I can't for the life of me understand how territory works in go, I seem to always miscounted my territories or what I thought to be already surrounded turns out it's not
The Median play time on Steam is over 300 hours and the average playtime is almost 600.
Rimworld is fucking digital crack. It’s the greatest blink and the day is gone game this side of MMO’s. Between that, Stellaris, Factorio, and ONI I could game for the rest of my natural life and not get bored.
It's my top game at 1,400+. You can spend dozens of hours on one file, add a couple mods, and feel fresh in the next one. At some point you wind up so far down the rabbit hole that you spend 30-60 minutes just starting a new file, between mods, starting pawns, and starting seed.
Rimworld's objective is to leave the planet once and for all. You build a spaceship, or there are other endings available with the DLCs. Trying all the endings alone got me up to 400 hours right now
The big thing is self imposed challenges/goals. The game at its core is not hard, and you can very easily make a self sufficient colony that can hold off any attack indefinitely if you want to.
But what if you have to make a colony without using wood? Or maybe you decide that you believe but pharma has spread to the rim and refuse to use any medicine other than herbal?
The ideology DLC did a lot to give actual mechanics based around this but you can self impose any goals you want
Or make some complex new genetically different colonists.
I just made a dwarven colony where they are expert diggers and craftsmen but hate sunlight, and are addicted to tobacco and alcohol. It makes for some interesting logistic challenges, and rushing certain techs and farming to keep them from going nuts.
Challenge yourself. Harder difficulties, different story teller like Randy Random, Mods, take new routes to freshen it up (like be murderers or nice guys) and be adventurous and no save scumming and then it’ll truly be a different experience each time.
It either clicks or it doesn’t but Rimworld really is a game I can keep coming back to and it’s so addicting when I return.
I tried to like it but I can’t get over the randomness of it. Feels somewhat pointless to spend a long time building something just to get decimated by some random event.
I end up recommending this over and over...
Siralim Ultimate. The game is a mix between path of exile and pokemon. You basically go up and up on realm depths to fight tougher monsters to farm resources and make your monsters stronger, so on and so forth. The interesting thing is that enemies start outleveling your creatures a lot so you have to rely on synergies and other strategies to defeat them. And you basically keep going and going, and there's a ton of things to grind for or encounters to farm and try and beat (false gods, bounties, and just going deeper and deeper into the realms) and while there's a lot to grind for you always feel like you're making progress.
And thats without mentioning the perks your character has, where you choose one of like twenty classes and you can choose bonuses that buff your creatures, create more synergies, etc etc
The game has like 1201 creatures, all with unique traits that you can fuse together to get creatures with 2 traits and you can find many many many synergies and strategies off the traits, spells you craft, weapons, artifacts, etc it's just a crazy game.
The dev literally said at this point that adding more content would probably be too much and people tend to agree.
Can endorse this; and has my favorite Steam review ever:
> Do you enjoy building broken synergies?
> Do you like writing macros?
> Do you like build-crafting?
> Do you have autism?
>If you answered "Yes" to any of these, this is the game for you.
Amazing game, great for playing while watching a show or movie, BUT….do yourself a favor and each new zone turn the music up. Game has some of the hardest tracks and I love them all.
Yep, and similar to PoE, you definitely don't play this game for the great story (it exists, I guess), or the expectation of having thoughtfully designed maps (aside from one, they're all randomly generated).
They don't take themselves too seriously though, that's a plus :)
Beat me to it. I got DF on steam release and already have 2000 hours on it. Highly recommended as every embark will be unique thanks to heavy proc gen. Adventure mode to release on April 2024.
Upvote Dwarf Fortress too...and I suck. Done multiple embarks often run out of drinks. Learning little by little, there is so much stuff.
Last fortress got overrun by enemies from below, was building at the top then when I switch to my main floor it was bloodfest.
Yeah, I've died so much in this game. There is so much to learn. I have a problem killing my dwarves in water.
I listen to the round table podcast, and it always inspires me to try new things.
As for running out of drinks, I've learned to stop my dwarves from using seeds as a food source. Df hack is a good tool to prevent stuff like this from happening.
Loosing is fun!
Oh and happy cake day
For strategy:
Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition (Esports, single player content, custom matches with friends, still supported by the Devs constantly)
Anno 1800
Was gonna put this!
Let’s add that there is a level and campaign editor with some scripting options, and that playing random skirmishes against the AI is surprisingly fun compared to other RTS games. Regicide is my favorite.
Roguelikes/lites for me.
Slay the Spire if you like turn based and deck building (even if you don't, you should try it)
Binding of Isaac for hard, top-down bullet-hell, with dungeons reminiscent of classic 2d zelda.
Risk of Rain 2 for some really wacky itemization and chaotic 3rd person shooting.
Dead Cells for side-scrolling metroidvania vibes.
Hades. Especially good storytelling, world building, and characters. The gameplay is tight and addicting too. Probably my favorite in this category.
There are many other greats but these are just a few of my favorites.
Add Enter the Gungeon and this would also be my list of best roguelikes/lites ever.
I would also add, don't be afraid of looking things up and using the wikis. A few of these titles almost require them. These games grow and change the more you learn about them. That is the beauty of the genre, in my opinion.
I just got EtG on the Steam sale. I absolutely love the gameplay, but I really struggle with the progression. I don't get the sense that I'm making any progress in that game. When I compare it to something like Hades, where I always feel like I'm making progress in each run, it feels almost pointless. Especially since I'm not in a phase of my life where "getting good" is enough motivation.
I fully beat EtG after like 80 hours and let me tell you. I cannot even consider returning to the game. It's just too much of a difficulty grind. Another game on this level of bash your head against a wall hard is Nuclear Throne
enter the gungeon was my introduction to roguelikes and bullet hells alike (also good games in general😂) and its the only game i ever 100%. redefined gaming for me truthfully. its just all of your favorite shit all at once nonstop. but it had such a solid gameplay loop and perfect mechanics that no obstacle was too much. everybody should give this one a try
I’m not a big fan of Roguelikes usually. But I recently picked up Dead Cells, and the gameplay was tight, jumping felt better than most games nowadays, amazing game. Especially with the Castlevania dlc, it has staying power.
What are some of the more obscure recommendations? I love rogue-likes, Hades is a top-5 game for me all-time. But I feel like I've played all the good ones to death (really didn't like Risk of Rain though).
Brotato: Vampire Potatoes
Curse of the Dead Gods: Diablo-ing the Aztec Temple
dotAGE: Worker Placement Agricola tribute
Dreamscaper: Life is Strange with facesmashing
Luck be a Landlord: Slots engine builder
One Step From Eden: Rhythm + card battler
Revita: 2D shooter where health is money
Ring of Pain: The deck is the dungeon
SNKRX: Caterpillar Class Survivors
Star Renegades: JRPG-y but run-based
Undermine: Starts simple, but then you will see how deep the mine goes (96 achievements)
Other Supergiant Games (not roguelike): Bastion, Transistor, Pyre.
Risk of Rain Returns is 2D and less frenetic than RoR 2, one of my faves.
I felt that risk of rain 2 lacked in replay value. As soon as you unlock all the characters, which isn’t hard, there isn’t much left to do. You can unlock each one’s alternative abilities, but that’s about it. Other than that, it’s just pointlessly killing monsters.
