Snowrunner is great game for chilling out to
Snowrunner is great but can also be incredibly frustrating. It's far too easy to just hop on and and look at a mission you think will take 15 mins and 2 hours later you're still there delivering logs to a shack in the middle of some woods up a track covered in deep mud.
Goat Simulator - great for just arsing about for 15-20 minutes.
Dredge, an eldritch horror fishing game was fun
Dredge is on my wishlist, when a suitably large sale comes along.
If it's not been mentioned before, Elden Ring of course. It's the spiritual successor to the Dark Souls series, but also better in a lot of regards, and not nearly as brutally unforgiving as Sekiro. The only real accusation one could level at it is it's just too big - I'm about 60-70 hours in and have maybe got through a quarter of it so far?
Control is one of my repeat pleasures. It's a great combination of action/ adventure and lore, and really draws you in with wondering what the world is about and how it works.
The Outer Wilds is also an absolute gem, definitely check it out.
I thoroughly enjoyed Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West.
Also Red Dead Redemption 2 whilst a bit long in the tooth is still fun.
I made the mistake of trying Factorio, now I dream of endless conveyor belts.
Another vote for Baldur’s Gate, not my usual sort of game having never played D&D but it’s beautifully made and challenging.
I have been repeatedly told to buy Red Dead Redemption 2 by a friend and thus far have resisted it. It needs investment and I never get the time to invest in it.
DayZ... What to say about it? For sure a game that has unique interactions with other humans and which can, at times, be lonely and a walking simulator. It can be fun if you are running with a team and it _is_ full of sociopaths and nutcases. But not as much as Rust.
Stellaris is nice if you like that sort of thing (and by "that sort" I mean like Civilisation) and I still go back to CS when I feel like interacting with toxic Russian kids for lolz.
Currently on a bad spell with my Mountain biking. Started off poor and continued to be poor due to wedding planning, work, flu beginning of the year, waiting for Mum to have her Brain tumour removed (successfully removed and benign) and a back injury.
So the Xbox has been getting a good bit of use this year.
I'm addicted to
flight simulator
Forza Motorsport is fantastic
Thought I’d give the poorly rated Battlefield 2042 a go also and it’s not bad.
Dead Space remaster is awesome
Looking to find a new Laptop so I can play Blackmesa the Half-life remaster. Along with Ocarina of time one of my favourite games.
Tiny Rogues. A classy minimalist rogue-like for under a tenner.
Beautifully simple, snappy and satisfying. And unlike lots of similar games, it's not maddeningly difficult.
Great for playing while listening to music.
Alien Isolation – Genuinely terrifying
I borrowed that off a mate.
Played it for two hours. Spent the entire time shitting myself. Didn't see a single alien.
Anyway.
The best game I've played in recent years is Life Is Strange. It's a slow burn but if you're into story-driven games it is truly exceptional. It's episodic and the first episode is free. There have been further games in the series but the original is the best.
Just bought Jedi survivor as it's on offer which is good. However, the game I've loved the most this year was Bramble, hall of the mountain king. It starts off a bit happy and childlike but soon decends into a fairytale nightmare. Very nice little indie game..
I don’t think I love any game more than Ghost Of Tsushima.
Oh yeah! That was last winter for me. Another beautifully stunning game and online with friends was the best online gaming experience I've had.
Still playing World of Warcraft and Im liking the new versions of classic they've brought out lately.
Wreckfest is brilliant! If you've not heard of it but like driving games it worth a try as long as you're not very competitive and must win! Winning online is quite hard when some folk turn their bus or truck around and start lapping backwards 🙂
Tom Clancy's The Division 2.
Good call on trying Ori before Hollow Knight, very similar but Ori has a more clear sense of progression, or I'm just doing HK wrong. Not sure it's going to make me cry though, bugs zapping bugs on hallucinogens.
Are most games fighting/killing games? I don't play them. Tried playing Doom, but yeah, not really for me any more.
Factorio
Check out https://shapez.io/
I play quite a few games that AliensRock on youtube plays. Talos Principle II (are people frogs?). Patricks Parabox. Slime Rancher. A Little to the left. Railbound. Tandis. Steamroll. Antichamber. Hexcells.
Generally games where I don't need to rush around, can chill without penalty, solve a puzzle or several.
