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Looking for games that can be played with only the mouse
Hello, due to some unfortunately circumstances I need to have my left hand in a cast for some time and I'm looking for recommendations for games I could play only using my right hand (so only using the mouse). I have a few in my library that I've already been playing like Super Auto Pets and Let's Revolution, but I'm a bit bored of them. I also tried a tower defense game called Super Sanctuam TD, which was in my library, so I've tried looking for some other TD games but couldn't find anything that caught my eye.
Edit: I only listed what I've played recently, but I don't really want to limit myself to any genre, the only requirement is to be playable only with the mouse.
One Handed Gamer is the Steam Curator you're looking for. Tons of great recommendations.
Yes, many CRPG should be playable (Baldur's Gate, Pillars of Eternity, Divinity Original Sin, Tyranny) .Some discomfort should be expected but nothing game breaking.
I only listed what I've played recently, but I don't really want to limit myself to any genre, the only requirement is to be playable only with the mouse.
I've edited the original message now to include this.
Have a look on Into the breach. It is made by the same developer as FTL and both are great games. FTL is better with keyboard and mouse, can be played with mouse only though (but not easily).
Into the breach is turn based mouse controlled strategy game where you have a few units with specific skills and you have to survive/defeat/do objectives for set amount of turns (I think 5?). It is up to you how well you can use those skills to your advantage. Or disadvantage if you don't think hard enough. It is kinda a bit puzzle/chess game where you have to think a lot about what you do before you do so. I spent many many hours in and the game still didn't get boring. Every map is new situation and everytme there can be different outcomes. Story is kinda "go there, finish maps, then grand finale, you saved the world, rinse and repeat" aka not really a story there, but who cares? The game mechanics itself are the great on this game. You also collect some thing or other and can buy new weapons/bonuses and each of your robots have a pilot that can have different skills, so there is a lot to unlock, find, juggle around to get different playthrough every time. And then you can even mix different robots and try crazy weapons/skills combinations or make it easy for you...
Simply put - great game for the price, really!
EDIT: Added much more info about the game...
I would say FTL still counts since you only need the spacebar.
Depends on how the cast will be. Worst case scenario is keyboard on the ground and pressing spacebar using leg.
I mean, his nose still works, right?
Or rebinding that to an extra mouse button.
It's already bound to middle-click by default.
I know some people have their mouse in front of them/arm across the front of them, so one hand to mouse, and reach for the spacebar with the pinkie finger?
I have successfully played Classic WoW with my 5-button mouse using one hand while holding my 3-month-old with the other. There are dozens of mods that make that even easier than the defaults.
I got into WoW through a free trial disk in my Dad's newspaper, and I remember in the article it said the game was designed to be played with one hand to better appeal to countries that heavily smoked.
It was also just how MMO and RPGs were back then. "Click to move" was a default behavior.
Both mouse 1 and mouse 2 held down at the same time has always moved forward in every MMO I've played. Fantastic quality of life feature.
The guy that got me into WoW is and was a heavy smoker, so I guess you're right? :P
The dalamud plugin framework from FFXIV has some great plugins like ones that change you combo abilities into single button rotations. With that plus rebinding shoulder buttons and middle click, you can probably do everything short of speed running dungeons and extreme content with that.
The first thing that came to mind when I read the title was One Finger Death Punch. It's a fun game played with just the left and right mouse buttons where you battle waves of enemies with precision timed hits.
It's not a very complex game but I remember it being very fun and perhaps a bit different from the things you are playing.
I'm sorry to hear about your hand, but you're in luck that there's a ton of recent games that fit your bill. If you don't already have one, I highly recommend getting a multi-button mouse. I have a 5 button one, and it's super handy. With those extra keybinds available, you have a bunch of options.
Many of those would often want a couple of keyboard presses, maybe Esc, Space, or Enter. If they can be rebound to the mouse, you're golden. In the rare cases you need to type something, they all are pauseable or will otherwise let you take your time.
Agree on all counts. Citybuilders, deckbuilders, strategy, and management games are all perfect for this. I play them one handed all the time while eating something with the other hand.
One thing I've found helps a lot with this is binding the space bar to a button on the mouse. Can be the middle mouse button or a side/thumb button. Makes tons of strategy or management games a breeze since you can easily pause and resume time/turns without having to click 'pause' or 'continue' each time. Works wonders on games like Football Manager, Slay the Spire, Civilization, Against the Storm, EU4, CK3, etc. etc. etc.
Since interesting suggestions here, also your mention of backpack heroes reminded me of Backpack Battles.