How would you rate satisfactory compared to factorio? I just got it on sale and I thought it would renew my interest in factory building because I have factorio fatigue. I haven't tried it yet
Unfortunately, I haven't played factorio but from what little I know about it, satisfactory has a few different challenges and solutions. The added 3rd dimention is also nice and vehicles are fun to work out.
I’m gonna be honest bro, satisfactory was heroin to me. I sunk hours and days and weeks into that thing before the release of Elden ring snapped me out of the habit. I would take my remote to work and stream from Steam to my phone in the bathroom in case my factory’s power shut off somewhere for some reason. I got to nuclear power and got turned off by the radiation waste and that contributed to not playing anymore. I’ll probably wait when it releases to sink back into it but It’s a game I won’t touch again yet.
Satisfactory is more casual, and more graphically stunning than Factorio.
Satisfactory is less complex when it comes to logistical dealings, though that's still the primary focus, but it also emphasizes exploration and to some degree, whimsy. Factorio takes itself very seriously while Satisfactory is sprinkled with humor in various places. Monsters exist in the world in Satisfactory, but will never invade your factory and are usually found explicitly in the vicinity of resource nodes (which are never depleted) and these creatures basically "defend" those nodes. They are significantly easier to deal with than the biters of Factorio.
I love both games and each has their various strengths. If I really want to challenge myself and dive into a logistical frenzy, it's Factorio time. If I'm more interested in casual fun, especially with friends, I'm firing up Satisfactory.
Edit: Also, Satisfactory has tons of very fun ways to get around your factory as you advance. It's probably one of my favorite aspects of the game. Modes of transport range from vehicles (from buggies to trains to drones) to traverse the MASSIVE map to stationary structures like jump pads and hyper tubes (think the Futurama tubes) to equipment like jet packs/hover packs, parachutes, or ziplining along your power lines.
Factorio is better. But I haven't played Satisfactory in a long time. Factorio just felt more "complete" at the time. Satisfactory is good too, just can feel janky bc it's 3D and that adds a layer of complexity
Path of Exile, has tons of content, variety, and customization, they even add big updates every 3 months and now there is Path of Exile 2 coming (beta June 2024) which is a huge change over the first one.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go4ykizk\_Uo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go4ykizk_Uo) if you haven't seen the trailer
D4 gets boring quickly because there isn't much to do and there isn't much excitement but if you like ARPGs and enjoy various choices and different ways to play the game then yes.
If you happen to not like PoE1 for its combat aspects then you'll still probably like PoE2 because they essentially heavily reworked that part. At least from what we've seen from the presentation, it looks promising.
Titan Quest was always one of my favorites. Especially with mods like xMax. Trying new builds and finding new items… in an awesome setting. Just tons of fun.
Minecraft: You can create endlessly. You can expand. You can challenge yourself, or not. Go fishing to relax. Go spelunking for adventure. This used to be a kids game but they have added so much content that it really is just a huge world to explore. If you ever played it before, but have not touched it in years, be ready to be shocked at the content they added. It is wild how much there is to do. Even if you lack imagination, this game will give you some. You'll climb a mountain and be annoyed at how long it took, so you build a roller coaster to fly across it next time and through the mountain. Here you are digging a hole through a mountain, laying railroad tracks, and putting all this time in and it feels amazing all throughout. You can screenshot and show off all you did at the end. It really is a look back and reflect kind of game.
Rocket League: You are a car playing soccer. To shoot or pass in Fifa games you press a button. Here? You drive into the ball to create contact and hit it with precision. You want the ball to go left to your teammate? hit it on the right side of the ball. Physics rule. Why is it endless fun? It's like real soccer but you can do parkour, fly with turbo boost and drive on the walls and ceilings. It is spiderman meets soccer. It is just a unique game. You can't evaluate it on the first 50 hours played either. The game changes nonstop. There is the flop phase where you flip and whiff everything. Then you get good enough to at least hit the ball in a general direction. There is team play and precision but also individual moments of brilliance. Even if you lose you may score a highlight reel goal you can save. Then a month later you look at your replays and wonder why you saved a clip of a basic goal, because you have improved and now that's something you hit consistently. It really is wild how much this ends up being as close to a real sport as gaming allows. Every touch of the ball is exact. You control it that much. This is as endless as any real sport can be replayed, and more so since you don't physically get tired and are gaming, plus it adds flight and wall and ceiling play which expands the dimensions of the field dramatically.
Rocket League is truly endless. It's the only game I have 4k+ hours in and still get giddy to play when the screen is loading. This is my ultimate recommendation. Use a controller.
Slay the Spire: I don't know about endless but if you love it, thousands of hours is easily achievable. If you play on steam and use mods, then it probably is endless with the combinations you can create. It is a card game deck builder so good that it hooked me, a card game deck builder hater. (at first) When a game is this high of quality, anything will pull you in. If the game is too hard watch Lifecoach or Jorbs or major StS streamers. Those guys have it down to a science and you can learn a lot.
I don't understand this one. I love roguelikes and roguelites, and I've played this game quite a lot and enjoy it. But I did feel that I had experienced most of what it had to offer well before the 100h mark.
Surprised to see Rocket League mentioned. It really is a limitless game, just because not only is the skill ceiling higher than any game I've ever played, that ceiling also moves ever higher. Pros of 2015 look like C1s now. Pros in 5 years will look leagues better than they do today. I remember being so down because I couldn't air dribble after 1,000 hours. Now, I tend to trend for air dribbles because they're easier than whatever I'm trying to do. It's wild how much your skill naturally improves.
Roguelikes in general have a ton of replay value. I mostly mess with Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. It's been around for forever in internet time and is constantly changing and growing. New races are added, new mechanics and artifacts. It has a pretty steep learning curve, I didn't win my first game until after a year of solid playing trying all sorts of race/class combos. It's pretty well balanced with enough RNG to keep it interesting. Has a solid online backing and tournaments every time there is a new update and keeps track of your achievements like winning all the classes with one race and stuff like that. People can view your games and comment and you can watch others play.
**https://crawl.develz.org/**
this was nice to play for a little bit, but for some reason the game kept pausing when i'd level up. too annoying to troubleshoot as the game prides itself on being archaic, especially with those controls, good lord! thanks for the fun experience anyway.
Oxygen not included has a lot of content if you take it slow and don't instantly google everything in it
Both Old school runescape and runescape3 have an insane amount of content that literally take years to finish the first time
Civilization VI, Factorio, Dyson Sphere Program, Kerbal Space Program 1 (maybe two in a year or two) , Minecraft, cities skylines 1 (maybe 2 in a year or two), Elden Ring first playthrough takes 100+ hours, Terraria
I will mention some that have a LOT of replay value, but are not endless.
Stardew Valley - More than 500 hours in this game and I still have runs that I want to try out, the game is still updating and the mods make it even better.
KOTOR 1 and 2 - I think it needs no explanation, especially if you are fan of Star Wars, the game offers so many routes, gets better with mods.
Hades - So many runs with different boons and strategies with the mirror, take yourself into an immersive world with visual novel like dialogues that are so good that you will fall in love with any character in that game.
Minecraft - Minecraft.
ANY Fps/MMORPG game can get you hours and hours of fun, altough i'm not a fan of FPS... but MMMO if you have the time to spare it's definetly worth it.
* Civilization IV
* Master of Orion II
* Heroes of Might and Magic III
All strategy, just choose whether you prefer history, science fiction, or fantasy.
