Too many to list IMNSHO, but I’ll take a whack.
- Any Infocom text game from the 80s (Zork, Hitchhiker’s Guide, Ballyhoo, Leather Goddesses of Phobos). Just to experience what games were like back when we didn’t have the graphics to tell the stories we wanted to.
- Super Mario Brothers 3. High-water mark of the 8-bit generation.
- Leisure Suit Larry. The only true “adult” games worth playing.
- Monkey Island series. Humor, puzzle-solving, and the best swordfights ever in a video game.
- Doom. Redefined the shooter genre for decades to come.
- Half-Life series. Showed how compelling a shooter could be if you gave it an actual coherent storyline.
- Command & Conquer. Best RTS games ever made.
- Plants Vs. Zombies. Best casual game ever made for my money.
- Dead Rising series. Mindless zombie killing. First series I can recall with hundreds (later thousands) of enemies onscreen at once.
- Red Dead Redemption. To my mind, the only successful Western game. Outstanding storyline and gameplay.
- Fallout series. My personal favorites. High-water mark would be Fallout:New Vegas.
- Mass Effect (original trilogy). Best combination of storyline and game mechanics. Characters you actually give a damn about. Persistent story across multiple games, meaning your choices can affect even future games in the series (until they don’t. Points off for trilogy ending).
- Assassin’s Creed series. Open-world killing fun. High historical accuracy. Climbing structures can be surprisingly fun.
- Saint’s Row IV. Over-the-top mayhem. You acquire superpowers maybe 30 minutes into the game. Low difficulty, but high enjoyment.
- You Don’t Know Jack. Best home-game-show style games.



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