Be Excellent To Each Other

*looks around shiftily, adjusts collar*

I'm after something quite, er, specific.

Got kids, got a big commute, got maybe an hour tops before I have to go to bed before the whole ferris wheel of life starts rattling around again.

So I'd like something I can dip into, a world I can lose myself in - in short bursts. GTAV doesn't work for me because there's so much to do I that I get choice paralysis and spend an hour suffering from FOMO.

Then I thought of something like Dark Souls, but then I fear I'd go to bed angry if my 60-minutes of gaming just resulted in me having my arse handed to me over and over again.

Witcher 3 appeals, but I don;t know if one needs to play for more than 60-minute stretches.

I feel like something like Mad Max or Shadow of Mordor could be the answer. Worlds to explore, but also worlds to do something in if the fancy takes me.

What would you choose, if you just wanted to escape for a bit, of an evening?

PS4 or PC.

Titles suggested so far:

Just Cause 3
Far Cry 4
Rocket League
No Man's Sky
Stardew Valley
Fire Watch
Everybody's Gone to Rapture
Steep
Undertale
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Broken Sword
Monkey Island
Fallouts
Titanfall
FFXV
Tomb Raider
Destiny
WoW

Just Cause 3 or Far Cry 4, maybe. They're good for short bursts.

Or Doom.

and a frantic shooter like Doom doesn't work because I wanna chill out, not stress out, ya get me?

Rocket League!

wrote the above before I saw Grim...'s post, not in reply to Grim...'s post.

Hmm Far Cry 4. I have that lying around. Will have to see if I can overcome my hatred of the main antagonist.

No Man's Sky is a very chilled place to pass the time. It doesn't do so well on your secondary "something to do" criterion though!

Stardew Valley!

Maybe Fire Watch? Or Everybody's Gone To The Rapture?

They don't hit the "do something else if you want" mark, though.

Good point! Though I'm holding out for the mega Do Something patch that may or may not exist.

Actually, wouldn't it have been neat if that had been the thing at the centre of the galaxy, and the first person to get there opened the game up to everyone else.

What about that steep game?

I've heard of this game. As someone who works from home a bit, it sounds lethal. Will take a look!

I've considered that, it does look jolly pretty.

Steepers, does it have DJ Atomica style commentary? Because that would kill it for me.

Indeed, my problem with those kinds of games is you don't really have any agency, you're just being told someone else's story very slowly.

A new criterion has entered! There needs to be a sense of working towards an ending, towards SOMETHING. Otherwise I'd continue with my PES Master League.

It has some idiotic voiceovers but they never tell you anything you need to know and can be turned off in the options. But yeah, it fits this exact bill perfectly for me. So chilled, starting at the top of a peak, looking around for a while at the beautiful snowy, rocky, mountainous vistas before repeatedly jumping off a cliff and smashing your head into some rocks at terminal velocity.

Being the best dang Rocket Leaguer this side of Arkansas?

Minecraft.

LOL, JK. Even I don't play Minecraft any more

Undertale (PC). It's glorious, won't take up too much effort and you'll be thinking about it between your free time. In fact, I've been thinking of it again and want to do a second playthrough.

Interesting. To the steam machine.

For short bursts, I just load up Binding of Isaac:Rebirth. From a bare start, you can reach the first end game boss in 20 minutes and even when you've unlocked the other bosses and endings, a full run still takes less than 45 minutes. Plus it's more fun than stressful as long as you steer clear of the more masochistic characters and game modes. Plus the lack of a story and the randomly-generated layouts means there's nothing to try and remember and pick back up between sessions.

To be fair, for longer gaming sessions, I also load Isaac up too, so I'm perhaps a little biased.

What about a mobile game like Broken Sword or Monkey Island?

Yep. If I don't hit a deadline it's probably because of Stardew Valley.

Fallout (3 / new vegas / 4)



Pity otherwise something like COD or Titanfall might actually have worked for you

Final Fantasy XV (not played but a massive world you can either follow the path or do anything else on)

Tomb Raider (mission , or plenty of side quests to pick up)

For short bursts you could also look at something more basic but repetitive (so any arcade type game)

If I stop playing for a little while I often forget what I'm meant to be doing when I return to an adventure game* (see Grim Fandango which I keep returning to and then giving up on).

