[[2026 Games#^53c076|2026 Games]] Being deeply depressed is the perfect time to play a game for 1000 hours until your eyes bleed — and what better genre serves this than a grind-based game? Everything about this year has been pretty dogshit, so I've been doing just that. So here’s my tier list after spending way too much time playing games to waste my time until I either die or things get better. # S Tier ## [[Warframe]] **Play Time**: 220 Hours What’s cool about **Warframe** is that it takes 40 hours to figure out what’s even happening, so you’re already off to a great start. Then you can do the actual grind afterwards. Sure the earth is crumbling, but you can be a cute little fairy that flies through maps like it’s **Ace Combat** while mowing down zombies with duel pistols, so it’s not that bad right. ## Nioh 2 **Play Time**: I don’t wanna talk about it [[Nioh 3]] is fantastic, but it still doesn’t have all the content that comes with expansions. **Nioh 2** does, which means you can play the only good Soulslike — and that’s because it’s secretly a character-action **Diablo** game. Swap with any of [[Koei Tecmo]]’s other bangers based on your preference (**Wo Long**, **Final Fantasy Origin: Stranger of Paradise**, etc.) ## [[Grim Dawn]] **Play Time**: 80 Hours This is the best Diablo-like. In fact it’s so good that people are still playing it. In fact, it’s so good, a new expansion for it is coming out July 2026. I like it way more than any of the **Diablos** I’ve played. Lots of build potential, great loop, and enough content to play forever, more or less. ## [[Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity]] **Play Time**: 10 Years That "Infinity" in the title is no joke. One of the best handheld games ever made, in my opinion. Probably the best **Phantasy Star Online** game too. Hit a dungeon, rip through it, get stronger, repeat. Dress up as a cute robot girl if you’re based, or a cat girl if you’re incredibly boring. # A Tier ## [[Granblue Fantasy - Relink (2024)|Granblue Fantasy: Relink]] **Play Time**: 68 Hours The **Phantasy Star Online** for a new age. Tons of fun, but really helps to have a party of four to make it easier to get through the bosses, which can get really difficult if you wanna push the game to its limits. ## [[Diablo IV]] **Play Time**: 99 Hours Maybe not the most entertaining game in the list, but the most polished. Plus it has Lilith, and she’s so fucking hot y’all, like you don’t get it. Also the most recent expansion was the best I’ve experienced in an online game since **Shadowbringers**, which is *really* high praise. ## Phantasy Star Online Episode I&II **Play Time**: 20 Years The only reason this game has been dethroned by [[Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity]] is because that game is easier to play solo. To do it with **PSOI&II** you likely need to get a good romhack to enjoy it, or play online. But I’m an anti-social freak, so that doesn’t work for me. ## Siralim Ultimate **Play Time**: I don’t wanna talk about it either Extremely happy that the guy who made this game played **Dragon Quest Monsters II** and thought, “you know, this game isn’t sicko-coded enough.” **Siralim Ultimate** is the game I would bring with me if I got shipwrecked or however that hypothetical goes. Hundreds of monsters, thousands of fusion combinations, dozens of classes you can try, and more all amount to millions of different build combinations. The only reason this isn’t higher is because it’s very much a spread-sheet coded game. If you know you know, and if you don’t, you’ll figure out what I mean very quickly. # B Tier ## [[Monster Hunter Wilds]] **Play Time**: 57 Hours Maybe I’d like this game more if it ran better, but it doesn’t, so it’s here. Feel free to put any other **Monster Hunter** game on this list and raise it higher. ## Wayfinder **Play Time**: 44 Hours A game that, ironically, got shafted by Digital Extremes after it axed their publishing division without warning, **Wayfinder** is a pretty good time, especially if you don’t really know what it was meant to be. If you do, though, then you can’t help but feel like you’re running around in what feels like an empty MMO world: because you are. # C Tier ## [[Fantasy Life i - The Girl Who Steals Time]] **Play Time**: 55 Hours The ultimate grinding game, particularly because it lets you envision a world where your life is actually good and going well. Would have been S Tier, were it not for Level 5 starting to be AI-obsessed losers. ## [[The Division 2]] **Play Time** 52 Hours Basically a Third-Person Shooter Diablolike. I love playing this game, but I can’t in good conscious recommend it because of its very weird politics. You’ll know what I mean if you play it, but it’s like it wants to be Tom Clancy but not associate with the vibes that a Tom Clancy creation brings to the table. ## Disgaea (Series) **Play Time**: Honestly don’t know **Disgaea** is great for a particular kind of person, but I don’t think I’m that person. I spend tons of time playing them and then don’t reallyf eel satisfied when all is said and done. Granted, I should probably feel that way about any videogame I play, because they’re all wasted time…I guess what I’m trying to say is that the curve of power scaling doesn’t work for me, but it might for you. # D & F Tier My taste is wayyyy too good to ever play anything lower than a C Tier, sorry. --- Do you agree with this list? Disagree? Got some games you’d want me to try out and add? Let me know: I’m definitely still depressed enough to try them as of writing this.