Looking for game recommendations

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨greenmed123@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨patientgamers@sh.itjust.works⁩

I’m a casual gamer who’s been largely inactive for the past few decades, and so I’m looking for some some good game recommendations. I don’t mind if they’re old as long as they came out after 2003 (because that’s when graphics of many games really started improving), maybe between 2008-2019. I’m also quite a picky gamer.

Here is a list of games that I’ve played before and that I liked (in no particular order):

The Stanley Parable
Counter-Strike: Source
Counter-Strike Global Offensive
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto V (just started playing this one)
Freeways
The Wizard’s Pen
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Need for Speed: Heat
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Simon Tatham’s Puzzle Game Collection
Minecraft
Hamsterball
Sifu
Tekken 6
SuperHOT
Papers Please
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Accelerator (by TenebrousP)
The Professional
Paraopticon
Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher
ir:rational
Viewport
Lyxo
Shadowess (by playchilla)
Duet (by Kumobius)
Chain Reaction
Gumslinger
Intersectiion Controller
Little Alchemy
Magic Survival (by Leme)
Spy Tactics
Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil
Cyclomaniacs 2
Learn 2 Fly 2
Piano Tiles 2
The Sims 3
Plants vs. Zombies
Tetris (on Facebook)
Solitaire on Windows 7
Space Cadet Pinball
Purble Place

Here are games that I’ve played that I didn’t like:

Quake II RTX
Doom (1993)
Counter-Strike 1.6
Left 4 Dead
Half-Life
Speed Dreams
Assault Cube
Terraria
Minetest
Xonotic
Piano Tiles
Geometry Dash
Payback 2
Touchgrind Skate 2
Pixel Wheels
NBA 2K11
Defense of the Ancients
Dota 2
Sim City 2000
OpenRCT 2
OpenTTD
The Sims 4
Doki Doki Literature Club
Tetris (any other implementation I’ve tried)
Solitaire on Windows XP

Here are games I would like to avoid:

Battle Royale / Deathmatch- style games (Fortnite, PUBG, etc.)
MOBAs (League of Legends, Mobile Legends, etc.)
Hero shooters (Overwatch, Rainbow Six Siege, etc.)
Games with fantasy-based elements (Skyrim, The Witcher, Souls games etc.)
RPGs
Side-scrollers / Shoot-em-ups / Top-down games
Platformers
Horror/supernatural games (Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc.)
Management games (Civilization, Cities: Skylines, etc.)
Artillery games
Outer-space/post-apocalyptic games (Halo, Fallout, etc.)
Cookie clickers / Walking simulators
Rhythm games
Sports games
Game adaptations of existing media (Star Wars games, Arkham games, etc.)
Board/card/gambling/collectible/gacha games\
Games that have microtransactions/required DLCs
Text adventures / Visual novels
Trivia games
VR games

Other than that, everything is fair game. I don’t have any aversion towards graphic language/gore/sex.

My tastes might be too specific, but I hope someone here may be able to provide me with a recommendation!

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Comments

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GrammatonCleric@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
So you want to avoid most of the good games? Wow

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- AlolanYoda@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Good games? He’s excluding pretty much all games!
  
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  - iheartneopets@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I can kinda see why they’ve been out of gaming for decades. I’m also a bit confused by their qualifiers… They say they don’t want top-down games, but listed liking pinball… Is that not a top-down pinball game?
    
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bionicjoey@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Outer Wilds and Return of The Obra Dinn are two that I would recommend. The latter was made by the creator of Papers Please.

Both are basically “solve a mystery by gathering clues and exploring” type games.

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- iheartneopets@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  The exact two I was thinking of. Any and everyone who enjoys games should give them both at least a solid hour if their time to see if it sticks. Two modern classics for sure.
  
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- sadie_sorceress@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Both of these games are so unique in their style and I love both of them. Great recommendations.
  
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- greenmed123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Yeah, these have already been recommended to me by other users. I’ll be checking them out soon.
  
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Coasting0942@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
The Outer Wilds.

Probably in the top ten games I’ve ever played. Story focused, lite reading, almost no action, maybe some scary elements depending on your personality.

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- greenmed123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Seems interesting, I’ll try to check it out.
  
