Sell a !patientgamers reader on your favorite patient game

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Elevator7009@lemmy.zip⁩ to ⁨patientgamers@sh.itjust.works⁩

Asked “sell me on your favorite game” to a group of friends, they said it made for a great discussion, so maybe copying it to here might make a nice discussion too.

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zerofk@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Gothic 1 got overshadowed - especially in the west - by the Elder Scrolls, but to this day it remains the most immersive RPG I’ve ever played.

Before Oblivion’s “radiant AI” it had full schedules for every NPC. They sleep, eat, go to work, sit around the campfire talking, …

It had a full open world (admittedly smaller than Vvardenfell) with no loading screens except when going underground. That includes houses: everything is one world.

NPC reactions that make sense: start to sneak and they’ll ask what you’re doing. Draw your weapon and they’ll draw theirs and tell you to put it away. Enter their home and they’ll chase you out.

Animals in the wild at not just there for you to get XP. They eat, scavenge, hunt, and sleep.

Speaking of animals, they’re also not constantly in a “must murder the player” mode. Non-aggressive species will warn you not to get close, and only attack if you don’t back up. Others may stalk you, setting you as prey. They just make sense.

Stealing also makes sense: if nobody saw you do it, you don’t get in trouble. Nothing gets a red “don’t buy me I was stolen” mark on it.

If I sound like I’m picking on the Elder Scrolls, I kind of am. I actually do like TES, but I wish more games took inspiration from Gothic.

There’s also a remake, which is too recent for patient gamers (and for me), but it’s getting good reviews. And there are sequels and spinoffs, some more liked than others.
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friend_of_satan@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Detroit Become Human goes on sale for $4 once in a while, and is great. It’s a cinematic, episodic, story based game where you play as different androids that are struggling with ideas about what separates intelligent machines from humans. It has racism, immigration, political action, and genocide themes. Also the android that greets you at the loading screen makes comments about your game progress, sings to you, tells you random facts, and will get upset if you let main characters die. It’s totally worth $4.

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skulblaka@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
You should play Morrowind! We’ve got:

A handcrafted, in depth alien world to explore with surprises literally around every corner

divine apotheosis disease that turns you into a zombie shambler

catgirl booba

self-appointed divinity and all around man of mystery Vivec whose main claim to fame is that he canonically, as an in-game Elder Scrolls character, managed to access the Elder Scrolls Construction Set and assign himself the ‘deity=true’ variable

The Pain Glove ™

Furry fulfillment fantasy where you can become a big buff wolfman and run off into the wilderness

Wizard fulfillment fantasy where you can rack up all your stats into the millions by abusing loopholes in magic research, and then craft the potion seller’s strongest potions concentrated to a point that they could knock out God

"I cast Everyone In This Town Dies Instantly"

being sexually propositioned by a Daedra

being sexually propositioned in order to recieve a promotion

leaping sixty miles in a single mighty bound and then splattering yourself across a rock face in one shot because you forgot to account for landing your mighty leap

Selling swords to a crab

selling a merchant an enchanted shirt of “Fire Damage 1pt per second, constant effect” and then waiting for him to keel over dead so you can loot his store with impunity

an entire province full of rogue wizards where “I’d like to see you stop me” is the whole of the law

dream daddy Dagoth and his castle-stomping giant robot

caves made out of meat

trying to fight the luckiest man of all time and being literally unable to land a hit on him without abusing the actual fabric of reality

The Boots Of Barry Allen

"That’s a good argument. Unfortunately," Weakness to Magic 100%, 10 seconds. Weakness to Fire 100%, 10 seconds. Fire Damage 100pts, 10 seconds.

lockpicking your way inside the government treasury and making off with all the contents

The Corpse of Peke Utchoo

"Listen, this is very important. I need you to stab me in the face."

