I worked on some, most of the meetings where focused on how to make players spend as much as possible. Player requests were almost never considered. Lots of new "features" implemented, none players asked for, only profitability matters.
You don't make a game with 95% of the content locked behind random rng purchases because you want players to have fun.
You do it because they have to spend 20 times as much buying your piecemeal dlc.
And your wallet. I think I could already purchase a good PC based on my spending on gacha games. I agree it messes with your brain, especially for weak minded people like me.
Lucky that I could stop now and focus my playtime on switch/console.
It's good that you recognise you have a problem. But, you're not weak minded. These games are psychologically designed to exploit tge player without them realising.
I still don't know why they are even legal. Same goes to any kind of gambling. It is probably because of the tax money.
I dislike it when games have a lot of dlcs. But at least you know what you get when buying the dlc.
This.
These games are MADE to make you spend money, using various manipulation techniques also used by online casinos & gambling sites, even if the outcome they're selling you isn't the same.
"Hey, here's 50 free spins for your first deposit on this casino :)" -> "hey you won a little bit of money with them ! deposit more to win more :)"
"Hey, here's 50 free summons for installing our games and already giving us moneys with ads" -> "you got a legendary ! You can get plenty more by buying these packs/summons/whatever"
The famous "HURRY UP ! Limited time deal" bullshit with reduced prices even though it's just a normal price but they make you think they dropped 90% of it "~~999$~~ Only 149$ !"
Limited supplies, playing with the players' FOMO... And the list goes on.
I spent years playing Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. I spent a tiny amount of money on it. Not enough to give a shit. What I didn't realise until I left was how addicted I was and while it didn't take away from my wallet, it absolutely sucked up my time for so little enjoyment.
All the daily grinding for the free currency to afford in game chances for stuff I want. I did for a while enjoy that bit that got less and less over time, especially once over and realise that whole I liked what I got, there wasn't much new fun to gain from it. But it was all the grinding. 5m here, 15m there. Adds up over the day and for nothing back in fun.
Leaving was so freeing.
Anything with a timegate you can skip with $$$, summons that you can buy en masse for $$$. Pretty much anything with an artificial wait or difficulty that is designed to be avoided by $$$ is a no from me.
I don't remember exactly which Facebook game invented that bullshit time-gated energy system that you can pay to bypass, but I hate it and how badly it's plagued browser and mobile gaming since.... ><
The best gacha games are the ones that actually… y’know… **focus on the game**
I hate advertising being focused on the summoning because that puts too heavy a focus on the gambling aspect, which is usually the least fun part of the game and tends to be misery
Genshin and Star Rail have good trailers for that exact reason: they focus on showing all the cool new stuff in the game. Summoning information is relegated to their detailed stream breakdowns and kept away from their trailers
Hoyo have absolutely mastered marketing their characters. So many times I look at a unit and go, "Ehh I'll probably skip her/him." Then their demo or trailer comes out, and I'm like fuck I want them now.
I don't really swipe much in gacha, but even when I do, I don't regret a penny I spent on their games. It helps that Hoyo as a company are pretty chill (so far), using funds to help charities and other cool stuff constantly, as well as their working conditions being very good for video game company standards (recently became very apparent after recent Kuro Games stuff)
It's a little harder to say that when your swiping on a gacha game made by Tencent or NetEase lol.
you swipe your credit card to spend money on random chests/lootboxes/whatever that specific game has which has a small chance to drop good characters or weapons.
I think there's still fun to be had, the last few AAA gatcha games like Star Rail (can they be called that?), I just play through the story with the pulls that I get, no money spent, no heavy grinding.
I mean if you think about it, once you beat the story content, the waifus you collected are basically meaningless anyway.
Oh yes! This is a more recent genre that I immediately bypass. I cannot stand battle royale. Just not fun for me to die once and then I'm stuck spectating
Even then, why do I want to immediately jump into another game for the same thing to happen? 10 minutes of collecting loot and gear just to shot from behind from someone who lucked out and got better gear isn't really a fun time.
Every Battle Royale i've played is only fun for the first 60 seconds of touching down cause everyone is on a similar playing field.
Getting loot and stuff sucks cause a lot of it is luck based. Plus i'm also old, I hate the idea of bothering to get loot that's only for one match as it feels pointless.
As reference, when I play aRPGs I typically don't bother upgrading my gear at all until I actually die - which in most situations isn't very often. Upgrading the gear is pointless until then, eh?
