What's a single player PC game you can't get enough of?

Factorio. The factory must grow. Started on my Switch until I could no longer save games, then migrated to laptop. Because the Factory. Must. Grow.
Never in my life have I been so hooked on a game.
- For fans of Factorio I highly recommend Dyson Sphere Program. It’s a beautiful factory building game. It’s been in early access for a while now but can already be played like a finished game. There is a combat system coming but that will be totally optional. The only downside is that it’s far more demanding than Factorio when it comes to CPU, especially in the late stages of the game as your factory grows.
  
  If someone else didn't say it I was gonna recommend DSP. It's galactic scale Factorio in space and 3D. If Factorio automation and interstellar logistics sound fun then get this game.
  For late game do e of the hardcore players take ticks per second and such into consideration so there is a sort of meta think to the game with that regard. You can still just slap automation chains together and get the job done tho. I was getting 15 fps at end game with a RTX 3060 lol.
  
  It is demanding but the devs seem very dedicated to optimization. I have never read a dev blog post entirely about CPU optimization that sounded so excited about it. For an early access game, it really is super polished.
  I haven't tried scaling to super late game production levels, but you can easily finish the non-repeatable techs before noticing any performance hitches.
- Factorio is one of those few games (rim world too) that I can sit down and not realize that HOURS are flying by.
  For that alone, Factorio is a must have for anyone who enjoys base building aspects in other games. Also, there is multiplayer on PC. At least with mods it's possible.
- I have never played a game with such a compelling gameplay loop.
- Damn this game made me unaware of time
- What's your favourite game set up? I just finished the vanilla set up with enemies.
  
  Honestly if you don’t know where to start just play the bog standard free play with default settings. Maybe increase mineral deposit richness a bit if you’re just starting out.
  If you want to make your life a little easier look for a starting map with lots of trees and deposits close together but not overlapping.
- Have you tried Mindustry? It's supposed to be like factorio and it is open source.
- My time available for gaming is severely limited, so I'd timebox some time to play, set up a timer and build AFK factories. I noticed that I'd start to find excuses to go to the desk to check an email or pay a bill and would "just check in on my factory" which would turn into "just a quick replenish of my turrets" or to fix an idle driller, then an hour later I'd realize I was 'ate to an appointment.
  Later, I set up a private multiplayer server that wouldn't pause on disconnect so that the game wasn't even running on my primary computer.
  It's been a while... I should go check on my factory... BRB
- I'm really not good at it, but I still love it.

Cyberpunk. They fixed most of the issues the game had at launch. There's a dlc coming out soon too that will add a bunch of hours, and with it they are reworking loads of mechanics for free. Can't recommend it enough.
- Did performance improve? I couldn’t get it anywhere close to playable on my 2080 super without dropping the quality to potato, so I gave up on it.
  
  I've got a 1070ti and it runs very smooth on medium-high. Obviously not doing ray tracing or anything, and no mods, but I dial back some of the stuff like anti-aliasing too. Definitely worth giving it another shot if you already have it
  
  I have a 2060 super and it ran perfectly on high. I think I had maybe one crash in my entire playthrough
  
  I ran medium to high with 2080 super, 32 gigs of ram, and a ryzen 3600. Frames stayed above 60 in most cases drops in the 40s happened in populated areas.
  
  I played it on a 5500XT and it ran fine. Maybe a handful of crashes per 100h and few bugs / glitches.
  
  I played it almost all the way through on a 1080 and it looked and performed great. I did tweak a lot of the settings to get it to peak performance.
  Average FPS was around 40. Obviously not running at monitor resolution.
- It was a great game even with the issues it had. I'm really looking forward to the DLC, if only as an excuse to revisit the game!
- I did much of the same thing
  It turns out building a better pc and playing cyberpunk has the same effect as walking around a city on acid.
  Who would've thought
- The problems I have with cyberpunk stem more from the story. It's depressing and has no real happy ending, just an array of at best bittersweet possible endings. Maybe the new DLC will fix that but otherwise it's a bit too much art imitating life for me.
  
  Ahh I love that part. Feels like a nice change of pace that the best ending (for me) is open ended with a little bit of hope. Don't want to spoil for anyone else reading which ending I mean, but I like that it doesn't wrap up in a fully positive way

- Ahh, one of my favorites. Might install this again.
  
