I recently booted up Half-Life 2 to replay it. I have played the absolute shit out of this game before, so 60% of it just feels like a drag to me now. It was such an amazing game but it’s sort of spoiled for me after I’ve played it too much.
I also discovered ULTRAKILL a few months ago. I feel like I could play that game forever. It has tons of content, weapon combinations and higher difficulties with different enemy behaviour.
Do any of you have more game suggestions like Ultrakill? A really replayable singleplayer game.
!!BTW I don’t mean online multiplayer games or games similar to candy crush!!
The binding of Isaac
Tetris maybe (too close to candy crush)
If you into emulators the SNES has a lot of good arcade ports, those are high score based
Minecraft?
Hard to do better than the OG endless sandbox.
Definitely was my first thought. I think that I’ve spent way more time on that game than I’d like to admit.
OG endless sandbox is Dwarf Fortress.
slowly retracts into bushes
Even if one gets bored of the game itself, there’s a practically infinite number of mods and community content out there. New game modes like skyblock, mods that turn it into an RPG with magic systems, mods that make it an in-depth factory building game, mods that take you to new realms and thousands of items to discover… There’s a lot to enjoy.
Adventure maps are also fairly underrated. There are tons of community-made maps that can turn it into a different game. Notably, there was a huge Hogwarts campaign with quests and spells that turns it into a harry potter game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKcsoE5X4fc
I’ve played a lot of RimWorld, and I don’t feel anywhere near done
Rimworld, especially with mods is a game I can always come back to. Such an amazing game.
Hades
4x games tend to be functionally infinitely repayable, since a single game often takes an eternity and there are usually many factions to play.
I particularly like sword of the stars 1 & 2. Honestly don’t remember which I preferred but I know I got an insane amount of time sunk into both of them.
Whoah you are probably first person i encounter that enjoyed SotS 2. First one was one of the best 4x in history though.
Currently looking for a new 4x game that will scratch my itch. Been going through tons but they all seem like watered down versions that “simplify” the process. Last game I played was SpaceEmpires (4&5), completely addicting but after over a decade of bugged games I’ve just completely given up on it. Definitely got my playtime out of it though, great game regardless.
FTL. It’s a simple fun cheap game. Steam says I’ve played this for over 3,000 hours!
FTL is so much fun. Finally beating by first run felt amazing.
This list is GREAT … but if you’d be willing to venture back to the late 90s or early 00s I’ll offer you three more names:
- Fallout 2
- Fallout
- Mafia
All three are open world.
Super Metroid. The game really opens up if you spend a bit of time learning alternate routes and sequence breaks. Many of them are kind of easy too. Besides all that, I just feel weirdly cozy in the depths or outside in the rain. It’s also a shortish randomizer if you go outside of the vanilla experience with like 100 places to check.
Dungeon keeper.
Any of impression games latter worldbuilders (pharaoh, zeus, emperor)
Have you played War for the Overworld? Based on DK but reworked and (imo at least) improved
proudly displays kickstarter Bedrock Beta
EDIT: BTW, you need to check out KeeperFX if you haven’t already :) :)
Honestly, Skyrim. With so many great mods available these days, you can literally turn it into a whole different game. And with modpacks on Nexus, Wabbajack or similar sites, it’s easier than ever. I’m just getting back into it myself after 3 years, but I’m still a big fan of getting into the nitty gritty of it and configuring everything myself.
Football Manager 2016 was the first version I tried. I put 1,500+ hours into it and only stopped because I decided to upgrade to Football Manager 2018. I’m on 2024 now at ~400 hours.
My first reaction on seeing the title was to name a games that just have fun core mechanics where replaying the game is basically just doing more of the same fun thing, so ULTRAKILL means I’m on the right track.
Prodeus is a pretty good doom clone. Not as in-depth as ULTRAKILL, but nonetheless has fun weapons and your basic doom (eternal) movement/mechanics. Blasting your way through enemies is as fun on the first level as the last. And the Quake games hold up extremely well, and the mechanics are so simple and powerful that you can really have fun replaying and getting better.
Stealth games are also very fun for this. The Splinter Cell series (especially Chaos Theory) are very fun to try to perfect/improve on. Dishonored and Thief as others have mentioned. And Midnight Club is the best racing series for this. You’ll have to emulate it, but it’s worth it. Completely open-world, and learning the city layout over time is very satisfying.I can play Control over and over again.
Just Cause 3, with the additional DLC. I’ve been through all of it three full times, slowly plugging through a fourth (when time allows)
I am currently in my like 90th run of Subnautica. I’m doing an “All Cuddlefish, no native food, save the Sunbeam” run.
