Factorio.

What do you mean, there are other games? No time for those. The factory must grow!

Megaman 2, Chrono Trigger, Zelda A Link to the Past and a special mention to Duke Nukem 3D and Star Wars X-Wing on MS DOS.

Minecraft

Apex Legends

Factorio

Subnautica

Edit: I misread this as the most you’ve played. I’m high and stupid

Shadow of the Colossus

Hollow Knight

Sekiro

Doom, Portal, and Half Life 2.

The Outer Wilds

Factorio (which who really needs another game after this one? Once you’re done with vanilla you just install an overhaul and start again.)

Dwarf Fortress

Mario 3

Chrono Trigger

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

I consider these my top 3 not because they’re the best, but what they meant to me when they released. Each game was so important to me when they came out. Mario 3 and Sonic were so influential because of the gameplay and presentation. Chrono Trigger was my first JRPG and was the first game soundtrack I became obsessed with.

There are a lot more but others include Halo 2, Unreal Tournament, Team Fortress 2, StarCraft, Age of Empires II, SimCity 2000, Link’s Awakening, Wind Waker, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, and Metroid Prime.

Kerbal Space Program

If I had to pick one moment in all of gaming that felt like a real achievement, landing on the Mun for the first time was is something I’ll never forget.

Doom 1993

Sure there was Wolfenstein, but Doom just blew our doors off when it released. Countless hours late night in the computer lab playing deathmatch, my first introduction to creating mods and maps, so many great memories.

Subnautica

Not my usual style of game, but this one is special. First time I played I did an hour or so to understand the basics, then restarted on permadeath. It took a very long time, but I eventually beat the game in a single life. The entire time was spent in a constant state of zen like terror.

Some honorable mentions would be GTA Vice City where I was heavily involved with the modding community, the Mass Effect Trilogy as the most epic story on gaming, Far Cry 2, the Dark Souls series, Infinifactory, and Cities Skylines.

In no particular order:

• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
• Minecraft
• Gothic II (or The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos, but that’s a mod)

With honorable mentions (also in no particular order):

• Portal 2
• Heroes of Might and Magic III
• Pokémon Platinum (Previously I would put Emerald Version, but I’ve recently started to play Platinum and it’s best one yet, didn’t touch later ones though).
• Far Cry 3 (and Blood Dragon)
• The Witcher 2 (Haven’t finished TW3 yet)

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance

Fallout New Vegas

Diablo 2: LoD

Sims 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4

Narrowing to 3 is always difficult but these tend to shuffle around in the top spot

• The Outer Wilds

• Disco Elysium

• Legend of Zelda, Majora’s mask

My picks came easy:

Diablo 2

Half Life 2

Witcher 3 (got me back into adult/dad gaming two years ago)

Blizzard and Westwood got me hooked as kid:

Dune 2, WarCraft 2, StarCraft, C&C Red Alert

Homeworld

Deus Ex

KOTOR

Nethack

Four-way tie.

Hard to pick just three, but I’ll go with the following today:

• Final Fantasy VI

There’s a roughly 4 hour stretch in this game of tension-despair-catharsis that absolutely blew my mind. I’m still trying to chase that feeling playing video games almost 30 years later. Plenty to like about the rest of the game, too.

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

One of those very rare games that clicked for me in every single aspect of the game: script, plot, visuals, gameplay, music and more. Going to revisit this one soon with the next-gen update.

• Freespace 2

The one that’s likely aged the most poorly out of the three, but once upon a time this game was unrivaled in making you feel like you were in the thick of a slugfest flying around in a fighter craft. Surprisingly interesting setting and story, too. I keep hoping we get more like this some day.