Are we sort of in a drought or something? (bit of rambling here)

Westwood

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Because reasons, I stopped gaming about four months ago. This is after 30+ years of gaming just about every day. Last game I was into was Path of Exile and I didn't care for some changes in the economy and I overall just got burnt out.

Been about four months, and wouldn't mind getting into something for an hour or two before bed.

I must've spent over an hour last night on Steam looking things over along with punching in "top games of 2022". Not a single thing really appealed to me.

I'm sort of thinking maybe pick up Black Mesa and play though the Half Life series again. Only done it once and never did Black Mesa. That or do the Dead Space series.

A more sandbox like game sort of sounds ok. I've tried the Fallout series, but it never really stuck. I don't like dialogue and having to choose answers to multiple questions for a story line. The Witcher series and Fallout series are like that and I never last long. RDR2 maybe?

Be neat if I was better at MP-FPS games, but I'm the worst out there. I'm always last place, get so freaking mad, then get stuck on a loop of just one kill this round and I go to bed. Its not a good setup, heh. I simply cannot compete in COD/BF games.

MMOs seem dead. I've written off Warcraft.

Builders like Factorio and City Skylines get repetitive.

RTS games always interested me. Dune: Spice Wars seems a bit slow moving. AOE IV looks ok? maybe?

Man, I don't know. Perhaps I'm just over gaming entirely. Not a single game captures my attention.
 
I go through those ebbs and flows too. Lately, I've been putting hundreds of hours into Rimworld, but I did drop Path of Exile before that for the same reason as you did. Destiny 2 is another game I can pick up whenever, and not take seriously.
 
One thing I have learned through the years is my gaming habbit comes back in cycles. I get tired of it then go binge watching some streaming shows, maybe go on a bing reading spree then I go back eventually to gaming. The cycles can last months between switches, once it lasted years (Everquest burned me off PC games for like 3 years after spending detrimentally way too much time playing it for a year and swearing off MMO and most multiplayer games permantently). Lately I am back to gaming, strangely enough mainly due to the Steam Deck. I have a 3090 gaming rig but spend most of my time gaming on an 1280x800 steam deck lol.
 
if you're interested in the genre there's no better developer out there than From Software...you can try any of the Dark Souls games or Sekiro or Elden Ring...although it's probably best not to play Sekiro as your first game
 
if you're interested in the genre there's no better developer out there than From Software...you can try any of the Dark Souls games or Sekiro or Elden Ring
Oh, Elden Ring. Yea, I was playing that too. I enjoyed it. Something with a little lower difficulty would be nice. I had fun, but the YOU DIED screen started to get annoying. An open sandbox game like that where you could travel around would be neat. Kind of why I was checking out RDR2.
 
It was a pretty dry year for releases. I wouldn't call it a drought, just really nothing interesting released. We mostly got PlayStation leftovers, annual sequels, and remakes or remasters. I've been playing through the Dead Space trilogy again recently, hyping myself up for The Callisto Protocol next week. Dead Space 2 still rattles me to this day.
 
I’ve recently built a new rig with the intention of gaming
I’m going to go back through the old stuff
Doom series library
HL2 library
And of course my first gaming experiences COD library.
My daughter wants me to get in to Red Dead Redemption
And Overwatch
 
Because reasons, I stopped gaming about four months ago. This is after 30+ years of gaming just about every day. Last game I was into was Path of Exile and I didn't care for some changes in the economy and I overall just got burnt out.

Been about four months, and wouldn't mind getting into something for an hour or two before bed.

I must've spent over an hour last night on Steam looking things over along with punching in "top games of 2022". Not a single thing really appealed to me.

I'm sort of thinking maybe pick up Black Mesa and play though the Half Life series again. Only done it once and never did Black Mesa. That or do the Dead Space series.

A more sandbox like game sort of sounds ok. I've tried the Fallout series, but it never really stuck. I don't like dialogue and having to choose answers to multiple questions for a story line. The Witcher series and Fallout series are like that and I never last long. RDR2 maybe?