Got a broken arm too. Damn ice. It's almost healed, but today I'm going to the hospital for an operation to have it put together right, so back to square one!
Vampire Survivors is played solely by moving your character via WASD. It sounds stupid, but the game is crazy addictive. It have a clone with fancier graphic called Halls of Torment. That one has mouse-aim, but you can toggle on Auto Aim and Auto Fire in the settings and it works pretty well.
There's quite a lot of turn-based roguelike deckbuilders. Slay the Spire is the classic one, but I also liked Card City Night (whimsical and charming) and Inscryption (combines retro-aesteticts with a truly creepy atmosphere)
I believe there is a mouse control option for movement in the PC version of Vampire Survivors as well, can't check at the moment.
For some social suggestions, I believe Among Us can be entirely played with the mouse in groups using microphones.
And most top down ARPGs are designed in a way they can be mouse only, I won't lie to you and say a keyboard doesn't make them better experiences - but there's many co-op options and a few mmo options for multiplayer. The mousiness might vary on specific title, but I know the MMO Albion Online is fully mousy as an example.
And speaking of MMOs, if I remember right both versions of RuneScape can be entirely played with the mouse but it's only been over a decade since I last played it.
I can’t speak for what RuneScape has now become, haven’t played it… but you’re right that the rebooted nostalgia version (OSRS aka Old School RuneScape aka 2007scape) can definitely be played fully by mouse, with the exception of chatting to other players, and I think searching for items in the Grand Exchange (basically a global trade hub for buying & selling items) but certainly doesn’t need simultaneous use at all.
Not playable only by mouse, but super monkey ball can be played with only one thumbstick. The game is pretty old of course by now, but you should be able to run it on an emulator.
I find Hexceed to be a nice relaxing game that just uses the mouse. It's a puzzle game that's distantly related to minesweeper.
I'd imagine that most any card game is mouse only as well.
There are tons of point and click games out there as well. My wife is super fond of the Mystery Case Files series.
The sims and cities skylines can be played with just a mouse (aside from naming things)
I think Papers Please is a mouse only game. I never played it myself. But watching others, it seemed to be mouse only.
Papers Please is mouse only to start with but you can unlock upgrades that allow you to use keyboard shortcuts as you progress. These upgrades are convenient if you have two working hands and would thus speed you up under those circumstances, but the difference isn't nearly great enough that you couldn't play to the end without them.
A lot of strategy games will can be played mostly through the mouse. RTS games slightly less so than turn based 4x games but it certainly is possible.
Since you do enjoy TD these might be categories to expand into.
In addition to that a lot of colony sims/citybuilder games will work quite well. A game I enjoyed recently is Timberborn which is early access but complete to the point that it is very much playable.
Famously Polarium GBA can be played one handed, but it's the left hand (due to d-pad requirement). It has over 365 puzzles so will keep you going through the duration of your recovery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdAsnZlmQtM
You could play it emulated and map an external controller to it. Bonus points of you use a one-handed controller: https://oneswitch.org.uk/page/one-handed
Loop Hero is like a one button game, but still engaging. it's kind of a testament to simple but fun design. Others have mentioned deck builders, and I agree with the recommendation of Across The Obelisk, which has the advantage of co-op.
The Stanley Parable is also good fun with just a move and interact button. Less sure on this one, but pretty confident you could bind it all to the nose.
Opus Magnum is a fun puzzle game where you build little factories and can be played entirely with a mouse.
I got a copy of Spellswapper made by Tildes user @Tygrak, you can see their trip report on publishing their game, and with a nice review by @kfwyre. It's genuinely fun, and I play with the mouse only. You'll want to toggle the auto-cast by pressing T, and then you only need the mouse for each 20 minute run.
I'll admit the simple graphics made me hesitate at first, but the gameplay is tight, and I've sunk an hour into it without thinking. I'm finding it relaxing, though balanced with enough tension to not be boring
Pendulumania https://youtu.be/LD6zbKG_-EE is mouse-only.
Lots of good reccomendations here already for any turn based and/or non action games. To add on, I played the original torchlight one handed right after my first child was born having to hold a baby in one arm and have the other free. I would think that you could play path of exile one handed with certain builds as well and it may be fun to come up with builds that could be played with one hand effectively.
Highly recommend Brotato. It's sort of like Vampire Survivors but way more weapons, items, and skills. Extremely satisfying gameplay that only requires a mouse!
I'd go with all of the LucasArts games.
