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Game recommendations, specifically
This is a thread for game recommendations, but not just any standard game recommendations.
This is a thread for game recommendations where you have a very specific thing that you're looking for.
Maybe you're looking for a certain type of experience that can't easily be summarized with genres and tags. Maybe you're looking for a game that will evoke a particular feeling that's hard to put into words.
Whatever you're looking for, share your desired specificity below, and let people try to recommend games that fit it.
I’m always looking for games that gate your progression by how much you know, and make you prove your knowledge to progress — favorites in this vein are games like Outer Wilds, Chants of Senaar, Obra Dinn, Golden Idol, and The Witness.
These games aren’t particularly replayable for obvious reasons, but I find them suuuper enjoyable, so always hoping to find more!
Her Story is, if my memory is correct, entirely knowledge-gated and self-directed. I’d avoid learning anything about it if you’re interested in it.
The Forgotten City is very similar to Outer Wilds. It’s another time-loop game where you use the knowledge you gain each cycle in the following one.
Here's an additional recommendation for Her Story. Unique game, definitely nearly zero replay value though.
I'm pretty sure it's the same devs who released a similar game, Telling Lies, which I want to try even though the reviews don't look the best.
I played Telling Lies earlier this year, and while I don’t regret my time with it, I definitely won’t be replaying it. It was kinda interesting though, and definitely a break from the kinds of games I usually play. Now I gotta see about playing Immortality
I think the great thing about these games is they manage to find new mechanics with each one, so even though the very base game loop is the same (use learned information to uncover new material and progress) each game feels unique. Her Story and Immortality are certainly a step above Telling Lies, but I thought that the story in Telling Lies spiraled in an unexpected way.
The same devs also released Immortality this past year, which has received an even better reception than Her Story.
Here's a few ideas:
The Stanley Parable - more of an art piece than a game, it fits your request pretty well.
Paradise Killer - Your compatriots have been murdered and you are the detective. You can call for the trial at any time. You are gated on what your character knows (but you learn it at the same time so I think it matches).
Subnautica - This only partially matches (since you still need to do in-game research & material gathering), but so much of this game is about understanding how everything fits together and how the world's systems work.
Baba is You - It's a lot like the Witness in that you need to solve one puzzle to get to the next, but understanding the mechanics of the game is a huge part of it.
Her Story or Immortality - FMV games that let you explore as you want. There's a story there, but you have to piece it together based on your explorations.
Telling Lies is another one by the same group who put out Her Story and Immortality. They all feel very different, and I wasn't hooked on Telling Lies until suddenly one night I put in like 3 straight hours trying to uncover as much as I could before time got cut off.
It has more of a skill test than many of those, but Tunic absolutely is still very much in this category, even though telling you is almost a spoiler.
I enjoy what I've played from Tunic but the actual combat always keeps me from progressing on those parts of the game -- I suck at it so bad! Hopefully I can git gud eventually lol
There are accessibility options to work with in regards to combat that prevent you from losing health and stamina if you would rather focus on the puzzles.
oh huh I didn't realize that! I'll dig into the options a little more then
Update -- combat on reduced mode basically made the game the ideal difficulty for me. Currently stuck at that one bit in the cathedral. Prior to this I hadn't rung the western bell OR figured out how to raise my stats lol.
I'm glad you found a way you can enjoy this awesome game.
Just a word of advice: Think of the fights themselves as puzzles that you have to solve. It's not so much about struggling against the enemies than it is about figuring out a method for defeating them more easily. Especially that one bit in the cathedral!
If you eventually choose to give up, just look it up online. There are multiple valid strategies that different people have formalized.
I'm doing just well enough before failing at the cathedral bit to stay hooked, so I'm confident I'll push my way through eventually. Even if my current strategy is "run around in circles a bunch" lol
I'm pretty sure Tunic was the hardest game I played this year. Did not anticipate it to be so difficult
I highly recommend a controller if you aren’t using one already. WASD just doesn’t cut it on movement for me (IIRC, you can’t even sprint in some diagonals)
I've been playing on my Steam Deck so unfortunately I can't blame WASD for my poor abilities lol! went back to it and made some progress today though!
I loooved Tunic! The combat was def tougher than I’d have preferred, but the parts of it that line up with the games I mentioned were SO good.
Ooh I absolutely love this type of game too. I'll be stalking this thread to see if there are any examples I haven't heard of.
I definitely echo the recommendation for The Forgotten City -- it's not quite as much like this as something like Obra Dinn or Golden Idol but it's an excellent game that scratches something adjacent to that same itch.
Scene Investigators is a relatively recent release I've tried that's extremely close to Obra Dinn in its mechanics and deduction -- but be warned that the cases are a lot more down to earth and modern, so the nitty-gritty can be a bit more uncomfy than Obra Dinn's due to those elements. It's not as artistic as Obra Dinn imo but it's pretty much the exact same type pf investigation.
EDIT TO ADD: I forgot to recommend Hypnospace Outlaw! Another game that scratched this same itch for me. It was super enjoyable, and it'll probably hit harder if you're a bit older than me and have nostalgia for the days of Web 1.0
Also, this recent video by Game Maker's Toolkit on detective games is a good resource on this type of game and related types. I think most of the "deduction-style" games like this that are brought up in that video are mentioned here already but it's a very good dive into the differeent aspects of detective games you'll enjoy. It may help you identify other games you'd like but even if it doesn't, it's a worthwhile watch bc it breaks down these aspects so you can understand your preferences better.
Definitely check out Void Stranger, it's the kind of game that is recommended without saying much since spoilers would make the whole experience much less enjoyable. Still, it is my 2023 GOTY.
Twelve Minutes was quite enjoyable in this vein.
I don't think I'd pay full price, it's pretty short. But it was a good journey of discovery.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions of course but 12 Minutes was one of the worst games I played in 2022. Not so much for the mechanics which could be interesting, but the voice acting, especially from Willem Dafoe, was so bad. I've never heard someone as high of caliber an actor as he is phone in a role so hard. And the story itself was just nonsense in my opinion. I won't spoil anything specifically but just yeesh.
Huh, I played it with my daughter and we thought it was as bunch of fun. I like the voice acting too.
If you have a Netflix account, this game can be downloaded for mobile through Netflix's publisher page on both android and iphone. Free as long as you have a netflix login.
At that price I'd call it worth it for sure!
Slay The Spire is all I play. A phenomenal thinking experience with very satisfying progression. I'd never played a digital card game before but StS just captures me.
Something I just heard about, that might be up your alley! It's a Detective Immersive Sim in a full simulated world.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/986130/Shadows_of_Doubt/
Ooh yes, I’ve heard of this one! Looks awesome, but I’m gonna wait til it’s out of early access — rather get the full experience once it’s fully baked. Thanks for the reminder!
You might be interested in Rain World. It's a bit different from the others you've mentioned in that it's more of a platformer than a puzzle game, but it has a similar "learning how things in the environment work" kind of progression. It's pretty hard and obtuse at first, but you should go in blind (and likely bounce off the game once and come back to it later).
A Hand With Many Fingers may be right up your alley. The game leaves it to you to connect the dots to unravel a massive conspiracy. Literally connecting dots using a cork board in the archive you are searching.
Anyone here know of games with great dynamic worlds? Worlds that go on without player interaction, that genuinely feel alive, but you can also notice player impact in them. I'm going to give a few examples of what I mean:
Skyrim for example has a dynamic world (at least for its time), but with very little player impact. Sure, if this NPC dies, someone else will take over for them and the world adjusts. And there's random encounters that simulate a bit of a dynamic world, but it's only paper thin. Once you enter and leave a dungeon, most everything resets and no one will ever know you've been there.
The Witcher or Baldur's Gate 3 are the opposite: Your mark on the world is permanent, and no killed NPC or mob ever respawns. But also, your impact on the world is tightly constrained to individual events the devs intended; there's no mechanics that allow you to influence this.
I'm pretty convinced that what I'm looking for must be based on mechanics, not scripted events. The game has to "know" how to react to certain categories of things, instead of having memorized responses to individual scenarios.
A few games I want to highlight: Avorion is a space adventure kinda game along the lines of freelancer, meaning you're an individual ship captain. Trade prices are determined by supply and demand, and players have many ways of interacting with this: Building or destroying stations that consume or produce certain goods, buying, selling, all that good stuff. I'm sure with some mods here and there you can build an entire empire in this game.
Another game is STALKER: Gamma, a modpack for Anomaly. It's a FPS survival game. A lot of aspects of the economy are kinda dynamic: While prices and merchant inventories are mostly static, a lot of the goods you need can be acquired from various in universe sources. What's even more impressive: The entire population of the map, about 500 or so stalker NPCs (most of which generic) and an unknown number of mutant creatures, are, at least as far as I can tell, simulated all the time, whether you're there or not. There is still some effect of proximity, i.e. two squads can be close to one another in the world without noticing, and as soon as you get close they start shooting at each other. But generally speaking, the game does a great job of making it seem like all of these NPCs are doing their thing, and most crucially: You can make a mark on their population. If you keep killing all the bandits in Cordon and neighboring areas, bandits will become rarer and rarer
Now, I've talked a lot about the world I want, and I'm not even sure I know what kind of game I want in that world. All of the ones I'm listing here, FPS, RPG, space adventure are fine, but I don't want to restrict it to that. If it's another genre, by all means reply. I guess a strong progression system helps a lot though in giving people something to do in the world. Coop appreciated, but not necessary.
Edit: this high up in the thread and no reply? Is this a desperation genre?
