This might be cheating but I'm assuming mods/DLCs to a game count as part of the game.

1. Factorio. Pretty much endless amount of stuff you can do with mods on top of a top-tier base game.
2. Minecraft, also for the mods.
3. Geometry Dash. So many user created levels and the highest skill ceiling of pretty much any game.
4. Asetto Corsa, or whatever the most realistic, moddable car racing sim there is. I don't play this game but I don't want that genre to die.
5. ~~Really struggling to think of anything else so I'm just gonna go with another fun, replayable, moddable game: Balatro.~~ Edit: After reading other responses and me forgetting some games I think Skyrim would be a better choice here.

• Minecraft (It's a sandbox)
• Garry's Mod (It's a sandbox)
• Roblox (It's a sandbox)
• Skyrim (It's a heavily mod-able medieval RPG)
• Portal 2 (It's literally anything at this point: a web server, a game engine, a fucking computer, a lot is possible when the right people crack it open)

Factorio. Not sure I'd need anything else

• Chrono Trigger
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
• Pokémon Red
• Stardew Valley

Think I’m good with those 4.

Throw in Math Blaster so I can pretend to value humanity or something.

Minecraft and then just build games inside of it?

I’ll start the ball rolling. For me, I’d probably have to go with:

Skyrim - first off, it’s my most played game ever, and also my most purchased game too. Is it the best game ever made? No, I don’t even think it’s the best Elder Scrolls game. But there’s something so captivating about it for some reason and I can’t help but always go back to replay it all these years later. If mods are allowed to survive the video game apocalypse then it makes it a very easy choice but I’d still choose it even if it had to stay vanilla.

Pokemon Soul Silver - something for kids to play, but also my favourite Pokemon game and one of my most replayed games ever. Between having your Pokemon follow you around, the Johto region plus Kanto, and also the music, I think it’s the best Pokemon game ever made, and a game I can’t go without playing the rest of my life.

Elden Ring - I was torn between this or Dark Souls III, but I went with ER because (1) it’s more accessible, and again remember every other game is permanently destroyed so this does affect everyone, and I’d like to be at least a little nice in my choices, and (2) I find myself able to replay it a bit more, especially with the DLC. I’ve mentioned it many times before but I truly believe SotE is the best content FromSoft has ever put out, so it would be a shame to have it destroyed.

Hitman: World of Assassination - it’s sort of cheating as this was originally three separate games, but they’re all bundled together now and Steam recognizes it all as a single game in my library, so I’m including it. Plus it’s my list and my post so I say it counts. Anyway, I don’t see Hitman posted a lot on Lemmy, but it’s my second most played game ever and I really do think if you can get over the admittedly high cost to get all the content it really is a masterpiece of a game. It’s also got way more replayability than you’d initially think just looking at it, so it’s a great contender for this post. This is another Skyrim situation where I don’t think it’s a top pick for greatest game of all time but it’s just so easy to replay that I couldn’t omit it from here.

Dishonored - I really didn’t know what to put for my last choice. I was tempted to do another massive open world game like Red Dead Redemption 2 or cheat again and do another bundle game like Mass Effect Legendary Edition or Halo Master Chief Collection, but I decided to go with a game that is a bit less intensive to complete but is still really fun to jump back into and try a new style with. I feel like it’s a bit of an underrated game these days. I know it was very well received and sold well but I don’t hear about it enough when talking about modern-ish classics. This is probably my favourite game that’s not a sandbox or open world, aside from the FromSoft games. The art style is gorgeous, the story is engaging, the DLC is a great add-on, the gameplay is diverse and super fun, it’s just such a great game all around.

My list is probably going to be very different from everyone else’s, but that’s part of the fun.

Roblox, Fifa 19, Chinese malware mobile game, Fifa 23, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600.

• Doom (1993): Arguably the best game ever made especially with mods, essentially created the FPS genre.
• Half Life 2 (and its episodes considering they're now all one game): One of the best games ever, revolutionized physics and story telling.
• Halo MCC: Some of the greatest games ever made and truly represents an era of gaming long gone, doesn't mean a lot to me but it means a lot to a lot of people.
• Fallout NV: Arguably the best FPS RPG, amazing dialog choices and overall amazing story. The atmosphere is incredible and so are the factions.
• F-Zero GX: One of the greatest games Nintendo ever made, it truly captures the arcade feel in a way very few other games have. Just intense racing that feels amazing, good gameplay and great controls.

