My Favorite 100 Games of All Time (Plus Honorable Mentions)
Notes
- These are ranked according to my overall opinion of the game and not in any sort of objective sense
- Honorable Mentions include both former Top 100s and games which were originally considered but did not make the cut
- Games in a series may be listed individually or as a group depending on how I think of them
Top 100
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
- Dota 2
- Final Fantasy X
- The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind
- Disco Elysium
- Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
- Final Fantasy VIII
- Divinity: Original Sin 2
- To The Moon
- Kerbal Space Program
- Heroes of Might and Magic III
- Stellaris
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Outer Wilds
- Final Fantasy XII
- RimWorld
- Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny
- Fallout: New Vegas
- Final Fantasy IX
- Age of Mythology
- Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
- Stardew Valley
- Crusader Kings III
- The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
- Dyson Sphere Program
- Fallout 4
- Factorio
- Crusader Kings II
- Diablo II
- Red Faction: Guerrilla
- Fable - The Lost Chapters
- Age of Empires II: Conqueror’s
- Portal 2
- The Outer Worlds
- Cities: Skylines
- Mirror’s Edge
- The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
- Roadwarden
- Portal
- Mass Effect Trilogy
- Final Fantasy X-2
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Diablo
- Final Fantasy VII
- Europa Universalis IV
- Hades
- XCOM 2
- The Gardener and the Wild Vines
- Borderlands
- Command & Conquer: Renegade
- Slay the Spire
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert
- BioShock Infinite
- Little Inferno
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown
- Metro 2033
- Cities: Skylines II
- Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
- Life is Strange
- Saints’ Row: The Third
- Sid Meier’s Civiliation II Gold
- The Universim
- Into the Breach
- Opus Magnum
- Corruption of Champions
- The Last Remnant
- Lightmatter
- Baba Is You
- Bastion
- Slime Rancher
- Returnal
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
- Heroes of MIght and Magic II
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- hexceed
- Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut
- FTL
- The Forgotten City
- The Quarry
- Wolfenstein Series
- Control
- X3
- Per Aspera
- Papers, Please
- Before We Leave
- Vampyr
- Surviving Mars
- The Room Series
- Sid Meier’s Pirates!
- Cultist Simulator
- The Elder Scrolls: Arena
- Wildermyth
- Transistor
- Grim Dawn
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Subnautica
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
- Dragon Age Inquisition
- SOULCALIBER II
Honorable Mentions
- Dungeons of Dredmor
- Hand of Fate
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance
- Oxygen Not Included
- Prison Architect
- Reus
- 4D Toys
- Chained Echoes
- Loop Hero
- Darkest Dungeon
- Plague Inc.
- Sid Meier’s Civilization V
- One Finger Death Punch
- Midnight Protocol
- Spacechem
- Mini Motorways
- Orwell
- Poly Bridge Series
- Boyfriend Dungeon
- Ixion
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Among Us
- Minit
- Spyro Trilogy
- Slipways
- Corruption of Champions II
- Software Inc.
- Game Dev Tycoon
- Kittens Game
- Sid Meier’s Civiliation IV
- Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
- Magicka
- Bloons TD
- LIMBO
- Superliminal
- The Talos Principle
- Terra Invicta
- Terra Nil
- Tyranny
- Undertale
- Vampire Survivors
- Victoria 3
- The Stanley Parable
Notes On Individual Games
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
I was initially surprised by this one. I knew it would be top 10, but was it really better than FFX or Morrowind? Yes - yes it is. In 2023, as a grown-ass adult in my 30s, this game kept me playing until after for the first, second, and third time since high school.
Dota 2
I considered placing this lower or not including it at all, because any long-time dota player’s feelings about the game are… complicated. But with 15,000 play hours across nearly 11,000 matches (at time of writing), my revealed preference is clear.
Final Fantasy X
My girlfriend recently played through FFX for the first time, giving me a chance to re-evaluate the game over 20 years after it initially released. With the benefit of an extra two decades playing games (and one decade of software engineering experience), I have gained a new appreciation for the smoothness of the game balance and progression. A new player with no experience with this kind of game was able to complete the game without grinding (sans the Mt. Gagazet Seymour fight) with every boss fight providing a reasonable degree of challenge.
Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
This game is the single most striking example of ludo-narrative harmony that exists.
Baldur’s Gate 3
I honestly expected this to be higher on the list. By all rights, it really ought to be higher than Divinity: Original Sin 2 since this is a refinement of the same formula by the same studio, but on reflection I have realized that the D&D license detracts from the game relative to its predecessors for me. There is much less exploration of the world and lore available to me because I am already familiar with the D&D world.
Outer Wilds
This game set a new floor in narrative exploration.
Games to Reconsider
A few games in this list were clearly filters relative to their surrounding games, and so might need to be placed higher when reconsidering them next year.
- Final Fantasy IX
- Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
- The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
- Slay the Spire
- Little Inferno
- Into the Breach
- Opus Magnum
- FTL
Games that were forgotten
Some games were not included in the original ranking but will be considered in future passes.
- Time Splitters 2
- Time Splitters 3: Future Perfect