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?

  • idyllic_optimism@lemmy.todayEnglish
    1·
    15 days ago

    Modded Minecraft for sure. But there are a handful of games I keep going back to and common theme for those games that I can listen to a podcast or audiobook while I’m playing them, like Rimworld, No Man’s Sky, Stardew Valley, Skyrim.

  • yamper@lemmy.world
    1·
    16 days ago

    this is a smartass answer but if no video game is catching your attention, don’t play a video game. do anything else. pick up a new hobby or revisit an old one.

  • laranis@lemmy.zip
    1·
    16 days ago

    StarCraft. The original. My brain and body is hardwired to play that game. “SCV ready” triggers something. I have a fantasy of retiring in an old folks home and me and a few of my fellow geriatrics fire that shit up and play LAN games until the DNR kicks in.

    • MintyAnt@lemmy.world
      1·
      16 days ago

      The atmosphere in that game is very unique and extremely well done. No shade to SC2, it just didn’t require capture the feel, the music, the dread the way SC1 does

  • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
    1·
    15 days ago

    For me it is loading up Xonotic to strafe jump around and blast bots. The movement in Xonotic is hypnotic, and while I usually play in short bursts I don’t think I will ever get bored of returning over and over again to learn the nuances and creative opportunities of combat and movement in Xonotic. All it takes is the first strafe jump to put a stupid smile on my face.

    https://xonotic.org/

    Also I love open world driving games and Motortown is my jam. I do urgent taxi jobs and just let my mind relax as I drive like a complete madman. The tire grip and burnout mechanics along with the vehicle handling in general is the best I have tried in any game.

    https://store.steampowered.com/app/1369670/Motor_Town_Behind_The_Wheel/

      • stringere@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        14 days ago

        I also like the lack of pressure to finish a round if you have to be drug away by life. I know they’ll likely be able to finish without me or someone will pop in after me to help.

  • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
    1·
    15 days ago

    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.

  • DasSkelett@discuss.tchncs.de
    1·
    14 days ago

    Creeper World 4, the daily map usually has a good duration. Takes your thoughts off everything else pretty well, yet is not too demanding. And you can vary your play style yourself a bit / set your own limitations, depending on how much of a challenge you want right now or how much time you want to spend.

    • Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org
      2·
      10 days ago

      The same although it might be cw3 or even particle fleet depending on the mood I’m in.

      He’s the only developer I support on release of the game.

  • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
    1·
    15 days ago

    I’ll load up Spider-man a couple times a month just to go on patrol, and stop random crimes.

    Been doing this since Spider-man 2 came out on the original Xbox. Glad the new one came out, and I don’t have to chase that kid’s damn balloon anymore.

  • southernbrewer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    16 days ago

    HL2, Portal 2, Far Cry (1), Commander Keen, Supreme Commander, Raptor: Call of the Shadows. Halo MCC but particularly 2.

  • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
    1·
    16 days ago

    The Long Dark. Something about wandering an icy wasteland scavenging, hunting, fishing, works for me.

  • cRazi_man@lemm.ee
    0·
    16 days ago

    Rogue-lites are basically made to be infinitely re-playable and if I find one I like then I keep going back to it. Enter the Gungeon is a game I’ve played for years. Then there was a while this spot was taken by Slay the Spire and Balatro in turn. Now I’m back to Enter the Gungeon.

      • cRazi_man@lemm.ee
        1·
        15 days ago

        A warning before you jump in: it’s crazy difficult. It took me about 70 hours of gameplay to be able to finish a play through…but after that it became pretty repeatable once I had learnt how to do it. This is pretty standard, but the failed runs are all fun and the gameplay is excellent and hilarious. I can give some generic starter tips if you want, things I wished I knew before having to learn the hard way (equally learning the hard way is the way rogue-lites are intended to work, so up to you).

        The enemies are bullets that are holding guns and shooting bullets at you. You can unlock a gun that looks like a bullet, that shoots bullets that look like guns, that shoot their own bullets. Everything in the game is a pun.