What are your favorite 1000+ hour games?
from DuckWrangler9000@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2024 22:50
https://lemmy.world/post/22145712
from DuckWrangler9000@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2024 22:50
https://lemmy.world/post/22145712
One thing I have struggled with lately is finding good games to play. I bounce around from game to game trying to enjoy it but it just doesn’t scratch the itch like it used to. For example, one of my favorites was old school RuneScape, but it hasn’t really been giving me the same enjoyment that it used to. So then I would open up World of Warcraft, Destiny 2, just playing a little bit of each game. Think maybe I need some new games to play but it’s tough to find them these days.
So what are your favorite 1000+ hour games?
threaded - newest
I’ve been playing Tf2 for over 1.5k hours now. I recommend you to try it out There’s a reason why that game from 2007 is still not dead.
The best war themed hat simulator out there
You should try Brighter Shores.
The original RuneScape developers and owners (i.e. Andrew Gower and his brothers) are back with a new game, at a new company, with an industry shattering $5.99/mo subscription price for all content.
No micro transactions, no pay to win, no outrageous DLC pricing, no bull shit … just a fun game with many similarities to OSRS but also modernizations, formula improvements, and lessons learned.
I tried it, and it was really hard to get into. There are some pretty big glaring flaws of the game right now that make it simply unfun to play, in my honest opinion. One of them is the fact that it feels like RuneScape classic, rather than RuneScape 2. For example when you do activities like fishing, you have to click each individual fish over and over again to infinity. Which doesn’t feel enjoyable. Combat is also rather clunky, and there’s little dopamine involved. I also distinctly hate the fact that you cannot do what you want with combat, like you cannot be an archer. You only get like three arrows and then you have to use melee. Also it seems like skills are only usable in one area, once you move on to the next episode, there are no areas to practice those skills anymore. So it’s really not fair in my honest opinion to compare it to RuneScape at all. Once you get into the forest, there is no fishing spot as far as I’m aware… I can respect that people like it but it’s not for me
I mean, fishing is more comparable to mining in RS2, there are other skills (typically refinement oriented skills) that have more down time between clicks.
Combat I definitely feel needs refinement. Though, I actually do like the fact that combat is not “I have a bow and I’m shooting something 1 tile in front of me and/or safe spotting.”
The skills are only trained in one area, but they have interactions across areas. You use resources gathered in the forest in town and in the mines. The weapons you make in the mines can be tuned to any other location (etc…)
Andrew does a pretty decent job of explaining the thought process here if you’re interested: store.steampowered.com/…/4442331835939160237
A lot of this is to solve the long time MMO issue of “new content is released but it’s only for high level players and long time layers in general have a ton of advantages in the new area.”
lol the problem with Destiny is they turned it into a treadmill and stopped putting the work into character and level design.
Elden Ring can easily take more than 100 hours on your first playthrough, and different builds significantly change your play style.
BG3, similar deal. Subsequent playthroughs are probably going to be accelerated, but there are a bunch of different story choices you can make that feel different, the party members have their own story lines, there’s a special custom character called Dark Urge that’s intended for a later playthrough that has it’s own twist, and you can change the strategy of encounters a lot with different party constructions.
Rimworld calls itself a story generator because you’re going to fail and have people die and whatever, but every game plays out different, there are a good couple scenarios, and there’s expansions and mods you can add on top of that for variety.
Just the first couple that come to mind. I’m not near 1000 hours on any of them, but they all have a lot of content.
I’ve only got a few. Several of them don’t really track hours, but I know I’ve put over 1000 into them. Games like Super Smash Bros. (Melee, Brawl, and 4) and Rock Band 2.
Other than those, the only one I’ve measurably put 1000 hours into is Skullgirls, but Guilty Gear Strive will likely get there in a few years. Skullgirls is a game with so much depth that I can’t imagine ever getting bored of it. If anything, I’d just lose motivation because I can’t see the path to improving, but I’ll definitely never see every permutation of strategies you can employ by combining characters together. Guilty Gear Strive has so many creative ways to use its expanded Roman Cancel system that any Evo highlight reel is full of creative ways out of situations that you’ve never seen before.
Tetris.
Why do they have to be 1000 hours? If you’re getting gaming fatigue you’re not going to fix that by sticking to the same genres you always play. Go onto Steam/gog/eshop/etc during the Black Friday sales next week and buy a big pile of 40 hour games for $3 each
(Mine is FFXIV, to answer your question)
X4 Foundations… This sucks people life: you start a game when the sun goes to sleep, one second later the sun wake up 😅
Stellaris
Monster Hunter
Factorio, it’s fun from the first minute but you’ll still be learning new things after 1000 hours.
Me: Ooooooohhhh, ok. I know how logistic networks work.
2 hrs later
Me: wtf? Production stopped. Why does this one belt have 5 different materials. Oh…idk how chests work. That’s OK I’ll simplify it until it works.
suns up and birds chirping
Me: ok, ok. So it’s working, but i dont know why.
800 hrs in and I still underestimate the space I need. Best 30 bucks I’ve ever spent.
200 hours in for me and I just learned you can put gates over train tracks. 🤯 Found out by reading the in game manual that I was too proud to read beforehand. So uhm… read the manual.
Regarding the question itself, Starbound and Minecraft. Maybe Final Fantasy XII if I was to play it multiple times, as I take at the very least 100+ hours to finished it, and 250+ if I'm not in a hurry.
