Patient Gamers

It would take me long to decide which 2 of those not to preserve (probably the non-replayables):

Dead Cells

Hollow Knight

Hades

Dredge

SOMA

Witness

Outer Wilds

• Minecraft (It's a sandbox)
• Garry's Mod (It's a sandbox)
• Roblox (It's a sandbox)
• Skyrim (It's a heavily mod-able medieval RPG)
• Portal 2 (It's literally anything at this point: a web server, a game engine, a fucking computer, a lot is possible when the right people crack it open)

People should check out the 1 upsmanship podcast where a couple guys discuss which games are worthy of being uploaded to a "celestial hard drive" for preservation. It went patreon exclusive a couple years ago but there are still a lot of eps posted

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-1upsmanship-97574019/

Factorio. Not sure I'd need anything else

Man.... tough choices.

I'm saving Dark Souls 1. It's a beautiful game, great replay value I've barely begun to tap into, and really cool multiplayer features. Also a game I'd love to introduce more people to.

I'm also saving Hollow Knight. Trying to beat Pantheon of Hallownest, or Steel Soul mode, may just keep me busy until I die single-handedly.

I'm also saving Silksong. Screw it, same reasons as Hollow Knight, selfishly I want em both. I would go just Silksong, but it lacks the updates and endgame content that Hollow Knight has been fleshed out with.

Mario Odyssey? I got really into speedrunning this for a while, and it was a blast. I could get back into that, and push it a lot further with all the free time I'd have now that I'm not playing much else.

There really should be a multiplayer game on this list.... I'm tempted by UFO 50, but that feels like cheating, so... Mario Kart World? The online is kinda trash, because they push the intermission courses too hard, but local multiplayer isn't so affected, and mechanically the rail and wall grinding is deep mechanically, and I could sink a lot more solo playtime time into mastering all the time trials, which I loved dabbling with.

Really, this whole list is defined by games I could speedrun and otherwise try to get thousands of hours of playtime and challenges out of them.

Well, I think games that have the greatest possibility between them make the best choices. So...

Stellaris. - I want a 4x and grand strategy and this one is a bit of both. Also considering how much it's changed since 1.0, the various versions of it provide a lot of variety in themselves. Also it's got great mod support. Its core systems have also been rebuilt a couple times, so I know it has a good deal of potential and isn't locked too hard into certain mechanics.

Conan Exiles. - This is a really weird choice cause the game isn't amazing in and of itself, or even all that good, and it's pretty buggy, but it's one of the most customizable, mod supported multiplayer games I know of. Maybe there's a better choice and if I had time to research it I'd pick that one. I know there's a multiplayer mod for Skyrim, for example, but I'm not technical enough to know if that has better possibilities than Conan. Hell, maybe Minecraft has potential here? I have never liked it much. It would be absolutely necessary to me that it can be updated to decent (not blocky) graphics though.

Elite: Dangerous. - This is another choice I'd like to research a better option for. The thing is I want a flight/space game, but I don't know enough about the genre, and this is the only one that immediately comes to mind. Its kind of my one mostly unselfish pick cause I haven't played this type of game in a long time.

Baldur's Gate 3. - It's not actually my favorite rpg or even my favorite Baldur's Gate, but Larian designed it with good mod support and tools. Also it can support multiplayer very easily. Like the others on this list, it's here for future adaptability; if we're never getting new games, mods of these 5 have to be as much like new games as possible.

An MMO. - This is the toughest one to answer myself cause I don't know enough about the back end of them. The trick is choosing the one with the most broadly applicable technical side. I want as much possibility in future development as I can get, and I'd really like one that isn't inextricably linked to the target based gameplay we currently know from most of them. If required to pick without research, I would reluctantly choose Guild Wars 2, cause it at least isn't tied to tab targeting, but I have no idea if it's good with my other criteria.

Now, you'll notice I didn't pick any games without multiplayer, and that's cause if these are going to be the only 5 games left until the end of time they should all support multiplayer. No single player only need apply.

TitanFall 2: Its the Portal 2 engine, but better. Also runs on almost anything these days, looks good, could easily be a basis for a ton of different kind of multiplayer shooters via modding. You could basically rebuild any Source game/mod between 2000 and 2015 ish in it.

Deus Ex (the original): Lower fidelity but that means it can run on more things, is also highly moddable, also has a working multiplayer framework that it's had since almost day one that I guess everyone forgot about, could also be modded into nearly anything, including lower fidelity than TF|2 multiplayer games of basically any kind.

VintageStory: Minecraft, but better. Also highly moddable. Also networkable.

Fallout Online (2/3): Assuming the likely near apocalyptic setting accompanying this hypothetical, we're gonna want a 2.5D turn based tactics platform, FOnline is highly detailed and highly moddable, and is networked. You could also basically rebuild nearly any 2D JRPG in this, yes, even Pokemon, if you can handle 2.5D isometric sprites.

(I was originally going to say either Xenonauts 1 or 2, but then realized you could basically build X1 or X2 in Fallout Online, and FOnline is already networked.)

