Do you have a game you play over and over, when nothing else fits your mood? That game that is infinitely re-playable, somewhat the same every time and somewhat new and interesting?
For me it’s the games in the Orcs Must Die series. But mostly OMD 3. I play the mode called Scramble, where you have to beat 5 rounds of orcs, and they get harder and harder as you progress. There are random things to make it harder (nerfs) and you can choose 1 thing per round to make it easier (buffs). I’ve probably played that something like 300 times now since I beat the main game + DLCs a long while ago. I go into a special mental state while playing, since I know it all so well, and just zone out for about an hour each time.
Patient gamers, what’s your “I will keep playing this game for the rest of my life” fallback?
I’ll play a multiplayer shooter or civilization 6
Crawl: Stone Soup. Classic rogue like. You can play it in the browser so it’s very fast to get going. Minotaur Berserker is a nice semi brainless flow.
I’m partial to Gargoyle Fighter, slam maces into everything
Civilization V.
I’ll load up Spider-man a couple times a month just to go on patrol, and stop random crimes.
Been doing this since Spider-man 2 came out on the original Xbox. Glad the new one came out, and I don’t have to chase that kid’s damn balloon anymore.
For me it is loading up Xonotic to strafe jump around and blast bots. The movement in Xonotic is hypnotic, and while I usually play in short bursts I don’t think I will ever get bored of returning over and over again to learn the nuances and creative opportunities of combat and movement in Xonotic. All it takes is the first strafe jump to put a stupid smile on my face.
Also I love open world driving games and Motortown is my jam. I do urgent taxi jobs and just let my mind relax as I drive like a complete madman. The tire grip and burnout mechanics along with the vehicle handling in general is the best I have tried in any game.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1369670/Motor_Town_Behind_The_Wheel/
Xonotic is mint can’t recommend it enough! has replaced Quake 3 for me
Guild Wars 2 and Dear Esther
I did that a lot with Subnautica but I think I’ve worn it out. I would make up challenge runs for myself to spice it up and I’ve run out of those. It was my “I want to play a video game right now” game. I kinda wish I had fewer objections to Subnautica 2, because there’s things I like about that game and things I don’t and the don’ts slightly outweigh the things that do.
I’ve had Subnautica on my wishlist forever. I should get to that soon
It’s great, go play it, and I suggest going in as blind as you can.
I once saw a playthrough by Let’s Play Easy Mode, I don’t know how he acquired a copy of the game while knowing as little as he did about it. He correctly guessed there’d be swimming in it and realized about six minutes in that it was a survival game.
I like to give this one hint, which I think is enough guidance to keep you from looking up the wiki and encountering actual spoilers: The answer to “well, now what?” is “go deeper.”
When I’m too tired or depressed to dive deep into something it’s always something really simple like Ring of Pain, Vampire Survivors, or other slow paced stuff.
I have no idea why, but Wurm Online always manages to draw me back. Guess it’s a Zen and the Art of Imping addiction.
this is a smartass answer but if no video game is catching your attention, don’t play a video game. do anything else. pick up a new hobby or revisit an old one.
Yup. I like reading and working on coding projects.
That said, sometimes I get a hankering to play a game, but none of the dozens I have installed look interesting, so I’ll go play one of my favorites (EU4, C:S, Mount & Blade, etc).
This is what I also do. I have plenty of old favourites, but if I’m really not in the mood, I don’t try to push it.
HL2, Portal 2, Far Cry (1), Commander Keen, Supreme Commander, Raptor: Call of the Shadows. Halo MCC but particularly 2.
Oh sweet I can get Raptor for 84¢ right now, haven’t played that since the '90s
FTL.
Deep Rock Galactic is good even in singleplayer.
Rock and stone, to the bone!
Ys Seven for the PSP. I have Ys VII and Ys: MoC for the Vita and Ys IX for the Switch, but there’s something about Seven that keeps me coming back.
Balatro
Clearly, a person of culture