You mentioned Avorion, which leads me to make the assumption you at least have an interest in the space RPG/Adventure genre. You may very much enjoy Starsector and X4: Foundations. Both are space games with dynamic worlds.
Starsector is basically top-down space Mount and Blade. You assemble a fleet of ships, explore the sector, trade, fight, etc. It has a dynamic world in the same sense as Avorion, but a bit more fleshed out. There is trading, goods supply/demand, trade fleets that can be interacted with that actually carry shipments which, when killed, will cause a shortage of that supply on their destination. You can legitimately kill all the trade shipments coming to a planet and destabilize it out so hard it becomes uncolonized. Also you can found a player-created empire which also can receive trade fleets(Which might be killed by enemies or pirates). Exploration is fun with going out into the uninhabited portions of the sector and finding technology, ships, ship blueprints, equipment, etc. Building a fleet and equipping it is very fun, ships are immutable in their slot setup(weapon hardpoints), but they use a points system for weapons, hull mods(equipment that is applied to the ship itself, costs points and gives bonuses), and flux economy(firing weapons and doing some actions produces flux and you can add vents/max flux capacity to adjust the flux eco of the ship). The game is fantastic and is actively developed. The update cadence is roughly one a year which,if your like me, gives you time to mess about with mods during each update cycle without worrying as often about an update coming out and making you choose between your mods and the new update features. I would be remis if i didnt mention the most popular mod in the game's very active modding community, a mod named Nexerelin that adds a well-done 4X element to the game, making factions and you able to participate in espionage, conquering, light diplomacy, and more. The game isnt on steam, the dev is holding off on steam until theyre satisfied with the product, and yes the buying site looks like something from the early 2000s, but its legit and the game is only 15$ iirc.
X4 is closer to avorion, in that it is a 3rd person space adventure. It uses premade ships with equippable hardpoints like starsector does, though a bit less dynamic in loadout terms, since focus is less on individual ships and more on building yourself an empire over time, founding stations, producing ships and goods, etc. It has a lot more RTS/empire management ideals in it, with being able to order ships around, set them on automated orders, set them to patrol or defend, etc. There is also a supply and demand system here, with factions actually being unable to produce ships if they dont have the materials, including you being unable to buy ships from shipyards that are lot on supplies. Ive had many times where i had to go fetch and deliver supplies so i can buy a ship i wanted. Traders are also entities in the game that can be raided, lost, or protected and their goods are actually numbered in the stations. There is a path to monopolizing goods to make big bank in this game as well, since traders will buy from your stations just like from other ones. The game is in active development and there is an active modding scene via steam workshop.
Hopefully these two recommendations help you out! Ive put several hundred hours into X4 and well over 1k hours into starsector given that i adore Space adventure games, and these two seem to fit your bill for dynamic worlds, so I am quite glad to share these because they really deserve more players!
It is. Truly alive worlds are incredibly difficult to create. Think of city building games where the holy grail has always been autonomous civilians.
Even Freelancer isn't actually alive, even if it feels that way through some illusory magic. Lane Hackers disrupting trade lanes isn't actually alive, it's just a dice roll whether it happens or not. As an aside, the crossfire mod introduces dynamic trade if that interests you at all.
GTA has always tried to create a world that feels alive, but even their monstrous budget doesn't fully realise a world that's actually influenced by NPCs. Things only happen wherever the player is and if you stand still long enough the entire block erupts into chaos... But turns back to normal as soon as you drive off to the next block.
It's an exceptionally difficult task to create something that feels alive. Most of it is done through nothing more but illusion.
Not sure if this will work for you, as it’s explicitly not a video game, but many TTRPGs (particularly those based on indie systems like powered by the apocalypse) explicitly have this sort of “the world is always in motion” mechanic baked in; at least, when the GM is up to it. Because how much that happens is up to how experienced/talented the GM is, I might recommend my favorite podcast of all time: Friends at the Table. Their current season is using a system called Armor Astir, which actually has a specific “turn” (1-2 episodes per mission) where the GM and two others play “the world”, reacting to what the other players have been up to, and advancing ‘unrelated’ (until they crash into the main game) plots. I’d actually recommend starting two seasons earlier with Partizan (the direct prequel to this season) if it’s of any interest to you.
I don't know if this will quite hit the mark, but Dwarf Fortress is getting an "Adventure Mode" in 2024, where you directly control a single character (but can recruit more to become a party). Given the procedurally generated nature of DF, there might just be enough life sim in the game to create what you're looking for.
Honestly the only game I've played that really satisfies me on this front has been the Hitman trilogy. Obviously the "world" is a smaller box than, say, Skyrim, but the way the world responds to your actions is pretty much the central mechanic of those games, and the smaller "world" allows the resulting dynamism to be better executed imo. Ofc depends if the gameplay is your cup of tea.
I replied on another thread about this game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/986130/Shadows_of_Doubt/
Hitman World of Assassination is also kinda like that.
Yup, Shadows of Doubt is the one. It has its limitations and it's buggy at times but what it offers is unlike anything else out there.
I have a weird one for this. Does it have to be single-player? What if the world felt alive not because of dynamic simulation, but because of real players?
Space Station 13 gives me that feeling. It's a (literal) role-playing game where you're a guy on a space station and you have to do your job to keep the station running. It takes place in long rounds which can involve any number of players, usually between 20 and 60. That makes it different from something in a persistent world, but it does evoke the same feeling in the sense that you're doing your own (often fairly complex) job while others are doing their own jobs, with everyone interacting without necessarily knowing it. Everything is well simulated and the mechanics are interesting.
I really enjoy games with an interesting progressive disclosure story line and relatively easy combat mechanics (or an easy mode) or more of a puzzle angle -- I enjoyed the Bioshocks, Control, Horizon Zero Dawn, Shadow of Tomb Raider. I really liked Portal and am playing through some of the community mods now. Talos was okay, but something about the game really gave me motion sickness. I really enjoyed the Dishonored games, both for the story and the stealth mechanics. I have the Uncharted PC edition, but I feel like it's not as good as either Shadow of the Tomb Raider or Horizon Zero Dawn.
Right now I only game on my PC, so that limits my options somewhat. I am watching with interest for Horizon Forbidden West to be released for PC. At some point I will probably get a switch to play the Zelda games, but that is not an option in the near term.
Any other games in this line that I should check out?
I'd like to recommend Okami HD. It's often described as "Zelda but you're a dog", although it's definitely not just a carbon copy of the Zelda games. It's definitely got a touching story with progressive reveals, and if you do well with Horizon-style combat you should be able to get Okami's down, which is simpler to execute IMO. I would say there are light puzzle elements, but it's more using the correct ability in particular spots (and coming back to previous areas once you've unlocked later abilities to complete sidequests). The art style and music are beautiful and the gameplay is fun and varied, inside* and out of combat.
That being said, it's an older game (PlayStation 2 era) and it does have some qualities that may make a modern gamer impatient. I think it holds up remarkably well, but the beginning, for instance, feels like it is particularly slow to open up the world to you. I hope you'll give it a chance!
*Although the combat can be mostly mindless button-mashing if you want it to, you also have the option to change it up or make it easier with your abilities, or use them to enact finishing moves that extract extra items from defeated monsters.
Thanks, I will check it out!
Edited to add: I watched the trailer on Steam. The art is beautiful. Definitely interesting.
I enjoyed Okami.
IMO, it's not even close. Perhaps it's because I played Horizon on hard(est?) difficulty, where you could die in 1 or 2 hits, but in Okami, I don't ever recall feeling the threat of actually losing any fight. I don't remember if there were combat difficulty settings in Okami, but I don't think so.
Replying a bit late, but judging by what you have written here, we have an identical taste in game selection! Rare to meet someone with such similar preferences of games even on the internet.
So here are my recommendations (but it is possible that you may have played them already or have them on your radar):
Wow, that is a comprehensive list. I .... may never sleep again :) Thank you
Haha, happy to help out. May your framerates remain high and core temps remain low as you spend your nights lost in brilliant worlds and immersive stories.
That's what TFix is for. I wish Steam shipped Thief/Thief 2 with it preinstalled.
Have you ever tried Batman: Arkham Asylum? Specifically the first game in that series. It's not open-world like the rest of the games, it's more like a Metroidvania. You get progressively stronger as you explore Arkham Island and its facilities. It has a simple enough combat system and an Easy mode. There's a lot of puzzle-solving to be found in the side missions, including finding all the Riddler trophies. They're cleverly hidden in this game, it's not the collectathon of an open-world collectible.
That looks pretty neat. Hard to pass up "game of the year" :). Thank you.
I dropped this game after trying it a LONG time ago. Recently played it again, thought to myself "this is cool, why did I drop it?" Then I got to a specific level (spoiler below) and I remembered that's the point I dropped it. Something about that level just annoys me to no end.
EDIT: Spoiler below - not showing up right for me on my mobile app but should on desktop.
[DETAILS]
The part where Scarecrow is huge and you have to be somewhat stealthy. It just wasn't executed well, imo.
You can hide spoilers on Tildes like this:
<details><summary>Spoiler (click to expand)</summary> (put your spoiler text here) </details>
Which results in this:
Spoiler (click to expand)
(put your spoiler text here)See the text-formatting doc for more:
https://docs.tildes.net/instructions/text-formatting
Ah yes, that boss battle which is all timing-based, not actually stealth-based.
It's unlike any other part of the game but once you figure out the timing, it's very easy. Push through it, the reveal at the end of it is pretty unique in terms of gaming storytelling since it requires you to notice something in the aftermath of it that is not actually pointed out by the game.
Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I'll just watch a video on someone doing it and replicate to get it over with.
