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I'm seeking recommendations for PC games
Hello everyone,
As I've previously mentionned in a previous comment, I'm getting back into PC gaming after 3 years with a simple laptop. I would be grateful if you could share some recommendations! Here are a few details that I think can help you:
- Looking back, the genres I like the most are
- City-building games (Cities Skylines, SimCity 4, ...Rimworld?)
- Tactical shooters (Arma 3, Insurgency)
- First-person role-playing shooters (STALKER, Fallout 4)
- Atmospheric indie titles (INSIDE, Kentucky Route Zero, Night in the Woods, Oxenfree, What Remains of Edith Finch)
- I don't tend to like competitive multiplayer games, I get easily frustrated about my lack of skill.
- I'm mainly aiming to catch up with what I could have missed these last couple of years. But if you think there's an ""older"" title I'd like, tell me anyway.
- I've already got my eyes on Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Outer Wilds and The Outer Worlds
Phew! I hope I haven't reduced the list of candidates too much
Destiny 2 is worth a shot, it recently came to Steam and is free-to-play. It's a beautiful game. It's basically Halo but as an MMO along with the MMO grind. The grind may turn you off but I'd recommend at least playing a few missions, as they are co-op and the shooter gameplay is really fun and decently challenging. The co-op works well because losing a team member during a mission really hurts, you need to stick together and revive each other and such, otherwise you'll get overrun by the enemy.
Wait, Destiny 2 is free to play? How have I missed this?! Thanks for the info! I don't usually mind grinding when the gameplay is engaging, seems like it could be the case here.
I'm having fun with Metro: Exodus and The Outer Wilds. Metro: Exodus is less of a role playing FPS but similar to STALKER and Fallout 4 in terms of aesthetics and setting. Plus Metro will push the limits of your new PC. Been playing both those games due to spending $1 on xbox game pass. I will probably renew at one month and then cancel afterwords.
Ooh, you're right to bring up Xbox Game Pass, good value, I'll probably get that.
I recommend checking out Factorio if you like the city-building games. It's not exactly like that but if you enjoy the technical combination of resource management and output I think you might enjoy Factorio. I don't recall ever seeing the game go on sale but it's worth the price and you can get it right from the dev's website (or other platforms like Steam). There is a demo you can try on their website if you want to check it out before committing. I also setup a private server using LinuxGSM so that others can join in with your factory building. The map is mostly infinite so you can both work at your own pace and eventually join your factories if you want.
I have trouble with the "pipeline" genre (Satisfactory et al), don't really know why... not that I didn't try though!
Tactical Shooter: Hell Let Loose (I've really gotta stop commenting about this game haha). But it's soooooo good. You don't have to be skilled to enjoy it. Just being a productive member of a squad and following orders is a blast. Far lower barrier to entry than Arma, but way more realistic than Insurgency. 50v50 battles.
Atmospheric indie: Stanley Parable is one of the most memorable games of all time for me. Can't recommend it enough. Perfect for you based on the games you mentioned, if you haven't played it yet.
Haha, yeah, huge fan of Stanley Parable and the Beginner's Guide, can't wait for the Ultra Deluxe version of the former. That Hell Let Loose game does indeed seem like something I'd enjoy, that's going on the list, thanks
Oh man i really didn’t know anything about Hell let loose too. I’m gonna check this game as soon as possible!
Both Bastion and Transistor from supergiant games are incredible experiences. The theme and feel of both are incredible, masterpiece soundtracks and solid gameplay. I'd expect you to enjoy them if you liked Kentucky route zero, I never played that one but it's been on my to do list for years.
Another along the atmospheric indie track is Ori and the blind forest. Platformer with incredible movement and flow. Might seem a little slow until you get the best fast moving ability but the theme and artwork really kept me entertained.
I'd like to second Factorio, adding that you haven't really tried pipeline games until you tried the very best, Factorio really stands apart. It might be better if you have an experienced friend to learn it with.
PUBG had a lot of issues but for a wild time with 3 friends it's a great time these days. Also, I find it more fun the less competitive you are so it's one of the only shooters I play anymore.
Getting over it with Bennett folly could be up your alley too if you liked Stanley parable. It's... strange but worth it.
I don't think it's overly RPG-ish, but Prey is probably a good one to check out.
On the atmospheric-indie side, I'd definitely suggest GRIS. Most of the other indie games that came to mind for me are on the difficult end (e.g. Celeste), and I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for.
I can't recommend Prey enough, it was such an amazing game. Really gave you a pretty open sandbox to modify to achieve your goals. If you want to reach a platform, the only thing stopping you is personal creativity in building some ramshackle ladder and your platforming skills to climb said ladder. Or getting super creative in navigating around enemies if you didn't want to fight.
Only complaint I would have is the re-spawning enemies by the end got annoying, lots of backtracking and killing the same enemies and clearing the same room dozens of times by the time your done. Not necessarily difficult to do near end-game, just annoying.
Already purchased GRIS on the Switch but never took the time to finish it... Yeah Celeste always seemed daunting. I was really into those hard platforming games when I was younger but nowadays I barely have the time to get good at those which leads to the aforementioned frustration.
I have now realized that I am but a casual gamer haha
Another one that came to mind for atmospheric indie: Eastshade
While I haven't played it myself, you might enjoy playing Banished since you like city planning games.
Honestly, the more I think about it, it seems that games designed specifically for PCs are uncommon now. Mouse based interfaces in general seem to have largely faded away. I suppose that this trend has started a long time ago, but I didn't notice because I myself was not in the PC gaming scene for quite a while.