Whether you started with a 2600 and a joystick in your hand, an N64 with a blistered palm or building your first PC in your teens, what is that one video game you've played at some point that to this day sits at the top of your list.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX. The originals were the games that made me realize gamrs could make me feel things, and DX is literally just them but with QoL changes.
Dishonored, I absolutely adore that game, and it still looks so good because of the art direction they took with it. Funny enough, it was the same art director as Half Life 2
Several of my favorite gaming experiences are one-time, non-repeatable. Solving the Return of the Obra Dinn is up there, but it couldn't possibly be my favorite game because I can never experience it again.
Playing Dark Souls for the first time is the same thing. Discovering the world, finding the intricacies of the interconnected map, struggling with and overcoming challenging areas and bosses. The relief of unlocking shortcuts and the amazement at the maps connectivity. It was the first game of it's type I played, and it was phenomenal, but coming back to it never matches that first playthrough. And let's be honest, the bosses feel downright mundane after having played the later releases.
Disco Elysium affected me in a way no other game has. Its themes are so relevant to me that it struck me on a very personal level and it was an incredibly cathartic experience that will stay with me forever the way any great book would. I actually found it more enjoyable the second playthrough too, however, is it really even a game?
I can't really name a single one that would be THE one. But the one I returned to the most over the years was the original Dragon Quest Monsters.
I had it on my Game Boy since I was in elementary school and even then played through it multiple times. Later I played through it multiple times on emulators. I just love this game so much.
It has a lot of flaws, starting with the limitations of a Game Boy game, but later games and other monster collectors never captured my heart like this one did.
The music from Sim City (SNES) is on a perpetual loop in my brain and always will.
Edit: Also for your list - The Impressions Games 'City Builder' series (Caesar 1-3, Pharaoh + Cleopatra. Zeus + Poseidon, and Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom).
My favs are Empire Earth (it was a shock having so many ages after playing AoE (2) and Knights and Merchants. This one was my first RTS and it is SO unique, I absolutely love it and have found nothing quite similar to it. There still is an active mod and multi-player community, albeit a small one
@pgetsos I recently got back into AoE2. It's still being updated (currently on version 101.102.whatever) with the help of community feedback. Also, there are more playable cultures and missions than I remember from my childhood.
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