  What??? You uninstalled it?
  Now ye are going to have to reinstall all yer mods again (that is a game in and of itself though)
- Figuring out which mod pack I want to install took longer than my actual playtime atm 🥲. It’s always the same story with Skyrim
  
  You know there is a skyrim mods community here on lemmy? Come break the game with us!
  !skyrimmods@lemmy.world

I've reeeaaaally gotten into the rogue-like/lite genre. Dead Cells, Hades, Slay the Spire, FTL, Vampire Survivors... Just endlessly fun and entertaining. Also for all you Vampires lovers, I just picked up a game called Halls of Torment during the Steam sale for cheap. Super fun "vampires-like"
- Check out Brotato! I think you'll like it.
  
  Brotato has been my palate cleanser between games 😂
- I would try out Noita too.
  
  Noita is the answer to the question "what if self-loathing was a game?"
  
  Thanks! Will look that up!
- Check out Nova Drift! One of my favorite rogue-likes!
  
  Haven't heard of that. Will check it out, thanks!
- I would try out Noita too.

Dwarf Fortress is beautiful.
- This is my answer. Donated to Toady1 a couple times, then bought it on steam.
  
  Same here, donated to Toady and played for years before moving to masterwork DF, and years there too. Once the keyboard only mode is added to the steam version I'm sure I'll be playing for years there too!

Rimworld
- RimWorld is a time machine. I start it up and then look at the clock and I'm 5 hours in the future.
  
  I've once started a colony right before exams period. It was tough.

Rimworld.
It's kind of funny because I bounced off the game hard the first two times I played it. What really did it for me was the Ideology DLC, gave it a shot on a whim and the amount of structure it gave me for RPing colonies was exactly what I was missing.
Hundreds upon hundreds of hours in now, and it is the game I keep coming back to. Not to mention one of the biggest modding communities I have ever seen in a video game. The only video game subscriptions I maintain currently are to a few Rimworld modders whose work I really enjoy. When I am not playing it, I am working on ideas of themed mod packs to put into it.
Dyson Sphere Program is a close second, it's my favourite factory-builder. It is still in early access but is a VERY polished experience already. Amazing dev communication too.

Witcher 3 wild hunt. Game was released in 2015 and we are still getting regular patches 8 years later. Patch 4.03 was just released last May. Engaging storytelling, a vast open world along with 2 expansion pack, deep role-playing elements to create a memorable and immersive gaming experience.
- Have they discussed any more show tie-in content? Was hoping they would use that for promotions.
  
  I haven’t been following the Witcher fan discussion group for a while, but what I recalled was that the Netflix show has deviated drastically from the source material (books) which many fans are pissed about, even the main star and fan expert of the material, Henry Cavill left in season 3.
  The game dev CD Projekt Red definitely has no rights to Netflix’s Witcher universe and it doesn’t matter. Fans are anticipating the release of Witcher 4 (code name Polaris) which will be a first of a trilogy.
- Idk why, but this sounds like an advertisement so much :)

Slay the spire. Probably have close to 1000 hours playing it and I'm still addicted.
- Same. I also own it on the switch and phone. Most re-playable game I own.
- I've heard about it a few times, need to give it a try.
- Yes same. I've bought it 3 times now, for PC, Android and Switch. Almost 400 hours on Steam alone.

Rimworld - 2000 hours so far. I'm not done yet. The mod community and periodic dlc keep it alive for me.
- I'm over 20,000 hours on Civilization III just on my current PC - that doesn't even count all the time I spent on it when the game first came out. I've tried the later versions, just don't like 'em as much.
- I want to play again but had to stop each time because I get obsessively addicted to it

RimWorld.
Yes, I am a degenerate.

Dwarf Fortress, been playing it off and on for many years now. I happily bought the steam version when it came out!
- When I first played back in 200...8? I accidentally stayed up all night. I'm itching to try out the Steam version but I know, I KNOW, that I can't afford the time I will spend on it right now.
  
  A wise choice, it’s a time-suck for sure.
- Love the game but I'll need them to fix the fps issue before I get back into it. Would be great to have a fortress with more than 100 dwarfs without grinding the fps to a halt.
  
  Ahhh good ol’ FPS death. I never make it that far, mainly because I love to embark somewhere with a waterfall.

