Patient Gamers

Oof, going to have to trim my favorites (story, single-player) simply for the replay value ones.

1. Minecraft: been a decade or so but the open-ended style means almost infinite replay value.
2. Cyberpunk 2077: Just love the lore and world. I have over 1k hours, another 1k won't be hard. With mods, even more.
3. Metal Gear Solid Master Collection 1: These games are ridiculous and I love them.
4. RDR2: Story-based but I can kill a LOT of time just by not rushing. Lovely game.
5. Stardew Valley: So much replay value, so much to do in one playthrough alone. Easy pick.
6. Minesweeper: Great for killing small amounts of time.
7. Timberborn: Scratch that colony sim itch.
8. Subnautica: scratch that survival-craft itch.
9. Balatro: for variety i guess. Enjoy it well enough.
10. Sekiro: Haven't finished but I need a hard skill check for when im feeling masochistic.

Runner Up: Mass Effect trilogy LE. Fantastic games, and I need that space itch scratched too. Bumped for genre variety reasons.

Open world, ending and moddable games with huge modding communities are the best bet

• Minecraft
• GTA VI
• Roblox (yes, I know, but that's the most game-engine-like game out there with the largest dev community)
• Skyrim (mods)
• RE9
• etc
• Also, aren't there games that contain retro games emulators as part of the gameplay?

1. Factorio
2. Hollow Knight
3. Hollow Knight: Silksong
4. Runescape
5. Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
6. Path of Exile
7. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (PS2)
8. Elden Ring
9. Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
10. Lies of P

OK, let's see if I get to 10.

1. Factorio - easy first pick, it's not even a contest
2. Kerbal Space Program - now I have already enough for the rest of my life 😅
3. FTL (with Mods)
4. Civ V - haven't played in a long time, but I guess it'll fill some hours again
5. Oxygen Not Included
6. Cities Skylines
7. Deep Rock Galactic - I'm not too much a shooter player, but something different for the list
8. Valheim
9. Minecraft/Luanti - never really played those, but I guess there's a lot to do in it
10. Flight Simulator - I am not sure of that one

Maybe some Paradox Grand Strategy instead of Flight Simulator...if I'd have to chose probably Stellaris or Europa Universalis

1. Luanti
2. OpenTTD
3. The Sims 2
4. Mahjong
5. Brutal Doom
6. OpenRCT
7. Sim Tower (Haven't played. Looks fun)
8. One of the early Sim City games
9. Euro Truck Simulator 2
10. Unciv

Stipulating what happens with MMO's in this timeline might be prudent. I'm assuming that live servers remain online and/or reputable vanilla like private servers are available.

Path of Exile 1

Final Fantasy XIV

Minecraft

Escape from Tarkov

Beatsaber

Elite Dangerous

Dark Souls 3

Skyrim

EVE

Mario Party (maybe 6?)

Grand theft Auto 5 (assuming FiveM remains)

My tenth spot stayed open and I didn't feel compelled to fill it with anything. I was writing out all the games which could have taken that slot and noticed that GTA V fills an important void in my original list, so for the sake of completeness I decided it deserves the last spot.

The list of games which could have had the spot I was writing.. Fellowship, World of Warcraft, Sea of Thieves, Civilization V, Breath of the Wild, Dark Souls 2 SOTFS, Hogwarts Legacy, Oblivion Remastered... If I think on it enough there could be more. And in fact, I'd probably rather have Hogwarts legacy in that 10th slot if it wasn't unfortunately abandoned so quickly after launch, it desperately needs and deserves a new game plus mode and further story expanding DLC.

My logic with my list is pretty simple, as there's only a handful of experiences in gaming that really compel me any more, so I just picked my favorite game for each of those categories. ARPG, sweaty ability based tab-target MMO, fantasy sandbox, sci-fi sandbox, rhythm, soulsborne, party game. EVE, Skyrim, and GTA5 don't fit into any of the categories I listed, but I don't really know how to classify them articulately.

