So... If you could only choose 3 all-time favourite video games, which would they be and why?

Star Trek The Next Generation: A Final Unity: One of my first games ever (so nostalgia bonus x 10 ). A fantastic take on the TNG universe and IMO an example of a perfect licensed game that takes the spirit of the original IP and translates it into game mechanics without changing it to accommodate some weird game design. When playing this game, you through you were playing through a double (or maybe more like quatriple or so) episode of the series - and one of the best ones at that The storyline on its own was great, too.
I am still playing through this game again every now and then today, it aged pretty well IMO.

Mass Effect 1: I mean, the entire trilogy was a mile stone in gaming but despite its flaws (repetitive environments for side quests, the clunky MAKO, etc.) ME1 takes the cake just for introducing this phenomenal universe. I've never seen such a dense and well thought out scifi universe be implemented from scratch. Usually it takes a couple of implementations before a universe is really fleshed out but ME was incredible right out of the gate (if anything, it got more screwed up as the series went along). So the world building was fantastic but I also liked the gameplay itself. The combination of TPS and exploration gameplay, RPG mechanics and all the dialogues and decisions was perfect for me and I had never seen anything like this before. Add to that the atmosphere that came with the visuals. I remember standing on an uncharted ice planet for the first time in a white armor (maybe a liberator, it was early in the game and I wasn't leveled up much yet) and thinking "yea, this really looks like I am an astronaut on an extrasolar planet". Brilliant!

The Witcher 3: I was a fan of the Witcher series since day 1 but Witcher 3 really knocked it out of the park. There has been so much said about this game by me and others, it's no longer necessary to elaborate much on this one, I think. Suffice it to say that the amount of content, yet the level of detail that CDPR put into this title is downright astonishing. This game has a lot of objectively well designed features to it but even then, it manages to be greater than its parts. IMO it is correctly widely acknowledged as one of the best games ever made.

TES: Skyrim.

Skyrim

Yes, it is a great game but I've never finished it (I played, and play, for many many hours tho, but I just get distracted with all the stuff and quests you can do that I never follow the main quest ).

Skyrim: best balance of narrative and player agency so far, hasn’t been dethroned. Plus, mods.

NieR Automata: You’ve heard of ludonarrative dissonance? This game is uniquely the opposite. Plus it mind f’s you like you wouldn’t believe.

OG Doom 1993: First immersive video game I ever played. The (literally) free hit that got me addicted.

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Runner-up: OG Zork (1980 Atari), text only adventure. Progenitor of all puzzle and point/click adventures. I never did figure out what to do with the bell, book and candle — no game wikis back then!

Distant Runner-up: Computer Space, one of the first video arcade games. The local bowling alley had one. I had to beg my grandpa for quarters to play it. Good times!

Mass Effect 1: I mean, the entire trilogy was a mile stone in gaming but despite its flaws (repetitive environments for side quests, the clunky MAKO, etc.) ME1 takes the cake just for introducing this phenomenal universe. I've never seen such a dense and well thought out scifi universe be implemented from scratch. Usually it takes a couple of implementations before a universe is really fleshed out but ME was incredible right out of the gate (if anything, it got more screwed up as the series went along). So the world building was fantastic but I also liked the gameplay itself. The combination of TPS and exploration gameplay, RPG mechanics and all the dialogues and decisions was perfect for me and I had never seen anything like this before. Add to that the atmosphere that came with the visuals. I remember standing on an uncharted ice planet for the first time in a white armor (maybe a liberator, it was early in the game and I wasn't leveled up much yet) and thinking "yea, this really looks like I am an astronaut on an extrasolar planet". Brilliant!