Grim Dawn is one title that comes to mind.

I think i have the game for about 5 years. And every year i give it a go for a good 80 to 100 hours or so. What keeps it entertaining so far is my undeniable low tiered skill set and understanding of the game mechanics coupled with this ferocious need to only play with perma death enabled on the hardest difficulty available to one who never managed to reach the end.

Let me tell you, every victory is well-earned as is every death a bitter pill swallowed

What comes to mind is X-com 2. I picked it up on giveaway at Epic, then eventually got around to giving it a go. I liked it a lot and started another playthrough as soon as I finished. Plus there's always a chance I'll give it another run sometime. That's not bad for a game I didn't pay a cent for.

Definitely! There's some really great ones that you shouldn't pass up.

Battle for Middle Earth 2. The campaigns are somewhat short, but I spent a couple hundred hours in the War of The Ring mode. You get a turn based world map and either auto-resolve or RTS fights. The only reason I don't play anymore is because I already played it way too much :P

Of course, getting your hands on the game is basically impossible these days, unless you look into "other means".

Master of Orion 2 is also a massive time eater. Many a times did I go "why is the sun coming out already" when playing this.

The BfME games are pretty much on top of my list of games I hope to see released here. The chances seem to be of the "Jack and shit. And Jack skipped town" variety, but I used to think the same of Diablo and most of the Star Trek games, so...

Yeah, those games are probably at the very bottom of the possibility barrel.

The problem is the numerous licenses required to be able to re-release them, which are currently spread out in several incompatible places:
1) BFME 1 used the movie license. Publishing rights are with EA, but overall LOTR game rights are with Warner Brothers at the moment. All 3 need to be with one entity for a re-release to be possible.

2) For BFME 2, you also have to swap the movie license with the book license.

So even if EA and WB came to an agreement, the book and movie licenses are not going to be exactly cheap. Nobody is going to renew them just to re-release 20 year old games.

It's definitely the Witcher (first one) for me. I bought it for about a dollar, but you can easily get it for free from the Community Giveaway. For that price, I got a little under a 100 hours of entertainment across two playthroughs and it can easily be more with additional playthroughs to see alternate endings and gameplay choices.

Terraria was mentioned already, and was a good one for me.
But more recently, Factorio wins hands down. Ive lost count how many bases i've built before touching mods.
Add space exploration, and thats afew hundred hours more easily. Not sure how long for Krastorio 2 since i'm on the early stages of it.

My standard reply to that question is still Neverwinter Nights and Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures, due to their incredible modding potential and prolific communities.

Other than that, maybe A Short Hike. For one, because I got it as a bonus to a bundle, so more or less for free, but even the regular price seems pretty good for what you're getting (and I've donated the game to friends several times by now). This may come as a surprise since the game is really only 1-2 hours long, but I loved every second of it, I also loved watching kids in the family play and enjoy it, and it's one the the few games I'd actually feel like replaying every now and then because it's so beautiful and relaxing and everything is working so well and feeling so smooth. Just moving around the island in itself is tons of fun already.

Yeah, wish I could play it! *sigh*

Yes, it seems Neverwinter Nights has yet to be dethroned in the price to fun category. ;)

Skyrim and Mount & Blade might come close...?

TBH I'm still thinking on my own question. Each time I write a reply, I think about the games I'm mentioning and scrap it. Too ordinary, mundane, predictable? This weekend I'll survey the games I've played and figure my list out. Never expected I'd have such trouble.

I'll have to play that one day! Always hear good things.

Hey! at least i did not mention any total war game, yeah!

Whats wrong with the old TW games? After the first playthrough, Grim Dawn is just grinding, in my opinion.