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Looking for suggestions for games that don't require hand eye coordination or fast twitch reflexes
I have some disabilities that mean that I am limited to deliberative games where you proceed at your own pace. I am looking for games you enjoy or have enjoyed. Could be strategy or building or story based or other, but nothing relying on physical reflexes or reaction times. Thank in advance.
Sorting by playtime in my library:
Into the Breach and Invisible Inc are both turn-based strategy games with a small number of units in "against the odds" situations. Slow and deliberate is encouraged.
The XCOM series, especially XCOM 2, have larger battlefields and more to keep track of, but are also turn-based.
The Civilization series, which I think peaked around Civ4 but is on 6-- turn based empire builder that I'm sure you have heard of.
The Witness, which does have 3D movement but no reaction time or reflex needed. The focus is the puzzles placed within the world.
The Myst series are puzzle games set in fantastical worlds and are point-and-click. I think there might be one or two timing puzzles across the series that require precise clicking.
Baba is You is a puzzle game built around manipulating the rules of the level. Really mind-bending. There are no timers or reflexes needed.
I second Baba is you. That's a great puzzle game that melts my brain in the later levels.
It melts my brain in the earlier levels!
I love Baba is you!
Seconding Into the Breach. If you enjoy:
Then you will probably enjoy ItB.
I'll third it. I put 100 hours into it while achievement chasing - it's also completely free on Android if you're a Netflix subscriber.
Sidenote: It's also ridiculously brutal on the brain in later levels. The solution is usually quite simple, but the game is so freeform since you can change the rules, it feels like the human brain just wasn't made for this type of challenge.
One of the best puzzle games I've ever played. Highly recommended!
Seconded on the Civ series! Came here to recommend this. You can fully take your time and are encouraged to do so. I have not played earlier than 6 so nothing to add on which game to start with but if this one says 4, they're probably not steering you wrong.
Baba is you, Baba is win!
+1 on Civ and Baba is you. I personally feel that Civ V is the best Civilization game though. Baba is you is hilarious and so much fun that takes me awhile to beat some of the longer levels.
The Witness is great, but for what it's worth it does have some required (and also optional) sections where the puzzles must be solved under some time pressure.
Spoilers
The last door before the little grotto w/ the elevator at the end of the game requires you to solve two puzzles pretty quickly The optional segment inside the mountain Various optional hidden puzzles that must be solved while riding on a moving objectIf we're talking video games, the Civilization series is great for turn based, deliberative strategic play.
Dorfromantik is a cute little tile placing puzzler like game with a fun and relaxing atmosphere.
Tera Nil is a recent builder type game that flips the typical city builder on its head, where you're trying to clean up a tile and revive the ecosystem.
Slay the Spire is a rogue like deck builder where you take turns fighting against random encounters that get progressively more challenging.
I can't personally speak to how these games may be set up in terms of accessibility options, but I think they fit the bill of slower paced play.
Seconding Slay the Spire. I have so many hours in that game, it's great.
Tera Nil sounds a lot like Before We Leave. Does anyone here have experience with both?
I've played only the demo of Tera Nil but I've watched Day9's YouTube vids of his playthrough. It's much less like Before We Leave. It's almost like individual puzzle levels where you have a budget of resources to achieve certain metrics of regreening that specific map, instead of Before We Leave being more like an environmentally minded 4X.
Oh, perfect! I’m definitely adding Tera Nil to my wishlist for the summer sale. Thank you!
What about Dragon Age Origins? It's an older game (2009), but still one of the all-time greatest. It's a 3rd-person RPG, that plays like most modern RPG games, but combat is where it can be different. You can pause combat and issue commands to each character in your party, or even just let them be controlled by AI.
A wide variety of isometric RPGS: Pillars of Eternity 1+ 2, Tyranny, the mid 00s D&D stuff, Pathfinder, Divinity series. They generally are either turn-based or allow pausing in combat, and can be configured to pause on certain events in combat (hit, death, crit, spell charge, etc) giving a non-realtime experience.
Puzzle games like
The Witness: Click and drag maze puzzles you run to with no hazards.
Baba Is You: Sokoban-style game with text-based logic puzzles
Zachtronics games: Sort of their own genre, all about semi-realistic simulations and puzzles based on simplifications of real-world concepts. Example: Shenzen I/O has you building electronics with a custom limited assembler language.
