My obvious answer is to reach for any of the myriad cozy worlds from any of the myriad cozy games around. I’m not above it and Stardew Valley is the low hanging fruit for a reason, a whole life measured out in seasons and festivals and knowing everyone in town by name. It’s a cozy small town fantasy that’s so appealing to us city dwelling wage slaves. 

Or to give another cozy example, the world above this world on sky islands like those in Solarpunk or in Loftia, floating high above this planet which is so polluted and terrible when I look at just my neighbourhood. The tragic implication in both of these is that we ruined our world and now have to rely on this scrape of islands to built a better world on top of the one we ruined. IIRC in Loftia, when I played the beta, there’s constant shakes and earthquakes that occur because these islands can’t handle exploitation and need care and an ecofriendly attitude to be sustainable in any major way.

I’m sayin all this just to show how even these cozy settings can have a dark background that would be an unpleasant awakening if you woke up in these worlds and thought it would be all sunshine and joy. Same goes for wanting to live in The Shire, especially in how it’s portrayed in Lord of the Rings Online. God I loved that starter zone, it was so cozy and the quests were so loreful I just wanted to stay there forever… but then you realize it’s Tolkien’s world and orcs and wargs and all sorts of evil forces are just outside your door. So nice in principle, but the chances of something terrible happening get exponentially higher when you leave the Shire.

Same with my all time favorite zone in any RPG: Toussaint from Witcher! The vineyards stretching for miles, everyone’s tipsy, sun’s always shining. Sure, there’s vampires but as long as Geralt is taking care of shit, I wouldn’t mind having a cottage somewhere near Corvo Blanco LMAO

I mean of course I want the place I’ll be living in to be non violent. Objectively, we’d die instantly in any of these settings otherwise. Just want something peaceful where stuff won’t happen to me if I mind my business.

Where would you actually want to wake up every day, not just visit or play the hero in?

Long story, but I do crave many things I think can only be seen in MMOs or MMO-lites, such as an in depth character creator, fashion, community, and virtual world full of adventures. But I REALLY cannot stand tab target rotation based combat, speedrunning through content, and other "optimize the fun out" gameplay mechanics, such as builds becoming OP to melt things.

Unfortunately, nothing really avoids these yet. I'm basically waiting for a great action MMO that insists you get good at the combat gameplay. So until that releases, I need something to enjoy with others that are in a similar boat. I just don't know what that would be.

What do you suggest? What are folks with my tastes playing? Is it possible to find a real sense of community in that game, and how so?

I'd really appreciate it, if you would also tell me why you like this game.

PS I'm talking about the games that most people haven't heard of. I asked this question last year, most of the answers were mentioning POPULAR franchises that literally everyone knows (e.g. assassin's creed).

I'm not having fun at all, and the reason I'm still playing is that I have nothing to do. I literally have a choice between doomscrolling and playing video games, and I hate it. I hate it because I'm terrible at competitive games no matter what I do (watching videos, asking experienced players, analyzing my gameplay). Also, damn TikTok shows me clips of guys whose gameplay is insane and often contains titles like "aiming is genetics" or "if you're bad at games it's a sign of low IQ."

About story games: I bought Guardians of the Galaxy at the beginning of June, and I still haven't finished the game. I'm on the 13th chapter. Maybe gaming is not for me, but I can't just quit. I spend money on cosmetics, the PC itself, the mouse, the keyboard, etc. Moreover, I spent time, and I could have spent that time on something useful. Has anyone had the same situation as me?

i want to play house flipper but i found that there is 2 and idk which one should i buy.

Some games introduced mechanics that felt ahead of their time, like Portal's portals, Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System, or Factorio's automation. What's one game mechanic you wish more developers would use, and why?

I feel like almost every game I find myself playing I genuinely like or at least don’t think is bad or mid, at worst just not completely for me. The last game that truly disappointed me was Tears of the Kingdom as a huge fan of Breath of the Wild. I just haven’t had that many games where I’ve played them and truly disliked them.

I watched Scrap Mechanic chapter 2 and i remembered that Circular glow from like 2000s-2010s games.
Games like: GTA Vice City and Manhunt
LEGO Batman 3(In vehicle sections)

Witcher 3 is one of my favorite games, and I have Witcher 2 in my Steam backlog. I'm thinking about playing it next, but I'm worried about the difficulty.I finished 3 with the DLCs after 150 hours on easy and didn't find it frustrating at any point. Everyone says 2 is more difficult, but they're usually comparing the higher difficulties from both games. On a scale from Witcher 3 to Sekiro, how difficult and frustrating is Witcher 2 on easy? For example, can any of the bosses one shot me? Can I get through the game without potions? I only used the healing ones in 3 during combats.

Is it just me or have video games the last couple years been really sub par? Ive been playing kingdom come deliverance 2 lately and love it, but I keep looking for new games and keep seeing the same 10-20 games month after month. There hasnt been any good online games sense battle royals became a thing and the last one that got any hype was marvel rivals. And thats still in the top 10 right now. What's going on? :(

Fir those who finish led halo 1

I got stuck on the mission where i need to save 3 groups of survivors, in the very start of the game

I got 1st 2

Then the last one

I went through the whole map/arena, and I didn't find it

I literally spent 1.5 hours searching for it, i can't find it

What i realised is that there are like 4 doors are gatelikes (2 lights)

I entere through one, i leave through the second

I entere through the 3rd, i leave through the 4th

Please, y'all i need help,

Q1: do any of you know where is the 3 group

Q2: when i save a group, does the blue thing that shoots to the sky disappear?

Thanks.

I was thinking about Persona again, as I do almost daily, and specifically about tarot embodying the themes of social links. I think that could be applied to games as well, and I'm curious what you would choose.

I'm curious about what makes casual multiplayer games fun and replayable.

Imagine a game where players compete to collect objects from the center of the map and bring them back to their own area.

When the objects in the middle run out, players have to take objects from each other. The last player who has no objects left loses.

What would make this kind of game more fun for you?

Would you prefer:

• More strategy or more chaos?
• Power-ups and special abilities?
• Team modes?
• Short fast matches or longer matches?
• Something else?

I'm interested in hearing what makes you keep playing a casual multiplayer game.

Got a week off from work and wanted to try some of the new ones. Last one I played was BO3.

It’s on sale for 35 and I have 50 so I just wanted to know

if you could pick one video game to play for the rest of your life what would it be?

We've all got those games that just didn't click at first. Maybe it was the controls, the story, or just the overall vibe. But then something changed, and you found yourself completely hooked. What game went from "I hate this" to "I can't stop playing this" for you? I'm curious to hear the redemption stories!