Asklemmy

Rain World hands down, such an interesting and challenging game.

Which kind of games. From an Rpg perspective,

• Alice is missing a silent Rpg, which is played using instant messenging. That one is absolutely crazy, with a lot of potential for bleed

• Blade in the dark, which is basically the latest revolution in Rpg. And led to the FITD games, it kept the yes but partial success from previous generations of PBTA games, use long term actions (aka clock) for everything (same mechanics for opening a lock, seducing the princess or fighting a guard), and has this downtime phase which is more than just spending XP. It also has flashback mechanic letting you jump to the action and plan latter

• Mork Borg, the system is fine but banal. However, the weird aesthetic makes it a must have in a rpg lover collection

Into the Radius (preferrably on PC).

Stardew Valley.

Its revolver has continuously released huge updates for free and has commuted to never charging for dlc.

The games mechanics are pretty great and nothing in the game requires too much grinding to get.

Even when you “finish” the game, there are still things to do and starting a new files is always fun.

The characters are all great and have unique personalities. It really makes you feel like you are part of the town.

My wife and I have over 400 hours on a single file. It’s also enjoyable starting a new file. I like to challenge myself to see how quickly I can do certain objectives in the game.

It’s also decently cheap and has a huge community behind it.

factorio

the dedication of the dev is perceptible, almost unlimited replay value and the will release a major extension in 9 days that looks wonderful.

Subnautica

Hades

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.

Half life, all of them, in order

Kerbal Space Program

Cyberpunk 2077. I've been known to simp pretty hard for this game, but I do consider it to be one of the best games ever made. The story, the music, the acting, the gameplay, the visuals... Every single part of the game is just masterfully done. I feel it's one of those games that everybody should play; a sort of "milestone" game like Ocarina of Time or Skyrim. Even if you're not a fan of FPS or RPGs, it's worth turning down the difficulty and playing just to experience the best story ever told through a video game, in my opinion.

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.

Hollowknight my beloved

Valheim

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.

If you like good storytelling, worldbuilding, complex flawed characters and/or deep interactive internal monologues, Disco Elysium is unsurpassed.

I’ll do you one better: completely free.

Check out Ashes: 2063. It started life as a mod for Doom, but is now completely standalone and has more in common with the Metro games than anything else at this point. PC only, but both games and their expansions are 100% free and worth every minute of your time.

Dishonored!!

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

Chess

Mount and Blade Warband for me. Native is fun but the community has made so many total conversion mods for it that can be swapped in and out at the launcher. It can be Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, most points of history between now and ancient Rome, and it can even be Star Wars

I agree with the guy that said Outer Wilds, even though I can't finish it because of my thalassophobia.

Personally, the two games that had a really profound effect on me are Disco Elysium and Hi-Fi Rush.

Disco is an incredible political game that really is damn powerful. It's definitely not for people who just want action.

Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm action game so I wouldn't recommend it to people who hate rhythm games or people who hate action. But it's so fun, so charming and really uplifting.

I only gotta mention one that everyone should play at least once in their lifetime: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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.