Mindustry. People compare it to Factorio, but Mindustry (which also has an Android version) is open source.
- I found out about it because of f-droid and after a single session knew I wanted the Steam version after I figured out it existed.

FTL. Theme song triggers ptsd in my wife.
- I love FTL but I'm so bad at it.
- I only played it so that I won once, and that was a long time ago. Is it really replayable? It didn't really seem so at the time.
  
  It's a rogue like. It was built to be replayed endlessly.

Binding of Isaac
- +1. Just turned 300hours corner, and I'm not done at all.

Please don't make fun of me but I am a die-hard SimCity guy
- I like city building games too. Which SimCity game is your favorite?
- Which version?
  
  SimCity 3000. I play it on Linux.

Vampire Survivors on the steam deck.

The Outer Wilds. Best space exploration game with environmental storytelling I have ever played. And that ending...chef's kiss made me cry.

Cyberpunk2077 at the moment. Got more than 250 hours on it. Before that I played Dishonored a lot and that before the very first Deus Ex. The story was just incredible and IMHO still is one of the best in video game history.

Kerbal Space Program

Minesweeper.
- I highly recommend Tametsi on Steam. It's Minesweeper, but each puzzle is designed to be solvable with zero guessing, and it uses different shapes and some other neat tricks to keep it interesting. It's 98 cents on Steam right now.
  
  Sounds interesting!
  I recommend https://davidnhill.github.io/JSMinesweeper/ - it has a no guessing mode, a fast mode to skip obvious choices, can show hints if you need any, is free and works in your browser.
  I also recommend https://zblip.itch.io/mine-of-sight - it's more complex than Minesweeper and has different types of Minesweeper-esque clues combined into a single game. It's also free and runs in your browser.
- Can confirm
- 3D Minesweeper. Not sure I really like it, but it's a concept.
- I play that too from time to time.
  
  May I recommend minesweeper.online?

The most recent, Dave the diver!!
- Just picked this one up yesterday and I’ve totally been hooked. Reminds me of stardew valley mixed with subnautica.
- I put over 30 hours into this game and ended up not recommending it on steam.
  Weird progression in that game. The sushi segments just turned into me cleaning dishes and grating wasabi...and I thought the entire sea people quest was bland... Also, Nexon is a pretty crap company but that's not so much a comment about the game. Another comment about the game is the forced fetishizing of shark murder. It made me deliver a shark head to a customer on a plate and watch them cry from happiness while they ate it. STOP MURDERING SHARKS???

On my 3rd playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas

There's no game I don't eventually get tired of, but here are three that are fantastic and I can recommend playing for hours and hours:
FTL
Slay the Spire
Darkest Dungeon
All indie titles, none of them new, still fantastic and well worth it if you haven't played any on this list. Also all challenging roguelikes, so be warned. =P

Kenshi. It's very unique and one of my favourite games. It also has an amazing modding community.
- I have launched this game several times and always end up wandering around aimlessly before getting killed in the wilderness. Is it possible to get into without following a wiki?
  
  I didn't use the wiki until 50+ hours in. You need to make your own goals. I started by making a thief and just stealing my way to the top.
  You can fairly easily make money and skill up by just running around carrying and selling shit. Specialize your first characters, make the next companions workers.
  It's very much a sandbox where you make your own story.
  
  When you start the game you are incredibly weak.
  It absolutely is but getting some beginner tips could be a good idea.
  For instance if you get bandits to chase you into a shop the gaurds will deal with them. You can then loot all the bodies.
  Getting hit trains toughness and defense. Likewise hitting people trains your attack.
  So getting beaten up is good but you need to make sure you don't get knocked out (you'll most likely bleed out with low toughness) or have a second person ready to heal you with med kits after the fight hiding somewhere.
  Outside of towns is super dangerous until later in the game.
  Also running is a very good option if you are out powered. You train your athletics by running. It trains faster if you aren't over encumbered.
  
  If you're taking suggestions I recommend watching https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXFIaWk23rSznUxxUMAiNoo24Nx4IPBsX You can learn the basics as you watch him suffer.
  
  I kind of had the same experience with it, except I actually managed to get really into it one time. I started as a prisoner in a giant mine, and had a shitload of fun trying and failing to escape. After many hours, I finally did it, and lost interest shortly afterwards because things got too confusing again.

