Asklemmy

Binding of Isaac for me. Endless replay value.

For me personally, any game in the Super Smash Bros series.

They've always been a go-to when hanging out with friends, in their time.

Melee still has a following. Nobody likes brawl because of tripping (among other things i'm sure), but I learned how to mod brawl and added so many custom stages and character skins. Sm4sh was ok, and Ultimate is so complete.

Yeah it's Nintendo and "it's always moral to pirate Nintendo games" and there's plenty to complain about their online services but I've played smash so much that every time a new game comes out immediately a must-buy.

• Velocity 2x - extremely fun fast paced 2d space shooter & platformer. Is extremely rewarding when you start to get to good at it and learn the levels.

• Muramasa Demon Blade/Rebirth - also really fun and satisfying skill-based combat game but with some light RPG elements. What I really love about it though is the sheer vibes. Set in feudal Japan with gorgeous artwork and sound/music. Great fun and a piece of art.

some recent games I absolutely loved

• Disco Elysium
• Children of Morta
• Viewfinder
• Planet of Lana
• INSIDE
• Limbo
• Chained Echoes
• Detroit: Become Human
• Triangle Strategy
• Tunic
• Prodeus

the binding of isaac and deep rock galactic. best games I've ever played oh and maybe minecraft (I'm 28 and the past 2 weeks got into the mc rabbit hole AGAIN)

Civilization III and/or V

Edit: If you have lot's of time available.

Dead Cells. Factorio. Mini Metro. FTL.

I only play a certain part of games, I don't care for rpgs or top-down games as much as I like first person shooters, racing games, or simulation games.

With that being said, here's my list.

• Red Dead Redemption 2: The best game I have ever played, hands-down. It's story and gameplay are both perfection.
• Trepang2: A less heard of game, but a really fun first-person shooter which is like a mix of Crysis and Doom.
• Mafia 1 and 2: A great series with solid stories and gameplay, these are very enjoyable to play. Just don't buy Mafia 3. It's like if Ubisoft made a Mafia game.
• Arma III: A classic military simulation game which I spent hours on hours in. I love exploring the maps while engaging in realistic shootouts, especially with mods like ACE which make it even more realistic and immersive.

So many tedious recommendations when the answer is obviously heaven's vault.

It's dogshit in almost every way. Even moving around the world feels like pouring salt into your eyes. I hate almost every single thing, the protagonist, the pace, the awful vehicle sections to travel. But it's something you should play, or perhaps experience.

It's an archeological translation game and there are multiple moments of "Ok so maybe that actually means font of life not mother goddess, but that would mean this means artificial god which would mean that the extinction event was actually transcendence and holy shit..."

Which kind of games. From an Rpg perspective,

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

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

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

• Factorio
• Return to obra dinn
• Skyrim
• Chrono Trigger (must pirate because SNES is best)
• Papers please
• Enter the Gungeon
• Cuphead
• Slay the Spire
• Subroutine
• Medieval 2 Total War (bit aged with mods to fix)
• Warcraft 3 and/or StarCraft 2 (for the campaign)

Voices of the Void.

Oh, wait. It's free right now??? Go get it!

To give something that most likely has not been mentioned: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. The character banter is the best I've encountered in any video game thus far.

What platform? I can think of multiple must buys, but it really depends on the system.

You can't buy them anymore. They're all got delisted from every store by the publisher.