What's the game you play when nothing else sounds good?
What's the game you play when nothing else sounds good?
Do you have a game you play over and over, when nothing else fits your mood? That game that is infinitely re-playable, somewhat the same every time and somewhat new and interesting?
For me it's the games in the Orcs Must Die series. But mostly OMD 3. I play the mode called Scramble, where you have to beat 5 rounds of orcs, and they get harder and harder as you progress. There are random things to make it harder (nerfs) and you can choose 1 thing per round to make it easier (buffs). I've probably played that something like 300 times now since I beat the main game + DLCs a long while ago. I go into a special mental state while playing, since I know it all so well, and just zone out for about an hour each time.
Patient gamers, what's your "I will keep playing this game for the rest of my life" fallback?
Another playthrough of BG3.
Stellaris with the Star Trek: New Horizons mod. Currently doing a Borg run, at war with the Dominion right now, but of course, resistance is futile.
I play the "What's that black dot on the wall and is it moving?" game.
Very fun until one actually starts moving.
Dead Cells. I've been stuck on 3BC for years, but someday I'll beat it! Someday...
Lighthouse is my current white whale. Going to finally check out the Cavern next time I go back.
I was trying Terraria, which has a lot of creativity possibilities. I was trying to earthwork/terraform a small world (i.e. trying to make it level from ocean to ocean), while simultaneously "voidforming" another small world (i.e. digging out every single "removable" block before Hardmode, which obviously excluded Lihzard temple blocks, Dungeon blocks and Crimson/Corruption altars; for lava, I was using the infinite bucket trick to replicate honey in order to consume lava from the Underworld; I don't plan on reaching Hardmode for such world). I was taking blocks from the second world (the world to be voidformed) and "smuggling" them into the first world (the world to be terraformed) in order to compensate for the need for additional blocks (e.g. sand, ice, mud, etc) when biomes were generated below ocean level.
Turns out that I was doing this not exactly for fun and enjoyment, but something to "try to keep myself busy and away from bad thoughts", and that was not really a good goal for myself. By now, it has been weeks since I last played.
Creeper World 4, the daily map usually has a good duration. Takes your thoughts off everything else pretty well, yet is not too demanding. And you can vary your play style yourself a bit / set your own limitations, depending on how much of a challenge you want right now or how much time you want to spend.
Helldivers 2 is great for short to medium sessions.
yeah, being able to hop in and out it's great thing for me
I also like the lack of pressure to finish a round if you have to be drug away by life. I know they'll likely be able to finish without me or someone will pop in after me to help.
Probably Fortnite. It's not just one battle royale game anymore. If I feel like racing, I can play Rocket Racing. If I feel like building, I can play Lego Fortnite. Festival if I want a Guitar Hero experience, Ballistic if I want a Counter-Strike experience, and so on. It's all tied to Epic's servers though, so it's not for life.
this is a smartass answer but if no video game is catching your attention, don't play a video game. do anything else. pick up a new hobby or revisit an old one.
I started reading casually, currently Harry Potter to see what the fuss was about.
And I guess TV shows and anime too for years, but I usually only watch these while eating.
Yup. I like reading and working on coding projects.
That said, sometimes I get a hankering to play a game, but none of the dozens I have installed look interesting, so I'll go play one of my favorites (EU4, C:S, Mount & Blade, etc).
I got a laugh from my Steam recap because I couldn't find anything to play this summer so I got really into ice cream making. Then Satisfactory came out.
This is what I also do. I have plenty of old favourites, but if I'm really not in the mood, I don't try to push it.
The Warhammer tide games, either Vermintide 2 or Darktide. Best melee combat in a video game, relatively short rounds, and super satisfying to just genocide some heretic/xeno hordes for the Emperor/Sigmar.
You just alerted me to the existence of Orcs Must Die 3, and I am going to check it out after absolutely loving the first 2.
I'll have to check those out. I played Vermintide when it first came out and wasn't very impressed. I'll give it another go.
My son plays some Warhammer games. I should check it out.
Good news about OMD, there's a new game due next month, Deathtrap. I'm super stoked.
Risk of Rain 2. And if that doesn't work, Risk of Rain 2.