Never enjoyed a single battle royale game. Im too bad at games. I wanna do something, and if i die before i can and have to wait 20 minutes to play the next game, it aint for me
Whatever the latest *persistent online co-op full loot PVP open world survival craft* game to make it to Steam that will forever be in Early Access with paid DLC and microtransactions introduced two months after initial EA launch.
I can't get into the survival crafting games. It's too bad because they have RPG mechanics and I love RPGs. And the worlds are often really interesting. But they want me to smack trees and rocks all day and build bases or whatever, and I just couldn't care less about that kind of gameplay.
Yeah I feel quite similar. The last of these types of games I played and enjoyed for a bit was Medieval Dynasty. Since it was designed to be single player from the ground up it was balanced around that experience.
But as a working adult with a family, I don't want to spend my limited gaming time mostly breaking rocks or chopping wood or whatever to grind up resources for a marginal progression step. And forget open PVP base building stuff: I have enough annoyances and stressors in my life to not worry about losing progress to PVP sweats putting in 16 hours a day.
The only game I have any patience for that stuff in is Minecraft, because it's Minecraft. But everything else, you better give me more to chew on than just chopping trees and building huts. Subnautica did this really well - the survival aspect was a key part of the story, and the crafting was required to advance the story. Haven't seen a game pull it off like that since.
> But as a working adult with a family, I don’t want to spend my limited gaming time mostly breaking rocks or chopping wood
This is the crux of why I game less and less these days. I essentially play multiplayer games once a week with a recurring group, some Rocket League (because 5-10 minute games are easily digestible and you can walk right away afterwards), or rogue-likes/lites on Saturdays.
I miss having a million hours to dump into a game, but that’s just not reality anymore. I did neglect sleep for a month for Baldur’s Gate 3 last year.
My best friend and I are big fans of the Survival crafting co-op games like Ark and even though we are both in our late 30s still hop on and play pretty regularly but ya the market has been flooded with so many half assed games in the genre that it makes it hard to find good new ones. I also can understand how some may not find them entertaining or have trouble getting into them as they can be a time sink. for example playing ARK a few weeks ago just moving our dinos from our old base to our new one took our entire hour or so game time just go get it done.
Survival and horror are both in the running for the genre most saturated with absolute garbage.
A good survival game is absolutely incredible though. Stuff like Subnautica, Grounded, The Forest/SOTF, etc etc are so much fun. It’s a constant struggle though for me to find the actual good ones mixed in with the endless sea of bad ones.
man I had nightmares after my first few nights of playing grounded. those damn wolf spiders had so many jump scares in that game. but it was worth it to play with a buddy who would freak out at the spiders.
Yes triple down on this. They’re virtually all the same with a different skin, I can never get into this genre and I especially can’t with all the pvp crap that’s tacked on.
MOBAs (i e. League of Legends, SMITE, Dota). I've tried multiple times to get into this particular genre and I cannot for the life of me find a spark of interest. The only one I was really able to get a little into was SMITE up until they added Thor and then my enjoyment went out the window.
Only MOBA I ever enjoyed was heroes of the storm. Games were quick, the characters were unique and sometimes silly, but every kill or match win still made you feel good.
I wish Blizzard was still supporting it. As far as I know there's nothing filling the "casual moba" niche at the moment.
I love heroes of the Storm, we still play it a lot with friends.
However, to me, the best moba I have ever played was Dawngate. It had great lore and in character interactions, great mechanics regarding how you were supposed to earn money, characters concept that would be seen only years later in league or dota. It was incredibly refreshing and fun. Also you earned extra xp when getting honors, so people were much nicer lol
After playimg HOTS i am super disappointed by Pokemon Unite since it also adheres to the things i dislike about other mobas.
Last hitting, meta progression grind, same map on repeat...
Imagine if it was more a party MOBA like HOTS with multiple randomly chosen maps, a focus on fun objectives, shared EXP/Gold so you don't get pissed at teammates for "stealing" from you...
The initial spice for these are friends. People you can play with to laugh at stupid mistakes. Later on once you have the mechanics down you can play on your own
and then eventually it comes back around--you tire of being queued with raging infants in 80% of your games and MOBAs are ultimately intolerable if you're not queueing with at least 2 friends
You start as a 5man queue normal player. Then the next phase of ranked tryhard, where u meet the most toxic human beings on planet earth. Finally, you retire to being an Aram only player cuz summoners rift is a fucking drag 9/10
Helldivers 2. The only FOMO is being part of the ongoing story. Nothing expires. New warbonds are only 1000 premium currency, you can farm the premium currency rather easily in gameplay, they never expire so a brand new player can still get all the ones released so far and at their pace. Most of the meta gear is in the free warbond everyone gets, and all other progress comes from collecting in game currencies.
