no hype to deal with, all the patches are done, mods are out, guides exist if you need them, and you can get the game for like $10. i just got elden ring for $15 and its been the best purchase of my life. anyone else feel this way or am i coping

Seeing the other topic with " best " thought about making one for worst !

What recommendation for a game changed your life for worse?

I can imagine for many, it would be League of Legends, or likely some mmorpg(WoW haha)

Curious what yall got !

+can be game on anything.

My wife asked me to find her "a girl game" that we can play together. She only elaborated to mention "dressing up" the characters.

Bless my fucking heart, I hope yall can help me.

We've played games like Stardew and Palia together but she loses interest. Other games like Starbound and Oppidum and a few others fell into this category. She'll manage a farm and do that kind of grind happily.. for a week or so..

She's tried fortnite and fragpunk and a few others with the skins and has no interest in the gameplay but will manage my skins if I play.

I've played a few single player games like Skyrim and fallout and starfield, she likes making my guy and dressing them up, but has no interest in the gameplay. She will watch me play the stories of these games while reading or something and likes making the choices like in Mass Effect. But again, won't play them herself.

We've done ARPGs like Diablo, but they dont stick. She loved Boyfriend Dungeon but we best that in under a week.

There's needs to be a game loop, something to earn the outfits and advance the plot somehow. I dont think just dressing up will stick. She's dabbled on her phone with those, to no avail.

I'll play anything, but I only know about the games I know about...

We both have mid grade laptops (steam) and a Xbox one (not series X) and a ps5. I think we both prefer controllers to keyboard+mouse.

Any suggestions?

Title. I got let go from my job today for stupid reasons, and my wife lost her job a couple weeks ago, so I'm just kind of dissociating into the ether and feeling lots of emotions and don't have a good way to handle them, seeing as I don't normally get all that angry about things. As you can imagine, I'm in a not great place in life right now, and this last week has particularly continued to kick me in the shins, and I have this urge to lash out and just be an absolute asshat, but I'm too nice IRL. What's a game with a really high video game cruelty potential where you can make people miserable for the fun of it?

I have a Switch 2 and PC

EDIT: I am drawing a line in the sand and will not take out my misery on other human players, either by griefing, being toxic, being a useless teammate, etc. I want suggestions for where all the people i am awful to are 1s and 0s only

I'm looking for a PC game that I can really get hooked on and potentially put 200+ hours into. I want something with a lot of content/progression, but also gameplay with enough skill or mechanical depth that I can get into a flow state and keep improving.

I mostly play solo, and I'm open to pretty much any genre. I like having things to unlock, grind for, improve, or work toward rather than just replaying the exact same content for hundreds of hours. I've tried quite a few factory/automation builders because they seem perfect for putting hundreds of hours into, but they haven't really been for me.

Basically I'm looking for the kind of game where you can put 50-60 hours into it in a couple weeks and still feel like you've barely scratched the surface.

What games have done that for you?

I just played Before Your Eyes and it wrecked me. Like, ruined my whole day. So sad but also bittersweet and hopeful. What other games have done that for you?

Edit: WOW thank you everyone for your kind suggestions. I plan on playing a lot of these in the future. Feel free to check out my channel to follow along, currently just started Cyberpunk 2077!

https://www.twitch.tv/nicogamesnow https://www.youtube.com/@nicogamesnow

Hello,

I am a 62 year old man, I've never been very much into video games but recently I've been by myself more and it seems like the right kind of video game would be a good way for me to get to talk to people

I used to very much enjoy pen and paper games like Dungeons and Dragons or Traveller or Avalon Hill board games and I still am an avid reader of fantasy, science fiction and historical fiction

If you have a recommendation, I thank you wholeheartedly

Thank you all for your recommendations so far! I think I'm going to try out the following

• An MMORPG - I'm still not sure which one yet, lots of people have recommended World Of Warcraft and have said that it's the most popular and have been for a long time, but there have been a few recommendations for Guild Wars 2, saying that it really pushes for the players to play together, the world sounds interesting and apparently a big chunk of it is free! So I'll probably see if I like that one first

