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Games withinfinite replayability are like chicken soup for the soul. The player is so familiar with every aspect of the experience that playing it feels like slipping into a warm, relaxing bath. The game might even be so pulse-poundingly fun that it’s borderline addictive. No matter the case, these titles will likely last into the next eternity.
Updated on December 17th, 2022, by Maya Sattar: Video games exist to offer an escape from reality and the trials and tribulations of daily life. Deja-vu is something no player wants to experience, either in-game or real-life. Luckily, there are plenty of games out there that offer hundreds of hours of gameplay without feeling stale or boring. Some offer incentives to entice players back into playing, while others are so packed full of content it is impossible to complete everything.
Few forms of entertainment can provide as much enjoyment for as little cost as video games with high replayability, especially indie games. To shed some more light on some of the most replayable games, this list has been expanded with several new entries while including the platforms they can be played on.
18 League of Legends
Platforms: PC.
League of Legends is the free-to-play MOBA gamers love to hate - but there’s a reason why players keep coming back for more. Riot Games’ League of Legends proves ever-popular, with millions of players logging in daily, even 13 years after its initial release back in 2009. With the competitive ranked season refreshing every year, players come back to the game time and time again to put their skills to the test,
League of Legends boasts a growing roster of 160 champions and counting, each with a unique playstyle, role, and items to purchase. It is a guarantee that no two games will ever be the same, with infinite numbers of possible team compositions and enemy line-ups. It is impossible to predict what could happen next, lending toward high replayability and potentially a lot of rage!
17 Hades
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
Roguelike games famously have a high replay value, simply due to their randomized nature and continuous meta progression, even after death. Hades is no exception and is already one of the most popular games of the genre, despite only being released in 2020.
Playing as the son of Hades, Zagreus, the player must escape their father’s grip and the Underworld, slashing their way through anything that stands in their way using the legendary weapons of Olympus from Greek mythology. Hades is designed for several replays, as the world’s unique bosses will remember the players’ previous escape attempts, with new interactions every time!
16 Vampire Survivors
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
If roguelikes are the pinnacle of games with the most replay value, then roguelites are the runner-up. Incorporating many of the same elements with a slight twist, roguelites like Vampire Survivors can be played for hours on end. Vampire Survivor’s gameplay loop is all about choosing a character and attacking creatures of the night with bullet-hell-styled gameplay.
They get to choose their weapons of mass destruction and passively upgrade them as they level up. Players also earn coins through playing the game, allowing them to purchase additional permanent power-ups. Some items synergize well together, allowing for powerful weapon evolutions to destroy the enemies en-mass. Vampire Survivors is an excellent game for those who revel in chaos and enjoy steady character progression while unlocking new items.
15 Stardew Valley
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
Stardew Valley was developed by American studio ConcernedApe and originally released in February 2016 on PC, before coming to numerous other consoles, including Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Despite releasing so recently, Stardew Valley has already become a poster-child of games with infinite replayability, and it is still being enjoyed by many players today, some of whom have surpassed the eye-watering landmark of 1,000 hours of playtime.
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Like many farming games, Stardew Valley kicks off with players inheriting a plot of land from their grandfather and are then free to cultivate it in any way that they choose. Farming isn’t all that players will be doing, however, as it’s the game’s engaging life simulation features that have differentiated Stardew Valley from other farming titles and kept players engaged for some more years.
14 Terraria
Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android devices.
Terraria is a 2D sandbox game that was released over a decade ago, in May 2011. The game has many similarities to Minecraft, with the core mechanics being exploration, crafting, and mining. There are an infinite number of things to do and accomplish, from building a town for Terraria’s host of NPCs to tackling all the world’s bosses - the world is the player’s oyster!
Another similarity to Minecraft is that Terraria has procedurally generated worlds. This randomization is at the heart of Terraria’s infinite replayability, as players are guaranteed to have a different experience every time they start a new world and embark on a new adventure.
13 The Sims Series
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One.
The Sims series originated in February 2000 and kicked off the new millennium in style by providing a truly revolutionary experience. The iconic life simulator won numerous Game of the Year awards from places like GameSpot and the Game Developers Choice Awards, while also becoming the best-selling PC game of all time, overtaking the legendary puzzle game Myst.
The Sims series is today one of the gaming industry’s most well-known infinitely replayable games, thanks to its true-to-life gameplay that sees players guide multiple generations of characters through their lives. The Sims 4 recently became free-to-play too, meaning it is now wholly accessible to players who want to pour hours into this delightful life sim.
12 Rollercoaster Tycoon Series
Platforms: PC and Xbox.
The marketing campaign for the original Rollercoaster Tycoon basically wrote itself in 1999, as the classic game gave kids the chance to try their dream job of building and testing rollercoasters. It truly popularized the theme park genre, paving the way for many other successful tycoon games like Planet Coaster.
Although the series does have campaign missions with pre-determined end conditions, the games give players the option to continue building their theme park indefinitely while also offering a separate sandbox mode. The success of Rollercoaster Tycoon has been ever-lasting, proving popular even 20 years later.
11 Football Manager Series
Platforms: PC.
Much like Rollercoaster Tycoon, the Football Manager series gives players the chance to experience a dream job. Sports Interactive, the game’s development team, initially worked on the critically-acclaimed Championship Manager series before teaming up with Sega to kick off the Football Manager franchise in November 2004.
