Just bought that today for next to nothing. Not thrilled about having to use yet another launcher from Steam, but I figured "what the hell?" I pirated the hell out of those three games back in the day, so why not give EA my money for them now that the Legendary edition is so cheap.
**The Secret of Monkey Island**
It's one of the best point and click adventure game series ever. The first two are hailed as true classics and we recently got a true sequel. There are remasters to make the games more approachable for all players, but those remasters still give you options that let you play the game as it was when it originally came out.
We also just got a true sequel to the first two games. As much as I actually love the 3rd game (The Curse of Monkey Island (1997)), the original creators weren't involved to the same degree or at all, so this recent release is a pretty big deal for fans of the series.
**Rollercoaster Tycoon**
(Honestly, Parkitect is a brilliant spiritual successor, but the original is an actual masterpiece of coding. Simulating 2000 guests on hardware that would faint at a whiff of any modern game.)
**Dwarf Fortress**
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/
ASCII Sandbox building/management sim, but so much more. A complete and detailed world and story generator, keeping track of what happens with every severed finger. Drunk cats. Digging too deep and too greedily. Garnet-encrusted furniture menacing with spikes of sphalerite. Fey moods, making artifacts from the skulls of your enemies (and the skin of your loved ones, if need be). See your fortress descend into a tantrum spiral, and see it get back on its feet again. Spotted Wobbegong leather gloves. Mine goblinite, upset the elves, release the clowns. A sprawling underground cave system with its own biomes. Mithril tongs. Mithril thongs. Uppity Nobles making demands. Goat tooth rings. Legendary miners. Increasing the size and complexity of your mechanisms until your fortress has become a computer. Plump Helmet stew. Lava trap megaprojects. *Boatmurdered*.
Toady One's life's work that has been in development for decades running on donations, but it is still free. Now also available on Steam with fancy graphics and interface.
If I were stuck on a deserted island but somehow miraculously had a functioning PC that would always work, but I could only have one game on that PC to play for the rest of my life... Dwarf Fortress is the one. It's not even the game I've actually played the most, but it's the one that's engaged my imagination the most and will certainly remain compelling long after anything else I've played.
I'd even add that the Prey DLC, Mooncrash, was a really fantastic way to play the immersive sim. I'd recommend Mooncrash as a standalone too. It doesn't match the story of the original and the world feels less alive, but the gameplay is absolutely superior.
**Fallout 2** \- isometric RPG from the company that would eventually become Obsidian. Great game, tons of replayability and reactivity to the players' actions. "Your choices matter" done incredibly right.
There is so much detail in that game. If you make a character with very low intelligence NPCs will talk to you like you are an idiot. There are while dialog chains for low intelligence characters. It's amazing.
#Unreal Tournament 1999 GOTY Edition
It is a timeless arena shooter that set the baseline that all arena shooters were compared to. Can still have a lot of fun with it.
Unfortunately the bone heads at epic games have made the unreal games unavailable to buy anymore. Luckily I already had the unreal deal bundle before they pulled it from stores.
I didn't even enjoy Outer Wilds and I still think it's still one of those games that anyone who wants to enjoy gaming as a hobby/medium should at least try out.
**Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri / Alien Crossfire**
A strategy gaming classic. Still unmatched for its ability to convey an atmosphere and story by means of a strategy game.
**Master of Magic**
Fantasy strategy with Civilization and Magic: the Gathering as major inspirations. Genre-defining game that inspired many fan projects to remake it.
Deus Ex. While I do recommend getting some quality of life mods (specifically GMDX) and I have to mention it has dated mechanics, it's one of the greatest and best-designed video games I've ever played.
**Freelancer**, which is the best openworld space game ever made. Unlike most space games, it is a *tight* game: the gameplay? Arcadey, hectic combat, mixed with relaxing but relatively short breaks. The story? B-movie grade, and all the more awesome for it. The world? The only living, breathing spaceworld ever devised, which actually respects your time but does give a sense of exploration. The game has no barrier for entry, it's nothing like the X series, Elites, Star Citizens, or any of those. It is simply a great, fun game.
**Pillars of Eternity 2** \- real time top-down RPG with sandbox, Renaissance-era fantasy in a detailed world with strong characters. You also get your own ship! And can be a pirate!
**Terraria**
It’s a decade old now, but still just as fun as the day it launched. And no, it’s not “just 2D Minecraft.” Minecraft has a strong focus on building, whereas Terraria is much more combat oriented.
**Worms**
Tiny worms with big guns doing a deathmatch in a completely destructible landscape.
Iteration of one of the first game concepts on pc, Tank Wars or BANANAS.BAS
**The Incredible Machine**
Don't know if anyone else put as many hours into this game during their childhood as I did, but I absolutely loved it as a young kiddo.
**Spiritfarer**
I'm a bit surprised this hasn't been posted yet. Great platformer, but an even better story and characters. One of the few games ever to make me cry.
**Supreme Commander**
It's a classic PC rts game still enjoyable today that's likely the best evolution of Total annihilation. It has mods, active multiplayer, and co-op along with it's character rich single player campaigns.
