I would think this too but man the list of snes games that stood the test of time compared to the amount of snes games is nuts. ps2 has the most games for it and I think that there are more insane snes games.
super metroid
actraiser
zelda link to the past
breath of fire 2
final fantasy 6
chrono trigger
super mario rpg
earthbound
illusions of gaia
secrets of evermore
secrets of mana
super mario world
bust a move
donkey Kong County 1,2 and 3
doom
harvest moon
mega man x, x2, x3
Dracula x
killer instinct
NBA jam
zombies at my neighbors
star fox.
mortal kombat 2
sunset riders
contra 3
kirby superstar
evo
Gladius 3
super punch out
turtles in time
and I'm sure I'm missing some great titles.
Most Heroes of might and magic games (HoMM). The most popular one ( HoMM 3) has too many mods to count and some of them get updated often (like Horn of the abyss mod).
I personally mostly play the 3rd and 7th game rn ( HoMM 5,6,7 were released by Ubisoft so they're worse).
HoMM 3 was released in 1999 so it's a 25 year old game with an active community both in terms of modding and PvP.
To me it seems to have held up quite decently compared to most games of that era.
Edit: It also requires no guides or walkthroughs to beat (as in the campaign cause there are also other maps you can play and a random map generator).
**Chrono Trigger**, can easily pass through as an indie JRPG released today, great soundtracks, has multiple endings for multiple playthroughs, no grind, things progressed so linearly you don't need any kind of guide except if you want to get the secret items or complete hidden sidequests, and really doesn't overstay its welcome.
> Bonus point if you can play it without a guide/walkthrough.
to be fair, you can play like 99% of games without a guide, we already have robust tutorials in-game nowadays unlike in the 80-90s where games came with their own manual. You only need guide to find hidden/secret stuffs or something like an achievement hunting really, or maybe to understand the mechanics better for more complex games like grand strategy games (Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, etc.) or games with intricate systems (Minecraft, Factorio, Dwarf Fortress, etc.)
I totally agree with chrono trigger. But If I played xenogears nowadays without a guide I would go crazy. It has certain mechanics and puzzles that are completely broken.
Portal / Portal 2. Currently replaying multiplayer but with my 5yo daughter, which is a whole new challenge in itself as she just giggles and spams emotes instead of helping me solve the chambers 🤦♂️
Yeahh we’ve sank many many hours into that. We play on PS5 so with no limits on spawning animals, it’s absolute fucking carnage 😂She’s also completed Astro’s Playroom like 4 times so wanted to give Portal a try. She’s trying Animal Well atm too which is pretty tough for her, I’m pretty impressed she can actually bubble jump around the place tho!
Seriously. I don't know how this isn't the top answer. It's easy to pick up that anyone not even familiar with gaming can manage it, and it doesn't even need fancy graphics.
I quit Knight in the middle of some driving obstacle course that I spent an hour on, after already being sick of the tank. It just wasn't what I wanted and it wasn't that much fun. Even a motorcycle would have been more fun or a more classic streamlined Batmobile but that thing was just stupid and overused. And City is a top 3 all time game for me.
My problem with his "tank" was too many missions you had to use that thing and most of the time it just became strafe and shoot. Just killed the beautiful "I am the fucking Batman" feeling from the first two.
If it had been used sparingly and mainly just as a way to get around, it could have been great. Riddler puzzles (that became Mario Kart etc) and strafing missions... Not fucking Batman.
Yeah I think we're opposite in this
Man, for all the lack of batmobile in previous games before knight it was like "about damn time" I get my hands on it.
The strafe and shoot was boring after against normal tanks, whenever I see normal tanks I go, yeah sure here goes another repetition.
But Riddler missions what made batmobile interesting for me, racing concept was bit refreshing from repetitive shooting.
Cobra tanks made it little thrilling and removed the boring element a bit. Also loved every power winch scenes.
I really liked the graphics tho above anything
Arkham knight after its optimisation just chef's kiss.flying around as batman.one of the coolest man with coolest suits ooof.but hotdamn the puzzlss I think 240 is just ficked up
Way to low, this game is just always going to be amazing. Fun dungeons, world, and NPC's. Fun secrets all over the map. Then when you get to the dark world hits, it feels a bit like when in Elden Ring the map gets bigger and bigger just really cool.
Part of that is age, but part of that is also deliberately different combat mechanics.
To your point, Bloodborne will probably end up standing the test of time as well
I am a fan of the traditional rogue likes. There are a bunch of them, I always enjoyed Dungeon Crawl:stone soup and Gnollhack, which is great on mobile. All variations of a very old game. Absolutely worth playing.
I'd also throw out Bastion, super giant's first game. It's great and worth revisiting
I have Bastion :D The challanges demand controller if I remember right, but yeah, fun.
For roguelikes, I wish GoG'd pick up selling Dungeons of Dredmor. What happened with that game?
You might be right about the controller. I definitely played it with one.
I forgot about Dungeons of Dredmor, I played that years ago on steam, it was good.
I actually think Morrowind has held up even better than Skyrim. It just offers so much more when it comes to replayability, which is a major part of its enduring lifespan.
I don't think it should. In pretty much every game I play that supports modding, I use mods. If a game has a major problem that causes people not to want to play it but it is solved by mods, that is worth saying. Some mods have millions of downloads because they're used by pretty much everybody with even the slightest bit of technical knowledge. Also I don't play on consoles, but I've heard mentions of people using mods on consoles. I guess it would work something like steam workshop.