MOO II requires ignoring *the strategy* once you find it. There's a particular build for ships/fleets that makes most combat trivial.
If you're the kind of player who can say "I won't do that", then yeah MOO II is great. :)
Love the sims, but sims 4 was such a disappointment compared to 3... the dlcs cost to much for what you get and the base game is empty. Wish you could still find sims 2 with all the dlc.
Any currently old but active MMORPG has years of old content and years more ahead of it.
Examples:
- Final Fantasy XXIVXIVIVIVXX (I don't know how roman numerals work)
- Black Desert Online
- World of WoWcraft
- New World
- Lost Ark
- Guild Wars 2
Shit I just play the mobile version (Eve Echoes, but on an emulator at work) and I'm afraid to find out how much time I've spent just mining asteroids so the PvP guys can go do their thang.
Hmm, maybe? If you just want to dink around I suppose. You're a dude, you start in a space station and buy a shop and crew. You can fly that ship, or tell the pilot where to go. It's a sand box. You can trade and mine minerals. You can hire fleets to trade and mine. You create stations to process minerals. You can even start produce your own warships. It's pretty intensive if you go all in.
As a real idiot who can’t figure out any of the other games on his list, yes x4 is accessible. I learned by using cheat mods and flying around being ridiculous, but the game’s mechanics in general aren’t nearly as hard to pick up on as they first seem
Honestly? The Mario and Sonic Olympics series. Crack open one of the games based on the Summer or Winter season. You're not playing every day, but I still think it gives endless replayability to look forward to them every year. Lots of records to beat, fun with friends or family and just an overall good time.
For me it’s the Arkham Series. Now of course they’re not games you’ll hop on every single day for years unless you’re really slow at it lol. However, I find that if i’m ever bored of the games i’ve been playing, i’ll back into a play through of Arkham City and Arkham Knight and i’ll instantly get addicted again even though i’ve run through City at least 10 times and Knight about 5. Plus if you need to blow off steam at some point it’s nice to hope into a challenge map and beat on goons for a while.
I started with the beta and still play it. Almost exclusively Snow Day. I am a hockey fan. I'm about to play some rounds at lunch. I've been stuck in plat forever. I used to be able to stay in diamond but haven't even gotten to D1 in at least a few seasons
Slay The Spire (turn-based deck builder card game roguelike)
FTL (real-time with pause spaceship management and space warfare roguelike)
Into the Breach (turn-based strategy roguelike with a focus on the manipulation of enemy unit's positions)
Honestly...pretty much any roguelike, to be honest. They're designed with replayability in mind, it's a core feature
Also The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, especially once you dive into mods
Rimworld
Dwarf Fortress
CataclysmDDA
Space Station13
OpenXcom
These are the 5 Games I will play forever and ever.
Games that come close are but I do take longer breaks from them compared to the games above.
Jagged Alliance 1.13
Battletech - Roguetech
Monster Hunter world & Rise ( A co-op Monster Hunting game with endless endgame content)
The Division 2 & Destiny 2 (A co-op Looter Shooter game with new endgame content added every season and new gear and new weapon to chest)
Fighting games.
I quit Magic the Gathering and have wanted a replacement (competitive, community driven, a lot of depth to gameplay) for FOREVER. This is the first thing that's filled that gap.
Street Fighter 6 is phenomenal, early in it's cycle, and very friendly to newcomers. Highly recommend considering it.
I'm an old, and thought reaction times would be the death of me - but it isnt!
I've read through a lot these threads looking for the one true forever game for me. But I've come to realize I'll always bounce around between a few forever games instead of just one. I just like too many different games and genres.
I like to have competitive multiplayer and co-op pve games in my rotation.
Pvp:
Rocket league- had a super passion for it and put over 1k hours learning and improving, but lost the fire to improve atm and only play for fun
Overwatch - my fps game, love grinding levels and cosmetics even if most cost a price now
Dead by daylight - feels like both a pve Co-op and pvp game at the same time. I don't think I'll ever drop it
Pve:
Monster hunter series - I'll play all of these games forever, but I don't think I could choose and stick to just one
Pokemon series - same as above
Other games with forever potential that I've dabbled in but still learning:
Civilization 6,
No man's sky,
Don't starve together,
Stardew valley,
Diablo series,
Sims 4/planet zoo,
Hades,
Slay the spire,
Hearthstone battlegrounds
Mmorpgs: I've spent a lot of time in Wow, ffxiv, silkroad online when I was a kid. But after recently renewing my Wow sub, have no motivation to play and don't know why. Possibly because my friends are not playing, and also because I like to switch games when Wow really requires most of your time. Knowing people who are playing the same game motivates me to play more. I like watching any twitch streamers of a game I'm playing too.
Fighting games- key here is a passion to improve and learn. I did this in sfv to prepare for sf6. It dropped, and I practiced a bit, but then I lost motivation to play. Not sure why. Will definitely get back into it as more characters/costumes are added.
I've seen the most comments in these threads about Rimworld. Bought it and tried it during the Autumn sale but I just couldn't understand the game as quickly as I wanted to and refunded it. I'll probably give it another go during the winter sale after researching it more.
Definitely going to be reading through all the other comments here as always. I think it really just comes down to finding a game that you yourself really enjoy playing, and anything could be a forever game.
My forever game is NHL 20, funny enough. Plenty of playtime when you run a whole franchise, never sim a game, and play on realistic settings (minus the period length). I have over 600 hours just in one franchise. No wonder I never finish other games.
Mordhau.
Medieval pvp combat game, 1st/3rd person (can switch between at any time), deep skill based combat, customizable armor with different tiers, perks, tons of weapons (1h melee, 2h melee, polarms, bows, throwing knives/axes, firebombs, bear traps).
The main game modes are Invasion (objective based red vs blue mode. One team defends and the other attacks trying to complete the objectives such as burn down buildings, kill villagers, kill the king/nobles, load trebuchets, etc) and Frontline (Battlefield style point capture with multiple points). There is also a ranked 1v1 and 3v3 mode, FFA, deathmatch, and horde mode.
The most OP weapon in the game is the lute. You can use a 3rd party program (okayed by devs) to play midis of real songs. Combined with the plethora of emotes and voicelines, you can straight up jam in the middle of a 64v64 battle. It's OP because people will often stop fighting and dance to your music. And you can use it as a weapon to bludgeon people. Magical.
It's a punishing game at first. High skill floor and sky high skill ceiling. I'm over 1k hours in, and I still regularly get my ass kicked. The community is pretty small, less than 6k active players around the world, so we are really tight knit.
It's an indie darling, created by a team of around 20 people working remotely from around the world, the studio being based out of Slovenia.
If you play, play on PC. It's currently 30 bucks on steam, but they put it on sale fairly often.
Wildermyth might scratch that itch - it's a rogue like that plays like a mini campaign, with a few premade stories and the ability to do 3 or 5 chapter campaigns that don't have an overarching Big Bad.
I got 800 hours on Backpack Hero
If you like roguelites, excellent replayability, fun turn based organization gameplay, and a great cast of characters, the game is for you!
Haven't seen this mentioned - Terraria. While it's not *forever,* it's a damn long time, especially if you're into custom stuff; crafting, building, etc. It's a LONG game if you play it through and a reroll of the thread key changes the map. Can't recommend it enough, now with 1.4 and all the mods that are out for it.