Infra fits that description very well. You play as a structural analyst and you are only armed with a camera and a flashlight. There are no enemies or many NPCs at all.
Your day starts with pushing next on a slideshow and then goes off track pretty quickly as you document a run down and apparently abandoned water power plant that's on the brink of failing.
The game is LONG, has a surprisingly expansive lore that you slowly uncover as you work your way through the massive environment and its puzzles on the way. It's a super slow burn and I think you need to be a certain type of person to enjoy it. Personally I knew immediately I would love this game and I did so even more than I expected!
I will put it on my list. Thank you :)
A bit of a short one, but I really enjoyed Superliminal. Super trippy first person puzzle game with a nice story.
Viewfinder hits the same notes that Superliminal does too!
Thank you!
Oh, this thread is a great idea!
I've struggled with enjoying video games as an adult. As a child in the early 00s, I was a huge gamer and absolutely loved all the classic PS2 action/adventure/JRPG 3D platformers (3D platformer being the main point here.)
Sly Cooper. Ratchet & Clank. Jak and Daxter. Kingdom Hearts 1&2.
I have never found a modern game that hits quite like these games do. I fully admit that a big part of it is childhood nostalgia, but it's surely not the only reason, since 3D platformers in general simply no longer have the chokehold that they had on gaming in the 00s. I feel like I've really poked around to find stuff that appeals to me, but 3D platformers don't seem to have much of a presence at all in modern gaming. (I love that 2D platformers have had a resurgence, but personally they're not for me, and I wonder why similar things haven't happened with 3D platformers.)
Recently I discovered American McGee's Alice, a fantastic 3D platformer/shooter that was also released in the 00s, which simply didn't see very much commerical success at the time, so I didn't know about it as a kid. It has excited and enthralled me more than any modern game, despite me having no nostalgia for it. So it seems that there's some secret sauce in these PS2 era 3D platformers that really hits the mark for me.
Does anyone make new games like this? Or are there other sleeper/underrated hits that I've missed, like Alice?
I'm a patient gamer at heart, so I'll take recommendations from any timeframe, even if I need to download an emulator to play them. (Especially if I need an emulator to play them, honestly.) But I'm also particularly interested in any current games that embody whatever was going on with Sly Cooper/Rachet & Clank, essentially. Mostly because I'm confused as to why we don't get games like that anymore, since I know how loved they are by so many people.
If you haven't played them yet, I highly recommend Psychonauts 1 and 2. 1 is from the PS2/OG Xbox days and very much a contemporary of those other games, 2 is from last year and cut from that same cloth just with modern graphics, both are on Steam and modern consoles.
Super Mario Odyssey has some of the most fun 3D platforming of last few years.
I can't recommend the sequel to McGee's Alice, but you might check it out anyway. (I don't think it has the sauce)
Crash Bandicoot and Spyro both got solid remakes of their original trilogies not too long ago.
Okami also has gotten the modern polish treatment, as I recall.
The Ape Escape series is worth checking out too, for older stuff.
This is one of those games that I wish I could somehow forget and play again for the first time. So good. More on the selective amnesia list:
You have probably already heard of these games, but you might like A Hat in Time or Demon’s Turf. You might also want to play the Traveler’s Tales LEGO games. Kena: Bridge of Spirits looked weirdly derivative on first glance but actually playing it was a really fantastic experience.
The reason why nobody seems to make these games anymore is because so many came out around that time that people kind of just got tired of them. There are tons of stuff you are sure to have missed, especially if you were ignoring licensed titles like I did. I don’t particularly care for these so I can’t recommend any in particular. Maybe play Ty the Tasmanian Tiger?
It seems like you probably like action RPGs too, and I have a few I could recommend. Since you like Kingdom Hearts you might like another Square property, Dawn of mana. It’s a pretty gorgeous looking game that actually holds up pretty well IMHO. You will also want to take a look through the games made by Neverland. Shining Force Exa was pretty good.
There's been a few smaller indie devs making games in this general platformer style, with PS1 and N64 being more represented than others, but here's a rapid fire list of options I haven't yet seen suggested to check out!
Some are more Ratchet and Clanky with ranged combat, and some are more Mario 64 with a focus on traversal, but hopefully there's something here:
I'm interested in very tightly-designed puzzle games. Simple rules, the puzzles explore interesting consequences of those rules. Minimal filler puzzles, most puzzles (once you figure them out) will teach you a new concept/way of thinking about the rules/etc which is then used for future puzzles.
Snakebird, Baba is You and Braid are great examples of this and they're my favorite puzzle games. Stephen's Sausage Roll is another great example but I hated the tank controls. Does anyone know other games like these?
I have a few recs for ya!
Patrick’s Parabox — great paradoxical puzzling, explored thoroughly but doesn’t overstay its welcome. Every area feels like the dev letting you in on a little joke as you explore new implications of the central mechanic.
Linelith — Same dev as Patrick’s Parabox, a much shorter game perfect for a quick puzzling session.
Mosa Lina — Physics platformer puzzler, a favorite of mine from this year. Infinitely replayable with randomized sets of levels and available puzzle-solving tools per round. None of the levels is made for any particular set of tools in mind, so you gotta get creative and patiently learn to make good use of whatever tools you have.
COCOON — Tightly designed puzzles about nested worlds, beautiful aesthetic, everything communicated wordlessly.
Outer Wilds — Further from your original ask, but it’s so phenomenal that it’s worth mentioning. The entire world is one interconnected puzzle of exploration and archaeology, where you can solve the mystery immediately from the start if you just know exactly what’s going on in the solar system — but you don’t, so you’re sent on an open-ended quest to find out.
I’m sure I’ve got more recs in me but at least one of these should give you what you’re looking for!
Thank you and @Protected very much, these look great!
It's quite well known, but you haven't mentioned it, nor anyone in their replies to you, so assuming you haven't heard of it: The Witness. There isn't much of a story to it, it's just a bunch of puzzles. No explanations are given, however; you learn as you go. Some sections are 'closed' as in 'locked behind a puzzle you haven't learned to solve yet'.
After playing The Witness, the free game parodying it called The Looker is worth checking out too. :P
Oh this looks awesome (for very different reasons), thanks!
YVW. It's only about 45 min playtime too, and rather amusing, IMO. The trailer doesn't really do it justice.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I didn't find The Witness to be tightly designed. Each short sequence of puzzles is usually building up in difficulty rather than teaching new techniques.
The difficulty stems mainly from exploration and discovery (which IMO is what the game is really about) rather than reasoning through the puzzles. It's also easy to miss out on some important piece of information by e.g. not noticing it in the environment, forming a wrong hypothesis about how the current set of puzzles work.
It's an interesting experience but I didn't have the patience to complete it. It didn't feel like the discovery was worthwhile.
I felt the same about the tank controls in Stephen’s Sausage Roll when I started playing. Eventually I got used to them and I think it was worth it — the game really exemplifies the idea of teaching a new technique every puzzle. I tried replaying the start of the game a while ago and found almost all the puzzles trivial, not because I remembered the solutions but because I knew the techniques.
Despite how awkward (for me at least) they are, the tank controls are probably the best way to achieve the behaviors the character is meant to have. I've only done the first dozen or so puzzles and it's clear that they're very well-designed and the designer paid very careful attention to how the player learns the techniques. Didn't have the patience to persist with the controls though, but maybe I'll give it another go.
Bit of an odd one out from your suggestion, as it's not so much a logic puzzle game, but has more of a detective vibe going on:
Return of the Obra Dinn. If you're courageous, just buy it blind and jump in, I think the game is best played completely blind. I think I can promise that by 2 hours in you know whether you like it or whether you want to give it back.
Thank you, I'll check it out.
Can of wormholes! Enjoy! Took me 36 hours for 100%.
Maybe you don't like 3d puzzle games, but I think Poral 1 and 2 also fits your definition.
Thank you, I did play Portal 1 about halfway through many years ago. I might check it out again
Ok, I’ll bite. Long ago in my CS:S days (and a bit in 1.6 as well), there were two mods that I played far far longer than anything involving guns.
The first was KZ maps aka climb maps. The idea was that you started at the bottom of a very long course, winding your way up through a series of difficult to nail jumps and combos. Typically they’d be broken into stages so that if you fell, you didn’t need to do more than the last few minutes again. It sounds simple, but ended up having a relatively high skill ceiling. There was also a fairly vibrant map making and server hosting community which made it great. The genre eventually evolved into Kreedz Climbing but every time I’ve ever played it the servers have been empty and the game laggy, which makes it nearly impossible to have any precision.
The other was surfing. Essentially by tweaking the physics of the system, folks discovered that you could glide down sharply angled ramps, gaining speed and flying through the air to the next ramp (or through holes, rings, other obstacles, etc.). Like climbing it had a high skill ceiling, a serious mapping and server community which made it great. My username is actually from my surfing clan from who knows how long ago (there was another “argh”, so I was “the second argh”).
The thing both had in common that it was (typically) difficult to reach the end of the map, and there was a real sense of accomplishment when you did so! You learned a lot about how to move by playing through maps (and to some extent, watching other people’s runs). There was almost no competition, other than friendly races. Just “can you get good enough to reach the end”
Now, these days I’m not really into multiplayer games so much. I vastly prefer games I can pick up and put down at will. So while I know I probably could pick up CS:GO and find whatever these communities are up to now, it’s not quite my speed. The second bit is that with our new kiddo, basically the only way I’m going to get to play anything is if it works decent on the steam deck.
