What's a single player PC game you can't get enough of?

Dwarf Fortress is beautiful.

This is my answer. Donated to Toady1 a couple times, then bought it on steam.
- Same here, donated to Toady and played for years before moving to masterwork DF, and years there too. Once the keyboard only mode is added to the steam version I'm sure I'll be playing for years there too!

Factorio. The factory must grow. Started on my Switch until I could no longer save games, then migrated to laptop. Because the Factory. Must. Grow.

Never in my life have I been so hooked on a game.

For fans of Factorio I highly recommend Dyson Sphere Program. It’s a beautiful factory building game. It’s been in early access for a while now but can already be played like a finished game. There is a combat system coming but that will be totally optional. The only downside is that it’s far more demanding than Factorio when it comes to CPU, especially in the late stages of the game as your factory grows.
- If someone else didn't say it I was gonna recommend DSP. It's galactic scale Factorio in space and 3D. If Factorio automation and interstellar logistics sound fun then get this game.
  For late game do e of the hardcore players take ticks per second and such into consideration so there is a sort of meta think to the game with that regard. You can still just slap automation chains together and get the job done tho. I was getting 15 fps at end game with a RTX 3060 lol.
- It is demanding but the devs seem very dedicated to optimization. I have never read a dev blog post entirely about CPU optimization that sounded so excited about it. For an early access game, it really is super polished.
  I haven't tried scaling to super late game production levels, but you can easily finish the non-repeatable techs before noticing any performance hitches.
Factorio is one of those few games (rim world too) that I can sit down and not realize that HOURS are flying by.
For that alone, Factorio is a must have for anyone who enjoys base building aspects in other games. Also, there is multiplayer on PC. At least with mods it's possible.
Have you tried Mindustry? It's supposed to be like factorio and it is open source.
Damn this game made me unaware of time
I have never played a game with such a compelling gameplay loop.
What's your favourite game set up? I just finished the vanilla set up with enemies.
- Honestly if you don’t know where to start just play the bog standard free play with default settings. Maybe increase mineral deposit richness a bit if you’re just starting out.
  If you want to make your life a little easier look for a starting map with lots of trees and deposits close together but not overlapping.

Rimworld.

It's kind of funny because I bounced off the game hard the first two times I played it. What really did it for me was the Ideology DLC, gave it a shot on a whim and the amount of structure it gave me for RPing colonies was exactly what I was missing.

Hundreds upon hundreds of hours in now, and it is the game I keep coming back to. Not to mention one of the biggest modding communities I have ever seen in a video game. The only video game subscriptions I maintain currently are to a few Rimworld modders whose work I really enjoy. When I am not playing it, I am working on ideas of themed mod packs to put into it.

Dyson Sphere Program is a close second, it's my favourite factory-builder. It is still in early access but is a VERY polished experience already. Amazing dev communication too.

I actually can't play with ideology because it feels too rigid and gamey

Witcher 3 wild hunt. Game was released in 2015 and we are still getting regular patches 8 years later. Patch 4.03 was just released last May. Engaging storytelling, a vast open world along with 2 expansion pack, deep role-playing elements to create a memorable and immersive gaming experience.

Have they discussed any more show tie-in content? Was hoping they would use that for promotions.
- I haven’t been following the Witcher fan discussion group for a while, but what I recalled was that the Netflix show has deviated drastically from the source material (books) which many fans are pissed about, even the main star and fan expert of the material, Henry Cavill left in season 3.
  The game dev CD Projekt Red definitely has no rights to Netflix’s Witcher universe and it doesn’t matter. Fans are anticipating the release of Witcher 4 (code name Polaris) which will be a first of a trilogy.
Idk why, but this sounds like an advertisement so much :)

Cyberpunk. They fixed most of the issues the game had at launch. There's a dlc coming out soon too that will add a bunch of hours, and with it they are reworking loads of mechanics for free. Can't recommend it enough.

- I did much of the same thing
  It turns out building a better pc and playing cyberpunk has the same effect as walking around a city on acid.
  Who would've thought
It was a great game even with the issues it had. I'm really looking forward to the DLC, if only as an excuse to revisit the game!
The problems I have with cyberpunk stem more from the story. It's depressing and has no real happy ending, just an array of at best bittersweet possible endings. Maybe the new DLC will fix that but otherwise it's a bit too much art imitating life for me.
- Ahh I love that part. Feels like a nice change of pace that the best ending (for me) is open ended with a little bit of hope. Don't want to spoil for anyone else reading which ending I mean, but I like that it doesn't wrap up in a fully positive way
Did performance improve? I couldn’t get it anywhere close to playable on my 2080 super without dropping the quality to potato, so I gave up on it.
- I have a 2060 super and it ran perfectly on high. I think I had maybe one crash in my entire playthrough
- I've got a 1070ti and it runs very smooth on medium-high. Obviously not doing ray tracing or anything, and no mods, but I dial back some of the stuff like anti-aliasing too. Definitely worth giving it another shot if you already have it
- I played it almost all the way through on a 1080 and it looked and performed great. I did tweak a lot of the settings to get it to peak performance.
  Average FPS was around 40. Obviously not running at monitor resolution.
- I played it on a 5500XT and it ran fine. Maybe a handful of crashes per 100h and few bugs / glitches.

