let anything they could use to express themselves go to waste.

What Remains of Edith Finch, specifically Lewis' chapter. I think it's an excellent portrayal of how incedious and overwhelming depression can be.

Telltale's the Walking Dead (first one only): I was not prepared for the story. I wish they took the same care in the sequals, but I feel like the quality of the first one just came out of nowhere.

Any Monster Hunter. I just think it's neat.

Doom 1993/doom 2. Decades of gaming since it came out and STILL nothing has beat the tactile sound of the super shotgun paired with the moans of demons collapsing. Absolutely amazing. though I only have 100+ hours in these 2 games combined they are a must play.

Closest I can think of is the engineers plasma gun in Deep Rock Galactic which is my #2 must play game. Its SO fun and a successful grapple + special powder x2 + grapple + skull crusher to get into a nitra vein when the engie isn't around is so incredibly satisfying. 1700 hours shows I love it so much.

Minecraft. Need I say more? rough estimate as a lot hasn't been tracked but 1500 on switch and 153 days on prismlauncher is around 5,000 hours in this silly block game.

EDIT: didn't expect the variety of games in this thread, very interesting

the binding of isaac and deep rock galactic. best games I've ever played oh and maybe minecraft (I'm 28 and the past 2 weeks got into the mc rabbit hole AGAIN)

Valheim is definitely a must buy. It’s a survival game with crafting and building elements.

omori

Tunic - at face value it is a gorgeous, brilliantly fun souslike. Beneath the surface, however, it becomes apparent that the "souls like" part of it is a facade for the true game. Probably one of the single greatest gaming experiences of all time.

The Witcher 3 - it often goes on sale for like... £3 or something ridiculous, and its a standout example of an excellent open world RPG.

Celeste - possibly the single greatest (2d) platforming game ever made, with a soundtrack that is truly unforgettable by the great Lena Raine. Also if you play it you'll find out you're trans*

*(your mileage may vary)

I haven't seen it mentioned here, so I'll rep for Noita. It's an amazing rogue-like with great atmosphere and a really compelling world to explore.

There's a chemistry/alchemy system in the game that is really detailed and fun to explore. The game's tagline is "every pixel simulated," and it's not an exaggeration. Noita is like those falling sand games that were popular in the early 2000s, where each particle of sand could interact with other particles. Imagine that, but you're a badass witch flying through the world and blasting motherfuckers who try to get in your way. Your wands can set things on fire or freeze them or melt them with acid or blow them up or other crazy shit.

The wand mechanics are incredibly deep. Like, it's not "turing complete" levels of deep, but the rules for spells interact in incredibly interesting and exploitable ways. The feeling you get when you discover a powerful combo of spells is incredible.

The devs also have a cool policy of turning bugs into gameplay mechanics. I really can't say much about this without spoiling things, so this one is hard to talk about. Basically, if someone finds an exploit, they oftentimes won't "fix" it. Instead, they'll take it and tweak it to add consequences for using the exploit, or they'll balance it a bit to make it harder/remove a bit of the benefit. It's a really cool approach and has lead to a great relationship between the devs and the community. They don't take our toys away, they just make them work better in the world.

I played the game completely blind until I got my first win (it took about 80 hours of playtime), and I'd highly recommend that approach for folks who are willing to tolerate failure and who like to experiment. If it's too frustrating then that's okay, there are a lot of guides out there to help out new players without giving up too much. Many people describe your first win as you beating the tutorial, and there's some truth to that.

It can be gruellingly difficult at times, but it's just so damn good, and there's so damn much of it. I have around 600 hours in in that game which is twice as much as any other game I've played.

Not everyone likes every genre of game - so here’s my grouped list:

The “I’m a nerd and like to build things and I like to watch lava lamps flow” Factorio

The “I enjoy tough but fair games that I can totally become OP in once I figure it out” Elden Ring

The “I just want to chill” game Stardew Valley

The “I like to build things” game minecraft Honorable mention-Terraria

The “Metroidvania” game Hollow Knight

The “Arpg” game Diablo 2 Honorable mention - PoE

The “I like action and smashing things in an open world” game Neir Automata Honorable mention - God of war (play one of the originals so you can 1st hate the remake, and then get to THAT point, and then happily eat crow and let Kratos be your baby daddy.

some recent games I absolutely loved

• Disco Elysium
• Children of Morta
• Viewfinder
• Planet of Lana
• INSIDE
• Limbo
• Chained Echoes
• Detroit: Become Human
• Triangle Strategy
• Tunic
• Prodeus

Pathologic 2! It's so good! And the next one is coming out next year so it's a great time to become obsessed with Pathologic!