There are only a few single player games I’ve played that really scratch some of the same itch. I enjoyed Trials in the browser and HD on XBOX back in the day, but I don’t really love time trials. Mirror’s edge was probably the closest to capturing the speed, movement and platforming, but didn’t have as much replay value to me (probably because of the fighting? Also time trials)
What about Jump King?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1061090/Jump_King/
That sounds right on the money, thanks!!!
I think you'll enjoy Hot Lava a lot since it has surf-like mechanics. Neon White and SEUM are also good.
Hell yeah! All three of those look right up my alley!
Maybe an unconventional choice, but Halo Infinite has free multiplayer and a good amount of custom content. The movement mechanics, tight jump sequences, and exploiting angles make obstacle course maps a lot of fun.
One I played was "Mount Everest" which starts with precise jumps. I have gotten nowhere near the end of it, but there are a dozen or so save points on the way to the top.
Another one had multiple trials, starting with jumps requiring air movement, bouncing off walls, etc. Then moving to longer jumps, super sliding, and equipment use. It included a timer, so you could track your time on each section and for the whole course.
There are also grapple-specific maps, one had a bunch of small floating anchors and a far away island, requiring max speed and a good launch angle.
It’s funny how these things show up around FPS’s. At a guess: because you already have a fairly precise movement / aiming system for the ‘real’ game!
Definitely. There's a long history of LAN parties and glitch hunting in Halo games. Whenever something has fun movement and physics, there's usually some room to exploit it.
Can’t find my old comment here in a quick search, but one of my favorite halo memories as a kid was a friend and I spending the night grenading a Warhog onto the top of the Silent Cartographer in CE and driving it off one of the buildings onto a beach
Haha, I never knew how common this was. I was also doing the same; there was also this other level where I remember it being very tricky to steal a Banshee. I spent several hours perfecting my "ambush" strategy, trying to get to the Banshee before the Elite would hop in.
I don't know how hard it was to pull off though; perhaps I just wasn't so skilled at shooters back then.
There was also a part in Assault on the Control room where at the bottom of the first bridge, you could jump down the wall all the way down to the bottom (where you first meet the marines with the warthog later) and you glitched the game into not spawning any more enemies that level! That one wasn’t as fun to repeat tho, lol
For the challenge aspect, I’d like to recommend Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy, but be warned it is deliberately designed to be unforgiving.
No idea if it’s playable on SteamDeck because the controls are deliberately a tiny bit obnoxious to use
Perhaps Defunct? Think of it as Tribes without the shooting, or maybe as Sonic with more freedom to explore. The core game mechanic revolves around building and maintaining momentum -- and to be sure, this mechanic is really well implemented here.
The game is a bit short (a casual run is about two hours), but it does have a time trial mode if you want to perfect your skills. And naturally, it has a speedrunning community.
Tribes without shooting is definitely on the money!
Descenders is one of my favorite games of all times. It's a biking game that has both custom maps and procedurally generated maps. The campaign revolves around the procedurally generated maps and progressing through various biomes that will increase in difficulty. The reason I enjoy it and think you might too is that it has some of the best feeling physics/movement system of any game like it, by a mile, and it has a high skill ceiling. Unlike many games in the genre, where it sort of feels like your character is on rails and that any tricks you do are just pre-programmed, this one gives you a good fundamental movement system and the freedom to play how you want. For that same reason the game can be punishing when you are first learning how to control yourself, while still being fun, but stick with it and it is really rewarding to master the movement.
There are a few scripted tricks you can do, but like I said the real joy is that the game doesn't make you feel like you are on rails, you are actually in control of your body, giving you a convincingly realistic feel. I play on controller, which I think is the best way to play (don't have one but the game sounds perfect for steam deck). The left joystick essentially controls your shoulders/upper body and the right joystick controls your hips/lower body, letting you tilt them and throw them around, doing things like throwing out your rear wheel to sort of drift, load and unload your shocks when going off jumps like you would on a real bike, and do flips, spins, wheelies and such.
Modding community is great, tons of awesome maps and the community is friendly. Making your own maps is easy to do as well, using Unity. I had zero experience but was able to make a decent one (little ugly though haha, I wasn't great at doing the small details to make it pretty)
Another thing you may enjoy is Momentum Mod, a stand alone game dedicated to surfing and other source-related movement tech on community made maps. I don't think it's officially out yet but you can still download and play it. I assume this would need to be on a PC/MnK but figured I'd mention it.
Oh that was on my radar but I had forgotten about it! That sounds awesome!!
https://momentum-mod.org/ ?
Looking for a good, modern take on Freelancer, specifically for multiplayer co-op. I've tried Elite Dangerous and No Mans Sky. Elite Dangerous is closer to what I'm looking for. NMS is spread even more thin IMO, and has a bit too much emphasis on the 'gather/build' thing that too many games have now.
I'd even say Elite Danherous is pretty close to ideal... but getting friends into it is hard because it errs too often on the side of "Flight Sim." Which is great when it's just me, but it makes onboarding friends hard, especially when our gaming time is typically limited to < 8 hours a week. Especially since the mechanics also mean sometimes taking 20 minute drives through a void.
Elite Dangerous with slightly less demanding flight controls and docking sequences, and no multi-star systems. And frankly...a still large, but smaller galaxy. Something on the thousands, not millions and billions.
I'm going to throw Avorion into the mix here. It's a bit minimalist at times, e.g. graphics or story, but the gameplay is basically Freelancer (2020). It's a lot easier to learn to ropes than Elite Dangerous, and while it does have mechanics that are probably more for the people who want to invest and onboard themselves (managing your own fleets of subordinates or investing into space stations) the flying, shooting, trading and exploration make for a good game already, so you can play it with your casual friends.
Bonus points for having a quite dynamic galaxy, like Freelancer promised but never delivered.
There is none. Freelancer is a singular experience.
Closest is Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw, Everspace2, and yeah.. Elite Dangerous.
I mean, that really was the main appeal of Star Citizen, wasn't it? Hoping for lightning to strike twice.
I haven't tried Everspace 2 yet. I'll give that a go.
An entire generation of gamers gonna be perpetually hunting for a game that stikes the ideal balance between sim and arcade, to be immersive yet accessible.
Star Citizen is only the spiritual successor because it's the brainchild of the same dude. I don't think it'll be remotely the same when, or even if, it launches. I don't consider it complete enough nor a bet safe enough to suggest it to someone.
Anywhere you discuss Freelancer you'll see people asking for similar games and nobody has an answer beyond "this may work for you, but it's not the same". The fact there's still fora and active subreddits for this game speaks volumes.
At some point something similar releases. I still have hope.
Honestly, I think ED's flight (including docking) is very manageable once you turn on more of the autopilot settings, including getting a docking computer. My beef with ED is that there was no endgame, especially in the political/strategy part. Made me quit, even though I think the game overall checks a lot of the right boxes.
This is a little bit of a tangent, but Elite Dangerous is the only game I've ever returned on Steam. It seemed so cool, but I could not -- could not! -- clear the flight tutorial. I spent about an hour and a half on it and felt like an absolute fool.
I will say that:
I don't know since when, but docking computers are now installed by default. The tutorial no longer explain how to (un)dock, it just tells you to let the computer do its thing.
I haven't bought a new ship in awhile, I'm just starting to get back into it again in part as a result of this thread.
Good to hear. It's a great game once you get over that initial cliff of onboarding. I'm only a few hundred hours in, and I'm not really an "endgame" person, so I haven't hit the walls that many complain about.
I like games with tight arcade-style loops, whose control system has a physical element to it, and whose gameplay has the depth and room for me to develop a skill playing it. My favourite of all time is MaBoShi's "circle" game on WiiWare. More like that please!
Pureya has a lot of minigames, I'm sure you'll like some of them. Also Demon's Tilt for some pinball action with some extra gameplay elements.
I don't know if this recommendation works, since it's not as much of a traditional arcade game like that MaBoShi's game is, but have you played Super Meat Boy? IMO it has some similarities to that MaBoShi's game, in that there is also physics involved, and the controls are also super tight, with tons of room for improvement and mastery over them.
I think it's a fair suggestion, thanks! I have played it and SMB is not my thing because I'm not so much into platformers. I find SMB in particular to be too unforgiving in terms of level design, same goes for Celeste, and even Super Mario World (I know!). But thanks!
I'm looking for a scrolling shooter with a progressively upgradeable ship over the course of the campaign.
Every so often I replay Tyrian 2000 and love the game's progression where get to slowly upgrade weapons and parts of my ship and make it more powerful as I progress through the campaign. Most other scrolling shooters have ships that don't really change much across their campaigns -- upgrades tend to be drops within levels that get lost when you get hit. I want something where you gather currency during levels to spend on your build between levels. Sky Force Anniversary and Sky Force Reloaded are the closest things I've found to this.
I used to love scrolling shooters. Raptor: Call of the Shadows features such purchased upgrades too. The main upgrade is replacing your current weapon with a more powerful one, weapons don't have upgrade levels like in Tyrian.
Oh man, I can't believe that I forgot about Raptor. I loved that game as a kid. I probably got it confused with Tyrian because they are in the same place in my brain.
I spent wayyy too much time with both games as a kid. Tyrian has a lot of 'personality', all kinds of quirkiness in the game world. I wish more games were like that.
It's been a very long time since I've played it, but I think Jamestown fits the bill.
Gradius technically counts, right? :P
The only game I can think about that has what you're looking for specifically is Sillpheed: The Lost Planet. It's by Treasure, so it should be good. Sadly, it's actually mediocre. :(
Maybe it's not exactly what you're looking for but FTL: Faster Than Light has very good gameplay and integrates upgrades very well into the gameplay-loop
The bullet hell monday series (excluding bullet hell monday black) features upgradable ships. It has an objective based progression system where you need to obtain a certain amount of points from completing objectives before moving onto a boss level.
