Why these are my Top 5: A fun game for the whole family!

1. Dota 2 (2121 hours) - Because I'm stupid. Well, despite what it's known for, the game is actually very solidly designed and all (or... was... no clue what's going on there nowadays). However what it's known for- the horrible horrible player base- is also 100% true. And will continue to be until the end of humanity. I think in all my playtime I've maybe had no more than a total of 3 matches where in the end everyone on both teams was happy and satisfied. Rest of the time it felt more like I was trying to play peacemaker to the world's most hostile, self-centered, selfish assholes (rarely was it the whole team, but one person like that on either team is enough to turn the match toxic). Ops, this was supposed to be positive, wasn't it? Um... Crystal Maiden is cute. Yeah, let's go with that. ^_^'

2. Borderlands 2 (818 hours) - It's kinda like an MMO. But actually fun. The base game itself is nice and beefy on its own, but the expansion DLCs at least double or triple the content. Yeah, the game's balance is kinda bad and farming for certain drops on higher difficulties is a double bad sandwich with extra pain on top, but it just never got boring to shoot stuff with ridiculously varied weapons. I did everything, all the way up to the hardest highest "Overpowered" level where even the common enemies are a boss-level threat if you're not prepared. The majority of around the first 650 of those hours were me playing solo, btw. I'm a loner like that. After that- it was helping a friend with the achievements. And, honestly, I'd do it again. :D

3. FTL: Faster Than Light (561 hours) - I needed something to kill time with when I felt like I didn't have enough time or energy to play whatever game I was supposed to be playing at the time. And FTL is short and simple enough for me to do that. So, naturally, I decided it would be a good idea to beat this game, which people already call hard on the easiest difficulty, on Hard Difficulty with every ship (and ship layout). Yes, even the terrible ones. Wow, I'm really good at making everything a non-fun completionist nightmare, aren't I? Eh, it was still ok... except Engi Cruiser Layout B- fuck that abomination! XD

4. 100% Orange Juice (535 hours) - Has it really been that much? Well... um... it's basically a slightly more complex board game. Almost everything is determined by dice and random chance. Honestly, I initially didn't like it at all (because playing Versus mode is frustrating), but then several years later they added a permanent co-op mode and that's kinda where I found the "fun" part. Now it can be me and three other players smashing our luck (or lack thereof) against the game instead of against each other. Yeah, it mostly just became the time killer after I squeezed every last drop of content out of FTL. ^_^'

5. Terraria (496 hours) - Every time there is a major update, I start over from scratch in Terraria and do everything there is to do (imagine the playtime will be more soon-ish, since I haven't had opportunity to play it after the newest major update). It never seems to get old and I'm not even the creativity toy kind of person (well, ok, I guess except for the overly complicated automatic death traps that kill monsters for me while I'm away to farm stuff with... but those have a purpose). It's very impressive that the game still gets updates so many years down the line (even after the so-called "Final Update").

Side note: If we include stuff outside of Steam, then I guess... ughh... RuneScape will be at the top with 123.4 days played (yeah, that game doesn't track playtime in hours, it does so in how many full days worth of time you've wasted on it). But, well... fuck RuneScape. XD

1. WARFRAME (1,458 hours) - I started playing in 2015 or 2016 and quit soon after, I hated the mod upgrade system back then it was too much of the same grind over and over. I started playing again recently and was happy with the changes and new content. Making platinum is essential to continue playing the game for me, utilizing the market website makes this easy. I consider myself a grinder and collector first and foremost. I do not NPC anything anymore just get some plat buy slots, in fact slots (inventory expansions) are the only thing I buy. I hope they add more story content, the "spoiler" quest was cool to play after a 4-5-year absence.

2. WAR THUNDER (1,073 hours) - Love it or hate it is War Thunder. I think a lot of people do have a love hate relationship with the game. Tons of negative things I could say about the game and community, but I will not. It is fun to pick up and play now and then, the grind is insane though.

3. GRAND THEFT AUTO 5 (867 hours) - Single player is good, after that you will perhaps get sucked into online. I in fact started online before I finished the story mode and was sucked right into it. The fun of online for me is in cooperative gameplay with others. Of course, most PUGs are filled with idiots, kids, cheaters, laggers, elitists or some combination of those. Like War Thunder I just do not take online too seriously, that is the key to having fun online.

4. PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2 (404 hours) - You probably know or can guess what the game is like. Fun pick up and play game. The content that I enjoy the most is Urgent Quests 8-12 players running around killing stuff.

5. DESTINY 2 (326 hours) - I have recently given up on this game due to "sunsetting" of old content, which is what I enjoyed when I started. Now new players are deprived of the old story campaigns among other things. I understand the DLC, removing perfectly good content I do not. Not free to play at all, it's a free trial like RuneScape or FFXIV.

I'm going to get crazy and go with a Top 4 that includes 6 games...

1) The Long Dark (1,123 hours)

This game... I have no idea how I've put over 1,000 hours in. It's a very simple game: survive in the Canadian wilderness. It's very methodical, slow-paced, and can be extremely repetitive. It's definitely not for everyone. But man, if it grabs you, it REALLY grabs you. The sound design is the best of any game I've ever played. My go-to line is -- if you like the show "Survivorman" you will like The Long Dark.

2) Skyrim (1,001 hours between original and Special Edition)

Modded Skyrim is still maybe my favorite game of all time. There are so many amazing mods that change the game in all sorts of ways. My favorite was "Live Another Life" where you were no longer anyone special -- you were just a regular person. You could be a hunter or a bandit or any number of other options. It made the game so much more open-ended.

3) Euro Truck Simulator 2 (512 hours)
3A) American Truck Simulator (323 hours)

It's hard not to list these together because they are two sides of the same coin. ETS2 is older, bigger, and has more content. ATS is smaller, but more polished, and seems to be growing at a faster rate. They're both awesome.

4) Pinball FX3 (352 hours)
4A) Pinball FX2 (205 hours)

Again, I feel like these have to be listed together. I loved FX2 but FX3 is better in nearly every way. More tables, online tournaments, all kinds of challenges, tons of achievements.

Honorable mention: Banished (330 hours), Megaquarium (320 hours), Super Mega Baseball 2 (262 hours) and Super Mega Baseball 3 (234 hours).

Honestly, I have measly numbers compared to everyone else because I play on my mac which overheats like crazy whenever I boot up a game. Anyway, here's what I got:

1. Papers, Please (11.9 hours) - one of my first games I ever bought on steam. I finally got it after watching all of Pewdiepie's videos on it. Finished story mode, tried to do PBs in time trials, and then just stopped playing after a while.
2. Tropico 6 (8.9 hours) - my dad actually played this one. Good game, just not the biggest fan of management games, especially that one because it was hard.
3. Hacknet (6.8 hours) - great game, fun hacking, just kept crashing
4. Broken Age (5.9 hours) - freaking love Jack Black
5. Pinstripe (4.2 hours) - $1 on Fanatical. One of my favorite platformer games.

1. Euro truck simulator - 214 hours. no comments. Impossible to play less if you want to get anything in the game
2. Payday 2 - 184 hours. Basically first game me and my friends started playing online. So spent a lot of time trying the maps and experimenting
3. Dirt Rally - 106 hours. I love rally games and tried hard to win career, but couldnt get there
4. Dead by daylight - 105 hours. Second game me and my friends started playing online. I had horrible internet at the time so friends got around 300 hours out of it, but still - enjoyed it. Might play it again at some time
5. Grand Theft Auto 4 - 101 hours. Finished it myself, once my cousin finished it on my PC and then they released achievements so finished another time.

Honorable mention, just nearly out of the top 5, is Long Dark with 96 hours. Probably my favorite game. When the new episodes comes out and I'll find more time to play it, it will definitely enter the top 5

1. Crusader Kings II 1,364.9h, Europa Universalis IV 737.2h, Stellaris 368.5h, Hearts of Iron IV 108.8h, Crusader Kings III 95.6h - Since the year 2001 Paradox became my favorite developer. Not all titles have been great, but there is always so much new to discover. These game give me the strategic and gameplay freedom I crave, at least till you eventually become too overwhelmingly strong.
2. Football Manager 2009 762.9h (there are many more FM entries with some hundreds hours) - The reasons are actually quite similar to PDX above. Great wealth of options to develop your own approach to the game. And then keep improving it ever more.
3. Euro Truck Simulator 2 460.3h - The ultimate relaxation game. Run Spotify and ETS2 and I'm all good.
4. Grim Dawn 301.9h - Well there had to be a ARPG. And actually there should be one with far more hours, like Diablo 2 or Path of Exile. These just didn't collect their hours on Steam
5. Stardew Valley 289.3h - Similar to ETS2, perfect game to relax.