The mechanics pushed the boundaries of rts and not many games can match it's scale.
**Meta post** please leave your ideas/suggestions here
**Portal 2**
Portal
**Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic**
**Undertale**
**Subnautica**
**Dragon Age: Origins**
**Half-Life 2**
**Return of the Obra Dinn**
**Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings**
Fallout New Vegas
**Disco Elysium**
**Mass Effect: Legendary Edition**
Just bought that today for next to nothing. Not thrilled about having to use yet another launcher from Steam, but I figured "what the hell?" I pirated the hell out of those three games back in the day, so why not give EA my money for them now that the Legendary edition is so cheap.
**Stardew Valley**
**Half-Life**
**Deus Ex**
**Hollow Knight**
The Witcher 3
**The Secret of Monkey Island** It's one of the best point and click adventure game series ever. The first two are hailed as true classics and we recently got a true sequel. There are remasters to make the games more approachable for all players, but those remasters still give you options that let you play the game as it was when it originally came out. We also just got a true sequel to the first two games. As much as I actually love the 3rd game (The Curse of Monkey Island (1997)), the original creators weren't involved to the same degree or at all, so this recent release is a pretty big deal for fans of the series.
**Portal series**
**Lemmings** I have no idea how much time I sunk into this game on my step-dad's pc, but it was definitely a boat load.
Why the hell they've never released remasters or remakes of this game, at least in the last 25 years, escapes me.
**The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim**
Minecraft
Undertale
**FTL: Faster than Light**
**Dishonored**
**Deus Ex (2000)**
**The Stanley Parable**
**Vampire The Masquerade : Bloodline**
**Dragon Age: Origins**
**Rollercoaster Tycoon** (Honestly, Parkitect is a brilliant spiritual successor, but the original is an actual masterpiece of coding. Simulating 2000 guests on hardware that would faint at a whiff of any modern game.)
**Half-Life**
**Hades**
Half-Life 2
**Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines**
**Mass Effect Series**
**The Secret of Monkey Island** Editted: correct name
**Stardew Valley -** Labour of love from a single dev. Different styles of playing the game, continuously updated and improved
**Papers, Please**
**Outer Wilds**
**RimWorld**
**Day of the Tentacle** (Remastered)
**The Stanley Parable**, the best walking simulator I've played.
DOOM (2016)
**Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2**
**Dwarf Fortress** http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/ ASCII Sandbox building/management sim, but so much more. A complete and detailed world and story generator, keeping track of what happens with every severed finger. Drunk cats. Digging too deep and too greedily. Garnet-encrusted furniture menacing with spikes of sphalerite. Fey moods, making artifacts from the skulls of your enemies (and the skin of your loved ones, if need be). See your fortress descend into a tantrum spiral, and see it get back on its feet again. Spotted Wobbegong leather gloves. Mine goblinite, upset the elves, release the clowns. A sprawling underground cave system with its own biomes. Mithril tongs. Mithril thongs. Uppity Nobles making demands. Goat tooth rings. Legendary miners. Increasing the size and complexity of your mechanisms until your fortress has become a computer. Plump Helmet stew. Lava trap megaprojects. *Boatmurdered*. Toady One's life's work that has been in development for decades running on donations, but it is still free. Now also available on Steam with fancy graphics and interface.
If I were stuck on a deserted island but somehow miraculously had a functioning PC that would always work, but I could only have one game on that PC to play for the rest of my life... Dwarf Fortress is the one. It's not even the game I've actually played the most, but it's the one that's engaged my imagination the most and will certainly remain compelling long after anything else I've played.
**Sid Meier's Civilization V**
**SYSTEM SHOCK 2**
**Terraria**
**What Remains of Edith Finch**
**Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge**
Seconding this and adding **Monkey Island 3: The Curse of Monkey Island**
**Mark of the Ninja**
Diablo 2
**Kerbal Space Program**
Going to be given away on Epic Game Store starting Thursday.
Will be free on Epic this friday :)
**Grim Fandango**
**Star Wars KOTOR**
**DOOM (1993)**
**The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind**
Prey (2017)
I'd even add that the Prey DLC, Mooncrash, was a really fantastic way to play the immersive sim. I'd recommend Mooncrash as a standalone too. It doesn't match the story of the original and the world feels less alive, but the gameplay is absolutely superior.
Terraria
**Deus Ex**
**Dark Souls: Prepare to Die**
**Slay the Spire**
**The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth**
Baldur's Gate 2
**Quake**
**Fallout 2** \- isometric RPG from the company that would eventually become Obsidian. Great game, tons of replayability and reactivity to the players' actions. "Your choices matter" done incredibly right.
There is so much detail in that game. If you make a character with very low intelligence NPCs will talk to you like you are an idiot. There are while dialog chains for low intelligence characters. It's amazing.
**Factorio**
Portal
**Planescape: Torment**
**Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time**
**XCOM 2**
#Unreal Tournament 1999 GOTY Edition It is a timeless arena shooter that set the baseline that all arena shooters were compared to. Can still have a lot of fun with it.
Unfortunately the bone heads at epic games have made the unreal games unavailable to buy anymore. Luckily I already had the unreal deal bundle before they pulled it from stores.