This series originally released for mobile devices, but it recently became available on steam as well.
I've not actually played these games but from watching others play it they seem to fit the bill: Nova Drift (although instead of scrolling the field is static and it's your ship that wraps around it) and Hyperspace Dogfights. Both of these games go all in on the upgrade aspect.
I'd like to have a game that provides an emotionally satisfying experience without extensive reading or oral storytelling - the less the better.
I'm a big visual novel reader, but after watching a certain video going over the three Team Ico games, it made me really want to play another game that can make me feel something with it's mechanics rather than with traditional storytelling techniques. Horror games are pretty good at it, but I want something that makes me feel something other than fear.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons exemplifies this — storytelling via game mechanics — for me, and it's apparently getting a remake soon! You and your brother go out to find medicine for your father. You control both brothers simultaneously. I won't spoil anything else.
Came to recommend this, really fun game, not that long but it's game mechanics are fun and it doesn't overstay its welcome.
The games by the team that made Journey will always have my recommendation. I think I cried the first time I played Journey over 10 years ago lol.
That's probably the perfect answer, but I could never get into that game for some reason. Which is especially weird because I really enjoyed Flower.
Hmm what about Limbo and the games by that team? Definitely a different emotion but they are emotional, Cocoon just won an award too!
I do enjoy that type of game, but I don't think it's exactly what I'm looking for.
To expand on my earlier example, in Ico, you make a bond with Yorda, a character who you do not have any direct control over and does not speak the same language as you. A lot of that bond comes from having a button that allows you to call her to you and to hold her hand. When you run while holding her hand you feel the bump of her paces through the controller vibration. There are many cases in the course of the game where you have to hold your hand out to catch her as she jumps over gaps she couldn't cross by herself, and there is a moment where the situation is reversed; where you have to make that jump and she catches you instead, so you know that your feelings are mutual.
Have you tried The Pathless?
I played a bit of it but I ended my Apple Arcade subscription before I finished it. I might subscribe again at some point, though.
GRIS (75% off on Steam til Dec 11)
Seconding GRIS, @Akir. I was coming here to recommend it to you too, which was originally recommended to me by @Deimos, BTW. From an old comment of mine:
And speaking of Ori and the Blind Forest, it's also 75% off right now, and IMO it's another good recommendation for you too.
Was checking if anyone else posted Gris, very pretty game! Pretty much exactly what you're asking for op.
Before Your Eyes is really unique and hits hard. I would say it’s maybe further in the “oral storytelling” camp than you’re looking for, but it’s really the central mechanic that gives the story its weight. It uses your webcam, and you control by blinking and looking around with the cursor - that’s it. May not satisfy this particular itch, but highly recommend it if that sounds interesting to you.
Oh, I've heard of this one! I've wanted to play it but I never did because I was legitimately afraid of it breaking my heart. That's a fantastic recommendation, so I'll probably be picking it up.
Far: Lone Sails does an excellent job of storytelling with no reading or dialog. It's a fairly short game, but a very memorable one.
There is a sequel, but I have not yet played.
You can play Far: Changing Tides, it's pretty good.
If you play through all of RiME it should make you feel some stuff. Can't say much more without spoilers I'm afraid.
Oh, I own this game. But my computer at the time would constantly crash when I tried to play it; it had a weird problem that I couldn't ever really fix.
It'll probably play wonderfully on my Steam Deck, though (assuming it works well enough on Proton), so I'll probably pick it up again.
I just tried A Highland Song on Steam and really enjoyed it. It set a novel emotional tone that is hard for me to put in words. Certainly not horror, more a combination of nostalgia, fantasy, and wonder. I found the music to be really wonderful. My first playthrough was under 3 hours but it seems designed for additional exploration with plenty of discovery in future runs. The storytelling does come partly from narrated letters during play, but also from map fragments and interesting items you discover. And from the setting itself. The narrations alone are worth it to me.
As the thread is still going and I haven't yet given you anything you didn't already know, here's another suggestion: Papo & Yo (trigger warning for substance abuse).
I have played this game and I have enjoyed it just about as far as someone who dealt with abuse as a child could be expected to. :(
Sorry. I'll try to think of something else.
No harm done! I actually finished that game. I just felt bad afterwards. 😅
I wish I could find a game for Android that lets me buy and sell goods a la Elite Dangerous, but with idle mechanics. I'm aware of games like Kittens Game and Magic Research, but I could have sworn that I ran into a space-themed trading game that was very similar to what I'm looking for, I just can't find it again!
I've played through and enjoyed Galaxy Trader. There's no idle mechanics, but there is some waiting between planets... It recently released on PC, too.
If you are looking for a short-lived idle game, SPACEPLAN might do something for you. It can be finished in just a day or two, and has some story and humour to it.
I haven't played it, but Space RPG 3 is completely free now. I understand trading plays a major role in that one.
It’s not for android alas, but does “Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator” fit the bill?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Warlord_Organ_Trading_Simulator
Cozy, small world objective based game with able side quests. I just finished A Short Hike and that was perfect. I guess I'm looking for smaller, indie versions of BOTW. Something where I'm not just farming or killing things. I feel like I go onto steam under the "cozy" tag and end up with ten million build this little world, farm these cute animals. No, I want to interact with folks and do random things. Something mellow.
Lil Gator Game.
The premise is that you're playing make-believe Zelda with you friends while waiting for the new BOTW game to come out.
There is "combat", but it just amounts to whacking cardboard cutouts of enemies.
No farming, but lots of cute animals.
The game centers of completing "quests" for your friends, each of which oozes with personality.
I think Lil Gator Game is the perfect recommendations for you. But as a bonus suggestion, you might also consider Night in the Woods. It takes itself a little more seriously, but it's pretty casual for the majority of its runtime.
These are both awesome suggestions!!!! I just copped Night in the Woods! Lil Gator looks awesome but it is PC only :/ . I might make the move to buy it for my work laptop ;).
Hope you like them! Also, you might want to check again for Lil Gator Game. I played it on Switch, and I'm pretty sure it's available on Xbox and Playstation too :)
Have you played Wytchwood?
It's essentially a collection of folktales/fairytales told through a series of quests, collections, and crafting of spells and potions. You do capture/defeat small enemies, but it's a matter of crafting the right spell to overcome them, it's really not combat. The art style is incredibly charming, the characters are well-written and rich in folklore references, and there's zero "labor" like farming or creating product. It's all exploration, meeting characters and hearing their stories, and just taking in the surroundings while accomplishing small, digestible quests. The ambience vascilates between spooky, quirky, and solomn.
I think you'd like it based on what you've mentioned here.
Also, you should check out some YouTube videos from cozy game reviewers. The genre is pretty saturated now, and I've had the same aimless experience just filtering for "cozy games" in game stores. It's just a really vast, sort of undefined genre, so I find it helpful to hear YouTubers explain exactly which aspects are at play in any given "cozy" game, whether it's farming, story, pacing, exploration, art style, life sim, puzzles, RPG, etc. There's just so much out there nowadays.
Wow, I just watched the trailer and it looks incredible! Thanks for the suggestion.
That is a great suggestion! At the risk of being incredibly lazy are there any that you're a big fan of?
Sure! I watch Eeowna's videos, I find her accent to be charming, and she's good at explaining why you may or may not like certain aspects of the games. (She mostly focuses on Switch games, but I don't have a switch and have found plenty of recommendations from her that were also available on PC or PS4.)
I just recently came upon Smushi Come Home and have been enjoying it. Climbing seems to be a little more restrictive than in BotW, say, but you can jump, climb, glide and generally explore at your own pace in a series of cozy little areas, full of little guys to talk to and things to do.
I'll also second the recommendation for Lil Gator Game.
I've been looking for a game similar to Lost Magic on the DS for a long time now. The system of combining runes to create new magic along with monster based rts combat was really unique. I've tried games with similar spellcrafting gimmicks like Runers and Magicmaker. They're fine games, but not exactly what I was looking for. I'm also open to trying VR games. I just haven't seen any vr games with rune based spellcasting that goes beyond a tech demo or just a big sandbox experience.
WOW, I completely forgot about Lost Magic. Such a neat game. If you haven't played it already, Okami uses paintbrush gestures for combat and puzzles, may scratch a similar itch! All-around great game too, borrows a lot from the 3D Zelda titles. The Switch version also has touch controls, which might make it feel a bit closer to Lost Magic.
I played Okami a long time ago. I remember enjoying it, but I'm not sure it's the thing I'm looking for. It's cool that it has a touch enabled switch port though. I might have to try that.
Makes sense! If the spell combination is more of interest than the gesture controls, you can’t do much better than Noita. It’s an insanely deep game that I’ve never gotten too into myself, but I have friends who love it. Might be up your alley if you’re willing to learn how it all works.
I think it's specifically the spell combo plus the RTS style gameplay that really made lost magic for me. Noita does look cool and something I'd be into. Lost Magic just has such a specific game loop that I can't seem to find anywhere else. The roguelike aspects of Noita might be right up my alley though so I'll check it out after the holidays.
I'm looking for a modern(ish) level-based
FPSshooteranything with objectives.Something like Goldeneye 007 or Timesplitters 2, where you had distinct, individual levels, and each one had certain objectives for you to complete while you were in those levels. Harder difficulties would have more and more difficult objectives to complete. You were meant to go back and replay the same level multiple times in order to learn it and execute it well.
