Many of these games are so addictive and well-designed, you’re probably going to be thinking about them when you’re not playing them. Let’s get started!

1. Where Winds Meet

This wuxia-based RPG is simply unmatched when it comes to the number of activities it offers you, the quality of each one, and the variety you can find. It’s an open world where exploration without having a specific destination in mind is the best possible way to experience it, with a lot of great side content baked into the game aside from a compelling main campaign.

With online multiplayer and MMO elements integrated into the gameplay loop, and combat and gear systems that are great for creating unique PvP characters, there’s just so much to do in this game, and so much more to come with subsequent updates, that hitting triple figures on your playtime is almost an inevitability.

2. EA Sports FC 26

The football simulator that’s been around forever continues to be a viable option for a game that has you coming back to it every chance you get, for a very long time after you first boot it up. With a very detailed Career mode, regular online events, the option to pit your team against your friend, or perhaps have a buddy join your team instead, there’s a lot to experience.

The gameplay on offer is also quite solid, with a lot of realism baked into the experience to make you feel like you’re on the pitch and not staring at it through a screen. However, its systems and some of its challenges are going to require that you literally put your best foot forward on the pitch. If you decide to dive into this one, the game is on and is going to stay that way for a while.

3. Fortnite

Once again, there’s so much to do in Fortnite, which is more of a platform than a game at this point. With so many modes on offer, regular content being added into the game, social features that make it a blast when it’s enjoyed in company, and a PvP Battle Royale mode that has become quite popular in its own right, this one’s definitely a game where 200 hours might go by before you even notice.

Dive in and you’re going to find a lot of freedom for self-expression, and a lot of fun to be had on the islands. Just be careful not to put too much of a strain on your wallet, as those outfits and goodies can be very tempting indeed.

4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim + Expansions

Step into the shoes of the Dragonborn and begin your journey into Skyrim, and you’re probably not going to look at another video game until you’ve explored every corner of its sprawling map. Anything can happen along the road to your next point of interest, and with some of the finest RPG mechanics to grace the genre, you’re going to spend a lot of time tinkering with your build.

This is an RPG that has more than earned its popularity and ranks high among modern gaming’s finest for a reason. It’s also smart to dive in now and perhaps brush up on the story ahead of the sequel that’s eventually coming our way. The expansions are worth a mention, and can add a significant amount of hours to your total playtime. Every second of them is going to be worth it, though.

5. GTA Online

A thriving community of players, a massive map to explore in San Andreas, and interesting activities to engage with. GTA Online was kind of a no-brainer for this list. With heists to plan and execute, quests to carry out for some of the main story’s characters, and a reputation to build for your silent protagonist, this one’s going to have you avoiding plans and spending your weekends indoors for a while.

It’s GTA at its finest, and if the delay to GTA VI has had you feeling down, perhaps this one can act as a suitable placebo until the real thing gets here.

6. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt + Story Expansions

Geralt’s search for Ciri, and all the shenanigans he can get up to in the process, continues to be among the best open-world games we’ve played despite it being a decade old at this point. CDPR’s ability to hide a frankly overwhelming amount of secrets across three vast maps, and a whole lot of quality side content to distract the Witcher from looking for his adoptive daughter, is nothing short of a marvel.

The story expansions are a whole other ball game, bringing some very satisfying arcs full of possibilities to change the narrative’s direction, along with excellent new monsters to hunt and more secrets and lore to uncover. You might not be able to get enough of this one, if we’re being honest.

7. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

The first open-world Metal Gear Solid is a great option for those of you who like a game that takes a while to outstay its welcome. Big Boss’s adventures continue in a main campaign that works very well as a bridge between previous entries, while side ops, Metal Gear Online, and the Forward Operating Base systems are all reasons for this one to have you enjoying many entertaining hours of espionage and skullduggery.

Indeed, a significant part of your playtime is going to be planning the best possible route to your objectives without your enemies being none the wiser to your presence. This is a hunt that takes a satisfyingly long time and is definitely worth considering.

8. Destiny 2

This award-winning online FPS title from Bungie has a staggering amount of content for you to take on in its story-based PvE mode, while your multiplayer options range from cooperative three-player missions to PvP battles. There’s a lot to take in, both in terms of the game’s lore and the amount of gear and potential build options you can find.

With a lot of content to get through, and a lot of fun to be had as you dive into all it has to offer, Destiny 2 is a dream come true if you’re an FPS player who wants a game that can take over their holidays.