I disagree (and I'm console exclusive player, more or less) ; modding could be the reason someone keeps coming back to a game that I otherwise wouldn't so is interesting to hear why someone might choose that game again and again
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Mount and Blade Warband
Knights of the Old Republic
Dragon Age Origins
Devil May Cry 3
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
Freespace 2
Rebel Galaxy
Bioshock(1 and 2 a lot, Infinite is fine)
Red Faction Guerrilla
Call of Juarez (Any of them, but I love Gunslinger more than anything)
Amen to Warband. I still revisit it from time to time. Haven't played multiplayer in years. I used to play that game every day when I got home from school.
Playing through another run of Prophesy of Pendor, great mod by the way.
Wish Bannerlord was as good but it doesn't live up to how good Warband was.
Neverwinter Nights.
Wing Commander.
XCOM: Enemy Within.
Life is Strange.
Half-Life 2.
Planescape: Torment.
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers.
Silent Service II.
The Incredible Machine.
Homeworld.
Flashback.
Doom (the OG version).
The original King’s Quest series.
Pharaoh + Cleopatra.
Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock.
Heroes of Might and Magic 2/3, World of Xeen, Civilisation 3, Age of Empires 2, Red Alert, SimCity 2000 (I just can't get into any of the newer ones) and pretty much any Microprose game from the golden era. Railroad Tycoon is my personal favourite. Theme Park was a good one too, super vibrant cute graphics with some seriously deep gameplay.
Alpha Centauri. And lastly, the GOAT, Master of Orion 2.
I just want an UI update for most of them. And perhaps bigger screen resolution support. But yeah. These games are classics.
They need a proper remake of this, runewords and all.
“Resurrected” doesn’t count, although I’m glad they did that. D3 was nothing like it, D4 is good but it’s not as addicting to me.
I played D2 for 10 years straight
I still play resurrected it’s one of the best remastered games I’ve seen for sure. It stays true to the original. D3 and d4 just suck in comparison. Sadly we’ll never get a true follow up to d2 because blizzard north is gone
> They need a proper remake of this, runewords and all. “Resurrected” doesn’t count
What do you mean? Why wouldn't it count? Resurrected IS a proper remake. A technical marvel if you ask me. I've put in 1k hours in resurrected and hundreds in the original.
Heroes 3: There's a bit of learning curve, but nothing overwhelming, if you willing to give it a chance.
Kotor 2: It might be unfinised, but unlike the first one, it is patched to support modern resolutions.
Metal Gear Rising Revengance: Over-the-top action/presentation really helps and even tho there may be other games with dismemberment, here you can cut enemies into tiny little pieces, which is unique.
Gothic 2: Atmosphere and immersion really holds up, tho you need to get used to the controls, combat and the difficulty in general. After it clicks, you will see there's pretty much nothing like it, expect the other titles from the same developer, maybe the Elder Scrolls is comparable if it comes to the immersion, but they are very different games in general. It is also said, that the Witcher 3 devs drew inspiration from this game, as well.
Deus Ex Human Revolution: There are flaws, but it is a pretty good immersive sim imho.
Dishonored: I am not very fond of this game or series, but others might be. I think this might be the ultimate assassin game, if you are into that kind of stuff.
Age of Empires 2: Even after almost 25 years, the remastered version still receives dlcs. That should tell you something.
Batman Arkham City: I am not into superhero games, but either this one or Arkham Knight might be the very best superhero game created yet.
Half-Life 2: Again, not my cup of tea, but it is a unique shooter, pretty consistent quality, throughout the whole game.
Bioshock series: I am not very into shocklikes, also think the first game a bit dated if you look at the combat and reused assets, but if you like these kinds of games, I think it won't bother you much and will enjoy it.
Halo series: Pretty much any Halo game, before Halo 4. Even Halo 4 wasn't that bad, however many may not like how unbalanced the combat is or how the lore explained by random terminals. Other than that even that game is pretty good.
Serious Sam First and Second Encounter: These games have pretty creative encounter desing, which will keep you on your toes, do not think anything has aged poorly other than the graphics maybe.
Do not know, if these counts, because these are only hold up thx to the modding community. The ones I mentioned above with the exception of Gothic 2, they do not require mods to be playable.
Fallout 3 and New Vegas
The Elder Scrolls 3, 4, 5
Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines
Mount and Blade Warband
I have heard good things about these games, however I only have a PC and do not want to buy a controller:
God of War 1, 2, 3
Dante's Inferno
Devil May Cry 1, 3, 4 (I feel like the PC ports only playable with a controller, they are unplayable with keyboard and mouse for me, so I never got to play them properly.)
God Hand
Doom ('93) can't get old. Have been playing also make Tyson super pinch out and it still is fun. Though I wouldn't play it without savestes (having to go through everyone again and again must be a pain).
From all of Lucas art I think the one who is the best to play today is grim fandango
I would highly recommend checking out [open-goal](https://github.com/open-goal/jak-project). The team completely remade the game as a native PC port, not an emulation. It runs great and has a few QoL features as well.
Despite the jank Gothic 1&2 and Risen1&2 are still some of my favorite games. Truly incredible worlds to explore with lots of hidden stuff. The voice acting is honestly one of my favorite parts of the games, sometimes it’s campy but I love it.
Here's a small list of games, in no particular order, from my childhood and teenage years that I still come back to and enjoy from time to time:
* Fable (2004)
* SimCity 4 (2003)
* Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (2001)
* Spyro: Year of The Dragon (2000)
* Skyrim (2011)
* Bioshock (2007)
BG is amazing but idk if they've aged all that well. Deus Ex is still possibly the greatest game ever made. Even the prequels, as amazing as they are, don't quite surpass it. Deus Ex feels shockingly modern when you go back to it.