Crawl: Stone Soup. Classic rogue like. You can play it in the browser so it's very fast to get going. Minotaur Berserker is a nice semi brainless flow.
I'm partial to Gargoyle Fighter, slam maces into everything
Rogue-lites are basically made to be infinitely re-playable and if I find one I like then I keep going back to it. Enter the Gungeon is a game I've played for years. Then there was a while this spot was taken by Slay the Spire and Balatro in turn. Now I'm back to Enter the Gungeon.
Enter the Gungeon
I had to look it up but that looks cool! Thanks for the idea.
A warning before you jump in: it's crazy difficult. It took me about 70 hours of gameplay to be able to finish a play through...but after that it became pretty repeatable once I had learnt how to do it. This is pretty standard, but the failed runs are all fun and the gameplay is excellent and hilarious. I can give some generic starter tips if you want, things I wished I knew before having to learn the hard way (equally learning the hard way is the way rogue-lites are intended to work, so up to you).
The enemies are bullets that are holding guns and shooting bullets at you. You can unlock a gun that looks like a bullet, that shoots bullets that look like guns, that shoot their own bullets. Everything in the game is a pun.
One of my favorite artists ever, Doseone, did the soundtrack for the game!
Also see Voidigo, Blazing Beaks and of course Nuclear Throne!
Fucking love Enter the Gungeon. My favorite rougelike/roguelite
Balatro is my current go-to game. Not sure if it is patient gamer material since it came out relatively recently but it is cheap and on all platforms. Poker themed maths game.
Modded Minecraft for sure. But there are a handful of games I keep going back to and common theme for those games that I can listen to a podcast or audiobook while I'm playing them, like Rimworld, No Man's Sky, Stardew Valley, Skyrim.
Slay the spire. Quick 30-45 minute run is just enough to kill time.
For me it is loading up Xonotic to strafe jump around and blast bots. The movement in Xonotic is hypnotic, and while I usually play in short bursts I don't think I will ever get bored of returning over and over again to learn the nuances and creative opportunities of combat and movement in Xonotic. All it takes is the first strafe jump to put a stupid smile on my face.
Also I love open world driving games and Motortown is my jam. I do urgent taxi jobs and just let my mind relax as I drive like a complete madman. The tire grip and burnout mechanics along with the vehicle handling in general is the best I have tried in any game.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1369670/Motor_Town_Behind_The_Wheel/
Xonotic is mint can't recommend it enough! has replaced Quake 3 for me
I'll play a multiplayer shooter or civilization 6
Factorio, Minecraft, Stardew Valley. Also solitaire on my phone (PySolFC).
Ooc do you play pysolfc on mobile?
Hmm? Not quite sure what you're asking, but it's freely available here:
PySolFC (PySolFC is a collection of solitaire card games) https://f-droid.org/packages/org.lufebe16.pysolfc/
Civilization V.
Humankind for me lately, but same vibe
Balatro
Clearly, a person of culture
Crypt of the Necrodancer.
Really fun roguelike game where you and enemies have to move to the beat of that floor's song. I think part of the reason I still play it a lot is that it's amenable to very short sessions. I've played enough that runs go fast and I either clear or die within 10 minutes.
Over 1200 hours now almost a decade after release, and a huge chunk of that is probably sessions of under 30 mins in length.
And the soundtrack is great too
X-Com (1993)+Mods, Jagged Alliance 2, Master of Orion 2, Starsector, Avorion and lately Balatro and Peglin for mindless fun.
FTL.
For me its titanfall 2. Simply because its quite casual and the rounds don't take too long. Just hop on and if you get absolutely obliderated the next round will be better.
I did that a lot with Subnautica but I think I've worn it out. I would make up challenge runs for myself to spice it up and I've run out of those. It was my "I want to play a video game right now" game. I kinda wish I had fewer objections to Subnautica 2, because there's things I like about that game and things I don't and the don'ts slightly outweigh the things that do.
I've had Subnautica on my wishlist forever. I should get to that soon
It's great, go play it, and I suggest going in as blind as you can.
I once saw a playthrough by Let's Play Easy Mode, I don't know how he acquired a copy of the game while knowing as little as he did about it. He correctly guessed there'd be swimming in it and realized about six minutes in that it was a survival game.