What I don't want is an "uninterrupted" linear FPS where everything is effectively contiguous (e.g. Half-Life), nor do I want an open-world one (e.g. the Far Cry series).
Is there anything like that out there?
Doom Eternal fits this pretty good.
Armored Core VI also fits this perfectly EXCEPT the first person element.
You know what, now that you made me think about it: it doesn't actually have to be an FPS! It's the
specific levels + objectivesloop I'm looking for. I edited my original request.Thanks for making me consider that.
What about Neon White? It isn’t quite what you describe, but I think it could end up scratching that itch. It’s kind of a speedrun simulator. It has very short levels that focus on mastery of your skills. There are guns and shooting mechanics, but it’s closer to a skill system than a bloodshed power fantasy.
Great recommendation. I’m actually halfway through a playthrough of this, but I let it sit for months. This is a good excuse to go back to that save.
It doesn’t quite scratch the same itch that I’m looking for since its objectives aren’t quite what I want, but it’s pretty close. Good call.
I'm hesitant to recommend this because it's not a shooter, but after seeing your edit I'll try it anyway.
Teardown is a first person heist game, where you have unlimited time setting up for the heist, but once you trigger the alarm you have 60 seconds to grab what you need and get out before the authorities arrive. You have a slew of tools at your disposal to prepare for extraction.
I really enjoy the process of breaking into the property, exploring to locate item locations and egress routes, prepping the area (blowing out walls, building ramps, strategically positioning vehicles...) then marking out my escape route with yellow spray paint. Finally the moment of truth, where you find out if your plan will work, it's exhilarating!
Recent patches have improved performance, and there are tons of mods and custom maps.
Pre-post edit: I found an older video by the dev which explains it better than I did. This trailer video shows some of the more ridiculous stuff you can do as well, though I'm more interested in the planning/execution cycle than the sandbox stuff.
I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread as I also would love more recommendations
Teardown is the most fun I’ve had with a game in a long while. Most missions start with, “How in the world am I going to destroy all five of those cars (or similar)?” It’s very satisfying when you figure it out and escape with 1 second to spare!
I'll second Teardown, what a game. It really makes you feel clever sometimes.
Hmmm. That one's actually harder than I thought.
First two ideas off the top of my head, the Halo MCC Edition, at least I remember the first couple of Halos at least had levels. The other one I'm thinking is Ghostrunner, which I guess technically isn't a shooter..... The Sniper Elite Series is also kinda like that.
I can't think of any FPS games like that outside of what you already mentioned, but a number of stealth-based games kind of fit that niche, such as the Dishonored and Hitman games. I assume that's too far away from what you're looking for.
I have a really hard time with stealth games. They make me irrationally nervous.
Overshare
Spending a full decade of my life in the closet has made it so that stealth games' "don't get found out" ethos is thoroughly offputting to me. I thought the feeling would decay with time, but I've been out and proud now for longer than I was closeted, and the pit in my stomach that they give me hasn't shown any signs of being filled in.
To this day stealth games make me way more anxious than I have any right to be, and I genuinely don't enjoy them at all. I have no desire to sit in the feeling they dredge up from within me. It's super uncomfortable.
I'm alright with the occasional stealth portion of a non-stealth game, but that's about as far as I go in that direction.
That is a really interesting experience with stealth games. Thank you very much for sharing that! I know cognitively that dealing with society’s expectation can cause many unexpected effects, but it’s hard to really understand that. I am sorry that you have had to deal with that, but thank you very much for sharing.
You might actually enjoy the Hitman games in spite of the stealth concept. It's got many missions where you aren't really hiding from everyone; you're stuck in crowds and are just trying to avoid security. But they also lean more towards puzzle than action, so once again, not what you're looking for. And I don't think there is any of them were all stages were in public places.
When I played my first Hitman game I really didn't think I'd like it; I only played it because it was free to me and it was so popular that I thought I should give it a chance. They're a lot more interesting and engrossing than you'd expect.
Yeah I'd second this -- I'm not a huge stealth game person but they feel almost more like puzzle games to me. Plus the elaborate level design and the often funny NPC dialogue makes it more fun for me.
Fellow gaymer here (and I bet you already know this!) if you haven't already it might be helpful to talk to a professional about this, since I'm sure it's having more of an effect on you than your choice in games (and as part of that, stealth games might even end up being a useful tool for exposure therapy?)
I know how much of an impact hiding who you are makes, and you deserve to be free of that baggage ❤️
This one might be too on the nose, but Agent 64: Spies Never Die is an upcoming game that borrows very heavily from Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. It's not only stylistically the same, but it uses the same objective structure as those games.
There's a demo available if you'd like to check it out today.
Funny enough, that's actually the inspiration for this post!
I've had it wishlisted for a while. It used to have a 2023 release date, but when I checked in on it just now (because 2023 is coming to a close), it has been changed to say "Coming Soon."
Seeing as the itch for what it was offering went unscratched, I decided to ask here about alternatives to play while I wait.
There probably is, but that's a rather difficult genre. You can go from Left4Dead to Trepang² and anything in between, but neither are fully congruent with your asks.
I really like "logistics" games that combine planning and execution of transportation, like Death Stranding or Snowrunner. I've not really got on with Euro Truck Simulator which seems to enitrely focus on the execution, and I like but don't love or deeply get into Transport-Tycoon style games that entirely focus on the planning.
The other element I think makes DS and Snowrunner stand out for me is the cargo being transported are discreet and often unique items, rather than just some numbers on an inventory screen or a money counter going up at the end of a mission, and that when something goes wrong you can head back out and try and resolve it. Some similar but not-quite games I can think of would be Derail Valley or Carrier Command 2.
Not entirely sure that I've explained that well, or that many other games fitting that description exist.
I don't think they're quite what you're asking for, but have you tried Factorio, Satisfactory, or Mindustry?
And while they're way more on the puzzle end of the spectrum, you might also enjoy SpaceChem and Opus Magnum.
Not quite what I'm looking for in my description, but all five are games I love!
(This year was the first I actually completed Factorio, and I'm planning on returning to Satisfactory now I'm a bit more confident in my ability to make a larger factory work.)
It's not quite as much logistical, more execution focused, but Jusant had Death Stranding vibes to me when I played it. It's a climbing game that requires a bit of looking around to plan your next stretch of climbing, and careful movements with both hands to progress. The story's a bit thin, but gameplay was rewarding and chill, and the visuals were quite nice.
It's made by Don'tNod, the team behind the Life is Strange games.
I may give that a try, it certainly looks like something I'd enjoy.
Maybe the Transport Fever 2 fits the bill?
I've been a long time Minecraft player. I got into it when my oldest child was younger, and something about the game kept me hooked over time, even when my kiddo lost interest. I've tried all the different flavors, including modded, but lately I've been looking for a more modern replacement. I love the idea that the world is 100% mine, and varied. Something about those infinite possibilities is exciting to me. I also like the crafting and survival aspects, and the challenge of creating automated farms.
I've tried various games that come close to scratching that itch. Outpath has the crafting and automating. No Man's Sky has the infinite possibilities and exploration. Subnautica has the survival, crafting, and base building. Satisfactory has the farm automation. I like all these games. I've even sunk many hours into most of them. But they all somehow fall short.
Ultimately, I think I came to the conclusion that I just love Minecraft, and that's ok. There may never be another game that hits all of the points just right like Minecraft does for me, and it's also possible that Mojang will at some point in the future release an update that ruins the game's delicate balance for me. But if that happens I'll be happy knowing that I can access older versions and continue to enjoy my favorite game.
It's obviously not that close, but perhaps a distant cousin as far as free building goes is Valheim. I'm not a Minecraft enthusiast at all (so I don't really know how it might compare for you), but I enjoyed the building possibilities in Valheim, making a structure that I could feel a little proud of, in terms of overall layout and design, and aesthetics.
Ha, Valheim is actually on my short list of games to try next. I'm also a sucker for the whole Norse aesthetic. I'm not sure why I haven't really given it a serious try until now. Perhaps this is my chance. 🙂
I'd second Valheim.
I am someone who has loved Minecraft for years, but now I've had a tough time staying in the game as I've kinda done everything at least once. I feel no challenge from the game, and I do not want to artificially create myself one or have to grind a lot.
Valheim was a beautiful new world to explore, discover, and conquer. The building mechanics are also quite good, imho.
It's probably missing the same level of modability as Minecraft and the open endedness, as it has a clear progression "tree" designed in.
I added Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead to my short list. Thanks for the recommendation!
I've checked out Lego Fortnite, and for all my beef with Epic and Fortnite, I gotta say that it really hits this niche pretty well in a different way. It's also free.
It's been called Lego Valheim, and based on the descriptions I'm seeing here, they're not wrong.
I just heard it described as Minecraft with Lego on a video last night, and that got my attention. :)
I am going to proceed with caution though since it's "Free"
Follow-up on this: I tried Lego Fortnite and it hooked me immediately. I still have concerns about supporting the business model, but they have made a damn fine open world survival game, and the village mechanics add something that I didn't know I was missing from Minecraft. The automation of resources via villagers is awesome, and feels very natural and a lot less lonely than the Minecraft progression of automating through complex farming machines.
Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for the push, because I might not have checked out the game otherwise. :)
I always felt that Terraria did some of the same points as minecraft. No infinite worlds but has the defend yourself from monsters at night/base building
I've had this one on my wishlist for a while too. I played through a similar game called Starbound and did enjoy that one. I've heard people say that Starbound falls short on expansive story where Terraria excels though, so I'm still planning to try it someday.
Terraria doesn't really have an explicit story; it's left up to the player to interpret it.