Having said that, Day of the Tentacle did provide one of my gaming highlights of last year, so you may be onto something.

*Another criterion: must be suitable for an idiot.

If you enjoyed Day of the Tentacle you'll certainly enjoy Undertale. Also, isn't Undertale like dirt cheap nowadays?

Yup, £6.99.

It has 96% Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam.

Far Cry 4 or Steep would fit the bill.

Not sure if Destiny fits the bill.

Try Destiny's Child if you want something smaller.

It would on DavPaz's cap.

And it's now been cut to £3.49. Luckily I ummed and ahhed. Yoinking at that price.

That was timely. So, whatcha think of it?

Not tried it yet, filling out a deposit dispute form against my old landlord. Will hopefully try later.

WoW should get a look in here I'd think, especially with the 'free to Level 20' option.

Questing really isn't challenging these days (so no BEDTIME RAGE), and it all looks and sounds lovely, with magnificent music, interesting storylines, fun mechanics to play around with, intriguing characters, and a really massive world to explore from many different angles (races, factions, classes).

Plus you can play as a Tauren (a sort of 'cow people') and call yourself 'Hasselhoof'.

Runs nicely on very modest PCs too.

Not sure Binding of Isaac is a world I particularly want to lose myself in though. It's an unsettling place at the best of times.

Have edited the first post with all titles suggested so far, for my own reference as much as anything.

What else have you played over the last few years that you really enjoyed ?

In Broken Sword the characters keep a diary of what the hell they're up to, so when you restart you get a little 'catch-up' of what the immediate plot was to keep you up to speed if you stop playing for a while.

I started playing Witcher 3 while I was off over Christmas, I like that you can dictate the pace of it, and the fact that quests have a suggested level so you can just mooch about wandering between the little question marks on the map or pick up a couple of quests off the notice boards in the villages or go through the main story. I like dipping in and out of games like that, sometimes you find with open world/quest based games that the main story dominates too much and can be a difficult path to get off once you start on it. I keep looking at Far Cry thinking I might quite like that, too.

Shadow of Mordor became too samey for me after a little while. The world isn't huge and there's nothing much outside the main story, other than various ways to kill orcs within different time limits. Fallout is great, I love those games. Although not so much Fallout 4... It got a bit tiresome and I had no desire to keep going back to it, unlike Fallout 3 and New Vegas. But that could be because Fallout 3 was the first open world RPG I'd played so it was a totally new game play experience to me in a totally new setting. I played probably 100 hours on both of those.

thank you! I was worried that might be the case for Mordor.

May dust off the 360 to try some Fallout 3. When it comes down in price, your summary above persuaded me Witcher 3 is definitely something I'll be picking up.

But first I think Far Cry 4 will be my quarry, it's been mentioned enough times.

I'd say that Far Cry 3 was more enjoyable than Far Cry 4, I bet it's dirt cheap now too.

TBH the only games I recall being truly engrossed by are Xcom, Far Cry 3, Tomb Raider.

XCom2 is downloaded, but too stressful a place to be.

Far Cry 4 it is!

arse, I already did do done Far Cry 3. Enjoyed it enormously.

I think I'll give that a go then! We're definitely finishing the house this year...definitely... so hopefully I'll have some time to sit in front of the TV at some point.

Far Cry 4 is still great, I just Vaas.

He is pleasingly demented.

I found myself enraged in the first 5 minutes of FC4 by the try-hardness of the purple-suited antagonist.

What's the name of the survival game NervousPete has been writing about? That could fit this bill nicely.

The Long Dark. But I think he described that as the tensest thing he'd ever done.

Admittedly, grimy rooms of piss and money might not be for everyone. *tweets the suggestion to Trump instead*

That's it. You're right, may not be what I need.

Has anyone played that Mad Max game? Looks like it could be fun bezzing around in a beat up motor.

I heard it was pap.

Shame really, as it would be a game world I'd love to play in.

Come to Bradford!