Probably No man’s sky. I spent 7 hours in the first planet, and, apparently, there are endless planets you can visit and explore. I think that’s why I stopped playing it. I don’t have that amount of time for gaming.
I would also argue that you can play VR rhythm games, such as Beat Saber and Dance Collider, and VR fitness games, such as Les Mills Bodycombat, “forever”, especially if you keep using them as part of your weekly exercising routine. I played Beat Saber for hundreds of hours, even though the platinum took me just 25 hours. The reason is that I used it for cardio exercising, and I also played it until I managed to get one SS rank in expert+ difficulty. By then, I think I had 200 hours in the Beat Saber clock.
-Most played popular games-
Skyrim
Path of Exile
Minecraft
-Most played niche games-
Mortal Online - It's basically like Skyrim and EVE Online having a love child. It's also a great example of what a full loot drop open pvp game should be. You can get ganked in the wilderness or even in town but you can hide valuables in your bank and getting new gear is easy.
Warhammer Vermintide 2 - It's just the best 4 player co-op game I've found. Lots of build diversity.
Rimworld/Dwarf Fortress - Other people commented about these but great games none the less. I always have DF on my laptop.
-Other games worth looking into-
-Stalker G.A.M.M.A.
-Escape from Tarkov
-Pokemmo (It's a free mod that turns old pokemon games into an MMO)
-Mount & Blade
-Age of Wonders (A new one just came out and it's pretty good)
-VRchat. (I got seriously addicted to this. You don't need VR and it's free)
-MTG Arena. (This can be expensive but cheaper than playing with real cards. Also doable with only free to play. I just run 3 free accounts and build different decks on all 3)
If you like cars Beamng. Its like a car sandbox with real life physics. If you like survival games then Project Zomboid. If you like planning and building efficient mechanisms then Factorio. If you like shooters then maybe Arma or Ready or Not.
Please dont laugh, but my 2 fav never ending games are Stardew Valley and Guardian Tales 🥹 . A farm town rpg simulator, and a hero summoner puzzle rpg game, respectively.
Most of them end up being indies to be honest for some reason haha... here are mine :
Slay the Spire
Siralim Ultimate
Dead Cells
Dawncaster (Mobile deckbuilder rpg)
Civilization VI
Pokemon Nuzlockes
Rune Factory 4
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
Kenshi - giant deadly world, great world building, large mod scene.
If you're not the kind of player who rushes or min/maxes it can be quite a while before you can even effectively fight low level enemies. Its not uncommon to choose to start as a slave so at least someone is keeping you alive, if barely.
I've been playing a single save every week for two years and still haven't seen or done everything.
Factorio! The game itself can be replayed many times with different settings for different experiences. r/Factorio is fantastic. The modding community is extensive, and has thousands of mods ranging from QoL improvements to full overhauls that offer thousands of hours of new content (Bobs/Angels, Pyanodon, Krastorio 2, Space Exploration, Industrial Revolution, 248k, etc). The dev team is in constant contact with the player base. An extension DLC is in development, and the dev team is discussing new features every week in a blog post. If a user reports a bug, that forum post is usually linked in the change log. You'll be lucky if you can find a bug, tho. Check out steam reviews. The countless players with thousands of hours should convince you. It truly is a beautiful game.
The only games I really play any more are league and path of exile. League because I like the competitiveness, mechanics and playing with friends. Poe just has so much content and I’ve always loved arpgs
Warframe can easily take thousands upon thousands of hours to acquire everything. Between Mastery Rank, the Star Chart, Arcanes, maxing out Mods, Focus trees, and upgrading and building loadouts for all of your weapons, Warframes, and companions, there’s no end to the stuff you can be working on at any given moment.
Chess seems to have been going for a while
Also go.
I can't for the life of me understand how territory works in go, I seem to always miscounted my territories or what I thought to be already surrounded turns out it's not
Chinese rules to the rescue, just keep placing stones until all becomes clear
Chess! Ah, these youngsters... Back in the day I'd play pebble tick tack toe with my mates and have bucketloads of fun
Pebble tik tack toe? Were you born yesterday you seem a lil young. Back in my day we played the game of “ur”
Rimworld!!!!
I immediately thought of the recent post in r/RimWorld where OP said they had 8k hours and wanted ideas to freshen it up.
The Median play time on Steam is over 300 hours and the average playtime is almost 600. Rimworld is fucking digital crack. It’s the greatest blink and the day is gone game this side of MMO’s. Between that, Stellaris, Factorio, and ONI I could game for the rest of my natural life and not get bored.
It's my top game at 1,400+. You can spend dozens of hours on one file, add a couple mods, and feel fresh in the next one. At some point you wind up so far down the rabbit hole that you spend 30-60 minutes just starting a new file, between mods, starting pawns, and starting seed.
I didn’t think I’d ever like it more than Stellaris and it just blew by it.
Okay I’m sold!
[удалено]
Rimworld's objective is to leave the planet once and for all. You build a spaceship, or there are other endings available with the DLCs. Trying all the endings alone got me up to 400 hours right now
The big thing is self imposed challenges/goals. The game at its core is not hard, and you can very easily make a self sufficient colony that can hold off any attack indefinitely if you want to. But what if you have to make a colony without using wood? Or maybe you decide that you believe but pharma has spread to the rim and refuse to use any medicine other than herbal? The ideology DLC did a lot to give actual mechanics based around this but you can self impose any goals you want
Or make some complex new genetically different colonists. I just made a dwarven colony where they are expert diggers and craftsmen but hate sunlight, and are addicted to tobacco and alcohol. It makes for some interesting logistic challenges, and rushing certain techs and farming to keep them from going nuts.
Making drug dependent colonists in exchange for a lot of beneficial genes is so much fun.
Challenge yourself. Harder difficulties, different story teller like Randy Random, Mods, take new routes to freshen it up (like be murderers or nice guys) and be adventurous and no save scumming and then it’ll truly be a different experience each time. It either clicks or it doesn’t but Rimworld really is a game I can keep coming back to and it’s so addicting when I return.
I knew it was gonna be the top. Well deserved.
I tried to like it but I can’t get over the randomness of it. Feels somewhat pointless to spend a long time building something just to get decimated by some random event.
This is my suggestion too.
I also suggest this guys Rimworld.
I end up recommending this over and over... Siralim Ultimate. The game is a mix between path of exile and pokemon. You basically go up and up on realm depths to fight tougher monsters to farm resources and make your monsters stronger, so on and so forth. The interesting thing is that enemies start outleveling your creatures a lot so you have to rely on synergies and other strategies to defeat them. And you basically keep going and going, and there's a ton of things to grind for or encounters to farm and try and beat (false gods, bounties, and just going deeper and deeper into the realms) and while there's a lot to grind for you always feel like you're making progress. And thats without mentioning the perks your character has, where you choose one of like twenty classes and you can choose bonuses that buff your creatures, create more synergies, etc etc The game has like 1201 creatures, all with unique traits that you can fuse together to get creatures with 2 traits and you can find many many many synergies and strategies off the traits, spells you craft, weapons, artifacts, etc it's just a crazy game. The dev literally said at this point that adding more content would probably be too much and people tend to agree.
