Do you know any singleplayer games that are infinitely replayable?
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!!
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Tons. There's an entire roguelike genre built around this; some of my favorites are Vagante and Streets of Rogue. There are games with procedurally generated worlds like Terraria, RimWorld, Dwarf Fortress, and Factorio. There are RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 that have so many ways to spec your characters and so many permutations of how events could unfold based on what you did that you're unlikely to see them all.
Another great roguelike is Hades, which may or may not have dominated my video game attention for the last 8 months.
I didn't personally care for it, but I know I'm in the minority. In fact, one of the reasons I didn't care for it is because it felt far less replayable than many of its peers. Even Zagreus will call out "the butterfly room", because there are so few permutations to see.
Hrm, you're not wrong but Hades also exemplifies why quality wins over quantity when in replayability.
I'm sure it would if I thought more highly of it.
Lmao I love Hades but this is such a sick burn, I'm stealing it for next time someone tries to convince me some shlocky k-drama is peak kino.
I do hope Hades 2 ups the variability of the encounters more, you're absolutely right about endgame being a bit weak for a roguelike, even with the different weapons.
Tossing Song of Syx onto the pile of games. Even if you don't care for the art style, the game is immensely deep, and quite frankly, addictive.
Any good tutorial videos you'd recommend?
If you don’t mind his particular style, the SsethTzeentach video is what convinced me to give it a fair shake. The in-game tutorial and tooltips are pretty good though, and will get you started. Overtime you’ll discover more and more systems. Oh and just so you know, the demo is the full game, but a version behind.
If I had to choose a single game to play for the rest of time, it would be Dwarf Fortress. There's just so much variety in its world generation and how the game can be played that if I was limited to just that one game, I would still have things to do.
And the awesome part of DF is that each time you start over (on the same world) you just add more to its history and the story continues. Losing is definitely fun when keeping that in mind.
+1 for Factorio.
At one point I was playing so much Factorio that I started seeing conveyor belts and assembly machines in my sleep
Back in the day I played Hack until I noticed the sun had risen many times.
Three of my favorite roguelikes are cataclysm dda, caves of qud and cogmind, recommend them to everyone
Have you checked out Tales of Maj'Eyal (tome)? Very highly praised roguelike, and lots of reviews consider it the roguelike.
What's the hook to each one? I hear people mention Caves of Qud a lot, but the low-fi graphics aren't grabbing my attention on their own.
All of these are classic roguelikes, a genre of games which frequently aren't much to look at. The tradeoff for the looks is that they offer vast depth and complexity... and (usually) permadeath and a learning curve that's more of a cliff. I recommend watching some yt videos about any roguelike you want to learn more about, just so a fan can explain the appeal and show off all the basics.
That said:
Caves of Qud - actually one of the prettier classic roguelikes, if you can belive it. You're a traveller in a strange and unique world of vast salt deserts, jungles, and the titular caves. There is a ton of flavorful, semi-randomly generated history (especially the ever-important tales of the sultans) and cultures, so every run feels different. There is technically a main plot, but you can just ignore it and go exploring - it's a sandbox experience. The best parts, to me, are the aforementioned flavour, the tactical combat (that can get incredibly chaotic, with screen-warping effects going off every turn), the build diversity, and delving too greedily and too deeply into the caves.
Cogmind - haven't played this one, but it's on a list. You're a robot. You're building yourself from parts as you go, fighting other robots and stealing their parts.
CDDA - one of my faves, but definitely not something I'd recommend as an intro to this genre. You're a survivor in a zombie apocalypse. Go do things and don't get bitten. It's a sandbox - survive as long as you can, achieve a self-set goal. The distinguishing feature of CDDA is how realistic it tries to be - crafting is very complex, you need to track your thirst, nutrition, and sleep, you can easily get sick or get your arm broken, the zombies can track you by sight, noise, and lingering scent... My favourite part is surviving long enough to build elaborate apocalypse death mobiles, Mad Max style.
Traditional roguelikes may frequently pair with bad graphics, but it's not a requirement. There are games like Tangledeep and Jupiter Hell, for instance. But thanks, these sound interesting.
