With gaming often bringing me into a really depressive headspace sometimes with how the markets are developing, whats a game you can always go to and just be lost in, or just be happy with?
Personally i would go for advance wars 1 and 2 on the gba (there is no remake and never will be)
the artstyle, the music, the game-play is just simple, yet effective, a sublime experience of very fun times.
Whats yours?
Minecraft. It’s just a nice game to get lost in.
Outer wilds. The music is so pretty, and going back to it after you’ve explored it all feels like being on your childhood playground again. Sometimes now I just go out into space and watch how the planets move.
Second this. Outer Wilds is amazing. If you do play, try not to look up anything as the satisfaction of exploring and figuring things out is so cool. The sound track is very good as is the DLC.
Ooo heavy second Outer Wilds. Very fantastic game and comforting.
How would you sell that game to someone? I keep hearing about it but know nothing about it? What makes you love it?
The outer wilds is an exploration game of the highest pedigree. You’re in an intricate solar system with lots to discover and puzzle out to solve the central mystery of the game. The atmosphere is quite fun and calming. The music is pretty catchy too. I appreciate the big revelations, the moments where you immediately feel big brained by putting 2 and 2 together. It’s genuinely a really good time if you want game about the wonder of discovery.
Thank you, sounds like it’d be up my alley.
There’s a reason you keep hearing how good the game is but still don’t know much about it. The community is great in letting everyone experience it themselves.
It’s best if you know nothing about Outer Wilds before playing it, trust me. I know this is a cliché way of recommending stuff, but in this case it can’t be overstated. Just give it an honest try for at least 1-2 hours.
It’s a game that gives you “2”, “plus”, and “two” separately, instead of telling you the answer is 4. Some people don’t like it and prefer handholding. Half of the game is done in your head when you’re not playing it.
So basically a game that’s heavy on exploration and puzzles? It’s not open world is it?
Not in the way BOTW is, it’s closer to Myst in that there’s a world (solar system) to explore with lots clues and lore but not a lot of irrelevant fluff.
Gotcha, I prefer a bit of structure (BOTW being one of few exception) so that works out for me.
It’s not a AAA open world game where you glue yourself to your minimap.
You’ll spend your time solving in-world puzzles, platforming, and trying to trigger specific series of circumstances in order to get into new areas using your knowledge from previous time loops. New areas expose more lore through “journals” or conversations about what is happening in-world, which points you at new places to explore or hints on content that is difficult to find without out-of-sequence knowledge. That’s the basic game loop.
E.g. you might see an event which blocks off an area partway through the timeline, then next loop you make a beeline to the area and explore it before it gets blocked off.
I haven’t seen anyone mentioning this gem:
Vampire Survivors
A lot of the derived games are pretty fun for a while, too!
Portal. I’ve played through it enough times that I can complete it in a little under 20 minutes. I’m not very good at games but there are a lot of fun and easy tricks to run through it quickly. Playing it a bunch of times is relaxing and fun for me.
Stardew Valley comes to mind right away, but I think it applies to all titles after you get the hang of it, with the exception of heavily RNG-based games like Risk of Rain 2, Hades, Dead Cells where you have to be alert almost all the time. Currently I’m enjoying playing Red Dead Redemption 2. Definitely a comfort game just riding your horse around.
I’m surprised Katamari Damacy hasn’t been mentioned yet. Both that game and its sequel, “We Love Katamari,” have been remastered in recent years (in fact, the sequel just came out last week) and they’re a joy to play.
The game has all that OP mentions… Quirky art style, awesome music, simple tactile gameplay, and just overall a relaxing and fun time.
Diablo games. It’s nice being able to slay demons and not put much thought into it.
GTA, online friends mode, cruise on my motorcycle checking out scenery, ride the coasters.
Which diablo game would you recommend for someone trying to get into it? Sounds up my alley from how you describe it
You can try Diablo 3 for free and see if that style of gameplay is fun to you.
Diablo 4 is certainly a better game (so far) in my opinion though. Micro txn bullshit aside it’s a good balance between mindless demon slaying and some story.
I don’t get the mtx hate, it’s purely cosmetic, just ignore it?
I wasn’t saying I have a problem with it. Others do though.
The new diablo 4 just released and it’s perfectly fine to skip the others and go straight to 4!
It is still Guild Wars 2 for me.
It is very chill to play and only explore and it also has more challenging content if i feel like it. Best MMO out there. At least for me personally.
If anyone can show me the way to a guild wars 2 community here i would be grateful btw.
I have the base game. I played for a couple hours but haven’t got the “hook”. It feels very… unfulfilling… “objective marker on map, done, next”. Maybe not for me or I’m playing it wrong?
Honestly I still come back to old school RuneScape every now and then for that comfy nostalgia. Even as I type I get that pang to go questing.
