Cookie Clicker

DOPAMIIIN!

Unironically, probably the best incremental game ever made. It's a perfect introduction to the genre and honestly has the best execution of the formula thus far. Which is funny because it's one of if not the first incremental game ever. If I had to say why it's the best though, I think a lot of it has to do with how slowly paced it is. A lot of incremental games try to create a short and sweet simple experience that, while is not a bad thing on it's own, it becomes a problem when progression is unbalanced or too slow by the midgame. But Cookie Clicker's gameplay is intentionally made slow in order to create a longer, more drawn out experience that really allows you to have fun with as much of the game as you want. And thus, it's slow progression isn't a problem, not to mention there are ways to speedrun the game. Cookie Clicker also has a lot of replayability, active and idle playstyles, a lot of unique mechanics that you progressively unlock that shake up how you play, and a very seamless and streamlined prestige system that is probably the best that I've seen. I kind of wish more incremental games took a lot of pages out of Cookie Clicker's book because this is one of, if not the only one I've played so far that actually shakes up the formula. Which, again, is funny because it's one of the first. 10/10 A really amazing game all around with so much going for it.