Cities Skylines for me. It's like building my own little world that I would want to live and work in
- I just wish it wasn't turning into The Sims: Cities with all the DLC packs.
  I just want to make cool tiered cities with all kinds of parks and bike trails.
  
  I get that, but the original game wasn't intended to be nearly as big as it turned out to be, so I'm not faulting them too much for having to release some should-be-base-game stuff later on. A lot of that will be included from the start in CS2 at least, like trams, bike lanes and better ped paths, so that's something.
- so excited for CS2!
  
  Idk, I'm still working on CS1, maybe after I beat it
- I enjoy city builders a lot too. Used to play this a few years ago.
- I love Cities Skylines, but I absolutely suck with traffic management. I know it's supposed to be the game's big challenge, but it's the one thing I really don't enjoy. Anytime I have tried to plan a city from the beginning with traffic in mind, I find myself not having nearly as much fun as when I just built stuff haphazardly.
  I kind of just want a mod that abstracts out traffic (I know about TPM, but that isn't exactly what I want).

Roller Coaster Tycoon.
- I recommend https://openrct2.io/ - it's a fan made open source reimplementation that adds many changes, among them multiplayer, mods, UI improvements, bugfixes and so on. For installation you'll need a copy of the original RCT2 game. It also supports RCT1 scenarios and graphics.

I haven't see Horizon Zero Dawn in the comments so far. This is probably the best (by graphics, game play, characters, story lines) game I've ever played. I really hope that Horizon Forbidden West is released for PC soon.
- Horizon is a great game, it's probably one of my favourite game series of all time at this point. Zero Dawn hit all the storytelling tropes that I typically enjoy in games, and had amazing dynamic combat too. It reminded a bit of monster hunter with the preparation you went into big fights with, but also there was a degree of improvisation when stuff didn't go according to plan.
  As someone who didn't think Zero Dawn needed a sequel at all, I actually really enjoyed Forbidden West. I think you'll be in for a good time when you get a chance to play it.
- Absolutely! Hunting Thunderjaws feels epic as all hell!

For a hot month at a time, The Sims, then never again for the rest of the year

RimWorld, I can't stop playing it for at least 6 hours every time I launch it.
Also Factorio until I got stuck on making the fucking trains work
- The trains aren't that mad to figure out.
  Chain signals into crossings/junctions, block signals out.
  This also applies to any track section where a train can block other trains.
  Signals and stations only work to the right of the travel direction
  Signals without another signal on the other side are strictly one-directional.
  you can mismatch signals of any pair, i.e. a block sig opposite of a chain sig.
  Using signals within a junction can be useful to improve capacity of said junction, though you must use chain signals for that.
  Always make sure your longest regular train can fully leave a junction/crossing/flow-critical block before it hits another signal.
  Having one train length across your entire fleet can make this easier to wrap your head around
  As for station stopping instructions, that'll take a few more lines to go into.
- factorio trains were a mess to get into without mods and prior to train limits. they're kinda fine now :)
- You just need s good intersection blueprint to make trains work, after i found that i became adicted to expand the train network.

Kenshi

Factorio, Satisfactory, and Minecraft. Generally sandbox games keep me interested the longest since you're just limited by your creativity there.
- Came here looking for factorio. Great game and possibly the most stable piece of software I've come across

The Mass Effect trilogy.

Portal 2

I got Slay the Spire recently from the steam summer sale since it’s so cheap. I haven’t been able to put it down. It’s such a time suck, and I normally don’t even like card games. I would 100% recommend it.
- I have been playing this game for years. A20 on all characters. Bought it on 3 different platforms. I am still playing it daily, and I'm not sick of it.
- When you get far enough and would like more content, check out the Downfall mod on Steam.

Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Might & Magic VIII

Factorio

Age of Empires 2 in campaign mode
- Cheese steak Jimmy

Looking at my steam:
Total: Factorio. Though I do think I need to put that one on hold after I'm finally done with my current save - which is not far out anymore. Also, this game has multiplayer so it may technically not count.
Recent: Derail Valley, a very down-to-basics train simulator, focusing on cargo rail in a fictional rendition of an area in the Balkans. They recently put out a major update, which makes all kinds of simulation features much more expansive.

OpenTTD.
- Yeah baby. I don't know how many hours I've spent on this.