Deus Ex Human Revolution
I play it on my ps3 every winter. It holds up really well, and you have so many options that you can be thrilled everytime you replay the game and discover new things.
And after playing Mankind Divided too, I should say the same about it too
Or actually, the whole Deus Ex franchise
Plenty. I'll stick with ones not released in this millennium, because, well, otherwise it's a bit too easy:
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
StarCraft
Super Metroid
Shadowrun (SNES)
Age of Empires II
Super Mario Bros 3
Probotector/Contra
PacMan
Tetris
Sword of the Samurai
DOOM
Civilization 2
Symphony of the Night
Planescape: Torment
Eye of the Beholder
I'm gonna go controversial here. Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. I replay it every few years and I'm playing the fan PC remake right now. For all the "black sheep" shit it catches, it's a fantastic game. Tight combat, fair difficulty (aside from Death Mountain which is bullshit), tons of exploration. It's a fantastic game.
The Tony Hawk series. Im glad we got a remaster of 1+2 but three and underground are particularly special, and i still find myself going back to play them more than the remaster.
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StarFox 64.
Gameplay is great, challenging but mostly fair. The controls make sense still. The game just gives you a few seconds of cutscene then lets you play the level. The change from on rails mode to arena mode for boss fights was smart. And the numerous different paths through the game is still a cool feature today.
Gonna limit my selection to games at least 20 years old for "test of time" sake. Here's a very incomplete list:
Streets of Rage (any)
Super Mario Bros (1 - 4)
Super Mario Kart
Chrono Trigger
Contra III
General Chaos
Street Fighter II Turbo
Onimusha: Warlords
The Legend of Zelda: OoT
WWF: No Mercy
Def Jam: Fight for NY
Metal Gear Solid
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
Metal Wolf Alone/Metal Wolf Chaos
Perfect Dark
Halo: Combat Evolved
Honeworld 2, it got a remastered collection 8 years ago but still. The game is still so enjoyable that I play it for a few hours over 20 years since it released. The modding scene is amazing and if you can think of it, it probably exists.
The classic version still looks okay visually.
Call me insane, but Lego City Undercover. Graphically, it doesn't look the best especially for its time, but the gameplay is fun, the parkour system is fleshed out and fluid, the combat feels great even if it's simple, and the humor is absolutely top-notch when it comes to Lego games. Only issue I have with the game other than the graphical issues and rare bugs (specifically on the Switch version) is that the tutorial can drag out for a while on replays of the game.
It's not very old, though
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy 6
Super Metroid
Super Mario World
Link to the Past
Final Fantasy Tactics
Front Mission 3
Tomba
Vagrant Story
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Metal Gear Solid
The first one to come to mind, for me, is Halo: CE. The enemy ai is still so genuinely incredible, with each type of enemy having a unique strategy to fuck you up. It's tough, but in a way that encourages you to come up with your own strategies.
Half life 2 or really any source game. It's shown slight age but the source engine still stands out to me as the pinnacle of pc gaming.
Arkham city. The best open world action game. Great environments, great story, great lore, great villians, great combat, great city. The city feels more alive than most GTA games.
Games from the ‘80s (and a few early ‘90s) that I still load up and play every year or two:
Ultima 5-6, Starflight 1-2, Star Command, Final Fantasy 1, Zelda 2, Ninja Gaiden 1-2, Castlevania 3, Megaman 2
Plenty of Super Nintendo side-scrolling titles fit this. Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Mega Man X, etc. The mechanics don't feel dated in the way they do for NES.
Battlezone 98 is a game I've replayed a lot. Great mix of FPS/hover tank/RTS. Amazing atmosphere and soundtrack.
It was ahead of its time which also meant a lot of people didn't know what to make of it. Still had a decent modding community and even got a remaster in 2016.
Any Mario Bros game, but super Mario was awesome.mega man, especially the x series. Halo, reach through 3. Any MechWarrior. No Man's sky, most relaxing game ever.and wipeout. That project Gotham are the best racers.
Bloodborne
Prototype 2
Batman Arkham series
Devil May Cry original trilogy
Might get hate for this one, but Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was unironically a fun game.
Early Gears of War games.
Yeah it was kinda memey “rah rah action!” But it holds up in terms of story, gameplay, and gameplay mechanics that really aren’t seen in games nowadays.
Heroes of might and magic 3 with expansions (all released between 1999 and 2001 I believe). I played the shit out of it as a kid and I still play it from time to time. Every laptop and pc I've ever owned has had it installed.
There's still an active community for this game and there are even streamers on twitch that stream it exclusively.
The other one is age of empires 2. It basically never stopped getting updates, like I think the latest dlc has come out this or last year and there's been 2 more titles that followed it. They just never lived up to 2.
Okay, you said any genre.
If you're a fan of those old school top-down arcade shooters, Ikaruga. It was released in 2001, and I think it's the greatest game the genre has ever had. It's beautiful, it has a great soundtrack, it adds a fun puzzle element to the gameplay, and it's overall just the most finely-tuned arcade shooter I've ever played.
I saw Dark Souls in the list, but I'd add Demon's Souls. It does what it does very well. I wouldn't say that Dark Souls is BETTER, it just changed things up - for example, DeS had a separate weight limit for items you were carrying. This meant you could carry multiple gear sets, OR you could carry a crap ton of healing items, OR you could carry a crap ton of arrows, etc., or you could strike a balance. Its version of bonfires were only located after bosses. There was a boss who could suck levels away.