‘mines’ full of bugs where the ‘miners’ harvest the bug eggs in order to eat and sell (this is the primary food source of the region)

smuggling Dwarven artifacts

smuggling drugs

radical abolitionists as a joinable faction

lizard people

"Yeah so, to complete this pilgrimage you need to go drown yourself in the sewers. God says so."

the joys of property ownership

having enough strength score that you hit someone once with a longsword and the weapon instantly shatters in your hands, but it’s okay because their entire skeleton exploded

having 100% magic resistance and watching enemy spells just ping off of your shiny pecs with zero effect

skill trainers that are sometimes actively hostile to you. The greatest enchanter in the land is a daedra worshipper that lives in an old Dunmer stronghold. He ain’t gonna be happy to meet you. You want to learn his secrets? Do something about that.

…and more. This is just what I pulled off the top of my head in 20 minutes of thinking about it. I love this game, it’s peak elder scrolls in my opinion and nearly peak early-2000’s gaming in general.

It’s a little crusty though. I grew up playing it so I can deal, but the modern gamer is going to struggle a bit. I’m going to give you some tips for the most common complaints.

“The combat sucks! I can’t hit anything!”

The combat is roll based, like D&D. You wouldn’t expect your D&D wizard to competently cleave someone head to asshole with a greatsword, and you shouldn’t expect your Nerevarine to do it either with 30 AGI and 40 Long Blade. Chance to hit is determined by Agility score and weapon skill, and damage is determined by strength score and weapon skill. Make your AGI nice and high at character creation and pick a major skill weapon that you like and stick to it. Using gold to gain skill training goes a very long way towards competency in Morrowind and at low skill levels, it’s cheap enough to make it a regular part of your shopping. If you find a really cool axe and you only have 5 in your Axe skill, go get some training with it before you try and take it out into real action. Failing any of that, the “Fortify Attack” effect from the Warrior birthsign or the Orc’s Berserk power adds directly to your chance to hit. 10 points gives you 10% added on top after your normal to-hit calculations. Doesn’t add any damage though.

By mid to late game, with relevant stats and skill levels at 70 or 80+, missing melee strikes in combat will become kind of rare, even without fortify attack boosts.

“The leveling system sucks! You have to optimize everything with meta knowledge!”

Morrowind is a hilariously unbalanced game, you definitely do not need optimal levelups to succeed. If you do want to get optimal level ups, you are going to need to perform some strange cheese using meta knowledge. But as a casual player, just making the skills you want to use your Major/Minor skills and leveling up normally as you gain experience is plenty fine, you’ll be totally okay.

One caveat to that though, is that your HP total is dependent on your endurance score, and it is not retroactive. Getting your endurance high, or maxed, early in the game is usually a primary goal for most experienced players so that you get the maximum amount of HP per level up. I do recommend this. However, there are many other ways to get around this if other stats are more important to you, such as max HP boosting potions or enchantments, or just one of many ways of avoiding being hit in the first place (shield spells, flight, concealment or stealth, killing the enemy dead in one shot from 50 meters)

“I don’t know where to go!”

Just read, bro. People give you directions to get places. You don’t have quest markers but you do have a quest journal that will let you go back and read the exact dialogue of the quest giver whenever you want.

There are a couple of occasions where people will give you bad directions, or the place you’re looking for is just hard to locate. For those, UESP exists. I’ve been playing this game for 20 years and sometimes I still have to look up specifics on some places, the game is that big. I’ve run this game probably two dozen times and I usually find at least one thing I’ve never seen before each time.
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- altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  For new players:
  
  It’s not hard and it’s safe to pick whatever you want. Some games can fuck you up or limit you based on mistakes at DND-alike character creation, but there you just choose some weapon type, e.g. long blades as your primary skill, and you are good to go - and can skill up on everything else later, or conpensate it elsehow as you go.
  
  This game reeks of exploits. Everything, inculding slowness of going A-to-B, can be circumvented by spells, teleports, insect taxis or other game mechanic. Once you feel some aspect of it can be done better, usually there’s a way to optimize it, and it doesn’t hold your hand at it.
  
  OpenMW is the better way to play it today. It doesn’t change the vanilla experience at all, just makes it less buggy at times and supports Linux at modern resolutions without a question. I played it since it became viable and I had no problems like in the OG game.
  
  …
  
  If you get cursed to have a reduced carrying capacity in some entry level dungeons, just reload. Fuck that spell. That’s one thing I’d be happy to delete entirely from the game.
  
