# Top 3 most-played Steam games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [February 2, 2022, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820 "2022-02-02T23:01:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/41 "2022-02-04T19:00:48Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > The weird thing is there were a lot of games I thought I really liked, but when I went through the list just now, only had 50-75 hours. And these weren’t games I had on other platforms earlier. Hmm. Honestly, a lot of games are done at 20-30 hours, especially if they don’t have crafting or ‘fetch’ filler. An example is Wolfenstein, the new order, which I actually hated (because of 1) the story and 2) the protagonist makes rocks look smart) , but hate-finished it and still had a decent completion in about 20 hours. If a game doesn’t have multiple endings or open end game, 70 hours could easily be 2-3 playthroughs, after which you move on to the next. I liked Dragon Age Origins, and did 2 pretty thorough playthroughs, but only have like 80 hours in it. And it’s a mostly open world RPG rather than looter/shooter. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/42 "2022-02-05T17:36:21Z")
Does Steam count hours if you’re offline? My son and I share an account, so more often than not I have Steam in offline mode so we both can play. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2022, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/43 "2022-02-05T20:40:03Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Does Steam count hours if you’re offline? No, online only. I once played through a 20-30hr game in offline mode when the cable was out and when I posted a review on Steam later, it said I had ~90min in the game. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2022, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/44 "2022-02-06T05:56:48Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > No, online only. I once played through a 20-30hr game in offline mode when the cable was out and when I posted a review on Steam later, it said I had ~90min in the game. Oh. Then I have no idea what my top games are - although I suspect they’re **Skyrim** (regular and special edition), **Total War: Warhammer 2** (usually played together with I) and **Witcher 3.** You know, stuff with elves. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/45 "2022-02-06T17:39:32Z")
I’m surprised to see that so many people play the Total War series, but it hasn’t really gotten any threads here (unlike Paradox games which definitely have). Maybe we should do a succession game like we’ve done for Paradox. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2022, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/46 "2022-02-06T23:26:16Z")
Slay the Spire: 925.3 Hours Monster Train 159.7 Hours Skyrim: 84.8 Hours Fallout New Vegas: 83.8 Hours Included an extra one because those two were virtually tied. I have a really old PC and a few years ago I drifted away from video games and started playing board games (along with Magic and some other tabletop games I played for decades now) so that takes most of my game time but as you can see I fire up StS very often to relax. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/47 "2022-02-07T04:55:14Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I’m surprised to see that so many people play the Total War series, but it hasn’t really gotten any threads here (unlike Paradox games which definitely have) 😀 [Anyone play Medieval Total War?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-play-medieval-total-war/229141) [Anyone interested in doing a cooperative Total War Campaign?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-interested-in-doing-a-cooperative-total-war-campaign/405263) [Medieval II: Total War Released!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medieval-ii-total-war-released/380610) [Medieval II Total War: Kingdoms](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medieval-ii-total-war-kingdoms/417667) [Medieval 2 feels like a downgrade from Rome; Total War](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medieval-2-feels-like-a-downgrade-from-rome-total-war/432711) [Total War: Rome…its shipped. Thoughts?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-war-rome-its-shipped-thoughts/265830) [Rome Total War fans: FYI](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-total-war-fans-fyi/362953) [Shogun 2: Total War announced](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shogun-2-total-war-announced/541793) [Shogun 2: Total War, who’s playing?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shogun-2-total-war-whos-playing/574821) [Empire: Total War](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-total-war/486492) [Empire: Total War](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-total-war/466460) - Take 2 [Total War Empire: Napoleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-war-empire-napoleon/530232) That’s a lot less than I found - there are a number of short threads less than 10 posts long. It isn’t that it wasn’t popular hereabouts, more that most of those threads are a decade or two old. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/48 "2022-02-07T09:04:37Z")