RimWorld.

Yes, I am a degenerate.

- I have a bunch of mods that allow me to automate garbage separation. Weapons go one way, clothes go the other way, and the bodies are processed into meat and organs accordingly.
  It isn't a RimWorld build until people around you ask "what the fuck is wrong with you?"
- I hit a wall with Rimworld. I've gotten into a slog where I'm doing the same thing every day and can't seem to progress any further. At a loss at what to do next.

Vampire Survivors on the steam deck.

This shit is so addictive. Also available in android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.poncle.vampiresurvivors

The Outer Wilds. Best space exploration game with environmental storytelling I have ever played. And that ending...chef's kiss made me cry.

The best gaming experience of my life. I wish I could forget everything and play it again. Did you play EotE?
- I am in the middle of playing it. I am usually pretty immune to jump scares but with this I have to take a break.

Cyberpunk2077 at the moment. Got more than 250 hours on it. Before that I played Dishonored a lot and that before the very first Deus Ex. The story was just incredible and IMHO still is one of the best in video game history.

On my 3rd playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas

It just keeps on giving. I had so many playthroughs on my old Xbox before getting into the PC modding in college.
Thankfully, this will run on basically anything now, so I have all the nice stutter fixes and unofficial performance patches on my laptop. Beats the hell out of restarting the game on console every time it crashed.
I heard good things about the New California story mod and recently set that up, so I'm pretty stoked.
Haven't played around with Fallout 3's mod scene as much but I'd guess they may have some story mods that might be worth looking into as well.
It just keeps on giving. I had so many playthroughs on my old Xbox before getting into the PC modding in college.
Thankfully, this will run on basically anything now, so I have all the nice stutter fixes and unofficial performance patches on my laptop lol beats the hell out of restarting the game on console every time it crashed.
I heard good things about the New California story mod and recently set that up, so I'm pretty stoked.
Haven't played around with Fallout 3's mod scene as much but I'd guess they may have some story mods that might be worth looking into as well.

Kerbal Space Program

Kenshi. It's very unique and one of my favourite games. It also has an amazing modding community.

I have launched this game several times and always end up wandering around aimlessly before getting killed in the wilderness. Is it possible to get into without following a wiki?
- When you start the game you are incredibly weak.
  It absolutely is but getting some beginner tips could be a good idea.
  For instance if you get bandits to chase you into a shop the gaurds will deal with them. You can then loot all the bodies.
  Getting hit trains toughness and defense. Likewise hitting people trains your attack.
  So getting beaten up is good but you need to make sure you don't get knocked out (you'll most likely bleed out with low toughness) or have a second person ready to heal you with med kits after the fight hiding somewhere.
  Outside of towns is super dangerous until later in the game.
  Also running is a very good option if you are out powered. You train your athletics by running. It trains faster if you aren't over encumbered.
- I didn't use the wiki until 50+ hours in. You need to make your own goals. I started by making a thief and just stealing my way to the top.
  You can fairly easily make money and skill up by just running around carrying and selling shit. Specialize your first characters, make the next companions workers.
  It's very much a sandbox where you make your own story.
- It's not unlike Valheim in that way, to be fair. Use a wiki sparingly, just to get your feet under you, and then leave it behind. 🤌🏼
- I kind of had the same experience with it, except I actually managed to get really into it one time. I started as a prisoner in a giant mine, and had a shitload of fun trying and failing to escape. After many hours, I finally did it, and lost interest shortly afterwards because things got too confusing again.
- If you're taking suggestions I recommend watching https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXFIaWk23rSznUxxUMAiNoo24Nx4IPBsX You can learn the basics as you watch him suffer.

Kenshi

Factorio

The factory must grow...
I'm in the middle of my first AB playthrough. I'm currently trying to figure out yellow science and it's like like I'm living in a dream world trying to juggle all these fluids. I almost need to start over I've got such a crazy spaghetti mess with all these fluids and minerals
This game is so good, and the mods make it even better

The Mass Effect trilogy.

Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Might & Magic VIII

Looking at my steam:

Total: Factorio. Though I do think I need to put that one on hold after I'm finally done with my current save - which is not far out anymore. Also, this game has multiplayer so it may technically not count.

Recent: Derail Valley, a very down-to-basics train simulator, focusing on cargo rail in a fictional rendition of an area in the Balkans. They recently put out a major update, which makes all kinds of simulation features much more expansive.

For a hot month at a time, The Sims, then never again for the rest of the year

Factorio, Satisfactory, and Minecraft. Generally sandbox games keep me interested the longest since you're just limited by your creativity there.

Came here looking for factorio. Great game and possibly the most stable piece of software I've come across

RimWorld, I can't stop playing it for at least 6 hours every time I launch it.

Also Factorio until I got stuck on making the fucking trains work

The trains aren't that mad to figure out.
Chain signals into crossings/junctions, block signals out.
This also applies to any track section where a train can block other trains.
Signals and stations only work to the right of the travel direction
Signals without another signal on the other side are strictly one-directional.
you can mismatch signals of any pair, i.e. a block sig opposite of a chain sig.
Using signals within a junction can be useful to improve capacity of said junction, though you must use chain signals for that.
Always make sure your longest regular train can fully leave a junction/crossing/flow-critical block before it hits another signal.
Having one train length across your entire fleet can make this easier to wrap your head around
As for station stopping instructions, that'll take a few more lines to go into.
You just need s good intersection blueprint to make trains work, after i found that i became adicted to expand the train network.
factorio trains were a mess to get into without mods and prior to train limits. they're kinda fine now :)

Portal 2

I'm flabbergasted we're getting no metroidvania love in here so I'll list my two favorites: Hollow Knight and Blasphemous. Both with sequels coming out this year which I'm so excited about!

Deep Rock

Rock and stone!
- For KARL!

I've reeeaaaally gotten into the rogue-like/lite genre. Dead Cells, Hades, Slay the Spire, FTL, Vampire Survivors... Just endlessly fun and entertaining. Also for all you Vampires lovers, I just picked up a game called Halls of Torment during the Steam sale for cheap. Super fun "vampires-like"

Check out Brotato! I think you'll like it.
- Brotato has been my palate cleanser between games 😂

Rollercoaster Tycoon / OpenRCT2

Transport Tycoon Deluxe / OpenTTD

While they do now have multiplayer modes thanks to their corresponding open source projects, I still think the spirit of these games is firmly in the single player pc game category. Best of all they're both free and available on any OS!

OoenTTD is amazing
Those plus Tropico. The first one. Scratches the same itch as RCT for me.
- Ive heard good things about Tropico but have never actually played it. I really need to get on that!

The Binding of Isaac. It is too addictive

I understand that this game is popular and has a significant fanbase. However, I've never played it. Could you share the features that drew you into playing this game? I'd like to enjoy it, but simply watching the gameplay didn't suffice to persuade me.
- The random generated dungeons and amount of different items do it for me. The game might have a steep learning curve initially though until you figure out the core mechanics

Cyberpunk 2077 story

I didn't care about the hype before it was released, then I waited when I heard about all the bugs and tried it in 1.6. The game is really good when you take it for what it is, rather than what you or others think it should have been.
- thats the problem i personally had with it. overpromises and underdeliverances, even after the patches
- I bought at the same time as you. Waited it out. for me, it was pretty true to the pen and paper game - which I enjoyed. And I loved the story. 10/10 for me.I rarely stick with games. I'm not much of a gamer. The only games I've played through start to finish are Super Mario 64, Neverwinter Nights (PC), CP2077, and Hogwarts Legacy. I tend to play sports or shooters, so it takes a lot for me to stick something out to completion.
I miss when CDPR included the DLC when you bought from them direct.

My friends make fun of me for it but...

Football Manager.

I know it's a spreadsheet simiulator but I can't stop.

Ahh, one of my favorites. Might install this again.

My go to would be Skyrim, but i actually stopped playing about a year ago. My current one would be cyberpunk but i'm waiting for the dlc and playing diablo 4 atm.

BPM: Bullets Per Minite

Doom meets dungeon crawler meets Crypt of the Necrodancer.

Playing it makes me realize I really can't multitask (aiming for enemies and shooting to rhythm) lol

I am playing Skyrim. For the second time, now in Special Edition.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games 1 through 4.

A bit more than once a decade I play them on emulator and try to 100% them. Great fun. I also try to make sure to visit the locations in the real world if I'm on holiday nearby where they based a level.