• Baldur's Gate 3 - There's been a lot of recommendations for this saying it's a lot like Dungeons and Dragons

• Civilization VI - it sounds kind of like Catan? I think only one person recommended this though

• Conan Exiles - I'm a big fan of Robert E Howard and most Conan The Barbarian things so I think I shouldn't leave this one off

• Maybe Mass Effect - this was only recommended in passing, but it was mentioned as being kind of like Traveller, which I always liked more than Dungeons and Dragons. I'm a bit more of a military sci fi man than a high fantasy man

• A few of you mentioned that people have found ways to play pen and paper games online. That's amazing! So I might have to try and dust off my old rulebooks if I still have any and look more into that

Let me get more specific. I love job sim games, truck sim, house flipper etc. where there arent high stakes, just mind numbing fun. It also feels quite lonely with no dialouge or "quests" just me doing my thing.

I also love exploring in games. Death stranding, Dragons Dogma 2 without pawns just walking around the plains.

These are some examples but the genre or theme doesnt really matter. I was thinking Id love to play a train sim game where Im just going from one destination to the next, looking after my train while having the time to sit back and watch around. Its that immersive feeling Im looking for, doesnt matter if its space exploration themed or a slower paced game with some action involved, go wild.

Sorry if its a little vague.

Well shit is hitting the fan in my personal life and things are looking pretty doomed. Instead of spiraling, I’ve decided to embrace the chaos and fully dissociate into video games while I still can.

The problem is, my brain keeps overthinking and I end up dropping games after an hour because I get distracted by my life problems. I need something SO captivating and immersive that it completely numbs my mental bandwidth

I'm talking games where:

I lose track of time and forget to eat/sleep.

The world/lore totally consumes me.

I can completely forget my actual life exists for a few hours a day.

What game is a total secret hidden gem for you that you'd love to recommend to others?

I'm 55 and just bought my first Xbox controller. I don't own a console: I picked up a Fire TV Stick 4K Max and want to give cloud gaming a try. I’ve never been a big gamer. The last era where I truly spent hours playing was back on the Commodore 64 in the '80s, when you had to wait half an hour for a tape to load (and half the time it failed anyway). A few years later, in the early 2000s, I played Tomb Raider and a couple of other PC games downloaded off eMule, and after that, basically nothing.

Lately, though, my curiosity has returned, especially seeing how far modern graphics have come.

I have almost zero interest (at least for now) in gaming in the traditional sense: no combat, no sports sims (though I do want to try a tennis game at some point), no quests, complex puzzles, leaderboards, or unlockables. I don't want to memorize fifty button combinations either.

What I'm looking for instead is pure exploration. I love virtual environments, a deserted city, a massive structure, a surreal landscape, or evocative scenery where you simply wander around to see what’s there, with great ambient audio accompanying a solitary walk, almost like being inside a dream.

I'm drawn to lingering atmospheres, liminal spaces, and strange, dreamlike, or subtly eerie settings. A rich ambient soundscape is definitely a huge plus.

The ideal experience is turning on the TV, playing for half an hour, without any rush or pressure to solve anything. No hurry, no mandatory objectives, no frustration from failing a level. It just needs to be relaxing.

To give you an idea, I tried POOLS on Mac: I really liked the atmosphere, even if the repetition got a bit monotonous after a while. I already bought Subliminal on Steam, mostly drawn in by the visual fidelity and environments; I’m looking forward to trying it, though I could easily do without the horror elements.

Recently, I also stumbled upon the demo for Skew. From the little I played on Mac, I love it. The full release is planned for January 2027, and it captures the exact aesthetic I want. The Steam description felt tailor-made for me: "A first-person atmospheric exploration game set in dreamlike liminal spaces, with no monsters, combat, or jump scares."

I’d like to start with Amazon Luna since I already have Prime, and from there I have Steam paired with GeForce NOW.

In short, I'm probably looking for something closer to an interactive work of art or an immersive experience than a conventional video game.

To longtime gamers: what have I missed over the years? Are there titles matching this description that you consider absolute must-plays? What’s worth checking out on Luna or on Steam via GeForce NOW?

