I’m sure everyone is all over this, but Dave the diver is so much fun. Little bit of rpg, little bit a farm sim, little bit a restaurant sim, throw in some action sequences
That game is a little bit of EVERYTHING.
Plus charming and funny to boot
I’ve certainly been enjoying certain content creators absolutely destroying the local shark population.
It’s a pretty popular one but I’m currently playing through Disco Elysium and it’s a masterpiece of thriller detective with very strong RPG integration. Highly recommend even if you don’t like either of those genres as long as you like a good story.
It’s also one of the funniest games I’ve ever played. There are so many moments where I fully burst out laughing. The game absolutely rules.
It looks amazing but I blacklisted the game until the legal disputes and controversies are ironed out and clear.
Subnatica. Exploration, farming, habitat building, and creepy at times. You will love it
I’m in the minority, I know, but I have mostly negative memories of playing Subnautica. I enjoyed exploring new areas, and the progression of the story, but the hours spent looking for one more resource so I could progress just made me mad. I don’t like save-scumming, but after
spoiler
losing my seamoth to a leviathan for the 3rd time, I said fuck it, and save-scummed regularly.
I had just finished playing Outer Wilds and my friends said “oh, then you would love Subnautica!” No, not the same kind of game at all. I say all of this so that anyone thinking of playing it has the right expectations: if you can’t find the one thing you’re looking for, I recommend just looking up a guide on where to find it. I don’t think the game funnels you to the correct areas well enough for you to find everything you need naturally.
When I think of Subnautica, I just remember having to drink water like every 5 minutes or so. I would have loved to explore, but I was busy getting basic resources all the time.
You can play on a mode without survival mechanics, or find the water filtration system and grow plants from the islands on your cyclops to trivialize them. Before you get there though they’re kind of a pain.
The game does have a freedom mode where you don’t need to worry about food or water.
But then there’s no challenge, so it gets boring.
I wanted to like subnautica, but I just couldn’t.
That was another reason, yes. Apparently you’re supposed to find the parts to the water filtration system relatively early in the game, and it will regularly spit out large bottles of water that help a lot. I didn’t. So yeah, for 90% of the game I’m having to periodically chase Bladderfish for 5m so I can spend 2 minutes spam crafting a bunch of waters, so i can carry several around with me, taking up valuable space in my inventory.
Yeah, I really liked it but I wish the devs would’ve implemented one more skill mode at a slightly easier level. I was OK with losing whatever inventory I’d collected during the single trip if I died, but I really wanted the “sea moth doesn’t explode you just have to start from base again” mode. Especially since I lost one of them because I couldn’t figure out which key did the electric charge zap thing.
We’ve proven that we can find the blueprints and materials necessary to make the thing in the first place, so having to collect all that metal again (with limited inventory space) just felt like busy work.
Yeah, I think I can only tolerate busy work games when played in a group. Because then you can delegate the work, and at least you’re still hanging out. Like the Forest.
As even just the trailer instantly triggers moluscophobia for me, nope fuck that.
How has no one mentioned Inscryption?
Why has no one mentioned Pyre?
So, I really wanted to like Pyre. I love all the rest of Super Giant’s games, and I put maybe 10 hours into Pyre. But I think it was just too much Visual Novel for me. I wanted to spend more time playing the actual game (the rights?), but they only lasted maybe 5-10m and then it was back to reading and flying around.
But yeah, the art, sound, writing, and world are all beautiful. Just couldn’t get into a groove.
And it gets pretty repetitive. Once you start “releasing people”, it gets redundant (and sadder)
I haven’t seen anyone mention Kenshi, so I guess I will.
Kenshi is a post-apocalyptic, RPG, RTS, city-builder hybrid. You can play as one individual character, or you can build up a squad to roam an entire continent full of towns, people, and everything else that wants nothing more than to push your face into the dirt and watch you squirm. It’s an intensely brutal game, but one with an aesthetic that I can’t get enough of.
There are different races of playable characters (from humans, to hivers, to shek, and skeletons) all with their own different stat bonuses and handicaps. If you lose a limb, you can either find someone who sells prosthetics or just leave that character crippled for the rest of the game.