But regarding gaming fatigue, perhaps it could be a symptom of playing too much of only a handful of game styles? If you wouldn't mind, may I suggest to check some smaller games in length and scope, specially indies? Those tend to be rather diverse in their scopes and executions.
XII is so much fun to explore. I didn’t even beat it on the original PS2 version because I kept getting distracted.
Although my personal favorite to replay is VIII because there are multiple different ways to build your magic up (to actually get stronger).
Path of Exile.
I’d say I’m a fairly mid-tier player, get better with each season I play, the breadth of mechanics and depth of complexity is mind breaking. I’ve only played like 2000 hours though, I’ll get it all figured out eventually… Right?
Mine are:
Any Fallout or Elder Scrolls
Diablo 2 or 3
Stardew Valley
Borderlands 2
And I never consider it a real game, but I do sink the most hours in Hearthstone. I’ve been playing it almost daily for the past ten years.
There was a moment in my life when I thought that perhaps I was outgrowing games... that they were just not really designed for the entertainment of adult human beings in a way that could satisfy me. Not one of my old stand-bys could, as you said, "scratch the itch" or provide "the same enjoyment that it used to." I found myself spending more time with films and books.
Then I got into FromSoft games and indie titles, and within a year I realized games still held incredible experiences for me. I hadn't outgrown games. I had only outgrown the bland slop represented by most AAA releases, and especially by online multiplayer releases. Personally, I'd recommend giving up on looking for a new 1000+ hour obsession. Instead I'd recommend seeking a broad array of 10-100 hour loves. If you haven't already tried them, for me a love of gaming was saved primarily by: Dark Souls, FTL, Spelunky, and Hollow Knight.
My exact thought earlier this year, honestly. I’m right there with you
This is exactly what I’ve been doing for the past 6 months. I’ve discovered some pretty crazy and amazing titles. Played Everything from BG3 to No Man’s sky, lots of indie titles my favorites being Boomer shooters and new up and coming titles. I tried Stardew Valley for the first time since everyone seems to be raving about that one, and a couple similar ones like my time at Sand Rock, Valheim was awesome. Guess I feel like I’m running out of stuff to play lately
If you still haven't tried anything FromSoft has made in the past decade, please do.
I’ve played dark souls remastered… It’s hard as hell man. Haven’t tried Ellen ring yet but it’s on my list
Rocket League cracked that for me, crazy ceiling on that game.
Crusader Kings III is gonna crack it eventually…
Caves of Qud has nearly infinite replay value with all the random generations + mods. You can do nearly anything you set your mind to. Same with Project Ozone 3 (Minecraft mod). If you like goal orientated games that are multiplayer try Space Station 13. That shit is nuts, and I mean 13 not the 14 on Steam it doesnt have half of what the old one does. But the launcher is about to go out for 13 so get it while you can.
I found that Two Worlds had a lot of fuck around potential. You can infinitely combine weapons that are duplicates to strengthen them. I once killed every NPC in the entire game and used the resurrection spell on them so everyone was completely loyal to me even monsters.
If you can still find it. There was this online Pokémon game that was somehow realistic. You controlled your character typed ccommands for your Pokémon. And they were always alongside you when out of their ball. It was hardcore as shit. I got my cheeks clapped multiple tines trying to run to a different village by gangs of mankeys and caterpies. Nintendo is just drooling on the floor not doing this officially. It took forever to level, it was an extreme challenge to find stuff to evolve your Pokémon. Ugh I hope thats still out there somewhere.
A less spoken one nowadays that is also very fun is still the original Morrowind. Absolutely mind blowing how expansive that game is to this day. It is still just as legendary as it was back then even if it is a little dated. I actually come to like it when a game isn’t guiding me on what to do in an RPG. It feels more immersive when I’m supposed to know what a Guar looks like.
Appreciate the great response and recommendations!
I think you’re talking about pokémon revolution online, or something similar. There’s a few pokémon MMOs.
If it clicks with you Monster Hunter (World+Iceborne’s a good starting point) can easily eat up hundreds of hours of your time grinding and doing endgame content, especially if you have a group to play with.
If you’re a Destiny refugee, the most obvious answer is Warframe, which just keeps on getting better and better.
Does it have multiplayer or is it single player only? Destiny 2 was only really playable because I had a community/clan that I played with actively for the social aspect of it. Horribly boring playing it solo
Warframe is a bit similar to Destiny in that it's built around multiplayer, but most of the main content can be solo'd if you wanted. But that said, the Warframe community is still thriving, so it should be pretty easy to find a group to play with if you want to avoid the in-game matchmaking.
You’ll almost always end up doing missions with other people other than when you intentionally want to do certain tasks solo.
A lot of the game is built around guilds and player to player interactions.
PvP sucks and it’s almost all PvE content vs Destiny though.
For a while that was true. But that entire design direction has basically been abandoned. Clans are more or less a vestigial organ at this point. Literally the only interaction I have ever had with a member of my clan was when I asked for an invite.
In many cases yes (though I’ve been in good ones when playing off and on, usually the smaller the more there’s actual group activities).
But they are essential to be a part of for blueprints and trading, which are very core parts of the game.
Sure, but again the amount of actual player to player interaction involved in that is minimal. Like I said, I’m in a clan, and outside of obtaining my initial invite (which basically went “Clan plz” in chat followed by clicking accept) I’ve had literally zero social interaction with my current clan. Trading has been effectively automated by Warframe market. You copy and paste something into chat, and the rest of the interaction consists of a pro forma exchange of "ty"s. Also, you don’t actually need a clan to trade, because anyone you’re trading with will inevitably invite you to theirs, so they’re only really important when selling.