It's kind of sad that the Venice Beach area hasn't existed since the 90s.

Edit: I did just realise this thread is about PC games, but I do play them on PC albeit through a PlayStation emulator. I do believe the games are available on PC.

Surviving Mars. Every time I get back to it, I enjoy it.

Give Per Aspera a try!

Neverwinter Nights, I enjoy playing some of the campaigns and modules every so often, trying out different builds.

Warcraft 3, just for the original campaigns and also the stupid amount of custom campaigns made by the community.

Is Neverwinter free now? Or are you playing another version?
- Neverwinter Nights is the 2002 Bioware game, remastered a few years ago with its Enhanced Edition, can be bought in GOG or Steam. Pretty good still for those that liked Baldurs Gate I and II

FTL. Theme song triggers ptsd in my wife.

I love FTL but I'm so bad at it.
I could hear the opening sound of the title song vividly as soon as I read that. I liked it but somehow never played it much. I think it was missing a little bit here or there.
I only played it so that I won once, and that was a long time ago. Is it really replayable? It didn't really seem so at the time.
- It's a rogue like. It was built to be replayed endlessly.

I love the Fallout universe and crafting in games, so with the amazing mod community I've wasted (?) nearly 6,000 hours on Fallout 4.

I know it's arguably the weakest of Fallout 1-4 and New Vegas, but it became a refuge for me to escape from the real world into.

Cassette Beasts, it's like Pokémon far more different than other pokeclones, and far higher quality imo. The beast designs are great, and there's a cool fuse mechanic you can use to fuse any two Beasts, with unique art (over 16,000 possible fusions). Also the shiny-equivalent is better done and actually useful.

Cassette Beasts is so good! They are bringing out an update soonish with a new area too.

Civilization 6, this game is a time sink

This game is also famously multiplayer
- It has a multiplayer mode, yes. So?

The Binding of Isaac. One of the GOATs for me.

OpenTTD.

Yeah baby. I don't know how many hours I've spent on this.

Prey. I enjoyed it more than Dishonored, it holds a real special place in my heart.

Outer Wilds, played it once loved it so much I still get tons of enjoyment by watching others do full play throughs

What's a good playthrough you can recommend?

Solitaire

Fallout 4 ☢️

STALKER - with mods this game looks amazing and it's so immersive. I had so many fun/terrifying hours on this

Bayonetta

Dwarf Fortress

Cyberpunk

Mass Effect

Morrowind

Inscryption

Hell yeah Morrowind! I like Skyrim ok but it feels bland somehow next to the weird setting and deeper mechanics in Morrowind

Same. Doing my tenth or more replay of it right now, in fact 😂

I haven't see Horizon Zero Dawn in the comments so far. This is probably the best (by graphics, game play, characters, story lines) game I've ever played. I really hope that Horizon Forbidden West is released for PC soon.

Horizon is a great game, it's probably one of my favourite game series of all time at this point. Zero Dawn hit all the storytelling tropes that I typically enjoy in games, and had amazing dynamic combat too. It reminded a bit of monster hunter with the preparation you went into big fights with, but also there was a degree of improvisation when stuff didn't go according to plan.
As someone who didn't think Zero Dawn needed a sequel at all, I actually really enjoyed Forbidden West. I think you'll be in for a good time when you get a chance to play it.
Absolutely! Hunting Thunderjaws feels epic as all hell!

Ultima and Wing Commander, I know I'm showing my age but I guess it's the nostalgia. I still go back and play through them.

Freelancer was so good as well!
- I'm going to have to try it, I stick with 1 and 2 the most. Something about those sprites.
- 7 the most, but all on occasion... except 2 and 9.
Ultima 3 is still my fave. Evocare

DemonDarkBloodEldenSoulsBorneRing.

Edit: Of those that are on PC, anyway. I got tired of waiting for even an announcement that a BB or Demon Souls port was on its way and got a PS5 just for those two things back in January.

Skyrim. I've probably topped 1000hours over different platforms since release

For real. I was already over 400 hours logged before I got my Index, and now with the help of Wabbajack, I'm at a number that would likely get an eyebrow from my therapist. 🤪

Rogue Legacy 2

If you enjoy platformers and roguelikes, you'll like this.

Slay the spire. Probably have close to 1000 hours playing it and I'm still addicted.

Medal Of Honor 2010 & Call Of Duty 2

COD, United Offensive and COD2 are games Ive been playing since they released and never tire of.

Fallout 2

Modded Minecraft. So many good mod packs available.

Exactly. I paid 15 bucks 12 years ago and got god knows how many thousands of hours out of it

Tunic

A cross between Legend of Zelda exploration and discovery with Souls-like combat. Very tight controls. Fantastic art and soundtrack.

