What are your desert island video games?
What are your desert island video games?
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island, and for some reason you could bring 5 video games with their required hardware and means to power them, what would they be? No compilations or online multiplayer if you want to be a purist about it, but I'm still interested if you have thoughts about them :)
For me, it would have to be:
- Factorio
- Rimworld
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Tetris DS
- Disco Elysium
Gotta be one of the Paradox strategy games. I have two reasons for this: the first is that a good game unavoidably takes ages on them, so they have staying power; the other is that I know how to mod them, so I can make myself new scenarios once I get fed up of it. I'll bring Crusader Kings 3 and Victoria 3 because I like them but haven't yet played them much
I'll add in Assetto Corsa and Dirt Rally 2 for some driving. Both have very high skill ceilings that I am nowhere near, so that gives me a lot to do. I also don't own a wheel, so if I get that as part of the deal then that'd be fun to try. These two also have an odd bonus for me: they both have courses set near my home. I can sort of visit them by playing when I get a bit homesick
Lastly I'll have Deep Rock Galactic for low effort shooty fun. I can't always be putting mental energy into games
There are games I like as much or more than these five but which lack the replayability for this scenario. Like I adore Outer Wilds, but you can only really play it once
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
WipeOut 2097(XL)
Tetris (arcade) or Karate Champ (arcade) or Speed Rumbler(arcade)
Descent II
Simon Tatham Puzzles collection
Roguelites are the way, fam:
- Noita
- FTL: Faster Than Light
- Slice & Dice
- Death Road to Canada
- I've never actually played it yet, but maybe S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, or else possibly Infested Planet or RimWorld
You'd better bring a copy of the Noita wiki with you so that you can decipher what half the late game stuff is/does. Or even just where it is. Although I suppose if you have basically unlimited time, you could just do your alchemy from first principles
Sekiro
Lies of P
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
Slay the Spire
Balatro
Why does it have to be a desert island? I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating… and it gets everywhere.
Cave in mountain side then surrounded by a forest with grizzly bears.
- Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
- Slay the Spire
- Tetris Effect, Connected
- OpenXCom
- Olli Olli
- Burnout Revenge
- Age of Empires 2
- The Witcher 3
- Monster Train
- Bejeweled Ultimate/Blitz.. Whatever was the last one.
In no particular order:
- Rim World
- Terraria
- Oxygen not Included
- Factorio
- Vintage Story
Half-Life 3 through 7.
- Dwarf Fortress
- Fall from Heaven 2
- Minecraft
- ZZT
- Rogue Legacy 2
the best sim, the best 4X, the best FPS, my favorite level-editor engine, my favorite action platformer
RDR2, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Path of Exile 2, Tetris
Can I mod them? Because if so
- minecraft
- skyrim
- terraria
- dark souls 2
- hollowknight (so i can finally get those speedrun achievements)
DS2 gets hate for that agility bullshit, which wasn't completely undeserved. But that game is one of my favorites of the whole souls Bourne collection.
Terraria
Celeste
Expedition 33
Horizon: Forbidden West
F-ZERO GX
About as much variety and quality as I could hope to fit.
- Any Monster Hunter really, but I'll go with Monster Hunter Wilds
- Subnautica
- Fatal Frame 3
- Tetris
- Ghost of Tsushima
Those would be the extremely moddable games with a good all around base set for replayability, so for me:
- Rimworld
- Mount&Blade bannerlord
- Crusader Kings 3
- Civ 6
- Luanti (and if have to choose a single game for it, Mineclonia I suppose)
As long as I can also archive some amount and variety of mods for each, of course.
If mods aren’t on the table, I think it would still look pretty much the same, except maybe civ 5 in place of 6, and in place of luanti perhaps Witcher 3, or 4 if it manages to release before this thing.
Edit: Actually hold that a bit: I need Stellaris there, especially if mods are ok. But even without. I’d skip luanti/witcher for that.
Kerbal Space Program with mods
Cities:Skylines with mods
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Dota 2 (I would be playing against and programming my own bots for it)
Trackmania with all current maps- Katamari Damacy
- Halo 2
- Civilization II
- SimCity 2000
- Crazy Taxi
Every new version of Civ, I hope they reintroduce live action advisors like the ones from Civ II.