Althought I'm finding with many of the puzzle games, if I don't play them often I completely forget how to play them and my 6yo boy ends up better at them than me.
Farcry 6 went on gamepass today. 3/4/5 were great games.
Wolfenstein new order, now playing old blood. Enjoying them, basic fps but interesting, fun and like choice of stealthing stages or going guns blazing.
Starfield was/is great if you're a fallout/elder scrolls fan. Lots of hate, but I'm really enjoying it.
Scorn is an interesting puzzler.
Prey, I only just started the other day. Seems promising.
Red dead 2 I played for 15 is hours but couldn't dedicate enough time/concentration it deserved. Will definitely go back to it next year.
Generally games where I don’t need to rush around, can chill without penalty, solve a puzzle or several.
This is a tenner on Steam at the moment...might be right up your street, I loved it, very origonal, just don't read too much about it if you are going to play it, it's one of those games you really have to go in blind to really appreciate the WTF-ness of it all! 🙂
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/stanley-parable-the-spoiler-free-review
Very low hrdware requirements too, so should run on pretty much anything.
Any of the main Borderlands games (2 is probably the pick of them for me). Should be pretty cheap on Steam by now?
All of the Dishonored titles. Death Of The Outsider is probably the most accessible as it doesn't punish you for going on a killing spree but Dishonored 2 is just sublime (worth it for the Clockwork Mansion alone).
Dying Light. Top drawer zombie slaying free running weapon crafting fun. Tempted by Dying Light 2 but seems a bit sillier to me?
Currently in one of hiatuses (hiati?) from gaming but Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 is calling me back I think.
Ah, the Clockwork Mansion. That, and a Crack in The Slab, such inventive levels, must be about 50 different ways to play through them. There isn't really a bad level in the game.
The original Dishonored still plays really well, although it's less forgiving for stealth. Death of the Outsider was good, I thought, but a bit short and limited (as you'd expect as a DLC).
Borderlands 2 occupied a LOT of my time, still holds up OK, although the graphics are showing their age somewhat.
Are the Borderlands games any good as singleplayer? I had a quick look at 3 but it seemed like it was missing something without co-op.
Only ever played them solo. Only time I've missed co-op is on the raid bosses which are basically impossible solo unless you're massively OP or VERY lucky and patient.
Proper behind the times and only manage afew hrs a week (still on PS4 TBH!) Playing through The Last of Us 2 at the moment. Enjoying it as much as the first and good to see the story told from both sides IMO. Also Gran Turismo for my racing fix.
Xbox upstairs that I used to play lots of Forza, Wreckfest or Sniper elite on but rarely play that these days.
My recent recommendations, all very good (if you like that type of game).
Remnant II
Lies of P
Lords of the Fallen
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty (DLC)
RoboCop: Rogue City - This was surprisingly good and a lot of fun, just like the original film.
Starfield felt dated to me, I put enough hours in to complete it but thought it was average. Mile wide, inch deep.
I've just gone back to playing Titanfall2, its a bit old but still cracking game, cross platform and hacker free.
James
Are the Borderlands games any good as singleplayer? I had a quick look at 3 but it seemed like it was missing something without co-op.
I missed out 1, but 2 and 3 both fine single player.
In 2, the decent/rare/fun/interesting guns are very very rare but always farmable with endless reloads until the right one drops. I decided I have other things to do in my life, got a save file editor, and up-leveled the ones I liked, which I figure is basically the same thing as replaying fights waiting for the RNG to go your way, at the end of the day.
In 3, the decent/rare/fun/interesting guns are so common, I didn't have time to use a lot of them before another one came along!
It appears I already have The Stanley Parable in my library! I don't remember playing it.... wonder what happened!?
Maybe I did? Must have been a few years ago.
Also in my Library that I never played, never got into, Metro 2033 Redux - 90% off at £1.77 in Steam currently - probably a bit dated for the gamers now though 🙂
Stray is a fantastic game where you play as a cat.
Also for anyone who likes diablo type games grim Dawn is also great.
No man's sky is another game I really love also (they have added about a million free updates to the game to try to make up for its bad launch (they have succeeded and then some in my opinion). Shows starfield how it should be done (I like starfield I have to admit).