Be neat if I was better at MP-FPS games, but I'm the worst out there. I'm always last place, get so freaking mad, then get stuck on a loop of just one kill this round and I go to bed. Its not a good setup, heh. I simply cannot compete in COD/BF games.

MMOs seem dead. I've written off Warcraft.

Builders like Factorio and City Skylines get repetitive.

RTS games always interested me. Dune: Spice Wars seems a bit slow moving. AOE IV looks ok? maybe?

Man, I don't know. Perhaps I'm just over gaming entirely. Not a single game captures my attention.

New World is a good active MMO waiting on Ashes if Creation and Pantheon Rise of the Fallen both had tons of work out into the Ashes just upgraded to Unreal engine 5. Darktide is out next week with two Dead space Games one being Dead space the other being The Calisto Protocol. Starfall and Wolong in 2023. There is a ton of stuff to make your eyes strain.
 
One thing I have learned through the years is my gaming habbit comes back in cycles. I get tired of it then go binge watching some streaming shows, maybe go on a bing reading spree then I go back eventually to gaming. The cycles can last months between switches, once it lasted years (Everquest burned me off PC games for like 3 years after spending detrimentally way too much time playing it for a year and swearing off MMO and most multiplayer games permantently). Lately I am back to gaming, strangely enough mainly due to the Steam Deck. I have a 3090 gaming rig but spend most of my time gaming on an 1280x800 steam deck lol.
I'm on a 3070 and 3600 with 1440@144. So not crazy specs. So older titles will be just fine. Just not a single thing appeals to me. >.<
 
Warhammer 40k Darktide is new and pretty fun. It's a multiplayer coop shooter so you don't have to be great at fpses to have a good time.
 
I took a hiatus from pc gaming because no current-ish games appealed to me, and I played all of the PlayStation 4 games I wanted, so that's when I decided to thrift and play on old consoles. I hit up thrift stores and rebuilt my ps1-3 collection, and older pc games too.

Going back to those old games fixed my itch - playing something I never owned as a kid or something I didn't think I'd have interest in but turns out, I really enjoy it.

Now I recently got both a steam deck and a PS5, and some upcoming releases I'm interested in, I am living the best of both worlds, retro and current.


Tl;dr
Red Dead Redemption 2 is awesome, give it a go.
 
Warhammer 40k Darktide is new and pretty fun. It's a multiplayer coop shooter so you don't have to be great at fpses to have a good time.
huh. that looks neat. looking like it has a few bugs to work out though?
 
It's in early access. Full release is on November 30.
yea, so we're going to wait off on that one. I'm not one to sign up for EA. Even after release, I wait to see what made the cut into retail. see if its any good.
 
yea, so we're going to wait off on that one. I'm not one to sign up for EA. Even after release, I wait to see what made the cut into retail. see if its any good.
Well, it's more a perk of preordering in this case.
 
What's the story on GTA V? Several years old, but the clips and stuff keep coming up on my YT feed. I hear mixed things on it like I've sort of missed the boat on the gameplay. And somehow rich veterans can ruin the gameplay?
 
I'm on a 3070 and 3600 with 1440@144. So not crazy specs. So older titles will be just fine. Just not a single thing appeals to me. >.<
I have been playing Super Mega Baseball (the first one not the second or third). I find it a great game to play at night before bed to relax, but that's assuming you like baseball. I just noticed EA bought the franchise lol. From what I heard SMB2 is just SMB1 but with online multiplayer and DLC so I never bothered buying it. SMB3 is apparently out but I never noticed. Still SMB1 is just plain fun IMHO. If you want a more fun, less serious kind of Souls-ish hack n' Slash game I recommend Tunic.
 