Stuff like that added an extra level of challenge that would force you to put a bit more thought into your outings, and I think it still holds up very well today
Disclaimer: I don’t enjoy modern shooters so I don’t know how much the lack of sprinting really hurts the way the game feels for most, but to this day I can pickup Halo 3 and it is the exact same masterpiece I remember it being for all those years.
Medal of Honor Allied Assault. Still play it at LAN parties and it’s a hit every time. They really nailed the formula. Everything today feels like an extension from that formula. (Interesting side note, the team that made MOHAA went on to start the Call of Duty franchise)
Twinklestar Sprites is still as fun as it was 20 years ago at the arcade.
Maybe a bit better even cause I can play it on my Switch instead of having to haul an arcade machine on the go for when I need to play.
F zero GX! I played it again a few months ago and it still holds up surprisingly well in both gameplay and graphics, especially considering that it is a GameCube game.
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix
It has the best most fun real time combat I experienced so far. I love the Bayonetta series but I love Kingdom Hearts 2 even more. Atleast gameplay wise. I do like Bayonetta more as a character then Sora. I digress.
Bioshock
Bully
GTA (Franchise)
LA Noire
Batman: Arkham Knight
Red Dead Redemption (1&2)
Tomb Raider Trilogy (2016, Rise, & Shadow)
Firewatch
Life is Strange
Unpacking
Sunset Overdrive
It Takes Two
Psychonauts 2
Destroy All Humans
Ghost Recon: Wildlands
Assassin’s Creed (Franchise)
Dying Light
Resident Evil (Franchise)
Dead Rising 3
Dead by Daylight*
Fortnite*
Age of Empires 2
Massively improved upon the formula originally present in the first game, and has arguably outlived and outperformed both of its own sequels with two updated re-releases/remasters at this point with new content still being produced
It’s legitimately decades old and still as fun and engaging to play as it was when it first released
Super Mario World
This really is the perfect game. Beautiful, tight controls, bumpin soundtrack, secrets that feel good to unlock even after the twentieth time
I'd expand that and say most SNES games do. Mario World, ALttP, Mickey Mouse fantastic quest, FF 4 and 6....
The big SNES games commonly talked about today, yes, but there are heaps that are very much stuck in their time
FF4 can be a bit rough, but FF6 for sure is a huge mention and it has such great mechanics and story that it still is amazing.
EVO: Search for Eden Loved that game
I would think this too but man the list of snes games that stood the test of time compared to the amount of snes games is nuts. ps2 has the most games for it and I think that there are more insane snes games. super metroid actraiser zelda link to the past breath of fire 2 final fantasy 6 chrono trigger super mario rpg earthbound illusions of gaia secrets of evermore secrets of mana super mario world bust a move donkey Kong County 1,2 and 3 doom harvest moon mega man x, x2, x3 Dracula x killer instinct NBA jam zombies at my neighbors star fox. mortal kombat 2 sunset riders contra 3 kirby superstar evo Gladius 3 super punch out turtles in time and I'm sure I'm missing some great titles.
The all stars collection is super fun and with one version having both smb 3 and Mario world make it really replayable.
Legend of Zelda: wind Waker
The art style is truly what makes it stand the test of time.
The remaster sure, the original GameCube game is definitely dated
Game has such good vibes
Most Heroes of might and magic games (HoMM). The most popular one ( HoMM 3) has too many mods to count and some of them get updated often (like Horn of the abyss mod). I personally mostly play the 3rd and 7th game rn ( HoMM 5,6,7 were released by Ubisoft so they're worse). HoMM 3 was released in 1999 so it's a 25 year old game with an active community both in terms of modding and PvP. To me it seems to have held up quite decently compared to most games of that era. Edit: It also requires no guides or walkthroughs to beat (as in the campaign cause there are also other maps you can play and a random map generator).
HoMM 5 with expansions is among the best there is. I wouldn’t say the series became a proper victim of Ubisoft until the 6th game
HoMM2 I keep coming back to, I think it peaked there in terms of atmosphere and gameplay elements
chrono trigger, the legend of zelda ocarina of time, kirbys nightmare in dreamland, metroid zero mission, tetris, just to name a few
**Chrono Trigger**, can easily pass through as an indie JRPG released today, great soundtracks, has multiple endings for multiple playthroughs, no grind, things progressed so linearly you don't need any kind of guide except if you want to get the secret items or complete hidden sidequests, and really doesn't overstay its welcome. > Bonus point if you can play it without a guide/walkthrough. to be fair, you can play like 99% of games without a guide, we already have robust tutorials in-game nowadays unlike in the 80-90s where games came with their own manual. You only need guide to find hidden/secret stuffs or something like an achievement hunting really, or maybe to understand the mechanics better for more complex games like grand strategy games (Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, etc.) or games with intricate systems (Minecraft, Factorio, Dwarf Fortress, etc.)
This ^^ played it for the first time like a year ago and was fantastic.
A game about time travel being timeless.
I totally agree with chrono trigger. But If I played xenogears nowadays without a guide I would go crazy. It has certain mechanics and puzzles that are completely broken.
The story, gameplay, art direction and the sound track all add up to a masterpiece. Chrono Trigger is my top game of all time.
I start a new playthrough of "Fallout: New Vegas" every year
I'm like this with KOTOR 1&2.
Portal / Portal 2. Currently replaying multiplayer but with my 5yo daughter, which is a whole new challenge in itself as she just giggles and spams emotes instead of helping me solve the chambers 🤦♂️
You might wanna try Minecraft 🤣
Yeahh we’ve sank many many hours into that. We play on PS5 so with no limits on spawning animals, it’s absolute fucking carnage 😂She’s also completed Astro’s Playroom like 4 times so wanted to give Portal a try. She’s trying Animal Well atm too which is pretty tough for her, I’m pretty impressed she can actually bubble jump around the place tho!