Heard so many good things about it, but I just couldn't get into it. Played it for one evening and haven't picked it up again. It was frustratingly hard sometimes and while the complete absence of clues was a refreshing change from the extensive handholding in contemporary gaming, I think just some more bread crumbs would have improved the overall experience.

Stellaris and Factorio

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Sayonara Wild Hearts

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice made me gain a deeper understanding of what my BFF went through, almost 13 years ago, when she took her life after battling with psychosis and not able to fight her delusions.
It's an incredibly deep storyline, and they did an amazing job at captivating the essence of how some minds work. I cried when I played, and cried when I completed it, yet they were beautiful tears all the same. Very well made game, and I actually came to this post to give it a mention as well.

Rimworld - 2000 hours so far. I'm not done yet. The mod community and periodic dlc keep it alive for me.

Civilization for me... I don't mind the newer versions but I'm old enough that I've played it since Civ I and I do sort of feel like it's lost something as the graphics have improved and animations were introduced. Still, irrespective of the version, every game is a little different and eats hours like nothing else.

I have many versions of the game but the one I keep playing despite all the years that have passed, it’s Civ 5.
I do sort of feel like it’s lost something as the graphics have improved and animations were introduced
Have you tried Unciv? https://yairm210.itch.io/unciv It's a free and open source remake of Civ 5 and already supports many of its features. I really enjoy playing it as it's much less hardware intensive which makes for near instant loading times and keeps the computer nice and cool on hot summer days.
- Oh I have not! Thank you, I'll have a look!

Titanfall 2's campaign. I don't replay a lot of games, but I've played through that one a good few times.

Played it on a whim a few years ago. Hugely surprised about how good it was.
- Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot

Definitely Civilization in general. There’s a lot of other games I like that are completely different, but year after year I come back to the Civilization series. And even though they peaked at Civ5, it’s still one of the few games I’ll preorder as soon as the next one is available.

Minecraft

Rimworld

RimWorld is a time machine. I start it up and then look at the clock and I'm 5 hours in the future.
- I've once started a colony right before exams period. It was tough.

Minecraft Rimworld Cities Skylines Satisfactory

Since you seem to basically be me, I would recommend Dyson Sphere Program if you haven't tried it yet. My favourite of the factory games, and they have their big combat update coming in soon too.

I’m gonna add Space Haven to the list. Still early access but I can’t stop. Been playing it on and off for the last year, 200 hours!

I play far too much cities skylines

Subnautica and Enscryption :)

Skyrim. Curse you, Todd!
Dwarf Fortress (still on the old v0.47)

I've also recently began playing Spacebourne 2. It's janky and unpolished as fuck, but it's proving really interesting thus far. Considering it's done by a single dude, it's a miracle it even works.

doom

Crusader Kings, Europe universalis and imperator Rome. I know this is three games but it's the same general idea, as a history fan, this game scratches a very specific itch for me

There's also bannerlord/warband, amazing experience, sorta like ck3 on a micro level

Quake (1996). Still playing it more than 25 years later :)

Total War Warhammer games. I keep starting new campaigns to play all the races and subfactions.

It's 240 comments and no reference to Touhou?????

I play Taisei Project (FOSS bullet-hell shooter) and 3D Pinball: Space Cadet because it was #1 game in the list on Discover app.

Oxygen not included

This is probably my second choice, I have actually never made it to the "endgame" of ONI despite that. Never actually lost a colony, but I just particularly like those first 50 cycles of scrapping things together the most.
I love the Klei art style, and the more engineering style approach to colony building is one I don't see that much.

Caves of Qud

I tried a couple of times but I can't seem to progress anywhere past Joppa. I think I've seen red rock once. Anyway, I Either die or I get lost or somehow lose interest in it. Would be really cool if someone could tell me how to actually play the game, what to do when and how and what the overall goal/story is
- I've always had a soft spot for Caves of Qud, I love exploring in games and it never disappoints :)
  Just don't go to Red Rock straight away, it's way too tough to do that one. Talk to the inventor guy (Argive I think?) and do some quests for him.
  Also, there's no shame in playing the easier Roleplay or Wanderer modes. It's all about having fun in the end!
- Talk to the zealot in Joppa, get the quest to go to the Stilt, then kill the zealot (you won't get in trouble for it), take his book, then raid the three chests in the enclosed rooms (shut the door behind you first!)
  That'll give you some stuff to trade.
  Then go up to the Stilt - it's a long trek but you get like four levels worth of experiencre from that quest just for showing up!

