Moving to: m/AskMbin!

This is a hard call, and after a lot of self-deliberation...It must be Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the updated 3DS version. It's a moody, dark, and interesting title within the Zelda game series! The deadline before the world ends pushes the player to figure out the most efficient way to make progress to save the world. The updated Bomber Journal makes this experience so tight and compelling!

Gothic I&Ii

Outer Wilds.

If you haven't played it, don't read anything about it, just go in blind. It's an amazing experience that I wish I could play again for the first time.

Some other favorites worth mentioning:

Minecraft
Celeste
Doom 2016
What Remains of Edith Finch
Titanfall 2

Burnout 3: Takedown

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or GTA 4. 100% nostalgia picks since these are the games that I played endlessly as a preteen into high school. I would maybe throw Pokemon R/B/Y in there too since those were the games I played endlessly until I was old enough to start detasseling and buy myself GTA 4, Oblivion, and an Xbox 360

Gonna have to say Warframe

I started playing in 2013 when it went open beta. I've had a couple breaks from it during the last 10 years and every time I come back its like a whole new game. At this point its like 10 different games wearing a trench coat lmao.

I'm going to say The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for personal reasons.

When I was playing it, I was getting therapy for clinical depression. Breath of the Wild's entire structure really helped me process my depression and contextualise my issues, and I honestly think it helped me a lot more than would any game that is actually about depression.

Dishonored, I absolutely adore that game, and it still looks so good because of the art direction they took with it. Funny enough, it was the same art director as Half Life 2

Probably Life is Strange. It did a lot for me in my mid-late 20s.

#ArcadiaBaeNotBay

probably Forza horizon 5. closing in in 500 hours

best memories are from Minecraft for sure tho

Red Dead Redemption 2 with zero hesitation; honorable mention to Skyrim.

I can't really name a single one that would be THE one. But the one I returned to the most over the years was the original Dragon Quest Monsters.

I had it on my Game Boy since I was in elementary school and even then played through it multiple times. Later I played through it multiple times on emulators. I just love this game so much.

It has a lot of flaws, starting with the limitations of a Game Boy game, but later games and other monster collectors never captured my heart like this one did.

Definitely Dark Souls. I have played DS 1, 2, 3, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, and Sekiro. I only have completed DS 1 and 2 out of them (mostly due to time, with the exception of 3 which I just don't like).

I know the DS1 map like the back of my hand, the mechanics feel natural to me, I feel like I'm being treated fairly and have the skill to complete challenges, and it genuinely feels rewarding for me. I feel good after playing Dark Souls for a bit. Even when struggling with a boss, 95% of the time it felt like I had made a mistake which could be fixed next time.

Hard to choose one, but maybe I'd say Kerbal Space Program 1. It had a really profound impact on the way I understood the world, space, physics, and gave me one of the best feelings of pure exploration. It was amazing to drop into progressively lower orbits around a new planet or moon before finally landing and walking around.

The original Legend of Zelda on the NES. It fully captivated me as a child. I remember taking the game map to school with me and my friends would circle trees that could be burned or rocks that could be bombed. Such fond memories.

I've played a lot of the games on this thread and more that haven't been mentioned which deserve to be recognized, but for my experience The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth goes at the top.

There are others more nostalgic, others with more acclaim, but I always come back to Isaac. The RNG, art, humor, and item combos made that game stick to me like nothing else. It has just a little hit of inspirational game design that speaks to me.

Star Control 2. My son and I just started another playthrough.

Being totally honest, I don't think I can just settle on one game like that. I play different games for different reasons, and what genre/titles I've played the most has varied a lot throughout my life.
Up there, however, is Dark Souls, as well as League of Legends (despite all the issues I have with it, it's sucked me back in for over a decade now).

Like some already said, I too love Mass Effect, Dragon Age, The Elder Scrolls, Zelda TP and Stardew Valley. It's hard for me to chose a favorite game… There's a few of them I equally like, and it kinda changes depending on my mood.

Saints Row 2 is one I haven't seen mentioned yet. There's always something fun to do in this game and it’s hard to get tired of it. The map is packed full of interesting stuff, feels bigger than it actually is. And without writing a novel about it, I like the story a lot. It's a perfect balance between wacky and serious, plus the characters are great. Truly underrated game imo. Shame what happened to the series…

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX. The originals were the games that made me realize gamrs could make me feel things, and DX is literally just them but with QoL changes.

Final Fantasy IX

I just love it. The cast, the writing, the music, not a perfect game but for me a perfect story, a perfect experience.

That Dr. Mario vs Tetris game. My mom would bust it out and we’d have competitions way past bedtime because she was addicted. So some good childhood memories attached to a fun little game.

Fallout New Vegas

Pokemon Sapphire

Dead by Daylight. I love it as much as I hate it.

Holiday Island. And Transport Tycoon Deluxe...

GOAT is Dungeon Keeper. Holy siht that's a great game. Still play it to this day, despite the fact that it's close to 30 years old.

NFL 2k5.

And I'm still mad with EA about the exclusive NFL License.

For myself: Illusion of Gaia (SNES).

I hear a lot of people talk about Soul Blazer and Terranigma when talking about this trilogy but IoG was always my favourite. I still have the soundtrack on my phone after all these years.

The King of Fighters, the whole franchise, it's just that special to me since my childhood

Super Metroid is the GOAT

My personal all time favorite is hands down Halo 2. At that time my family only had dial up and I only ever played Halo 1 or 2 single player. Well one day I make a new friend and stay over at his house and they had high speed internet, Xbox live, and Halo 2. It was the first game I ever played online and it blew my mind. I remember going home and begging my parents for high speed internet and Xbox live but it was a hard sell especially because at the time they didn't mind dial up. They eventually switched after a few months because they got tired of the phone line being tied up lol

Last of Us for story.

Original Modern Warfare 1 & 2 for all the memories I had of playing that in college.

Chrono Trigger! Great plot, and it swaps the slow burn that brings a lot of JRPGs down for a shorter story with a ton of replayability. Gameplay and characters are also great!

Stardew valley was a really fun game to play with my wife

Either Super Mario World or FF7

It might sound dumb, but Guardian Tales. It's a gacha game on mobile and Switch, but I really love it. The story is great, it's fun to play, and the devs are very generous. I've played it multiple times on different accounts just because I have so much fun with it.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night. Had no idea what I was getting into and have been chasing that same experience ever sense.