Yeah we do not quest like other mmos, except in the campaign maybe. Which i always found refreshing and way better. I dont like to run from one questgiver to the next and back and do fetch quests, just to access the rest of the game. Cannot play those games anymore.
It is a theme park where you decide where to go. You could go to pvp from the start since stats are the same for everyone, or boost to 80 and start the expansions or wvw right away.
Funny thing about the markers on the map is , that most of them got added after launch because people did not know where to go and many complained it felt to empty.
They wanted to make it feel more real, so you have to get used to dynamic events and meta trains.
No other game that i know of has those grand fights with hundred of people against giant bosses like guild wars. Or mounts that feel different to play and not just means to travel. Check youtube for griffon and rollerbeetle races. Amazing stuff.
The combat seems to be simple sometimes but that is mostly in the open world and beginner zones.
Depending on the class, endgame in group content can be quite difficult. But the nice thing is that almost everything is optional.
Gotta set your own goals.
The achievement panel is sometimes confusing but once you learn to navigate and stick them to your HUD they become your questlog and there are a lot of them.
It also has no subscription so you can take all the time you need, which also helps socializing.
The fee to get the whole game can maybe be steep and the starter story is a bit old fashioned, but at least you own everything and it is cheaper and has more things to do than most other games these days.
It is understandable if you are not into it tho. We all play games for different reasons and like or dislike certain mechanics.
Just wanted to give you a rundown why i like it so sorry for the wall of text. :)
I appreciate it! It helps me understand what turned me off. I’ll look into giving it another shot when I want a break from Deep Rock Galactic.
To me, the best approach for base game, has always been to tackle it similar to Zelda BOTW/TOTK - you should just wander around until you find something interesting and then hang around and see what events might pop up. It’s not a very quest-driven experience similar to other MMOs and requires a bit of a different mindset.
i just might get back into it for it
Power wash simulator. Feels good to clean.
This game, and a podcast or some music, is the perfect way to unwind.
Satisfactory ! This game is an addiction for me, I can play for hours, for me it’s very relaxing to build factory with no timer and great graphics !
edit : missing word
Slay the Spire for me. Got all the characters to A20 with multiple heart wins, 700+ hours in across phone and steam deck, still having a blast with every run. The awesome thing is that every run is so distinct, every card in the game can be good in the right scenario.
I’ve been playing Slay the Spire recently for the first time and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it!
And then you add mods…
I love playing Spire on my iPad! It’s such a fun and strategic game!! I love how every run is different and getting OP feels so fun!
Great game. My kid used to love doing fun runs. Making all the choices, consequences be damned.
Factorio. The factory must grow.
I find myself playing Satisfactory and Dyson Sphere Program more often these days, but that’s mostly because they’re more recent (so I don’t have insane hours in them yet).
Embrace the spaghetti, strip the earth, the lines must flow.
No Man’s Sky is a good mix of nice scenery, low stress, and engaging without requiring a lot of mental capacity that can be comforting.
also worth mentioning: No Man’s Sky (or NMS) has lots of settings to tailor the experience to the difficulty you want. It can be a walk in the park, just building with limitless resources, and it can be permadeath.
I have multiple save games in NMS which I pick up based on my mood. A Survival save game when I don’t want to mindlessly wander but don’t want consequences, a Permadeath savegame when I want to be thrilled and a Normal savegame if I just want to soak in the beautiful planets.
Excellent point. I keep meaning to try a permadeath run but its hard with a 2 year old running around to find the time for something like that.
just… don’t. Not everything in life has to be hard ;)
Anyone of my simulation/management games. Whether it’s running a hospital, creating an auto manufacturing assembly line or helping some brave adventurers find oxygen I’m always more at peace with a single player goal driven experience.
Cities: Skylines.
Have you ever tried Dwarf Fortress?
I have not. I looked at it when all the hype was going around towards its new release on Steam. I should probably pick it up at some point. I’ve been holding off on getting many new games since my kiddo was born. Not much time to play them anymore! Haha.
Over the past years I’ve played a lot of relaxing indie- and open source games. The ones that really stuck with me were Eqilinox (Steam), Endless Sky (homepage, open source) and Veloren (homepage, open source).
Bonus game which just came to my mind: Slime Rancher (Steam) was a really fun, too!
I’ve never tried Veloren, is it pretty enjoyable to play as it is now?
It has developed a LOT during the past 1 or 2 years, to the point that you can easily spend hundreds even thousands of hours in this game without it getting boring. Veloren is slowly becoming one of my favourite games of all time. So… yeah, it is. Be aware that it is still an alpha though and the learning courve is quite steep. But you can always get help on the Veloren Discord Server.
If it’s that far along I’ll definitely have to check it out then! Thanks for the info, and I’ll make sure to check the discord as well 👍
Slime Rancher is great. My 4 year old loves it, Slime Rancher 2 is out on early access and is just as great.
Ooh, I didn’t even know about Slime Rancher 2, thanks for the tip!