No Mans Sky: Beyond being essentially the most advanced procedural generation game that I am aware of, in breadth and depth, you're going to want to have all that code to be able to decompile parts of it and thus be able to rebuild other or new digital worlds with it.

I reject the concept that no new games will ever be built.

I've been using and making mods since the 90s.

There will be new games, apocalypse be damned.

Also, as much as I love some Bethesda games, their engine is a heap of broken garbage.

Rebuild FONV or Skyrim in TF|2 or Deus Ex instead.

They are entirely capable of being modded into that.

I'm just saving Planescape: Torment 5 times.

• Chrono Trigger
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
• Pokémon Red
• Stardew Valley

Think I’m good with those 4.

Throw in Math Blaster so I can pretend to value humanity or something.

Stardrew Valley I want to relax, it's relaxing and fun and literally everyone likes SV

Master Of Orion 2 Nostalgia because I had a garbage PC as a teen that could only run 90's game and it's a great game

XCOM 2012 Enemy within + longwar should keep me busy until society collapses.

Starsector GOTY every year. Amazing how do they keep doing.

Animal crossing on Wii Stardew valley + nostalgia + cute animals

Selfishly?

Golden Sun 2: One of my favorite game series's growing up, and the first time I experienced a "good" plot twist.

Knights of the Old Republic: Talk about good plot twists, I rented this game from blockbuster once and spent years thinking it was a fever dream.

Pokemon Emerald: Pokemon Crystal is the first game that let me play as a girl, but ruby/sapphire is really my generation.

Baldur's Gate 3: Met my gf playing this, 1000 hours in, all coop with her.

Monster Hunter World: Met my best friend here, 2000 hours in, and basically infinitely replayable in a way that Elden Ring isn't

Fallout 4

Baldur’s Gate 3

Sekiro

Super Mario World

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

Dota 2.

Mandatory for every gamer.

That can only end up great.

X-Com, Smash Brothers, Halo, Civilization, StarCraft

Burnout Revenge- Its my comfort game. I love it.

Left 4 Dead 2- Favorite multiplayer game

Witcher 3

Diablo 2

Ages of Empires 2

Minecraft and then just build games inside of it?

Hmm, tough one. I'm going to maximise replayability and this assumes all DLC too

• RimWorld
• Factorio
• Balatro
• FTL or Slay the Spire
• Civ 6 or Cities Skylines

Honourable mention to several JRPGs from Squaresoft

Edit: I'm now reading the thread and second guessing everything. But gonna keep my original list

I’ll start the ball rolling. For me, I’d probably have to go with:

Skyrim - first off, it’s my most played game ever, and also my most purchased game too. Is it the best game ever made? No, I don’t even think it’s the best Elder Scrolls game. But there’s something so captivating about it for some reason and I can’t help but always go back to replay it all these years later. If mods are allowed to survive the video game apocalypse then it makes it a very easy choice but I’d still choose it even if it had to stay vanilla.

Pokemon Soul Silver - something for kids to play, but also my favourite Pokemon game and one of my most replayed games ever. Between having your Pokemon follow you around, the Johto region plus Kanto, and also the music, I think it’s the best Pokemon game ever made, and a game I can’t go without playing the rest of my life.

Elden Ring - I was torn between this or Dark Souls III, but I went with ER because (1) it’s more accessible, and again remember every other game is permanently destroyed so this does affect everyone, and I’d like to be at least a little nice in my choices, and (2) I find myself able to replay it a bit more, especially with the DLC. I’ve mentioned it many times before but I truly believe SotE is the best content FromSoft has ever put out, so it would be a shame to have it destroyed.

Hitman: World of Assassination - it’s sort of cheating as this was originally three separate games, but they’re all bundled together now and Steam recognizes it all as a single game in my library, so I’m including it. Plus it’s my list and my post so I say it counts. Anyway, I don’t see Hitman posted a lot on Lemmy, but it’s my second most played game ever and I really do think if you can get over the admittedly high cost to get all the content it really is a masterpiece of a game. It’s also got way more replayability than you’d initially think just looking at it, so it’s a great contender for this post. This is another Skyrim situation where I don’t think it’s a top pick for greatest game of all time but it’s just so easy to replay that I couldn’t omit it from here.

Dishonored - I really didn’t know what to put for my last choice. I was tempted to do another massive open world game like Red Dead Redemption 2 or cheat again and do another bundle game like Mass Effect Legendary Edition or Halo Master Chief Collection, but I decided to go with a game that is a bit less intensive to complete but is still really fun to jump back into and try a new style with. I feel like it’s a bit of an underrated game these days. I know it was very well received and sold well but I don’t hear about it enough when talking about modern-ish classics. This is probably my favourite game that’s not a sandbox or open world, aside from the FromSoft games. The art style is gorgeous, the story is engaging, the DLC is a great add-on, the gameplay is diverse and super fun, it’s just such a great game all around.

My list is probably going to be very different from everyone else’s, but that’s part of the fun.