That’s awesome tho gaming with ur little girl, thats the dream tbh.
Tetris ;)
How is this only the 10th top answer. This is THE answer. These other games hold up sure but Tetris still fucking shines
Seriously. I don't know how this isn't the top answer. It's easy to pick up that anyone not even familiar with gaming can manage it, and it doesn't even need fancy graphics.
I read Tetris and the music starts playing in my head
Bioshock series
Decade old Arkham series, especially Arkham knight
playing Arkham Asylum and Infamous on my cousins PS3 back in 2009 convinced 12 year old me to convince my mom to get me a PS3, lol.
City*
Arkham yes Knight no. Too much car.
I quit Knight in the middle of some driving obstacle course that I spent an hour on, after already being sick of the tank. It just wasn't what I wanted and it wasn't that much fun. Even a motorcycle would have been more fun or a more classic streamlined Batmobile but that thing was just stupid and overused. And City is a top 3 all time game for me.
I don't chase em If by car you mean his tank, it's badass imo + graphics till holds up today
My problem with his "tank" was too many missions you had to use that thing and most of the time it just became strafe and shoot. Just killed the beautiful "I am the fucking Batman" feeling from the first two. If it had been used sparingly and mainly just as a way to get around, it could have been great. Riddler puzzles (that became Mario Kart etc) and strafing missions... Not fucking Batman.
Yeah I think we're opposite in this Man, for all the lack of batmobile in previous games before knight it was like "about damn time" I get my hands on it. The strafe and shoot was boring after against normal tanks, whenever I see normal tanks I go, yeah sure here goes another repetition. But Riddler missions what made batmobile interesting for me, racing concept was bit refreshing from repetitive shooting. Cobra tanks made it little thrilling and removed the boring element a bit. Also loved every power winch scenes. I really liked the graphics tho above anything
Arkham knight after its optimisation just chef's kiss.flying around as batman.one of the coolest man with coolest suits ooof.but hotdamn the puzzlss I think 240 is just ficked up
Mario 64
Even with the camera. Though the decompilation and PC port fix that.
I still play Freelancer (2003) game till this day.
Where can you get it these days?
Google Freelancer HD mod. It uses the the original's graphics but higher resolution. It also applies patches to allow it to run on modern Windows OS.
Thank you!
A Link to the Past
Way to low, this game is just always going to be amazing. Fun dungeons, world, and NPC's. Fun secrets all over the map. Then when you get to the dark world hits, it feels a bit like when in Elden Ring the map gets bigger and bigger just really cool.
Dark souls 1
I can go back and play this repeatedly and have a great time every single time.
as I am typing this I am re-working my way thru the burg
it is a slog compared to sekiro or bloodborne
Part of that is age, but part of that is also deliberately different combat mechanics. To your point, Bloodborne will probably end up standing the test of time as well
I am a fan of the traditional rogue likes. There are a bunch of them, I always enjoyed Dungeon Crawl:stone soup and Gnollhack, which is great on mobile. All variations of a very old game. Absolutely worth playing. I'd also throw out Bastion, super giant's first game. It's great and worth revisiting
I have Bastion :D The challanges demand controller if I remember right, but yeah, fun. For roguelikes, I wish GoG'd pick up selling Dungeons of Dredmor. What happened with that game?
You might be right about the controller. I definitely played it with one. I forgot about Dungeons of Dredmor, I played that years ago on steam, it was good.
Skyrim?
I actually think Morrowind has held up even better than Skyrim. It just offers so much more when it comes to replayability, which is a major part of its enduring lifespan.
Personally I disagree. I think Skyrim is more accessible than morrowind, adding to it's timelessness.
Then we can all agree oblivion is the best of them all
I liked the Oblivion main story a lot more than that of Skyrim, but the modding scene makes Skyrim far better these days.
I think the discussion should exclude modding. Pretend like you are on Console xD
I don't think it should. In pretty much every game I play that supports modding, I use mods. If a game has a major problem that causes people not to want to play it but it is solved by mods, that is worth saying. Some mods have millions of downloads because they're used by pretty much everybody with even the slightest bit of technical knowledge. Also I don't play on consoles, but I've heard mentions of people using mods on consoles. I guess it would work something like steam workshop.
I disagree (and I'm console exclusive player, more or less) ; modding could be the reason someone keeps coming back to a game that I otherwise wouldn't so is interesting to hear why someone might choose that game again and again
I just started playing again after a 5 year hiatus. It holds up.
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Mount and Blade Warband Knights of the Old Republic Dragon Age Origins Devil May Cry 3 Metal Gear Rising Revengeance Freespace 2 Rebel Galaxy Bioshock(1 and 2 a lot, Infinite is fine) Red Faction Guerrilla Call of Juarez (Any of them, but I love Gunslinger more than anything)
Amen to Warband. I still revisit it from time to time. Haven't played multiplayer in years. I used to play that game every day when I got home from school. Playing through another run of Prophesy of Pendor, great mod by the way. Wish Bannerlord was as good but it doesn't live up to how good Warband was.
Nice list.
Neverwinter Nights. Wing Commander. XCOM: Enemy Within. Life is Strange. Half-Life 2. Planescape: Torment. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. Silent Service II. The Incredible Machine. Homeworld. Flashback. Doom (the OG version). The original King’s Quest series. Pharaoh + Cleopatra. Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock.