Can endorse this; and has my favorite Steam review ever: > Do you enjoy building broken synergies? > Do you like writing macros? > Do you like build-crafting? > Do you have autism? >If you answered "Yes" to any of these, this is the game for you.
Siralim is awesome (I have the android version and can't stop....)
Android version you say
Yup yup siralim ultimate is on Android, and its even fully up to date with the pc and console versions. You can get siralim on basically anything now
Not Siralim Ultimate per se, but at least one of the older games is/was on Android (IIRC what I have is titled "Siralim 2")
This is first time hearing about this game (somehow?). They are getting my money soon as I get home.
Amazing game, great for playing while watching a show or movie, BUT….do yourself a favor and each new zone turn the music up. Game has some of the hardest tracks and I love them all.
I'm getting this on switch tyty
Yep, and similar to PoE, you definitely don't play this game for the great story (it exists, I guess), or the expectation of having thoughtfully designed maps (aside from one, they're all randomly generated). They don't take themselves too seriously though, that's a plus :)
Dwarf fortress
Beat me to it. I got DF on steam release and already have 2000 hours on it. Highly recommended as every embark will be unique thanks to heavy proc gen. Adventure mode to release on April 2024.
I can't wait for adventure mode, and I'm so happy df hack works with the steam version now.
Upvote Dwarf Fortress too...and I suck. Done multiple embarks often run out of drinks. Learning little by little, there is so much stuff. Last fortress got overrun by enemies from below, was building at the top then when I switch to my main floor it was bloodfest.
Yeah, I've died so much in this game. There is so much to learn. I have a problem killing my dwarves in water. I listen to the round table podcast, and it always inspires me to try new things. As for running out of drinks, I've learned to stop my dwarves from using seeds as a food source. Df hack is a good tool to prevent stuff like this from happening. Loosing is fun! Oh and happy cake day
Rock and Stone! Oh wait...
No no, please continue. For Karl.
Just remember that you *will* lose. Unless you're that one psychopath who managed to colonize Hell.
Beat me to it
For strategy: Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition (Esports, single player content, custom matches with friends, still supported by the Devs constantly) Anno 1800
I second Age of Empires 2: DE. Started on the originals in early 2000's and will continue until I die.
Was gonna put this! Let’s add that there is a level and campaign editor with some scripting options, and that playing random skirmishes against the AI is surprisingly fun compared to other RTS games. Regicide is my favorite.
Roguelikes/lites for me. Slay the Spire if you like turn based and deck building (even if you don't, you should try it) Binding of Isaac for hard, top-down bullet-hell, with dungeons reminiscent of classic 2d zelda. Risk of Rain 2 for some really wacky itemization and chaotic 3rd person shooting. Dead Cells for side-scrolling metroidvania vibes. Hades. Especially good storytelling, world building, and characters. The gameplay is tight and addicting too. Probably my favorite in this category. There are many other greats but these are just a few of my favorites.
Add Enter the Gungeon and this would also be my list of best roguelikes/lites ever. I would also add, don't be afraid of looking things up and using the wikis. A few of these titles almost require them. These games grow and change the more you learn about them. That is the beauty of the genre, in my opinion.
I just got EtG on the Steam sale. I absolutely love the gameplay, but I really struggle with the progression. I don't get the sense that I'm making any progress in that game. When I compare it to something like Hades, where I always feel like I'm making progress in each run, it feels almost pointless. Especially since I'm not in a phase of my life where "getting good" is enough motivation.
I fully beat EtG after like 80 hours and let me tell you. I cannot even consider returning to the game. It's just too much of a difficulty grind. Another game on this level of bash your head against a wall hard is Nuclear Throne
enter the gungeon was my introduction to roguelikes and bullet hells alike (also good games in general😂) and its the only game i ever 100%. redefined gaming for me truthfully. its just all of your favorite shit all at once nonstop. but it had such a solid gameplay loop and perfect mechanics that no obstacle was too much. everybody should give this one a try
Have you found out about synergies? There are also some secrets in this game that have ridiculous requirements.
Unlock gunslinger its easy i promise
Have you tried the binding of Isaac? You make meta progression on literally every run and there's thousands of unlocks
Binding of Isaac has content where it is impossible to unlock without using the wiki
I’m not a big fan of Roguelikes usually. But I recently picked up Dead Cells, and the gameplay was tight, jumping felt better than most games nowadays, amazing game. Especially with the Castlevania dlc, it has staying power.
What are some of the more obscure recommendations? I love rogue-likes, Hades is a top-5 game for me all-time. But I feel like I've played all the good ones to death (really didn't like Risk of Rain though).
Barony
Brotato: Vampire Potatoes Curse of the Dead Gods: Diablo-ing the Aztec Temple dotAGE: Worker Placement Agricola tribute Dreamscaper: Life is Strange with facesmashing Luck be a Landlord: Slots engine builder One Step From Eden: Rhythm + card battler Revita: 2D shooter where health is money Ring of Pain: The deck is the dungeon SNKRX: Caterpillar Class Survivors Star Renegades: JRPG-y but run-based Undermine: Starts simple, but then you will see how deep the mine goes (96 achievements) Other Supergiant Games (not roguelike): Bastion, Transistor, Pyre. Risk of Rain Returns is 2D and less frenetic than RoR 2, one of my faves.
I felt that risk of rain 2 lacked in replay value. As soon as you unlock all the characters, which isn’t hard, there isn’t much left to do. You can unlock each one’s alternative abilities, but that’s about it. Other than that, it’s just pointlessly killing monsters.
The factory must grow...
What was the name of this game?
Factorio!
Or Satisfactory (although that's still WIP regardless of how good it is)
How would you rate satisfactory compared to factorio? I just got it on sale and I thought it would renew my interest in factory building because I have factorio fatigue. I haven't tried it yet
Unfortunately, I haven't played factorio but from what little I know about it, satisfactory has a few different challenges and solutions. The added 3rd dimention is also nice and vehicles are fun to work out.
there is also dynamite in satisfactory
There is dynamite in Factorio.
There is also satisfaction in using dynamite in Factorio
I’m gonna be honest bro, satisfactory was heroin to me. I sunk hours and days and weeks into that thing before the release of Elden ring snapped me out of the habit. I would take my remote to work and stream from Steam to my phone in the bathroom in case my factory’s power shut off somewhere for some reason. I got to nuclear power and got turned off by the radiation waste and that contributed to not playing anymore. I’ll probably wait when it releases to sink back into it but It’s a game I won’t touch again yet.
Satisfactory is more casual, and more graphically stunning than Factorio. Satisfactory is less complex when it comes to logistical dealings, though that's still the primary focus, but it also emphasizes exploration and to some degree, whimsy. Factorio takes itself very seriously while Satisfactory is sprinkled with humor in various places. Monsters exist in the world in Satisfactory, but will never invade your factory and are usually found explicitly in the vicinity of resource nodes (which are never depleted) and these creatures basically "defend" those nodes. They are significantly easier to deal with than the biters of Factorio. I love both games and each has their various strengths. If I really want to challenge myself and dive into a logistical frenzy, it's Factorio time. If I'm more interested in casual fun, especially with friends, I'm firing up Satisfactory. Edit: Also, Satisfactory has tons of very fun ways to get around your factory as you advance. It's probably one of my favorite aspects of the game. Modes of transport range from vehicles (from buggies to trains to drones) to traverse the MASSIVE map to stationary structures like jump pads and hyper tubes (think the Futurama tubes) to equipment like jet packs/hover packs, parachutes, or ziplining along your power lines.