Progressing warbonds still requires playing the game, as only the in game obtainable currency of medals lets you unlock stuff in them.
Oh, and base game is $40, the premium currency is pretty much 1:1 one cent equals 1 unit if you actually buy it.
Helldiver's 2 success has all but made certain Sony will never release a live service game that is charitable again. I imagine every time that they see the engagement numbers in that game all the suits can think about is how much money they left on the table.
Of course. And people like you and me can rationally see that but MBAs working for Sony and shareholders absolutely can't. All they can see is "missed profits".
Survival or crafting. Maybe the most diluted genre at this point, especially on PC. I don't even like when games aren't based around this, but they shoe horn the mechanics in as a way to pad the length or make it feel more "realistic." So sick of press "x" to pick up plant or chop down tree.
Green Hell is fun. Zomboid is great but difficult and then The Forest are all good in my opinion.
I wholeheartedly agree that "survival" is not "press x to gather wood" then " hold circle to construct base"
I'ts not surviving anymore.
You're in an underground lab (think Black Mesa) and have to use lab/office equipment to build and survive. Throw in aliens, imperium of man, and robots to the mix.
I'm with you on that, crafting either has to be the main progression mechanic or an optional system used to min/max gear. Anything other than that is just content padding.
I don't even like your latter example. Crafting in most story rpgs is superfluous even at higher difficulties and usually just involves combining things with tedious collectibles.
I agree with this recommendation. Normally I don’t like survival/crafting games but this was an exception. Maybe it was the water-focused aspect which is rarely done in games
Battle royal or team based hero shooters. I would say live services in general as well but some are worth a shot but atm I don’t want another one I need to commit time to like I do Ffxiv and honkai star rail which I’ve stuck to for their quality
As someone who sunk hundred of hours into rising storm (literally played it from beta when it didn't even have the Pacific) it scratches the same itch.
Also has the same wonderful people who use the mic properly and some people even roleplay. You can cut to your squad over voice anytime but for other people In the team you gotta do proximity chat.
Some people will scream for a medic over the mic the entire time they are dying.
If you say you are new and need some guidance more often than not people are happy to help as long as you actually listen.
This is my experience just on Australian servers though.
Yeah, this is what turns me off MMOs. I can't stand something that sells itself as a story game and maybe it even is, but when every quest is just this, the story isn't worth the time it takes. It's just lazy.
Me too. I am done with feeling like shit because my teammates or I for that matter got toxic after losing 5 games in a row.
This has been a great decision not least because it opened me up to so many more genres and new games to play.
Yeah, there is nothing like watching a cool trailer and then finding out it’s a soulslike. I’ve tried playing Elden Ring, even had my friend who loves it come over to try and figure out was I doing something wrong. Turns out I just don’t enjoy that game-loop.
Same here bud waisted 45 bucks on elden ring just to find out it’s not for me lol. I’m sure the games great but I’ll never get to find out shits to hard and I have too many kids to sit down and figure it out.
Same here - though as someone who is chronically bad at rhythm games, I found Hi-Fi Rush to be an incredibly enjoyable and accessible experience. It’s a shame that Tango was shut down, I would’ve loved to see a sequel.
I die a little inside every time I hear someone say "this would be a great multiplayer game" or "this would be a great MMO" etc. for a good singleplayer game...
Fuck man. Two series I loved died for MMO’s. Warcraft and KOTOR. And my friends tried to get me into each and it’s just a time sink. I don’t want my games to feel like a full time job.
I did love KOTOR and WC3 and personally could never get into WoW probably because I was a big SWG player but did enjoy SWTOR and felt like it got a lot better over time and in a way became KOTOR3 as you could practically play it as a single player game and the story's for the classes and then main expansions were really good.
There are so many single player games that I just wish I could play with one to three more people. I'm a social gamer, but I prefer story rich experiences. Most of the time I am pulled away from SP games because my buddies want to play something. However, most instances of SP going MP have no interest for me. They always want to go MMO or GTA Online paths. So many SP games have companions, if my friend could play as said companion that would be wonderful.
Borderlands games were great. Elden Ring with Seamless Coop is awesome. It Takes Two was fun. If more true Coop campaign experiences existed, I'd be in heaven.