If you want a bit better graphics I'd recommend you check out Tales of Maj'Eyal (ToME for short). It is on steam but the game is open-source and can be downloaded for free on its website.
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.
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
OG endless sandbox is Dwarf Fortress.
slowly retracts into bushes
FTL. It’s a simple fun cheap game. Steam says I’ve played this for over 3,000 hours!
https://subsetgames.com/ftl.html#_
FTL is so much fun. Finally beating by first run felt amazing.
Rimworld, Terraria, Minecraft, Satisfactory, basically sandbox games, where each playthrough is different.
Not sure about satisfactory, considering the map is always the same. So the only sources of randomness are starting at another location in the same map or playing differently yourself
Then just go for factorio. Randomly generated map and recources. Highly adjustable for dificulty and a LOT of mods that add to the game. Concidering that the dlc , that seems to be as complex as the Base Game, comes out in Oktober you have a good Kandidaten for infinite replayability
I also recommend folks check out Dyson Sphere Program, I've sunk many hundreds of hours into it at this point
Obligatory Rimworld shout out.
I've dumped more hours into this game than the rest of my game library combined.
Edit: typo
A significant number of comments have mentioned Rimworld, guess I'll install it. Thanks for your recommendations!
Dwarf Fortress, if you like rimworld but prefer gigantic learning curves
Rimworld is a great answer. Every game us different, and you can take it different places with mods as well.
Rimworld would be my top suggestion, as others have noted.
I picked up Old World (excellent native Linux support BTW) during this summer sale and have not been able to put it down. If you're a fan of Civilization style strategy games I'd highly recommend checking it out. I haven't really enjoyed a Civ game since Civ 4, and Old World feels very similar but fresher and with less jank. it's got a Crusader Kings style dynasty system with randomized events that adds a layer of role playing your leader and securing their dynasty through heirs you can train/influence.
As for the repeatability, Old World has tons. Each culture plays significantly differently, and each leader has different bonuses that encourage an interesting style of play. Games don't play the same because of the mentioned event system, but also because learning new technologies is "randomized" as well. New techs are researched based off a selection of 4 drawn tech cards once you finish a previous technology. The card system makes it so you can't just rush straight to archers and dominate the early game to snowball into a power house every game, but its not truly random so you can "game" the system in your favor to get the techs you want with the tools the game gives you through either unique leader powers, or specific governor roles for example.
The game is super deep while not being off puttingly complex.
My top ones I constantly replay are Factorio, rimworld and modded Minecraft java version, mainly because there's a incredible amount of mods For all of them, make themed runs for each one. Sometimes action adventure sometimes just pure automation.
Nearly 8k in Factorio and probably Minecraft, not as much in rimworld but only because I bought it about a year ago
I'm seeing Rimworld and Factorio in a lot of the comments here. I have played Factorio already, great game. Guess I'll try Rimworld now.
Dwarf Fortress!
I'm a huge fan of Rimworld! Very excited to hear you're giving it a try. It really can become whatever you want. There is an abundance of Quality of Life mods too. I definitely have recommendations if you'd like.
I would tatoo modded Minecraft on my body, I love it so much
so I looked into modded minecraft via curse.... seems awfully clunky - and so many mods are really compilations of others.... can you recommend top few mods?
The only one that seems interesting from a player perspective is trees falling when cut.
The real juice of modded minecraft is in the modpacks - curated sets of mods that were configured to work well with each other, frequently with some custom recipes added by the pack developer, and sometimes some kind of a quest line to guide you through the pack and provide a more structured experience. There are many different types of modpacks - kitchen sinks (large collections of mods, frequently without a lot of balance tweaks or changes, for a more sandbox experience), questing packs (with the aforementioned quest books to guide you through the mods), vanilla+ packs that intend to expand on the vanilla minecraft experience and not change the gameplay loop significantly, packs focused exclusively on magic or technology mods (or both), expert packs (questing packs with heavily reworked recipes, where you need to build elaborate machines and automate stuff Factorio-style)...