9. Elden Ring + Shadow of the Erdtree

FromSoftware’s ambitious open-world and the Tarnished’s incredible journey is nothing short of a masterpiece. The Lands Between are full of places to explore, mysteries to uncover, NPCs with haunting stories, and a lot of weapons, armor, gear, and loot to plunder as you try to become Queen Marika’s consort and impose your will on the world.

It’s easy to forget about all that as you ride your horse through the Lands Between, and that feeling only intensifies when you finally make your way to the Land of Shadow in the game’s DLC. Tracing the steps of Miquella is an adventure worth taking on, and coupled with the base game, this one’s a behemoth.

10. Monster Hunter: World + Expansions

Taking on the role of a representative of the Research Commission and exploring every region and zone of the New World was a fun and engaging experience from start to finish. There are so many monsters to hunt, so much to discover, and a whole lot of activities to engage in at your camp and the main base.

Quests flow from one to another almost as smoothly as the water in some parts of the New World, and you’re going to be helping your fellow companions and NPCs while having tons of fun along the way. It helps that this is a game that’s both charming in its writing and enchanting on the visual front. You can’t go wrong with this one, and it’s going to have you getting very creative in your approach to each distinct monster you’re tasked with bringing down.

11. Dragon’s Dogma 2

This sequel was an excellent new addition to Dragon’s Dogma. It was a pleasure to step into the shoes of the Arisen once again, and each of the playable classes brought something interesting to the table. But it’s when you begin to dive deeper into the world’s mysteries and begin to discover more about it that this one’s true depth shows itself.

You’re going to want to place your teleporting stones quite carefully, as the rest of the world actually has you travelling across it, navigating set pathways via a travel system, while the world’s unpredictability can make those trips quite treacherous indeed. This is an experience that is both memorable and filled with so much content and so little hand-holding that you’re going to be obsessed with discovering more about the world and the people you meet within it.

12. Red Dead Redemption 2

Arthur Morgan is an obvious contender for a place on this list of massive games, and his adventures are so extensive that it can be hard to believe one man lived through them all. From kicking back with mini-games to exploring some truly bizarre stories that can come to you in multiple ways, this is a game that can have you walking and talking like a cowboy from the Wild West every chance you get.

It’s among the finest games in modern gaming, and its world is so full of clever little details to discover that hopping on your horse for a new day of exploring is going to take precedence over your leisure time for a very entertaining and lengthy block of time.

13. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla + Expansions

As the largest one in the franchise, Valhalla’s unique take on living your life as a noble Viking and uncovering the conspiracy across England, is a world worth getting lost in.

The game’s expansions do more to set up a lot of things, while coming with some brilliant new adventures for Eivor to pursue, complete with members of shadowy organizations to hunt down. It’s quite a tale, and a very large one full of fun things to do. Switching the cinematic camera on during a boat ride could have you spending more hours on this one than you’d like to admit.

14. No Man’s Sky

As one of modern gaming’s greatest comeback stories, this is a game that stands in its own class in terms of its shelf life. It’s an almost endless adventure, its narrative justifying multiple playthroughs in a way that makes total sense, while the completely random worlds that you get to explore and engage with are quite hard to leave once you start with them.

No Man’s Sky is a story about enjoying the journey, while also waiting eagerly to see what you’re going to find at its destination. It’s going to have you pushing past your bedtime with a smile on your face, and a sense of wonder compelling you to move forward and see just what you’re about to find.

15. Baldur’s Gate 3

With a stellar cast of actors bringing several NPCs to life, and an expertly narrated Dungeons and Dragons-based tale to have their settings intertwine with yours, Larian Studio’s banger continues to be a game that you can keep replaying, with astounding build variety and stories that never truly take place the same way when you play them.

There’s the Honour Mode, cross-platform modding support, co-op and online multiplayer, and a very dark take on the story to play through. Faerun is a great holiday destination, although the things you might find there can stay in the darkest corners of your mind rent-free.

16. Stardew Valley

We weren’t going to leave out one of the ultimate farming simulations from this one. Stardew Valley belongs here, with a playtime that doesn’t really end. You’re going to keep coming back to the farm that you grew from scratch, a town gradually building out of the effort you sink into, and the relationships with its many NPCs you build along the way.

No two days are the same out in this valley, and bringing in the online component is a great way to make this one as immersive as it can be, thanks to a thriving community of die-hard fans. You’re going to feel very welcome in this one, and you might choose to stay with it for a very long time to come.

17. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

This life sim always has a goal to reach, and things to do to get there. The Nook Miles system is its highlight, while the charming world and its uniquely retro art style make it stand out. Building out your presence in its world is an activity on its own, and you’re going to be quite obsessed with placing your buildings in a layout that’s to your liking, while getting them constructed has you constantly checking back into the game.

This is a game where you come to relax, and do that quite often, thanks to how entertaining it is to play, and how satisfying it is to stay with.

18. Gran Turismo 7

This PlayStation-exclusive racing sim is a great option for those of you who’d like to spend your time behind the wheel of a fast car on some of the world’s most iconic tracks. With PSVR2 support, incredible visuals, a very realistic translation of each car’s real-life track performance, and a lot of options to enjoy races at your disposal, you’re going to rack up a lot of miles on your ODO once you get started with this one.

The astounding visuals work very well with the game’s many systems that work well together to make your time on the track feel truly authentic, and push you to try taking those corners as well as you can. It’s time to let those engines loose and enjoy the results for hours on end.

19. Satisfactory

For a game carrying its title, this one is more than satisfactory, and can have you very immersed in building out your space base in your role as the Pioneer. Your factories are soon going to have you thinking about them while you’re away from your PC, and the potential for self-expression is almost humming with endless possibilities.

While its map is almost overwhelmingly large for most players, the ones who invest the time in hunting down as much to do as they can in this game are going to have a lot of fun building out their factories and playing their part in developing the corporation that put them there. Satisfactory is unique, visually distinct, well-executed, and simply fun to play, plain and simple.

20. Mass Effect Legendary Edition

This is the definitive way to enjoy a trilogy of legendary titles, bringing improved visuals and performance while also bringing in each title’s DLC and expansions into one title with a single character creator and the option to launch any of the three games from a unified menu.

If you’re familiar with the Mass Effect games, you already know that you’re going to be spending inordinate amounts of time with each one. You also know that their replay value is off the charts, and it can be easy to lose yourself in this trilogy’s expansive universe, where spending several hours making memories in it can become an entire holiday on its own.

That wraps up our list of the largest games you can get your hands on. We hope you have as much fun playing them as we did, and that the one you pick gives you many fond memories as you play it.

Microsoft’s ongoing subscription service, Game Pass, is going strong. Some people aren’t huge fans of it in its current state, but Microsoft is going full steam ahead for the foreseeable future, and for July it looks like we’re getting more games, including some classics, for the service.

Headlining the July roster is no doubt Metal Gear Solid V on July 18th. Despite being obviously unfinished, the game is one of the best stealth games that’s been released this generation. The ever present action horror classic Resident Evil 4 will be available on the Xbox One version of Game Pass July 25th.

Along with them will come Night Call coming day and date with its release on July 17th, a stylish new indie title that you read about here. It will be available for both the Xbox One and PC Game Pass, and along with it will come Killer Instant: Definitive Edition and For the King on July 25th. The Banner Saga 3 will also storm its way into both, the Xbox and PC services on July 18th.

Can't believe the box was full of new games. we never saw that coming pic.twitter.com/9DStu4FRWK

— Xbox Game Pass (@XboxGamePass) July 16, 2019

https://twitter.com/XboxGamePass/status/1151170659122204673

Arthas – Warcraft 3

The tragic tale of Crown Prince Arthas Menethil, knight of the Silver Hand was a man of principal, and who’s tragic fall came from his deeply seated sense of duty to his people. His ever more desperate bids to keep the kingdom of Lordaeron from falling to the Plague of Undeath caused him to take up the cursed blade Frostmourne, which led to the once proud hero eventually becoming the dreaded Lich King.

We’ve been able to learn a lot of new details about Death Stranding recently, and we even got a brand new trailer for the game at Tokyo Game Show. But while the amazing performance of Troy Baker and the appearance of that awesome looking dog-boss thingie are clearly the most obvious talking points of that trailer, several people have pointed to something else in it that points to the possibility of Stefanie Joosten (who played Quiet in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain) have a role in Kojima’s upcoming game.

In the trailer, we can see Sam, Norman Reedus’ character, carrying someone on his back again (similar to the E3 2018 trailer), except this time, we get to see that person more clearly. The woman is wearing a hood, but more importantly, you can see the Dutch flag on her suit as well. Given the fact that Joosten hails from the Netherlands, and the fact that she’s been linked with Death Stranding several times in earlier reports and rumours, and the fact that Kojima seems to be gravitating toward working with people he’s worked with in the past for his upcoming game, the connection here is pretty easy to make.