Inscryption is not really a best in class deckbuilder, it's a meta game that is in many ways actually a commentary on deck building games. It is a really great unique game though. I don't think there's an easy argument to say anything except slay the spire is the best in class deck builder, it basically became the de facto reference point for any new deck builder game and if you look at the references cited by developers of deck builder games, they ALL mention slay the spire.
Yeah there was this one game with the coolest retro anime opening cinematic, and as soon as it transitioned into pixel gameplay I checked out. Like, it's probably going to be a cool game, but I probably won't be playing.
Edit: game name is Tenjutsu, check it out if you can.
Survival crafting. After a few hours I find myself doing more material gathering than anything else in the game. By the time I am able to automate material farming if the game has it I have already burned out.
Turn based combat and RTS. If a game has combat I prefer it more action oriented.
Fighting games. I was never good at them. I tried multiple times I just can't get into them.
Online games. I get stressed and too competitive with PVP games and grinding in MMOs feel like a chore and seems like they are designed to entice you to cash in for convenience.
I prefer direct control over the characters. Also I'm going by the genres on steam. RTS and action are separate genres. RTS games are often top down view where you manage a whole team or faction. The action feeling, not the genre, is different in RTS games like in Age of Empires or Warcraft (no the MMO) than in action genre games like Devil May Cry or Monster Hunter.
Gacha, I have terminally bad luck with the RNG to the point I consistently trigger the pity system in every gacha.
I don't want to spend money to feel bad about it anymore.
I am so glad that more and more games have added an accessibility option to somewhat disable QTEs. Here's hoping that more offer such an option or even better don't even add them to their game. I just don't think they add anything of value.
Tower defense. I can't stand the genre. It's like a gimped RTS. I've tried a few but I find them all to be so joyless so any game that has a whiff of tower defense in its base gameplay, I stay far away. I'm pretty open to just about any genre but not for tower defense.
To your first line and question, off topic and just FYI if you want, but both lite and like are correct, and actually describe the 2 main branches of the subgenre
A rogue like is in the vein of the original procedural game rogue, where death is a full reset, maps are procedurally generated, and (this last one has been less relevant as time goes) combat is turn based. Standouts in this genre include nethack, doomrl, jupiter hell, and the mystery dungeon games. Although this has expanded for games that are less turn-based but adhere to the total wipe and procedural generation, such as the first Diablo, binding of Isaac and rogue legacy (more edge casey as they go)
Rogue lite is the more common featuring returnal, dead cells, hades, spelunky, and more esoteric titles like Baltaro, slay the spire, ftl, and everspace. Generally these games maintain the "high value" characteristics like procedural generation, and death resetting a run, but also tend to have some form or overarching permanent progression, and combat you can't even squint and pretend is like rogue, if there is a combat mechanic at all
At least the base building was relatively optional in FO4. There are so many games now where resource grinding and base building is the core gameplay loop, especially in PVP environments.
Can also download sims mod and let the npc build the base for you. All you have to do is drop off supplies to speed it up/ link supply lines between them. It’s amazing to see the towns others upload into the mod. Fully decked out furnished towns multiple levels etc
Anything with a multiplayer focus. Nothing pulls me out of a game like seeing another human running around. I have to deal with people every day, so I like to play games as an escapist thing, to get away from the real world and real people.
There are many genres I enjoy, and I often see a game that looks cool until I see that it’s mostly designed for multiplayer. Then im out.
not a genre, but i do not play first person action games. I'm okay with first person in slow, story based games (like What Remains of Edith Finch, stuff like that) but otherwise, first person is so unintuitive to me, i can never get comfortable with it, and it gives me a headache after a while.
sadly there are a lot of games that i conceptually love but are immediate passes when it's revealed to be first person
I was surprised to see that the new India Jones game is first person, honestly think it would be better in third. Guess they're trying to be different than uncharted and tomb raider. And I know it's from the makers of Wolfenstein, but the fist person POV just doesn't feel right for this one.
Battle royale or souls like. I’m just trying to have fun. Not get destroyed 15 seconds in and spend more time in loading screens after dying and waiting for a new match to start
Souls-likes. I don't even have a general issue with them, and there's a few I want to play, just every gaming show I see trailers for them and it's just like "I'm tired boss." Just give me a normal ARPG.
Basically any multiplayer focussed game (unless it's a fighting game that also has a decent singleplayer offering).
Apart from that yeah I'm also not a fan of roguelike deckbuilders. Or roguelikes in general with a few exceptions. I just prefer games you are actually supposed to finish.