They're all mouse only and don't require too much speed and dexterity, each of them is a work of art. They might be too funny though, and you'l hurt your arm more while doubling over with laughter =)
Came here to recommend this, the classic point-and-click adventures don't get enough love these days. The old LucasArts games can be played on practically any hardware through ScummVM. And here's a list of free games that can also be played with it. Flight of the Amazon Queen is great.
If you're interested in this recommendation but looking for something newer, Return to Monkey Island can be enjoyed even if you're not familiar with the earlier games in the series. Though of course I recommend those because they're great. There are remastered and fully voiced special editions of the first and second games. The third game, Curse of Monkey Island, was never remastered but is playable in ScummVM. Skip Escape from Monkey Island.
Getting Over It with Bennet Foddy
For a td style game I’d recommend checking out heretics fork. It’s still in early access and relatively cheap.
For a more general type of game that’s mouse only I’d suggest trying slay the spire (a deck building roguelite) game and maybe into the breach (I’m not 100% on if that’s playable with just a mouse)
I'll give heretic's fork a look. Also I've already sunk quite a few hours into slay the spire, but forgot to include it in my post.
Fallout 1 if you want to hate yourself and potentially every choice you make :)
Spent a few hours on it in total and I guess I'm just dumb as rocks; had a horrible time.
Edit: by all means go for it, I just sucked at it big-time.
Worth thinking about Wii which has a phenomenal amount of games and can be played one handed, due to the nature of the Wii remote.
I don't think this is what you're looking for, but it technically fits your description:
https://youtu.be/UKj6Dwt7NJc?si=TKpYOFC1oZQeMFo0
Otherwise, I'd second the Paradox games. CK2, EUIV, Victoria 2, Stellaris, HoI4. I have not played CK3 or Vicky 3. I'd also recommend RPGs. Top-down ones make sense, but you can also play KotOR with just a mouse (left+right click to move), which means I assume you can play Jade Empire without a keyboard, but I've never played that. You can also play a lot of MMORPGs without a keyboard. I like LotRO, although that has some grinding. SWTOR no longer requires any grinding but you might need to subscribe for one month to get the permanent XP boost that enabled you to just do the story missions, though that's still cheaper than a lot of other games.
FWIW I've also had good luck using SteamInput for some games to play one-handed with a controller.
There's many games out there that can become one-handed fairly easily by remapping a few buttons from the left to the right side.
One such story
Lots of good suggestions in here, but one I found very nice when I chopped off part of my left thumb a few years ago was a vertical handheld.
There
Are
Plenty
Of styles out there (I used a Gameboy Color during my recovery) to choose from and heaps of games on Gameboy and Gameboy Advance that work very well with one hand. Pokemon being one of them, but I recall playing plenty of Legend of the River King and Dragon Quest 3, but the Adance Wars and Fire Emblem series would also go great, as well as pretty much any other JRPG if you're into those. Could even see something like Harvest Moon working well, though I've never played the series.
I have plenty of mouse driven games on my laptop, but I found I tended to prefer the handheld, as it was easier to manage with one functioning hand, versus trying to balance the laptop wherever I was.
Voxelgram - free! 3d picross, learn-from-experience tutorial, loads of workshop maps, and a great ost. this is almost always my go-to game when i dont feel like using my controller or keyboard for anything at all.
Storyteller - a leveled puzzle game where you use images to fill in empty comic strips to tell a reactive and interactive story.
Potion craft - 2d object combo puzzler? you progress by finding new combos and selling them in your shop while growing said ingredients in your (hands off) garden.
Geometric sniper - cheap 2D B/W target finder in a doodle art style.
looking for aliens! - cheap alien themed wheres waldo, reactive world pieces.
mining mechs - a (cheap) STEAL of a modern 'motherlode' title with replayability due to prestiging base stats. can be played well with the right hand on KB(wasd or arrow), or the way i prefer, which is to map your controller RS in steam controller settings to output the same as LS, and just use the controller right handed. (general tip for games that dont have/use RS camera controls, wish i could remember what game does this by default and made me think to start doing this)
Toaster Jam. It supports keyboard and controler too but best experience is with mouse only. The gameplay mechanics require fast action time plus movement possible only with mouse.
I recently completed these games while mostly just using the mouse:
I'd also recommend visual novel type games like Ace Attorney or Zero Escape. Mostly reading and clicking with occasional puzzle solving.
Someone mentioned city builders... IMO SimCity4 is still amazing.
Play as SPG/artillery in World of Tanks. (inside joke for the game, as using that type of vehicle for the battles doesn't require much keyboard and is an annoyance to the other tankers). "Clickers", they are called
Civilization 5 and 6 can be played with mouse only.
Just to add a few
Stellaris Nexus.
endgame of devil.