Dwarf Fortress, been playing it off and on for many years now. I happily bought the steam version when it came out!

When I first played back in 200...8? I accidentally stayed up all night. I'm itching to try out the Steam version but I know, I KNOW, that I can't afford the time I will spend on it right now.
- A wise choice, it’s a time-suck for sure.
Love the game but I'll need them to fix the fps issue before I get back into it. Would be great to have a fortress with more than 100 dwarfs without grinding the fps to a halt.
- Ahhh good ol’ FPS death. I never make it that far, mainly because I love to embark somewhere with a waterfall.

Oblivion

Space Engineers with my 1.5k hrs of played.

Get the wings mod if you don't already. Such a game changer.
- Is the AI blocks work with wings mod? I'm a more or less vanilla player.

dcss

That's a name I've not heard in a long time.. A long time. I used to have a beat up old laptop I'd play that on while chilling in a hammock in a crappy little bungalow in the middle of the woods. Good times!

Binding of Isaac

+1. Just turned 300hours corner, and I'm not done at all.

Dwarf Fortress and Minecraft. I don't play the latter online at all.

There's no game I don't eventually get tired of, but here are three that are fantastic and I can recommend playing for hours and hours:

FTL
Slay the Spire
Darkest Dungeon

All indie titles, none of them new, still fantastic and well worth it if you haven't played any on this list. Also all challenging roguelikes, so be warned. =P

I recently just played through the whole Bioshock series for the first time. Top tier games for sure, and still hold up very well.

If you don't mind older games, the System Shock games are kind of like the precursor to bioshock
- Remake came out a few weeks ago

Factorio and rimworld

Two Point Hospital

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

I got Slay the Spire recently from the steam summer sale since it’s so cheap. I haven’t been able to put it down. It’s such a time suck, and I normally don’t even like card games. I would 100% recommend it.

I have been playing this game for years. A20 on all characters. Bought it on 3 different platforms. I am still playing it daily, and I'm not sick of it.

Minesweeper.

I highly recommend Tametsi on Steam. It's Minesweeper, but each puzzle is designed to be solvable with zero guessing, and it uses different shapes and some other neat tricks to keep it interesting. It's 98 cents on Steam right now.
- Sounds interesting!
  I recommend https://davidnhill.github.io/JSMinesweeper/ - it has a no guessing mode, a fast mode to skip obvious choices, can show hints if you need any, is free and works in your browser.
  I also recommend https://zblip.itch.io/mine-of-sight - it's more complex than Minesweeper and has different types of Minesweeper-esque clues combined into a single game. It's also free and runs in your browser.

Vampire Survivors, The Binding of Isaac and Civilization 6, absolutely

Enter the gungeon. Played it so many hours across different platforms.

Same here. Great game. If you've finished everything the Gungeon has to offer, check out Voidigo. It just released not too long ago and scratches that itch while still being very unique in its own right.

I know it's not 100% single player, but it's how I play it anyway, D2 and all of its mods.

Please don't make fun of me but I am a die-hard SimCity guy

Which version?
- SimCity 3000. I play it on Linux.

Outer Wilds. You can really only play it once though but it’s amazing!

One of my favorites of all time! Need to go back and complete the DLC!
- Yes, yes you do. It's as wild a ride as the base game and I love it so much.

Nethack

You can play single player or

        $ telnet nethack.alt.org

to play online

Europa Universalis IV

Heroes of might and magic 3. What a gem! With the HD mod and Horn of the Abyss fanmade expansion (with a new town YARRR!), it's never dull.

I can't wait for the next update of HotA with a second town.

Such a good game. I played it so much in hotseat with my brothers when we where kids. Still playing it, when my brother visits, on the big TV. Last time we got us 1kg of Mett and some Roles, and played it the whole day. 😅
Ha good times.
For a long time it was Heroes of Might and Magic 4 for me -- I know it's the "black sheep" of the series, but I really like that heroes are actual parts of your party (I also played a lot while growing up, so nostalgia plays a role and that's what I got used to)

Dying Light, absolutely fantastic pakour zombie smasher with one of the best cities in gaming. Bought it originally (on a disc) many years ago and played it so much the disc died and I was inconsolable until Epic gave away the ultimate edition and I was finally able to play The Following DLC.

Now I go and look at Dying Light 2 on Steam and wish my stupid country wasn't so damn expensive, even on sale at 50% off it still costs almost as much as a brand new AAA game in the states. Regional pricing my ass, we always get stung so hard for tech down here.

Roller Coaster Tycoon.