Dark souls Bloodborne Elden Ring OSRS Death stranding series Caves of Qud Dwarf fortress Crusader Kings Anno 1800 Mechwarrior 5 mercenaries

Jarvis, generate a list of games with the most replay value.

• DotA 2
• Dwarf Fortress
• Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup
• The Sims 4 or something

hmmm, I'll want some classic RPGs

• TES V: Skyrim
• Fallout New Vegas
• Red Dead II

better throw some MMOs in there

• WoW
• Runescape

one more... I guess

• Minecraft

Ironically I'm probably not going to choose my favourite games because those are usually just very simple story based games, and can be just as enjoyable to read as a book instead.

The games which instead give the most fun-value and replayability:

1. Balatro (my go-to "I'm bored and don't know what to do with myself" game.)
2. Stardew Valley. Super good, something is so satisfying in the art, animations and little gameplay loops. I replayed it to death earlier this year and now I'll try not to think about it again until that time next year.
3. "The Sims Medieval" is one I keep on coming back to, so I'll definitely add that.
4. Shattered Pixel Dungeon (don't think this counts as a mod.) Super good replayability, I've been playing it intermittently for about 11 years now.
5. Anno 117. Gotta have some strategy games - I'm kind of boring in that I only do anno and not more complicated stuff like city skylines.
6. Fields of Mistria is a new farming sim that I have high hopes for.
7. Pentiment has a lot of replayability despite only being a linear story game.

That gives me enough time to add 8. Minecraft, which I don't play anymore but it's a great boredom buster, and 9. Life and Suffering of Sir Brante and 10. Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian - afforementioned visual novel stories which are also fine to enjoy in book form.

1. Diablo 2
2. Grim Dawn
3. Path of exile 2
4. Celeste
5. trackmania
6. Valheim (itd be enshrouded if it had mod support)
7. hollow knight
8. silksong
9. ~~Cyberpunk~~ Oxygen is not Included!
10. Skyrim (only because of mods, otherwise id pick morrowind)

Edit: I cant believe i forgot oxygen is not included! Sorry cyberpunk.

Doom 2016 Carmageddon Battletech Deus Ex Titanfall 2 StarCraft C&C Yuri's revenge Neverwinter Nights Saint's Row 3 Mass Effect 2 or 3

I love lists, so this is an easy one for me:

1. Bayonetta: unfathomably high skill ceiling. I could spend forever getting better at this game and consistently having fun.
2. The Wonderful 101: same as Bayonetta.
3. God Hand: not many games provide the exhilaration of a perfect God Hand run. I would have the best time spending the rest of my life perfecting my God Hand gameplay.
4. Ninja Gaiden 2: peak action groove. Playable crack cocaine. Would never get tired of it.
5. Gunvein: no shmup encourages you to concquer and obliterate the screen like Gunvein, even though it's tough as nails. It'll take me forever to no death the highest difficulty, and I'll savour every moment.
6. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R: I would like to be Shadow Gallery-looping people into eternity with Zato/Eddie.
7. Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes: immensely deep systems with one of my favorite fighting game characters of all-time: Chaos. Infinite potential to get better at both the game and playing Chaos.
8. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax: Ken Amada is the most lighthearted fun I've had in a fighting game. I will need him to always be available.
9. Hellsinker: easily most mechanically dense shmup of all-time. Easily at least hundreds of hours to digest and internalize everything.
10. Gravity Rush: best traversal in gaming. I'm content to just boot it up and float for hours.

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

In no particular order:

• Kerbal Space Program
• Factorio
• Rimworld
• Valheim
• Minecraft (Java)
• Ark SE

Those are my main games and easy for me to pick.

The last 4 slots are tougher. They're likely to change the longer I think about it.