Factorio on peaceful/no biters mode (no need to shoot in real time, it becomes factory management),
Shapez (formerly Shapez.io, like Factorio but just making shapes)
OpenRCT2 (open-source engine using Rollercoaster Tycoon 2)
OpenTTD, a reimplementation of Chris Sawyer's Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Really chill with no AI.
Chris Sawyer's Locomotion/OpenLoco, the sequel to TTD. OpenLoco is built partially from OpenRCT2 and extended for Locomotion.
All manner of traditional roguelikes and modern derivatives. Notable ones:
Jupiter Hell: Roguelike shooter, entirely turnbased. if you get to a point where you're running and gunning it definitely looks like a real-time shooter, but it isn't.
Caves of Qud: Roguelike to the bone with a standard static overworld + random dungeon vibe (like Mystery Dungeon, Tome4, Angband and more)
Tales of Maj'Eyal, available on tome4.org and many Linux distros for free or via Steam, which they count as a donation to unlock some donor content (you can also build into the game if you recompiled it).
Desktop Dungeons: but I would recommend Rewind as it updates the game significantly to run on modern hardware/resolutions
I could go on, but I would recommend any of these.
Currently playing Final Fantasy Tactics, which is one of my all time favourite games. In my opinion, it has the best story and characters of any FF. It has a deep and complex job system that you can spend hours just thinking about. And the sprites have aged so so well, it's just a delight to look at.
This made me think of the Fire Emblem games! I really love Three Houses.
Yeah, that's another really good one. Though there's a few minor elements in 3H that might be too difficult, like fishing, though that's really not necessary aside from a couple of side quests.
I'll say that 3H has an excellent story for Fire Emblem, and a good story in general. But FFT is probably the best video game story I've ever played through, and nothing has ever topped it. In fairness, I am also extremely biased.
FF Tactics Advanced is a lot of fun too! I wouldn't say it has the best story ever, but it is pretty good and some of the characters are quite likable.
Agreed, another game I adore. I wouldn't say it has a better story than FFT, but damn if it wasn't compelling! There's not a lot of games that tackle escapism the way FFTA does, though some people (Doned) have a better reason than others (Ritz).
Shame the story for FFTA2 was so terrible, because I think it perfected the gameplay loop and job system.
Yeah, totally agree! The overarching theme of the story is stellar, but it's not as deep and complex as FFT. I remember as a kid, identifying quite a lot with Mewt - and I agree a LOT about Ritz, I think they could have done more with her in terms of why she wanted to stay so bad. The Ivalice characters and world-building/isekai are the best part to me, we all need a Montblanc in our lives!
But, at the end of the day it's just a lot of fun, and feels satisfying to progress and get better gear, and the flexibility of the battles is engaging.
I never got to play TA2 because I didn't have a DS until I was an adult. Do you think it's worth emulating for the game itself, or is the story bad enough to make it a slog?
Yeah, they're just two very different stories, and they're both really good. I think the difference is that FFTA is a really strong concept, but doesn't always execute well. Moment to moment, the FFTA story isn't that prominent. But there's some things that still stick with me. Like, Cid being this good for nothing fuck up of a dad, implied to have turned to alcohol to deal with the grief of losing his wife... yet still really cares about Mewt and enjoys seeing him with his friends. And then Mewt turns him into a badass Judgemaster, who then joins Marche to bring Mewt back to reality. Goddamn, that's so fucking strong, and it hits pretty good. FFTA might've taken the crown for me if the moment to moment story hit that hard every time, but it doesn't. There's a lot of faffing about, and the ultimate bad guy isn't really compelling. Should've done more with Llednar.
FFTA2 is an excellent game. The worst thing I can say about its story is that I don't remember a single thing about it. I think the female character was a chosen one? Luso gets isekai'd. That's kind of it. It wasn't offensive, it was just such a nothing that it made absolutely no impression on me. So it depends on what you played for. Gameplay wise? I recall it's the best of the three.
Have you played Dicey Dungeons? It's one of my favorite strategy games. You're rolled a "hand" of dice, and you pair each die with cards to attack, defend, cast spells, etc. So one of your cards may require its die to be an even number to attack with. If you only have an odd numbered dice, you may have another card that raises or lowers the number on your die. Tons of fun little elements, combinations and strategies, and the best kind of luck in games, the one you can manipulate and use to your advantage.
It's basically a roguelike deckbuilder, it has RPG elements, and is just an extremely well designed game that's easy to pick up and play anywhere. It's on all on shops and consoles, including mobile!
