Control (2019) - the SCP influences, being a FPS/action hybrid, the soundtrack, the vibes, it's just immaculate. My only complaint is that they don't have an in-game method to check collectibles so I never fully bothered to 100% the game but I went as far as I could.

Can't wait for Resonant.

I have not submitted my answer yet, as I have a hard time picking one.

The top.of my list includes:

• Morrowind
• Final Fantasy X
• Horizon Zero Dawn

I think it may be time to finally take of the nostalgia glasses and have another look at Morrowind - it was unbelievable game when it came out, I still love it, I still want to play it again and again, but if I'm real, there are just better games out there.

Final Fantasy X has absolutely top notch love story I have ever experienced in a game. I simply lived the life of Tidus for those few weeks when I first played the game.

Horizon Zero Dawn has perfect execution of story - the uncovering of bits and pieces to the grand finale.

There are many games worth mentioning - Witcher 3, Stardew Valley, Talos Principle, ...

But it has to be only one and it will be one of FFX or HZD. I have to think about it for a while.

Spec Ops: The Line

If you know of it, you know why I love it.

If you don't, and if you have even a passing interest in shooter games, play it sight unseen. I know people often say to avoid spoilers when it isn't really that necessary, but for this game it is. Just play it. Trust me.

Also you might have to pirate it unless you already own it. It was delisted digitally because of licensing issues. I just had to buy the Xbox 360 disk on eBay for a friend to play.

I can't get the website to load, but all I really had to add so far is +1 to the "cishet white dude from the USA" demographic. Now I wanna answer though!

Kerbal Space Program by far and away. I credit the game with my ability to think. Up until I played it, I was under the impression that rockets just go up until they're in space, and then there's no more gravity in space, which is an alarmingly common misconception even among adults today. I'm some kind of dumbass about a lot of things, but I have a pretty good grasp on basic physics thanks specifically to this game.

Objectively, I think the best game I've ever played in terms of gameplay, story, and music was Nier: Automata.

Hi-Fi Rush takes third place. If you like earnestness and sincerity, this is your game. I was fully expecting someone to lampshade the corniness of the "I am a rock star" line, but the game plays it perfectly straight and is made infinitely better for it. Plus the soundtrack! You got the Black Keys, Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy, The Joy Formidable, it's incredible

Divinity: Original Sin II is not the best game ever made. It is flawed, the story has only just enough momentum to get it to the finish line by the end, it is so easy to make a character build that is suboptimal (and you will be punished for it), and systems are rough around the edges. But I love it.

What D:OS2 has is character. The game focuses on both the big and the small in ways that I just love. In the grand scheme of things, the world is fucked, the Voidwoken invasion is unwinnable, and there are rumblings of future wars between powers. But at the small scale there are still people, there is hope, there is humour. D:OS2 is simultaneously a very serious game that by the end will have you feeling down because damn is its story dark, but it's also incredibly goofy at times. You'll go from killing a witch who was driven mad by the magisters who has given into the force of evil and now hurts everything around her, to a skeletal boatman who will take you across the lake of deathfog for a fee, omitting the fact that he will be sailing straight through the deathfog until you arrive on the other side. Whoops.

Your companions are a huge part of it too. They have stories that you will be going through as you play, because you kind of need to do everything to ensure you're at the right level for everything else. Their stories are so incredibly grounded in the world. Some have ties directly to the plot or side plots you'll be encountering as you play. Some even conflict with each other. And each of them have their own bits of character growth, and by the end you'll understand them. They are so well done.

Mechanically, the game holds up because the surfaces+clouds system that so many abilities are built on is actually really good as a foundation (well, all roads lead to necrofire, but otherwise it's implemented so well). Almost every ability will interact with the environment in some way, so the battlefield keeps changing. And no two fights are the same. There are many instances of an enemy type only being used a single time, and when they are used multiple times then the arena you're fighting in is different enough that it changes the feel. I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention that Blackpits fight.

Oh, and the soundtrack. I think it is truly underappreciated. There are pieces that didn't make onto the official OST release that I think set the mood(s) of this game so damn well.

When I heard that Larian was going to be making Baldur's Gate 3, I had every confidence they would do a good job of it. And they did. I think BG3 is a better game than D:OS2. They got better at storytelling, the engine allows for fully 3d maps with layers (Moonrise Towers is them showing off what the updated engine can do, and I love it), and everything is just a little more polished. But this is a question about favourites, not best. D:OS2 was the right game at the right time for me.

Elden Ring is my favourite if I could only pick one: it has been the one that's genuinely changed how I looked at things nowadays. But my other favourites include Borderlands 2 (that was the first proper game that I played when I started university) and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.