I'm not up to date with the modpack scene, so can't really make you a definitive list - back on reddit (sigh) there is a r/feedthebeast community that specializes in modded play.
That said:
You'll also need a launcher to install these packs - FTB have their own if you want FTB Academy, otherwise there are some options such as Curseforge (do not recommend, eats resources just by existing), Prism (seems to come up a lot as a recommendation), or GDLauncher (what I'm using).
Thank you very much, I look forward to exploring this!
Yeah what the other guy said, modpacks and give FTB academy a start. Generally the mods add a shitload of new content (like lots more ores). Better automation and electricity is, imo, the best stuff added, and there's tons of that. I find the magic and adventure mods don't quite work as well. My biggest tip for modded mc is: Spread out! Make big ass bases and rooms, you'll love the space.
After that it's your call what's next. A kitchen sink pack is one that sorta rams in a ton of mods with no theme and it's fun! FTB infinity was a lot of fun, or FTB Ultimate re whatever too.
There's StoneBlock which is the opposite of Skyblock which was a different style
Create: Above and Beyond is my favorite. It is hard though and requires that you understand the Create mod.
By the way you'll find that Create is the best mod. It's really fucking well done and no other mod really comes close in quality. Gears and belts!
Anyways here's some old creations of mine:
Big bridge that runs off trees and wheat https://imgur.com/gallery/HeIl4vk
Storage room (before I got the ME computer block) https://imgur.com/gallery/U0qhf
Create wheat farm in the snow https://imgur.com/gallery/x71winR
This last pack I played was all about big multi block structures to process ore, so it became a sprawling base https://imgur.com/gallery/873rZT5
TY!
There’s a few different styles of experiences:
The Aether
Adds a dimension in the sky with its own progression of ores, and a system of a progression of dungeons. Lots of new enemies. It has a kinda similar progression to playing vanilla survival minecraft, but it’s harder and the things you have to worry about are very different.
It’s one of the most polished mods out there and is intended for a standalone experience.
Mine & Slash this is a big modpack intended to change the game into a more combat oriented and fantasy themed game.
There are some that are designed to make the progression be a system of automating resource production, similar to games like Factorio or Satisfactory. Create is an example.
Ones like Blightfall are a complete curated experience with a story, a custom map, and a modpack.
Thanks!
Minecraft, Hades, Solitaire, Civ, Gunfire Reborn, Vampire Survivor, Vampire Hunters, and Placid Plastic Duck Simulator,
I almost exclusively play single player games and honestly Elden Ring has been a huge time sink. There’s just something about mastering it that is satisfying. It has online features but they’re not required.
I wish I could run it on my PC, though.
(｡╯︵╰｡)
Maybe someday when I can afford a better device.
Ah yes it is rather poorly optimized. Before it I was playing Against the Storm which doesn’t have such high requirements.
Also Mount and Blade provides some amazing single player experiences that are hard to find elsewhere. Get into a battle with hundreds of units, command a cavalry charge in first person while you personally lead a flank from the other side.
Combat also varies heavily between weapon types and equipment weight. You have to approach combat completely differently with different gear, so you can play it again with less of a feel of exploration (probably not none; it's huge), but completely different battles.
RimWorld. shit can go crazy with the mods a available or just vanilla.
I dunno, I only have 3417 hours played in Rimworld, I'm not sure that qualifies as infinitely replayable.
/sDon't give up! You're close to finishing the tutorial!
Xcom, xcom2
Welcome back, commander.
X-COM with the Long War mod.
Hades
Doom and all the other doom clones? Prodeus, dusk, forgive me father, there's a lot
I think factorio is one, even when you launch your rocket (I have more than 100 hours and I don't think....) you still can restart in a new generated world and try do to it again in a better way.
dude, after you launch the rocket is where the real game begins. You either go for a megabase or you start a overhaul mod. Restarting vanilla from scratch doesn't really make much sense.
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.