Gang beasts is great to jump on multiplayer for a quick blast. Like human fall flat but FIGHT. Makes my kids scream and giggle
As a standard I have Ghost Recon Breakpoint on the go, but co-op campaign with a few mates; heli-assault all the things with belt fed machine guns.
Replaying Assassin's Creed Black Flag single player, rinsed Mirage, Odyssey, Origins, Valhalla & Syndicate, the earlier games are really dated and the control options are frustrating after playing the later games so I avoid. But they're all worthy games with hours of play and procrastination.
Red Dead 2 is epic and moody, might have a run through on the Game+ feature in the new year.
Watchdogs and Watchdogs:Legion are other good open world games.
Also in my Library that I never played, never got into, Metro 2033 Redux – 90% off at £1.77 in Steam currently – probably a bit dated for the gamers now though
That is a top quality single player FPS 'upgrade your guns and shoot the baddies' type game, it's more linier than open word, but it's done with panache ...A must play if you like shooters...get it played!
The best of the series is the latest, though... 'Metro exodus'.
Although 2033 redux holds up ok as the graphics had an overhaul for the redux version, over the origeonal.
EDIT, also The Stanley Parable is so worth a play...especially if you alredy have it... brilliant... just don't watch any spoiler vids or anything before hand.
Oh and trailmakers . So good
If we are talking underrated or didn't know it existed, it's got to be this:
Used to play it projected onto a wall, it looked stunning. A Bit like MTB, if you can't keep the flow going gameplay becomes lumpen and awkward!
Loved that game - quite a short campaign, but lots of timed challenges as well.
Newer open-world one, not so much.
If you like racing games, FH5 is a great mix/crossover of arcade silliness and sim...
IMO it's the best all round racing game ever, as evidenced by the scarey amount of hours I've played it!
Who doesn't want to defeat the evil mind control carrot!
Cuphead is beautiful to look at and ridiculously difficult to play. I still love it. At the opposite end of the scale, Jusant, recently added to game pass is a chilled climbing game.
I wanted to like cup head, but as said, it's such a brutally hard game to play, and for me that kinda ruins it, as it takes all the fun out of it.
Rayman legends, or maybe psychanoughts, is more my lane for that kind of thing.
I'm replaying Cyberpunk 2077 at the moment thanks to the updates/DLC and having just built a new PC and I'm coming to the conclusion that it really is one of my favourite games of all time. Now that the launch woes have been resolved, and I'm playing it with all the fancy ray tracing options on it is incredible. I've just started the DLC too, and it's a step up from even the base game in terms of presentation.
Honestly the story and characters in this world are incredibly well done. It has so much heart, and every character has depth and feels human, flawed, believable. There are a lot of moments of downtime too, where you're just talking to a character about things that aren't just related to "go shoot up these Arasaka goons". It just makes the world feel way more believable.
"I heard some really good things about The Day Before recently."
It's been canned by the developers a week after release on steam. Failed to deliver on it's promises and got slaughtered in the reviews and by livestreamers.
Any more of these? Got a Christmas xbox on the way and looking for ideas, particularly of any obvious non-game pass games worth picking up. Although I'm going to try game pass as it looks good value.
Faced by a steam list of modern games that I've never got round to playing I just bought the original Fantasy General for £2, and what a great game. UI is disastrous of course and it's got that classic oldschool wargame thing of never quite explaining how it works- do I get a bonus for being attacked over a river? Is rough terrain good or bad? Who knows? But the basic game is fantastic, 1996 was a good year
I was going to recommend Frostpunk even though it's a bit old now but **** me it's expensive now. I paid a few quid for it back when it was relatively new, now it's about to get sequelled and it's £25 even without the DLC, that can piss off. Still, one of the best games ever. Wait til its cheap and get it then.
Assassin's creed, the London one - nice open world, no pressure constraints to finish or undertake anything
Star Wars - Fallen Order & Jedi Survivor are the only 2 games I have ever finished the option to then continue as open world and go explore, do further quests/collect etc is great
1997 was a good year too - the original fallout came out. If anyone's not played it, get it, and get past the slightly janky 90s interface. It's one of the best computer role playing games ever made.
Talking of janky, give Escape from Lavender Island a go if you have any taste for wieirrd.