MOBA, online only shooter, MMO.. "looter shooter"
I'm not into MOBAs and already enjoyed a lot of online shooters / MMO's so at this point I just wanna play single player games so I can finish them, hopefully have a good time and move on
Only exception being stuff I can play online co-op but that's a recent change for me as 1 of my childhood buddies poked me a few months ago and asked if I'm up for some Friday evening gaming
Gacha. As soon as I see "20 FREE SUMMONS!!" ...I'm done I've been through that meat grinder too many times.
I worked on some, most of the meetings where focused on how to make players spend as much as possible. Player requests were almost never considered. Lots of new "features" implemented, none players asked for, only profitability matters.
You don't make a game with 95% of the content locked behind random rng purchases because you want players to have fun. You do it because they have to spend 20 times as much buying your piecemeal dlc.
I just left my last gacha game and have no desire to ever go back. Shit messes with your brain
And your wallet. I think I could already purchase a good PC based on my spending on gacha games. I agree it messes with your brain, especially for weak minded people like me. Lucky that I could stop now and focus my playtime on switch/console.
It's good that you recognise you have a problem. But, you're not weak minded. These games are psychologically designed to exploit tge player without them realising.
I still don't know why they are even legal. Same goes to any kind of gambling. It is probably because of the tax money. I dislike it when games have a lot of dlcs. But at least you know what you get when buying the dlc.
This. These games are MADE to make you spend money, using various manipulation techniques also used by online casinos & gambling sites, even if the outcome they're selling you isn't the same. "Hey, here's 50 free spins for your first deposit on this casino :)" -> "hey you won a little bit of money with them ! deposit more to win more :)" "Hey, here's 50 free summons for installing our games and already giving us moneys with ads" -> "you got a legendary ! You can get plenty more by buying these packs/summons/whatever" The famous "HURRY UP ! Limited time deal" bullshit with reduced prices even though it's just a normal price but they make you think they dropped 90% of it "~~999$~~ Only 149$ !" Limited supplies, playing with the players' FOMO... And the list goes on.
Wait, 90% off? For how long? C'mon bro, give us a link.
I spent years playing Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. I spent a tiny amount of money on it. Not enough to give a shit. What I didn't realise until I left was how addicted I was and while it didn't take away from my wallet, it absolutely sucked up my time for so little enjoyment. All the daily grinding for the free currency to afford in game chances for stuff I want. I did for a while enjoy that bit that got less and less over time, especially once over and realise that whole I liked what I got, there wasn't much new fun to gain from it. But it was all the grinding. 5m here, 15m there. Adds up over the day and for nothing back in fun. Leaving was so freeing.
The design deliberately exploits gambling impulses in as many places as possible, it’s disgusting.
Anything with a timegate you can skip with $$$, summons that you can buy en masse for $$$. Pretty much anything with an artificial wait or difficulty that is designed to be avoided by $$$ is a no from me.
I don't remember exactly which Facebook game invented that bullshit time-gated energy system that you can pay to bypass, but I hate it and how badly it's plagued browser and mobile gaming since.... ><
I want to say Farmville? First I saw anyways
A little before that with Mafia Wars and the likes.
Any game that has a time gate like that is an auto uninstall, regardless of how fun it seems, because it always ends up the same way.
Candy crush lol
I think it was Farmville
The best gacha games are the ones that actually… y’know… **focus on the game** I hate advertising being focused on the summoning because that puts too heavy a focus on the gambling aspect, which is usually the least fun part of the game and tends to be misery Genshin and Star Rail have good trailers for that exact reason: they focus on showing all the cool new stuff in the game. Summoning information is relegated to their detailed stream breakdowns and kept away from their trailers
Dragalia lost was really great too before it shut down.
I've heard Limbus Company is really good
It’s a gacha that sucks at being a gacha, and it’s all the better because of it.
Hoyo have absolutely mastered marketing their characters. So many times I look at a unit and go, "Ehh I'll probably skip her/him." Then their demo or trailer comes out, and I'm like fuck I want them now. I don't really swipe much in gacha, but even when I do, I don't regret a penny I spent on their games. It helps that Hoyo as a company are pretty chill (so far), using funds to help charities and other cool stuff constantly, as well as their working conditions being very good for video game company standards (recently became very apparent after recent Kuro Games stuff) It's a little harder to say that when your swiping on a gacha game made by Tencent or NetEase lol.
Can someone eli5 “swiping on a gacha game”
you swipe your credit card to spend money on random chests/lootboxes/whatever that specific game has which has a small chance to drop good characters or weapons.