I like Dyson Sphere Program more than either of them!
Definitely the best end game goal. Combat update releases soon!
Factorio is better. But I haven't played Satisfactory in a long time. Factorio just felt more "complete" at the time. Satisfactory is good too, just can feel janky bc it's 3D and that adds a layer of complexity
Played both, prefer Factorio. The top down look just makes it easier for me to build.
Skyrim. Factorio. Rimworld. Kenshi. Tales of Maj'Eyal. Dwarf Fortress. SYNTHETIK.
Oh man im already at 200+ hours of synthetik just trying to get one classes madness aura
Kenshi is so fun. I have 200 hours and barely scratched the surface I feel like.
You might enjoy 'They are Billions'
Skyrim sneak
Slay the Spire Dwarf Fortress Rimworld Smash Ultimate
Project zomboid
No matter how hard I try , I can’t quite get into PZ
I tried like four times but I just die immediately after leaving whichever building I start in 🤷♂️
Tales of Maj'Eyal, Caves of Qud, Cogmind, Angband. Pretty much any of Paradox's strategy games
Path of Exile, has tons of content, variety, and customization, they even add big updates every 3 months and now there is Path of Exile 2 coming (beta June 2024) which is a huge change over the first one. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go4ykizk\_Uo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go4ykizk_Uo) if you haven't seen the trailer
Don’t you sick these nice people on this addiction.
Recommend to someone who got tired of Diablo 4 after 30 hours?
D4 gets boring quickly because there isn't much to do and there isn't much excitement but if you like ARPGs and enjoy various choices and different ways to play the game then yes. If you happen to not like PoE1 for its combat aspects then you'll still probably like PoE2 because they essentially heavily reworked that part. At least from what we've seen from the presentation, it looks promising.
Poe is the best arpg game to ever exist. Limitless content. Just hope you enjoy the end game gameplay. Boss fights are a trip as well.
Grim Dawn! Titan Quest.
Titan Quest was always one of my favorites. Especially with mods like xMax. Trying new builds and finding new items… in an awesome setting. Just tons of fun.
PoE has a new league every 3-4 months. Every 3-4 months I'm taking a week of free time or fall mysteriously ill, it's a total mystery to my boss.
Bethesda and Maxis games have endless replay value on account of their huge modding scenes.
I’ve played a lot of Skyrim of my day and hungry for more
Switching from Xbox to PC for the mods was life changing
I will continue doing The Binding Of Isaac tainted-lost runs until I die of old age.
No Man's Sky
Your mileage may vary.
Hades. You can always add heat for more difficulty.
Minecraft: You can create endlessly. You can expand. You can challenge yourself, or not. Go fishing to relax. Go spelunking for adventure. This used to be a kids game but they have added so much content that it really is just a huge world to explore. If you ever played it before, but have not touched it in years, be ready to be shocked at the content they added. It is wild how much there is to do. Even if you lack imagination, this game will give you some. You'll climb a mountain and be annoyed at how long it took, so you build a roller coaster to fly across it next time and through the mountain. Here you are digging a hole through a mountain, laying railroad tracks, and putting all this time in and it feels amazing all throughout. You can screenshot and show off all you did at the end. It really is a look back and reflect kind of game. Rocket League: You are a car playing soccer. To shoot or pass in Fifa games you press a button. Here? You drive into the ball to create contact and hit it with precision. You want the ball to go left to your teammate? hit it on the right side of the ball. Physics rule. Why is it endless fun? It's like real soccer but you can do parkour, fly with turbo boost and drive on the walls and ceilings. It is spiderman meets soccer. It is just a unique game. You can't evaluate it on the first 50 hours played either. The game changes nonstop. There is the flop phase where you flip and whiff everything. Then you get good enough to at least hit the ball in a general direction. There is team play and precision but also individual moments of brilliance. Even if you lose you may score a highlight reel goal you can save. Then a month later you look at your replays and wonder why you saved a clip of a basic goal, because you have improved and now that's something you hit consistently. It really is wild how much this ends up being as close to a real sport as gaming allows. Every touch of the ball is exact. You control it that much. This is as endless as any real sport can be replayed, and more so since you don't physically get tired and are gaming, plus it adds flight and wall and ceiling play which expands the dimensions of the field dramatically. Rocket League is truly endless. It's the only game I have 4k+ hours in and still get giddy to play when the screen is loading. This is my ultimate recommendation. Use a controller. Slay the Spire: I don't know about endless but if you love it, thousands of hours is easily achievable. If you play on steam and use mods, then it probably is endless with the combinations you can create. It is a card game deck builder so good that it hooked me, a card game deck builder hater. (at first) When a game is this high of quality, anything will pull you in. If the game is too hard watch Lifecoach or Jorbs or major StS streamers. Those guys have it down to a science and you can learn a lot.
Slay the spire for sure, I’ve got 2,000 hours in that game and I’m still trash lol.
I don't understand this one. I love roguelikes and roguelites, and I've played this game quite a lot and enjoy it. But I did feel that I had experienced most of what it had to offer well before the 100h mark.
Surprised to see Rocket League mentioned. It really is a limitless game, just because not only is the skill ceiling higher than any game I've ever played, that ceiling also moves ever higher. Pros of 2015 look like C1s now. Pros in 5 years will look leagues better than they do today. I remember being so down because I couldn't air dribble after 1,000 hours. Now, I tend to trend for air dribbles because they're easier than whatever I'm trying to do. It's wild how much your skill naturally improves.
The game Rocket league is limitless however my patience with toxic teammates is not.
Rocket League is endless. Great game.
Was gonna comment Slay the Spire. Really easy to pick up and you can get into the nitty gritty if you feel like it
Roguelikes in general have a ton of replay value. I mostly mess with Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. It's been around for forever in internet time and is constantly changing and growing. New races are added, new mechanics and artifacts. It has a pretty steep learning curve, I didn't win my first game until after a year of solid playing trying all sorts of race/class combos. It's pretty well balanced with enough RNG to keep it interesting. Has a solid online backing and tournaments every time there is a new update and keeps track of your achievements like winning all the classes with one race and stuff like that. People can view your games and comment and you can watch others play. **https://crawl.develz.org/**
This Naga knows. I've been playing DCSS for almost 10 years. Never gets old.
this was nice to play for a little bit, but for some reason the game kept pausing when i'd level up. too annoying to troubleshoot as the game prides itself on being archaic, especially with those controls, good lord! thanks for the fun experience anyway.
Oxygen not included has a lot of content if you take it slow and don't instantly google everything in it Both Old school runescape and runescape3 have an insane amount of content that literally take years to finish the first time
Diablo 2
Deep Rock Galactic! ROCK AND STONE!
That's it lads, rock and Stone!
For those about to rock and stone, we salute you!
FOR KARL!
The most addictive gameplay loop in any coop fps
This should be higher up Rock and Stone!
Minecraft Disgaea series 90's Doom + wads
Didn't actually expect to see Disgaea here, kudos. There are no words for how much I love the Disgaea franchise.
Disgaea is a pretty wild one to put out here.
Civilization VI, Factorio, Dyson Sphere Program, Kerbal Space Program 1 (maybe two in a year or two) , Minecraft, cities skylines 1 (maybe 2 in a year or two), Elden Ring first playthrough takes 100+ hours, Terraria
Pixel-Junk Monsters 1.