Classic Doom 1 and 2. There's gotta be over 100 levels if you count TNT and Plutonia, which I think were sold as Final Doom? Anyway, if you just get the base games for 1 and 2, there are thousands upon thousands of community made maps, including some total conversions, so you can play new Doom content until it physically pains you to continue.
Of course, I feel obligated to mention that even though it would be super easy to pirate the WAD files and play with a free modern source port like GZDoom, like absolutely trivial to find copies of DOOM.WAD and DOOM2.WAD floating around the net, probably showing up easily on Archive.org, but... Um... Where was I going with this? Oh, right, don't pirate. Cheap on GOG last I knew.
Kenshi is infinitely replayable, imo.
From the alternate starts, to the different ways you can even play the game (wanna be a lone trader, traveling from town to town buying and selling goods? Want to be the ultimate warrior who can go toe-to-toe with the Spider King? Wanna build a city/outpost where you can be totally sufficient and build up your own personal army to take over the world?), to the sheer size of the world. Plus all the awesome mods that can add so much to the game that already has a lot. You start off with your skills at 0 or in the low tens, and you will get your ass handed to you on an iron platter until you actually train up a bit; but even a high or max level character can still get fucked up by the wrong group of enemies.
I have mods that add a couple new factions (the fungoids are OP), flesh other factions out a bit more with more weapons and gear, and other building mods and some QoL mods so I can truly tailor my experience how I like it.
It plays kinda like an RTS with a mix of RPG elements.
I really enjoy kenshi but if your like me and don't like losing at all then it can take a bit to get into. Still highly recommend
Just save a lot, but yes. It does take a little getting used to it.
Imo General Sam's Kenshi series is a fantastic introduction to the game, because it was mine lol
Rainworld, Cult of the Lamb, Slay the Spire, Inscryption
For me, it's Grim Dawn, honestly. (And Diablo before that) 10 classes to choose 2 from means a lot of new skills and builds. Tons of random loot, but also recipes to make and collect.
I mostly play with mods now. Grim Internals, full rainbow, some rep and exp gain ones, and the Item Assistant. I play solo, and have enjoyed every hour of it!
One I haven't seen mentioned (at a glance at least) is Noita.
Getting the "false ending" is achievable with some effort, but I dare you to actually finish the game. And as far as replayability, you'll be hard pressed to have two runs that go the same. The amount of Butterfly Effect in this game from all the combinations and systems is straight up insane.
I really can't recommend it enough.
Slay the Spire
Some single player games I've replayed often that aren't roguelikes would be...
Dishonored Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 Prey 2017 Hitman, but specifically the World of Assassination games Bethesda RPGs Grand Theft Auto/Rockstar, specifically for me 5 or Red Dead Redemption Dark Souls (I replay it on offline mode predominantly anyway) Dying Light Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor/War Halo MCC campaigns Mount & Blade series Katana ZERO Vanquish/other platinum games
I think you dropped these.
Some incredible titles here, friend. Respect! I really need to play Knights of the Old Republic again.
That's one that I was hesitant to include, because I feel like it's more to do with my love of the era Bioware made, and nostalgia than it is a promotion of how the game holds up nowadays. But I personally love KoTOR!
+1 for Katana ZERO
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.
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.
Have you played AI War? Or AI War 2?
Whoah you are probably first person i encounter that enjoyed SotS 2. First one was one of the best 4x in history though.
Risk of Rain 2 and Robo Quest are probably up your ally because you like Ultra kill
But if you want to diversify genre, here are some that I would recommend
I am currently in my like 90th run of Subnautica. I'm doing an "All Cuddlefish, no native food, save the Sunbeam" run.
Honesty I'm shocked nobody has mentioned Tales of Maj'Eyal or ToME for short. Extremely deep roguelike with story and it is getting expansions ans updates all the time.
Also it is open-source, so can be downloaded for free, but I would recommend you also buy it in steam for instance to support it.
If you don't mind top down colony managers, rimworld is an absolute gem. The base game itself is infinitely replayable because every game is basically a story. Think dwarf fortress with graphics (well, df has graphics now but). Also incredibly easy to mod to customize or completely change your game experience.