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  - skulblaka@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    
    This game reeks of exploits.
    
    This, I think, is the primary thing to remember about Morrowind. This game was intended for you to exploit it. It wants you to break it. It hands you four different ways to become stupendously overpowered within fifteen minutes of game start, it just doesn’t tell you in detail about them and lets you find it out. Some of those ways abuse bugs, but many of them are 100% completely intended by the devs. You’re intended to be a monstrous god-beast by the end. I’m the fucking Nerevarine, I’m here to chew ass and kick bubblegum and I’m all out of ass.
    
    If you get cursed to have a reduced carrying capacity in some entry level dungeons, just reload. Fuck that spell. That’s one thing I’d be happy to delete entirely from the game.
    
    Agreed, it’s manageable, but only if you know it’s coming. Every “Restore X Stat” potion is worthless except Restore Strength, and no n’wah worth his skooma is going to walk around without a couple of those. For everything else, there’s religion (when you get back to town). But a hefty strength debuff is going to make it real difficult to get back to said town.
    
    For what it’s worth, I think the greater bonewalkers doing permanent strength damage is a bug. I think it’s also one of the handy toggle tweaks in OpenMW. But since you all learned about them in Dungeoneering 101 today, you know to pack some restore strength potions next time you go crypt diving so you don’t have to teleport back home stark naked because your strength score got debuffed to zero and you can no longer lift your clothes.
    
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- Unique_Emerald_Sol_I@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  catgirl booba
  
  Sorry if this comes off as creepy but I feel the need to ask due to my own disappointing searches lately: do you mean this in like “100% serious the devs let you sex up a catgirl” kinda way, or just a “we have catgirls, everybody loves catgirls” kinda way?
  
  Also, I’m curious how much Morrowind differs from the ones before and after. Because I remember playing many hours of a friend’s Oblivion and ending up souring on the open world enough that I legitimately never want to play Skyrim despite it being the most popular one, and I have Daggerfell and Arena on my GOG account but have never touched, either (I think those may have come free on the account?).
  
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  - skulblaka@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Naw, it’s nothing like that, thankfully. Everything I listed there is in the game in some manner or another, but some of them I’ve taken a hair of creative license with.
    
    For that one in particular, Khajiit are playable cat-people, and many NPCs are also Khajiit.
    
    In a town called Pelagiad, there exists A Khajiiti NPC named Ahnassi. She has a short quest line for a male Nerevarine and is notable for being (as far as I know) the only technically “romanceable” NPC in the game, though it doesn’t go into any particular detail.
    
    This quest line does also lead into the “robbing the government” bit though, which is fun.
    
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- Quazatron@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I bought and installed Morrowind this week, added Tamriel: Rebuilt mod, and have been exploring a bit.
  
  It’s growing on me, but very challenging.
  
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- tio_bira@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Also, people keeping creating expansions with all this weird stuff tenfolded, so the game will never die and you will be condamned to play it few almosta every year
  
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Big_Boss_77@fedinsfw.app ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Cyberpunk 2077 was probably my biggest patient gamers win… I usually practice just to wait for a sale because my backlog is big enough already, but giving this one time to cook, drop the dlc, and then go on a steep sale? I think I got it for like $20 USD and it got close to 500 hours in it by now…

Runner up would be No Man’s Sky…another one that just keeps getting better the longer you wait. Only downside is they keep announcing new stuff…so it’s almost like they keep resetting the clock.

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donio@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (plus DLCs): Nothing else comes close to the item variety and more importantly the item combinations and synergies you get in this game. Sure, there are a bunch of items that are just stat boosts, many other games stack these. But in Isaac you also get stacking and synergies on weird weapon and item effects that can sometimes lead to almost game breaking outcomes. And then you still manage to die.

Because of this Isaac excels at the “just one more run” style replayability.

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RandomStickman@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I have recently picked up Tactical Breach Wizards again. If you like turn based strategy games but XCOM's percentages and imperfect information makes you rage quit then Tactical Breach Wizards is the game for you.