It's available on Android and I'm deeply grateful because it's a favourite to just pull up and play for a bit! For some reason, Slay the Spire is good on Android but has a multi-minute-long loading process and I truly do not know why. Dicey Dungeons is a great little game!
Always been a fan of Phoenix Wright; it actually made me want to be a lawyer as a kid lol (until I realised that it wasn't an accurate representation of being a lawyer).
The Zero Escape games are also good, although there's a lot of reading - it's a combination of visual novel and escape rooms so it's not for everyone.
Civ is great, as several others have mentioned. I really like Minecraft in peaceful/creative, just because I'm a coward who doesn't like fighting monsters haha. On those modes there's really no rush at all.
Finally Return of the Obra Dinn is a masterpiece, although again not for everyone. It's a mystery game which has no handholding whatsoever - I've never felt so accomplished in a game (save in Outer Wilds, but that's absolutely got time sensitive stuff so can't really recommend it that much).
Rimworld is great, its a base building colony survival kinda game. You can pause at any time to manage your colony, then unpause and watch your colonists go about their jobs.
I was going to suggest Dwarf Fortress for a similar reason. Though I think the overlap between people who like both games is pretty big.
yeah /u/boxer_dogs_dance dwarf fortress might be perfect for you. it has a steep learning curve, but its a masterpiece of a game.
This is a rather simple game, but I'm a fan of Compact Conflict.
It's a stripped-down Risk variant that you can play in a few minutes. I've played it enough that I can usually beat it, but the "usually" part makes it interesting. Some random board positions put you in a bad position that it can be tough to fight out of.
One downside is that it doesn't work well on mobile, so I only play on desktop. I don't know how it does on accessibility.
I'd be interested in other short strategy games, if anyone knows of one. (I used to play Civilization a lot, but now it seems badly paced in comparison.)
This really stole most of my productivity for today, great little game. Wish you could have more, stronger AI-s than evil.
Slay is a twist on a similar concept with a functional mobile app
are you a masochist haha, that game is impossibly hard… i can’t win a single match against “nice” AI. though i don’t usually like strategy games at all…
The AI players will definitely notice weaknesses and it does take practice. If you feel like giving it another try, here are some starting tips:
At the beginning my goals are (a) don't lose any soldiers and (b) try to get six soldiers. Also, I try to set things up to take a second temple as soon as I have six. If the starting position isn't too bad, that's usually on turn three. (On the third turn I usually have five and can buy another solder.)
If everyone attacks you at once, you're probably doomed unless you can figure out something clever. A strong defense or being far away is how you avoid attracting them, so you want a lot of soldiers in one place if they're near. Avoiding the center is often good at the beginning, because you're less likely to attract attention. Taking an opposing territory that's empty with one soldier can be a good way of keeping them from attacking you right away.
Ideally, you watch the AI players fight it out among themselves until you're ready to make a move. If you can hang onto two temples and avoid attracting attention, you can often save up soldiers and take territories that aren't near them.
thanks, that's a lot of helpful advice! i actually eventually managed to win a game earlier, but only against one AI. in any case i'll put your suggestions to use if i play it again~
Literally any Traditional Roguelike, they're all turn-based so the game only moves when you act, you can wait all you want and plan your actions accordingly or play as fast as you'd like. Some recommendations: Brogue, Tales of Maj'Eyal, Jupiter Hell, Caves of Qud, Cogmind, Dwarf Fortress Adventure Mode, Approaching Infinity, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, Infra Arcana. You can't go wrong with any of these, pick the one that looks the most fun and go ahead.
Plug for Crypt Of The NecroDancer and Cadence Of Hyrule (a Link AND Zelda game!) because they both have no beat mode so they become turn based, and you can also adjust it into rougelike for difficulty challenge as well.
I'm not one for games that require twitch reactions either, so I'll list my top few that I like to play:
There are a lot of great point and click adventures or humorous detective-type games on Steam as well, which are my usual plays:
I thought of Stardew Valley, but I think the mines would give you some trouble unless you can button-mash for the sword.
I don't play the genre, but maybe some visual novels might work? Hm.
The mines would be tricky for sure but there are definitely mods to make that part of the game easier. I think Pacifist Valley has a setting to turn off all monster damage, for instance, which would make the inability to button-mash not nearly such an issue.
Fishing is even worse for that but Stardew's fishing is pretty polarizing so there are tons of mods out there to make the minigame easier or skip it entirely.
I think stardew still works! You may not be able to finish up all parts of the game, or go more slowly, but you can still do tonnes. And you can skip the mines! A lot of the ores you need you could just buy from the blacksmith.
