I'm immunocompromised and continuing to stay at home and single player games really help me get through it. I've played a lot of games (especially the past 2.5 years), so dig deep and give me a good recommendation that you don't think I've played.

I'm into most genres, but not super into loot games or ubisoft open world style games. Love smaller indie titles. I love some JRPGs (Trails, DQ11, Yakuza, FF), hate others (Persona). Yeah I just said I hate persona, get over it. BoTW , Death Stranding, and Elden Ring are some of my favorite "big" games recently. The Trails JRPG series is probably my favorite overall series.

I just finished up Return to Monkey Island and really liked it (was a big fan of LucasArts adventures in the 90s), but I can't play back to pack point and click games so maybe cool off on that.

Been playing a lot of Ooblets while working out lately, so probably not gonna be receptive to any Animal Crossing / Stardew style games rn. Btw check out Ooblets if you like those kinds of games.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I second FTL.

      It's simple in a good and elegant way. And it's very hard to master.

    • macabrett
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      I love FTL! And Into the Breach! Good suggestion

  • The_Walkening [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    If you like FPS games with survival elements, definitely check out the Metro Series. They're very pretty, and Exodus was great fun because it was just open-world enough to make exploration fun and rewarding, but it didn't feel overly padded like a lot of games with open worlds. You're on a train.

    Also the newer Deus Ex titles are good.

    Fashion Police Squad is the best boomer/pixel shooter (with modern elements) to come out in 2022.

    As for non FPS fare I'd suggest Into the Breach (they just came out with an advanced edition that added a bunch of new mechanics/units), The Banner Saga and the newer XCOM releases should be available on console too.

    All of these should be relatively console/controller friendly.

    • macabrett
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      You're definitely hitting on a lot of games I really enjoy! I had a great time with the new Deus Ex titles (even despite some of their flaws). Into the Breach was also great, I should go back and play with the new stuff.

      Fashion Police Squad is one I missed, but I see it got put out by No More Robots so I'm intrigued.

      • The_Walkening [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Definitely check it out! The movement's extremely smooth, it's got a Doom Eternal Style weapons system and the character models are pretty hilarious.

        Also the Banner Saga would definitely be down your alley if you liked Into the Breach - 2 and 3 have survival modes and a custom battle creator so they're a bit more replayable, but if you have all 3 you can import your decisions from previous ones in story mode, which is pretty cool. And the art is really nice.

  • leftofthat [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I love Klei as a developer they make some of my favorite single player games of varying genres.

    Griftlands is a fun rogue-like card deck building game by then that I enjoyed and played a ton

    • TheCaconym [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I love Klei as a developer

      Oxygen Not Included is awesome.

    • macabrett
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      I loved Griftlands in early access! I should go back and check it out now that its finished.

      • Aryuproudomenowdaddy [comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Griftlands is one of my favorite games of the past year or so. Got really sucked into it for about a month. Slay the Spire is similar and also very good.

  • RION [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Divinity Original Sin 2: Solid AA CRPG with great characters and decent build variety. Drops off a little in the latter half but very worth your time nonetheless.

    Prey (2017): Excellent immersive sim with a cool setting and interesting story

    Going Under: Indie dungeon crawler set in a satire of startup culture. Cute art, banging soundtrack, funny jokes

    West of Loathing: Hilarious and endearing RPG with a unique setting. Short and sweet. The DLC is also shory but worth it IMO.

    Definitely seconding/thirding Griftlands. There's not a whole lot to do once you've done ascension on all three characters but it still took me over 100 hours to do that

    • macabrett
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      I should have included Divinity Original Sin 2 in my post! That's one of my favorite games! I'm really excited for Baldur's Gate 3 to come out of Early Access.

      I should go back to Prey. I love Arkane games, I love immersive sims, I love science fiction horror movies, but I'm a baby when it comes to getting scared in games. I was getting very scared in Prey haha.

      West of Loathing is one I'll have to add to the list. I missed this one, but I love a short and sweet RPG.

      • Leon_Grotsky [comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I should have included Divinity Original Sin 2 in my post! That’s one of my favorite games! I’m really excited for Baldur’s Gate 3 to come out of Early Access.

        Have you played the Pathfinder: Kingmaker or Wrath of the Righteous?'

        I've played a bit of the EA Baldur's Gate 3 and to be honest I think I prefer playing the Pathfinder games. BG3 is swanky though and I, too, am excited for full release.

        • macabrett
          hexagon
          ·
          2 years ago

          I haven't messed with Pathfinder. Is it real time with pause or turn based? A big reason I enjoyed Original Sin 2 over other CRPGs is I prefer turn based. Just a bit easier for me to follow. I was also a big fan of how much environmental effects you could cause on tiles in battle with spells and objects.

          • Leon_Grotsky [comrade/them]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Is it real time with pause or turn based?

            That's the neat part, it's both! There is a widget on your dashboard that can set combat to turn-based or real-time and you can change back-and-forth whenever you want.

            I was also a big fan of how much environmental effects you could cause on tiles in battle with spells and objects.