I'm just saving Planescape: Torment 5 times.

Hmm, tough one. I'm going to maximise replayability and this assumes all DLC too

• RimWorld
• Factorio
• Balatro
• FTL or Slay the Spire
• Civ 6 or Cities Skylines

Honourable mention to several JRPGs from Squaresoft

Edit: I'm now reading the thread and second guessing everything. But gonna keep my original list

Pokemon, FF7, GTA San Andreas, Resident Evil 4, Portal

• Chrono Trigger - It's pretty much the perfect RPG: great story, cool art, replayable, not too long or grindy.
• Earthbound - I admit I have a lot of nostalgia for this one, but it's still a game I've replayed at least a half-dozen times.
• Final Fantasy Tactics - Fantastic story, plenty of character customization, and some extremely broken builds if you know what you're doing. Also, did I mention the story?
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - THE metroidvania. Great gameplay, soundtrack, and visuals.
• Hollow Knight - Fun to play, difficult to master. Has a lot of charm and plenty of secrets to discover.

There are plenty of other games I would love to throw on the list, but some would require a ton of mods or just didn't quite make the cut for me.

• Deus Ex - this game will last forever, especially with mods (like my Randomizer mod lol)
• StarCraft 2 - I just love watching the esports, and with no other esport games available I guess this would be pretty huge
• The 7th Guest - this is a bad pick but I'm obsessed with the game
• Doom - I mean, come on, obviously
• maybe some kind of builder game, I'm not into any currently but someone else said Factorio and that sounds like a good pick as a game you can keep playing forever, or maybe Stardew Valley or something accessible like that so everyone can play forever, or OpenRCT2

It's impossible to pick out just five of the most important games ever, but I'd try to pick games that have important historical significance, have some degree of genre diversity, all while still being fun and thought-provoking games you'll always want to pick back up.

1. Ultima IV.

   spoiler

   The first RPG that wasn't a giant dungeon-crawling grindfest where you slay a wizard at the end. It has a big open world, fun NPC interactions, and fun tactical RPG gameplay for the time. Has a really good philosophical storyline that is integrated with the game mechanics, and it shows how creativity can form under constraints. Another good option would have skipped to the SNES era with Final Fantasy VI, which is slightly less retro but is more approachable and has an equally compelling story with stronger replay value and tons of mods/romhacks.

2. Resident Evil 2.

   spoiler

   One of the problems with choosing only five of the most important games is that the horror genre and the point-and-click adventure genre both are important in the history of gaming, but there isn't room for both. Resident Evil 2 blends both genres exquisitely in a really compelling, but also endearing B-movie story with lovable characters. The Walking Dead would have been another option, but it doesn't really have gameplay and it strays far enough away from the adventure genre that it doesn't serve as a good example.

3. Flower.

   spoiler

   The Indie Revolution was an important era of gaming history, and motion controls were really big back then. Beautiful, subtle story about overcoming depression. Roger Ebert was wrong and video games could be art. Any indie game during the Indie Revolution golden era (August 2008-September 2015) would fit here, but I picked Flower because, at the time, it challenged what people's expectations of what a video game was supposed to be. Games don't have to be challenging or about fighting to be legitimate. Doesn't have a ton of replay value, but it's the sort of game you'll always come back to during hard times. Barely beat out Stardew Valley, which is longer and has more replay value but isn't an "art game," which was very much the zeitgeist of the era, and Celeste which, in addition to having a beautiful ludonarrative story like Flower, would have also been a good mascot for speedrunning communities, but was created post-indiepocalypse and therefore isn't a good example of the era.

4. Nier Automata.

   spoiler

   A really engaging action-focused game with a good story and tons of replay value. Bloodborne and Bayonetta would have also been good choices, but I ultimately went this one because you'll spend more time on it, and there's a co-op mod. It does make this list RPG-heavy, but it's hard to find a pure action game with as much replay value and attention to the plot. It's still a skills-based game and none of the RPG mechanics will save you on the hardest difficulty.