I like to give this one hint, which I think is enough guidance to keep you from looking up the wiki and encountering actual spoilers: The answer to "well, now what?" is "go deeper."
OpenTTD.
I so want to like that game, but that UI is so hard for me to get used to, I never have (after a few tries). Always glad to see it mentioned online though.
Yeah I can imagine it taking time getting used to as a new player. I played the original as a kid on DOS so the UI is deeply ingrained lol.
Burnout 3
Rimworld
I just keep coming back.
I picked up Stranded: Alien Dawn on Humble Bundle a few months back and it scratches the same itch. I know I'm going back to Rimworld soon, but S:AD has prettier graphics and similar gameplay. You can also build multi-story buildings. It's been a good change of pace for me.
HL2, Portal 2, Far Cry (1), Commander Keen, Supreme Commander, Raptor: Call of the Shadows. Halo MCC but particularly 2.
Oh sweet I can get Raptor for 84¢ right now, haven't played that since the '90s
StarCraft. The original. My brain and body is hardwired to play that game. "SCV ready" triggers something. I have a fantasy of retiring in an old folks home and me and a few of my fellow geriatrics fire that shit up and play LAN games until the DNR kicks in.
"SCV good to go, sir."
"Oh, it's you"
The atmosphere in that game is very unique and extremely well done. No shade to SC2, it just didn't require capture the feel, the music, the dread the way SC1 does
I hope you mean broodwar and not just the original release
Your are correct. As far as I'm concerned, the original release was an early beta.
Dark Souls. If there's nothing else I want to play, I'm always up for another run through Lordran with a build I've never tried before.
The run up to the gargoyles in ds1 is very good and sometimes that's what I do. After that the pacing has some hiccups, but that first part is A+
I'll often go through O&S, and then lose steam during one of the Lord Souls afterward.
The Long Dark. Something about wandering an icy wasteland scavenging, hunting, fishing, works for me.
Thanks, wishlisted and might pick it up super cheap before January 2nd.
Europa Universalis IV. There are tons of countries to play, lots of variation each time, and so many options for self challenges (e.g. accomplish goal by year).
The only thing that would get me to stop playing is if EUV is good, and then only a few years and DLC in. Even then, I could see myself coming back to it.
EU4 is one of mine as well. Been slowly working through the achievements, but they keep adding more!
Yeah, I was up to 20% or so, and now I'm around 17% since I didn't play much for the last year or two. I think they'll announce a sequel soon, maybe I'll actually make progress.
For years that game was Warframe for me. Just turn of my brain and run missions I know inside and out while watching twitch from the corner of eye on a second monitor. At some point I wanted to have more time to play other games so I stopped and didn't find a new cozy game
This is mine- I always wind up coming back to it.
Me too. Stopped a couple years ago after I hit 2,000 hours of play time. This year I've played a lot of Helldivers 2 and Monster Hunter, which I have a combined total of nearly 1,800 hours again.
Skate 3
I'll just load it up, find a new spot and make some clips.
Oh me too. I can just roll around for a long while, not even doing anything in particular.
Skate 3, the relaxation tool.
Hey, make sure you get a balanced diet of board sports though.
You got your downhill longboarding racing with Driftwood
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2223700/Driftwood/
and your realistic, park/trick focused realistic snowboarding with Shredders
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874170/Shredders/
All part of a healthy breakfast
FIFA, a lot of the time. Lately it's been Rocket League.
I’ll load up Spider-man a couple times a month just to go on patrol, and stop random crimes.
Been doing this since Spider-man 2 came out on the original Xbox. Glad the new one came out, and I don’t have to chase that kid’s damn balloon anymore.
Deep Rock Galactic is good even in singleplayer.
Rock and stone, to the bone!
Galaxy's Finest! 🪨⛏️💎
I have no idea why, but Wurm Online always manages to draw me back. Guess it's a Zen and the Art of Imping addiction.
For me that's rocket league.
My main ones are: Minecraft, age of empires 2, postal 2.
With Minecraft, just walking around, seeing what you can create, listening to that chill music. Good times.
Guild Wars 2 and Dear Esther
How does Dear Esther work for you as a go to title? I played it years ago and was under the impression that the game was beaten in a few hours with no replay value whatsoever.