Here's some recommendations for ya sir:

Dead Space 2 - a classic and arguably the best of the trilogy
Deus Ex Human Revolution - great FPS with some RPG-like components
Dungeons 3 - think Dungeon Keeper 2 meets Warcraft 3 (not NEAR enough people talk about this great game)
Grim Dawn - ARPG like Path of Exile but infinitely better (I'd wager you've played this but it's been my go-to game for like half a decade)
Risk of Rain 2 - rogue-lite with some 3rd person ARPG action (best with friends but single player is still legit)
Vampire Survivors - super fun "arcadey" game... I think it's only like 3 bucks on Steam or something
Warhammer 40K Inquisitor Martyr - also an ARPG (especially awesome if you dig 40K lore, but solid regardless)

- As for FPS's, Black Mesa is good. I still enjoy a good run of Quake 1 (the Steam version has been updated and is well worth the money now).. Also, Painkiller: Black Edition is good, mindless fun.

Best of luck, Lor' knows it's hard to find something fun to day these days..
 
Because reasons, I stopped gaming about four months ago. This is after 30+ years of gaming just about every day. Last game I was into was Path of Exile and I didn't care for some changes in the economy and I overall just got burnt out.

Been about four months, and wouldn't mind getting into something for an hour or two before bed.

I must've spent over an hour last night on Steam looking things over along with punching in "top games of 2022". Not a single thing really appealed to me.

I'm sort of thinking maybe pick up Black Mesa and play though the Half Life series again. Only done it once and never did Black Mesa. That or do the Dead Space series.

A more sandbox like game sort of sounds ok. I've tried the Fallout series, but it never really stuck. I don't like dialogue and having to choose answers to multiple questions for a story line. The Witcher series and Fallout series are like that and I never last long. RDR2 maybe?

Be neat if I was better at MP-FPS games, but I'm the worst out there. I'm always last place, get so freaking mad, then get stuck on a loop of just one kill this round and I go to bed. Its not a good setup, heh. I simply cannot compete in COD/BF games.

MMOs seem dead. I've written off Warcraft.

Builders like Factorio and City Skylines get repetitive.

RTS games always interested me. Dune: Spice Wars seems a bit slow moving. AOE IV looks ok? maybe?

Man, I don't know. Perhaps I'm just over gaming entirely. Not a single game captures my attention.
What are some of the most recent games (past 5-ish years I guess?) which you actually have liked?

I been a fan of Outer Wilds (Echoes of the Eye expansion released September 2021) and a game called Inscryption (another September 2021 release) and Sable (yet another September 2021 release).

If you liked Elden Ring but want easier: look into emulating Breath of The Wild Wii-U version. Its an excellent game and the emulation of the Wii-U version is extremely good. (there is no visual quality difference between the Wii-U and Switch versions. But Switch Emulation isn't quite perfect/annoyance free, yet)

You also might like Death Stranding. That game is all about walking/traversing/traveling around.

Anyway, it helps to know what you have liked.
 
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hyping myself up for The Callisto Protocol next week.

baby-scream.gif
 
Been looking over tower defense games actually. Those have always been a go-to for me for whatever reason. Think I'm going to fire up Sanctum 2 tonight.
 
yea. it gets really crazy too.

I just picked up Black Mesa. I'll give that a playthrough. I haven't done Half Life in, oh, close to when it originally released.

Sigh.... *reinstalls Defense Grid

Are there any tower defense games of note? (discounting OG Warcraft 3 mods that I'll assume don't work anymore)
 
Sigh.... *reinstalls Defense Grid

Are there any tower defense games of note? (discounting OG Warcraft 3 mods that I'll assume don't work anymore)
Sanctum 2 is awesome. Its an FPS game that you have to build a maze around. it gets really tricky. I've got a ton of play time with it. THere's all weapon unlocks and perks. Great game. Probably my favorite tower defense out there.
 
Sanctum 2 is awesome. Its an FPS game that you have to build a maze around. it gets really tricky. I've got a ton of play time with it. THere's all weapon unlocks and perks. Great game. Probably my favorite tower defense out there.

I just spent $10 re-buying Demigod on Steam. (After having loved the retail/gfwl version back when)

.... I was very, very disappointed :(

Some games age well. Others, not so much..
 
There's been a few threads about this phenomenon. Personally I think out expectations of gaming have gone up way too much.
What I mean is, there used to only be 1-2 major releases a year. Now there are 20+. In terms of quality? I think it still might be 1 per year. Maybe 1 every 2 years. There is way more noise in comparison with signal.
If you're not interested in iterative FPS sequels (Call of Battlefield 22!), then picking through titles actually worth playing to me are pretty few and far between. Titles that actually make you think?: even rarer.

