What are the best 5 single-player games of all time?

[Ferdinand]

I've had the opportunity of playing lots of single-player games and one of the reason I liked most of them is that it removes the pressure of finishing the game within a set time limit.

If I am asked to pick my best top 5 of such game over time, they will be like the list below in no particular order:

1. Red Dead Redemption 2
2. Mass Effect 2
3. SOMA
4. Final Fantasy 9
5. Ocarina of Time

These 5 games were the ones that gave me that complete feeling of enjoying a game. Good story, engaging gameplay and quality graphics. Which games do you see making your list?

 

[Brad P]

I've had the opportunity of playing lots of single-player games and one of the reason I liked most of them is that it removes the pressure of finishing the game within a set time limit.

If I am asked to pick my best top 5 of such game over time, they will be like the list below in no particular order

1. Red Dead Redemption 2
2. Mass Effect 2
3. SOMA
4. Final Fantasy 9
5. Ocarina of Time

These 5 games were the ones that gave me that complete feeling of enjoying a game. Good story, engaging gameplay and quality graphics. Which games do you see making your list?

That’s a great list... really hard to argue with any of those.

If I had to throw in mine, no real order:

• The Witcher 3
• The Last of Us Part II
• Elden Ring
• God of War (2018)
• BioShock

Same vibe as yours really—strong stories, memorable worlds, and games you can just take your time with.

Mass Effect 2 and Ocarina of Time are especially solid picks though. What puts those over the top for you?

 

[Jake]

Hard to pick just 5 but off the top of my head: Red Dead 2, The Witcher 3, Dark Souls 3, Disco Elysium, and Half-Life 2. Those are games I'd replay any day. What gets me with single player is the storytelling — multiplayer will never replicate that.

 

[Corey]

Solid list from Jake there. I'd swap Dark Souls 3 for Subnautica -- that game got me way harder than I expected. The isolation of it is something else. RDR2 and Witcher 3 are no-brainers, reckon they'd be on most people's list.

 

[Oliver]

I'd push back slightly on Half-Life 2 as a definitive all-time pick -- it's an extraordinary technical achievement for its era but the writing is quite thin. Planescape: Torment, Morrowind, Gothic II, Baldur's Gate 2 -- these are the games that actually had something to say. That said, Disco Elysium is a genuinely excellent choice and demonstrates what the medium can achieve when it's taken seriously as an art form.

 

[Ferdinand]

Solid list from Jake there. I'd swap Dark Souls 3 for Subnautica -- that game got me way harder than I expected. The isolation of it is something else. RDR2 and Witcher 3 are no-brainers, reckon they'd be on most people's list.

It's rare to see anyone who likes open world games say they don't feel any love for rdr2. It is right up there as one of the best games that was ever made in that genre. Should be in most list for sure.