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patientgamers Patient Gamers @sh.itjust.works
perishthethought @lemm.ee

What's the game you play when nothing else sounds good?

Do you have a game you play over and over, when nothing else fits your mood? That game that is infinitely re-playable, somewhat the same every time and somewhat new and interesting?

For me it's the games in the Orcs Must Die series. But mostly OMD 3. I play the mode called Scramble, where you have to beat 5 rounds of orcs, and they get harder and harder as you progress. There are random things to make it harder (nerfs) and you can choose 1 thing per round to make it easier (buffs). I've probably played that something like 300 times now since I beat the main game + DLCs a long while ago. I go into a special mental state while playing, since I know it all so well, and just zone out for about an hour each time.

Patient gamers, what's your "I will keep playing this game for the rest of my life" fallback?

156 comments

  • I was trying Terraria, which has a lot of creativity possibilities. I was trying to earthwork/terraform a small world (i.e. trying to make it level from ocean to ocean), while simultaneously "voidforming" another small world (i.e. digging out every single "removable" block before Hardmode, which obviously excluded Lihzard temple blocks, Dungeon blocks and Crimson/Corruption altars; for lava, I was using the infinite bucket trick to replicate honey in order to consume lava from the Underworld; I don't plan on reaching Hardmode for such world). I was taking blocks from the second world (the world to be voidformed) and "smuggling" them into the first world (the world to be terraformed) in order to compensate for the need for additional blocks (e.g. sand, ice, mud, etc) when biomes were generated below ocean level.

    Turns out that I was doing this not exactly for fun and enjoyment, but something to "try to keep myself busy and away from bad thoughts", and that was not really a good goal for myself. By now, it has been weeks since I last played.

  • I did that a lot with Subnautica but I think I've worn it out. I would make up challenge runs for myself to spice it up and I've run out of those. It was my "I want to play a video game right now" game. I kinda wish I had fewer objections to Subnautica 2, because there's things I like about that game and things I don't and the don'ts slightly outweigh the things that do.

    • I've had Subnautica on my wishlist forever. I should get to that soon

      • It's great, go play it, and I suggest going in as blind as you can.

        I once saw a playthrough by Let's Play Easy Mode, I don't know how he acquired a copy of the game while knowing as little as he did about it. He correctly guessed there'd be swimming in it and realized about six minutes in that it was a survival game.

        I like to give this one hint, which I think is enough guidance to keep you from looking up the wiki and encountering actual spoilers: The answer to "well, now what?" is "go deeper."

  • These days I mostly just grind the same handful of games. Actually having a hard time pulling myself away long enough to get through the JRPGs on my backlog...

    • Skullgirls
    • Them's Fightin' Herds
    • Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes]
    • Riichi Mahjong (Mahjong Soul, Riichi City, IRL)
    • Slay the Spire
    • Puyo Puyo Champions
    • Panel de Pon

  • Zen pinball

    • I play pinball deluxe on my phone instead, tried to get some simulators running but gave up and this game is good enough. My brother and his friend are super into it, one has two real tables and the other has a fake, full size table with a TV inside that plays emulators. Good stuff.

  • For me its titanfall 2. Simply because its quite casual and the rounds don't take too long. Just hop on and if you get absolutely obliderated the next round will be better.

  • what's your "I will keep playing this game for the rest of my life" fallback?

    Lately it's OpenRCT, Counterstrike 2, or Cities Skylines. On the phone it's minecraft.

156 comments