As the name suggests, the Football Manager games let players take the hot seat of any major club and give them the freedom to create tactics, make transfers, and oversee training - with no end-conditions whatsoever.
10 Risk Of Rain 2
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
In the category of pulse-pounding fun, there is Risk of Rain 2. Having a decent list of characters that all play very differently is enough goodness to fill most players’ hearts, but this game takes it one step further by allowing people to explore a wealth of customization that allows them to enter the realm of the absurd.
By collecting power-ups over the course of a run, a player can develop their character in any direction they want, so long as said upgrades are enough to fight off the increasingly dangerous enemies. Players can decide to continue their run indefinitely, as Risk of Rain 2 features indefinite combat scaling for guaranteed hours of adrenaline-fueled entertainment.
9 FTL: Faster Than Light
Platforms: PC.
One of the most influential roguelikes of the last decade, FTL lures players in with many unique ships and ship variants that they can work to unlock. The encounters the player will face will be random and numerous, leaving the fate of the run in their hands, either to triumph with smart commands and quick thinking or in absolute defeat because they forgot to turn the oxygen back on.
If that is not enough, there are mods available that expand on the wealth of content or literally make it infinite.
8 Civilization 6
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Any player of the Civilization series will recall the code phrase that, upon hearing, will enter them into a trance that traps them in an endless cycle of concentration. That phrase being, “One More Turn.” The latest entry in the series, Civilization 6, is no different.
With a randomly generated world, whose parameters can be adjusted at the player’s discretion, the player will choose a civilization to embark with and grow their meager village into an unstoppable empire. Every match is different, especially when other players are thrown into the mix.
7 Skyrim
Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
If the fact that Skyrim is still being played religiously after 10 years is not enough to convince players of its staying power, then simply look at the endless list of mods available for both PC and console. As the Dragonborn, players can explore the vast world with a bountiful number of secrets to discover, all the while playing in just about any way they want to.
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There is something there for everyone. People don’t even need to play it differently to feel drawn back in. The world, quests, characters, and RPG elements are enough to keep player’s satisfied for hours on end. If that isn’t enough, PC players have tons of mods they can download to keep the game fresh and exciting, from adding new flora in the environments to brand-new quests to experience.
6 Mount And Blade 2: Bannerlord
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Mount And Blade 2: Bannerlord is the true embodiment of starting from nothing, then working up to kinghood. Players can invest in many skills that will determine what kind of person they are, but that’s the least of their worries. The greatest challenges come from raising and maintaining an army, making investments, and siding with the right faction.
The journey to becoming a king is long and arduous, but with enough perseverance, any player can climb the social ladder to the top. Then, they consider doing it again, as in true RPG fashion, no two playthroughs of Mount and Blade 2 will ever be the same.
5 The Binding Of Isaac
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
It is somewhat unbelievable that a game all about a young biblical Isaac, and various other characters, crying on his enemies until they pop would become the juggernaut of an indie title that it is. That being said, the execution is what brings players back to The Binding Of Isaac every day.
In a similar vein to other roguelikes, the player will collect upgrades that will drastically change the way they play the game up until they are fighting God, the Devil, or whatever biblical figure. With a randomized layout and different items every time, the player is always kept on their toes throughout the whole unnerving experience.
4 Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2005)
Platforms: PC, PS2, PSP, and Xbox.
If the response to EA’s Battlefront games was any indicator, it’s that surpassing the original was always a goal too high to reach. All the game’s aspects were great fun, but the true ticket that still puts the original Star Wars: Battlefront 2 above any that have come after is the Galactic Conquest mode.
Players will try to maneuver their fleets and armies across the galaxy, trying to conquer it as opposing forces try to do the same. Of course, this endless fun would not be nearly as good as it is if not for the enjoyable moment-to-moment gameplay.
3 Cities: Skylines
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
A game where the player builds their own ___. Any number of things can fill that blank. Almost all of them involve an immense amount of freedom and creativity that ensures no two creations are exactly the same. In the case of Cities: Skylines, the thing that players build is a city.
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Not just building a city but setting it up to thrive and work as efficiently as possible. For the player that just wants to build something unique unimpeded, there are mods that give the player an unprecedented amount of control over every little aspect of their city.
2 Sid Meier’s: Pirates (2005)
Platforms: Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP, and Wii.
If there was ever a game that desperately needed a sequel, it was Sid Meier’s: Pirates. Until that day comes, players can occupy themselves with the original remake of the 1987 classic. No single game goes on for too long, and yet within that short period of time, the player can live a life of love, violence, and absurd wealth.
Players can hunt targets, search for buried treasure, accumulate an optimal fleet, or even seek revenge on the man that destroyed their family. Every time players come back for more, eager to do it all over again.
1 Minecraft
Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
The iconic blockbuster sandbox. Minecraft markets itself on one pure truth, do whatever. In a world that is randomly generated from blocks, the player can reshape the world into whatever they feel like. Elaborate castles are just the beginning.
With redstone, the player can construct functional rudimentary computers - a game within a game, some would say. Players can work together to build a country to scale.Slapping popular mods on top of that, like FtB and Pixelmon, opens the doors to a whole new realm of possibilities at the player’s fingertips. Minecraft is a behemoth of a game that will never die.
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