The binding of isaac: rebirth and dlcs
What you are describing is essentially the roguelike/lite genre, lol. Search up some of that, see if anything looks fun.
Risk of rain and risk of rain 2
Look up project brutality or brutal doom. Those are great doom mods with a lot of fun gameplay. I used to play that for hours.
The Anno series is pretty cool. It's like playing crack. I've been playing 1800 recently and it feels like an instant classic.
The elder scrolls games are great for this. The further back you go the more replayability there is IMO. Morrowind is goated.
Dungeon keeper 1&2 are both a lot of fun, and have lots of custom maps. The original dungeon keeper even has a full engine rewrite which is really good.
If you want to try map painters, Crusader Kings 3, EU4, and Victoria 3 are all excellent and in depth games, with a lot of replayability stemming from all of the different ways to build up your nation in the sandbox.
Rimworld, dwarf fortress, etc. Have fun!
Minecraft, especially with mods.
Roguelites in general. My favorite is FTL. Also has good mods.
FTL!! It's hard as shit lol
Ftl is awesome I really like it. Eventually I got the multiverse mod which is really well done and adds more events and aliens and things
Dead Cells! Made by a worker cooperative 🥳
My son and I had a blast with this one. We took turns doing runs through all biomes and found tons of blueprints and secrets. So fun!
Dead cells studio is a co-op? Wasnt aware, thats cool
Kerbal Space Program, for sure. Skyrim is another.
Anything with procedurally generated levels, like roguelikes/roguelites. I can personally vouch for the longevity of Slay the Spire, for one specific example.
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:
All three are open world.
I've Played both Fallouts and loved them! I will remember to try out Mafia, It looks similar to the old GTA games at a glance. Thanks!
Have to throw CK3 out as my personal favorite grand strategy game (though EU4 and the like are other options). There's nigh infinite content in weaving the story of your family and realm, and mods add a whole new layer to it.
Basically any game that doesn't in itself follow a story, so you are the story (or make it). For me personally it's building and factory games, like Factorio, cities skylines (1 or 2), satisfactory, Kerbal Space program (1 only), Rim world.
This list is essentially endless.
Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead
https://cataclysmdda.org/
Zombie survival roguelike. It's free, open source, and a mature project.
Fallout: New Vegas, Caves of Qud, Project Zomboid, Minecraft, Terraria, Morrowind, Skyrim, Dwarf Fortress, Kenshi, Rimworld, Elden Ring, and so much more.
The detail in Kenshi is pretty amazing. I don't normally get sucked into single player games, but the design really does give the impression of nearly unlimited freedom, every different starting scenario feels genuinely unique. The slave start particularly was a ton of fun.
It's pretty amazing that it was designed by basically one guy. He was really efficient in how he chose what game elements to invest his limited development time into and clearly had a really strong vision. I hope he can get a few more devs onboard to develop a second one, I feel like even two or three other people would make so much more possible.
Absolutely, it's one of the few games that genuinely give the player absolute freedom, but does so in a hand-crafted world with detailed lore and worldbuilding. It's great.
@retrospectology @Cowbee
There are a couple dozen or so working on the sequel, which has been in the works for a while now. As of last week they were still looking to hire more.
How about a randomizer? Pick a game you like and see if there's a randomizer for it:
https://video-game-randomizers.github.io/rando-list/
Was looking for this. The crossover randomiser of Link to the Past and Super Metroid is a masterpiece, and if you like one or both of the games it provides you with a new way to have the complete the game every time you play it.
Add in the different flavours like entrance randomiser (where not only are the items shuffled but the doors you enter don't go where they normally go), or keysanity (where keys don't stay in their dungeons and can instead be anywhere) and it turns what was already a great SNES area game into something you can play over and over again.
Closest I can think of to infinitely replayable games are rougelike games like Slay the Spire, Peglin, Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate, Backpack Hero, etcetera, and sandbox games like minecraft (or Minetest if you don't feel like spending money and/or don't already have a minecraft account).
Though, with the rougelike games I mentioned, there are upper limits to increasing difficulty levels.
