Elden Ring

Hades

This game was more fun than I expected it to be. The multiplayer is F2P, but the Campaign requires a purchase.  Large parties can queue together for Big Team Battles, so it's especially fun if you can get a big group of friends together.

Halo Infinite

New World

Loop Hero

Path of Exile

Project Zomboid

This game is absolutely brutal, but I also find it incredibly addicting. Your gear comes from your collection, and you choose what you go into each round with. If you die, you lose everything you came in with. Time-to-kill is extremely fast, so be prepared for some infuriating deaths. The weapon modding system is unmatched in any other game I've played, and the game requires some serious tactical 

Escape from Tarkov

Valheim

STAR WARS: Squadrons

Among Us

An excellent modern take on side-scrolling, cooperative beat-em-up reminiscent of the SNES/Genesis era. Adds some interesting options for character customization that make replayability more appealing. Good sense of humor and fun artistic direction make for an enjoyable and all too rare couch-based gaming experience with a few friends.

Castle Crashers

Often regarded as the best game in the Fallout series, I find it hard to disagree.  The storylines were compelling, the options for combat styles made me want to try many build combinations.  Your decisions felt impactful, and there were a number of options for how your story ended that all felt rewarding in their own way.

Fallout: New Vegas

This game has been around for a while now, but it's still one of the most beautiful musically-themed games I have ever seen. The player makes their way across a tron-esque track while trying to collide with as many colored blocks as possible. The blocks correspond to the song that is currently playing, which can be selected from prearranged options OR (and this was the best part) from a list of tracks the user has uploaded.  This is the first game I can think of to incorporate user-provided tracks into actual gameplay mechanics, and it felt revolutionary at the time.

AudioSurf

Overall, I did not love this game.  I like a lot of games in the roguelike genre, but I found this one particularly stressful. There are a lot of resources to manage and it feels like everything is working against you. The art style is dark and depressing but very well done, and the gameplay is super smooth.

Darkest Dungeon

I have not given this game the amount of playtime it deserves yet, but I really enjoy what I have played. Everything looks great, the combat is kind of a 2D souls-like affair.

Dead Cells

I couldn't think of a better overall category, but FPS is definitely not an inclusive term. It's a bit like Left 4 Dead with space dwarves and insectoid alien swarms. The game is 1-4 player co-op and I would highly recommend playing it with some friends (or randos!) as opposed to solo. Between character customization, humor, and 4 class options that each have a very unique playstyle, it's easy to sink a lot of hours into this one before you know what's happened. It does have microtransactions but they are purely cosmetic as far as I know, so hopefully that doesn't deter you.

Deep Rock Galactic

Gameplay-wise, this is the best MOBA I've ever played. It has been a long time since I approached it competitively, but it is infamously known as one of the most toxic communities in gaming. Give it a shot, it's a lot of fun, but either grow some thick skin or get used to muting all your enemies AND teammates.

League of Legends

This game will always have a special place in my heart. It's a silly franchise with an absurd storyline, but it kept our adolescent minds entertained for countless hours. It had an excellent repertoire of guns (shrink ray?!) and a ton of secret spots that made blowing up your friends a blast.

Duke Nukem 3D

Definitely in the running for worst game I've actually completed. The game spent way too long  in development, so by the time it released most of the gameplay and all of the humor felt outdated. This series may have met it's end here - I don't think the world is looking for another Duke Nukem sequel, sadly.

Duke Nukem Forever

My entry into the Dark Souls franchise. It was a little hard to get into at first, but once I started making a bit of progress the mechanics quickly become addicting. The art style, from the myriad of weapons to the massive and intimidating boss designs, is on point throughout. It's easy to understand how this series made its way into being a genre of sorts (souls-like).

Dark Souls II

Another impressive installment in the souls series. This one felt a bit more approachable than 2, which I'm sure left some hardcore fans of the franchise a little salty. For me, most of the gameplay changes felt like small improvements on previous iterations and I really enjoyed it.

