What's on your "essential" list for this generation?

Say you were forced to create a list for both current platforms of "Essential games" that someone should play. What would be your FIVE games that you would put on the essential list for each platform? They can be multi-platform, or exclusives.

My lists would look something like this:

PS3:

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

Journey

Flower

Heavy Rain

Xbox 360

Assassin's Creed II

Alan Wake

Halo 3

Left 4 Dead

Mass Effect 2

Folklore (I refuse to let this game be forgotten)

Valkyria Chronicles

Portal (1&2)

Dark/Demons Souls

Muramasa

...I would list 5 for each platform, but I'd sit here all night beating myself up for no reason trying to make my perfect little list lol.

Every game on my steam list that I haven't played AND haven't written off already. But first, Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect Trilogy, Portal 2, and Red Dead Redemption. If the ME trilogy counts as one then also Uncharted 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 (if you played the games from the previous generations, which they would be on my list of must plays for those generations).

Portal 1 & 2 (More 1 than 2)

Bioshock 1

Mass Effect Trilogy

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

360:

• Mass Effect Trilogy
• Bayonetta
• Halo Reach
• Fable 2
• Gears of War

PS3:

• MGS4
• Heavy Rain
• PoP '08
• Arkham Asylum
• Assassin's Creed 2

Most PS3 exclusives don't do too much for me so I filled out that section with must-play multi-platform titles. I wanted to put Asura's Wrath, Enslaved, EDF 2017, and Deadly Premonition on there somewhere but, while those are some of my favorites from this gen, I really couldn't recommend them to most people.

Killzone 2. Play it 5 times. The shooter of this generation.

PS3

Demon's Souls

Metal Gear Solid 4

Valkyria Chronicles

Yakuza 4

Vanquish

360

Mass Effect 2

The Elder Scrolls V

Gears of War

Bayonetta

Call of Duty 4

360

• Fallout New Vegas
• Tales of Vesperia
• Shadow Complex
• Orange Box
• Halo Reach

PS3

• Dark Souls
• MGS4
• Journey
• Uncharted 2
• Ratchet and Clank A Crack in Time

Thinking about upcoming stuff in the next two years, especially for PS3, makes these lists feel really temporary.

360

• Geometry Wars 2
• Mass Effect 2
• Assassins Creed II
• The Darkness
• Batman Arkham Asylum

PS3

• Heavy Rain
• Uncharted 2
• Shatter
• Journey
• Burnout Paradise

PS3

• Heavy Rain
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Rock Band 3
• Uncharted 2
• Valkyria Chronicles

Xbox360

• Alan Wake
• Asura's Wrath
• Bayonetta
• Catherine
• Tales of Vesperia

Wii

• Metroid Prime 3
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade
• Rhythm Heaven Fever
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Xenoblade Chronicles

PC

• Borderlands 2
• Diablo III
• Mass Effect 3
• Starcraft 2
• The Walking Dead

360:

• Nier
• Resonance of Fate
• Bayonetta
• Dark Souls (I only say this because the PC version is shit)
• Catherine

PC

• Witcher 2
• Crusader Kings 2
• Stalker: Call of Pripyat
• Metro 2033
• Hotline Miami

Personal list of course! OH WELL

• Metro 2033
• Europa Universalis 3
• Witcher 2

• Mirror's Edge 
•  MGS 4
• DMC 4

I believe this list makes more sense without the by platform distinction, if a multi platform title is reeeeeally essential it will appear on both lists...

• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Mass Effect 2
• The Walking Dead
• Portal
• Minecraft

Xbox

Red Dead Redemption

Mass Effect 2

Saints Row the Third

Skyrim

Trials HD

360:

• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• BioShock
• Crackdown
• Burnout Paradise

PS3:

• Uncharted 2
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Heavy Rain
• Journey
• Red Dead Redemption

Wii:

• Super Mario Galaxy
• Okami
• No More Heroes
• Wii Sports Resort
• Metroid Prime Trilogy

PC:

• Left 4 Dead 2
• Team Fortress 2
• The Walking Dead
• Portal 2
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution

• Portal 2
• Dead Rising
• Saints Row 2
• Mass Effect games
• Witcher games
• Just Cause 2
• Red Faction: Guerrilla
• Halo:Reach
• Bayonetta
• Uncharted 2
• Dead Island
• Batman: Arkham Asylum

Portal 2, Fallout 3, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect, Dragon Age.

@skyline7284: I haven't played Journey or Flower yet... I'm thinking about picking up that box set that contains those two and Flow, too.

Most of them are multiplatform and i would not be able to name a single 360 exclusive so... Wouldn't be able to name 5 PS3 exclusives as essential either for that matter.

• Journey
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown
• Portal 2
• Mass Effect 2
• Red Dead Redemption
• Civilization V
• Uncharted 2
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

PS3: Uncharted 2, Dark Souls, Arkham Asylum, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2

I should note the Witcher 2 is probably the objective best game of the generation.

360:

• Halo 3
• Mass Effect
• Call of Duty 4
• Mass Effect 2
• Portal

PS3:

• Uncharted 2
• Arkham Asylum
• XCOM
• Red Dead Redemption
• GTA IV

PC

Crysis

F.E.A.R.

GTA4

Alan Wake

Mirrors Edge

L.A. Noire

Mass Effect 2

Sleeping Dogs

FarCry 3

Both current consoles? Aren't there three current consoles?

