I'd say getting older and having more responsibilities is a bigger part of it. When you're young and have lots of free time to devote to a game, a 100 hour game is no big deal. When you have a fraction of that time, you just don't want to deal with that. I'm equally wary as well.
There's definitely some change to the gaming scene, like all the cheap sales and freebies. Very easy to build a backlog of games while barely trying.
I have been really searching for an immersive FPS space sim centered on survival and building. Yes, I know space engineers exists and I've pumped many hours into it, but it just doesn't satisfy this specific itch I have. One of the main mechanics I would like is you have to salvage derelicts for parts to cobble together a working ship where you can eventually work your way up to manufacturing new parts to build ships. Think of it almost like Rust + Space engineers + ship breaker in a way. I've wanted this for so long I started learning have development to try and make it come true!
So definitely not an fps, and it’s currently in EA, but Ostranauts is a top down immersive space sim where you salvage derelicts for parts and can build your own ship. Made by the devs of Neo scavenger. Absolutely love it, and it definitely ticks a lot of those boxes.
Empyrion: Galactic Survival is not exactly what you wish for, but it’s an alternative to Space Engineers. Not as detailed on the building part though, but a bit more Rust-like (imo).
I second rycon. His roleplay is top tier and he has a lot of dif games he does. Namely cataclysm dark days ahead, ark, kenshi, and rimworld. I’m working through his 100+ playthrough of innawood atm
Call Me Kevin’s videos are golden. I’ve rewatched his Comedy Night series so many times. Iconic. His Sims videos are always a riot.
One of my favorite videos of his is this video he made in “The Movies.” The final result is at the end of the video and it is a glorious experience.
I’ve also been watching a lot of short horror game playthroughs from Markiplier and Kubz Scouts, like the ones where they play 3 random scary games. They both have an episode where they play Bad Ben and it’s so good. It’s the first game in both episodes. The game is fucking hilarious, has a specific feature that I think all horror games should have now, and actually has a really cool ending. Apparently it’s based on a film by Nigel Bach.
I know Axiom Verge has a Speedrun mode that cuts out all the cutscenes, I don’t know if that qualifies though, and you do kind of have to know what’s going on outside of that. The story itself isn’t necessary to enjoy the game though.
Interstellar Pilot 2. It’s admittedly a mobile game, but genuinely the best one I’ve ever played.
TLDR: It’s a sandbox spaceship pilot simulator where the “goals” are to dominate laissez-faire capitalism
Essentially, in the game, you start with one small starship, and travel the universe completing missions, buying and selling goods, and fighting off bandits.
Other games have this premise, but they’re mostly point-and-click games that take place universally in menus. Not so for Interstellar Pilot.
In Interstellar Pilot, the UI really matches the thing that you’re doing. When you’re at a station trading, it’s an ordinary menu, but when you’re in your ship, the UI is much more reminiscent of an actual ship’s dashboard, and you can pilot your ship anywhere you like in the 2.5d space, rather than just clicking buttons. Even in stations, where the UI is more menu-ey, the buttons you can select are on the peripheries of your screen, while the center is occupied by a view of the station and the area around it, as it updates in real-time.
Anyway, once you get enough money you can build up your empire sandbox style, buying ships and having them run automated scripts in the background—and eventually building stations that can let you manufacture goods and military ships to further your plans.
And what are those plans? They can be anything! IP is a sandbox game, so you can make as much money as possible, set up a self-sufficient economy, hunt bandits, or attempt to conquer the galaxy to your heart’s content.
And that’s not even getting into how good and layered the combat is. From light but reliable lasers, to stronger but less accurate plasma pulses, to slugthrower-style guns and guided missile, to ECM’s, which interfere with missile guidance, to mines that deter chasing another ship, to the hexagonal shield system, in which you can only take so many hits from each direction before they start to damage your hull, to the fact that your weapons themselves sometimes take damage randomly, to the space dust and cloaking devices that ships can use to hide and the echolocation mines that can be used to find such ships.
That said, for all the complexity the combat has, it never feels overwhelming. At any point, the player can pause the game at any time, freezing the entire universe, but still allowing the player to manage their stuff in it—activating weapons on ships (that will fire right when the player resumes time), buying and selling goods and ships, giving their ships new orders, etc.
Honestly, the game’s combat is both intuitive and spectacular and rarely gets talked about just because of how simple it feels. It’s also integrated perfectly with the trade and cargo systems. If your ship gets hit without it being blocked by a shield, some cargo might fall out of it, and you’ll have to pull it back in with your tractor beam before your opponent grabs it with theirs. Artillery shells, missiles, mines, and ECM’s have to be stored in your cargo bay, so you have to keep track of how many you have and balance that with how much cargo you’d like to carry.
And the ships are crazy customizable. There’s over a dozen different ship models, each with its own stats for things like maximum speed, turning rate, hull strengh, and weapon turret placement. As for weapon variation, each ship model has a couple of different variations with different turret placements, but that’s just the beginning. At military outpost stations, any weapon can be swapped out into any turret (as long as it’s compatible with the ship model), and ships be upgraded with a variety of other components too (better generators and shields, cloaking devices, passenger modules, etc.)
And for what it’s worth, the art and animation kicks ass. (Admittedly the old IP1 models more than IP2, but the creator (yes, singular) is planning to add custom paint jobs in the future, allowing for even more ship customizability). The space scenery looks stunning and seamless, and the ships all feel unique control-wise.
Anyway, Interstellar Pilot is a phenomenal game, and a (rare) credit to the entire mobile gaming industry. If you’re going to get it, I recommend getting Interstellar Pilot 2, which is the one currently in development (by the way, this entire game was made by one person in their spare time). (I think it’s also on Steam now for PC but it did originally start as a mobile game so I’m still counting it as one)
How the heck is this game free? It doesn’t even capture any data (on iOS) except identifies and they aren’t used to track players. Gonna give it a try.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes has an entire manual that you should print out and put in a binder, and your manual monkeys will absolutely need pen and paper to help you defuse the bomb in front of you
Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord. There is a small background storyline that you can choose to follow, or completely ignore. When I play, I create a story in my head.
I amassed a huge amount of gold and then wasn’t sure what to do. The story said I had to find some guy but I kept just chasing him around the map and could never catch him.
I’d have to recommend Untitled Goose Game, Goat Simulator, the Karamari series, and music based (do the thing to the beat) games like Dance Dance Revolution, Taiko Drum Master, Guitar Hero, etc.
The remake of FF7 is pretty easy on newcomers, especially with understanding the story. I would caution about 16, though. It’s not hard; it’s just a different style of game play that’s not as forgiving.
Final Fantasy X is pretty good and linear too; it’s voice acted and modern but still turn based, so it’s not action heavy.
All of the games are pretty separate, though. There’s similar characters but they’re not really connecting nor is the story.
If you’re going to do the remake, I’d say try to keep away from the OG game or spoilers since it will make it so much better.
FF 8 and FF 9 are great too but a bit more complex, so it might be better off waiting on those until you get through another one first.
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