This is absolutely nothing like the way that raiding and guilds are core to World of Warcraft. Clans play an almost purely mechanical role in Warframe, they’re not remotely the same thing, and do not have remotely the same requirement of social interaction.
There are a few sections restricted to solo only, but it’s not the default, the matchmaking is pretty quick for a random group and there’s a variety of people always looking to form groups for different tasks. One word of warning, people move fast, until you get parkour down, you might just end up running from the start to end of a level if you join groups, they’ll have completed the objectives and be waiting for you to extract.
Clans exist, and each have their own space station called a dojo that’s customized by them (cost is based on size of the clan, as a solo I was able to build up and level a clan on my own).
The core story content is single player only. The rest is multiplayer, but unlike Destiny there’s nothing that requires you to form your own group outside of the game, and all the gameplay is designed in such a way that you really don’t need to communicate. You can basically just turn on public matchmaking and get a bunch of humans who might as well be bots for all you’ll have to actually interact with them.
You can play all the content solo if you want to, but the difficulty might get a bit much, especially starting out (there are also certain game modes / mission types that really lean on having a full group).
Huh, there’s only like, 4 of these games for me total. TF2’s still a bot-blighted hellscape as far as I know, my skyrim install is broken and the process of fixing it or just re-installing it will require a few days off, WoW is dead to me, and I don’t really play warframe any more… so I guess Warframe wins by doing absolutely nothing!
I have one game with 1000+ hours and that is Squad. It’s the only online game I play anymore as it is the only game that has teamwork/communication (it takes be back to Battlefield 2 days) and none of the shit like battle passes etc.
My gaming habits are just playing lots and never finishing anything… but I have fun still.
Project Zomboid, Rimworl, Dwarf Fortress, Stellaris, Starsector…
You really like simulators?
I… guess? I don’t know how I would classify these games. But they all are able to steal from me 8h in a day, no issue :)
Story generators. Best kind of games, in my opinion. It’s truly amazing how the interconnection between numerous systems can result in totally unexpected and memorable experiences no scripted game could provide.
Slay the Spire
Not a favourite anymore but still beats my second most played games by a factor of 4… Warframe was fun at the beginning and really clicked at about 200hrs. I left after about 2200hrs because I burned out but it still has a place in my heart.
nothing will ever top my smash bros melee hours. I could start now and I simply wouldn’t be able to do it even if I picked the game I already have the next most hours in. I am also entirely unlikely to add any hours to melee, but it still wouldn’t be feasible.
No Man’s Sky. A foot deep but a mile wide.
Final Fantasy XI. I’m almost exactly 1,000 hours into it, and only halfway through the storyline. I haven’t even touched end-game content. I’m playing on a free private server called HorizonXI that is well-populated and feels more like the game when it came out versus the modern day solo experience.
FF XI is still a thing? That was my first MMO ever, I loved that game. Met some of the nicest people. Good memories, I hope you enjoy the grind (blue mage main…)
Play DayZ! so I can force feed you rotting bananas after I break your legs with the wrench so you can’t get away! 😈
I can’t get into that game, but other people’s videos on YouTube are entertaining.
Tbh you kinda have to be a professional asshole to really enjoy the game solo. When I’m playing with friends I tend to have more fun because it’s a lot of base building and clan wars and stuff like that. But when I play by myself I’m really just being a monster to other players. This also applies to rust as well but I don’t play that anymore because they discontinued Linux support. Mmm long pig
oh man, i stopped playing rust due to the toxic atmosphere, it’s disgusting. used to run a few servers and it turned into a shitshow. didn’t even know it was available on linux actually.
I was probably one of your players 😶
Sims 2 Skyrim Stalker franchise (including mods) Doom 2 Vrchat Arma franchise Halo franchise World of warcraft … I may have a problem.
Monster Hunter. The first one I played, MH4U back in the 3DS days, I put 1,000 hours into. That was nearly 10 years ago, and I’m still playing the franchise to this day. Currently finally going through the Sunbreak expansion of Monster Hunter Rise on the PC, and noticing a marked improvement in my mental health over playing other games.
Also came here to recommend Monster Hunter. If these games grab you, there’s many hours of play in it for you.
L4D2. built a new computer for that game specifically after loving L4D. super fun arcade shooter that will never be uninstalled from my computer.
Unmatched experience
Dark Age of Camelot
Oh man, blast from the past.
That was my jam, way, way, way, way back when ;)
Was a RR10 Enchanter and RR10 Blademaster, plus a TL for both classes. I think my account is still lifetime comped.
Put wayyyy too much time into that :P
I played a good bit on the free Eden server last year and earlier this year and it’s still fun! I don’t know if that server is still going strong or not though.
Elite Dangerous is my go-to lately.
It’s different to most other games, by not being goal-oriented except for the goals you set for yourself. No main quest line dictating progress. No mandatory tasks. No win condition. Instead, it drops you into a simulation of our entire galaxy roughly 1300 years in the future, where humanity has mastered hyperspace travel and spread through hundreds of star systems.
(To give an idea of the simulation’s scope: Around 85 million systems have been recorded by players so far, and those are a vanishingly small fraction of what’s out there. Space is big.)