• Mass Effect 2
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings
• Fallout 3

Portal, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect, Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed II, Nier, Braid, Batman Arkham City, The Witcher 2, Super Mario Galaxy.

• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Super Mario Galaxy
• The Walking Dead
• Super Street Fighter IV
• Mass Effect 2
• Bastion
• Burnout Paradise
• AC: Brotherhood
• Asura's Wrath
• Portal 2
• Super Meat Boy

Kinda rushed it. Those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

• Halo 4
• Mass Effect 2
• Batman: Arkham City
• Fallout 3
• Gears of War
• Super Street Fighter IV
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Sleeping Dogs
• Tales of Vesperia

This thread's making me feel pretty good about this generation, I avoided blindspots much better than I did other generations.

Shit, son. That is tough decision. There was a lot of crap with this generation: Wii shovelware, shitty PC DRM, online passes, bogus DLC, but on the whole there really were a ton of great games. Because I personally can't pick 5 for each platform (give me up to 10 and we'd be talking), I won't.

If we take "essential" meaning influential to the character of the generation, I can probably give you 5 over all in no order:

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Braid

Gears of War

Bioshock

Minecraft

I think these games encapsulate most of this generation pretty well, even though none of these are particular favourites of mine. I'd say playing or understanding these games and their influence on the industry are essential to understanding this generation thus far.

I'll just lump them into 10 games for all the systems (otherwise whichever order I get to will leave the last one short-strawed due to muli-platform titles). Here they are in no particular order:

• Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Mirror's Edge
• Journey
• Final Fantasy XIII
• Dark Souls
• Xenoblade Chronicles
• Mass Effect 2
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
• Portal 2
• Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (and yes I know it is a PSP-exclusive - still my favourite handheld game of all time; and one of my must-plays for the past decade)

--Edit-- The Title which narrowly missed it was WipeOut HD - but only because I don't think it will stand up to time as well when compared to the more recent racing games mechanically.

Xbox 360

Mass Effect

Bioshock

Oblivion

Modern Warfare 2

Tales of Vesperia

Playstation 3

Metal Gear Solid 4

Grand Theft Auto IV

Red Dead Redemption (Played it on PS3 first, then 360. 360 is a way better version)

Mass Effect 2 (First played on 360)

Assassin's Creed

Honerable mentions

Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, Halo: Reach, inFamous, Uncharted 3, Assassin's Creed 3, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and a bunch of other games.

@TooWalrus said:

@skyline7284: I haven't played Journey or Flower yet... I'm thinking about picking up that box set that contains those two and Flow, too.

Flower is really, really bad. One of the worst games I've ever played. Journey on the other hand, is amazing.

PC

• Company of Heroes
• Dragon Age: Origins
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Mass Effect (the first one only)
• Civilization V

PS3

• Call of Duty 4 (yes I said it)
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Red Dead Redemption
• inFamous
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (better played on PC, damn that 5 games limit)

I have a lot of games on my Steam backlog, which explains the glaring omission of glorious franchises such as Portal, Batman: Arkham, Bioshock and The Witcher.

Portal

Half Life 2

Uncharted 2

MGS4

Read Dead Redemption

GTA 4

Mass Effect Trilogy

Call Of Duty 4

• Journey for the art
• Portal 2 for the brilliance
• Cod4 for being the only modern military shooter actually worth remembering
• Mass Effect 2 for the characters
• Halo 3 for the end of a trilogy and the last great multiplayer without any progression
• The Witcher 2 for the story
• Skyrim/Oblivion for the open-world
• Dragon Age Origins to see a dying genre's last hurrah
• Bioshock for the top-notch atmosphere and FPS story
• and Gears of War 2 to see why cover-based shooting can be a great thing.

There's probably more but that's just off the top of my head.

@BeachThunder: Handhelds aren't consoles.

• Valkyria Chronicles
• Mirror's Edge
• Red Dead Redemption
• Dark Souls
• Burnout Paradise

Bioshock, Fallout 3, GTA4, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, Uncharted 2, Starcraft 2, Walking Dead, Oblivion/Skyrim, Portal 1 and 2.

I'll just do five across all platforms:
 
Super Meat Boy
Trials Evolution - this is similar enough to Trials HD to make Trials HD a non essential on a list of essentially essential games
Ninja Gaiden 2
King of Fighters XIII - wildly underrated game.  I consider it the absolute pinnacle of 2D fighting games for this generation of consoles.  
Forza Motorsport 4 - best driving game this generation

@mosespippy: Handheld consoles aren't consoles?

If you can play these games on any platform you should have a good time :)

• Portal
• Red Dead Redemption
• Bioshock
• Burnout Paradise
• Left 4 Dead

Fallout 3, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Saints Row, Call of Duty, Far Cry 2, Final Fantasy 13, NBA 2k13, Gears of War, Halo, Madden, Forza Horizon, X-com, Assassins Creed, you know as I think about it there are just way too many good games from this gen.

@skyline7284 said:

Say you were forced to create a list for both current platforms of "Essential games" that someone should play. What would be your FIVE games that you would put on the essential list for each platform? They can be multi-platform, or exclusives.

My lists would look something like this:

PS3:

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

Journey

Flower

Heavy Rain

Xbox 360

Assassin's Creed II

Alan Wake

Halo 3

Left 4 Dead

Mass Effect 2

Perfect Dark Zero and Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom. There are a couple of hidden gems for this generation.