I had an original list of '10 games that influenced my life' that had games originating from 1992-2004ish that influenced me going forward. I would have played most of them between 1998 and 2004 and beyond.
But a modern top 10? 2007-2017 ?
In no particular order:
Civilization 4
I'm playing it right now!
Trying to do Earth 18 civs (again) but this time with every civ.
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| Ease of beating Earth 18 Civs by civ |
All I have left to do is (have won as Arabs before):
Do Civ 5 and 6 get bunched with 4 or is that more of a later thing? Probably later, this list is for games I played a lot on PC, Wii and 360 between 2007 and 2017. I started playing 5 in 2018 and really got into it by 2020-2023, 6 I only booted up in 2024-2025? Those might be in the "post-modern top 10" list 2018-2028!
Fallout: New Vegas (fnv>3>4 complete order)
I played 3 briefly on the Xbox after James lent it to me in 2007 or so idk. I got stuck in a rock near the Pentagon. My last save was hours before that. I couldn't escape as I counted as 'flying'.
So anyway I left Fallout for a bit but happened to acquire it in 2010 on my short-lived blue laptop that was randomly amazing at running games. I cleared it for Yes Man fairly painlessly, no DLC or anything. And I LOVED it.
So much so I went and got Fallout 3 with DLC and cleared that soon after, that was that magical 2010 summer. I made a Major Kusangi like character with the Shishkebab and Chinese Stealth Suit and murdered my way to the launcher at the end of Broken Steel, I still remember that day.
So yeah an appreciation for New Vegas which I played multiple times on the Xbox 360 after that laptop died. I got used to the game crashing/saving constantly beforehand. I had long been desensitised to that as I had grown up playing Age of Wonders 1. It's so much better now on my gigantic curved monitor and gaming PC. Plus mods and patches to stop it from crashing so much.
New Vegas got me into 3 and thus 4; which I have a huge soft spot for even if the writing is bad/non-existent, the gameplay is good. I have literally played 4 to death I am physically unable to start another playthrough for a long time. New Vegas is the opposite, the gameplay is aged but the writing is excellent, can play that 1-2 times a year no issues. Hoping for the remake soon.
Final Fantasy 7,8,9,10,12
On the previous list there was no Final Fantasy, because I hadn't played it. I MAY have played 8 first briefly on the PSX my brother had here sometime between 2000-2004 but I don't count that. I bought 7,8 and 9 on Ebay using a 3V card (remember those) for the PSX and ran them on my mini PS2. My brother would play 7 on the PSX due to the lack of Dualshock so I did the same thing when possible.
I take these 5 games as a unit. Some of them are very different.
Resident Evil 4 (OG)
This goes here because it got me into 1. And all of them reall when I find time. I played it for the first time on GameCube in the late 2000's and was hooked since.
I played the Remaster up as far as almost getting to Salazar but eh. I had same feeling with Re2, cleared the police station and was just underwhelmed and fatigued. I'm sure its the way with a lot of these modern remasters: there's some kid right now clearing them and being imprinted on by them, for me I've seen all this before.
Borderlands 1
My first time drinking coffee properly ---> spent all night playing Blands1. Has been a constant throughout the last 15 years, whether on console or PC.
Finally played all the DLC and 100% completed it (cheesily) a few years back; will go back to the Enhanced Edition someday which I havent' played yet and 100% complete that.
2 is also pretty good but they're such long games. Have not played 3, Pre-sequel or 4 but have them on Steam. Someday!
Gears of War 1
Just bought Reloaded at Christmas and it was pretty good, though the extended Chapter 5 drags.
THE game that got me to toss aside being a reluctant Game Boy/Nintendo/Wii fanboy and go all in on cool shooters on Xbox 360. I got the Wii for Christmas in 2008(?) played Twilight Princess to death in 2 weeks and had a horrible neck crick. Then obviously enjoyed the Wii as much as possible for a time but found myself at 16 years old wanting to play Halo, Cod4, Gears.
Myself and Royce have played the 1 and 2 co-op campaigns a few times, always a nice run. Not as fun as Halo 1 or 2 but way up there.
Fable
Played the Remaster a few years ago (write-up here) but recently booted up the og one on the PC (it's like <5 euro on Steam) and MAN has it aged. Maybe the PC version always looked like that.
Less impactful on my psyche was Fable 2 but I can't wait to play that again somehow. The blunderbuss was so much fun. Infinite ammo and no reloads was just ridiculous.
L.A. Noire
I only finally got sick of this a couple of years ago. Still great but I just remember how to solve every clue and interview question more or less. The 100% complete a few years back was a slog but not painful.
Call of Duty:World At War
Not so much the main campaign (which is good but just can't be bothered) but the debut of Zombies! Will occasionally re-install and I have Der Riese DLC bought so will make my way there.
Game #10
???
