Gaming

Probably Rimworld. With the storytelling aspect, each playthrough feels like a different experience.

Minecraft. Mods are like magic, and can totally change the game. I've lost countless hours just poking around and building fun things, even on vanilla.

I'd go with "Hide the Sausage".

Chess

I have about ~9,000 hours logged in Skyrim over the last twelve years thanks to mods, and I'm sure I'm not done. So I'll stick with that.

For me, it would definitely be Red Dead Redemption 2. I've played the main story several times now and will probably soon start over again.

The Mass Effect trilogy (I consider it one game) - no matter how many times I play it, it still feels fresh.

Skyrim

In fact, this is the only game that I have played for the last 6 months lol

Rocket league. I know some people consider it the same thing over and over, but to me it plays like a sport. Every match is different, I've been playing almost daily since the pandemic, which is when I got into it. And apparently I'm in the top 5% of players. Which just shows how much the game clicked with me

Rimworld with mods. The shear amount of wild and bizarre experiences that I have in that game could easily keep me entertained for a lifetime. I doubt I’d get bored with it. Other than Stardew Valley and Zelda BOTW, it’s the only game I keep coming back to and unlike those two games, I don’t get bored of it. I simply have to tear myself away from it so I can function like a normal human being again.

Let's see how Starfield turns out to be. If it is any good, it will entertain me for thousands of hours and if it has good mod support, why not commit for it for the rest of my days? Still a lot of ifs tho

Probably RimWorld. Somehow I've managed to accumulate nearly 4,000 hours. I'm pretty sure I could play for another 4,000 easily and then for the rest of my life. I love the stories that come out of each colony and how attached I get to pawns. I'll never forget Dinkleberg, the troublesome cat that has nearly wiped my colony twice by leaving doors open for invaders then when out by snorting too much cocaine

Cribbage, mainly because I like calling out 'one for his knob '.

Age of Wonders 4, the sheer replayability of the game is bonkers. And they will only release more content as time goes on, both through DLCs, free content updates, and workshop mods.

Guild Wars 2

I would love to say Crusader Kings, but it's probably chess.

Rocket League

And I'm gonna hate the rest of my life

Minecraft, while nothing particularly special to me, is most likely what I would choose. The potential for making your own fun in that game is ridiculous even if its been the victim of bad new mechanics bloating vanilla for the past decade. Even the longest of my favorite games cap out around 200-300 hours with all their content squeezed out of them, and with the amount of gaming I do on the regular thats gonna last me a few months at best.

Minecraft with mods definetly - really adds a lot of variety, and even though I take long breaks i've been playing it a ridiculous amount of time since early beta maybe 11 or so years ago.

Honestly, yeah. If I'm allowed Mods, then the roof is just the level of my creativity. If I'm only allowed one game, it's a damned good one.

Probably Diablo 2 LoD. Best ARPG ever made.

Can I add Mods? Then Skyrim VR.

If I can't, I'd choose a Game as a Service type of deal, if we could also make the assumption that the game would also be actively developed for the rest of my life.
Destiny 2 comes to mind, because I really love the lore and the gameplay.

If we can't add mods or the game won't be updated for the rest of my life, I'd still choose Destiny 2. After it gets cancelled, I'd just go outside and touch grass then, I guess. 😅

Age of Empires 2. I am playing it for 24 years already, so why not 50 more?

Dark Souls remastered

Dota. It's a game with infinite depth and variety. A game where the first 1000hours are the tutorial. A game where there are A LOT of players with over 10k hours in it. Nothing compares with its highs and lows.

With friends, it'd probably be World of Warcraft. I already have 20k+ hours in the game, and would likely play it even now, if Blizzard wasn't just complete garbage right now.

Solo, a Diablo game I think, although I don't know which. I haven't played D4 (and won't for a while, same reason as I mentioned above), I love the fast and fluid combat in D3, but D2 might have more variety.

Before I had kids: PUBG. I went real hard on that game for 18 months. I played 10+ hrs a week and never lost interest.

After kids (PUBG is stressful, I don't need more of that) it'd be Rocket League. I've been playing it consistently since Day 1 and whilst I don't see myself improving much anymore, I still get a kick (ahem) out of scoring a nice goal, or a laugh at totally missing an empty net.

Binding of Issac, for me one of the few games I could probably continue playing for a decade and still enjoy.

Slay the Spire is a strong contender, but overall the Isaac devs seem more like they would be swayed to create even more content for me.

Oh wait I forgot about MMOs, maybe FFXIV is a better choice in that case, I just forgot about it cause I am taking a long break until the next expansion.

Nethack. But definitely not in vr.

Probably path of exile. I've already put so much time into that game and still have no idea what the hell I'm doing, I think I could easily put a lifetime in without trying everything.

TheoTown, it's such an underrated mobile game and i would love to just play it for the rest of my life

Elden Ring is a contender for sure

The Binding of Isaac: Repentance.

Skyrim with mods, honestly. I feel like there's a lot of potential there

For me it's Assetto Corsa (modded, in VR). Most-immersive, addictive, exciting gaming experience possible, in my opinion. I did thousands of miles on the Tokyo interstate at night alone, just trying out different cars. Sometimes raining. Sometimes not. Listen to music while you drive/race. Really amazing.

Elite Dangerous, assuming the servers would stay up I have an entire galaxy to explore

If I was never introduced to today's graphics, easily Morrowind. I would still pick Morrowind over Skyrim.

At this point, I think I might have to go for monster hunter. Or Dragon's Dogma. Just some kind of super deep action RPG would do it.

Path of Exile.

FFXIV as a large majority of my friends play that game