I recommend https://openrct2.io/ - it's a fan made open source reimplementation that adds many changes, among them multiplayer, mods, UI improvements, bugfixes and so on. For installation you'll need a copy of the original RCT2 game. It also supports RCT1 scenarios and graphics.

Some of mine have already been said, so I'll bring up Barotrauma as one of mine! Give me some mods for extra content and I'll be able to play for many many hours.

Same with Doom, actually.

Tyrian, but I'll just go to the main menu, enter the secret code and play the hidden turrets game for hours.

Starsiege Tribes versus bots. Wish it's ported to Android touch and motion sensors. http://playspoon.com/wiki/index.php?title=Spoonbot https://www.TribesUniverse.com or Outwars https://www.mobygames.com/game/3686/outwars/

Good ol' Skyrim. The possibilities to break the game are nigh endless.

You know there is a skyrim mods community here on lemmy? Come break the game with us!
!skyrimmods@lemmy.world

Eufloria Classic

Almost perfect "simple" rts. Nothing terribly complicated about how it works. Really the only thing that keeps me from saying it is perfect is the lack of ability to set rally points for units or select multiple planets to move all the seedlings(units) all at once.

Monster Hunter (I rarely play multiplayer), MGSV and Xcom 2

Fromsoftware games and Monster Hunter games

War for the overworld. I have thousands and thousands of hours logged.

Stellaris Cyberpunk No man's sky (idk if it counts as single player per se)

Killer7 Bloodborne Darkest Dungeon

Workers and resources. It's like cities skylines on steroids.

Red Dead Redemption 2 for so many reasons.

Minesweeper. I can always guess the first one right, but after than it gets way harder.

Expert mode can be so annoying when the entire game boils down to a guess at the edge of the screen.
Beginner can be fun for speed runs. Somehow I managed 4 seconds once.

Risk of rain 2, shit's addictive when you start getting decent at it

Geometry Dash or osu!

For basically daily consumption, definitely Paradoy Grand Strategy games for me, EU4, Vic3, CK3, HoI4, one of those almost always manages to work out.

As a game that I can endlessly revisit with short pauses in between, Disco Elysium, never fails to resonate with me.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Fireball wizard

Cities Skylines for me. It's like building my own little world that I would want to live and work in

I love Cities Skylines, but I absolutely suck with traffic management. I know it's supposed to be the game's big challenge, but it's the one thing I really don't enjoy. Anytime I have tried to plan a city from the beginning with traffic in mind, I find myself not having nearly as much fun as when I just built stuff haphazardly.
I kind of just want a mod that abstracts out traffic (I know about TPM, but that isn't exactly what I want).

It's 240 comments and no reference to Touhou?????

I play Taisei Project (FOSS bullet-hell shooter) and 3D Pinball: Space Cadet because it was #1 game in the list on Discover app.

I wish there was some local split screen coop. I would buy it on a whim!

BlockOut aka 3D Tetris

X4 and Farm Manager 2021 (I'm super fun at parties)

Nioh 2

It's not really a single single player game, more a set of specific genres: "Ubisoft open world", "Immersive sim" (especially Arkanes), "Bethesda RPG" (Even 76 which ye cna play pretty much solo), "Walking Sim" (a genre I fell in love with this past year)

Walking sim is a genre? Are there more than just Death Stranding?
- Walking sim is basically any game where you wanter around observing the world with minimal interaction, not just a game with a lot of walking.
  SOMA (Has option to make it a walking sim)
  Sunlight (really beautiful)
  Call of the Sea (great soundtrack)
  Deliver us Moon/Mars (Scifi really good)
  Red Matter (VR)
  Accounting (+) (VR)
  Stray (Kinda, very very low combat)
  Tacoma
  Observation
  A gliders Journey
  Stanley Parable
  A Short Hike (Beautiful pixel art style one)
  Forgotten City (Small levels of combat)
  Paradise Lost
  Some foplks may not classify all these as walking sims but I would.

Stardew Valley!

Railroads! Like Railroad Tycoon but more casual.

Yeah it’s Farm Sim. Something wildly calming about just tractoring around, watching the sunset, feeding the sheep, etc.

The most recent, Dave the diver!!

Just picked this one up yesterday and I’ve totally been hooked. Reminds me of stardew valley mixed with subnautica.
I put over 30 hours into this game and ended up not recommending it on steam.
Weird progression in that game. The sushi segments just turned into me cleaning dishes and grating wasabi...and I thought the entire sea people quest was bland... Also, Nexon is a pretty crap company but that's not so much a comment about the game. Another comment about the game is the forced fetishizing of shark murder. It made me deliver a shark head to a customer on a plate and watch them cry from happiness while they ate it. STOP MURDERING SHARKS???