GIVE ME MORE SOLDIERS, NOBLE LEADER, SO WE MAY SHEATHE OUR SWORDS IN THE BEATING HEARTS OF OUR ENEMIES
- Portal 2
- L4D2
- Minecraft: Java
- Borderlands 2
- WoW 3.3.5a or up to BFA
-
Silent Hu ter 3
-
Mass Effect Legendary edition. (Yes you said no compilations, so if I have to choose one it would of course be 2)
-
Rimworld
-
Kerbal Space Program (with a USB stick full of mods that I smuggled in up my butt)
-
Fallout 4 (with a second USB stick full of mods smuggled in up my butt)
Why didn't I put them on the same USB stick? You're guess is as good as mine...
-
- Civ 5
- Monkey Ball
- Soulcalibur 2
- Tetris Worlds
- Kirby Air Ride
- crawl stone soup. A classic rogue like.
- elden ring + dlc. Big masterpiece of the genre.
- the binding of Isaac (+ all the dlc). Huge rogue lite. Lots of stuff I haven't unlocked yet.
- monster hunter (maybe world? I liked rise too though).
- if I could have online, guild wars 2. Otherwise, maybe the original doom. Especially if it comes with a map editor, fan made maps, or Oblige to randomly make maps.
L.A. Noire
Mafia 1-3
Master of Orion 2
No Man's Sky, but without any other players. More or less how I play it anyway 😁
Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition on the MegaDrive
Red Dead Redemption 2
EA FC/FIFA/whatever
Tetris
Age of Empires 2 Transport Tycoon Deluxe Ufo: Enemy unknown (x-com) Might and magic vii Heroes of the might and magic 3
If I could smuggle more it would be: Starcraft, Red Alert 2, Teenagent, Master of Orion 2.
- Rimworld
- HoI4 with Mods
- Vic3 with Mods
- CP2077
- maybe Satisfactory
Quake 3, UT 2004, Heroes 3, GTA2, Beavis & Butthead Hock a Loogie
Games with the highest replay value for me:
- Civilization 4
- Heroes of Might and Magic III
- Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri
- TES3: Morrowind
- SimCity 2000
Modded morrowind,ultrakill, metal gear rising, modded Minecraft, modded skyrim
- Stellaris
- Kerbal Space Program
- Dead Cells
- Grim Dawn
- Against The Storm
Honorable Mentions:
- ΔV: Rings of Saturn
- We Who Are About To Die
Do one of those minecraft modpacks with a thousand mods count as a compilation? Because you could take out over 80% of them, and create a bunch of smaller packs for variation.
Transport Fever 2
OpenTTD
Factorio
Factorio
Factorio
Lately:
Balatro
Tetris
Absolute Drift
art of rally
SnowRunner
To be honest, it wouldn't matter. I'd be too busy enjoying my new primitive survival adventure and quoting lines from the Gold Top commercial. It is the big game.
Dark souls 3 / dlc
Elden ring / dlc
Armored core 6
Armored core 4 Answer
Terraria (with tmod loader)
- Dwarf Fortress
- Rimworld
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- The Witcher 3
- The Binding of Isaac
Tetris, Dwarf Fortress, Quake (if I can bring tons of mods,) Portal 2 (if I can download use maps,) and probably Baldurs Gate 3 so I would finally play it.
If I can't bring all those additions, then substitute Portal 2 with Kerbal Space Program. But I'd keep Quake.
One of them will have to be minesweeper because I can pretty much play it endlessly. The other 4, I'm not so sure. I love some of suggestions other people made.
I've sunk many an hour into Simon Tatham's no-guess Mines, yeah, as well as Slant and various other titles from his free puzzle collection. Try Inertia!
This may be my favourite app ever!
Any logic-puzzle fan should get this. Endless fun and immensly customizable. My latest obsession from it, is Unequal.
Android version.
It's free, has no ads or in-app selling, Dark mode available, no time limits and many different kinds of puzzles. It is as brilliant as it is simple.
- Chrono Trigger
- Skyrim
- Super Mario World
- Donkey Kong Country 2
- Teraria
Probably something like this:
- Slay the Spire with mods
- Kerbal Space Program with mods
- Trackmania 2020 with all maps from Trackmania Exchange downloaded
- Path of Exile
- Cities: Skylines or Planet Zoo (with mods)
I'd also like to bring Factorio (with mods of course) but I'm not sure what to replace
Minecraft: Java Edition
Universe Sandbox²
Subnautica (never played it, but heard it's fun so I might like playing it in a desert island surrounded by ocean)
Deltarune (I'd have all the time in the world to wait for the next chapters)
ENA: Dream BBQ (same as above)