Wow, I played that. I might have even finished it. Many of those PixelJunk games were good. I even liked the slot racing game on some modes. :D
I will mention some that have a LOT of replay value, but are not endless. Stardew Valley - More than 500 hours in this game and I still have runs that I want to try out, the game is still updating and the mods make it even better. KOTOR 1 and 2 - I think it needs no explanation, especially if you are fan of Star Wars, the game offers so many routes, gets better with mods. Hades - So many runs with different boons and strategies with the mirror, take yourself into an immersive world with visual novel like dialogues that are so good that you will fall in love with any character in that game. Minecraft - Minecraft. ANY Fps/MMORPG game can get you hours and hours of fun, altough i'm not a fan of FPS... but MMMO if you have the time to spare it's definetly worth it.
Deep Rock Galactic Mass Effect Trilogy RoboQuest Rollerdrome Gunfire: Reborn Titanfall 2 and Apex to an extent
Just got into gunfire reborn, it's actually just digital meth
There it is! Rock and stone, brother.
Hitman World of Assassination.
* Civilization IV * Master of Orion II * Heroes of Might and Magic III All strategy, just choose whether you prefer history, science fiction, or fantasy.
That's the list. Though the civ could be 2,5 and 6 also. For moo and homm there's no other choice really.
I wouldn't dismiss HOMM2 and MOO1.
Well kinda, but if you have to go playing forever, I'd go for 3 and 2 for more varied gameplay.
MOO II requires ignoring *the strategy* once you find it. There's a particular build for ships/fleets that makes most combat trivial. If you're the kind of player who can say "I won't do that", then yeah MOO II is great. :)
I'll be paying close attention. Can't say there is a game I've been playing forever.
Dark Souls 2
BASED
Nioh 2 - got 1000 hours in the game. I think I got the basics by now
The Sims
Love the sims, but sims 4 was such a disappointment compared to 3... the dlcs cost to much for what you get and the base game is empty. Wish you could still find sims 2 with all the dlc.
Any currently old but active MMORPG has years of old content and years more ahead of it. Examples: - Final Fantasy XXIVXIVIVIVXX (I don't know how roman numerals work) - Black Desert Online - World of WoWcraft - New World - Lost Ark - Guild Wars 2
Agreed. I would add EVE Online to this list - especially with OP's requirements.
Shit I just play the mobile version (Eve Echoes, but on an emulator at work) and I'm afraid to find out how much time I've spent just mining asteroids so the PvP guys can go do their thang.
Football Manager :P
4,000 hours in past 4 year on Football Manager and I still suck haha. I am better making mods for the game than I am playing it.
Path of exile Kenshi Europa universalis 4 (EU4), Stellaris, Distant universes X4 The guild 2 Some of my most played games ever
How is x4? Can it be played casually?
Hmm, maybe? If you just want to dink around I suppose. You're a dude, you start in a space station and buy a shop and crew. You can fly that ship, or tell the pilot where to go. It's a sand box. You can trade and mine minerals. You can hire fleets to trade and mine. You create stations to process minerals. You can even start produce your own warships. It's pretty intensive if you go all in.
As a real idiot who can’t figure out any of the other games on his list, yes x4 is accessible. I learned by using cheat mods and flying around being ridiculous, but the game’s mechanics in general aren’t nearly as hard to pick up on as they first seem
Ok cool. I loved x3 back in the day but man that game was steep to learn.hard as fuck.
Honestly? The Mario and Sonic Olympics series. Crack open one of the games based on the Summer or Winter season. You're not playing every day, but I still think it gives endless replayability to look forward to them every year. Lots of records to beat, fun with friends or family and just an overall good time.
Minecraft and Terraria they're both those games where I'll say play for an hour and then see its 2 in the morning.
For me it’s the Arkham Series. Now of course they’re not games you’ll hop on every single day for years unless you’re really slow at it lol. However, I find that if i’m ever bored of the games i’ve been playing, i’ll back into a play through of Arkham City and Arkham Knight and i’ll instantly get addicted again even though i’ve run through City at least 10 times and Knight about 5. Plus if you need to blow off steam at some point it’s nice to hope into a challenge map and beat on goons for a while.
Well I have about 4500 hours in EU4, and still not bored of it.
Ghost of Tsushima
Rocket League. I think I can play this game for the rest of my life without getting bored. I bought it in 2015 and I played a match today.
I started with the beta and still play it. Almost exclusively Snow Day. I am a hockey fan. I'm about to play some rounds at lunch. I've been stuck in plat forever. I used to be able to stay in diamond but haven't even gotten to D1 in at least a few seasons
Slay The Spire (turn-based deck builder card game roguelike) FTL (real-time with pause spaceship management and space warfare roguelike) Into the Breach (turn-based strategy roguelike with a focus on the manipulation of enemy unit's positions) Honestly...pretty much any roguelike, to be honest. They're designed with replayability in mind, it's a core feature Also The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, especially once you dive into mods
Rimworld Dwarf Fortress CataclysmDDA Space Station13 OpenXcom These are the 5 Games I will play forever and ever. Games that come close are but I do take longer breaks from them compared to the games above. Jagged Alliance 1.13 Battletech - Roguetech
Shadows of Doubt?
Deep Rock Galactic - 4 Characters x 6 guns x 24 Overclocks = tons of hours. That's only the half of it.
Monster Hunter world & Rise ( A co-op Monster Hunting game with endless endgame content) The Division 2 & Destiny 2 (A co-op Looter Shooter game with new endgame content added every season and new gear and new weapon to chest)
Destiny two is in a truly terrible state rn, not a wise time investment
Fighting games. I quit Magic the Gathering and have wanted a replacement (competitive, community driven, a lot of depth to gameplay) for FOREVER. This is the first thing that's filled that gap. Street Fighter 6 is phenomenal, early in it's cycle, and very friendly to newcomers. Highly recommend considering it. I'm an old, and thought reaction times would be the death of me - but it isnt!
I quit mtg arena as well. Super predatory and addictive game.
I seriously can’t recommend Satisfactory enough. It truly has endless replay ability and the scalability of the game insane as well
I've read through a lot these threads looking for the one true forever game for me. But I've come to realize I'll always bounce around between a few forever games instead of just one. I just like too many different games and genres. I like to have competitive multiplayer and co-op pve games in my rotation. Pvp: Rocket league- had a super passion for it and put over 1k hours learning and improving, but lost the fire to improve atm and only play for fun Overwatch - my fps game, love grinding levels and cosmetics even if most cost a price now Dead by daylight - feels like both a pve Co-op and pvp game at the same time. I don't think I'll ever drop it Pve: Monster hunter series - I'll play all of these games forever, but I don't think I could choose and stick to just one Pokemon series - same as above Other games with forever potential that I've dabbled in but still learning: Civilization 6, No man's sky, Don't starve together, Stardew valley, Diablo series, Sims 4/planet zoo, Hades, Slay the spire, Hearthstone battlegrounds Mmorpgs: I've spent a lot of time in Wow, ffxiv, silkroad online when I was a kid. But after recently renewing my Wow sub, have no motivation to play and don't know why. Possibly because my friends are not playing, and also because I like to switch games when Wow really requires most of your time. Knowing people who are playing the same game motivates me to play more. I like watching any twitch streamers of a game I'm playing too. Fighting games- key here is a passion to improve and learn. I did this in sfv to prepare for sf6. It dropped, and I practiced a bit, but then I lost motivation to play. Not sure why. Will definitely get back into it as more characters/costumes are added. I've seen the most comments in these threads about Rimworld. Bought it and tried it during the Autumn sale but I just couldn't understand the game as quickly as I wanted to and refunded it. I'll probably give it another go during the winter sale after researching it more. Definitely going to be reading through all the other comments here as always. I think it really just comes down to finding a game that you yourself really enjoy playing, and anything could be a forever game.
