We all have that one game or genre that never gets old and we return to time and time again.
What is it for you and why is that the case?
Minecraft. I go through phases of not playing it, but once or twice a year I’ll start up a new world and just mindlessly build and mine while listening to a podcast or an audiobook, and will play every night for several weeks. I’ve started so many minecraft worlds over the years that I really don’t need to think about what to do next
I feel like Minecraft is one of those games that will always be there as an old favourite.
It’ll literally always be Minecraft. I think I’ll revisit it every couple months till I’m dead.
It has been updated significantly over the years, and there’s a lot of cool mods to try. If I had to pick a single game to play forever it would be Minecraft.
I go back to a few almost routinely.
- Mount and Blade: Warband (with and without mods)
- Rocket League
- Crash Bandicoot 2&3
- OpenTTD
- Pokemon (The mainline ones are all basically the same game lol)
For M&B and OpenTTD, being able to rely on my old knowledge of the game to succeed feels satisfying since they both have a steep learning curve.
For RL and Crash, muscle memory taking over the majority of play is relaxing.
For Pokemon I just have a crippling amount of nostalgia
A bit different from the question but
Outer Wilds.
I’ve spent a lot of time in it and have 100% it, so it’s hard to find a reason get back in, but even just booting to the title screen just completely transports me.
Why? Outer Wilds was just an incredible experience, and the OST is astounding and the music completely soaked up the experience and can bring it all back just by listening.
My teenage kids love Outer Wilds so much. They speed run it on the weekends when they’re bored.
To be honest, many games published by Annapurna Interactive are an incredible experience. So, if you want to experience some new things, check them out if you haven’t already! I can personally recommend Stray and What Remains of Edith Finch. Final note; if you play the latter for the first time, play it in a single sitting. It’s only 2 hours but man is it worth it!
Stardew Valley or MechWarrior Online.
That’s… quite a spread. Care to elaborate?
MechWarrior Online when I’m feeling like an online game, but don’t want something fast paced like Apex Legends or Halo.
Stardew Valley when I specifically want a single player game to unwind.
Hope that makes sense.
Yeah it does. It’s just been so long since I’ve played an online game, nevermind a shooter, that I forgot they can be relaxing.
MechWarrior is a game series I’ve been playing since I was a kid. It’s basically big mech combat, but with very low TTK and lots of team strategy involved.
I have the same reasons but my combo is Stardew Valley and World of Warcraft.
Skyrim for me. I always run across a new mod or modlist on YT or socials and it inspires me to venture in again and again.
Removed by mod
Mirrors edge 1.
The level design was just really good. There were many different ways to tackle various obstacles in the environment and the time trials had many routes you could take.
Now that I’m relatively good at the game I can beat the story levels in around 4 hours ish?
I like to revisit it from time to time.
What did you think of the second one? I liked how it was open world, though the story itself left a lot to be desired IMO
I thought the second was interesting. I didn’t like it as much as the first but for what it was it was pretty good.
The way they made the open world didn’t work very well in some ways. For example to get the player into new areas they had to funnel them through specific choke points. Additionally I wasn’t a fan of forced combat.
However I thought the main missions and the graphics were high points. I enjoyed finding various collectibles/exploring and some time trials were actually a pretty good time. I hope one day they decide to revisit the series but I have a feeling it might be shelved for quite a long time.
Monster Hunter. I must have spent over 1,800 hrs. on the two latest series. I can’t exactly turn my brain off with this game but nothing makes me more comfortable than having a Lance or Charge Blade in my hands.
DOOM
So many mods
So many difficulties
Beyond that I’d say Half-Life because that’s also a good classic.
Hollow Knight for sure. Just load up a couple of randomizers and explore hallownest for the millionth time
Doom (1993) for me. The newer custom maps and mods too, ofc, but more often than not I’ll spin up episode 1 or 2 just to play through it.
Actually, if I’m really stressed, sometimes I’ll “play” Doom maps in my head - just walking around, trying to remember as much detail as I can. I find it strangely soothing. Damn, I guess Doom is my happy place
A memory palace full of blood and aliens, I can relate lol.
Company of Heroes
When it came out in 2006, I played it with all the time with my brother against Bots only and planning out every move.
I recommended it to my friends a bit later and every few years we made a LAN party or an all nighter online session. Through the years all of us moved into different parts of the country, got older and building families.
But around this year’s new years eve, we got into it again, play it every Friday since then. We spend more time together through the game and everybody is having fun, because every match turns out different since everybody got really good at it. Also, it has a surprising strategic depth once you’re really in it and it runs on every shitty PC without any bigger issues.
I really love the game for enabling us this good time together.
Stellaris, Rimworld, or Borderlands 2. Depends on how much I want to use my brain. If I just want to turn my brain off, Borderlands. If I want to really sink into a game, Rimworld. Somewhere in between, Stellaris.
Diablo 2. I return to it about twice a year and have a good time starting a fresh playthrough farming gear for a few different builds. Especially with the QOL that resurrected has brought.
Dynasty Warriors (and its many, many spinoffs). I know they’re not objectively good, but man does it feel great to kill 1,000 enemies just by mashing Square and Triangle.
The older entries also had endearingly bad English voice acting.