The building mechanics are great though. You have a huge amount of materials, furniture, decorations, and later on in the game - the possibility of automation.
It does focus a lot more on combat and boss fights than Minecraft does; it's not bad, on the contrary, the combat in Terraria is better and a lot more diverse. But it's worth keeping in mind.
I think you must have misunderstood, because Terraria doesn't have a proper story. It actually has lore as of sometime before 1.4 but it's so minor it fits in one forum post.
I think it likely that whoever told you that meant Starbound falls short by attempting to have an expansive story in comparison to Terraria which has none. Starbound's story quests force you into a single progression path whereas Terraria's success practically entirely depends on its open-ended progression. It has an end goal and milestones on the way but how to clear them depends on you ; you always have the choice of what to go for.
Vintage Story exists and sells itself as a successor to Minecraft inspired by various mods. I haven't tried it but you may enjoy it.
Can anyone recommend walking simulators that have great stories ? Some examples of the games like this that i have already played:
I absolutely love walking simulators / narrative games, but you've already named a lot of the best "story-rich" ones I know of. The only other ones I can think of are:
The Stanley Parable
The Beginner's Guide (same dev as Stanley Parable)
A Plague Tale: Innocence
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Life is Strange
And I wouldn't necessarily call these "story-rich" since they're instead more "atmosphere-rich", but they operate along similar lines so you might still enjoy them:
Dear Esther
A Story About My Uncle
LIMBO
INSIDE
Little Nightmares
Little Nightmares II
Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
Among the Sleep (more of a crawling rather than walking sim ;)
And a few others I have on my wishlist but haven't played yet, so can't vouch for them:
Outer Wilds
Detroit: Become Human
The Invincible
Killer Frequency
While Outer Wilds is great, I can't recommend it as a walking simulator; attempts to accomplish certain objectives can be quite stressful. (I still recommend it in general, go play it!)
Thanks a lot. I have played the Plague Tale games, they do have a good story but they are definitely more than walking sims. They have some intense combat sections. Same for Hellblade i believe.
But yea, Life is Strange is a good example. How would you rate the latest one ? True Colours ?
I will make sure to check out Dear Esther, Little Nightmares and The Invincible; already have them on my wishlist
Dear Esther (the remake, not the original mod) is the original high production value walking simulator.
You didn't ask about it, but in the even you haven't played Life is Strange II, I found it quite enjoyable (a lot of people believe it's inferior). Despite some issues which may cause a certain frustration, I enjoyed the dynamic between the protagonist siblings. Additionally, it's better at making your choices throughout the game matter in the end than the first game is.
Yeah, Plague Tale had stealth mechanics, and both it and Hellblade had boss fights in them, but IMO they're both still primarily walking sims.
I actually haven't played the latest Life is Strange games yet... I really should though, since I enjoyed the first.
p.s. I would highly recommend checking out INSIDE too. It's one of my all-time favorites, and the trailer and screenshots really don't do it justice.
Already played INSIDE a couple of times. It was great, but for some reason i found LIMBO was better - the grayscale visuals, the boys circular journey to find his sister......just felt more....visceral compared to INSIDE which kinda went full scifi ham in the third act.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is not quite (or not just) a walking simulator. It has a great story, though you do have to do some work as far as advancing the storyline, completing quests. It's neither a totally open sandbox nor an utterly linear story railway. I've mentioned repeatedly on Tildes that it's my favourite game of all time, but, to your question, it's probably the best walking simulator I've played, as far as visual and aural immersion goes.
This one has been lying in my Steam Library for a while. One day i need to pull myself up and actually start playing this game. I believe it has a good collection of mods as well on Nexus.
Some recommend Death Stranding.
I'm going to try, as I usually do, to recommend something a little different that other people haven't. But
as a disclaimer, I have played more than half of the games in this comment tree and I think they're all great recommendations, so play those first!
Wandersong is a sidescrolling platformer and may at first not seem to be what you're looking for. However, the gameplay is very easy and the heart of the game is its story. The characters are lovely and the art will grow on you. I hope you enjoy it.
wishlisted!
I'll try not to dupe anything from @cfabbro, who I'm pinging because they might also enjoy these.
In the to-play, but not yet personally vouch for:
Have you tried Oxenfree? Might click for you based on these games you've played, but it might not too. I haven't played the sequel yet so I can't endorse it, but I know it's out there.
I've got a bit of a hard to quantify request that I'm hopefully some of the Tilde community will have fresh suggestions for! I'm always on the hunt for more games that produce a measured melancholic, somber, or isolated vibe while still being fairly interactive and have some aspect of action gameplay - think games like Ueda's Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, the Dark Souls series, and Metroid. Due to their source influences, Soulslikes and more Metroid-leaning Metroidvanias (Ghost Song, Ender Lillies) tend to target this feeling as well.
I've found that in my head, the best way that I can describe these games is that despite many of them having very impressive and beloved soundtracks, they play just as well and maybe even have a more effective atmosphere with the music volume set to zero and with just the character's footsteps and ambient world noise to accompany you (take Metroid Prime, for a potentially blasphemous example).
I've found some survival horror games land this feeling at times, and most recently No Sun To Worship tickled this same fancy with a stealth game, but I'd love to hear any of your suggestions!
Horizon: Zero Dawn is not quite "complete isolation", but the main character does indeed spend most of the time away from other people (or, at least, non-hostile ones). (Loved Shadow of the Colossus, by the way.)
I loved Horizon: Zero Dawn! Absolutely devoured the game and went back for seconds in Ultra Hard mode. I've yet to play the sequel but am eagerly awaiting the PC release next year, it'll be a day one pickup for me! I do think HZD felt almost too... alive (?) for the feeling I'm looking for games to create. It feels like the world cares too much about Aloy and events too wholly dependent on her to really give the sense of being small in a massive world. It's almost as if in the games I'm looking for the world itself is a character that barely acknowledges you exist until you "earn" your specialness; slaying the colossi, linking the fires, and so forth. I struggle so very much trying to describe the distinction!
I'm guessing you've played Hollow Knight, but if not, it's definitely this. The map maker Cornifer is actually my favorite character in the game because it feels so isolated, except for when you hear his humming. Running into him is a fun reprieve from the isolation, but I also enjoy that vibe.
I was thinking of Shadow of the Colossus before I got to the second half of your first paragraph. Love that game so much.
I share a similar love for lonely sorts of experiences, so I'll list some of my favorite games here in case any of them match what you are looking for:
I appreciate the suggestions, thank you for taking the time to share your favorites! I've heard of most of those and some have certainly piqued my interest in the past with Wind Waker actually being a personal favorite as well. Hell, I love so many of the Zelda games - Majora's Mask in fact is one of the few games filled to the brim with characters to interact with that still manage to give me the feelings I described seeking!
Subnautica and No Man's Sky (along with Minecraft, I suppose) have called out to me quite often but I've been hesitant to start them because they almost seem potentially too "fiddly" (to borrow a board game community term) and/or wiki-dependent for me. The environments are so tempting to explore and the potential feeling of existing alone in a hostile world is juicy but I do worry there are so many mechanical knobs to turn, checklists to check, and meters to manage that I'd be constantly pulled out from being lost in the vibes. Do you feel like they lean more towards the gut feeling of playing games like management sims / city builders where it's about small plans and optimization loops, or more towards the wibbly wobbly nebulous feeling of being small in a big world like Shadow of the Colossus - and is there one of those you'd suggest over the others?
Not to overload you with too much info, but if you are into a more open ended roleplay experience I'd guide you toward No Man's Sky. The game is so configurable that you can pretty much be whoever you want.
I've seen people become space bounty hunters, diplomats, smugglers, anthropologists, archeologists, and explorers. Nomads or Colonizers. Just too many paths to count. It's very open ended, so you have to use your own imagination to an extent.
I didn't initially recommend it because the stock game does have a lot of crafting and fetch quests and such. But recent updates have made a lot of those things configurable/removable, and there are so many different potential playstyles that it might be worth a look.
Don't worry, I absolutely appreciate the extra info! My only experience with NMS was from when it was initially added Gamepass and from videos online and you're correct that the stock crafting, guided/recipe based progression, and fetch quests didn't connect with me. The general exploration was super appealing though, so now learning that those things might be removable is actually quite exciting! It's been a while since I've had gamepass but it might be worth a resub to give NMS another shot.
The same goes for Subnautica actually, so I'm really happy for all of the extra info. I don't mind stamina management at all (of which I agree oxygen is probably in the same camp, since it's a progression gate and recovered incidentally rather than actively) but thirst/hunger meters sap my enjoyment regardless of game - I think there's a really good chance I could enjoy what Subnautica offers knowing that I could tweak those.
Of the three, only Subnautica really matches what you are describing. Admittedly, I don't mind checking wikis and I tend to like games that offer some management sim feel. But most people will tell you not to look up anything with Subnautica, and for good reason. The game is crafted to provide you everything you need to know in the lore, and there really isn't any forced pacing outside of maybe one event. You can totally get lost in the game. I'd say it for sure has that Shadow of the Colossus lonely world vibe at times, though I still prefer the slow melancholy progression of Shadow.
Edit: Also I forgot to mention that Subnautica offers some alternative modes to disable hunger and thirst that I'd recommend for you since most of the "management" portion of the game revolves around farming water/food to keep yourself from dying of thirst/starvation. There is also a "freedom" mode that gives infinite oxygen, but I wouldn't recommend that because it's a core mechanic IMO. Kinda like how I wouldn't want to have infinite stamina in SotC.
Have you tried Observer? Or is this too narrative?