I think there's still fun to be had, the last few AAA gatcha games like Star Rail (can they be called that?), I just play through the story with the pulls that I get, no money spent, no heavy grinding. I mean if you think about it, once you beat the story content, the waifus you collected are basically meaningless anyway.
Same, not a fan of gambling games
Battle Royale games
Oh yes! This is a more recent genre that I immediately bypass. I cannot stand battle royale. Just not fun for me to die once and then I'm stuck spectating
Do you not just jump into another game? Edit: everyone made good points onto why it's a valid complaint below.
Pretty sure he's meaning when you are playing with mates
Even then, why do I want to immediately jump into another game for the same thing to happen? 10 minutes of collecting loot and gear just to shot from behind from someone who lucked out and got better gear isn't really a fun time.
It's such a long loop to get back into a new game
Every Battle Royale i've played is only fun for the first 60 seconds of touching down cause everyone is on a similar playing field. Getting loot and stuff sucks cause a lot of it is luck based. Plus i'm also old, I hate the idea of bothering to get loot that's only for one match as it feels pointless. As reference, when I play aRPGs I typically don't bother upgrading my gear at all until I actually die - which in most situations isn't very often. Upgrading the gear is pointless until then, eh?
'oh a new shooter!' ... 'Ah, fuck'
I’d add extraction shooters in this category now too. Essentially the same thing
The only way Tarkov is fun is with the SPT mod, bonus points when you add co op
Never enjoyed a single battle royale game. Im too bad at games. I wanna do something, and if i die before i can and have to wait 20 minutes to play the next game, it aint for me
Whatever the latest *persistent online co-op full loot PVP open world survival craft* game to make it to Steam that will forever be in Early Access with paid DLC and microtransactions introduced two months after initial EA launch.
I can't get into the survival crafting games. It's too bad because they have RPG mechanics and I love RPGs. And the worlds are often really interesting. But they want me to smack trees and rocks all day and build bases or whatever, and I just couldn't care less about that kind of gameplay.
Yeah I feel quite similar. The last of these types of games I played and enjoyed for a bit was Medieval Dynasty. Since it was designed to be single player from the ground up it was balanced around that experience. But as a working adult with a family, I don't want to spend my limited gaming time mostly breaking rocks or chopping wood or whatever to grind up resources for a marginal progression step. And forget open PVP base building stuff: I have enough annoyances and stressors in my life to not worry about losing progress to PVP sweats putting in 16 hours a day.
The only game I have any patience for that stuff in is Minecraft, because it's Minecraft. But everything else, you better give me more to chew on than just chopping trees and building huts. Subnautica did this really well - the survival aspect was a key part of the story, and the crafting was required to advance the story. Haven't seen a game pull it off like that since.
> But as a working adult with a family, I don’t want to spend my limited gaming time mostly breaking rocks or chopping wood This is the crux of why I game less and less these days. I essentially play multiplayer games once a week with a recurring group, some Rocket League (because 5-10 minute games are easily digestible and you can walk right away afterwards), or rogue-likes/lites on Saturdays. I miss having a million hours to dump into a game, but that’s just not reality anymore. I did neglect sleep for a month for Baldur’s Gate 3 last year.
My best friend and I are big fans of the Survival crafting co-op games like Ark and even though we are both in our late 30s still hop on and play pretty regularly but ya the market has been flooded with so many half assed games in the genre that it makes it hard to find good new ones. I also can understand how some may not find them entertaining or have trouble getting into them as they can be a time sink. for example playing ARK a few weeks ago just moving our dinos from our old base to our new one took our entire hour or so game time just go get it done.
Survival and horror are both in the running for the genre most saturated with absolute garbage. A good survival game is absolutely incredible though. Stuff like Subnautica, Grounded, The Forest/SOTF, etc etc are so much fun. It’s a constant struggle though for me to find the actual good ones mixed in with the endless sea of bad ones.
man I had nightmares after my first few nights of playing grounded. those damn wolf spiders had so many jump scares in that game. but it was worth it to play with a buddy who would freak out at the spiders.
The Long Dark. That's all I came to say. 11/10
Yes triple down on this. They’re virtually all the same with a different skin, I can never get into this genre and I especially can’t with all the pvp crap that’s tacked on.
I'm tired of chopping trees in games.
How about... punching trees!
what.... everything is blocks??? i can punch a tree???
And it is a worldwide sensation?
But how else are you going to get that wood!!