There’s kind of a story, but the game is mostly just you existing in this world and learning about it. There are plenty of different factions you can join or help out, and there will be consequences for choosing a side.
It’s also incredibly moddable, with the steam workshop having thousands of mods already.
That game doesn’t care if you exist or not. The world will live just the same!
Yoko’s Island Express: Pinball Metroidvania!
Yoko? Oh, no. It’s Yoku’s Island Express, and it’s fantastic.
Hi-Fi Rush mixes DMC-style combat with rhythm gameplay, and has a great soundtrack and charming personality to match.
Tomb of the Necrodancer is a rythm rogue like which is very unique, imo.
Sakuna of Rice and Ruin. A fun little sides rolling action game as the main and a full 3d rice farm simulator with professional and Japanese government approved rice techniques. It’s a fun relaxing game with amusing mechanics and an interesting story to add.
The rice growing is not Harvest Moon-style “plant your crops, water them every day, and harvest after five days”. You need to monitor the water level of your field, the water temperature (and air temperature), crop spacing (it is not grid based), the nutrient ratios, the field aeration, etc. Your first couple of years are going to be a rough until you level up and unlock actual numbers for these instead of having to guestimate.
Rain world is a really good survival platformer
Rain World is fantastic, especially after Downpour came out. I love having a reason to beat the game at least 5-6 more times!
Surprised I haven’t seen I Takes Two here yet - it’s a tour de force of genres.
If you never played this game and want a close to perfect coop experience, you should definitely give this a try. It’s perfect for a session with your SO, and it doesn’t rely on neither massive skill nor gaming experience.
I loved every bit of the journey that me and my wife was on with It Takes Two.
Can second this recommendation. It’s a really fun game, but you need a partner to play with you. I played with my brother, and it was so freaking fun.
Will also recommend it. My girlfriend loves that game more than any other
I tried this game but something about the way all the cute fun bosses cry for mercy as you coldly kill them really turned me off to it
Nier Automata
It’s just an action-RPG, not sure what ground was being broken when it released the first time.
Artistically,it was crazy, especially in the very early game. The homage to bullet hell, then the changes of perspective, a very immersive soundtrack. At time the most “normal” action RPG yet combined with existentialism and analysis of consciousness and self sacrifice.
I love this game. I remember playing the PS3 version Nier.
My first JRPG!
Also, what genres are being mixed here?
There are some times the camera angle is changed and locked to make it 2d side scroller for certain parts, and some parts reminiscent of some arcade games like 1945 Air Force: Airplane. And “hacking” opens a mini game mode that feels like a mobile game. On top of that, the lore and story is great and gameplay is fun. There are also collectibles if that’s your thing. And it still has the classic leveling and gear progression common to JRPGs.
The Typing of the Dead
Peglin merges dungeon crawler rogue-lite with Peggle style gameplay.
Slay The Spire merges dungeon crawler rogue-lite with a deck builder card game.
Dicey Dungeon merges dungeon crawler rogue-lite with dice rolling.
I got stuck on a theme 😅
To add, Cult of the Lamb is both a base building game and action roguelite
I feel like you would enjoy Slice and Dice. Similar to dicey dungeon, you are rolling dice, but instead of them being a classic d6, each side of the die is the hero’s abilities. You collect relics and get better heroes as you progress through the run. 8 bucks on Itch.io gets you both the mobile and desktop download. Also has a demo.
There’s a 2011 game called Before the Echo (previously called Sequence before the board game maker decided to get pissy about it) that’s a basic rhythm game but you play on a screen with three boards where rhythm arrows drop, and you have to manage swapping between all of them. One board you clear arrows to prevent enemy damage, one generates mana for you, and the third is where you cast spells (that do damage, heal you, etc). There are a few different items you can get and there’s some light crafting/leveling systems as well.
As someone who doesn’t usually play rhythm games (largely because I’m bad at them) it was pretty fun. The story is amusing as well, and the main critique I had was that it’s very slightly on the grindy side and there aren’t enough songs to support it, so you start hearing the same ones over and over. The music is decent but it can get a bit old.