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  - ExtraMedicated@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    It’s not really a survival game. More of an adventure puzzle game. It doesn’t explicitly tell you where to go or what to do. You’re pretty much on your own to find clues and figure out what happened and how to end the time loop you’re stuck in. It really is a fascinating game. I haven’t played anything else quite like it.
    
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  - Jakdracula@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    It’s supposed to work on mobile without vr, maybe there’s a non vr version?
    
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runjun@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Disco Elysium

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- iheartneopets@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Ehhh, that one is kind of reading-heavy, as well as being top-down. It might not be what OP is looking for.
  
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  - runjun@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    All dialog is voiced and the OP excluded most games so I’m just recommending a banger game.
    
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captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
If you enjoyed Papers Please, you might enjoy Lucas Pope’s other major work, Return of the Obra Dinn. It’s a “solve the mystery” game, possibly the best one I’m aware of. It’s very engaging, it’ll make you feel like a genius, and it has basically no replay value.

One of my very, very favorite games is Subnautica. It is a survival game set on an ocean planet, and few games have captured me the way Subnautica did. I think you should go into Subnautica as blind as possible, but I will reveal a few things about it so you can decide if it’s for you: Unlike most survival games it is not inherently open-ended; it has a story that has an end, there is a victory condition to work toward. I would not call Subnautica “a horror game” because horror/scariness isn’t the point of the game, but it does have some scary things in it. By its nature it is also a trigger for thalassophobia aka fear of deep water.

You might enjoy Infinifactory by Zachtronics. It has Minecraft-like block placing gameplay, but you are given fixed immutable environments in which to build little assembly lines out of conveyors, welders, pushers, grinders etc. Of the Zachtronics games I think this is the most accessible, though like many of their games I think the difficulty curve is a little steep.

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- greenmed123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Among the three games you listed, Return of the Obra Dinn seems most interesting. Subnautica and Infinifactory still looks a little too sci-fi/alien-y for my tastes. Though regarding Infinifactory, I may seem to have played something like it before (which I forgot to include in the first list): 7 Billion Humans. I guess Infinifactory is more of a mechanical version of that…?
  
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  - Seasm0ke@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    ObraDinn was really engaging but the graphics gave me a helluva headache, which is a shame because it seems like a great story with a lot of potential. I would recommend RoadWarden if you like games like this. It was so addicting. Its short but I fell in love with it.
    
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  - captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    The framing device for Infinifactory is you were abducted by aliens and they make you build little assembly lines. The story is very unimportant to the gameplay, it’s an excuse plot you can safely ignore. I’m not familiar with 7 Billion Humans, looking up a let’s play real quick…no Infinifactory isn’t much like that. First Infinifactory is first person 3D, it controls a bit like Minecraft. You have solid blocks, conveyors, rotators, welders and other such blocks you place in a 3D grid. When you press Run, ingredient blocks start popping out of dispensers, and there’s a goal that shows you what shape you need to make them into; and you have to build an assembly line that will continuously run; aka it’s possible to make an assembly line that works the first time but jams itself and can’t make the second one; to beat a level your factory has to produce ten correct samples in a row.
    
    Subnautica is set in a future universe where humans have space travel, your player character is a crewman on a space ship that crashes on an alien ocean planet. It is a bit Sci-Fi but it is an incredibly good game.
    
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Seasm0ke@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Its kind of a tough list you’ve made here friend. I am going to recommend outliers and games that break genre rules instead.

You seem to be split on card games but check out Inscryption and slay the spire to see what you think.

Cult of the lamb was also pretty good by the same publisher.

StarDew valley or my time at Portia or Palia (in beta) are nice casual games.

Hades is challenging and hack and slash roguelite but very good with a neat story. Bastion was really engaging but a platformer slash Action RPG and isometric.

Valheim might scratch an itch. It has a bit of fantasy but its mostly Norse mythology based. Survival and base building.

Strange horticulture was nice if you liked the potion master style of games.

Wildermyth is kind of a write your own story adventure and one of my most played, games but its kind of an RPG, just not in the classic sense.

Death and Taxes is kind of like papers please, but also very short.

Tails Noir is a bit if a linear story game. Less text heavy than Disco Elysium and I enjoyed the journey more than the destination but good game.