• Some version of Civilization. I'm not sure which I'd prefer.
• Something technical. Shenzen IO, Human Resource Machine, MHRD, etc
• EverQuest. If a live service MMO isn't allowed, I could arguably run a private, emulated server using the EQ emu project.
• If I can pick a sold-as-one collection that I bought years ago but is no longer available for purchase, it would probably be a collection of Infocom text adventure games.

Shadowrun (Sega version) - one of the best RPGs of all time

Grim Dawn - I was a big Diablo 2 guy, and this is the next step up

Chronotrigger - probably my favourite RPG

Terraria - just a treasure of a game and fun for lan coop

Deus Ex - my favourite game of all time

Final Fantasy 6 - perfect example of what was good about the SNES

Sonic 3 and Knuckles - there's a lot of excellent 8 and 16 bit platformers, this one is edging out some tough competition from Shinobi 3

KKnD - I'm going back to my PC roots in real time strategy, and I'm going with an old favourite that never lets me down when I go back to it

OpenTTD - I can (have) spent years building up a transport empire

Tyrian 2000 - the king of shmups

There's definitely games I regret not being able to play again, but I'd be happy with this lot.

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 Necrodancer

Not a perfect list, but I probably would have enough stuff to play until I die :P

I couldn't find a solid 10 but...

1. Minecraft for sure; the mod packs are insane and just GTNH could last me months.
2. rimworld - I suck at it but... I have time to learn
3. Oxygen not included - i have to be in the mood for this but it can hook me for hours
4. fallout 3 - ive never actually finished this because I've always got distracted by mods
5. Car mechanic simulator 21- I love the car mechanic games, I have hours in each even though ive basically finished them
6. Mass effect trilogy(I've never finished the series and the fact they all interweave means its defo on my bucket list)
7. If multiplayer is allowed: Ark survival evolved or ascended.
8. elden ring with randomizers.

No simracers here, I see.

1. Assetto Corsa - wheel, pedals, tripples. Could finish the list here
2. Creeper World III
3. Planetside 2
4. Dirt Rally 2
5. Dead cells
6. Deadzone rogue
7. Portal
8. Minecraft Java 1.8.0
9. Back4blood
10. F.E.A.R

Off the top of my head...

1. Neverwinter Nights
   Especially with all the modules, and the online role playing servers, this one has kept me entertained for over twenty years.
2. Caves of Qud
   I'm going to finish this one... some day.
3. Daggerfall
   For nostalgia's sake
4. Songs of Syx
   I just got started with this one, but it feels like a game I could not get tired off any time soon. It's still under development, so I hope I get the updates as well?
5. Streets of Rogue
   A fun game that I like to play with my son
6. Unlimited Adventures
   A precursor to Neverwinter Nights from the early 90s. Has a huge library of modules to play.
7. Cyberpunk
   I mainly like it as a virtual world to explore
8. Fallout New Vegas
   It was either this or Fallout 2. But FNV has mods, so I guess this one will win.
9. Fallout 2
   Ok, I want this one too :)
10. 
    I don't know enough about them yet, but I've always wanted to properly get into one. With only 10 games to play, I hope I will be able to stay focused enough to get invested in one.

Skyrim

Civilization 5

Tears of the Kingdom

Red Dead Redemption 2

Stardew Valley

Factorio

Balatro

Ocarina of Time

Pokemon Heartgold/Soulsilver

Super Mario Odyssey

1. Galaga
2. Burnout Paradise
3. Mahjong
4. Grim Dawn
5. Just Cause 3
6. Destiny 2
7. Unreal Tournament (1999)
8. Dwarf Fortress
9. Star Craft 2
10. 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.