I like that it offers a variety of activities to fit whatever mood I might be in on a given day. I can hunt pirates, mine asteroids, engage in a bit of piracy myself, find and collect bio samples, infiltrate rival settlements, venture into vast unexplored areas of space, discover Earth-like worlds that nobody has ever encountered before, defend humanity against hostile forces, photograph beautiful stellar phenomena, rescue stranded survivors, customize and finely tune my ship to perform beyond its original specs, team up with friends, pledge to a political power and expand their influence, or chill out as a space trucker and haul cargo to earn enough money for my next upgrade. It can occupy all my attention, or just be relaxing entertainment while I listen to music or an audiobook.
It’s an MMO in the sense of having a large game world (galaxy) shared by all players in real time, but PvP is optional. One mode exposes you to other players, while another limits you to NPC encounters. You can switch between them at will.
One warning: A space ship has more than a few controls to learn, and they’re better suited to a game controller or HOTAS than a keyboard and mouse. I use button combinations for almost everything beyond basic flight controls, since there aren’t enough buttons on a controller for everything.
hmmmmmm you’re tempting me to get back into this one. I think I have 60 or so hours on it? Not enough to try everything yet, but definitely enjoyed chilling in space.
Seems like a lot of people step away for a while only to return to it. I had hundreds of hours before taking a break, came back with new hardware, and have been playing hundreds of hours more. At this rate, it might end up overtaking Civilization as my most played game.
I don’t think I’ve ever played a game more than 200 or 300 hours.
I’ve never topped 1k hours in a single game. Right there with you.
Team Fortress 2
Warframe. Inching closer to 3.000h currently.
It does come in waves, but every once in a while I go all in again and lose myself in the infinite things you can do.
I think I have 5k hours in and the development style finally got to me in a bad way. I can go into detail if needed, but I don’t feel I need to to anyone with enough time in the game.
My friends got me into Warframe about 6 months ago. We play together almost every night. We are so excited for the 1999 update.
Have fun playing :D
Thanks! I blasted my way through the main quest in preparation for 1999. Now I’m just working on getting my MR up and good frames and weapons built. My friends are so much farther along than me and they are a huge help. My fave part of the game, by far, is the fashion
Rocket League
I think Destiny is the only game I ever put over 2,000 hours into, but Factorio might take the crown soon - 1800 and counting.
I’m amazed nobody has mentioned Kerbal Space Program (first one). That and TF2 are my most played
Yay, a fellow KSPer! Though I’m just barely over at 1,041 hrs.
The only two games I have that I’ve put more than 1000 hours in are Factorio and Rimworld. I’d highly recommend both.
Trackmania 2020. Great example of a game that is simple in concept but super deep in skills that you can both play super casually at your own pace or super competitively. Plus there is a great community and endless content to play.
I want to do this so bad because I see cup of the day stuff and think “man that sounds fun” and then I remember it is a subscription (as far as I understand) and I lose interest.
Yes it is a subscription to access the servers. But you also get a ton of access to other content forever (all the past campaigns and TOTD tracks released) so the value is still pretty damn good. Considering I’ve got 2000 hours in the game since release and it has in total cost me about the same as a normal game I’m not going to complain about it being a subscription.
That’s the $20 bucks a year price, right? If so, maybe I’ll give it a look when I’m a bit more solvent.
Factorio, Warframe, Minecraft, Dota 2. However, the only two I’d still recommend are Factorio and Minecraft. Warframe’s grind seems to have finally burned me out for good, Dota 2 is bad. You’re not gonna have fun with Dota 2. The game concept is good, but like most competitive online games, the community fucking sucks.
In addition to Factorio and Minecraft, try Voices of the Void, The Long Drive, WEBFISHING, and Balatro.
Edit: oh yeah, and personally I have both Sims 2 and Sims 4 w/ all DLC (yeah, I toootally bought all the dlc) installed on my steam deck. Both fun games with their own ups and downs. Sims 2 is great vanilla, Sims 4 is great when heavily modded. Don’t bother downloading the F2P version of Sims 4 from Origin if you’re wanting to mod it with stuff like sacrificial’s mods. Those’ll break with every major update (and sometimes minor updates too!) and you can’t pause updates anymore. So, you’ll have to find alternative methods.
Honestly, by online gaming standards, I’ve found Dota pretty tame. Prehaps its just because I stick to more casual modes and have a high behaviour score, but I rarely see much more than a “GGEZ” at the end of a game, or players tipping mistakes. I think its been at least a month since the last time I saw someone hack, intentionally teamkill, or throw. Obviously, its still a competitve online game (toxicity isn’t rare), but the only other online game I can think of where I experienced less toxicity was Deep Rock Galactic.
Maybe the community has gotten better, but back when I played it wasn’t uncommon for mid to get salty because they fed early game and start feeding couriers to the enemy team.
Its possible I’ve just been lucky enough to avoid that part of the playerbase. Then again, my perception my also be skewed from spending so much time in Dead By Daylight, War Thunder, Minecraft and Counter Strike. At least in Dota, it takes some effort to kill more than a couple teammates.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord with some mods took long enough to give up for me.
Star wars mods make it really fun
For some context I have insomnia. Stellaris isa game I’ve been able to fall asleep playing. Eventually it auto pauses but that’s fine. It’s a game I will always play because I find it peaceful and relaxing
Alan Wake 1. It’s one of the few games i can play over and over again and not get bored. Sometimes i’ll just pop in and play a chapter when i want something to do. I keep it and it’s sister game, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare on system at all times just so i can play it
1000 hours in Alan Wake is impressive. I assume you played part 2?
I’m ashamed to say it took me until a few months ago to get to it. I finally got around too it though after my full yearly play through of Alan Wake 1 earlier this year
cracktorio
First at least make sure the poor sod does not have a family!