All that said, if you like RPG's, then I highly recommend Divinity Original Sin 2, which the Definitive Edition (the one you want) commonly goes on sale for <$20 and it's easily 60+ hours of content even if you're trying to speed run it. Buy it on GOG. I've been starting to play DoS1 off and on, and I'm not far enough in to say whether or not it's worth it to get or not as well, but I can say without equivocation that DoS2 is way more polished with literally better everything. Even ergonomics in DoS1 are annoying after playing DoS2. Story, Music, graphics, inventory management, multi-classing, spell types/categories, literally everything is better in DoS2. I think DoS1 hasn't aged nearly as well and is dependent on nostalgia to a degree.
I'm looking forward to Balduar's Gate 3, which is in early access. I refuse to buy early access anything, but it's a game to look forward to.

Otherwise, there are plenty of other suggestions in this thread. I'd only add: play the game types you love. Don't bother with everything else. If games aren't a 9 or a 10, then I basically don't bother. I don't have time as an adult to play mediocre games anymore.
 
May not be your cup of tea, but Snowrunner is a really solid, great looking game that is open world-ish. Very chill vibe, too.
 
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Tower defense?

Have you tried X-morph? There is a demo on steam to try. Its tower defense but your builder also is combat capable. Good tower variety and over the top campaign/story.
 
Because reasons, I stopped gaming about four months ago. This is after 30+ years of gaming just about every day. Last game I was into was Path of Exile and I didn't care for some changes in the economy and I overall just got burnt out.

Been about four months, and wouldn't mind getting into something for an hour or two before bed.

I must've spent over an hour last night on Steam looking things over along with punching in "top games of 2022". Not a single thing really appealed to me.

I'm sort of thinking maybe pick up Black Mesa and play though the Half Life series again. Only done it once and never did Black Mesa. That or do the Dead Space series.

A more sandbox like game sort of sounds ok. I've tried the Fallout series, but it never really stuck. I don't like dialogue and having to choose answers to multiple questions for a story line. The Witcher series and Fallout series are like that and I never last long. RDR2 maybe?

Be neat if I was better at MP-FPS games, but I'm the worst out there. I'm always last place, get so freaking mad, then get stuck on a loop of just one kill this round and I go to bed. Its not a good setup, heh. I simply cannot compete in COD/BF games.

MMOs seem dead. I've written off Warcraft.

Builders like Factorio and City Skylines get repetitive.

RTS games always interested me. Dune: Spice Wars seems a bit slow moving. AOE IV looks ok? maybe?

Man, I don't know. Perhaps I'm just over gaming entirely. Not a single game captures my attention.

RDR2 and Cyberpunk, in that order. And if you had a VR headset then Half Life: Alyx would also be must-play.
 
I'm sort of thinking maybe pick up Black Mesa and play though the Half Life series again. Only done it once and never did Black Mesa. That or do the Dead Space series.

A more sandbox like game sort of sounds ok. I've tried the Fallout series, but it never really stuck. I don't like dialogue and having to choose answers to multiple questions for a story line. The Witcher series and Fallout series are like that and I never last long. RDR2 maybe?

Be neat if I was better at MP-FPS games, but I'm the worst out there. I'm always last place, get so freaking mad, then get stuck on a loop of just one kill this round and I go to bed. Its not a good setup, heh. I simply cannot compete in COD/BF games.
1) Do play Black Mesa. Bigtime. It's really pretty darn linear (with minor variances of course) until you start hitting Xen, and that's where things get a lot more interesting vs the OG version. Eh, I'll say the variances begin to ramp up after you leave BM, and really hit the accelerator in Xen. It is one hell of a game, I cannot recommend it to you enough if you were an original HL fan. I haven't played it since they "finally" released it (never played Beta), but did "1.0" or close enouogh, but it'd be interesting to see the continued improvements. I'm absolutely due for another play through.