Anyway if any seem interesting shoot a reply

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corrupts_absolutely@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
tetris

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- 4jPhcJByUbejC67TsVsn@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Tetris Effect
  
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strongarm@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
From the looks of your lists of what you like and what to avoid I think you’d like games like the Dishonored series, Bioshock, and the System Shock remake.

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- greenmed123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  No, Dishonored seems to have supernatural elements, while Bioshock and System Shock seem to have some sci-fi elements.
  
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mortalic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Rimworld

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sj_zero ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
If you liked the Stanley parable, I feel like spec ops: the line would be up your alley. Quite different games with a common narrative method.

Based on the puzzle games and games with character on your list, it seems like psychonauts would be a good choice. (Its technically a platformer, but so is tomb raider)

The Scribblenauts series is a fun puzzle game that's sort of unique, though it's a side scroller.

Beaming is a racing game that's heavy on the physics simulation side of things.
- greenmed123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Judging by the name, I thought Spec Ops: The Line would be a Counter-Strike ripoff, but since it has The Line™ in its name, then surely it must be a The Stanley Parable ripoff./jk
  
  Psychonauts seems to have a bit of cartoon/fantasy elements to it.
  
  I’ve played a bit of the OG Scribblenauts way back, it was a bit fun.
  
  I’ll be checking out Spec Ops: The Line and BeamNG.
  
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Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Seeing as you liked The Stanley Parable you might want to give Antichamber a try. It’s also in the mindfuckery category of games. And I didn’t see Portal 1/2 on your list, they are in roughly the same area of games, but focused more on the puzzle side of things.

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PotentialProblem@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
CounterStrike 2 came out last Wednesday. Basically the same game as CSGO but with some quality of life and graphical updates. Might be worth taking a shot at getting back into it.

There’s some platforming but Hollow Knight is an excellent game if you enjoy metroidvania types.

If you have someone to play with you may want to give local couch games a try. I’m ignoring a few of your thematic dislikes because they aren’t really a critical part of most of these games. Games like: Lovers in a dangerous space time Boomerangfu It takes two Untitled goose game (single player is also fun if you enjoy harassing people as a goose) Unravel Duck game Portal 2 (single player is great) Cup head (single player is also great)

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- Nindelofocho@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  duck game is an absolute ton of fun when you have friends to play it with
  
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  - PotentialProblem@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I agree! I’ve never been able to play the newer patch because I have the switch but I’ve spent many hours playing this game with the family!
    
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Jakdracula@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Baby Hands.

store.steampowered.com/app/708820/Baby_Hands/

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- greenmed123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Wow! This would have been right up my alley if it wasn’t for the need of a VR headset! I’ll try to revisit this game in a few months once I get myself some gear.
  
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- Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Oooo once I have my dedicated VR machine set up, I’ll give this a shot. I won’t run Facebook code on my main machine though lawl
  
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  - oldGregg@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
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Cephirux@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I would just recommend you to refer to metacritic and see the best games of all time for PC. My personal recommendation is certainly Baldur’s Gate 3. If you prefer multiplayer but would like to avoid the toxic community, then I suggest Deep Rock Galactic.

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- crispy_bacon_ultima@lemmynsfw.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Rock and stone !
  
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  - Cephirux@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Rock and stone to the bone!
    
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haysupdood@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Not a specific game recommendation, but you should look into Xbox game pass. For $10-15 a month, you get access to a huge library of games. You’ll be able to try a bunch of stuff without having to commit to any purchases. www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-game-pass

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Lyricism6055@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Please play the souls games.

Dark souls 1,2, and 3. And sekiro.

They are all super good

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- greenmed123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I’ve seen my friend play Sekiro before, and it did look pretty and fun. It seems similar to Sifu,. but with swords (?). I’d love to play it if it wasn’t so difficult.
  
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  - Lyricism6055@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    It’s really not too bad once you figure it out. There are active subreddits for each game as well so u could probably find someone to Co op with you.
    
    Sekiro is hard af to me but so rewarding
    
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hiramfromthechi@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
How bout some Naughty Dog games? The Last of Us us more thriller (not horror), but also not meant to be super horror, it just happens to be post-apocalyptic, so naturally the thriller aspect is there.

