Greentext

Baldur's Gate 3

As far as labors of love go, Stardew Valley is probably the most current example. People paid for this thing years ago, but Concerned Ape keeps adding new features anyway. The retro graphics give this thing a timeless quality out of the box, so it already looks "dated" - this hasn't stopped the robust player community around it. We'll probably see this game stay relevant for a long time.

Dwarf Fortress.

Half-life.

☼Dwarf Fortress☼

Baldurs Gate 3.

Java modded Minecraft.

Terraria

Morrowind

One Shot
Outer Wilds
Portal

Chrono trigger

• Half-Life/Half-Life 2
• The original Fallout
• The original Doom
• Brutal Doom (the campaign)
• Star Control 2 (The Ur'Quan Masters fan-made modernized version)
• The Neverhood
• Subnautica (not Below Zer0)
• Duke Nukem 3D
• Total Annihilation
• Megaman (the first one)
• Megaman X (the first one)
• Team Fortress 2
• Portal 2

This is by no means an all inclusive list. These are just games that I personally played that fit the criteria.

Outer Wilds

Inscryption

Expedition 33

I'd argue there isn't one. Not on the scale of LotR. It cannot be overstated how unlikely it was that it happened the way it did.

Terraria, amazing game that is still supported to this day, best 5€ I've spend on a game.

Doom. The game that solidified a gaming genre and has become a benchmark for computers. 'Can you play doom on it?'

Minecraft

The best PC game OAT: Disco Elysium

Deus Ex

The Secret of Monkey Island

Ocarina of Time

A videogame that was made with complete love and devotion to the medium, made with talent and sincerity, and is a pinnacle of everything it stands, something that will stand the test of time...

And nobody mentioned Stardew Valley? I spent too long looking for it and didn't find a single mention of it. Absolute mastery of its genre, an incredible amount of dedication spent by the developer listening to the fans, and I can't imagine it not still holding up 10 years from now, or even 20 years from now.

Baldur's Gate 3 is great, I love it, but there were so many performance issues with the game even with top tier hardware, and the game was borderline unplayable for others due to these issues. I have a little bias since my save didn't sync across devices with the steam cloud and I have to start all over. Love the game, but I just can't believe Stardew Valley isn't even mentioned.

Ocarina of Time. I'm biased because of nostalgia, but I genuinely think it's the best game ever created. It took everything that was great about the SNES classic A Link To the Past, brought it into 3D as an early N64 game, and improved literally everything. The atmosphere, the gameplay, the story, the time mechanic, the music... It's not perfect, in fact these days it's trivial to break many things in it with glitches, but I think it's absolutely the best.

Age of Empires 2, despite being Microsoft owned, is easily one of the best strategy games of all time and has very clearly stood the test of time. It's over 25 years old and people kept playing it a lot even before the HD remakes. I remember reading that the folks that made the 1st game often had to choose between "actual history or hollywood history" for some details, often going for hollywood because it made for a more fun experience.

I suspect Factorio might stand the test of time as well, and it's clearly something made by someone who really understands the medium. I haven't begun my factory yet.

Factorio

Without a doubt the Witcher games, and Baldur's Gate 3. Probably Dragon Age too, but I haven't played those.

There are too many to mention.

MechWarrior 2
Dragon Age: Origins
Daggerfall
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Baldur’s Gate 3
The Longest Journey
Dark Souls
Civilization 2 & 4
Alpha Centauri
The Outer Wilds
Fallout 1 & 2
Alien: Isolation
Super Mario Bros. 3
Death Stranding
Doom (1993)
Phasmophobia
Psychonauts
X-Com: UFO Defense
The Witcher 1 & 3
Disco Elysium

Morrowind

Prumbably the Morrowind game

Undertale

Doki Doki Literature Club

Terraria

Super Metroid

Enderal 🥰

FALLOUT NEW VEGAS! (Side note) Oh boy, a new list of games to play as I scroll through these comments.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

This is what can be done when the actual developers and artists are given a chance without executive meddling and forced monetization.

I feel like the labor of love part being something like Factorio, Satisfactory, NMS is fitting. Also grand scale, holds up well, graphics aren't the main point

Hades

Neither of these are popular enough to be on the scale of LoTR, but in terms of atmosphere and detail:

Hollow Knight - my absolute favorite thing about it is each NPC has its own voiced language recorded, babbling in the background as you read the dialogue.

Subnautica (the first one) - shitting myself with each new experience is something I'll always cherish. Highly recommend just playing without looking into the gameplay or plot. Has elements of exploring, resource gathering, base building, psychological horror (not graphic, just tense scenarios), sneaking.

Terraria! That game is great and aged like fine wine

Mass Effect. I know some will disagree, the third game has a lot of glaring issues, and EA really fucked up the ending, but as far as a fully fleshed out story and universe with a multitude of unique and independently structured species, characters, and cultures I think it’s one of the best. The writing and possible story outcomes and decisions that vastly and permanently affect the story from the first to the third game are insane.