Wow, so many posts 😵💫 Sooo I think I’ll be the one to mention Elder Scrolls Online ^.^ I’ve got 1800 hours in that and miss it pretty bad v.v Am stuck on a laptop that can’t run it (nor much else) playably :-\ Anyway, it’s got many things to do. Three faction storylines, lots of side stuff (everything can be played at any level; people will take low-level characters into Trials and not even worry about it), crafting, character build funs deeper and more interesting than they seem, just plain wandering around peekifying all’ the Elder Scrolls places… Idunno, it just somehow kept me of all critters hooked for quite a while, which is very odd. I tend to get bored of things realquick 😅
I only have 800 hours in it but I suppose I can second (or, well, nth) Warframe? 😅
Morrowind. Although it’s more like play a few hundred hours every five years for me.
Deep Rock Galactic
Rock and stone!
Haven’t been playing for a long time because I haven’t set up the xbox in a long while, but Borderlands 1. Have been playing that game on and off more than a decade now. I don’t think the base game (playthrough 1 only) on its own is 1000+ hours long, could be wrong, but it’s long enough, especially with the DLCs. I think I’ve beaten playthrough 1 and 2 with 2-3 of the characters and have yet to beat all the quests with any of them because of a certain DLC boss fight quest.
It’s a game I absolutely fell in love with. Started with the 2nd game, which my brother got, but I later got the 1st because I wanted to see how it was compared to 2 and I’m a bigger fan of the 1st game. Played the pre-sequel, it’s fun but not as good as 1 in my opinion, and have no experience at all with 3.
Minecraft. Probably have around 5000+ hours I think. Playing since I was 10(now 17). So, many wasted hours on Anarchy Servers and Ranked Bedwars.
I just started playing in the last few months. I bought it for my son and didn’t expect to be that interested in it and now I can’t stop playing.
Dayz.
Just hit 3.5k hours and it’s still the most exciting game I’ve ever played. Nothing else gives the same adrenaline kick as a good encounter or a fight in Dayz. Also a great game for meeting new people as talking to others in this game is a must.
I’ve never understand anything in this game. I don’t find any loot, anything to defend myself. I install it, play 30 minutes, don’t find anything and then quit.
It does have a steep learning curve, I’d suggest watching some content on it if you’re struggling. RunningManZ is a great content creator for Dayz.
Thanks for the recommendation ! I will watch his channel before any attempt
This seems to be a solid starter, Syl is a great and funny guy to watch too :)
youtu.be/xILXpi98StM
Thanks, i will check his guide
Somehow ctrl+f failed to find this one, but Path of Exile is probably my drug of choice there. While I raked in 1k hrs with Dota2, I’m not sure I"d recommend it unless you really want to sell your soul to MOBA life. And it’s not quite to 1k yet, but honorable mention must go to Satisfactory as it’s well on its way to being game #3 in the 1k+ list with me.
.
I don’t think Lemmy loads all of the comments in one go, I need to scroll all the way to see them all.
Kerbal Space Program
I’m well above a thousand hours on the first game. Then all my flying sims (MSFS, Xplane, DCS, Elite Dangerous) also have a very high hour count. But for civilian airliners most of those hours are spent AFK in cruise.
I’ve also mostly enjoyed online multiplayer games, but I play a bit of everything. I think these are the games I’ve played most in order it must be:
World of WarCraft - Been at it since a year or so after it originally launched. Played a lot of Guild Wars 1 before that, and also lots of other MMO games before and in between, but WoW is the one I always keep coming back to. Longest break must’ve been like 6-7 years around the Cataclysm expansion, and then back at it at the end of Legion. It’s on the back burner now again because of another mediocre expansion, but I still check it out occasionally. I think I must’ve sank at least 5000+ hours (probably way more) into this game over the past 20 years.
Elite Dangerous - Been backing it since Kickstarter, had high hoped for the game and it was fun while it lasted. But I lost all hope in Frontier in managing this game. They’re only focusing heavily on microtransactions, currencies and paid early access content now. Must’ve been about 1500-2500 hours or something, but I’ve been out of this one for a couple of years now. I had high hopes for the future of this game, but Frontier is a master of promising glory and delivering disappointment.
Squad - Last, but certainly not least for me, around 1400 hours playtime (including the testing branch client). Got into this game right when it launched into early access on Steam. Was very tired of the themepark rides that Battlefield and CoD were turning into, but didn’t want to commit to Arma’s milsim style either. Squad fits in between perfectly. Also one of the greatest game communities I’ve got the pleasure to be playing with, never had so much fun with completely random strangers. The mandatory voice-chat really ties it together to create amazing and fun moments. This game really taught me that voice chat in games can actually be good, and not just kids spitting insults.
That said, I have a lot of games on multiple platforms, that I usually won’t ever hit a 1000+ hour mark on most of them anyway. Like I played Witcher 3 twice (and a half I think). But that’s like only 150 hours or so total. And this year’s favorite has been Helldivers 2 by far, but that’s only been almost 300 hours so far.
Would be arma 3, dayz and stalker series. My currently favourite is stalker Anomaly.
Elder Scrolls Online, as long as you find a good group of friends.
I also nearly have 1000 hours in MGSV Phantom Pain.
FIFA.
A long time ago now I spent over 10,000 hours on world of warcraft. I wouldn’t really recommend getting into it now though, I think the magic is gone.
