Gaming

Knights of the Old Republic - I know KOTOR 2 is probably better storywise, but there's bugs and cut content (even with TSLRCM) which drag it down. The first game is a solid banger, I still remember my first playthrough when it came out (installing it over 4 discs!) and the revelation near the end of the game blew me away. I still replay this yearly.

Mass Effect - Fuck me, what a game. I know everybody rates the second game the most, but for me the first one is absolutely perfect. The air of mystery, the size of the galaxy and the overall atmosphere are second to none. I never had an issue with the combat (just don't use the cover system and it's literally fine) but that's sorted in the Remaster. Again, replayed annually.

Dragon Age: Origins - I mean where do we start? Refines the mechanics from KOTOR and introduces an incredible, original dark fantasy world. So much replayability because of all the different origins and choices you can make. The world feels fucking hopeless and every choice you make is seemingly about harm reduction rather than ultimately "good". I try and replay this annually but I'm currently trying to work through DA2 and DA:I (the quality of these games really shows how good DA:O is).

I'm aware that I've only chosen BioWare games from a certain era, but I just absolutely love them.

TF2 the best game in the world and will always be like that

My vote goes to Shadow of the Colossus. The story, the mood, those damn creatures. Just enough frustration to keep you going and enough variation to not make it boring.

If we're going really old school, then Space Invaders. Its way of leveraging the hardware at the time to make the enemies and music speed up after you defeat more of them is elegant. Back then, the more things a game had on screen, the slower it ran. So, destroying more enemies removes more things from the screen, causing both enemies and music to speed up.

This is something that's taken for granted today, but I think at the time, it was genius.

Metroid Prime has to be pretty far up there. It was a bold step forward for an established franchise that could have gone wrong so many different ways, but holy cow they nailed it. The controls are probably the only weak part, but to be fair dual analog controls hadn't really caught on yet. Every area of the map has character. So many of the boss fights are memorable, from Omega Pirate being fueled by raw Phazon and destroying its own soldiers, to Thardus whiting out the whole arena, to Meta Ridley wrecking the shit out of the Artifact Temple. The music is great, bringing back bangers from previous games, subtly remixing in other motifs from the past as well to give the game a familiar feeling, while adding beautiful new ambient music of it's own. The plot progresses forward with only a limited amount of cut scenes and dialog. It combined two genres in an innovative new way that 20+ years later still hasn't really been recreated yet.

And then once you've finished playing everything and finding every last thing as intended, there's still more fun to be had in learning some of the more basic glitches to get items way earlier than intended. Giving the devs the middle finger by getting items the first time around without taking a long backtracking trip later to come back and get it. Speeding through areas and blasting through boss fights with equipment and weapons you're not supposed to have yet. It contributed in large part to the birth of the modern speedrunning scene as people came up with more and more creative ways to get around formerly impassable obstacles.

20+ years old now, and it still holds up (as long as you play Primehack or Remastered to get more modern controls).

In very recent times, I honestly believe Zelda:TotK is very close to being perfect.

Undertale, for me. I have 0 problems with the game. Art style is great. Controls are great. Story is likely the most compelling I personally have seen. Not to mention the very appropriate humour.

A big one for me is Fallout 1. I only played it for the first time a few years ago and it is one of the only games where as soon as I finished it I wanted to start it again. The only reason I didn't was to play Fallout 2. There is an extremely valid argument that Fallout 2 is better, but the pacing of 1 is so good. It opened up a whole (niche) genre of games I thought I didn't like, isometric crpgs, especially ones with turn based combat, relatively low player power, and serious consequences.

The other game I could replay over and over again was Metal Gear Solid 1. In my opinion it is the best in the series relative to its time of release, if that makes sense.

Also obviously Halo CE.

Outer Wilds

Dragon Age. I literally fell in love with Alistair while studying for my masters, so it must have been an excellent storyline for an RPG. I also played it through in full twice because it turned out my initial character choice made my perfect ending impossible..

Bioshock I think, loved it so much. Excellent writing and graphic design. Wish the remaster had improved the visuals more tho

To The Moon

Firstly, it's fairly short, which I appreciate in a game that's primarily story-driven. Secondly, the story is damn near perfect. When I got to the reveal towards the end I actually sobbed (quietly, in a manly way). No other game has ever affected me that way.

Perfection is overrated. Most of my favorite gaming experiences are with games of which I would be able to cite plenty of flaws.

I like games with sharp edges.

That said, there are a lot of good games being mentioned in these comments.

Hollow knight. The gameplay, the smoothness of the controls, but also the universe, the atmosphere, the fantastic music. Absolutely wonderful game.

Super Mario RPG for SNES. ... I'm old