What did I miss?
It's just a really relaxing and immersive experience. I'm not quite sure why, but it feels calming and beautiful just taking my time walking through it time and time again.
I'm probably on my tenth playthrough by now.
I'm late but: Fights In Tight Spaces. I thoroughly enjoy their daily challenges, and save my replays when I have a spectacular run with no damage.
Caves of Qud
Caves of Qud
Ohboy. It's git that simple text UI. I need more ... visual interaction I think.
The 1.0 update has a new UI.
I picked it up for the release and I'm thoroughly addicted.
I mean it does have sprites, but yeah. I like to read.
Also Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead!
Space Engineers. I can just build and build and build, and the community seems to always have a few new interesting mods whenever I'm looking to start a new world.
Thoughts on the sequel they announced?
I love hunting for achievements and there’s always one unfinished game that’s a fallback to push a bit further in these cases where I stare at my Steam library for five minutes without starting anything, right now it‘s „if in doubt, play Metal Gear Solid V“
Runs 60 FPS all high on the Deck as well, which is crazy to me
Mount and Blade Warband. Or maybe EU4.
Bannerlord finally has some cool mods for it nowadays
Phigros
It's a mobile rhythm game without ads and in-app purchases. It's also completely offline so I don't need an internet connection to play.
These days I mostly just grind the same handful of games. Actually having a hard time pulling myself away long enough to get through the JRPGs on my backlog...
- Skullgirls
- Them's Fightin' Herds
- Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes]
- Riichi Mahjong (Mahjong Soul, Riichi City, IRL)
- Slay the Spire
- Puyo Puyo Champions
- Panel de Pon
Civilization 6
Same! It's so great on the Steam Deck. I've got a game going right now ...
Mass Effect. Always new choices waiting for you
Oh! I just started the Legendary edition this week for the first time.
Project Zomboid, or one of the Arkham games.
Recently, some doom mod
Zen pinball
I play pinball deluxe on my phone instead, tried to get some simulators running but gave up and this game is good enough. My brother and his friend are super into it, one has two real tables and the other has a fake, full size table with a TV inside that plays emulators. Good stuff.
Have you tried Space Cadet pinball?
When in doubt, true doubt, Doom is always there for me, in every device I own.
I've been chipping away at that deep rock galactic reverse bullet hell game for a while now. Don't have the patience to play anything for more than half an hour these days.
Marvel Snap
There's good free multiplayer games (e.g. delat force, marvel rivals, deadlock)
Unless you mean single-player
we could always use more valiant Helldivers to protect our way of life. for freedom and democracy.
Is it right to say that is always multiplayer?
Always online. You can start a mission and not call for reinforcements. Sometimes people like to play solo or with just one friend.
I could see myself enjoying Helldivers if it wasn't for the trolls I get matched with.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker. If I’m wanting to play a game but don’t have anything specific it usually means I just want a mental break from life. Shipbreaker is perfect for that. It’s fun and engaging but you play at your own pace and no one is shooting at you. Plus you’re floating around in space with 6 degrees of movement (not considering 360 degrees of rotation) tearing apart spaceships!
I want a sequel to this so bad. Loved almost everything about it.
what's your "I will keep playing this game for the rest of my life" fallback?
Lately it's OpenRCT, Counterstrike 2, or Cities Skylines. On the phone it's minecraft.
Ys Seven for the PSP. I have Ys VII and Ys: MoC for the Vita and Ys IX for the Switch, but there's something about Seven that keeps me coming back.
I just picked up Ys 8 recently and fell in love, now I'm on to 9... biggest issue with the game is not enough time to play.
8 is so good. And the music is great. I haven't finished 9 yet, same issue as you with the lack of time. But I'm hopeful I'll get back to it soon.
Shmups. Not any one in particular, although ESP Ra.De. or DDP DaiOuJou often tend to be top of my list.
Otherwise, Streets of Rage 2 or TMNT: Turtles in Time.Wz2100 and zero-k. Let's blow stuff up.
TV
Destiny 2. I have no idea what's going on but I sure do love shooting those aliens.
I don’t think bungie knows what’s going on either to be fair
Dino Run
dl-ling!