5. Baldur's Gate III.

   spoiler

   I would put an open-world, choice-based game here. Even though BG3 is not a true open-world game, it has many the sandbox features open-world players like short of a fun physics system. It's the third entry in the series, but the game doesn't expect you to have played the first two games. Great mod support. I didn't choose other popular open-world/open-zone games because many have paper-thin quests that lack player agency (Daggerfall, half of Oblivion, Skyrim, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Breath of the Wild), don't work as a standalone experience (any of the Mass Effect Trilogy, the Witcher 3), are amazing but too small in scale to be good representatives (KOTOR, Dragon Age: Origins, Deus Ex), are too controversial (Grand Theft Auto, which railroads you into being a bad guy) or have a strong open world and player choices but terrible gameplay (Morrowind). I gave BG3 the edge over Cyberpunk and Fallout: New Vegas due to built-in co-op and endless replay value that would last a lifetime.

If this were a top 10 list, I would add Fallout: New Vegas (for a purer open-world sandbox experience), Super Mario Galaxy (a 3D platformer in a well-known franchise with a strong story), Celeste(the pinnacle of 2D platformers and speedrunners love it), Minecraft(an important social game with constructive cooperative mechanics), and Stardew Valley (best cozy game representative).

Tough. If this is all I get forever I'll go for replay over best games ever.

Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, good 5k hours

Monster Hunter World(Iceborne), like 5-10k in that

NieR Automata, less so for the replayability and more for the music

FFX For same as above

Aaaaand hm. Oh I want some childhood. Majora's Mask.

• Half-life 2 (Garry's mod)
• Quake 2 (plenty of mods)
• Desert Bus (Penn and teller's smoke and mirrors)
• Luanti (Open source Minecraft)
• Turtle WoW (So I can quest in vanilla'ish)

TitanFall 2: Its the Portal 2 engine, but better. Also runs on almost anything these days, looks good, could easily be a basis for a ton of different kind of multiplayer shooters via modding. You could basically rebuild any Source game/mod between 2000 and 2015 ish in it.

Deus Ex (the original): Lower fidelity but that means it can run on more things, is also highly moddable, also has a working multiplayer framework that it's had since almost day one that I guess everyone forgot about, could also be modded into nearly anything, including lower fidelity than TF|2 multiplayer games of basically any kind.

VintageStory: Minecraft, but better. Also highly moddable. Also networkable.

Fallout Online (2/3): Assuming the likely near apocalyptic setting accompanying this hypothetical, we're gonna want a 2.5D turn based tactics platform, FOnline is highly detailed and highly moddable, and is networked. You could also basically rebuild nearly any 2D JRPG in this, yes, even Pokemon, if you can handle 2.5D isometric sprites.

(I was originally going to say either Xenonauts 1 or 2, but then realized you could basically build X1 or X2 in Fallout Online, and FOnline is already networked.)

No Mans Sky: Beyond being essentially the most advanced procedural generation game that I am aware of, in breadth and depth, you're going to want to have all that code to be able to decompile parts of it and thus be able to rebuild other or new digital worlds with it.

I reject the concept that no new games will ever be built.

I've been using and making mods since the 90s.

There will be new games, apocalypse be damned.

Also, as much as I love some Bethesda games, their engine is a heap of broken garbage.

Rebuild FONV or Skyrim in TF|2 or Deus Ex instead.

They are entirely capable of being modded into that.

Fallout 4

Baldur’s Gate 3

Sekiro

Super Mario World

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

• Morrowind
• Chrono Trigger
• The full motion Afterburner arcade machine (that thing was so much fun)
• A link to the past
• Tetris

• Garry's Mod
• Starcraft
• Team Fortress 2
• Minecraft
• Skyrim

that's already five - which one of these shouldn't be saved?

maybe Age of Empires 2, Stellaris, or Civ V instead of Starcraft?

maybe Oblivion, Morrowind, or Fallout 3 instead of Skyrim?

maybe Terraria, Stardew Valley, or Factorio instead of Minecraft?

maybe Counter-Strike, Half-Life 2, or Insurgency instead of Team Fortress 2?