• 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 X~~ World 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

Journey

GTA San Andreas

GTA V

OpenTTD / TTD

Minecraft / modded

Half Life 2

Interstate '76

Age of Empires II

Roller Coaster Tycoon

And probably Factorio for the very end

1. Oxygen not Included. Near perfect colony simulator IMO. Plus if I'm screaming at the dupes doing dumb stuff, I'm not complaining at RL people doing dumb stuff.
2. Stardew Valley. I can min-max if I want, I can roleplay it if I want, I can even loaf around chatting with villagers.
3. Factorio. I'll stop playing it once I get enough iron. (You never have enough iron.)
4. RimWorld. It could be Dwarf Fortress instead, but IMO RW is better designed, and the mod selection is amazing.
5. Minecraft. Modded the shit out of. Probably 1.12 or 1.7.10.
6. Final Fantasy VI. I thought about Chrono Trigger; it's also fun but FF6 has better replay value.
7. OpenTTD. CHOO CHOO! I tend to spend more time staring at the paused game and planning shit out than actually playing it, but the whole process is fun.
8. Donkey Kong Country 2. It's a sentimental game for me, and I can literally play it blindfolded.
9. Civilization V. When I'm really pissed at something, I play as the Shoshone in the easiest difficulty, Pangaea, small map, versus Venice. No city states nearby. My goal is to reduce Venice to a one tile civ.
10. Pokémon Emerald. Or even better, some hack that keeps everything vanilla but allows you to catch all 386, there should be one out there. Leaf Green or Fire Red could be, too.

• Minecraft, obviously.
• Skyrim, obviously again.
• No Man's Sky.
• Elden Ring.
• Wii Party, for local multiplayer.
• Deadlock, for PvP multiplayer.
• Gary's Mod, for variety.
• Roblox, for variety again.
• Terraria.
• Project Zomboid.

Can you tell I'm almost only into sandbox / open world games ? x)

I'd have to give up 13 copies of Vagrant Story.

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.

1. Factorio
2. Kerbal Space Program
3. Minecraft

...don't care about the rest of the list

This was really thought-provoking as my "choose 10 forever" list is much different than my top 10 games list. My goal here was choosing games that provided variety and depth, while typically also being great narrative experiences as well.

1. Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. Since trilogies count as one. They're all JRPGs with deep mechanics that I could master over my lifetime. XIII-2 provides replay value with side content and catchable monsters, and Lightning Returns is nonlinear. XIII has the amazing story that would always remind me our fates aren't written in stone.
2. Bloodborne. An action RPG with a great setting and atmosphere and endless replay value.
3. Stardew Valley. I'm not a big cozy game person because of my backlog, but if I could only play 10 games, I'd finally have time to sink into this game, making different characters and romancing everyone and transforming the game with mods.
4. Final Fantasy XIV. This would be my big damn fantasy RPG with a beautiful world I wouldn't mind living in.
5. Dance Dance Revolution. Specifically Stepmania so I can play all the songs, but if I had to choose an official game, it would be Ultramix 2. I need at least one fitness game here. I've been playing for years and am still nowhere close to mastering the game. For longevity, I probably should pick Ring Fit Adventure, Just Dance, or Wii Fit, but DDR is just too nostalgic, even if my list of 10 would eventually turn into nine as I age.
6. Pokemon Crystal. Black 2 has the most vanilla content and replayability, but Crystal is compatible with the Pokemon Pikachu 2 pedometer, which would get me moving. Since mods are allowed, I could also have access to Pokemon Prism, Crystal Clear or any other hack for additional replay value.
7. Flower. Flower has a way of always coming back to me when I need it most. It's a great way to decompress and meditate.
8. Darkest Dungeon. Rolls roguelikes, dungeon crawlers and survival horror games into one demoralizing package. It's a long game, and every playthrough is different due to the depth of randomization at play.
9. Shovel Knight. Really fun gameplay both as an action game and as a platformer with tons of DLC and side content without falling into the Metroidvania trap of having repetitive scenery.
10. Cyberpunk 2077. I need an FPS to round out the list, and since I'm not a PVP type of person, I need to get replay value by other means, so an open-world RPG shooter will be perfect.

Ball X Pitt, Power Wash Simulator, Vampire Survivors, RDR2. That is all.