EDIT — October 9: A summary of your recommendations

Since this thread received so many replies, I thought it might be useful to put together a summary for anyone who doesn't feel like reading through the entire discussion.

I posted the same question in the Italian subreddit r/italygames, then used ChatGPT to analyse both threads.

Altogether, 236 comments and replies were examined: 131 here and 105 in the Italian discussion.

The idea was to extract game recommendations, merge different spellings of the same title, avoid counting the same person twice for the same game, and rank titles by the number of independent recommendations rather than upvotes. Clear endorsements of someone else's suggestion were also counted.

Here's the approximate combined ranking:

The numbers are approximate, since some replies are open to interpretation, but the overall picture is fairly clear.

So what did I learn?

No Man's Sky is the clear winner. Several people specifically recommended Creative Mode, where you can apparently focus almost entirely on exploring without worrying about survival or combat.

Firewatch, Journey, and What Remains of Edith Finch also received plenty of recommendations, although they're somewhat more narrative-driven.

Outer Wilds was highly praised, but several commenters warned that it involves challenging puzzles and can be frustrating. Death Stranding and Red Dead Redemption 2 offer remarkable worlds to explore, but they also include combat, missions, and other mechanics that aren't really what I'm looking for.

Perhaps the most interesting discoveries, though, were the lesser-known games.

Titles like Dreamcore, Interior Worlds, BABBDI, NaissanceE, Proteus, Dear Esther, and Self-Checkout Unlimited came up.

Some of these seem even closer to what I originally described: entering a strange, beautiful, surreal, or liminal environment and simply wandering around.

Sable also looks particularly promising, with its unusual landscapes, peaceful exploration, and lack of combat.

My main takeaway is that there's a whole corner of gaming I barely knew existed. Apparently, what I'm looking for falls somewhere within the walking simulator genre, although some of the most interesting examples seem closer to interactive art installations than conventional games.

Thanks to everyone who contributed. Hopefully this summary will also help someone else looking for a similar experience.

I'm looking for games like Lakeview valley, fallout new Vegas (or westerado double barrel but not really) like games where you can kill pretty much anybody and it may or may not affect the story

What's a game you're longing for but can never seem to find?

Describe it in terms of genre, storyline, and any key elements for that game. Let's see which one gets the most upvotes! Please vote!

This might be hard to explain?

I'd like a game with gunplay, but a bit slower paced and with infrequent combat encounters, perhaps a bit more exploration heavy. Think hunting games, but something with a bit more direct threat to the player. I'll throw in a few titles that kinda reflect what I mean.

• Witch Hunt

• Metro Exodus

• Death Stranding, although the gunplay in this game wasn't good despite how great it is.

• Resident Evil, though I'd prefer something with maps a bit more open.

• Carnivores

Also, based on this description, would I like Project: Zomboid?

Yes. This one. This is the one.

When you read this title, a game or two immediately popped in your head.

This is the one I want. Not the one from the general public or other people.

The one that came to you.

Looking for another game like the Doom series or Wolfenstien, doesn't need to be a shooter, but something where you have no remorse for what you are killing, and you act in a way like a force of vengeance (like the aforementioned games). If possible, also with combat that makes you feel just as badass (or as close as can be).

EDIT: I should have also clarified, what I mean by "no remorse" is you wouldn't feel bad for the enemies you're killing, like they are objectively evil and need to be put down, that type of thing.

I want to preface this by saying that no game, show, movie or whatever has made me actually cry. Some have made my eyes heavy, but none have actually made me straight up cry. I've already tried a few games (Firewatch, before your eyes, omori, inscryotion, and some more) but none got me actually sobbing. That's it really, just anything, I really only want to experience that.

What game is a total secret hidden gem for you that you'd love to recommend to others?