It presents all the information to you and allows you to undo your moves within each turn so there are absolutely no surprises and missing a 99% shot. It makes it feels more like a puzzle game and there are optional challenges to keep things interesting. I personally like the art style and the writing isn't too shabby either. Pretty funny.

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defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Chrono Trigger is still my favorite game of all time, even over 30 years later. It is the only game I have played which I can legitimately say has no fat and has as close to perfect pacing as possible. IMO, the original SNES version is the best version of the game. I find the original Ted Woolsey translation to be more emotionally impactful and it doesn’t have the extra cruft that the newer versions of the game has.

Silent Hill 2 has one of the deepest stories and some of the best storytelling in any video game that I have ever played. The game does an excellent job at portraying a dreamlike atmosphere. The original game specifically is very well-paced, especially compared to the remake which adds a lot of needless padding to extend the gametime without really adding much to the story, and IMO has less impactful voice acting compared to the original. If playing the remake, I would recommend playing through the original first. The Enhanced Edition mod on PC is a very convenient way to get a high quality fan remaster and is a great way of playing the original game. Try to avoid spoilers for this one.

Terranigma is an action RPG on the SNES that, since it was never released in North America (a release on modern platforms is scheduled for 2027), never got as much attention as I think it should have considering the sheer quality of the game. Not only is this game a ton of fun with excellent control and gameplay, but its story and atmosphere are both very unique compared to any other game that I’ve played. It is considered to be Quintet’s magnum opus for a reason.

B3313 is a game unlike the others on this list, being closer to a game like Yume Nikki or LSD Dream Emulator. It is a ROM hack of Super Mario 64, but instead of just adding new levels or gameplay mechanics, it transforms the world of Super Mario 64 into this absolutely massive place that you can’t help but get lost in. While there is technically a goal and an ending in the game, I prefer to ignore those and just play it without any real endgoal in mind. The Unabandoned version is the one that is still being updated and is the version I recommend. Also maybe avoid the fanbase for this one.

Call of Cthulhu by yashum is a ROM hack of Super Mario World that is one of the most creative I have ever seen. It has an excellent atmosphere and very creative gameplay mechanics that turn Super Mario World on its head. Playing on a system or an emulator that supports save states is mandatory for this one, as there are no saves otherwise, and dying will reset the game back to the beginning. The game itself even recommends the use of save states.

OMORI is an indie JRPG that is an emotional rollercoaster. It doesn’t have the best pacing, the most creative gameplay, or much replay value, but what it does have is incredible emotional depth and atmosphere. This game took many years to be developed and it shows in the final product. This game asks deep questions about the relationships we form with our friends and how strong those relationships can be. Try to avoid spoilers for this one.

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- imadethis@fedinsfw.app ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  So I have wanted to play chrono cross and chrono trigger ever since I was a kid and my friend had them, how do I get them working (on linux, if that narrows it) these days?
  
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  - defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Get yourself a SNES emulator (ares is the best standalone one nowadays, but you can also use RetroArch with the bsnes-jg core if you want to use fancy CRT shaders), then look for a No-Intro SNES set on archive.org (or Minerva if you don’t mind torrenting), and you can find Chrono Trigger there. I’d recommend avoiding the PC version if you can. It has some bugs, some weird graphical anomalies, the newer translation, and the extra cruft I was talking about.
    
    For Chrono Cross, there’s either the PC version (which is just the original running in a glorified emulator), or you can download an emulator and look for a Redump PS1 set on either of the same two sites I listed above to find the ROM. As for emulators, Duckstation is the most advanced one when it comes to enhancements, but you should note it is no longer open source due to some developer drama, but it is still source-available under a non-derivative, non-commercial license (so forking and selling isn’t allowed). If you’re looking more for accuracy to original PS1 hardware and/or for fancy CRT effects, I recommend Beetle PSX inside of RetroArch (not Beetle PSX HW, which I find to be a lot buggier).
    
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  - Unique_Emerald_Sol_I@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Personally, I recommend Snes9x as an emulator (I also play on linux, Ubuntu if that’s helpful). As for hunting down ROMs, you can often find compilation “best of” packages on Archive.org or if you hunt around for trusted sites (I’m unsure of the rules here if I’m allowed to direct you to said trusted sites or not) I’m sure you can find it.
    