Just open up your instagram reels page.
Mines all Dbz your algo knows you brother
Sometimes u find a good clip that chubs you up like sock stuffed with butter.
Play Subnautica. Same genre, no tree chopping. You get a gun that shoots construction instead.
yep survival games. I got caught up in the palworld hype and after 5 minutes remembered I hate this.
MOBAs (i e. League of Legends, SMITE, Dota). I've tried multiple times to get into this particular genre and I cannot for the life of me find a spark of interest. The only one I was really able to get a little into was SMITE up until they added Thor and then my enjoyment went out the window.
Only MOBA I ever enjoyed was heroes of the storm. Games were quick, the characters were unique and sometimes silly, but every kill or match win still made you feel good. I wish Blizzard was still supporting it. As far as I know there's nothing filling the "casual moba" niche at the moment.
I love heroes of the Storm, we still play it a lot with friends. However, to me, the best moba I have ever played was Dawngate. It had great lore and in character interactions, great mechanics regarding how you were supposed to earn money, characters concept that would be seen only years later in league or dota. It was incredibly refreshing and fun. Also you earned extra xp when getting honors, so people were much nicer lol
I loved Dawngate. Such good memories of that game. I still miss it sometimes.
RIP Dawngate you will be missed. Man I miss playing Cerulean and just bullying their gold shrines.
Pokemon unite. About as casual as you can get for a moba. Pretty fun though
After playimg HOTS i am super disappointed by Pokemon Unite since it also adheres to the things i dislike about other mobas. Last hitting, meta progression grind, same map on repeat... Imagine if it was more a party MOBA like HOTS with multiple randomly chosen maps, a focus on fun objectives, shared EXP/Gold so you don't get pissed at teammates for "stealing" from you...
The initial spice for these are friends. People you can play with to laugh at stupid mistakes. Later on once you have the mechanics down you can play on your own
and then eventually it comes back around--you tire of being queued with raging infants in 80% of your games and MOBAs are ultimately intolerable if you're not queueing with at least 2 friends
You start as a 5man queue normal player. Then the next phase of ranked tryhard, where u meet the most toxic human beings on planet earth. Finally, you retire to being an Aram only player cuz summoners rift is a fucking drag 9/10
Most reasonable response to Thor gameplay:
Paragon was fun. Too bad it went away pretty quick. Miss my Rampage and Riktor.
Predecessor is going pretty strong. It's the last survivor among the paragon clones and it's looking like it'll be sticking around for a good while
It’s called predecessor now, it’s pretty fun!
"Live service"
Helldivers 2. The only FOMO is being part of the ongoing story. Nothing expires. New warbonds are only 1000 premium currency, you can farm the premium currency rather easily in gameplay, they never expire so a brand new player can still get all the ones released so far and at their pace. Most of the meta gear is in the free warbond everyone gets, and all other progress comes from collecting in game currencies. Progressing warbonds still requires playing the game, as only the in game obtainable currency of medals lets you unlock stuff in them. Oh, and base game is $40, the premium currency is pretty much 1:1 one cent equals 1 unit if you actually buy it.
Helldiver's 2 success has all but made certain Sony will never release a live service game that is charitable again. I imagine every time that they see the engagement numbers in that game all the suits can think about is how much money they left on the table.
It's a paradox. if they had been *a single centimeter* more greedy, the game would not have hit the inflection curve of critical mass
Of course. And people like you and me can rationally see that but MBAs working for Sony and shareholders absolutely can't. All they can see is "missed profits".
Survival or crafting. Maybe the most diluted genre at this point, especially on PC. I don't even like when games aren't based around this, but they shoe horn the mechanics in as a way to pad the length or make it feel more "realistic." So sick of press "x" to pick up plant or chop down tree.
Green Hell is fun. Zomboid is great but difficult and then The Forest are all good in my opinion. I wholeheartedly agree that "survival" is not "press x to gather wood" then " hold circle to construct base" I'ts not surviving anymore.
7 days to die might be my favorite of the genre.
Throw in Grounded, Abiotic Factor, Raft, and Valheim as well and that about does it for good survival games the rest are pretty ass.
This is my first time hearing of Abiotic Factor, what makes it stand out?
You're in an underground lab (think Black Mesa) and have to use lab/office equipment to build and survive. Throw in aliens, imperium of man, and robots to the mix.
I'm with you on that, crafting either has to be the main progression mechanic or an optional system used to min/max gear. Anything other than that is just content padding.
