It has, admittedly, been a long time since I was a consistent, active contributor on this website. I will spare the details over what has kept me away and offer this- a simple list affording me the opportunity to return to being productive in as straightforward a way as possible.

To clarify, this is not a “best ten games ever” list. This is an “Andrew’s favorite games” list. This, like any of my lists, includes any video game I’ve ever played, but it does so in a subjective manner. There is no strict criteria, just a simple “I like this game more than the game we were just talking about” deal.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

10. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Yeah, let’s start the list off with a really spicy one. Honestly, it pains me to put BO4 so low. This is a game with unbelievably untapped potential that, if realized, could have easily cracked my top 5, 3 or maybe even 1!

A lot of my love from this game was being in the right place, at the right time. It launched during my senior year of college, where I had my academic ducks in a row and plenty of free time. A lot of that time went towards playing the bejesus out of the zombies mode. However, Blackout, a battle royale mode, garnered plenty of my play time too. For those not in the know, Blackout essentially walked so that Warzone could run; the experience wasn’t refined at all, but it was fresh, new and could be quite a bit of fun alone or with friends.

To end off, my absolute most memorable time playing this game was taking on the extremely difficult challenge of managing the Blood of the Dead main quest easter egg. This was a tough egg to crack even with teammates, but there I was in my college dorm room, dropping hours of my life trying to figure it out on my own. After eighteen tries, I was finally able to do it, which still to this day was one of the most rewarding gaming experiences I’ve ever had.

9. Persona 5/Royal

This was, funnily enough, my first foray into the world of Atlus and Shin Megami Tensei. I remember having just finished 100%ing Fire Emblem Three Houses, and having a close friend tell me Persona 5 was basically FE3H but better. I scoffed at the notion at the time, but was later blown away when my friend’s words completely ended up ringing true.

This is a JRPG with extremely well refined mechanics in and out of combat scenarios. It is absolutely perfect for casual players just as it is for numbers obsessed freaks who like spending hours putting together complete Frankensteins of their personas, such as yours truly.

8. Dying Light

If this list was rendered even more specific, to depict “Andrew’s top games of which, value was entirely gained alone and playing solo”, this game would have a very strong case for my top 3, possibly top 2. This game has no real flaws and fit my playstyle, both at the time and right now, brilliantly. It is a parkour meshed with a zombie apocalypse survival game, and it has an amazing story to boot.

In the mid 2010s, this game was my ‘comfort’ game. More on that to come later this list, but essentially, this was a game to boot up during one of those ‘just got home from a long day’ situations. Having amazing replay value really helped, as New Game + is handled very well on this game.

7. Dark Souls 3

Even compared to my #1 pick for this whole list, this game has the hands down best catalogue of boss fights in a game that I have ever experienced. Both the PvE and PvP of this game are absolutely lights out to enjoy, with or without friends. Now, personally, I was somewhat of a late bloomer to the Soulsborne scene, and this was my third Souls game following up Bloodborne and Dark Souls 1. Though Elden Ring is flashier and expands on DS3 massively, DS3’s legendary boss roster will, at the very least, likely keep this game in my top 10 forever.

6. Dead by Daylight

I’ve chosen to use old artwork from Dead by Daylight, because it was the current artwork when I first started engaging with the game in 2019. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of long term, live service video games, as the well tends to run dry on genuinely good, original content and addictive strategies like intense amounts of FOMO tend to alienate and offput me. That’s how you know this game was great for me despite that, because it harbors all of those elements and then some.

At the time of writing, I haven’t actually seriously played this game consistently in a few years. But that has nothing to do with how much enjoyment I did derive from it when I played it obsessively from around 2019 – 2023. Some of my better friends in life were met through this game. It is a party horror game with endless amounts of replayability and customization. It is entirely possible to enjoy this game regardless of playstyle or personal preference. If you’d like more on my thoughts about this game, I’ve published now four direct articles critiquing the game over the years, I’ve mentioned the game in at least a dozen other reviews, and I even published a goofy little column about the game here as well.