FF7 (original) FF8 Fallout NV Crusader Kings 2 (with dlc and mods) Rimworld (with mods)

Skyrim

Fallout 4

Ratchet & Clank

Morrowind

The Witcher 3

Skewed towards my taste in gaming, but still trying to think about humanity:

• UNDERTALE. My favorite videogame OAT, amazing storytelling, characters and soundtrack. This is my least replayable pick, but one that I would not want to lose
• The Binding of Isaac. Contender for the best Rougelike ever made, with an absurd level of replayability and great modding community
• Minecraft. Even though i don't care about Minecraft that much, the things that this game has accomplished is crazy. I would not want to lose Redstone or the amazing modding community it has. Tons of ways to play and, it's the most purchased game in history, I think it's worth perserving.
• Geometry Dash. I would not want to leave the "rithym game" (debatable) community with nothing. GD is also a game I'm super in love with. The community is great and at this point it's close to being its own gaming engine, so I think it fits here.
• Skyrim. This game I haven't played ever, but I know what it means to a lot of people. Considering the rest of my cartoony and slightly niche picks, I think having one, extremely moddable medieval single player helps to have variety.

• Doom (1993): Arguably the best game ever made especially with mods, essentially created the FPS genre.
• Half Life 2 (and its episodes considering they're now all one game): One of the best games ever, revolutionized physics and story telling.
• Halo MCC: Some of the greatest games ever made and truly represents an era of gaming long gone, doesn't mean a lot to me but it means a lot to a lot of people.
• Fallout NV: Arguably the best FPS RPG, amazing dialog choices and overall amazing story. The atmosphere is incredible and so are the factions.
• F-Zero GX: One of the greatest games Nintendo ever made, it truly captures the arcade feel in a way very few other games have. Just intense racing that feels amazing, good gameplay and great controls.

Do I get the mods, too (because, realistically, who plays games only unmodded? Children? Console gamers?)?

So, if yes, half life and half life 2.

If not....

1. Minecraft - this feels like a no brainer. Also needs to have some mod packs. I would choose some fat as fuck packs. But if I only was allowed to choose one, I would choose one of the biggest mod packs that has the most mods in it.

2. Counter-Strike: Source - has to have all custom maps currently available. There's nearly an infinite amount of content there. But even without custom content, I still think a core pvp FPS is necessary to this list.

3. Some kind of an mmo. One that has instances of large quantity of player content that can be saved. Social games are incredibly important, to at least me. I don't love WoW. I don't really play MMOs, either, except for one, and it's largely because my partner loves it. So, maybe Guild Wars 2.

4. A co-op dungeon crawler that can be used for role playing. So, maybe like.... Neverwinter Nights? Or maybe Phantasy Star online...2? Diablo.....?nahhh... PoE maybe.

5. Some kind of very simmy racing game with simulation physics. Beam.Ng?

The "no new games will ever be made" is a hard one, because I instinctually want to save games that could be used as inspirational "seed" games for people to use as ideas to make new games.

My instinct is to treat this as a "all games are dying. What games would you take to restart?" But in reality, this is "what are your favorite games?" There's a lot of nuance between those two questions, and the lists would be extremely different. So, my list is kind of trying to merge those two concepts.

• Garry’s Mod (general sandbox)
• Arma ~~3~~ Reforger (war and life sim sandbox)
• GTA V (VI if we buy enough time)
• ~~Skyrim (heavily mod-able medieval RPG)~~ Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
• ~~Luanti (voxel foss sandbox with potential)~~ No Man’s Sky 2025

Edit: The focus here was on replayability and modding. Garry's Mod, Arma 3 and GTA cover car racing, shooting, partying and roleplaying. KCD is for history and single-player. I can't wait to play it! No sports games made it into my list. Maybe people can rebuild Wii Sports or something in Garry's Mod, I don't know. Last minuted, I switched to No Man's Sky 2025 over Luanti. Go explore the vast universe y'all! It's a completely different experience compared to my other picks. I've heard it's good now, so I'll go for it blindly.

• Morrowind
• Chrono Trigger
• The full motion Afterburner arcade machine (that thing was so much fun)
• A link to the past
• Tetris

Tough. If this is all I get forever I'll go for replay over best games ever.

Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, good 5k hours

Monster Hunter World(Iceborne), like 5-10k in that

NieR Automata, less so for the replayability and more for the music

FFX For same as above

Aaaaand hm. Oh I want some childhood. Majora's Mask.

Well let's see...there's Pong, of course, then Asteroids, Pac Man, Poker and Tic Tac Toe. Yeah, that ought to do.

• Chrono Trigger - It's pretty much the perfect RPG: great story, cool art, replayable, not too long or grindy.
• Earthbound - I admit I have a lot of nostalgia for this one, but it's still a game I've replayed at least a half-dozen times.
• Final Fantasy Tactics - Fantastic story, plenty of character customization, and some extremely broken builds if you know what you're doing. Also, did I mention the story?
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - THE metroidvania. Great gameplay, soundtrack, and visuals.
• Hollow Knight - Fun to play, difficult to master. Has a lot of charm and plenty of secrets to discover.

There are plenty of other games I would love to throw on the list, but some would require a ton of mods or just didn't quite make the cut for me.