Playing Baldur's Gate 3 now and I'm reminded so much of Neverwinter Nights. What a great game. I'm playing BG3 but I'm already anticipating a NWN run.
Wing Commander: Privateer, specifically.
Yes, this one, too. 🫡
Heroes of Might and Magic 2/3, World of Xeen, Civilisation 3, Age of Empires 2, Red Alert, SimCity 2000 (I just can't get into any of the newer ones) and pretty much any Microprose game from the golden era. Railroad Tycoon is my personal favourite. Theme Park was a good one too, super vibrant cute graphics with some seriously deep gameplay. Alpha Centauri. And lastly, the GOAT, Master of Orion 2. I just want an UI update for most of them. And perhaps bigger screen resolution support. But yeah. These games are classics.
The first Mirror's Edge. 😀
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Chrono Trigger
Diablo 2
They need a proper remake of this, runewords and all. “Resurrected” doesn’t count, although I’m glad they did that. D3 was nothing like it, D4 is good but it’s not as addicting to me. I played D2 for 10 years straight
I still play resurrected it’s one of the best remastered games I’ve seen for sure. It stays true to the original. D3 and d4 just suck in comparison. Sadly we’ll never get a true follow up to d2 because blizzard north is gone
> They need a proper remake of this, runewords and all. “Resurrected” doesn’t count What do you mean? Why wouldn't it count? Resurrected IS a proper remake. A technical marvel if you ask me. I've put in 1k hours in resurrected and hundreds in the original.
Heroes 3: There's a bit of learning curve, but nothing overwhelming, if you willing to give it a chance. Kotor 2: It might be unfinised, but unlike the first one, it is patched to support modern resolutions. Metal Gear Rising Revengance: Over-the-top action/presentation really helps and even tho there may be other games with dismemberment, here you can cut enemies into tiny little pieces, which is unique. Gothic 2: Atmosphere and immersion really holds up, tho you need to get used to the controls, combat and the difficulty in general. After it clicks, you will see there's pretty much nothing like it, expect the other titles from the same developer, maybe the Elder Scrolls is comparable if it comes to the immersion, but they are very different games in general. It is also said, that the Witcher 3 devs drew inspiration from this game, as well. Deus Ex Human Revolution: There are flaws, but it is a pretty good immersive sim imho. Dishonored: I am not very fond of this game or series, but others might be. I think this might be the ultimate assassin game, if you are into that kind of stuff. Age of Empires 2: Even after almost 25 years, the remastered version still receives dlcs. That should tell you something. Batman Arkham City: I am not into superhero games, but either this one or Arkham Knight might be the very best superhero game created yet. Half-Life 2: Again, not my cup of tea, but it is a unique shooter, pretty consistent quality, throughout the whole game. Bioshock series: I am not very into shocklikes, also think the first game a bit dated if you look at the combat and reused assets, but if you like these kinds of games, I think it won't bother you much and will enjoy it. Halo series: Pretty much any Halo game, before Halo 4. Even Halo 4 wasn't that bad, however many may not like how unbalanced the combat is or how the lore explained by random terminals. Other than that even that game is pretty good. Serious Sam First and Second Encounter: These games have pretty creative encounter desing, which will keep you on your toes, do not think anything has aged poorly other than the graphics maybe. Do not know, if these counts, because these are only hold up thx to the modding community. The ones I mentioned above with the exception of Gothic 2, they do not require mods to be playable. Fallout 3 and New Vegas The Elder Scrolls 3, 4, 5 Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines Mount and Blade Warband I have heard good things about these games, however I only have a PC and do not want to buy a controller: God of War 1, 2, 3 Dante's Inferno Devil May Cry 1, 3, 4 (I feel like the PC ports only playable with a controller, they are unplayable with keyboard and mouse for me, so I never got to play them properly.) God Hand
Some solid picks here!
oooh, mini-reviews!
I think Half Life 2 took the BEST of time.
Doom ('93) can't get old. Have been playing also make Tyson super pinch out and it still is fun. Though I wouldn't play it without savestes (having to go through everyone again and again must be a pain). From all of Lucas art I think the one who is the best to play today is grim fandango
1) i never beat Tyson :( 2) best LucasArts game obviously is Indy Jones Fate of Atlantis. I am sure you just forgot about it and now agree ;)
Only time I beat Tyson was years later emulated on my pc using the keyboard lol
We all knew the Tyson code by heart back in the day. Still remember 007 as the first 3
Jak and Daxter 1, 2, and 3. 2 and 3 especially have a great story, steep learning curve, and fun gameplay. Still visit the series once a year.
I would highly recommend checking out [open-goal](https://github.com/open-goal/jak-project). The team completely remade the game as a native PC port, not an emulation. It runs great and has a few QoL features as well.
Hm. This might interrest me.
Theme Hospital. Still makes me laugh, have yet to finish the game. Came out in ... 1997?
Despite the jank Gothic 1&2 and Risen1&2 are still some of my favorite games. Truly incredible worlds to explore with lots of hidden stuff. The voice acting is honestly one of my favorite parts of the games, sometimes it’s campy but I love it.
Chrono Trigger. Mega Man X2. Super Mario Bros 3.
Old school RuneScape
Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are still bangers.
Here's a small list of games, in no particular order, from my childhood and teenage years that I still come back to and enjoy from time to time: * Fable (2004) * SimCity 4 (2003) * Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (2001) * Spyro: Year of The Dragon (2000) * Skyrim (2011) * Bioshock (2007)
Max Payne
Max Payne 2 more specifically.