Thimbleweed Park…16.8 hours Catan universe…14.2 hours Portal 2…10.5 hours I was going to add in my Fortnite hours from the Switch for comparison, but apparently while I can sort the games by hours played I need the Parental Controls App on my _phone_ to be able to see the stats. Bonkers! ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/49 "2022-02-07T10:06:33Z")
Skyrim - 2,328 hrs on record (Plus 28 hours on the Special Edition.) Champions Online - 1,655 hrs on record And a somewhat surprising third: Monster Train - 1,047 hrs on record (Number 4 is Fallout: New Vegas, at 800 hours.) ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/50 "2022-02-07T15:05:12Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > It isn’t that it wasn’t popular hereabouts, more that most of those threads are a decade or two old. That’s fair. Odd that we seem to have relatively fewer threads on the more modern titles. I did find a thread that I apparently missed regarding WH3 - with release coming up I might just bump it… and maybe I’ll start a thread about a possible succession game to give WH2 the send-off it deserves. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/51 "2022-02-07T15:21:59Z")
Too slow to edit, but I went ahead and started a thread for a succession game: > [@Anyone up for a send-off for Total War: Warhammer 2 with a Succession game?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-up-for-a-send-off-for-total-war-warhammer-2-with-a-succession-game/959055): > > Warhammer 3 is coming out, and I think it would be fitting to play a SDMB Succession game to send off its predecessor. For those who don’t know, a succession game is where we each play the game for a number of turns, then pass the save file onto the next person; we keep the board up to date on our progress in the meantime. If people are interested, we’d need to decide what campaign we’re playing. My preference is for Mortal Empires - the less narrative driven sandbox campaign on a much larger … ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/52 "2022-02-08T14:42:24Z")
Total War: Warhammer II - 1175.8 hours ARK: Survival Evolved - 914 hours 7 Days to Die - 839.8 hours ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/53 "2022-02-08T14:58:22Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > ARK: Survival Evolved - 914 hours ARK is up there for me too (i think #5) which is surprising because I only played it for a year or two after release. I guess I was playing it ALL THE TIME then, though. The gameplay loop really sucks you in… ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/54 "2022-02-08T15:08:47Z")
Yes, it can be really gripping and time consuming (especially when you get into obsessively breeding dinosaurs). I can believe how LARGE the game is now; I claimed the new Lost Island map in steam the other day; the download for ARK now required _400 gigabytes_ of free space to install… ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/55 "2022-02-08T19:00:50Z")
Arma 3 - 1,215 hrs X4: Foundations - 602 hrs The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - 229 hrs Civ V barely missed at 228 hours. Man I thought I was a big gamer but a lot of yall have huge hours in certain games. I have 689 games in Steam and tend to switch around a lot, I usually play 2 or 3 different games each night. I tend to stay on 2 or 3 games for a few weeks and then switch to other games for a while, but I repeatedly come back to games like Ghost Recon Wildlands and Forza Horizon 5. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/56 "2022-02-08T19:47:37Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > X4: Foundations - 602 hrs I tried that game out, it seems really cool but also really complex to get into and I just dont have the time to get into it… ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/57 "2022-02-08T19:55:50Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I have 689 games in Steam and tend to switch around a lot, I usually play 2 or 3 different games each night. I currently have 32 😀. Granted I stuck with physical discs for longer than most, but really I just play a few games a lot. Just not interested in most genres. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/58 "2022-02-08T19:56:30Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > X4: Foundations - 602 hrs I have a fair number of hours in this series, too: X3: Terran Conflict: 364 hrs X Rebirth: 275 hrs X4: Foundations: 159 hrs I also played X2 a lot, though it wasn’t tracked by Steam. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/59 "2022-02-08T20:06:49Z")
Battletech: 347.7 hours Civilization V: 16.5 hours I played Civ V once, at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, in the 1960s, and left it there. I didn’t like it, and went back to my CD-ROM copy of Civ III. Tripler I played a little longer than 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820/60 "2022-02-08T20:07:14Z")
I’m sort of jealous. I remember when I was a kid I had few games but I got tons of enjoyment out of them. Now with all the free game giveaways and my 25+ year collection of PC games there just isn’t time to play them all, let alone get good at most of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-most-played-steam-games/958820.md?page=4)