Dark Souls III

What an amazing world!  This game brought elements of storytelling and worldbuilding that were revolutionary for its time. So many choices you could make that would affect how your story plays out. This game really set the standard for the franchise (and possibly the rest of the gaming industry) going forward.

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

This isn't a genre I typically do a great job completing, but this game was good enough for me to finish it up. The story felt really well done, and I was able to sit back and enjoy the cutscenes instead of hovering over the skip button. The combat was great and really challenging if you turn up the difficulty or attempt to go for a "no kill".

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Probably my least favorite of the last three installments, and still an incredible game. It's been a long time since I went back and played, but the game definitely set the standard for first person RPGs of its time.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

If the fact that it's still playable on pretty much every gaming system isn't evidence enough, this game was (is?) a pretty big deal.  I've done a my fair share of playthroughs that always go wildly off-course by this point as well. I can't say the story totally blew me away - but the gameplay, physics, and exploration were unheard of at the time. So many little details to find in the world, always a way to do your next playthrough a bit differently.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Very fun, surprisingly addicting. It wasn't finished by the time I stopped playing, but it was already looking great.  There are a few different character options, but their skills make for some very different playstyles. Tons of different weapons to experiment with, but some were definitely better than others.

Gunfire Reborn

I absolutely loved this game - it's part of what got me into roguelikes in the first place. Depending on the items you find during your journey through space and the crew you keep, you may find the final encounter to be a breeze.  But if you're not careful with your decisions or the resources you consume you're unlikely to make it there at all. The combat is simple but weirdly exciting. The only things you can unlock are new starships/crew loadouts to start with, and they're many of them are tied to arbitrary goals you're unlikely to accomplish in a few days of playing.

FTL: Faster Than Light

Can't honestly say if this game would have made it on my radar if I wasn't such a huge fan of FTL, but I'm very glad it did.  It's a relatively simple game based entirely around your squad of mechs fighting off a myriad of alien invaders in some turn-based tile-based combat. The different squads you can start off with have some interesting mechanics you'll have to take full advantage of if you want any chance of winning. As you complete different goals, new squad loadouts become available to you. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I'd definitely recommend it at such a low price.

Into the Breach

Basically a sci-fi themed Dwarf Fortress. It doesn't have all the depth of Dwarf Fortress (does anything?) but it makes up for it in other ways, like some killer assets and an extremely active modding community. Like any colony sim, events are randomized and play out completely differently with each playthrough.  Difficulty settings allow you to play at whatever pace you prefer, and there are several different game modes to modify your objectives.

RimWorld

Don't let the ASCII graphics fool you - there's more depth here than any game I've ever played (and I'm not just talking about how deep those dwarves can dig).  Though everything is randomized, the storytelling is unmatched. Every little detail - from a broken bone one of your dwarves received in his first goblin battle, to a masterfully crafted jade statue your star sculptor crafted during an inspirational trance - plays into how your colony will fare. Every colony comes to an end eventually, but it's more about how you get there. Alternative game modes (which I've barely touched) make for even more variety in play, but the menus and other UI aspects definitely make for a steep learning curve. There are third-party tilesets available currently, but you may want to wait for the upcoming Steam release which will come with an officially sanctioned graphical interface. Either way, I highly recommend checking this game out if you have the patience to learn the mechanics.

Dwarf Fortress

This game is really well done, but I was never able to get into it. In a standard game, you're essentially  playing a simplified game of soccer except you're a shiny car that can jump (and double jump) and doesn't have to worry about handballs. There are a bunch of alternative game modes that are often sillier and less competitive. It's a hugely popular game and it's entertaining to see how skilled some players are, but not my cup of tea.

Rocket League

Tons of variety, beautifully animated combat, and a developer that is clearly very passionate about the project.  Probably my favorite deckbuilding game I've played so far, and it's available on a number of platforms.  Definitely recommend picking this one up.

What is Tim

Playing?

I'd like to see what else you have