Tetris.

Zombies vs Plants.

Technically not a single player game but Elden Ring.

Hollow Knight

One of the most challenging / beautiful games I've played.
Sekiro also falls into these categories

The Sims 2. I’ve played a fair amount of all four Sims games including their mobile editions, and Sims 2 remains my favorite after a near (yeeesh) 20 years.

The modding community is still relatively robust, especially for a game that’s so old and out of the four, I feel like I can enjoy even the basic gameplay as a storyteller in Sims 2 more than in 3 or 4. In Sims 3, the focus was less on playing multiple families, so it had to be modded right out of the gate to get back to its foundation and I never liked the way the sims looked. Sims 4 “feels” a lot more like Sims 2, which a lot of people hated, but its expansion and content packs are a complete joke. It costs like $2K to have everything, and they’re still releasing packs. I know it’s just the state of gaming these days, but it just sucks the fun out of a lot of the game.

Half the fun these days, though, is just getting the game up and running on modern PCs. I installed a new hard drive a few months ago and it took the better part of a weekend to get the game fully installed and running. I do have Ultimate Collection, but the less time I have to spend in that stupid EA app, the better.

I still play Civilization III. Nothing wrong with 20 year old games.

Subnautica and Planet Crafter.

The best "just one more thing!" games I've ever found. Huge chunks of time just disappear for me and the people that I've had play it. Very rewarding.

Explain Subnautica. I have played a couple hours but I don't get it. I picked up some fish and some other stuff. I did some crafting but I don't know where the cool stuff happens. Can you build outside your ship?
- The first 4 hours or so can be a bit rough because it doesn't hold your hand much considering how big the game is and how much there is to do. I suggest focusing on surviving and following your radio messages for a new game, while crafting all your basic tools from the crafter as you follow the messages. Craft and use that scan tool. And by the time the radio messages run out, you'll find some cool stuff 😁😁😁
  And yes, you can build anywhere! The world is your oyster 🦪
Subnautica simultaneously my favourite "I like build base" game and horror game.
I really like the open-ended gameplay loop with a structured narrative. Had way more story than I expected going into it.
- Check out Planet Crafter! It's really cheap right now too. It's the same but different enough to still be refreshing
Oh man. Thanks to you I'm now going to be up all night playing Planet Crafter, I garauntee it... Game definitely has that "Just one more exploration!" Or "You cant give up, you're so close to the next tier just do it".
Not sure if it's the simplicity (which I initially disliked) or the absolutely no hand holding that I love about Planet Crafter, but this game has me hooked, and I cant wait to see the fruits of my labor.
- Ha! Ya I put like 80 hours into that game in like a week....and it's NOT EVEN DONE! I've put it down for now until full release, but that should just be 6 months or so and then I'm going back all in and I'm AMPED

Age of Empires 2 in campaign mode

Cheese steak Jimmy

I tend to get bored of games fairly quickly. I'll hop from game to game to game, over and over again, never (rarely) beating a game before moving on to the next. Sometimes I come back to these games I've abandoned and start over, only to repeat the cycle. There's only one game that I keep going back to again and again. The Sims. I do wish there were other competing life sim games that offered a similar amount of content and mod support, but alas, there's nothing out there quite like it yet.

I've been watching and waiting for Paralives to come out for a long time at this point. I really like the art style and having something built not by EA seems like my kind of thing.
For now, guess the sims is all we have!
- Paradox recently announced that one of the studios they publish for is working on another life sim too. Don't know much about that, but given it's Paradox it's going to suffer the same issues that EA has with just so much DLC to make it a complete game.

Factorio, Rimworld, Terraria. In no particular order, they're all perfect at what they do.

Terraria is one I should probably like, given that the other games there are among my favourite games ever. Just never could get more than an hour into it without just getting kind of lost. I get a house for me and the guide guy and then...am not sure what to do exactly.
Is it more action-adventure than I think? I just kind of want to build a town I think.
- There's a boss progression. The idea is that you build up to the gear level to kill the next boss, which unlocks more difficult content and more gear.
  But you can also just build if you want, that's chill too.
  Took me a while to get it too. But man is it fun when you do.

Ruiner. F'kin banger soundtrack.

Fallout: New Vegas

Civilization 4: Fall from heaven: Ashes of Erebus. It can be played multiplayer of course, but I almost exclusively play single-player. The lore is fun, the event system can be interesting, the combinations of awesome Civs+Leaders+Religions+Magic really up the replayability. The end game with hundreds of units amongst a large number of factions with hell terrain encroaching makes for a very dynamic endgame.