            While it's present it's not as much of a front-facing feature as it is in Divinity.

  • Aryuproudomenowdaddy [comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Rimworld has such a large mod library it's easy to keep the experience fresh.

    Really any of Supergiants catalog is great, Pyre might be a bit of an acquired taste with the wizard basketball gameplay. Aside from Hades they're generally short and sweet though.

    Dead Cells is a great metroidvania and is produced by a worker's co op.

    Death's Door is a cute Zelda-like where you play as Dirt Owl.

    Furi is very fun if you have the patience to learn boss battles and have the reflexes for it.

    Neon White is a speed runner game that I probably wouldn't have tried if I hadn't heard Steve Blum voice acting the protagonist, the story is pretty mediocre but the game play is a lot of fun.

  • nohaybanda [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I'm currently playing Cultist simulator. It's a very specific kind of feel, so I'd recommend pirating to try first.

  • Good_Username [they/them,e/em/eir]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I will never not suggest Pathologic 2. Despite its name, you absolutely do not need to (and in fact, very much shouldn't) play the original Pathologic first.

    Other than that, my recommendations are going to be pretty basic and you've probably played a lot of them, but here goes anyway: Hollow Knight, Celeste, Hades, Outer Wilds, Fallout New Vegas, Disco Elysium.

    Oh, there's also Inscryption which was good and creepy. That's a little more off the beaten path.

    Or perhaps you'd like to get into Dwarf Fortress. I'd be much more willing to suggest this if the Steam release were already out, because it'll have much less of a learning curve at that point, but it's still really fun if you can get past the absolutely obtuse UI.

    Oh, and if you never played Goadstool's game (Kor), you really should. Goadstool is a comrade who posts here and Kor is amazing. You probably knew this already though.

    • macabrett
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      Hollow Knight, Celeste, Hades, Outer Wilds, Fallout New Vegas, Disco Elysium.

      These are all very good suggestions! Maybe I should finally get around to Outer Wilds and Disco Elysium. Anyone here know if Disco's console port is an alright way to play?

      And I bought Kor, forgot to install it, and forgot to play it. Damn my ADHD. I'll check out our comrade's game!

      • Ho_Chi_Chungus [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Maybe I should finally get around to Outer Wilds and Disco Elysium

        I'm pretty sure admitting to not having played Disco Elysium on this website is a bannable offense

        • macabrett
          hexagon
          ·
          2 years ago

          ummm sweatie this is ableist i have adhd okay all that text is very scary okay

          (I'm just kidding I should absolutely play it)

          • silent_water [she/her]
            ·
            2 years ago

            yeah but the text is funny. bumbling your way into horrible situations by saying things you'd never say IRL in a million years is addiction-inducing.

      • le_fanbois [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Outer Wilds :meow-bounce:

        You owe it to yourself to go in as blind as possible. It's truly wonderful and really without comparison.

        • macabrett
          hexagon
          ·
          2 years ago

          I need to do it. I need to dive in.

      • mittens [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I didn't play any of the Disco Elysium ports but I did play with a controller and a big TV and while not ideal, it was perfectly playable.

  • GrainEater [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    If you like fast-paced first-person shooters, I highly recommend this brand-new game called "DOOM II" (1994)

  • hypercube [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    caves of qud. classic-style roguelike (tile based, turn based, not any of that newfangled realtime nonsense) with optional non-permadeath mode. exploring post-post-post apocalyptic "earth" as either a weird mutant or a weird cyborg. lovely writing & sound design make it feel more immersive than you'd think just looking at it. got a real neat faction reputation system like some RPGs that includes species like dogs & frogs, as well as the more standard social structures. early access but there's already 10+ years of devtime in the thing, more worthwhile content than a lot of big, finished games already and on track to be finished next year

  • HornyOnMain
    ·
    2 years ago

    battle brothers is a really good game that's basically medieval fantasy xcom (turn based, perma death of units, consistently missing attacks that should have a 95% chance of hitting, etc) but actually good. You play as a the leader of a mercenary band that's trying to become actually profitable, and as your mercenary band grows you gain access to new mechanics like raiding goblin strongholds and stuff. Apparently, in the late game there's massive war scenarios that can start like noble houses infighting, or loads of zombies and skeletons coming out of the ground to retake the world, etcetera but I haven't got that far in game yet.

    there's also three dlcs that add a load of stuff to the base game but i dont know how good they are because i havent bought any yet

  • ElGosso [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    If you need to waste a lot of time there's no better way to do it than to get into 4X games like Civilization.

    • macabrett
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      I was unfortunately not very good at Sekiro, but maybe I should give it another shot post Elden Ring.

      • BerserkPoster [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        It's probably the best fromsoft game imo at least for the first few playthroughs. Have you played Disco Elysium?

    • macabrett
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yeah, I forgot to mention that one! Tales have been hit or miss for me. I did enjoy Arise for the most part (little long, but still a lot of fun).

    • macabrett
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      Oooo something about that one looks very appealing. I'll have to check it out.