I've been playing games my whole life and its getting to the point that new additions will not make an impact, here is my top 35 all time list:

1) FF7 original (1997 ps1 only)
2) Fallout New Vegas
3) Chrono Trigger (Akira is dead you can't remake it)
4) Suikoden 1 and 2 (in sequence with save transfer)
5) Skyrim
6) Legend of Zelda 1 (1986)
7) Mass Effect 1 and 2 and (get through it) 3 (in sequence with save transfer)
8) Half-life 2 +xpacs
9) KOTOR 1 and 2
10) Vice City
11) Super Mario 64
12) Lisa
13) Earthbound
14) Final Fantasy 3(6)
15) Pentiment **
16) Disco Elysium
17) Final Fantasy Tactics
18) Dead Space 1 and 2 (3 optional)
19) Metal Gear Solid
20) SOMA
21) Iron Storm (Sega Saturn)
22) Return of the Obra Dinn
23) Star Wars Tie fighter (MS-DOS)
24) Goldeneye
25) Mike Tyson's Punchout
26) Battle Brothers
27) Kessen
28) Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening (Gameboy)
29) Darkest dungeon +dlcs
30) Diablo 2
31) Shadowrun (Sega Genesis)
32) Planetscape Torment
33) Lucky and Wyld (arcade driving+gun cabinet)
34) Tecmo Super Bowl (1991)
35) Super Mario 3

Honorable mentions( (unsorted):

Tenchu 2
Streets of Rage 2
WWF No Mercy
Star wars Rebellion
Age of Empires 1 and 2 + Mythology
Street Fighter 2
Snatcher (SEGA CD)
Dark Souls 1
Star Fox 64
Look Outside **
Wing Commander 3
Resident Evil 1 (REmake good too)
Red Orchestra 2 / Rising storm
Diablo 1
Baldurs Gate 1 and 2
Mother 3
X-men Arcade
Prey (2017)
Red Baron 2

Worth an Asterisk:

Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time* didnt play it
Old world of warcraft * mmos kinda dont count
Halo * didnt own an xbox ever
Bloodborne * never played
Yakuza series * playthrough ongoing
Telltale's The Walking Dead * (1 and 2 only, pretend nothing else exists and story ends at 2)




-Games that coulda/ woulda made the list but disqualified because franchise/company went to ♥♥♥♥-

Dragon age origins
Crusader Kings/ Europa universalis / hearts of iron / all paradox games
Medieval 2 / shogun 2 / Total war all creative assembly games
World of warships
Kingdom Come Deliverance
God of War
all WW2 FPS slop shooters Call of Duty/ Battlefield etc
The Witcher series



-written Dec 2025
- Flavor text 6/26
** Recent addition to list post-creation (Pentimen / Look Outside) 10/26