5. Persona 4

This is definitely the part where I should remind readers: this is an “Andrew’s favorite games” list, with no objective criteria other than how much I enjoyed each game on the list. Yes, Persona 5 is a clearly, objectively better video game than Persona 4. However, I preferred the cast of playable characters from the latter and found the story more enjoyable and appealing to me personally. I’m someone who enjoys the smaller details in life, as well as has a fondness for learning about and discussing general law and order. Simply put, Persona 4 supplies more of an atmosphere conducive to my personal enjoyment than Persona 5 does. And I don’t feel bad about that one bit, as I’ve more than thoroughly given P5 its flowers across this website by this point.

4. Elden Ring

Dark Souls 3 outperforms Elden Ring in general boss quality. But for every single other aspect of the game, Elden Ring takes what DS3 did and simply expands and improves on it. Elden Ring is a deeper experience, it is far more visually impressive, and it is just more replayable than Dark Souls 3. Some quality of life enhancements, in particular with how Summoning Pools work so well. I abused that function especially, and dearly wish something like it existed on Dark Souls 3. The Summoning Pool is a great tool for enjoyment and getting better at the game, as players can effortlessly and easily rematch a particular boss, or pool of bosses, over and over again as a helpful summon for another player. Man, I wish Darkeater Midir or Slave Knight Gael had a Summoning Pool system.

3. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

Both this and my #2 choice are actually slightly painful (not seriously) to write about, because the elements prompting me to rank them where they are are dead, buried and gone forever. You really just had to be there during BO3’s prime. The hype for this game is unlike the hype I have ever experienced for a video game; raw, pure yet tangible emotion seemed to creep through the screen when banger after banger Zombies map released. I’m not much of a Multiplayer guy in COD titles, but this game offered really robust, interesting Multiplayer that even lured me in.

The biggest reason this game is so high on my list, is the absolute journey my friend group and I went on to finish every single main quest easter egg in all of Zombies. Easter Egg Main Quests tend to be particularly lengthy affairs that are also very challenging. My group and I would often have to plan out these endeavors in advance, akin to scheduling a dentist appointment, because we all knew the commitment we were getting into. And the experience was satisfying every single time, even instances where our plan did not go well and we ultimately lost.

2. Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS

Another game where the magic that made it so great for me will sadly never be rekindled. I am a fairly reserved person in real life in general, but I quite literally donned a Falco Lombardi cosplay and attended an in-person event with said cosplay on, indicative of the impact this game had on me amidst a summer where I went to many, many tournaments of this game. Smash has been part of my life since I was a kid, but this was yet another instance of ‘right time, right place’. I was in my late teens and early twenties when this game was in its prime: the perfect middleground where I had some money in my pocket, but wasn’t quite a real and true ‘adult’ with responsibilities that made going to tournaments all the time infeasible. As such, while Smash Ultimate is basically Smash 4 but better in every way, it does not have and has not had the same chance to turn me into the raving fanatic this game did.

Honorable Mentions:

Pokemon Go, Predecessor, Final Fantasy 12 The Zodiac Age, Telltale’s The Walking Dead Season 1, Persona 3, Shin Megami Tensei 3, Dead Frontier, Hood: Outlaws and Legends, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

1. Dark Souls 2

Anyone who actually knows me and is reading this is most likely rolling their eyes right now. Which, again, prompts me to remind readers: this is an “Andrew’s favorite games list” with no objectivity. Yes, Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3 blow this game out of the water objectively. No, I don’t care because I already spent time drooling over those games. Let’s talk about this one.

Many people have what they call “comfy games” or something similar, a video game with no pressure, no deadlines, no microtransactions, typically a farming game like Disney Dreamlight Valley or maybe Animal Crossing. You get online, you do whatever you want for an hour, then you probably go to bed for work in the morning.

Dark Souls 2 is, and probably always will be, my “comfy” game. My talents as a player make this game extremely easy and lax while my monotonous, tedious side as a human being makes it easy to endure that aspect of the game. It is easy for me, but also engaging, rewarding and always having something to offer my number-obsessed brain with the dopamine it needs.

For me, Dark Souls 2 will be infinitely replayable. It’s to the point where the game feels fresh and brand new just when I get to play it with someone I haven’t played it with before. I have done a 24 hour run of this game, a blindfold playthrough, built up ten characters to delete them because I want to create ten more new characters, everything and then some. Dark Souls 2 is, and likely will remain, my favorite video game of all time.