I know it is unfair to mention because it is an online game, but Team Fortress 2.

It is hard to fathom I am still playing the game, even the same maps over and over and over again, even though at times it is a true pain in the butt, especially due to the cheater bots that infest the servers (if there are lots of other human players, it is manageable as the bots can be votekicked out of the server, but sometimes you end up in a server where most of the players are cheater bots making it completely unplayable, hence log off and log on and hope for a better server).

I occasionally try some other online games whether they'd grab me the same way, like Counterstrike 2, Overwatch 2, Fortnite, DOTA 2, League of Legends etc., but for some reason they don't, I just can't get excited about them the same way for some reason.

I kinda wish TF2 servers and the whole game would be shut down as then I'd free up quite a lot of my available gaming time to other games, especially single-player games.

Usually when I mention TF2 to some other gamer, like a colleague of mine at work, they go like "Wow, is that game still running?!? I played it like 10 years ago.". You and me buddy, I also played it 10 years ago, and still do.

Civilization IV has provided me hundreds, probably thousands, hours of enjoyment. Plus the community has produced several mods of almost professional quality that are the equivalent of getting new strategy games for free.

Why did you quote yourself? Did you want a purple dot to come back to later?

Interesting topic, although for me, games becoming more expensive (and doubly so for me with the weak yen) just means I have to buy less from my wishlist and play more games from my backlog.

Sandbox games/open ended games that I play again and again even now:
========================================================

I have 650 hours and counting on Rimworld in the last year and a half. Very good value for money when you buy just the base game, and good value when you buy the DLC later.

About 500 hours on CK2 - it was cheap for me as I picked up some of the important DLC for free when there were giveaways and other DLC when there were -75% sales on. Paradox got greedy though so you won't find any DLC discounted beyond -50% now.


Strategy games with a lot of replay value:
================================

A good few hundred hours on Civ IV over the years. The economics and strategy are much deeper than they appear - winning games on higher difficulty levels is immensely satisfying.

Did anyone mention HOMM3? Some people might find the expansion campaigns too long but there are so many campaigns to enjoy and the random map generator is excellent.

Caesar 3 is one of my favourite games that I've sunk hundreds of hours into.
And with the Augustus engine remake quality of life upgrades fixing its few flaws, it's probably the best value for money.


Replay value but with a shelf-life:
=========================

I feel like Slay the Spire and Morrowind were both excellent value for money as well (and I bought Morrowind and the two expansions at release at RRP) but they are both pretty much done games for me. Morrowind I played through 8-10 times with different classes and different combination of guilds to join. I might play Slay the Spire from time to time but once you know the cards well enough its less of a challenge but it's a good 80-100 hours of interesting play before that.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is really good and atmospheric - one of my favourite FPS of all (not a huge FPS fan to be honest, I prefer immersion over action)


Memories/honourable mentions:
========================

Worms Armageddon was awesome when it was first released. The multiplayer on Wormnet was amazing fun and the community was really good too. The single player missions are good but it shines even now as a hotseat game.

Price/fun ratio was very important to me before (+/-) 2002, because:
- I was a poor student.
- Games were only being sold in physical stores. Only new full price games were available there.
/// Winner: Baldur's Gate

This changed post 2002:
- I got a job.
- The appearance of second hand PC game stores and 'budget' re-releases.
/// Winner: second hand boxed Warcraft 3
- A few years later: GOG

Now, I don't care at all. I have a backlog for more than 2 lifetimes.
I stopped playing/buying certain genres because they consume too much time; e.g. turn based strategy. I'd rather have/buy a 60 euro* 10 hour rpg/adventure than a free 1000 hour strategy game.

*I don't pay full price, because I can just wait a few years.

In general, I don't think in such categories (price/fun-ratio).

I pay, what I think, is appropriate.
And then it is - or it isn't (if I find out, that a game really sucks).

I definitely NEVER thought: "man, I should've paid more for this! - It would still be worth it."

I'm easy... however you want to interpret my question... or... even if you want to go off on your own tangent.

As long as you list at least one game you enjoyed I'm fine with it. ;) Well, I'm easy on this... whatever or however you want to interpret my question.

But if anyone is looking at these lists as a resource, I'd probably try to list games that were gotten for free with that caveat.

In that case, I'll take it as games available on GOG that strike me as standing out compared to most others in terms of value for money, considering the sale price you can generally expect to get them at, and which I found enjoyable, which is rare in itself, since I usually get frustrated while actually playing games that I otherwise consider very good and will remember fondly once I'm done with them. Sorted first by price.

Divine Divinity - $0.59 - ARPG done right and costing hardly anything. Enjoyed it even if I'm not that fond of the genre otherwise, and consider its "legends" (like Diablo 2) to be utterly awful.
King's Bounty: The Legend - $1.04 - Real PvE TBS, very low price, just making your way through an otherwise static world but with great attention to detail and art direction and requiring caring for your units and favoring defensive gameplay. Fit me like a glove.
Sid Meier's Colonization - $1.79 - Definite classic that may be very simple by today's standards, but also does away with much of the reasons for frustration of those later games.
The Incredible Machine Mega Pack - $2.49 - I just played 2 way back, but come on, the amount of content there and the amount of fun you can have with it is quite insane.
Sid Meier’s Pirates! - $2.49 - Another one that's simpler than other Sid Meier's games, but with a gameplay loop that's just really addictive and feels rewarding. You may get bored of it eventually, or simply not want to see it out to the probable end, but playing it that far is just fun.
Two Worlds - $2.49 - The exploration makes it worth it. And it's so easy, with the right magic, so no frustration, nearly full freedom, large and diverse world, just dive into it.
Homeworld Collection - $3.49 - Just played 2 (tried 1, but immediately bounced off it when I realized the mothership can't move), but actually enjoyed it, which is very, very rare for a RTS in my case. Most others probably have more content, but it just felt... right, and that makes the difference.
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic I & II - $3.49 each - Not a Star Wars fan, but these seemed to be done correctly, at least until that rushed end of II, with an implementation of the system and a design that allowed me to experience and enjoy the atmosphere and characters.
Tropico 3 Gold Edition - $3.74 - I prefer it to 4, and didn't even care about the newer ones. Have Absolute Power installed, it makes a great difference, but mainly play the original campaign to see what Tropico could be about. That approach of one long term goal you were left to work towards for game decades really suited me, and it was sadly discarded from the AP campaign onwards.
The Bard's Tale (2004) - $3.99 - No idea about the remaster, but the original was just a really fun game. Not nice that it was just a straight console port, not adapted to PC in the least, but otherwise it's an example of how to make a fun and funny game.
Planescape: Torment - $3.99 - Again, no idea about the remaster, but it does include the original, and it's all about the writing. May well include the best piece of writing I've ever seen in a game, but just experiencing that otherwise rarely used world, those characters and all the quality and depth of the writing is worth it. And the implementation of the system makes it forgiving enough for the actual gameplay to not be an issue.