2) Bummer to hear Witcher 3 didn't tickle your fancy. I have about 700+ hours in it and do love the game. Curious if you ever tried modding it? It can look FANTASTIC with the texture overhaul kit and many other preference/convenience-based mods from NexusMods. I could post my mod-list if you wish to re-explore that one. That's a game that takes honestly about 8 hours to open up (gotta escape White Orchard and then a bit more). From there its a bit of a grind to Skelege, but after that, you should be sucked in.

2.5) I quit playing Witcher 3 midway through my ~6th completionist playthrough due to RDR2. I see you have the hardware for it, and knowing what I've gleamed about ya from other sub-forums, I have no doubt you'd like it. I just put 200 hours into a completionist playthrough (ended at ~95%) and its the most up-your-alley game I could recommend. The map is GEORGOUS. Your choices do matter a bit and can effect gameplay/interactions. The story had me tearing up at the end, not going to lie, I was that invested lol. And then the post-game starts (no further spoilers from me at this time). The only thing is, you have to spend a couple hours muddling through the intro bit. It is absolutely one of those games you have to trust to open up. It's not near as bad as Witcher 3 in that regard, but it is not a cake-walk (as far as muddling goes). Put that time in and you will not regret it.

3) I've recently taken a huge interest in HUNT: Showdown. Steep learning curve that I'm not there on yet, but I love the gunplay (set in the 1890's, single-action, lever action, bolt action type guns, no auto's), and INTENSE audio (binural). It's my new latest love, and I'm currently 50 hours in and hooked (20+ in the last 2 weeks...)


I would also say, I'm totally with ya on nothing new really catching my interest. It's been rough out there personally, and these few games you mention a slight interest on are actually ones I did spend a lot of time with and do thoroughly enjoy.

Best of luck man!
 
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Were you into comic books growing up? If so grab Batman Arkham Knight. One of the most enjoyable games I've ever played. I adore Batman's character and the lore of the game is lovely. I beat Arkham Knight, then Arkham City GOTY, now working on Arkham Origins. Each one is pure enjoyment.

I listened to skill up gush over Spiderman game. That is next on my list and will definitely buy it soon.

I have also sank a couple thousand hours into Overwatch. It's a game where you can launch at any time and just blast away with different heroes in a FPS setting with different fun abilities but without the commitment of being battle royals and It is just casual fun.
 
Do you like Myst-type games? Perhaps "Quern" would interest you; there is very little dialog at all.
 
Honestly, I felt gaming has been in a drought for a few years now. I just haven't been impressed with the majority of new games. However, that just gave me an excuse to go retro. So, I spent the last few years building up my hardware and equipment for doing so. There's tons of games out there new and old. So, if you can find something today...there's probably something from yesterday.
 
1) Do play Black Mesa. Bigtime. It's really pretty darn linear (with minor variances of course) until you start hitting Xen, and that's where things get a lot more interesting vs the OG version. Eh, I'll say the variances begin to ramp up after you leave BM, and really hit the accelerator in Xen. It is one hell of a game, I cannot recommend it to you enough if you were an original HL fan. I haven't played it since they "finally" released it (never played Beta), but did "1.0" or close enouogh, but it'd be interesting to see the continued improvements. I'm absolutely due for another play through.

2) Bummer to hear Witcher 3 didn't tickle your fancy. I have about 700+ hours in it and do love the game. Curious if you ever tried modding it? It can look FANTASTIC with the texture overhaul kit and many other preference/convenience-based mods from NexusMods. I could post my mod-list if you wish to re-explore that one. That's a game that takes honestly about 8 hours to open up (gotta escape White Orchard and then a bit more). From there its a bit of a grind to Skelege, but after that, you should be sucked in.