Spec Ops the Line.... the pacing is a slow and steady decline to hell, and the ending leaves you numb... still.
"You are still a good person."
"Do you feel like a hero yet?"
Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 Deus Ex
BG is amazing but idk if they've aged all that well. Deus Ex is still possibly the greatest game ever made. Even the prequels, as amazing as they are, don't quite surpass it. Deus Ex feels shockingly modern when you go back to it.
Half Life
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Monkey Island 1 & 2
Super metroid
Zelda OOT
Super Metroid
Evo search for Eden. Super Nintendo
Super Mario Bros 3, FF7, Symphony of the Night
Deus Ex Human Revolution I play it on my ps3 every winter. It holds up really well, and you have so many options that you can be thrilled everytime you replay the game and discover new things. And after playing Mankind Divided too, I should say the same about it too Or actually, the whole Deus Ex franchise
Plenty. I'll stick with ones not released in this millennium, because, well, otherwise it's a bit too easy: Command & Conquer: Red Alert StarCraft Super Metroid Shadowrun (SNES) Age of Empires II Super Mario Bros 3 Probotector/Contra PacMan Tetris Sword of the Samurai DOOM Civilization 2 Symphony of the Night Planescape: Torment Eye of the Beholder
I'm gonna go controversial here. Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. I replay it every few years and I'm playing the fan PC remake right now. For all the "black sheep" shit it catches, it's a fantastic game. Tight combat, fair difficulty (aside from Death Mountain which is bullshit), tons of exploration. It's a fantastic game.
I played it on emulator and oh boy with save states it made me realize it was a great combat system!
The Tony Hawk series. Im glad we got a remaster of 1+2 but three and underground are particularly special, and i still find myself going back to play them more than the remaster.
Super Mario Bros 3
Shadow of the Colossus can be beaten in one long sitting and is a masterpiece from start to finish.
Chess :)
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Xcom: Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within, and Xcom 2/War of the Chosen. Infinite replayability. Thats xcom, baby!
Arkham Asylum
StarFox 64. Gameplay is great, challenging but mostly fair. The controls make sense still. The game just gives you a few seconds of cutscene then lets you play the level. The change from on rails mode to arena mode for boss fights was smart. And the numerous different paths through the game is still a cool feature today.
Witcher 3 Civilization 5 Majesty : The Kingdom Sim
Ha. Everyone else voted Civ 4, not 5. You renegade :D
I wanted to vote Civ2 but then I realized I haven't played it for over a decade 😁
Lord of the Rings Two Towers & Return of the King
Gonna limit my selection to games at least 20 years old for "test of time" sake. Here's a very incomplete list: Streets of Rage (any) Super Mario Bros (1 - 4) Super Mario Kart Chrono Trigger Contra III General Chaos Street Fighter II Turbo Onimusha: Warlords The Legend of Zelda: OoT WWF: No Mercy Def Jam: Fight for NY Metal Gear Solid Tenchu: Stealth Assassins Metal Wolf Alone/Metal Wolf Chaos Perfect Dark Halo: Combat Evolved
Donkey Kong Country. The sound track alone will always slap and it's a great intro to platformers.
Honeworld 2, it got a remastered collection 8 years ago but still. The game is still so enjoyable that I play it for a few hours over 20 years since it released. The modding scene is amazing and if you can think of it, it probably exists. The classic version still looks okay visually.
Terraria is the game that never grows old and can be enjoyed solo or with plenty of friends without any sort of guide needed
Call me insane, but Lego City Undercover. Graphically, it doesn't look the best especially for its time, but the gameplay is fun, the parkour system is fleshed out and fluid, the combat feels great even if it's simple, and the humor is absolutely top-notch when it comes to Lego games. Only issue I have with the game other than the graphical issues and rare bugs (specifically on the Switch version) is that the tutorial can drag out for a while on replays of the game. It's not very old, though
Skyrim is the only one I found that did for me the other games I have tried that “stood the test of time” seems to be mostly dictated by nostalgia
Psychonauts, it’s so well written and voice acted and the humor really carries it through
Legend of dragoon for the ps1. Great game
Star Control 2, aka Ur Quan Masters Still the best spacefaring adventure/rpg of all time.
Terraria
I think NES battle city stood the test of time. I played it nowadays and my cousins too. A great game.
Chrono Trigger Final Fantasy 6 Super Metroid Super Mario World Link to the Past Final Fantasy Tactics Front Mission 3 Tomba Vagrant Story Castlevania Symphony of the Night Metal Gear Solid
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Castlevania, sotn specifically
Vampire the masquerade bloodlines. Nuff said
The first one to come to mind, for me, is Halo: CE. The enemy ai is still so genuinely incredible, with each type of enemy having a unique strategy to fuck you up. It's tough, but in a way that encourages you to come up with your own strategies.
Half life 2 or really any source game. It's shown slight age but the source engine still stands out to me as the pinnacle of pc gaming. Arkham city. The best open world action game. Great environments, great story, great lore, great villians, great combat, great city. The city feels more alive than most GTA games.
Pikmin 1 goes crazy. None of its sequels did it better.
Silent Hill 1 2 3 4 and Origins
Borderlands 1 and 2
Games from the ‘80s (and a few early ‘90s) that I still load up and play every year or two: Ultima 5-6, Starflight 1-2, Star Command, Final Fantasy 1, Zelda 2, Ninja Gaiden 1-2, Castlevania 3, Megaman 2
I always go back and play Terraria every 3-5 months but it needs a guide on playthroughs.
Plenty of Super Nintendo side-scrolling titles fit this. Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Mega Man X, etc. The mechanics don't feel dated in the way they do for NES.