This is an awful choice, a committee would have to decide this ...

we're really going to let all these games die?

not to mention games like:

• noita
• Rimworld
• Stanley's Parable
• Soma
• Alien: Isolation
• BioShock
• Silent Hill
• Amnesia
• Disco Elysium
• Grim Fandango
• Thief
• Beginner's Guide
• Cuphead
• Hotline Miami
• Celeste
• Command & Conquer
• tetris
• Super Mario Brothers
• Mario Kart
• The Legend of Zelda
• Pokemon
• Animal Crossing
• The Sims
• Halo
• Battlefield games
• Call of Duty games
• Grand Theft Auto
• World of Warcraft
• Doom
• Quake
• Mortal Kombat
• Street Fighter
• Dark Souls

You can find more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_considered_the_best

this question is evil, and I hate everyone's answers.

First place has to be Kerbal space program. I can't think of another game as profoundly educational as this. If you can land a craft on the Mün, then you have a better understanding of orbital mechanics than the average NASA engineer.

Second place goes to Nier: Automata. It's a selfish pick, but I struggle to think of a more flawless game.

I want at least one multiplayer PVE game and one PVP game, so third and fourth places go to Minecraft (version 1.18) and Team Fortress 2.

Lastly, for fear that it will count as a video game and otherwise be deleted, I save Lichess.org from annihilation

I'm assuming there'd be no online multiplayer or modding, as they'd be outside the realm of the game - it's content made by other people (and it's more interesting if you exclude them anyway), and I'm assuming there'd be no more updates (so only current or previous patches)

So we'd be looking for replayable single player games

1. Minecraft. If that's not on your list then you're joking
2. Terraria. Sandbox like minecraft, but the more legacy-focused scope of the game would be a nice change
3. Factorio. This game is called cracktorio for a reason
4. Monster Hunter world. Very replayable when you want to hit big monsters with big swords
5. Maimai. Bet you didn't expect a rhythm game to be here, bitch! With all other video games gone, maimai would explode in popularity, and I'd finally be able to play maimai locally instead of only in the city on the occasional day off. Yes, this list is just a place holder for the real number 1

Zelda Link's Awakening ... this one somehow has both the most Nostalgia and replayability for me even though I have also played the N64 Zeldas when growing up

Factorio - of course can't go without Cracktorio

Caves of Qud - really good mix of roguelike and open world RPG. Lot's of replayability as well.

Diablo 2 Resurrected - one of my favrotie games of all time. Got back into it recently on Switch and it's just soo good. Also big Nostalgia for me

Mario Kart Double Dash - need to have something I can play with my wife and Mario Kart is just the Couch Multiplayer game. Double Dash is my favorite entry of the series as well

I'd say I hit a solid ish genre mix as well with it. Pity I couldn't fit an FPS though

Selfishly?

Golden Sun 2: One of my favorite game series's growing up, and the first time I experienced a "good" plot twist.

Knights of the Old Republic: Talk about good plot twists, I rented this game from blockbuster once and spent years thinking it was a fever dream.

Pokemon Emerald: Pokemon Crystal is the first game that let me play as a girl, but ruby/sapphire is really my generation.

Baldur's Gate 3: Met my gf playing this, 1000 hours in, all coop with her.

Monster Hunter World: Met my best friend here, 2000 hours in, and basically infinitely replayable in a way that Elden Ring isn't

Superman for the N64, E.T. for Atari, Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, Desert Bus and Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing

Based on current tastes...

• Super Metroid
• SSBU or a Street Fighter
• FFVI (because I still haven't finished it) or Chrono Trigger
• a shmup, any vertical shmup, Crimzon Clover WE probably
• Mega Man X

• Minecraft (A comfortable home away from home).

• Wii Sports (The one video game literally made for everyone).

• Bioshock (I may not play it again myself, but everyone should experience “Would you kindly” at least once in their lives).

• PlayStation Dreams (This one is kinda like wishing for infinite wishes).

• Bomberman Ultra (A stupidly fun couch-play game that my entire family has played together for more than 10+ years now. I have never NOT smiled when booting up this silly game).