    Officially, Chrono Trigger is on Steam and that probably takes minimal finageling nowadays even on Linux.
    
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- yuri@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  B3313 is great! if you’re at all nostalgic over sm64 it’s deffo worth a look
  
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gedfromgont@piefed.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Got to say, Hyper Light Drifter, if you are into Zelda-like open world endtimes sword fighting.

What I loved most about it how the style just fit the game so well. Especially the sound design. One part of the game is finding those hidden “computerchips” in the ground and you get hints on where they are by listening to them humming softly in a rhythm. Then pulling them out of the ground makes a real satisfying sound effect.

The guns also mostly have really great sounds, shooting and reloading the laser sniper rifle felt awesome, but the best one is that tiny pistol you get beating this samurai boss.

Sorry, don’t recall the right names of things anymore, hopefully it is clear what I mean.

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- tanisnikana@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  This is on my phone and I haven’t played it in years. Might as well start up a new save file and give it a go!
  
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  - gedfromgont@piefed.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Damn, they released it for phones? I think you’ll need a controller for that though, cannot imagine on screen controls would be sufficient.
    
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- labyrinth@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Just replayed it again - I usually do it since a year. Just advise not using the Linux version and it crashes frequently and will never get fixed. Use it with wine/proton.
  
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kurcatovium@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Depends on how patient you truly are. I can recommend Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines from the heart. I don’t even like vampires, nor do I like noire, but this game… It somehow sticks together and it’s a masterpiece. Not the most polished or bug free, but the story, world building, characters, music, atmosphere, everything’s serves the game so well it’s still on my recommend list even some 20 years from its release. Not a small feat.

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- Coelacanth@feddit.nu ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  It’s also a good patient gaming example, actually, because it was completely unplayable at launch and is only in a decent state now thanks to the Unofficial Patch.
  
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- skulblaka@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  VTM:B was my first introduction to VTM in any capacity and boy was it an introduction. I am now the world’s hugest WOD nerd. The game is janky as all hell but the characters drive it so forcefully that I barely cared… for most of the game. The end parts of it are… rough. But up until the last few hours of the game the characters and atmosphere carry it all magnificently.
  
  It’s still one of my very favorite retro games now, though. First time through the Ocean House Hotel was an experience to remember, and the Malkavian dialogue trees are some of my favorite fourth wall breaking of all time.
  
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Hond@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
There are so many games i want really everyone to experience like Beyond Good & Evil or Psychonauts.

But i’m a racing game enjoyer at heart. So i’m going to namedrop NFS 3, 4 and the Test Drive Unlimeted PS2 version. The last name drop is no joke. Its the very best PS1 racing game physics which happen to be on a PS2 i ever experienced but on a ridiculously big map.

But the ultimate arcade racing game is imho Midnight Club 3. I grew up with the NFS games on PC. Through the years i went hardcore on racing sims. Have been an elitist. But this game pulled me back to the fun(complete lie, but i was told to sell the game to you, but i truly believe it would have been good enough to actually do that). But seriously i never had a PS2 when MC3 was relevant. Emulation of the PS2 took a really long time to render MC3 flawlessly. But now in 2026 its just great. You should really check it out if you have any itch to play a great arcade racer. It does so many things which feel so fresh to this day. So many events have unique scripted things happening. Its crazy that this still stands out over 20 years later.

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- skulblaka@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition Remix for the PS2 was a mainstay fixture of my teenage years and might still remain my favorite racing game. I never had any of the N4S games, personally. But this one did me just fine, I played that game for years and years.
  
  Runs great on the steam deck via emulation these days! I set up my collection through Retrodeck and it was one of the easiest drag-and-drop setup operations I’ve ever done.
  
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Grail@multiverse.soulism.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
#EXAPUNKS

Your body has been infected by a Phage that turns your flesh into random bits of circuitry. Left untreated, you’ll gradually lose bodily function as your nerves, blood vessels, muscles, and organs turn into useless computer parts. There’s a drug that halts the progress of the disease. And it only costs 300 dollars.