As if that weren’t enough, though, a tweet from Joosten’s managing agency pretty much confirms that she will be playing a role in the game. You can take a look at it below.

It’s likely that this information will be officially announced soon. Death Stranding is set to release for the PS4, but we have no idea about what it’s release date might be (though Kojima seems to have a pretty concrete idea).

https://twitter.com/mickymactroy/status/1043790846624190465

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

While the mid-game confrontation against Metal Gear Sahalanthropus is an epic battle across Afghanistan against a giant mech in that kooky Kojima fashion, there is after all, over half the game to go once Venom Snake and his Diamond Dogs take down the machinations of Skull Face and his strange vendetta against English. Chapter 2 conversely doesn’t have quite the same impact when you face down a few larger conflicts at seemingly random points in a casual playthrough. The ending of the game sends our heads spinning for different reasons, but the lack of those amazing Kojima final bosses makes us wonder if Hideo was really the man who sold the world.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

The game where Mario is the kind of person who has a vanity license plate with his own name and face on it, Super Mario Galaxy 2 takes the gravity defying mechanics and tight controls of the original title and allows the ideas to get wonderfully weird with the assumption that players tried the first Galaxy. Players dedicated enough grab all 120 stars in the game were greeted not with a final message, but the delivery of 120 Green Stars scattered across the game. Though the spirit of not just making us play though the game again as Luigi was something, the strange hidden object game they played with us by not giving hints for each star and asking you to individually locate and figure out how to collect them in the old missions got tiring very fast.

There are a few spoilers ahead, a few of them major, others not so much, while there are also none at all in some cases. In any case, if you see us beginning to talk about a game you don’t want spoiled, go away.

ORCS- (MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF WAR)

Shadow of War is centred around one concept- the domination of orcs. Whether it’s through disintegration of their forces by killing their captains, or by recruiting them to make them fight for you instead, that’s the central theme of the game. One other way to do that is by using a mechanic called “Shaming”, which essentially allows your character to break an orc mentally to lower its level. If you do it enough, though, it can have truly horrific consequences. An orc can go from vowing vengeance against you for shaming it, to eventually begging you to stop the constant torture by just killing it once and for all, to ultimately literally losing its mind completely, and not being able to speak. No one deserves this- not even the Uruk-Hai.

Three years after it first launched back in 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has just received a new update. Is it Chapter 3, the thing that broke millions of Solid hearts the world over? Does it fix the controversial Chapter 2? No, none of that- but it does add some pretty cool features to the game’s FOB (Forward Operating Base) parts.

Patch 1.17, for one, makes Quiet a playable character in FOB’s online mode, which is something that will surely please a number of fans. Another pretty notable new addition is the addition of Easy and Hard difficulty levels to Event FOBs. Meanwhile, new weapons have also been added to the game, in Grades 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, so develop those all you want now. Other than that, the patch notes mention that “some issues” have also been fixed, but doesn’t detail just what those issues might be.

It’s pretty neat that Konami are still adding updates to the game, three years since it first launched, though personally I’d much rather see them remake the older Metal Gear games. Oh well, something’s better than nothing I guess. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is currently available on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC. Get the full patch notes below, as provided by Konami.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Update 1.17 Release Notes

• Quiet is now playable in FOB Online Mode
• Difficulty levels EASY and HARD have been added to Event FOBs
• New weapons to develop in Grades 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 have been added
• Some issues have been fixed

Super Meat Boy

As an early indy hit, Super Meat Boy had to earn all of the praise it got to show that smaller teams could be worth just as much attention. Super Meat Boy then had a lot of confidence in the mechanics surrounding the super tight platforming gameplay to not offer players a way to just cruise to the credits. Losing the idea of lives lives and allowing the player to restart the small stages roughly 12 times per second until the proverbial brick wall was beaten down allowed many to find their groove and not really even notice death.

Persona 5

The Acid Jazz infused soundtrack and moving manga art style that so flawlessly defines the world of Persona 5 is only really half of the charm of the game. Broken down into a day by day system where you balance the high school life of the protagonist with his secret double life as a demon slaying Phantom Thief takes on a compulsive quality thanks to the charming characters and great story. Once you’ve said you’ll just play for another day to make sure you pass school midterms and suddenly it’s 2AM, you’ve gone another in game month and cleared a dungeon? You’ve never seen it coming.