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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?

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[-] ramius345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

Another playthrough of BG3.

[-] cRazi_man@lemm.ee 43 points 1 week ago

Rogue-lites are basically made to be infinitely re-playable and if I find one I like then I keep going back to it. Enter the Gungeon is a game I've played for years. Then there was a while this spot was taken by Slay the Spire and Balatro in turn. Now I'm back to Enter the Gungeon.

[-] perishthethought@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago

Enter the Gungeon

I had to look it up but that looks cool! Thanks for the idea.

ETG

[-] cRazi_man@lemm.ee 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

A warning before you jump in: it's crazy difficult. It took me about 70 hours of gameplay to be able to finish a play through...but after that it became pretty repeatable once I had learnt how to do it. This is pretty standard, but the failed runs are all fun and the gameplay is excellent and hilarious. I can give some generic starter tips if you want, things I wished I knew before having to learn the hard way (equally learning the hard way is the way rogue-lites are intended to work, so up to you).

The enemies are bullets that are holding guns and shooting bullets at you. You can unlock a gun that looks like a bullet, that shoots bullets that look like guns, that shoot their own bullets. Everything in the game is a pun.

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[-] yamper@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago

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.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago

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).

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[-] minyakcurry@monyet.cc 33 points 1 week ago

Slay the spire. Quick 30-45 minute run is just enough to kill time.

[-] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 week ago

Factorio, Minecraft, Stardew Valley. Also solitaire on my phone (PySolFC).

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[-] cloudless@lemmy.cafe 18 points 1 week ago
[-] Elextra@literature.cafe 6 points 1 week ago

I was going to say, mine is Burnout Revenge. I think last I looked though only Burnout Paradise was available on Steam for me.

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[-] Thalfon@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 week ago

Crypt of the Necrodancer.

Really fun roguelike game where you and enemies have to move to the beat of that floor's song. I think part of the reason I still play it a lot is that it's amenable to very short sessions. I've played enough that runs go fast and I either clear or die within 10 minutes.

Over 1200 hours now almost a decade after release, and a huge chunk of that is probably sessions of under 30 mins in length.

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[-] kandoh@reddthat.com 16 points 1 week ago
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[-] Realitaetsverlust@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 week ago

Rimworld

I just keep coming back.

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[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 16 points 1 week ago

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.

https://crawl.develz.org/

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[-] ISOmorph@feddit.org 14 points 1 week ago

For years that game was Warframe for me. Just turn of my brain and run missions I know inside and out while watching twitch from the corner of eye on a second monitor. At some point I wanted to have more time to play other games so I stopped and didn't find a new cozy game

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[-] rbos@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 week ago

The Long Dark. Something about wandering an icy wasteland scavenging, hunting, fishing, works for me.

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[-] laranis@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 week ago

StarCraft. The original. My brain and body is hardwired to play that game. "SCV ready" triggers something. I have a fantasy of retiring in an old folks home and me and a few of my fellow geriatrics fire that shit up and play LAN games until the DNR kicks in.

[-] MintyAnt@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

The atmosphere in that game is very unique and extremely well done. No shade to SC2, it just didn't require capture the feel, the music, the dread the way SC1 does

[-] ObsidianZed@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago
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[-] B0NK3RS@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Skate 3

I'll just load it up, find a new spot and make some clips.

[-] perishthethought@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

Oh me too. I can just roll around for a long while, not even doing anything in particular.

Skate 3, the relaxation tool.

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[-] vividspecter@lemm.ee 12 points 1 week ago
[-] hakase@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Dark Souls. If there's nothing else I want to play, I'm always up for another run through Lordran with a build I've never tried before.

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[-] Obi@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 week ago

For me that's rocket league.

[-] southernbrewer@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

HL2, Portal 2, Far Cry (1), Commander Keen, Supreme Commander, Raptor: Call of the Shadows. Halo MCC but particularly 2.

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[-] banana_lama@lemm.ee 10 points 1 week ago

I'll play a multiplayer shooter or civilization 6

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago

Europa Universalis IV. There are tons of countries to play, lots of variation each time, and so many options for self challenges (e.g. accomplish goal by year).

The only thing that would get me to stop playing is if EUV is good, and then only a few years and DLC in. Even then, I could see myself coming back to it.

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[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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.

https://xonotic.org/

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/

[-] steeznson@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Xonotic is mint can't recommend it enough! has replaced Quake 3 for me

[-] nilaus@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago
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[-] Retro_unlimited@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

My main ones are: Minecraft, age of empires 2, postal 2.

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[-] caut_R@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

I love hunting for achievements and there’s always one unfinished game that’s a fallback to push a bit further in these cases where I stare at my Steam library for five minutes without starting anything, right now it‘s „if in doubt, play Metal Gear Solid V“

Runs 60 FPS all high on the Deck as well, which is crazy to me

[-] Sanctus@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago
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[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Mount and Blade Warband. Or maybe EU4.

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[-] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 week ago

Deep Rock Galactic is good even in singleplayer.

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[-] knocks@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

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.

[-] Aphelion@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago

Space Engineers. I can just build and build and build, and the community seems to always have a few new interesting mods whenever I'm looking to start a new world.

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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.

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[-] Talaraine@fedia.io 6 points 1 week ago

Mass Effect. Always new choices waiting for you

[-] perishthethought@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

Oh! I just started the Legendary edition this week for the first time.

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[-] Thassodar@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

I'm late but: Fights In Tight Spaces. I thoroughly enjoy their daily challenges, and save my replays when I have a spectacular run with no damage.

[-] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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.

[-] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 week ago

Recently, some doom mod

[-] idyllic_optimism@lemmy.today 5 points 1 week ago

Modded Minecraft for sure. But there are a handful of games I keep going back to and common theme for those games that I can listen to a podcast or audiobook while I'm playing them, like Rimworld, No Man's Sky, Stardew Valley, Skyrim.

[-] Rusty@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago
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[-] knobbysideup@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago
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[-] Zahille7@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Project Zomboid, or one of the Arkham games.

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this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2024
133 points (97.8% liked)

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