For the most enduring single player experiences, you really should give some grand strategy games a try, like older Total War entries, Crusader Kings, Civilization, Swords of the Stars, etc. Stuff like Factorio or Cities Skylines can also become addictive, but none of these games is action oriented.
Also, Age of Empires 2. I haven't played 4 yet, but I think it speaks volumes that, at least on steam, AoE2 has more players at any given time than 3+4 combined.
Ziggurat might be an interesting pick, as it's a roguelike FPS with magic weapons, though it might feel super neutered compared to Ultrakill. Risk of Rain 2 is 3rd person and roguelike, so every run you start from scratch and enemies will keep spawning at certain intervals, but it's a fine shooter
Fallout 4 might have a rather clunky shooting, but if you get into it, you can spend many, many hours blasting a variety of enemies, finding all sorts of places and weapons. Skyrim is a close second, while better played in 1st person, it's medieval sword and sorcery.
Europa Universalis 4. And EU5 is on the horizon.
Definitely not like the games you've mentioned though.
War for the Overworld (I have many thousands of hours in this)
Settlers 2 Gold
(Both the above have a lot of user generated maps, which has given them most of their longevity.)
Factorio
Borderlands 2 has a lot of replay potential without getting boring. It never plays the same way twice. The weapon drops are very different each time through. Don’t forget the DLC. The rest of the games in the series are fun too, but BL2 seems to be where it peaked for me.
If you're into boomer shooters, you can't go past the original doom for infinite playability. Literally 30 years worth of user created content and mods.
Doom. No the originals. Doom, Doom 2, and Doom Final. I always go back every few years.
You can get hundreds of hours out of Binding of Isaac, easy
For me Rollercoaster Tycoon 1&2. But you could probably throw most Sim Games into here like SimCity 2k 3k or 4.
Hello everyone and welcome to another video!
Close but no cigar
For me, Noita. I don't recommend it unconditionally, but for me that game will forever be the only permanent game in my library. I expect it's possible that I could finish Elden Ring. I know I will never finish Noita.
Yep! Noita is a game I play again and aga.in. Despite sucking at it
Deus Ex
I've been recently playing the "so called" sequel to ftl, ftl multiverse. I have gotten the standard and old secret endings, but there are hints of a third even harder to find ending.
Stellaris, Rimworld, the Sims, and a lot of stragedy games.
Shattered pixel dungeon
Many ppl suggest rougelike/lite and sandbox games I want to also add games with a good mod community and have a lot of side quest like Skyrim, they fit the replayability criteria because when it starts to feel the same can you add mods that change things up. I have done thousands of hours in Skyrim and never finished the main quest 😂 I think Balders gate 3 will also live for a long time. Many rpgs seem to get a lot of mods and games like Balders gate change a lot depending on what you do and how you play.
But you seem to want some kind of fps so warframe would be better, you can play alone or with friends. Just like ultrakill do you jump around killing, you can use, swords, guns and magic depending on your build (there are many). Doom would also fits your style of playing I think.
Otherwise management games is a time sinker. But most do not have fighting elements where you yourselves fight. Cult of the lamb tries to be all of it, it has action/fighting and management you can even decorate if you are into that. Pretty good for those who want it all. The devs still updates it too.
The binding of Isaac.
I've been playing it on and of since the flash game released 13 years ago.
X4 foundations and relevant DLC. I have multiple saves with over a year worth of playtime
I put multiple thousand hours into Mount blade warband, Crusader Kings 2, Europa universalis 4, and more.
Diablo 1/2
The one I never get tired of replaying is Mafia 2. Maybe a weird choice since it's very linear and every play through is pretty much the same. But the story is just perfect for me. The gameplay perfectly suits the story, nothing especially clever, just well executed.
Then there's games like Binding of Isaac or Dead Cells where every play through is different.
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.
I don't know how much is truly infinitely replayable outside of tetris, but for what it's worth I have 250 hours into dead cells and I still haven't beaten 5 cells or even reached the final biome. You'll definitely get replay value out of it, the game is fantastic.