A day.

For the rest of your life.

Don’t like that deal? Then print out a copy of the underground hacker zine that’ll teach you to all of Alternate Universe 1997’s technology to your will. Including your own body.

Hope you like writing Assembly code.

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Katana314@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Not even really a patient element because it’s free, but it’s been getting progressive additions.

If you like Ace Attorney, playing as a lawyer to solve crimes by pointing out contradictions and shouting “Objection!”, then fangame Gyakuten Live has that in spades. When it first came out, it was mostly a silly one-case concept of “What if the characters from my favorite school anime held a class trial for fun”. But it’s been going for 4 cases now, each one escalating in size and stakes, up to the current one that deals with a genuine murder. There’s been no laziness of reuse, with pretty much every case having a new prosecutor, new soundtrack, various case-relevant incidental artwork, etc.

Its one doom in popularity is you need to get it from Itch.io - it’s murky enough in copyright that it likely can’t go up for sale.

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- Unique_Emerald_Sol_I@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I thank you for your contribution to my collection ʚ♡⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁)
  
  I tried to make a resolution this year to not buy any new games when I have all these demos, ROMs (and ROM hacks!), fan games, and otherwise free games so it’s nice getting a recommendation like this.
  
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skaffi@infosec.pub ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Interesting question. I’m struggling to think of a lot of other patient games, but that’s not a problem, because Theme Hospital is all you need! These days the best way to play is through the wonderful source port called CorsixTH.

What are you waiting for? There are bloated heads to cure!

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altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I waited a couple of years before I got a PC to run Doom 2016, and ten years after that I still find this game was worth waiting for it.

It’s a short and polished journey, almost without overcomplications and trash mechanics populating/polluting it’s sequel.

Remastered Doom keeps it all constrained to deliver a glimpse of what OG Doom can look like made today. It’s an arena after arena of tight bloody fights with demons to the beat of an awesome soundtrack. Nothing more and nothing less, just 10 hours of blasting faces with a big gun and dodging around.

That AAA return back to basics helped to nurture the playerbase for contemporary nostalgic shooters we enjoy today. And, with how many recaps of older franchises fail to deliver, it’s a wonder we had that thing happen. It ages just as well as older games, although more approacheable to new players.

That’s an ultimate power fantasy where it’s not you trapped with demons, but they are trapped with you (:

Try to avoid paying Bethesda or Microsoft though, because they fucked over their OST artist after that and then murdered the team behind Doom games not long ago. No one responsible for this game would see any buck you spend. Buy indie boomershooters instead, like Ultrakill, Dusk, Selaco, Amid Evil, Turbo Overkill and such, as it would fund another gen of games inspired by the old shooters Doom 2016 aimed to recap.

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Coelacanth@feddit.nu ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Cyberpunk and No Man’s Sky have already been mentioned, and honestly there aren’t going to be any real better examples than those two. They are the poster children for patient gaming for me.

My favourite patient game is probably Withering Rooms, which benefitted a lot from a long Early Access period. With the sequel entering early access yesterday it’s the perfect time to check it out!

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Quazatron@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I discovered, by playing Dishonored, that Arkane Studios made some nice games. I bought Dark Messiah and Arx Fatalis and have been enjoying them.

I’d recommend Dishonored, it’s quite fun. You can go with the stealth route or the maximum carnage option, you choose.

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Wrufieotnak@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Outer Wilds (not Outer Worlds!) is a brilliant game that is hard to advertise without spoiling stuff. It is from the genre sometimes called metroidbrainia, where finding the puzzle solution through in game hints to progress is the game mechanic. So its possible to finish the game in 20 minutes, if you know what to do. But getting there usually takes you 20 hours.
Now to why its great:

the story is at its core a mixture of enlightenment thinking and celebration of curiosity and the human spirit. It does have a lot of sad points, but ultimately it is a celebration.

I love the characters. Part of what makes this game so great are the variety of different personalities you can experience.

the DLC is one of the best ever, where they managed to catch the spirit of the main game again and added to it, without contradicting themselves, which I honestly didnt think possible after finishing the main game.