My immediate rec was Monster Prom, but I think stardew gives you more hours of fun whereas Monster Prom gets a bit repetitive after a while.
I'm not sure if there's a similar setting on the PC version, but the mobile version allows you to turn on auto-attack and automatically swing your weapon when an enemy gets close. There are some advantages to being able to tap/click accurately and quickly (fishing comes to mind also), but in general the cost of failure is extremely low. It really only makes a difference for people trying to be as efficient as possible with a replay.
Poly Bridge 1/2 is a simulation/puzzle game where you are presented with a scenario, and need to design a bridge for your characters to get across. As you progress, bridges incorporate moving parts, different materials, and reduced budgets. You can aim to create beautiful solutions, or cheap solutions, and see how others solved the scenario in the leaderboards.
Mini Metro/Mini Motorways are two different puzzle games where you need to create a functional transportation network for characters to reach their destinations. It can get pretty chaotic later on, but you can always pause the simulation and take time making changes.
Magic Arena is Magic the Gathering, which, if you aren't familiar, is a trading card game where you battle your opponent with creatures and spells. Time limits are generous and no reaction speed is needed, but you are playing against other humans.
And these games have already been mentioned, but I'll echo Baba is You, Dicey Dungeons, Dwarf Fortress, and OpenRCT2 (Roller Coaster Tycoon)
Echoing OpenRCT2, but also Parkitect! It's a more modern park builder heavily inspired by RCT but not a direct sequel to the series in any way. It's really nice, the management side of the game is much more present than in the also popular Planet Coaster, and a campaign mode is included to get you a goal to work toward if you aren't into pure sandbox building. You can also decorate rides with a grid-based system that can result in some beautiful buildings with just enough restriction to force you to make the best out of the simple pieces the game gives you. I've spent hours decorating some rides and the results make me proud every time I go back to look at them.
I'm not sure if the hand-eye coordination restriction rules out point-and-click adventure games but if you can use standard PC pointer devices (mouse, trackpad, trackball) this might be a fun genre to explore. I recommend starting with the Monkey Island series, the Special Editions of the first two are great to dive into. The Curse of Monkey Island takes the series in a different direction but is still fantastic. Skip MI4 (Escape From Monkey Island). Return to Monkey Island just came out last year, it's presumably the final entry in the series and wraps things up nicely.
If you're not afraid to go retro, download ScummVM and take a gander at the back catalog of what you can play with it. I recommend Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Flight of the Amazon Queen, and Grim Fandango. Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle are also well-loved but I'm less familiar with those personally.
If these scratch the itch for you, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw has made some games that you might enjoy. I've only played 5 Days a Stranger and 7 Days a Skeptic but they're awesome. Warning that those are more graphic than the LucasArts games I mentioned above. Some (extremely pixelated) gore and general horror vibes.
A few ones from my library that i havent seen people post about yet that i would recommend would be an rpg like omori, beautiful game btw, wargroove is a good rts game that doesnt require any sort of reflexes, dyson sphere program is a game similar to factorio in which its just pure factory management (though as an early access game it still needs a bit more work), and needy streamer overload which is a bit more of a horror visual novel with some epilepsy warnings here and there.
Seconding some other games people have said I would definitely recommend rimworld, any dragon quest game, the witness, and baba is you, all of these are great games that definitely can appeal to an audience with disabilities.
There is Dorfromantik, which is a game where you place tiles with features like rivers, woods, railways, cities or crops, and you must lay them oput with matching edges. You get quests to finish things like "have a crop field with at least 50 elements", and it is quite relaxing. No reaction needed, no stress, you can lay down your tiles as fast or slow as you want.
I can recommend Divinity: original sin 1 and 2. It's a turn based RPG so no quick reflexes needed. Fights are really fun, the worldbuilding is great, the music is great... It also has a multi-player. In Divinity: original sin 2 there are six pre-made characters with a back story and their own in-game story arc, though you can also create your own character of course. Granted, I can't compare the games to much else because like you I can't play games that require quick reflexes and Divinity seems to be one of a kind there. Let's just say I have 800 hours in DOS2.
Some other games that haven't yet been mentioned are
Backpack Hero is a deck building, turn based roguelite(like?) That only requires clicking and has a free demo on itch but it's an old version. Still fun but the the steam version is much better.
Hoplite is an excellent mobile game. Roguelike, encouraging high deliberation between every move.