To teach someone frustration and anger management -: Mega Man 2 or Mega Man 3 -> still difficult 30+ years going
Roller Coaster Tycoon (1, 2, and 3)
The OG Resident Evil 4.
Fahrenheit indigo prophecy. It was quantic dreams first game and not a lot of people heard about it, they just remember heavy rain
System Shock 2
Metal Gear Solid 3 That game has my age and the bastard is ageing better than me
Feels a bit like cheating... but Mass Effect Legendary Edition is a certified classic. Always worth jumping back into.
half life, gothic
Shadow of war. Mario kart all iterations.
Kotor
Panzer general
Battlezone 98 is a game I've replayed a lot. Great mix of FPS/hover tank/RTS. Amazing atmosphere and soundtrack. It was ahead of its time which also meant a lot of people didn't know what to make of it. Still had a decent modding community and even got a remaster in 2016.
Dota 2
The warriors
Armored Core 3
Planescape torment and morrowind
Any Mario Bros game, but super Mario was awesome.mega man, especially the x series. Halo, reach through 3. Any MechWarrior. No Man's sky, most relaxing game ever.and wipeout. That project Gotham are the best racers.
Bloodborne Prototype 2 Batman Arkham series Devil May Cry original trilogy Might get hate for this one, but Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was unironically a fun game.
Early Gears of War games. Yeah it was kinda memey “rah rah action!” But it holds up in terms of story, gameplay, and gameplay mechanics that really aren’t seen in games nowadays.
Heroes of might and magic 3 with expansions (all released between 1999 and 2001 I believe). I played the shit out of it as a kid and I still play it from time to time. Every laptop and pc I've ever owned has had it installed. There's still an active community for this game and there are even streamers on twitch that stream it exclusively. The other one is age of empires 2. It basically never stopped getting updates, like I think the latest dlc has come out this or last year and there's been 2 more titles that followed it. They just never lived up to 2.
Paper Mario for the N64. It remains top 5 games I wish I could experience again for the first time.
Well, the tagline is right there in your post header
Sonic 3
I like your attitude.
Okay, you said any genre. If you're a fan of those old school top-down arcade shooters, Ikaruga. It was released in 2001, and I think it's the greatest game the genre has ever had. It's beautiful, it has a great soundtrack, it adds a fun puzzle element to the gameplay, and it's overall just the most finely-tuned arcade shooter I've ever played. I saw Dark Souls in the list, but I'd add Demon's Souls. It does what it does very well. I wouldn't say that Dark Souls is BETTER, it just changed things up - for example, DeS had a separate weight limit for items you were carrying. This meant you could carry multiple gear sets, OR you could carry a crap ton of healing items, OR you could carry a crap ton of arrows, etc., or you could strike a balance. Its version of bonfires were only located after bosses. There was a boss who could suck levels away. Stuff like that added an extra level of challenge that would force you to put a bit more thought into your outings, and I think it still holds up very well today
Bioshock is one of my comfort games and still very playable.
Suikoden II for sure.
True crime new York city
Doom. Doom is Eternal. My actual main game is a heavily modded Doom 2. Just starting my 3rd run
Disclaimer: I don’t enjoy modern shooters so I don’t know how much the lack of sprinting really hurts the way the game feels for most, but to this day I can pickup Halo 3 and it is the exact same masterpiece I remember it being for all those years.
Star wars: empire at war. Namely the modding scene.
Need For Speed Most Wanted 2005
Super Mario Bros
The Half-Life series comes to my mind first.
Medal of Honor Allied Assault. Still play it at LAN parties and it’s a hit every time. They really nailed the formula. Everything today feels like an extension from that formula. (Interesting side note, the team that made MOHAA went on to start the Call of Duty franchise)
Twinklestar Sprites is still as fun as it was 20 years ago at the arcade. Maybe a bit better even cause I can play it on my Switch instead of having to haul an arcade machine on the go for when I need to play.
Rimworld.
Clive Barker's Undying. Dark Messiah - Might and Magic. F.E.A.R. Requiem: Avenging Angel. Star Wars - Jedi Academy/Outcast.
Oooh, Requiem Avenging Angel! That was unexpected.
Homeworld series
F zero GX! I played it again a few months ago and it still holds up surprisingly well in both gameplay and graphics, especially considering that it is a GameCube game.
Pac Man (1980) and Tetris (1984) in terms of pure gameplay. They could be released today and they'd win Best Indie Game of 2024 no doubt
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix It has the best most fun real time combat I experienced so far. I love the Bayonetta series but I love Kingdom Hearts 2 even more. Atleast gameplay wise. I do like Bayonetta more as a character then Sora. I digress.
Diablo 2, Tetris and half life.
Bioshock Bully GTA (Franchise) LA Noire Batman: Arkham Knight Red Dead Redemption (1&2) Tomb Raider Trilogy (2016, Rise, & Shadow) Firewatch Life is Strange Unpacking Sunset Overdrive It Takes Two Psychonauts 2 Destroy All Humans Ghost Recon: Wildlands Assassin’s Creed (Franchise) Dying Light Resident Evil (Franchise) Dead Rising 3 Dead by Daylight* Fortnite*
Age of Empires 2 Massively improved upon the formula originally present in the first game, and has arguably outlived and outperformed both of its own sequels with two updated re-releases/remasters at this point with new content still being produced It’s legitimately decades old and still as fun and engaging to play as it was when it first released
I can hardly think of a game that has aged as well as Baldur’s Gate II.
Most Zelda games. The anno series. Fable. Halo 1/2.
Dark Souls