My son is 11 months, and if I didn’t have my steam deck I would probably not be gaming at all right now :) That instant off/resume is absolutely amazing.
I picked up a Switch thinking it would always be attracted to my TV. Maybe it was for a bit, but when my child came along the only way I used it was handheld and for spurts at a time.
That’s how I knew the Steam Deck was an instant buy for me - the pause/resume is key.
Joining the parent club in about 3 months, but in preparation, I’ve purchased a “Couchmaster lapboard” and I cannot recommend it enough. Having shoulder support basically makes it feel like you’re sitting at your desk but comfortably on the couch. The only issue is the couch itself; if it has a lot of bounce you’re gonna have a wobbly desk any time someone sits / stands up from the couch.
Btw I’ve since found you can pretty much just buy some upholstery foam, cut it, put a plank over it and have your very own “Couchmaster” for roughly $20 instead of $200…
Recently my wife and I agreed on me having one set night a week for gaming and it’s been great. I get my gaming time in but it’s a reasonable amount considering all the other responsibilities of work and parenting
We have this as well. Wednesday night is CS GO with the boys for me. Sometimes I skip it, but it’s nice to have it planned out, when everything else feels like chaos.
It’s one of those “season of your life” kind of things. There’s just a certain period of time where the family takes priority because of what the kids need. Just like everything else related to kids, at some point it will change and your time management will as well. They will become more independent, and you’ll have more time, but you may even find that your interest in gaming has changed.
Games will always be there, but your kids are only kids for a very short amount of time. Treasure it while you can!
Embrace mobile gaming. Especially the classic Nintendo handhelds. I can rock my baby to sleep and play Pokémon Ruby on my GBA at the same time. Embrace RPGs and other games where reaction times don’t matter. If I’m sat in a chair with a sleeping child I can even play a game where reaction speed matters, like Tetris.
Get a flash cart so you don’t have to switch games or carry a library of carts with you. Keep it in your car for play if you’re out a lot. Oh, and get a decent modern screen mod so you can see the screen outside.
I enjoy top down stealth games, and haven’t seen this game get discussed much, but it was pretty fun - Serial Cleaner (and sequel, Serial CleanerS)
You play a guy who cleans up murder scenes for an unknown serial killer, all the while evading guards and other security measures. It’s a pretty fun experience, and I do recommend giving it a go if that’s your kind of thing.
There’s also the Marvelous Miss Take, a game where you play a woman on a mission to perform a series of heists. Also a top down stealth game, you get to use some gadgets to distract guards while you sneak past and to your goal.
Both are older indie games, but enjoyable for at least one playthrough.
My girls are still only 1 and 3, but so far I’m sneaking in an hour or two in the evening, after everyone else has gone to bed. I’ve started introducing the older one to Pokemon Go and Let’s Go Pikachu, and she loves it so far despite not knowing much english. Hopefully I can get them into gaming so we can have that in comon 😄
I have never been into Pokémon before my kids started to play Pokémon GO a couple of years ago. It was really nice to have a pastime that we all enjoyed.
They still play occasionally but I became hooked on Pogo. So you might find new gamed when playing games together with the kids, be sure to give it a try if your kids are playing it.
Wait until they are 12 (-ish) and they decide you are uncool
Otherwise, you’re doing what I ended up doing. There was a long span that, I just… never played games because I was too busy. I regret that a bit because it’s a thing that makes me happy and even if I’m “Dad”, I’m still a person that deserves some time for “me”.
This more or less. My wife games too. We went through periods where we probably gamed too much and had to correct that behavior (house was becoming a mess and kids ignored school too much)
For us it put a decent amount of pressure on our marriage for a while until we admitted that gaming needed to take a backseat to life in general. Its hard. I grew up with gaming and both my wife and I were 8+ hours a day of MMO before kids. But life demanded we become adults for a while and be responsible.
My kids are finally on the older side where their demands on my time is lower. I still don’t game much before dinner and most house chores are done. I try to game with them a bit after dinner and then I get about 1.5 to 2 hours to play a few League of Legends games (yes, I know i hate myself) if I don’t want to ruin my sleep.
NPCs have at least some rude remarks for you, but a good number also have hints and background info hidden in their dialogue.
You should eat to heal, but on the lowest difficulty setting this is not required anymore. Just meditate and everything is refilled.
You can explore different landscapes and their flora and fauna, but you can also go to the towns and cities and checkout their sociological patterns. The settings even change after you meddle with higher politics in the main and side quests.
If you prefer something besides swords and monsters maybe (haven’t played it myself) Cyberpunk 2077.
Another one I have started (but far from finished) is Mass Effect. In my first sessions I was overwhelmed by the many dialogue options and factions present in the citadel.
I think Life is Strange (I’ve only played the first one) may possibly be of interest. There’s no action like GTA or Watchdogs, but it’s all about your interactions with the NPCs and the town.
It felt there was blowback at the ending when it came out because people said your choices didn’t matter, but I thought the point of the game was to influence you to make thoughtful and impactful decisions, not to influence the NPCs. I really got a lot out of the experience.
There are moments the game won’t tell you about like when opening a window or watering a plant will change future events. Whether you find this outcomes significant or not will be related to your enjoyment of the game as whole.
IMO WoW is not a good game at all if you are looking for “role playing”. It’s a multiplayer online game and all the quests boil down to simple linear stories. There is very little player choice, and the other humans playing the game make it impossible to suspend your disbelief and actually imagine your character as a real person in the game world.
I would recommend Dragon Age: Origins. BioWare games in general have always been great at letting you build a character where role playing choices matter a lot. Other games I would recommend for RPGs with a capital R and a capital P:
Tyranny (choices matter a lot in this one. There are basically 4 or 5 distinct stories in the game depending on choices you make)
Fallout New Vegas (any of the fallout games are good, but this one has the best writing IMO)
Mass Effect Legendary Edition (play all three in order)
Pillars of Eternity 2
Pathfinder (Kingmaker or Wrath of the Righteous)
Divinity Original Sin 2
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Early access right now but should be releasing soon)
If price is an issue, my top recommendations are definitely Dragon Age Origins and Fallout New Vegas
Skrajna prawica to już nie liberalizm. Polskie opcje typu Konfederacja to nie liberalizm a skrajna prawica. Prowadzą do zamordyzmu ograniczania wolności ideologicznej i państwa katolickiego, z jakimiś tam wstawkami wolności gospodarczej. Właśnie się obawiam że większość myli liberalizm z prawicą konserwatywną
I’ve never owned a cat myself but I have watched enough internet cat videos to know why they’re so popular. I plan to check out Stray at some point, but waiting for it to discount 50%+ before pulling the trigger.
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