After around 16,000 hours, I’ve found WoW to be a lot more fun playing with others than just restricting myself to open world and full-PUG content. The last expansion was decent (story was a bit meh, but gameplay was great) and the current expansion has been okay so far. I just hope they can get balancing right on events going forward, since it’s getting tiring seeing them create a massive artificial grind then walk back on it a week or two later.
Guild Wars 2, so far I put 4,800+ hours into it.
I like that it has so many kinds of solo and group content that I can just do whatever I’m in the mood for that day.
After playing for 2000 hours, this one is an easy recommendation from me, too. The game was quite light on endgame content at release, but due to the design of the game, now the vast majority of the game occurs at ‘endgame’ and can be very fun. I love how I can come back after a couple of years, buy access to any content I missed in the meantime and have a character that doesn’t need to grind levels or gear, just jump straight into story mode and get caught up on the story. Even better when you don’t have to worry about making your playtime feel like it needs to be ‘worth it’, since you don’t need to pay monthly to play.
Rimworld, and Football Manager (although they last one I played is 2020)
Rocket League
Team Fortress 2. There’s just so many different ways to play the game with its combination of classes, weapons and game modes!
Oxygen Not Included- very detailed colony sim where scientific things like heat exchange, air pressure, etc. are essential for survival. I swear, my next file will be perfect…
Civ 6, Fallout 4
People still play Fallout 4? What are you doing the game? I beat it like years ago but don’t know how to enjoy it if I played it again today
If you like space games, X3 and X4 can probably eat up lots and lots of your time. Space Engineers if you’re less interested in flying, space economics and creating a supply chain (which X lets you) and more in gathering materials and creating all sorts of weird, funny or actually amazing stuff. SE is probably better played with at least 1 other person, possibly more, while X is exclusively single player.
Grand Strategy games can also obliterate your free time. Civilization 5, any Total War game. Hell, Age of Empires 2 can have very long matches if you play on huge maps and people have loved that game for over 20 years.
You can also go for Fallout 4 or Skyrim with extra content mods, like dungeons, quests or areas.
Personally, I’m just past 400h on Palworld, so I’d recommend it as well. I’ve played from start to “finish” some 4 times by now. Official servers will be wiped sometime in December, possibly with a new patch arriving, but you can always play single player and even invite a friend to play on your local save and never lose progress (unless the save gets corrupted, which can happen).
Monster Hunter: Not all at once of course, but it’s a game I keep coming back to. A friend in college introduced me to it on the psp and I was invested. I’ve had some version of it somewhere since, and I don’t think I’ve ever removed it from my psp either.
Overwatch: This is from before the change, but it became a comfort game. There were no chats, and I didn’t have to be in voice chat. I was low level (bronze), but I was content. I still play here and there, but I may get a match or two in before I leave out. Back in the day I could play for hours.
Team Fortress 2
terraria for me. i keep managing to find new stuff over a thousand hours later.
“Has this item always been here?! no way. REALLY?”
Well they keep updating it, so it may not have been there, unless you made a chest sphere and didn’t label the chests.
no its just there’s a lot of items in the game. and some you wouldn’t really find unless you were actively searching for them.
I have around 1700 hs in Destiny 2, and close to the same in Bloodborne. Over 1000 hours in the last 2 monster hunter titles. I’ve replayed resident evil 4 and castlevania sotn dozens of times.
So those are my most played games
Monster Hunter World and Don’t Starve
Per my steam library:
Factorio: 3,375.4 hours
Dyson Sphere Program: 2,505.9 h
Stellaris: 2,236.6 h
Terraria 2,629.9h
Skyrim: 1,239.5 h
Dungeon Defenders only has 600 hours on Steam, but I’m well over 2000 hours between Steam and PS3/4
I’ve also got a few thousand hours in Just Cause 2&3, as well as several Gran Turismo games and Forza Motorsport games. Morrowind probably has 2-3000 hours, oh and I’m not allowed near Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri anymore.
Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger are probably up there as well since I’ll replay them every decade or so.
That’s a lot of gaming
I’m 44 years old, and have been gaming practically since I was born. My parents played D&D, and video games with us kids.
Also a lot of those totals are artificially inflated because I can leave the game running to finish a long task, especially Factorio and DSP
That’s awesome.
The Binding of Isaac
World of Warcraft
Grim Dawn (currently playing Community Season 7! check it out @ grimdawnleague.com, Dead Cells and Terraria (and most of that time unmodded - i just love building cozy or not so cozy homes).
In order of most to least
D2 (thankfully there was tracker) WoW (i don’t wanna know) PoE at about 4700 hours
Dota 2.
I’ve played Dwarf Fortress, Stellaris, yet I still find Dota to be the most complex game ever.
It sucks that it’s a multiplayer game, and you need people to play it well with you, but when it works, it’s amazing.
Everything in it has layers of usability, usually componded by the everything else in the game - hero abilities, items, map, neutrals, even the stupid trees play a large role in the game.
I’ve spent hundreds of hours studying the mechanics, and I still don’t grasp everything.
I played a lot of DotA too, but that doesn’t have a playtime counter. But I have over 3000 hours in Dota 2.
My second favourite game is OpenTTD. It’s just so satisfying to optimize the train network and add another 100 trains to it. I’ve tried Factorio, but for some reason that did not scratch that itch.
Or some roguelites, like Slay the Spire (or the Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend), Synthetik (haven’t tried second one yet), they are always fun.
Great list! I’ve tried Dota 2 as well, it’s definitely extremely complex and addictive but not my kind of game, I just cannot thrive and enjoy that sort of game. Same goes with League of Legends. Just not my cup of tea.