The Binding of Isaac. It is too addictive

Deep Rock

Rollercoaster Tycoon / OpenRCT2
Transport Tycoon Deluxe / OpenTTD
While they do now have multiplayer modes thanks to their corresponding open source projects, I still think the spirit of these games is firmly in the single player pc game category. Best of all they're both free and available on any OS!

STALKER - with mods this game looks amazing and it's so immersive. I had so many fun/terrifying hours on this
Bayonetta
Dwarf Fortress
Cyberpunk
Mass Effect
Morrowind
Inscryption
- Hell yeah Morrowind! I like Skyrim ok but it feels bland somehow next to the weird setting and deeper mechanics in Morrowind

I'm flabbergasted we're getting no metroidvania love in here so I'll list my two favorites: Hollow Knight and Blasphemous. Both with sequels coming out this year which I'm so excited about!

Workers and resources. It's like cities skylines on steroids.

Civilization for me... I don't mind the newer versions but I'm old enough that I've played it since Civ I and I do sort of feel like it's lost something as the graphics have improved and animations were introduced. Still, irrespective of the version, every game is a little different and eats hours like nothing else.
- I have many versions of the game but the one I keep playing despite all the years that have passed, it’s Civ 5.
- I do sort of feel like it’s lost something as the graphics have improved and animations were introduced
  Have you tried Unciv? https://yairm210.itch.io/unciv It's a free and open source remake of Civ 5 and already supports many of its features. I really enjoy playing it as it's much less hardware intensive which makes for near instant loading times and keeps the computer nice and cool on hot summer days.
  
  Oh I have not! Thank you, I'll have a look!

Surviving Mars. Every time I get back to it, I enjoy it.
- Give Per Aspera a try!

Subnautica and Planet Crafter.
The best "just one more thing!" games I've ever found. Huge chunks of time just disappear for me and the people that I've had play it. Very rewarding.
- Explain Subnautica. I have played a couple hours but I don't get it. I picked up some fish and some other stuff. I did some crafting but I don't know where the cool stuff happens. Can you build outside your ship?
  
  The first 4 hours or so can be a bit rough because it doesn't hold your hand much considering how big the game is and how much there is to do. I suggest focusing on surviving and following your radio messages for a new game, while crafting all your basic tools from the crafter as you follow the messages. Craft and use that scan tool. And by the time the radio messages run out, you'll find some cool stuff 😁😁😁
  And yes, you can build anywhere! The world is your oyster 🦪
- Oh man. Thanks to you I'm now going to be up all night playing Planet Crafter, I garauntee it... Game definitely has that "Just one more exploration!" Or "You cant give up, you're so close to the next tier just do it".
  Not sure if it's the simplicity (which I initially disliked) or the absolutely no hand holding that I love about Planet Crafter, but this game has me hooked, and I cant wait to see the fruits of my labor.
  
  Ha! Ya I put like 80 hours into that game in like a week....and it's NOT EVEN DONE! I've put it down for now until full release, but that should just be 6 months or so and then I'm going back all in and I'm AMPED
- Subnautica simultaneously my favourite "I like build base" game and horror game.
  I really like the open-ended gameplay loop with a structured narrative. Had way more story than I expected going into it.
  
  Check out Planet Crafter! It's really cheap right now too. It's the same but different enough to still be refreshing

BPM: Bullets Per Minite
Doom meets dungeon crawler meets Crypt of the Necrodancer.

My friends make fun of me for it but...
Football Manager.
I know it's a spreadsheet simiulator but I can't stop.

For basically daily consumption, definitely Paradoy Grand Strategy games for me, EU4, Vic3, CK3, HoI4, one of those almost always manages to work out.
As a game that I can endlessly revisit with short pauses in between, Disco Elysium, never fails to resonate with me.

Cyberpunk 2077 story

My go to would be Skyrim, but i actually stopped playing about a year ago. My current one would be cyberpunk but i'm waiting for the dlc and playing diablo 4 atm.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games 1 through 4.
A bit more than once a decade I play them on emulator and try to 100% them. Great fun. I also try to make sure to visit the locations in the real world if I'm on holiday nearby where they based a level.
It's kind of sad that the Venice Beach area hasn't existed since the 90s.
Edit: I did just realise this thread is about PC games, but I do play them on PC albeit through a PlayStation emulator. I do believe the games are available on PC.