The whole Uncharted series is also great. It’s essentially a playable movie with dope character development and direction.

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2xsaiko@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Since Dishonored and System Shock was already mentioned, I’ll also recommend the Thief trilogy (Thief: The Dark Project, Thief 2: The Metal Age and Thief: Deadly Shadows). Thief along with System Shock is one of the series which started the Immersive Sim genre, which Dishonored belongs to also. The third game came out in 2004 but I also recommend the first two because despite a lot less detailed graphics they imo have a lot better atmosphere and objectively better gameplay (a lot of the gameplay depth was cut in the third one to make it more playable on consoles, but it’s still a good game).

Another one I always tell people about is INFRA. It’s a pretty unknown puzzle/exploration game with excellent atmosphere and very high on my top of all time list. Highly recommend if exploring crumbling or long forgotten urban environments sounds like your thing.

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- greenmed123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I’ll be checking Thief and INFRA out!
  
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  - 2xsaiko@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Enjoy!
    
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PM_ME_FEET_PICS@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Dredge is a pretty good casual game. Lots of fun to explore and really best played in short sessions.

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- greenmed123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  So it’s basically like Subnautica, but with less sci-fi and aliens? Hmmm…
  
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  - PM_ME_FEET_PICS@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    It’s basically like a top side water exploration game with supernatural and Monster elements.
    
    However the horror elements are optional and monsters attacking you and spooky shit can be turned off.
    
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- Schaedelbach@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I love Dredge! But I think I finished the whole game in 4 or 5 sittings over a weekend. That’s not a comment on the game’s length per se and more on the fun I had. I just didn’t want to stop playing!
  
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Nindelofocho@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
You might like Superliminal

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- Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Absolutely love that game.
  
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BubblyMango@lemmy.wtf ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
If you liked red-alert you might like other RTS games such as Age Of Empires 2 (remaster came out in 2019, very active community) or starcraft2.

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CrypticCoffee@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Delayed response, but based on you liking Minecraft, survival type genre might be good.

Valheim and Project Zomboid are great games. Subnautica is very immersive. Stardew Valley is a lot of fun.

BTW, have you tried MineClone2 on Minetest. It’s a Minecraft clone so much more fun than Minetest.

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dolle@feddit.dk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Hammerfight.

“In the physics-based gameplay, the player swings large melee weapons and relies on centripetal force to give the object enough kinetic energy to destroy enemies. The demo release had six main types of weapons - four melee and two ranged.

The different weapon types offer a certain variety. To be a slow, but well-armored powerhouse using hammers or maces to deliver slow, but crushing blows, or a nimble, but poorly protected sword-wielder, delivering quick, but weak attacks, is entirely up to the player. The game also contains a few different play modes, such as a hunt on worms or a Hammerball game.”

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CephalonFaye@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Definitely play The Beginner’s Guide. It was written by the same guy as The Stanley Parable, and it’s only about 1.5 hours long. It has one of the best endings I’ve experienced.

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Heavybell@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
If you can get Saints’ Row 2 or 3 working you may like them.

I know you don’t like management games but you might still enjoy Frostpunk as it’s a bit more like an RTS since it’s about build order when you really get down to it. It is apocalyptic but it’s hopeful rather tgan depressing (for the most part) or “haha you can do anything cus no laws”.

Man your list of nos really eliminates most of my repertoire… :P Have you considered XCOM, XCOM 2 or XCOM Chimera Squad?

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- greenmed123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Saints’ Row seems perfect for me! Outer Wilds has been recommended by another user so I’ll be checking that out as well.
  
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  - Heavybell@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Outer WIlds is a first person mystery adventure game. Knowledge is the only progression, so you must go in blind or you’ll really miss out on some of the experience. I love it, I hope you do too.
    
    Also the DLC Echoes of the Eye is basically a sequel, and very very good too.
    
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Nindelofocho@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
also if you’re liking gta V you may like Red Dead Redemption 2

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iheartneopets@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Have you played any of the Red Dead games? The second one is on PC and doesn’t require digging out an xbox 360/Playstation 3 to play the first if you don’t want to. You may find the story of the second slightly more rewarding if you are able to play the first, though, as the second game is a prequel to the first. Both are some of the best stories in video gaming, imo.

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