nyefan.org

My Favorite 100 Games Of All Time

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

  1. I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
  2. Dota 2
  3. Final Fantasy X
  4. The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind
  5. Disco Elysium
  6. Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
  7. Final Fantasy VIII
  8. Divinity: Original Sin 2
  9. To The Moon
  10. Kerbal Space Program
  11. Heroes of Might and Magic III
  12. Stellaris
  13. Baldur’s Gate 3
  14. Outer Wilds
  15. Final Fantasy XII
  16. RimWorld
  17. Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny
  18. Fallout: New Vegas
  19. Final Fantasy IX
  20. Age of Mythology
  21. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
  22. Stardew Valley
  23. Crusader Kings III
  24. The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
  25. Dyson Sphere Program
  26. Fallout 4
  27. Factorio
  28. Crusader Kings II
  29. Diablo II
  30. Red Faction: Guerrilla
  31. Fable - The Lost Chapters
  32. Age of Empires II: Conqueror’s
  33. Portal 2
  34. The Outer Worlds
  35. Cities: Skylines
  36. Mirror’s Edge
  37. The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
  38. Roadwarden
  39. Portal
  40. Mass Effect Trilogy
  41. Final Fantasy X-2
  42. Dragon Age: Origins
  43. Diablo
  44. Final Fantasy VII
  45. Europa Universalis IV
  46. Hades
  47. XCOM 2
  48. The Gardener and the Wild Vines
  49. Borderlands
  50. Command & Conquer: Renegade
  51. Slay the Spire
  52. Command & Conquer: Red Alert
  53. BioShock Infinite
  54. Little Inferno
  55. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
  56. Metro 2033
  57. Cities: Skylines II
  58. Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
  59. Life is Strange
  60. Saints’ Row: The Third
  61. Sid Meier’s Civiliation II Gold
  62. The Universim
  63. Into the Breach
  64. Opus Magnum
  65. Corruption of Champions
  66. The Last Remnant
  67. Lightmatter
  68. Baba Is You
  69. Bastion
  70. Slime Rancher
  71. Returnal
  72. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
  73. Heroes of MIght and Magic II
  74. Final Fantasy VII Remake
  75. hexceed
  76. Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut
  77. FTL
  78. The Forgotten City
  79. The Quarry
  80. Wolfenstein Series
  81. Control
  82. X3
  83. Per Aspera
  84. Papers, Please
  85. Before We Leave
  86. Vampyr
  87. Surviving Mars
  88. The Room Series
  89. Sid Meier’s Pirates!
  90. Cultist Simulator
  91. The Elder Scrolls: Arena
  92. Wildermyth
  93. Transistor
  94. Grim Dawn
  95. Hardspace: Shipbreaker
  96. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
  97. Subnautica
  98. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
  99. Dragon Age Inquisition
  100. 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