One of those rare mobile games without ads or nonsense like that.
And poly bridge 3 is out now I believe!
if you like sims, try out OpenTTD ( https://www.openttd.org/ ), it's free, open source port / continuation of Transport Tycoon.
Currently, I've been into chess! Def not a game for everyone but it is immensely satisfying to see yourself improve.
Many JRPGs fit the bill, if that genre appeals to you. I'm playing Dragon Quest 11 on Switch right now and it's a lot of fun. Battles are turn-based, and you can take as much time as you need. Outside of battle, navigating the overworld is pretty simple, not a lot of complex mechanics or intricate controller commands. The normal difficulty is pretty much a cake-walk, if you want a moderate challenge/are experienced playing RPGs, turn on "Harder Monsters" :)
Massive recommendation for The Return of the Obra Dinn and for The Case of the Golden Idol
Both puzzle/detective/mystery games where you use small details and context clues to build up a picture of what happened in a scene with limited information and use that to solve the mystery.
Extra fun if you try and dedicate a day to each and solve them in one sitting!
I'm going to include my recommendation from an earlier post:
Some parts of the game are third-person exploration, but there's no combat in this mode. The combat is based on card plays and turns, so again no reflexes required.
It was made by the same group that made XCOM, but there are some pretty big differences in the mechanics (e.g., no grids in combat, no hit % chance, etc.).
Any (non-action)RPG and Adventure game will fullfil your criteria. I tend to like Japanese RPGs like the Final Fantasy series. As for Adventure games I'm not too familiar with them, but they were more commonly produced in the 90s, so you may need to go retro for the best ones.
Strategy games are also good, but only the turn-based ones. Some games of this genre overlap with RPG and Visual Novels (Fire Emblem series).
For the lowest time commitment I'd suggest Marvel Snap (pc/phone).
Free to play card game (you can buy season pass, etc.), turn based. Overall pretty fun and a game only lasts ~3minutes so it's great for just filling in the gaps.
I love strategy RPGs such as Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Stella Glow, Jeanne_d'Arc and Hyperdevotion Noire. See also visual novel and adventure games such as Phoenix Wright if not Danganronpa (have to get some timing right for that sometimes but it is not too bad.
Two games I've been loving lately and can be played at whatever pace you're comfortable with:
Strange Horticulture is mainly mouse-based but has you labelling your plants once you identify them so a keyboard is required. There are no time limits and even has a shop cat to pet!
Case of the Golden Idol is a mouse-based mystery game and is definitely filling the gap that Obra Dinn (another poster has already recommended that one) left in my life.
Surprised no one has mentioned no-pressure resource management and/or automation.
Games like Dyson Sphere Program, Satisfactory, and what I'm currently playing through now, Captains of Industry.
Build and learn at your own pace as there's no immediate threat (e.g. Factorio). Rebuild large portions of the factory or even restart over mid-save with a clean slate if you realized you dun goofed. No pressure, it's just you vs the strife of perfecting automation.
To an extent, Runescape
Some of the end game content involves reacting to special attacks, but for most of the game you click on something and your character just does whatever needs to be done, no further input needed.
I would suggest playing OldSchool Runescape instead of modern, they are separate games.
I made a similar question some time ago: https://tildes.net/~games/14pi/whats_a_good_and_or_competitive_video_game_that_does_not_require_quick_aiming_a_lot_of_actions_per
Cool. Thank you. I hope you find more options for games in this new thread with the larger community that is now here at Tildes.
A few I played and enjoyed lately:
Cozy Grove - as the name suggests, a "cozy" game. You play a Spirit Scout on an island of bear spirits. You gather materials, decorate, talk to your bears, and help them come to terms with their life/death. There's only so much you can do in any play session, and the game explicitly tells you "you're done, come back tomorrow".
Inscryption - I picked this up because several of my friends loved it. The core gameplay is a deckbuilder with turn-based card battling but there's a lot behind it that I don't want to spoil. It's definitely a game that takes its time to reveal what's going on, and you just have to relax and let it.
Wildermyth - a tactical turn-based RPG with inter-mission story breaks, character personality tags that can change those stories for a lot of replayability, and a really cool papercraft/comic art style
The Talos Principle - puzzles and philosophy. Some puzzles do require timing, but not fast-twitch, more like 'get through a gate before it closes', so depending on your abilities, may or may not work for you.
A Short Hike - a really cute game about exploring an island. Has some races, but they're optional. Most of it is optional, really. You could just fly around if you wanted to.