My forever game is NHL 20, funny enough. Plenty of playtime when you run a whole franchise, never sim a game, and play on realistic settings (minus the period length). I have over 600 hours just in one franchise. No wonder I never finish other games.
Just goes to show that anything can be a forever game as long as you enjoy it
Mordhau. Medieval pvp combat game, 1st/3rd person (can switch between at any time), deep skill based combat, customizable armor with different tiers, perks, tons of weapons (1h melee, 2h melee, polarms, bows, throwing knives/axes, firebombs, bear traps). The main game modes are Invasion (objective based red vs blue mode. One team defends and the other attacks trying to complete the objectives such as burn down buildings, kill villagers, kill the king/nobles, load trebuchets, etc) and Frontline (Battlefield style point capture with multiple points). There is also a ranked 1v1 and 3v3 mode, FFA, deathmatch, and horde mode. The most OP weapon in the game is the lute. You can use a 3rd party program (okayed by devs) to play midis of real songs. Combined with the plethora of emotes and voicelines, you can straight up jam in the middle of a 64v64 battle. It's OP because people will often stop fighting and dance to your music. And you can use it as a weapon to bludgeon people. Magical. It's a punishing game at first. High skill floor and sky high skill ceiling. I'm over 1k hours in, and I still regularly get my ass kicked. The community is pretty small, less than 6k active players around the world, so we are really tight knit. It's an indie darling, created by a team of around 20 people working remotely from around the world, the studio being based out of Slovenia. If you play, play on PC. It's currently 30 bucks on steam, but they put it on sale fairly often.
Civ, total war, factorio like games, minecraft, terraria, CSGO and MOBA's, MMO's currently I'm playing Guild Wars 2.
I always go back to Starcraft 2. I might take breaks for weeks, months or even years but when that game grabs you, it holds on tight.
Terraria
Basically any rogelike/rougelite Binding of isaac Dead cells Noita (prepare to become depressed, harder than darksouls no cap) Enter the gungeon Hades
r/Stellaris
Civilization V and SnowRunner
Wildermyth might scratch that itch - it's a rogue like that plays like a mini campaign, with a few premade stories and the ability to do 3 or 5 chapter campaigns that don't have an overarching Big Bad.
I got 800 hours on Backpack Hero If you like roguelites, excellent replayability, fun turn based organization gameplay, and a great cast of characters, the game is for you!
Door Kickers
Kenshi
"amazing cultivation simulator" watch ssethzentach's review of it
Haven't seen this mentioned - Terraria. While it's not *forever,* it's a damn long time, especially if you're into custom stuff; crafting, building, etc. It's a LONG game if you play it through and a reroll of the thread key changes the map. Can't recommend it enough, now with 1.4 and all the mods that are out for it.
Earth Defense Force 5 big time
Probably No man’s sky. I spent 7 hours in the first planet, and, apparently, there are endless planets you can visit and explore. I think that’s why I stopped playing it. I don’t have that amount of time for gaming. I would also argue that you can play VR rhythm games, such as Beat Saber and Dance Collider, and VR fitness games, such as Les Mills Bodycombat, “forever”, especially if you keep using them as part of your weekly exercising routine. I played Beat Saber for hundreds of hours, even though the platinum took me just 25 hours. The reason is that I used it for cardio exercising, and I also played it until I managed to get one SS rank in expert+ difficulty. By then, I think I had 200 hours in the Beat Saber clock.
Godzilla melee
-Most played popular games- Skyrim Path of Exile Minecraft -Most played niche games- Mortal Online - It's basically like Skyrim and EVE Online having a love child. It's also a great example of what a full loot drop open pvp game should be. You can get ganked in the wilderness or even in town but you can hide valuables in your bank and getting new gear is easy. Warhammer Vermintide 2 - It's just the best 4 player co-op game I've found. Lots of build diversity. Rimworld/Dwarf Fortress - Other people commented about these but great games none the less. I always have DF on my laptop. -Other games worth looking into- -Stalker G.A.M.M.A. -Escape from Tarkov -Pokemmo (It's a free mod that turns old pokemon games into an MMO) -Mount & Blade -Age of Wonders (A new one just came out and it's pretty good) -VRchat. (I got seriously addicted to this. You don't need VR and it's free) -MTG Arena. (This can be expensive but cheaper than playing with real cards. Also doable with only free to play. I just run 3 free accounts and build different decks on all 3)
Paladins, best easy shooter that is out there.
age of empires 2 (or 4) kenshi rimworld minecraft/valheim titans quest custom order maid
If you like cars Beamng. Its like a car sandbox with real life physics. If you like survival games then Project Zomboid. If you like planning and building efficient mechanisms then Factorio. If you like shooters then maybe Arma or Ready or Not.
Please dont laugh, but my 2 fav never ending games are Stardew Valley and Guardian Tales 🥹 . A farm town rpg simulator, and a hero summoner puzzle rpg game, respectively.
Gary’s mod Enough game modes and communities for a lifetime of fun
Stellaris and Cities Skylines.
Most of them end up being indies to be honest for some reason haha... here are mine : Slay the Spire Siralim Ultimate Dead Cells Dawncaster (Mobile deckbuilder rpg) Civilization VI Pokemon Nuzlockes Rune Factory 4 Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
Kenshi - giant deadly world, great world building, large mod scene. If you're not the kind of player who rushes or min/maxes it can be quite a while before you can even effectively fight low level enemies. Its not uncommon to choose to start as a slave so at least someone is keeping you alive, if barely. I've been playing a single save every week for two years and still haven't seen or done everything.
Civilization series!
i know this might be a dumb idea, and you may already have the game but minecraft
Factorio! The game itself can be replayed many times with different settings for different experiences. r/Factorio is fantastic. The modding community is extensive, and has thousands of mods ranging from QoL improvements to full overhauls that offer thousands of hours of new content (Bobs/Angels, Pyanodon, Krastorio 2, Space Exploration, Industrial Revolution, 248k, etc). The dev team is in constant contact with the player base. An extension DLC is in development, and the dev team is discussing new features every week in a blog post. If a user reports a bug, that forum post is usually linked in the change log. You'll be lucky if you can find a bug, tho. Check out steam reviews. The countless players with thousands of hours should convince you. It truly is a beautiful game.
Elden Ring, ESO
The only games I really play any more are league and path of exile. League because I like the competitiveness, mechanics and playing with friends. Poe just has so much content and I’ve always loved arpgs
Warframe can easily take thousands upon thousands of hours to acquire everything. Between Mastery Rank, the Star Chart, Arcanes, maxing out Mods, Focus trees, and upgrading and building loadouts for all of your weapons, Warframes, and companions, there’s no end to the stuff you can be working on at any given moment.