Total War didn't make it here, the most played game from that series "only" got 174h and I'm ashamed of my failure.

1. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 672h
   I used to be a real active CSGO player years ago. Basically when the game was released until gambling skins was banned.
   I played it a couple of hours on a daily basis, watched online matches and did bet an awful lot on those same matches (csgo skins). I even drove to Germany to go watch a small tournament with big teams like TSM, Dignitas, Mousesports and Hellraisers. It was cool to see these guys irl, though they werent that talkative. Shy really.
   When Steam stopped making it possible to gamble with csgo skins I lost interest quickly. Looking back, I'm glad, it was an addicition for sure.
   Still have the game installed but havent really touched it for years.

2. Battlefield Bad Company 2 372h
   The first BF on Steam. I think. I already sank +1000h in BF2 (not on Steam) so purchasing this one was a no brainer. Played it a lot with my gaming buddies using Teamspeak. We eventually moved on to a new game, probably cod or a new bf.

3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer 227h
   Speaking of cod... My friends joined a ladder to play competitive matches. I was a substitute. I was a good aim but didnt really have time to practice and dedicate a lot of time in a game. Stopped when the next cod arrived.

4. Call of Duty: Black Ops - Multiplayer 141h.
   Already see a decline in hours. I love, and still love, MP shooters but getting older and getting new interests I played less and less. Again playing with my gaming friends who all turned to casual gaming because for the same reasons.

5. Assassin's Creed Odyssey 139h
   The first SP game. The main story was just awesome. First 2 DLC were ok and that last Atlantis dlc was a bit shitty. Maybe I got tired of it but progressing became a bit of a chore. But I kept playing until it was all finished and uninstalled iimmediately after. my main game for about 8 months with some pauzes. Yes it really took that long.

List should probably be something like 1200h Call of Duty 2, 1000h Call of Duty 4 and 800h BattleField 2. But alas, they werent on Steam.
I think spot 5 would be taken by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare if it had been available on Steam.

My gaming hours drastically reduced when I started living with my (now) wife, and later even more when my kids were born.
Last year I've been gaming a bit more. Kids are slowly becoming more independant and that means more gaming time for dad.
Mostly SP games, difficulty set to easy ;)
Still speaking to my gaming buddies on TS every now and then. We even have a real oldschool LAN every year (since 2001), so we meet at least once a year (COVID19-free years that is).

1. Gems of War - 1,216.7h
   Typical daily event/bonus game where I kept going back to since I have no life ^^

2. Tap Heroes - 240.4h
   Well, guess I decided to go for 100% the game and that takes time but it's an idle game so no worry!

3. Everyday Genius: SquareLogic - 151.7h
   I can really enjoy puzzle games and am far from finished, but I may have 100% the game achievement wise, but not puzzle wise :)

4. Picross Fairytale: Legend of the Mermaid - 114.1h
   Well, took me this long to finish all the puzzles and 100% the game, I enjoy such games!

5. Grim Dawn - 90.8h
   Ah grim Dawn, this game is awesome and will make many more hours in it for sure!

1. Tekken 7 - 430h
   Well... It's a fighting game. You either play a lot, or never get good.
2. Disgaea 5 Complete - 181h
   Lol, I had no idea I've played it that much. After 100h mark it's just post game grind, though enjoyable.
3. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - 91h
   It's just a long game. One of my favourite Action RPG's.
4. METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN - 80h
   A lot to do in this one! Also online.
5. Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition - 70h
   Lol, I had no idea I've played it that much [2]. Again, game is just THAT big. Didn't even finish it yet, because stuck :^(