I am a little curious about Stellaris though. That game seems so incredibly complex, like, what about it is The draw for people? I’ve heard so many people talk about it and has so many freezy steam reviews but when I first tried it as a demo, it seemed so absurdly complex That my head was spinning. Like I had no idea what the heck was going on. I’m not sure how to enjoy it I guess
LoL sucks, it’s like a shallow copy of DotA. I’ve played around 300 hours, it’s very silly in comparison.
Stellaris is kinda easy once you figure out that expanding is the No1 priority for the entire game. Expand, build ships - nobody will be able to stop you.
There was always a need for a ‘tall’ empire - so you don’t expand, but focus on your small part of the galaxy - but so far it’s always crushed by the expanding ones.
Once you get stargate tech, it’s 24/7 war. For even more territory.
Right now I remembered a game that never was really finished, Stardrive, where you could design your own ships down to the electrical wiring. It had layouts with sections, and you could fill it up to your liking. It was a shame that ground troops could finish the game in minutes.
Sometimes I feel like 4X games are usually more suited for roleplaying than actual challenge of micromanagement.
Anyway, I have a huge jam on my main line in OpenTTD, gotta fix my intersection again.
It’s a mix of strategy and role-playing. Sure if you want to survive on higher difficulties, you probably need a build that is meta. But on medium difficulties or lower you can pretty much roleplay your empire as you like and there’s many mechanics in the game that help with this. Your empire can be a democratic haven for all, a mega corporation, a machine hivemind forcefully assimilating organics into its network…and much more.
There’s also a great exploration aspect of the game. Your exploration vessels regularly find anomalies that tell a neat little story and provide bonuses to your empire (which can range from a small resource bonus to making one of your leaders immortal).
Of course, there’s also the power fantasy. You start with just one planet, but you will quickly expand throughout the galaxy. You can then wage war against other empires, build a federation together with them or convince the galactic community to crown you as Emperor of the entire galaxy. But the game also regularly throws adversaries at you if the AI empires are starting to become no match for you, may it be one of the space fauna suddenly becoming extremely hostile or a Great Khan uniting a marauder horde and demanding everyone to become their vassal.
It is also rare that a bad outcome leads to a straight loss. Losing a war (usually) does not doom your empire but you only lose a bit of territory or get vassalized, both giving you ample opportunities to build up your strength again or make allies to stand together against an enemy.
In descending order: Skyrim Fallout 4 Starfield
Morrowind is a game that has extreme hours too, but not sure if it is 1000+ (yet).
You are very brave for playing Starfield for 1,000 hours. I gave up after 25 hours when I completed the entire quest line and started new game plus. Literally couldn’t do it. Went and played some No Man’s sky, and now that’s becoming my new addiction
I still play Starfield, I really like the game but have it modded a lot now.
Never had any fun with No man’s sky, for me the story is boring and the rest of the game can’t hook me. In my eyes Starfield is a way better game, but I can see and understand why other think different about this.
But like what are you doing Starfield for that long? I feel like after 25 hours I had seen and experienced everything that there was to offer. What else is there left to do?
There is so much to do and to see in the game, I have so many hours in and still find new stuff that I had not seen before.
25h is barely the main quest and there is so much else to see and do then the main quest. Faction quests, side quests, radiant quests, base building, ship building, new game plus, DLC, mods.
Starfield is packed full with stuff to discover, people just have to be open for the game. Yes it has lots of flaws, the awful temple puzzle was the first thing that I changed with mods, and yes the loading screens are not great. I can forgive the game it’s flaws, maybe because I never over hyped it as so much other did.
I am playing Bethesda games for over 20 years now, since Morrowind, and I have a very good idea what to expect from a Bethesda game and where the strength and limitations of the engine are. Due to this I never expected to be able to do atmospheric flights or to travel over huge parts of the planet in one go, or to have huge interplanetary or interstellar areas. The engine is not made for that kind of things, not at all, so I never expected the game to have those features and so my expectations for the game were very similar to the delivered product.
Tbh If I had a friend who has it on Steam I’d probably try it through library sharing but I don’t.
Factorio: 2344
Path of Exile: 2736
Rimworld: 2191
Kerbal Space Program: 1071
I have a bunch of honorable mentions in the several hundred hours ranges that are only not 1k+ because I have severe ADHD and something else became a hyperfocus before they hit that point:
Backpack Hero
Ark
The Last Spell
Timberborn
Factory Town
Dyson Sphere Program
Loop Hero
Brotato
Satisfactory
Path of Achra
Against the Storm
Desynced
Commas, please.
Honestly, I had it all with line breaks, but it didn’t take. I will fix.
I’ve had that same issue before.
Thank you for fixing it!
Have you tried modded Minecraft ?
DOTA 2 is my primary time waster, have over 3000+ hours on it. It’s endlessly entertaining, because there is so much variability in the games. You have 4-8 spells depending on the hero, with 6 active item slots, which means once your team has leveled up, team fights can be a burst of seconds, or a 5+ minute long affair, with each tank employing different survival strategies to block damage, heal, or escape, just to heal and get right back in it. There are multiple different game modes, but are a little challenging to find and play. Still, it is the one game I play with the steepest learning curve. I don’t think I saw myself as “good at the game” until I was around 1000 hours in 😶
Smite is the only other game I have 1000+ hours in. I started playing it as a break from DOTA 2, and as a way to connect with my little brother. It’s a lot like DOTA 2, but far more simplistic. Each god has 4 spells, with no active items. Instead of left-clicking for movement on a map, you use WASD to maneuver your god. It’s fun, and you can pick it up after like 30 hours. The different game modes are a lot easier to navigate than in DOTA, but it’s also a lot less engaging. The updates and quests are all very simplistic. I was going to try out the new Smite 2, but after watching some game play, it looks… exactly the same as Smite 1.