I actually do really like what Observer was going for and the experience they crafted, but the narrative was definitely too direct to give the same melancholy and isolated vibes, and the linearity of it detracts from that feeling that you're just sitting in an weighty, uncaring space - some external force that cares about you the character in this world is always subtly trying to drive you forward. Definitely a darker tone that I appreciate though!
This might be a bit of a reach but what about something like Everquest, but single-player (or at least solo-friendly)?
I'd like to be able to just make a character (or possibly a party), go out into the world, and start exploring and grinding. It's always been very relaxing to me to do that, but I'd like to be able to do it without needing to find and coordinate a group of other players - especially since, with a kid in the house, I need to be able to take breaks at random intervals.
I'm not sure these games will hit exactly what you're hoping for, but have you looked into:
These are all on the older side meaning their combat is closer to the cooldown-based MMO style rather than the active hitbox style and their quest and mechanical systems are not as far removed from the Ultima / Everquest influences as more modern games.
Those all look pretty close to what I'm looking for - do any of them skew more toward an open world, or are they more of a point A to point B storyline?
I think all of them lean a bit more open world, much like how Morrowind did. There is definitely a "main quest" that you can choose to prioritize but you can absolutely just go off and discover new areas and side quests on your own, and stumble into areas for which you are not at all prepared. Kingdoms of Amalur is the most "modern" and linear in its design (if I remember correctly, it's been quite some time) but there's still some openness. It certainly is the one of the list with the most modern dodge-and-attack combat system.
Unless I'm missing something, it sounds like you are looking for a classic turn based or action RPG. Final Fantasy, Diablo, Legend of Zelda, Chrono Trigger all fall into the category. There are countless games in the genre at this point. Do you have any other requirements to narrow it down? Do you prefer a more open world or restrictive geography based on story? Modern graphics?
Right, I meant very similar to Everquest, which none of the games you listed are (though I did enjoy all of those).
Open world, go wander around and open world and grind mobs (either as a solo adventurer or as a single-player-controlled party that fills roles of tank, dps, heals, and maybe crowd-control), hope for good loot drops, maybe take up a crafting profession or two, and keep the sort of slow-paced (but maybe not AS slow as EQ...) combat so it's a bit more relaxing. No breakpoints between exploration and combat (as in the switching-to-a-battle-screen mechanic of FF and Chrono Trigger).
There were the dotHack games, which kind of simulated an MMO, but after playing one recently I didn't enjoy the gameplay very much at all - besides the fact that the MMO part was extremely simulated - as it was really just "go do this very specific slice of MMO-like stuff to progress to the next bit of story."
Ah, thanks for the context. I played a lot of RPG games leading up to the release of Everquest (but never played it specifically, so the details are probably what I'm missing here). But around that time I veered hard into other genres as MMOs were just never appealing to me. Sorry I don't have any better recommendations.🤷♂️
Can anyone recommend funny games? I'm looking for stuff with great comedy, more on the side of witty and clever writing, rather than slapstick, cartoony silliness. Aimed more at grown up adults rather than kids or teens. I want to laugh out loud.
Update: Found these on my own:
Little bit old, but The Stanley Parable might be up your alley if you're still looking!
Requesting Short Games, something I could get through in a weekend tops. Bonus if it is on Game Pass, or was given away free at some point. Trying to feel productive in my hobby.
You didn't mention genres you like in particular, so here's just a couple of my favourite ultra short games :) Not sure if any of them fit the game pass/free at some point bonus
OneShot is a surreal, self aware, and somewhat psychological horror game following a little cat person named Niko. Good soundtrack and visual design, I really liked this game. I haven't played Undertale, but I've heard Oneshot compared a lot with it. Avg length ~4.5hrs, more like 9 if you want to do 100% completion.
Citizen Sleeper is a cyberpunk narrative based game with a lot of good scifi worldbuilding and fun characters. The gameplay aspect of it is relatively simple, and unfortunately your choices don't tend to matter as much as the game may try to make it seem, but I had a lot of fun playing it last year. There are a couple relatively different endings from what I remember too. Average length looks to be ~7hrs.
Stacklands is a card based management survival game with cute graphics and surprisingly fun mechanics. Casual and no story, ~6hr avg playtime. I played this awhile ago and don't remember it much except that I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it.
Journey is an atmospheric little walking sim adventure game with beautiful graphics. The gameplay is a little limited, but it feels more like an "experience" than a proper game in many ways. The most delightful thing is getting paired with another player in real time and exploring together, but I'm not sure how common that is now the game has been out for awhile. ~2hr playtime.
While I didn't like them as much as those above, I'd also recommend looking into Gris, My Friend Pedro (didn't finish but was very fun), Stray, Abzu, Little Nightmares, and The Last Clockwinder (VR). They range from ~2-7hrs playtime afaik.
Already played Journey, Oneshot is in my Steam Library already and Citizen Sleeper is on Game Pass, thank you for the suggestions.
Here's a very specific one: I've recently been playing Honkai: Star Rail and it made me remember how much I love the immersion of simulated text messaging between characters. So that's what I'm looking for: more games where the main character has a phone, and you can send text messages to the other characters (or, more likely, reply to text messages they send you).
Off the top of my head, aside from Honkai: Star Rail, I can only think of Cyberpunk 2077, the Persona games, and maybe GTA that do this. I think visual novels have this in their games quite often, but visual novels aren't really what I'm looking for (though I'm open to it if the visual novel is really good).
It's also by Atlus and might be close enough to a Visual Novel that it doesn't interest you, but I believe Catherine ("Classic" on Steam, Full Body as a complete edition on consoles) has a good amount of this to establish some character relationships over the course of the game
It's a visual novel, but Steins;gate's gameplay uses the texts you send to people to determine how the routes and timelines diverge iirc.
Funnily enough, Street Fighter 6's World Tour mode has this with the various masters.
I haven't gamed much in not-so-recent years, but there are two games that I played that did stand out to me: Cuphead and Furi (God Damn is this game underrated in my opinion, most fun I had in a very long time)
Both are skill-based games akin to old-school games I grew up on, and I like that both had more of a focus on boss battles rather than levels ending in a boss battle. I like that the mechanics are simple, and that they are games I could put down and not touch for months but then pick up and continue like nothing.
I am also not a fan of the grindy "unlock" gameplay loop mechanic that has become pretty common, which neither of those games have (while Cuphead does have unlockables, they are baked into the progression of the game rather than being a grindy loop that just pads game time). I'm also not a fan of Open World games, nor am I exactly a fan of RPG elements. This has mostly kept me from getting too into the Souls games, though I did enjoy Sekrio as it was a lot more action-based
So yeah, would love some suggestions based off the above!
I’m almost certain I won’t find anything quite like Puzzle Bandits again, but I really really want to! So if someone can find what I’m looking for, I’d love to offer a bounty! Maybe in the spirit of this thread, I’ll gift you a game on Steam?
Puzzle Bandits was a game with as far as I know a completely unique slide-past-to-rearrange match-3 game. The gameplay aspect of being able to rearrange pieces (essentially infinitely, as long as you’re fast enough — there’s a time limit that starts once you touch a piece) is so compelling to me that a few years ago, I tried learning games development just to replicate it. I’ve seen a number of other match-3 games and puzzles with various takes on the way you move pieces, but none have drawn me in like this game did.
Not to be confused with Puzzle Pirates although I find it amusing that Puzzle Pirates is now owned by Grey Havens, where Puzzle Bandits was created by now-defunct (maybe?) Grey Area Labs.
The fights and characters and metagame and progression are not relevant to my request. Just the ability to rearrange the game board within a single action, and not have the game react to lining up the pieces until I’ve released the piece I’m moving (or timing out)
Looking for a game to play with up to 2-5 friends, off and on. Currently, we pretty much only play League of Legends because we can play it with any number of us, and drop in and out as the night goes on without missing anything (other than maybe waiting 20 minutes for the current game to end).
However, as all things go with League, it’s frustrating when the games seem unbalanced from champ select, or the toxicity of the random people in the player base.
Unfortunately, the only other games in this style (I guess “co-op with technically infinite playability“) I can think of are either other MOBAs or FPS games - and FPS games are a non-starter (for the first person gun-play. Sea of Thieves was fine, but motion sickness was a problem. Anything more FPS-like than SoT is likely a no-go).
Tried Guild Wars 2? Particularly the sPvP and WvW modes. sPvP is 5v5.
I'm looking for VR games for Oculus Rift. More specifically something that's at least somewhat kid-friendly. Violence on par with shooters like Fortnite is ok, but no horror or gore. Preferably not to much in-game required reading. Big bonus if there's two player mode (either local or online is fine).
Several years old at this point but have you played Windlands 2 yet? You can play together.
I haven't played any VR so all suggestions is appreciated. Windlands 2 looks great, thank you!
I saw you said you haven't played any VR, so I'll suggest my favorite game that's very basic: Beat Saber! One of the first big VR games and still very popular lol.
I would like some casual low-stress games. I bought Terra Nil recently and absolutely loved it, except that it was too short. I want something that takes skill or strategy, not something mindless. I want there to be some stakes, but the failure modes should be fairly forgiving. Thanks!
Super Auto Pets is my recent go to for something like that. Just enough brain power for me to play during a meeting, while not being so intensive that I can't focus on the actual meeting.
Slay the Spire used to do that for me too, but I clocked hour 450 and a 100% achievement last year so I've been taking a break.
You could also try something like Dorf Romantik! There was a bunch of recommendations for me when I asked about this a couple weeks ago. https://tildes.net/~games/1b2m/what_are_some_of_your_favorite_meeting_games