The ashbolt All Timers (Top 25)
My personal favorites. Brief explanations for some
25 Games
Death Stranding will always be the game that gets and eyebrow raised at me for saying it's my favorite. This game has an overarching theme that connects with me on a very deep and personal level. So many things are done right, as much of a mess as this game is. Truly a masterclass in the medium,
1
It takes some real balls to make people think they're going to play as series staple Solid Snake, just to drive the point home that he is the perfect soldier, and you are not.
2
AC6 is a game that feels like it should not exist. The combat is so much fun, there is a level of action that is unparalleled. No other game has me rapidly mashing buttons like an actor pretending to game in a disney channel show.
3
There is a general trend among games I like: giant fucking robots. Titanfall manages to take a generally stagnant genre, PVP FPS's, and perfectly crams in giant fucking robots and high speed action. It's perfect.
4
Xenoblade made me who I am today. Had I not played some of this title as an impressionable 10 year old I don't think I would have followed the road I'm on now. This was the game that showed me how fucking cool games can be, and how much they can achieve.
5
This game was the glue that held my high school friend group together through COVID
6
Everyone thinks Kojima games have always been goofily serious. Kind of, but not really. Not until Snake Eater. This is when shit got real. Kuwabara kuwabara!
7
Just might have the greatest OST ever made.
8
Stop putting a parry system in your game because people on tiktok think its anime. Parrying peaked here.
9
Sekiro but 2D, basically
10
Despite the homogenous Sony Movie Game feel, Ghost of Tsushima is really fantastic. Doubly so that I already like Kurosawa films, and that the Sony Trademarked Atmosphere is more than justified for this title.
11
I have never been a fan of Quake clones. I see the appeal, it's just not for me. ULTRAKILL is the single exception to this, I've never seen a shooter with such a vast and bizarre possibility space.
12
There is a very tight line between "playing" games and "enjoying" games. Despite all it's flaws Xeno2 was the first title I believe I thoroughly enjoyed and showed me how much greater the gaming sphere was outside of PvP shooters and Forza titles.
13
Rare is it that a game has a combat engine this flawless. AND with 3 fully functioning characters! Why don't other games play like this.
14
"Undoing character development" Okay fuckhead, watch me undo you with this dynamic, real time sword cutting simulation.
15
For a series about following the indestructible green brick blessed by luck, it was nice to have a soul crushing story about unbeatable odds and the expendability of a single soldier. Bravo Microsoft, this is a fantastic anti-war narrative.
16
MGS was a series that always floated over my head, only acknowledging it via cultural phenomena. One day Xbox gives out MGSV for free with Gold, and from that moment forward the course of my life had been altered.
MGSV is incomplete, but damn, is it one hell of a game.
MGSV is incomplete, but damn, is it one hell of a game.
17
Because of this game I slightly understand what my college friends mean when they talk Mahjong.
18
I must have been 12 when this came out. Watch Dogs 2 is probably the first title that really stuck to me after I finished it. I never really got why I liked it so much at the time, but I had never played a game with interesting characters and sick visual style. Only with age have I gotten to see how genius this game's writing is.
19
You don't get it. This is a deep cut.
20
Having a father who raised me on Forza you will not understand the impact this game had on me when I went to my grandparents house, booted up my uncle's PS3, and found out there was a racing game with realistic crash physics. This game is also the reason I like Guns 'n' Roses.
21
You don't get it! This is a DEEP CUT!
22
This was peak Destiny 2 because I had friends who liked playing the game and also because I was generally happy when it came out.
23
IT'S PEAK!
24
This was the shit in 3rd grade
25