Factorio
The Factory Must Grow
I’m almost 100 hours into my new space age save, and I’ve played nearly 1k hours since I bought it 5ish years ago. By far one of the most enjoyable games I’ve ever played and I highly recommend it to everyone who enjoys sandbox games
Factorio. It’s the game I always come back to, and I’m always ready to spend 5 minutes playing here and there now that it works so well on steam deck.
Garry’s Mod. Basically a gateway drug to hobby animation, and in some ways not so far off from the modding tools used to make it.
If you’ve watched stuff like Heavy Is Dead, they’re usually made with it. Some more professional-looking stuff is instead made in “Source Filmmaker”.
Sims 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4
Empirically, Final Fantasy 14. Also my only 1000 hour game since games services started logging playtimes in a more durable way. Only other games I can think that might have touched that time are Diablo II and UT99, but both of those playtimes are lost to the sands of time.
noita
I’m closing in on 2000 hours, and it’s such a great game if you like challenges and discovery.
I started playing it after one of the devs said, “I don’t think anyone will ever make another game like it.”
It’s a terrific implementation of a very pure concept.
I really hope that, despite the development challenge it may present, “noitalike” becomes a thing.
I think it’s an engine that would integrate really well with ML world/asset generation, too.
Elite Dangerous. Well over 1,000 hours, especially with friends to explore the black with. Hard to get into, but it has so much stuff to do. It made me passionate about space! (And it’s always fun reading articles about a far-flung star and thinking “hey! I’ve been there!”)
Ark.
Dark age of Camelot. 6000 hours on my main character. I prefer not to think about how could life be different now if I had not started this game…
I used to think like this. It took me a while to realize it wouldn’t be different at all. You gotta take care of yourself in life and that includes your mental health and well-being. Sometimes that’s playing a game you love
That’s true. Thank you for sharing this.
FFXIV, the campaigns alone are roughly 500 hours long and then Team Fortress 2
Don’t Starve Together scratches the MMO itch for me. It’s not an MMO, but there are public servers where you can hop in and hang out, raid bosses and whatnot. I have ~4k hours in it now.
I am Not even close to 1000h but devinetively Factorio. Be aware, this game is a massive time sink and makes you play for way longer than you want. Especially with the new expansion you can spend enormous amounts of time in this game.
Project Zomboid, Valheim
Valheim!
5k hour in Tales of Maj Eyal :store.steampowered.com/app/…/Tales_of_MajEyal/
Beat it in every difficulty once… except the last one. Half of my time must be on trying that.
Apart from Flight Simulator 2020 and DCS, I absolutely love games like Euro Truk Simulator 2 and Snowrunner. I put ungodly amounts of hours into those. Especially ETS 2 is incredibly relaxing. No pressure, just a lovely drive. It’s definitely not for everyone though.
Factorio: Nothing more to be said here Terraria: Just such a good game with devs that truly care about it. I’ve been playing it forever Eco: Serious love/hate with this game. I’m tired of trying to save servers that are on the verge of collapse because of capitalist ideas Morrowind: :3
Minecraft…
The only two games I have that much time in are Factorio and Satisfactory.
7 Days to Die for me
Do you like the latest updates? The way the game is headed?
Not a huge fan of the sets and how the bonuses work, but it’s still pretty straightforward and better than the old armor system. Everything else is great. Magazines are a little weird in a split group because we typically have one person go into loot perks, but magazines drop based on the skills of who loots the container, but it gives access to crafting recipes to people who otherwise wouldn’t have them because they were previously skill level locked.
Have done at least one fresh run through major updates since a16 and the game has never gotten worse, in my opinion. The new pois are amazing. As well. Oh and the trader system is fixed and quest leveling overhauled, rewards improved, and progression made transparent. A little glitch in multiplayer though, last I played.
Path of Exile. Hands down.
I just broke 1400 hours and still going strong. There’s so much to do and so much to learn, and it’s so good at rewarding grinding and keeping you chasing those incremental improvements. It’s 100% replaced RuneScape for me.
I have broken 1000 hours with Cookie Clicker, Guild Wars 2, RuneScape, and Eve Online. I don’t recommend the latter two anymore, but CC and GW2 still hold up.
Honorable mention to Factorio. I’m still in the hundreds but it’s climbing.
Pavlov VR
.
Minecraft FTL Destiny 2
Satisfactory
Stellaris. I’m almost at 1400 hours in the game and while I now play it a lot less often than in the first 1000 hours, I still get the itch to play it again a few times a year.
How do you deal with the slowdown? It ruins late game for me
I play on a smaller galaxy size and have a beefy computer.
BeamNG.
I just can’t stop crashing cars into things in slow motion.
The Binding of Isaac
Space engineers
The Elder Scrolls Online was my first 1,000+ hour game, but it's since been long surpassed by Dead By Daylight.
If it still ran, MW2. Loved it
but today it would have to be minecraft. I have to play it in sessions but, it never fails to find a mod pack or challenge setup.
What’s your favourite mod pack recently?
my fav one recently has been ftb: skies, but that’s a skyblock , I’m going to try the decursio project soon though, it’s supposed to be an rlcraft/sevtech style mod pack, so I’m excited for it , I just haven’t have free time to play it yet.