It’s pretty ridiculous how many people just say their favorite game(s), even though they’re not anywhere even close to what the OPs say they like. It’s cool that you like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I do too. But if the OP doesn’t mention having ever played a turn-based RPG before, and that they mostly play FPS games, maybe don’t recommend it. If someone specifically says they don’t like Skyrim, maybe don’t recommend the new Oblivion remaster. If someone says one of their top 3 games is Cyberpunk 2077, maybe don’t recommend Cyberpunk 2077! Idk man, maybe I’m overreacting but to me, it just seems really rude and/or lazy. Someone is taking the time to genuinely ask for a recommendation, painstakingly listing what they like and don’t like, only for half of the comments (or more) to be people just farting out the name of their favorite game(s). I may not always give the best recommendations either, but at least I try to justify why I make the recs I do (i.e. you said you liked that, so maybe you’ll like this for these reasons). Most people just post the name of their favorite game and peace out, and honestly I think that’s pretty crappy.

I want tight, memorable experiences I can finish in an evening or two. No jump-scare horror, please.

I’m looking for an open world action / adventure / rpg where you play a nobody.

Not a chosen hero, not someone who is related to the main villain or anything like that. I heard Kingdom Come Deliverance could deliver on that but from what I understand you still play as a prince or a king?

I liked ES Oblivion in the sense that you’re a random prisoner that ends up in a string of events that lead them to becoming the world’s hero, but they weren’t chosen per se.

I guess I just wanna feel that sense of “yeah, I saved the world cause I did it myself”not cause I’m some heir of a god and I have dragon powers or stuff like that.

And please, no turn based combat. It’s not for me.

Too old and time constrained for PvP these days.

Enjoyed Arc Raiders but it's too much PvP for me now. Looking for a very similar game that is single player / PvE only.

If Arc Raiders had a PvE mode with slightly more maps and more enemies, this would be ideal. Or a mush of Arc Raiders and 7D2D.

I like the loop of explore, loot, return to base, grow more powerful..

Is there a similar game to this that exists? If not an extraction type, then something with a base you can return to manually after doing 'runs'. Don't mind if 1st/3rd person.

Games I've tried and why I put them down eventually:

Arc Raiders (too much PvP for me now)
7 Days to Die (played 100h+)
Witchfire (not enough on the exploration / looting side, plus too few maps)
Icarus (tried it early on, this is probably what I'll try again if nothing else comes up)

Also have my eye on Incursion Red River but seems like not much content yet.

EDIT: Thankyou so much for all the responses, it was overwhelming! I've given up trying to reply to everybody but really appreciate all the suggestions.

For future readers with the same question, onto my list I now have:

Tarkov PvE
Warframe
Generation Zero
STALKER 2 (revisit)
Division 2

I am very bored and just dont want to play any of the games i have right now

*I have more than enough recommendations and am not going to look at them anymore so if you comment keep in mind I will NOT look at it

So, when Starfield was first revealed, I was looking forward to it. Not because I particularly like Bethesda game (I think they're more fun to watch gimmick runs than play myself), but because it had the most elaborate spaceship customization I'd ever seen. Most games only let you change the paintjob and loadout, but this let you change the entire layout and place props inside. So I was fantasizing about ditching the main story and living a "space trucker" lifestyle with my ship as a mobile home.

Unfortunately, the game was a disaster area. An overreliance on procedural generation, bland story and characters even by Bethesda standards, and most damningly: changing your ship parts sent all the props you'd placed to the hold, so I couldn't collect teacups and plush toys and display them around the ship.

Is there any game that handles this fantasy better. I want to be able to "live in" my spaceship, like Subnautica did for submarines, Forever Skies for airships, and Volcanoids for that weird drill tank thing. It doesn't need to be a survival game though; as I mentioned with Starfield, RPG's and life sims are fine too. I just want to be able to customize the INSIDE of my spaceship, and take all my crafting tables and storage chests with me.

Elite Dangerous seems like its never getting ship interiors, so that's a no go. I love Everspace, but it's just a menu for stations. No Man's Sky is the obvious answer, with its Freighters and Corvettes, but every time I try that game, I get burned out by how grindy the early-game is. Should I just push through it with NMS, or are there other options?

EDIT: After reading the comments a bunch, I ended up giving NMS one last shot and managed to push through to the first station, where apparently the difficulty gets more balanced. I declined to adjust the difficulty directly because for me, difficulty is a key part of immersion, as with my beloved Resident Evil. Hopefully, I end up sticking with it long-term.