Planescape Torment walked so that Disco Elysium could run. PT plays in the planescape setting of D&D, a world where belief is the foundation of everything, so with high enough stats, you can debate somebody into believing they don’t exist and they will vanish immediately.
You are in Sigil, the central city of the multiverse, directly in the middle of neutral. Neutral between the planes of Good and Evil but also between those of Chaos and Lawful. This neutrality needs to be enforced of course, which is the job of a nice woman called the Lady of Pain, which has the iron throne as headdress and cutting you down on the spot is the nicer treatment for offending her.
And I didnt even tell you of the protagonist, the Nameless One. You wake up in a morgue, update your journal all the time and try to find out why you can’t die. A former You was smart enough to try and give you some instructions via tattooing them onto your skin. So you take your wisecracking flying skull buddy and start looking for answers.
Yes, this game is weird and a lot of text with bad battle mechanics, but the good kind of weird and you don’t play PT for the fights, you play it for the world, the stories and the characters. For example the chaste succubus with a brothel for intellectual debate and no that is not an euphemism but 100% what it is. Play the game if you don’t believe me! This is sneakily a recommendation for Disco Elysium as well, but PT is the more patient game, so I wanted to highlight that one more.
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- Trail@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Ah. I initially bought outer worlds, which kinda sucks, and then outer wilds. Meh. I still haven’t finished it but it’s on my todo.
  
  Planescape torment is the game game I’ve ever read. Or the best book if ever played. Something like that. And I’ve played a lot of visual novels, and admittedly some get close. A must play seriously.
  
  Disco Elysium is also great and certainly worth playing.
  
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  - Wrufieotnak@feddit.org ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    For Outer Wilds, maybe this video can help you decide if you want to push trough or not.
    
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- imadethis@fedinsfw.app ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I’ve introduced three people so far to outer wilds, and each one has had their own experience with it. I think only one truly enjoyed it, while the other two (I love them to death but they are) snobs turned their noses up at it because a game to them means entertaining in the same way counterstrike or call of duty does.
  
  I think I would rate it in my top 10, possibly even top 5 if there wasn’t a great deal of nostalgia for some games, but definitely consider (as a warning to folks [who probably are not patient gamer’s core, but still]) the game’s tone/gameplay before trying.
  
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HexesofVexes@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
A lot of games wear “lovecraftian horror” on their sleeve - they borrow some squid monsters and a wobbly screen effect for a sanity meter and call it a day.

Darkest dungeon does not do this - it’s mechanics are all geared towards creating tense moments of player fear; the slowly unwinding story played blind gives a feeling of genuine cosmic unease. It embodies Lovecraftian horror in a videogame - not the cheap jumpscare, but that ever lingering unease at a universe that cares not (the rng in this game specifically hates you, but will rarely surprise you with a genuine miracle).

This is a game heavily refined over years with outstanding visuals and audio - the storytelling has a genuinely organic feel. It even runs on a potato; there is only one bit of bad news really…

Ruin has come to our family.

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- Elevator7009@lemmy.zip ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Thanks to this comment I have spent time browsing the TVTropes page for Darkest Dungeon, a game I’ll never play because I’m super squeamish, bad with horror, and at this moment in time averse to media that’s super dark in theme. Enjoyable TVTropes page, probably great art, even if it’s super not for me.
  
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yuri@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
receiver 1 and 2 are fantastic games for total weirdos. if the idea of operating every moving part of a pistol with separate keyboard keys appeals to you even slightly, check em out ^^

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- Flamekebab@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I really enjoyed Receiver.
  
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toxicbubble@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Resident Evil 4 (GameCube) revolutionized modern horror with a 3rd-person, over-the-shoulder camera, a memorable storyline that expanded the lore of the franchise with new and returning characters, and graphics that pushed the console to its limits. Its main critique was the action-oriented gameplay, with long stretches of gun-fights, but I’ve found plenty of moments that had me shivering from survival horror.

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- altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I got my hands on the recent remaster and it was a barrel of fun. Idk how well the horror translated from the original, but I couldn’t put the controller down until 3 a.m. the first time I launched it. Also: Steam version worked out of the box on Arch, no fiddling.
  