Stardew Valley
It gets stale after some time though, unlike rimworld in which each playthrough is a unique story
Agreed, It does get stale.
Factorio and RimWorld immediately come to mind. Even with the base unmodified game, you’ll likely get several weeks of gameplay out of Factorio. Then if you dive into modding, you’ll never put it down. Multiplayer is really nice too. And their big DLC just got announced, and is planned to drop in a few months. So now would actually be a great time to dive in, because you’ll get access to the DLC about the same time that you’ve burned through the content on the base game.
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 :) :)
Shotgun King.
<3
Yeah Shotgun king is nice and is also very moddable too
Strictly speaking about single player games, as in no rogue likes and such, Max Payne 2 is probably the game I played most times over the years.
My most played games outside of actually multiplayer games are arpgs. Diablo(mostly 2 and 3), path of exile, last epoch. Diablo2 and last epoch can be played offline, PoE can't. And yes, they're technically online multiplayer games but most people play them alone so they might as well be single player games to me. After that my most played games are RPGs and rogue likes. Plenty of good suggestions for that already
Dyson Sphere Program is dangerously replayable to me. Hundreds and hundreds of hours sunk into it
I’ve played Risk of Rain 2 on and off for years and I’m not bored of it yet
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)
Slay the Spire, with mods
Any mods you'd recommend?
Downfall is the best.
I was about to suggest "Balatro" but you don't want infinite dopamine game then play The Binding of Isaac:Rebirth.
I have enjoyed caves of qud. Feels like every run is brand new.
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.
I want to throw out Mario Bro 3, Tetris, Dr Mario, and Sonic Mania. Just pick up and go, no long term commitment, always fun solo but you can add a friend anytime. Simple but rewarding game play loop.
Heroes of Might and Magic - the originals. Mostly 3, but any from 1 to 5 can do it.
6 and upwards, it's just pure Ubisoft enshitification. Can't even play them properly anymore due to the online component having shutdown its service.
I would personally pick HoMM5 and avoid 4 altogether.
Not me. Each had its charm.
Besides what people have mentioned, you also have simulator type games like SimCity. Though with SimCity, I got bored of the "new" SimCity they released.... in 2013. Either play something like SimCity 4000, or try Cities Skylines.
I can play Control over and over again.
Looking at my steam hours Stellaris and Skyrim
I want to get into Stellaris but everytime I start I realize I'll have to play 1000 hours before I understand the basics and close the game.
It's really not as complicated as you might think. If you just start playing you will understand the basics very quickly. The game also mostly drip feeds you the new mechanics as you play and unlock them, and you start with a single planet so it's not overwhelming at first.
The only thing that gets really complicated in my opinion are the ship armament matchups. But if you autogenerated or specialize your ships you don't need to know much about it, just look up a basic fleet comp for numbers of frigates, destroyers, etc.
The only time that really matters is if you're taking on the end game crisis or sleeping empires or whatever, because specializing your craft against that threat will give you at least double your fighting efficiency or more. Feels fucking awesome.
I recommend you dont play a hivemind or robots on your first playthrough. I really enjoy interacting with the different species and cultures as my civilization expands, and you can do that with an iron fist or with an open hand.
The basics are really as simple as the 3 point supply chains in Settlers 1, 30 years ago. Also you can try on easiest difficulty level and set up something like tutorial galaxy with almost no enemies to learn.
Spelunkyyyyyyy!!!
Or Spelunky2, both excellent
Both are implied.
For me, that would be the 3D Mario games (or any Mario game, really).
I have over 70 hours logged into Super Mario 3D-Stars, and that’s just the newer way I’ve played these games.
Tetris.
Wart Under
So maybe don't take this as a real suggestion because it doesn't make sense to be a game with lots of replayability, but I've replayed the everything shit out of FF8. I don't think it's because of the game. It's because of me. Maybe it might do the same for you?
Sorry to be a soulsborne weeb but I have something like 1500 hours in bloodborne and I still pick it up from time to time
Red Dead Redemption 2, Fallout 4, the BioShock series
UT99 so shoot me lol