Divinity: Original Sin 2
(279 hrs on record) this game is just too good!
the atmosphere, the characters, the turn-based combat system, the semi infinite replaybility, the attention to details it has and ofcourse the beautiful environment while also being optimized for a shitty laptop like mine
all of the above and more made me go from "who the hell is Larian studios?" to "IFL Larian studios" especially with the amount of free content and updates that came afterwards

Tropico 4
(175 hrs on record)
I love the Tropico series because of this game but now I feel that it wasn't THAT good.
Still pretty fun at the time and has chill music also some missions were quite challenging to beat

Banished
(164 hrs on record)
This game is the best human/material resource management sim that I've ever played, and with the modding community it has endless potential and replaybility, but still would love a Banished 2
Made me proud to 100%

War Thunder
(137 hrs on record)
40+ hours of game time was to download the game's files and client,,
But after that it's was pretty worth it

Fallout Shelter
(129 hrs on record)
This shouldn't be in the top five but I grinded my way to 100% and here we are

1. Team Fortress 2 (998.3h) The reason why I ended up using real steam instead of hacked version of it back in the day, wanted to play this game and couldnt, because the servers did not allowed me. I would have put way more than 1000 hours into it, but I consider having 1k hours in a game sickening and stopped before, so I can claim I dont have a problem

2. Garry's Mod (461.2h) Just look at my profile pic, this game is what I still consider the crown jewel of my steam account, and would play a lot more of it if my current pc could run it.

3. World of Guns: Gun Disassembly (318.9h) To think, one year ago I only had 100 hours in this and now its in my top3, and did not even paid a cent for it is a sign how much I love this game. Its just taking apart stuff and putting back together, but its addicting. Only game on this list which I still actively play.

4. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (286.4h) Ever since I saw that weird live-action crying dude trailer of the first game I knew this thing is going to be something I'll get and play the shit out of, it just oddly resonated with me. If you would count the hours of this one and the first one, the series would be the top 2. of the list. Nowadays I have a love-hate relationship with it, since SO many things have been added that I feel is just bloat and ruin the experience.

5. Killing Floor (238.2h) Had a friend who loved this game and hosted a server, dragged me into it, then he got bored of it after 2 month, while i stayed for another year or so. Love the characters and honestly think the sequel did not live up to the standard this one made

Well, I know what my most "played" games are, so no surprises here. But why not.

1. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (652.9h) - funny thing is - I never actually played it. I mean, I may played a match or two, sucked hard, liked none, so never had the wish to continue. Why so many hours, you may ask? Well, as many, if not all, guessed - it's because of items drop. I was idling this game a lot, selling items, and buying actual games. It was much more profitable before, unlike now. And even more funny - I got a VAC ban recently. Yes, I was idling when I got it. No, I wasn't using any cheats/mods/etc - why would I need something like this when idling? But Valve decided otherwise. Alas.
2. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (234.8h) - I've had some strange addiction to this game. I played prequel too, but it was drm-free, so no statistics or achievements in steam. Oh well. Even after so many hours I still suck at it, and never 100% it. Not playing it as much as I used to, mainly because rest of achievements require too much efforts from me. And still consider it a great game - even me, despite disliking procedure-generated games, like it!
3. Divinity: Original Sin 2 (194.2h ) - worse than the first part in my opinion, but still finished it in coop with my wife.
4. Primal Carnage: Extinction (180.7h) - another game I never played and idled for items. Not profitable anymore.
5. Divinity: Original Sin (Classic) (126.8h) - I liked it a lot! We finished it in coop with my wife, and it was great. What more interesting - is that I got this game for free. Back then steam had a lot of 4-packs, and when you purchased it - you were getting 3 gifts in your inventory. And, most important, those gifts were region-free! Of course, traders started to abuse it. And since you can buy 4-pack on your account only once - they suggested people a deal - they gifted you a 4-pack (back then it was still possible), and you give back 3 gifts that dropped. So, basically, they gave you a game for free, and it was still (very) profitable for them (because they purchased in regions with cheap prices and selling gifts to regions with high prices). That's how I got this and some other games. I'm not proud of it - after all, I kinda helped to abuse the system, but well - I was even more poor than now, and getting great games for free (and licensed copies, not pirating!) was too tempting. Of course this kind of abuse is not possible anymore.