And then the games I’d forever regret not saving for myself: SuperGlob (Arcade), Tempest (Arcade), Uncharted 4, Bayonetta, StarCraft, Resident Evil 4, Portal and Heavy Rain (A brutal punch in the gut that I loved dearly but never want to play again).

Burnout Revenge- Its my comfort game. I love it.

Left 4 Dead 2- Favorite multiplayer game

Witcher 3

Diablo 2

Ages of Empires 2

Baldur's gate 3, tiny Tina's wonderlands, ff7, annnnd I'm not sure. The fourth and fifth slots are harder.

I would say pacman, but even if you gave me the arcade game for free, I don't think I could play it worth a damn now. Same with centipede (they were my favorites back in the day, but pacman I was good at).

The original Mario Kart could be in there. And I can't pretend that need for speed carbon couldn't compete for a spot either. I think I'd take Kart over Carbon though.

Yeah, fuck it, pacman and Mario kart. Those are the last two spots.

No! Wait!

Neverwinter, the mmorpg. Fuck mariokart, I'd take that one, assuming I could either have ai teammates that didn't suck, or could just keep a server for it running without cost/effort. Loved that game. Technically still love it, but when I stopped playing for a while, I got power crept and didn't want to play ptw style like it turned into. But my haste cleric? Fuck yeah!

Skewed towards my taste in gaming, but still trying to think about humanity:

• UNDERTALE. My favorite videogame OAT, amazing storytelling, characters and soundtrack. This is my least replayable pick, but one that I would not want to lose
• The Binding of Isaac. Contender for the best Rougelike ever made, with an absurd level of replayability and great modding community
• Minecraft. Even though i don't care about Minecraft that much, the things that this game has accomplished is crazy. I would not want to lose Redstone or the amazing modding community it has. Tons of ways to play and, it's the most purchased game in history, I think it's worth perserving.
• Geometry Dash. I would not want to leave the "rithym game" (debatable) community with nothing. GD is also a game I'm super in love with. The community is great and at this point it's close to being its own gaming engine, so I think it fits here.
• Skyrim. This game I haven't played ever, but I know what it means to a lot of people. Considering the rest of my cartoony and slightly niche picks, I think having one, extremely moddable medieval single player helps to have variety.

Tears of the Kingdom and Minecraft would be important to save for their infinite playability due to their physics and craft engines. Final Fantasy 6 for story. Stellaris so people could have a competitive, chess-like monster to wrap their mind around. And Bonk for TurboGrafx16 so everyone could know that game design just doesn't happen overnight.

• Puyo Puyo Champions - Extra selfish pick, in this scenario now people would have to play it and we'd have a healthy playerbase again. I'd finally get to fulfill my dream of large offline tournaments.
• Skullgirls - See above.
• Stepmania - I was tempted to say Wacca or Chunithm, but in this scenario Stepmania would be ideal for nearly infinite content, as well as offering both keyboard and pad playstyles in one game.
• Slay the Spire - My pick for casual second monitor content. I'm also assuming the modding scene is allowed to continue, in this scenario it'd suddenly have everyone making tons of new characters.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Actually took me a bit to think of what the last game should be. Gotta be an endless game, but I didn't want to duplicate genres by just adding another fighting game or puzzle game. Though if we're allowing romhacks to count as part of the game, if new romhacks can continue to be made, substitute Super Mario World instead.

If I could choose, then I'd choose for humanity, games that most reasonable people would go "yeah, fair enough".

(Note, if it were just for me, I wouldn't pick any of these lol)

• Portal + 2
• Stardew Valley
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Elden Ring
• Final Fantasy VII (or X)

OpenMW

MineCraft

GZDoom

DevilutionX

Wargus

Not sure about 5,

but grim fandango should be one of them.

Since all of humanity will only get the 5 games

To encourage local play with your friends we will keep the n64 versions of Mario kart, super smash brothers, and Mario party 2. These are universally enjoyable to all ages and the top 3 local experiences imo.

For people inevitably desiring a strategy game I will choose StarCraft 1. And the RPG shall be Baldurs gate 3 because it allows full custom campaign mods and people can thus create any rpg in it.

Mario kart 64

Super Smash Brothers (64)

Mario Party 2

StarCraft 1

Baldurs Gate 3