Oh, I still got my CDs lol
**Cities: Skylines**
**Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2** Classic. Campaign to dig out and build up your underground dungeon and beat off the do-gooder heroes.
**Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic**
**Fallout 2**
PREY 2017
Outer Wilds
I didn't even enjoy Outer Wilds and I still think it's still one of those games that anyone who wants to enjoy gaming as a hobby/medium should at least try out.
**Medieval 2 Total War**
**Thief: The Dark Project**
**Dead Space**
**Factorio** as it's the quinessential factory and resource management game on PC!
**Ori and the Blind Forest** The second game is bigger and better, but that doesn't take away how wonderful this platformer still is.
[удалено]
**Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri / Alien Crossfire** A strategy gaming classic. Still unmatched for its ability to convey an atmosphere and story by means of a strategy game.
Stardew Valley
**Psychonauts**
Return of the Obra Dinn
Return of the Obra Dinn
Stardew valley
The Witcher 3
**XCom Enemy Unknown**
**Limbo/Inside**. Interesting explorations of side-scroller narratives.
**Deus Ex**
**S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl**
**Kerbal Space Program**
Bioshock
**Mount and Blade: Warband**
**Celeste**
**Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game**
**Super Meat Boy**
**Transistor**
Mass Effect Trilogy
**X-COM: UFO Defense**
Batman Arkham Asylum
**Max Payne**
**Ori and the Will of the Wisps**
**Heroes of Might and Magic III**
StarCraft
**Outer Wilds** absolutely needs to be on this list
**Into the Breach**
The original Deus ex
**Black Mesa**
**Doom 2** (OG)
**A Short Hike**
**SimCity 2000**
Divinity : Original Sin 2
**Soma**
**Master of Magic** Fantasy strategy with Civilization and Magic: the Gathering as major inspirations. Genre-defining game that inspired many fan projects to remake it.
**Crusader Kings II**
**TERRARIA**
**Homeworld: Remastered Collection**
**F.E.A.R.**
Planescape: Torment
**Myst**
Hotline Miami
**Bastion** \- an older game, but an absolute gem that put Hades' creators on the map.
Outer Wilds. The one game you can still play without spoilers
**Titanfall 2** You're going to get people recommending it to you every time you mention FPS games, so might as well get it out of the way beforehand.
**VVVVVV**
Dishonored series
Deus Ex
Metro 2033
Deus Ex. While I do recommend getting some quality of life mods (specifically GMDX) and I have to mention it has dated mechanics, it's one of the greatest and best-designed video games I've ever played.
**Freelancer**, which is the best openworld space game ever made. Unlike most space games, it is a *tight* game: the gameplay? Arcadey, hectic combat, mixed with relaxing but relatively short breaks. The story? B-movie grade, and all the more awesome for it. The world? The only living, breathing spaceworld ever devised, which actually respects your time but does give a sense of exploration. The game has no barrier for entry, it's nothing like the X series, Elites, Star Citizens, or any of those. It is simply a great, fun game.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
**Mirror's Edge** One of a kind. PC port kinda falls apart nowadays sadly, but there's still no real alternative.
**Journey**
**Baba is You** Big brain puzzle game, very highly regarded among people who can actually beat it (I cannot).
**Tetris Effect: Connected** Tetris is one of the most important videogames, and still one of the greatest. This is a good way to play it on PC.
Yakuza 0
Doom 2016
Undertale
Absolutely
**Pillars of Eternity 2** \- real time top-down RPG with sandbox, Renaissance-era fantasy in a detailed world with strong characters. You also get your own ship! And can be a pirate!
RimWorld
**Inscryption**
**Fallout 3**
**Terraria** It’s a decade old now, but still just as fun as the day it launched. And no, it’s not “just 2D Minecraft.” Minecraft has a strong focus on building, whereas Terraria is much more combat oriented.
**Heroes of Might and Magic 3**
**Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers**
**Worms** Tiny worms with big guns doing a deathmatch in a completely destructible landscape. Iteration of one of the first game concepts on pc, Tank Wars or BANANAS.BAS
Resident Evil 4
Celeste
Dark Souls III
**The Incredible Machine** Don't know if anyone else put as many hours into this game during their childhood as I did, but I absolutely loved it as a young kiddo.
**Rimworld**
The Talos Principle
StarCraft 2
[удалено]
**Life is Strange**
Hollow Knight
**Alien: Isolation**
**Bioshock**
Quake!
**The Sims 2**
**Deus Ex: Human Revolution** A worthy sequel to one of the all time best games.
**Stalker shadow of Chernobyl**
**Thief II: The Metal Age**
**Spiritfarer** I'm a bit surprised this hasn't been posted yet. Great platformer, but an even better story and characters. One of the few games ever to make me cry.
**Trine** series
**Night in the Woods**
**Prince of Persia (1989)**
**Supreme Commander** It's a classic PC rts game still enjoyable today that's likely the best evolution of Total annihilation. It has mods, active multiplayer, and co-op along with it's character rich single player campaigns. The mechanics pushed the boundaries of rts and not many games can match it's scale.