2.5) I quit playing Witcher 3 midway through my ~6th completionist playthrough due to RDR2. I see you have the hardware for it, and knowing what I've gleamed about ya from other sub-forums, I have no doubt you'd like it. I just put 200 hours into a completionist playthrough (ended at ~95%) and its the most up-your-alley game I could recommend. The map is GEORGOUS. Your choices do matter a bit and can effect gameplay/interactions. The story had me tearing up at the end, not going to lie, I was that invested lol. And then the post-game starts (no further spoilers from me at this time). The only thing is, you have to spend a couple hours muddling through the intro bit. It is absolutely one of those games you have to trust to open up. It's not near as bad as Witcher 3 in that regard, but it is not a cake-walk (as far as muddling goes). Put that time in and you will not regret it.

3) I've recently taken a huge interest in HUNT: Showdown. Steep learning curve that I'm not there on yet, but I love the gunplay (set in the 1890's, single-action, lever action, bolt action type guns, no auto's), and INTENSE audio (binural). It's my new latest love, and I'm currently 50 hours in and hooked (20+ in the last 2 weeks...)


I would also say, I'm totally with ya on nothing new really catching my interest. It's been rough out there personally, and these few games you mention a slight interest on are actually ones I did spend a lot of time with and do thoroughly enjoy.

Best of luck man!
yea, I grabbed Black Mesa last night. Was only able to play for about 20m until something came up.

Witcher 3 didn't stick at all. I hate dialogue and reading. I just want to jump in and go. I forget if W3 was like this, but the multiple choice answers I have to give- I hate that.

I'll dothis and Half Life 2. Then switch to the Dead Space series.
 
Were you into comic books growing up? If so grab Batman Arkham Knight. One of the most enjoyable games I've ever played. I adore Batman's character and the lore of the game is lovely. I beat Arkham Knight, then Arkham City GOTY, now working on Arkham Origins. Each one is pure enjoyment.

I listened to skill up gush over Spiderman game. That is next on my list and will definitely buy it soon.

I have also sank a couple thousand hours into Overwatch. It's a game where you can launch at any time and just blast away with different heroes in a FPS setting with different fun abilities but without the commitment of being battle royals and It is just casual fun.
Can't do superhero stuff. Books, movies, and games. zero interest. I try to like them because of my kid, but I don't like it at all.
 
huh. that looks neat. looking like it has a few bugs to work out though?
Ehh, I had 2 crashes in my first 4 hours but none since and no other bugs so far (that I've noticed anyway). I'm of that mind that if I'm actually interested in a new multiplayer game it's best to jump into as early as possible so I can ride the 'New Relationship Energy' while everyone else is too. Discovering it at the same time as all of the other players is a lot more satisfying to me than joining late when everyone knows exactly what to expect and have become slaves to the meta.
 
Can't do superhero stuff. Books, movies, and games. zero interest. I try to like them because of my kid, but I don't like it at all.
I'm not a big Batman fan myself but I would still recommend the old Batman Arkham ASYLUM anyway. It's basically Splinter Cell mixed with Metroid and is much more focused than the later open world games.

Recent games that I've played that I would say have changed how I view games would be such: Hollow Knight, Hades, the Yakuza games (Action RPGs with some humor to them). I'd also include Elden Ring (I know you said it was tough but it is pretty amazing once you start to figure it out), God of War (I would say it's Elden Ring light in difficulty with a satisfying story). And I'd include Assassin's Creed Odyssey also if you like Greek history and mythology; it does have a bit of repetition but it drew me back into single player games (technically AC: Origins drew me into wanting to play Odyssey but I like Greece more than Egypt).

Some others that I would say are worth a look if you feel like you need something a bit different: The Messenger (Kind of Ninja Gaiden with a decent story), Dust (Beat'em up sidescroller), Yoku's Island Express (Basically Metroidvania Pinball, not very long but surpisingly enjoyable), Dead Cells (Modern Castlevania), Rimworld (Takes some time but you'll get great stories out of it).

I'll also throw Ring of Pain and Inscryption in here because they're awesome "card" games.


I have "100 percented" three recent games; Hades, Elden Ring, and God of War. I want to do Hollow Knight but the remaining achievements are difficult and require to much dedication.
 
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If you want something similar to chess, look at Legion TD2 on steam. Its based off the Warcraft 3 & Starcraft 2 custom map

Never figured it would rope me in like it did.
 
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