Civilization 6

The Warhammer tide games, either Vermintide 2 or Darktide. Best melee combat in a video game, relatively short rounds, and super satisfying to just genocide some heretic/xeno hordes for the Emperor/Sigmar.

You just alerted me to the existence of Orcs Must Die 3, and I am going to check it out after absolutely loving the first 2.

Helldivers 2 is great for short to medium sessions.

When in doubt, true doubt, Doom is always there for me, in every device I own.

When I'm too tired or depressed to dive deep into something it's always something really simple like Ring of Pain, Vampire Survivors, or other slow paced stuff.

These days I mostly just grind the same handful of games. Actually having a hard time pulling myself away long enough to get through the JRPGs on my backlog...

• Skullgirls
• Them's Fightin' Herds
• Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes]
• Riichi Mahjong (Mahjong Soul, Riichi City, IRL)
• Slay the Spire
• Puyo Puyo Champions
• Panel de Pon

Risk of Rain 2. And if that doesn't work, Risk of Rain 2.

Creeper World 4, the daily map usually has a good duration. Takes your thoughts off everything else pretty well, yet is not too demanding. And you can vary your play style yourself a bit / set your own limitations, depending on how much of a challenge you want right now or how much time you want to spend.

Marvel Snap

For me its titanfall 2. Simply because its quite casual and the rounds don't take too long. Just hop on and if you get absolutely obliderated the next round will be better.

Stellaris with the Star Trek: New Horizons mod. Currently doing a Borg run, at war with the Dominion right now, but of course, resistance is futile.

Guild Wars 2 and Dear Esther

Destiny 2. I have no idea what's going on but I sure do love shooting those aliens.

what's your "I will keep playing this game for the rest of my life" fallback?

Lately it's OpenRCT, Counterstrike 2, or Cities Skylines. On the phone it's minecraft.

Hardspace: Shipbreaker. If I’m wanting to play a game but don’t have anything specific it usually means I just want a mental break from life. Shipbreaker is perfect for that. It’s fun and engaging but you play at your own pace and no one is shooting at you. Plus you’re floating around in space with 6 degrees of movement (not considering 360 degrees of rotation) tearing apart spaceships!

we could always use more valiant Helldivers to protect our way of life. for freedom and democracy.

There's good free multiplayer games (e.g. delat force, marvel rivals, deadlock)

Unless you mean single-player