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  - Katana314@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I’ve played both versions. Theres maybe a few choice elements I liked from the original, but it was still a very good remake; actually kind of brought down the tongue-in-cheek elements a bit to feel more horror at times.
    
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mohab@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Nah, I can’t sell anyone on The Wonderful 101 😂 It’s an insane game for mentally unwell people…

I guess if you like Saturday-morning cartoons and goofy action games with considerable combat depth, and are comfortable with motion inputs a LA fighting games, pick it up on sale?

My blurb on the back of the cover would be: “You can air juggle alien kaiju in this one…”

If you were ever at any point into Super Sentai/Power Rangers, it should be a no-brainer to at least give it a shot; however, keep in mind this is THE Kamiya game… so if Devil May Cry 1 or Bayonetta annoyed you in any way, you’ll probably find the same 10x in The Wonderful 101.

It’s also the most video game-y video game that has ever been video gamed. Wall-to-wall insanity, no chill.

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christian@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Eastward is an indie game I actually first learned about here on lemmy, just a couple weeks after its release. I went back and replayed it just a month ago and it’s so good. I can acknowledge that it’s not for everyone, it almost feels like the target audience is me specifically.

The dialogue is really wonderful and you fall in love with the characters. When I play games I generally am talking to every npc, Eastward made that feel rewarding for me. There’s not much for tangible benefits, it’s just that to me the dialogue feels very…human (the robots included). If you’re inclined to check in with the npcs you’ll catch wind of little dramas and occasionally see them resolved, and none of it really affects gameplay or the story but it makes the world feel more alive.

My personal favorite, and one I wouldn’t have found without going out of my way to talk to the npcs - the train attendant robot talking shit about the repair-worker robot: Image Image Image Image

The most frequent complaint I’ve seen about Eastward is too much dialogue and too little game, so ymmv. Slight oversimplification, but the gameplay is basically Zelda but with a frying pan instead of a sword. It’s not innovative but I still find it fun.

The story was heartwarming at times and (with help from the environmental visuals) creepy at other times. I will say it was a bit of a letdown just how much was left open-ended at the end though, there were a few plot points where I was looking forward to seeing how they’d be explained or where they were going and the game just never gave an explicit explanation.

The pixel art is so special. I try to avoid looking up too much before playing a new game and there was one moment in particular that just floored me visually. I do think the game as a whole made a stronger impression on me because I went in mostly blind, some of the ways the environments change and evolve visually as you move forward really impressed me.

tl;dr the appeal is lots of emotion captured in the details

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- Elevator7009@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  
  If you’re inclined to check in with the npcs you’ll catch wind of little dramas and occasionally see them resolved, and none of it really affects gameplay or the story but it makes the world feel more alive.
  
  I love that.
  
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Simon_Shitewood@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Huge CRPG with turn based combat or RTWP if you want to play it wrong. Not as pretty and a lot wordier than Baldurs Gate 3, but much deeper in mechanics and choices, plus Mythic levels. Fight the demonic forces of the abyss with the power of an angel/demon/daemon/dragon/lich/bugs/comedian/really cool dude, and try to ascend to godhood. If you want something you can sink a good 2-300 hours into, WotR is excellent.

Except for crusade battles. They suck. Just use a mod to trivialise/skip them.

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fivemahit@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
for the other kind of patient. lol: gridworld ai learns to drive

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Unique_Emerald_Sol_I@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
If anyone here is into puzzle platformer games I strongly recommend Toki Tori 2+. I think it’s come out for just about everything at this point. It’s somewhat billed as a metroidvania but that’s only because of the platformer aspect of it and the large map you have to explore – there’s no combat and the only gates to progression are your own knowledge of the gameplay. You start with your only two abilities and slowly you are introduced to puzzles which give you insight into how those abilities interact with the environment and creatures, until by the end you realize you had ten times the number of options from the beginning as you thought you had.

There’s also an abstract puzzle game I recommend called Hook (here it is on Steam to be sure). It was originally a mobile game, I think. It’s not long, and it’s not difficult, but it’s zen and I personally loved the way it introduced and iterated on concepts.

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