And to also include some legal freeware:

The Spirit Engine II - I'll keep recommending it, and hoping to see it on here too someday, for added visibility. Not necessarily for any one element, but it just works so nicely, and there's so much care and attention put into the combat.
Supaplex - There was an utter insanity with it back in the day, and while I didn't actually get far, and the levels were increasingly difficult and frustrating (which would go against what I otherwise said here), I have to mention it. And the amount of user content available for those who want more is insane.
Castle of the Winds - Sure, it's simply, but I'd say it still holds up. And why can't game designers today remember that concept of bulk and that style of inventory management?
Stunts - Today it'll probably be nearly... impossible to look at, but I can't think of something else like it available for free. Maybe I'm wrong, but I had to mention it.

Neverwinter Nights.

I have a play time of 1,404 hours 37 minutes, and I'm still finding new modules to play.

If you like 4x games, it's easy to sink hundreds of hours into Civilization 4, Master of Magic, and Master of Orion.

The Might and Magic 1-6 collection gives you six games for one low price. All of these games are long, fun, and big time sinks.

Balrum has an extensive crafting system, but you'll never get enough skill points in a single play through to max out everything. However a lot of my playtime with this game was spent just designing and building the house, which you can make a small shack in the woods or a literal castle.

Battlefield 3 - Paid.. I think $5 for it in a Humble Bundle a year or two after it came out. Played for about 400 hours and had a lot of fun playing with friends. Easily the most fun I've had in a multiplayer shooter. Played all the classes to completion and saw all the game had to offer, with a lot of matches actually showing good teamwork in the other players. Kind of rare to see nowadays. Eventually I got the premium upgrade for $10, but the value was still incredible.

Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 - I think I paid $2 each in a bundle here long ago, and I must have finished them like five times, becoming some of my favorite games of all time.

Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines - A obvious one, from my forum title. I paid $6 for this the year it released here, and I'd say it's my favorite game of all time. Incredible story and atmosphere (though the gameplay is a bit janky, as everyone knows). Really can't recommend this enough, and I have done a few giveaways already of it here on the forum, so it's starting to cost me more than the original price :)

Postal 2 + Paradise Lost - $1 each, got me 80 hours of playtime. Unlocked every achievement. Great fun, and the expansion pack is really high quality.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - I got this as a christmas gift in.. probably 2003 or 04, and I ended up finishing it five or six times. A solid action adventure from start to finish. I think there is never a boring moment in it. The sequels are still good, but I think the first one is still the strongest. This probably has the best value ratio here overall, as it was free, but I ended up buying other copies of it over the years (had it on PC first, but later bought for Xbox and the GOG version).

Fallout: New Vegas - I paid the full $60 on launch for Xbox 360, and played the buggy, unpatched mess that it was, but I still got incredible enjoyment from it. All in all about 400 hours over the years, and I think it was well worth it even for the full price.

Sandbox-style games definitely take the lead here:
- Minecraft
- Terraria

Then nothing for while.

Now, a few classics and/or favorites come to mind:
- Civilization 3/4
- Unreal Tournament series
- Trackmania
- Space Empires 4
. Yes! But that only for Minecraft. Because 10 years ago, I paid 20 Euros as a one-time entry fee into this wonderful world. Looking back, that's only around 17 cents per MONTH. Almost criminal, if you ask me. :-)

"Patrician 3" -> I had seen someone's message on this forum during a promotion saying simply: "Buy Patrician 3".Curious, I went to see what it was, and I thought that for 0.59 I wasn't losing much. I have no idea how many hours I spent on it, but surely a lot. You were right!
It's the kind of game where you don't notice time passing and you have this feeling of not having done anything... you try one thing... then another... and you keep playing.

In this kind of time sink, there's "Crusader Kings 2", which I got for free. I struggled to get into it, but once I understood the basics, I found it very fun.

"Minecraft", which I bought in.. Beta I believe, for 10/15€. I played a lot of solo survival mode.

No Mans Sky. I got in on Sale and no i can't say how many hours

Many many RPGs id say... payed 10 for Baldurs Gate I, II ToB and played them for almost 200 hrs, Witcher 3 I bought for about 30 and got 130 hours out of it.. all very solid. Most recent one was Cyberpunk, bought it on release but only played it after Phantom Liberty came out. About 100 hrs I think, easily worth the full price for me.

It's the only way for me to directly link stuff until my rep gets back into the positives. I've used uBlock Origin to remove the purple dot and the GOG staff team have fixed it too, so haven't seen it for a while.

WOW! ... WOW!

Remind me to talk to you when I start NN and look into mods! ;)