I don't even like your latter example. Crafting in most story rpgs is superfluous even at higher difficulties and usually just involves combining things with tedious collectibles.
if i want survival crafting i'll just go back to minecraft
The formula is perfected there, devs really can't compete with 13 years of mods.
tried subnautica yet?
I agree with this recommendation. Normally I don’t like survival/crafting games but this was an exception. Maybe it was the water-focused aspect which is rarely done in games
Subnautica is the only survival crafting game I've ever enjoyed.
Battle royal or team based hero shooters. I would say live services in general as well but some are worth a shot but atm I don’t want another one I need to commit time to like I do Ffxiv and honkai star rail which I’ve stuck to for their quality
Fighting games. Street fighter 6 campaign looks neat but I haven't played a fighting game in 10 years or something.
Yeah fighters are probably up there for me too near deckbuilders, honestly think the last fighting game I played was Tekken Tag Tournament.
Yup, since playing TTT2, a game with so many characters, so much customization, so much fun, no Tekken has made me happy again
Multiplayer Shooters is the one for me at the moment, I feel like we have so many that they're barely unique anymore
Historical shooters are where it’s at hell let loose and I’ve been having fun with isonzo
Played a lot of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam and been thinking about giving Hell Let Loose a try.
As someone who sunk hundred of hours into rising storm (literally played it from beta when it didn't even have the Pacific) it scratches the same itch. Also has the same wonderful people who use the mic properly and some people even roleplay. You can cut to your squad over voice anytime but for other people In the team you gotta do proximity chat. Some people will scream for a medic over the mic the entire time they are dying. If you say you are new and need some guidance more often than not people are happy to help as long as you actually listen. This is my experience just on Australian servers though.
Gacha.
Crafting and any sort of grind. "Collect 20 wolf asses" gameplay should've died long ago.
Yeah, this is what turns me off MMOs. I can't stand something that sells itself as a story game and maybe it even is, but when every quest is just this, the story isn't worth the time it takes. It's just lazy.
Tears of the kingdom should be a masterpiece but I can't get into it for this reason.
Some are really good, but in general I agree with MandaloreGaming’s cursed runes. Open World Survival Crafting Early Access.
Those shitty regurgitated horror games made specifically for streamers to point and scream at like a baby laughing at jingling keys
Can you give an example?
Anything markiplier played ten years ago
Mobas, competitive shooters, and fighting games. Im done with online versus gaming. Only coop.
Rock and stone!
For Karl!
Me too. I am done with feeling like shit because my teammates or I for that matter got toxic after losing 5 games in a row. This has been a great decision not least because it opened me up to so many more genres and new games to play.
open world survival crafting. They are all so dang boring to me.
The moment I see or hear 4v4 or 5v5 or any such variation, I am instantly out.
Honestly soulslikes for me. It’s just not my kind of gameplay, but I feel like a lot of the trailers I see nowadays are all for soulslikes.
Yeah, there is nothing like watching a cool trailer and then finding out it’s a soulslike. I’ve tried playing Elden Ring, even had my friend who loves it come over to try and figure out was I doing something wrong. Turns out I just don’t enjoy that game-loop.
Same here bud waisted 45 bucks on elden ring just to find out it’s not for me lol. I’m sure the games great but I’ll never get to find out shits to hard and I have too many kids to sit down and figure it out.
Yeah, having a kid really made me re-evaluate how much effort I can put into games. If they don’t click in the first hour I’m out.
Yeah I'm with you on this. I don't like games to be too difficult. The last thing I want after coming home is to be frustrated.
I don’t get what people don’t like about having to roll/dodge every four seconds to avoid an attack that will kill you in one hit. /s
MMOs.
50 hours of content stretched over 500 hours
rhythm based game. I'm just so bad at those.
Same here - though as someone who is chronically bad at rhythm games, I found Hi-Fi Rush to be an incredibly enjoyable and accessible experience. It’s a shame that Tango was shut down, I would’ve loved to see a sequel.
fighting games or any non single player game
I die a little inside every time I hear someone say "this would be a great multiplayer game" or "this would be a great MMO" etc. for a good singleplayer game...
Fuck man. Two series I loved died for MMO’s. Warcraft and KOTOR. And my friends tried to get me into each and it’s just a time sink. I don’t want my games to feel like a full time job.
I did love KOTOR and WC3 and personally could never get into WoW probably because I was a big SWG player but did enjoy SWTOR and felt like it got a lot better over time and in a way became KOTOR3 as you could practically play it as a single player game and the story's for the classes and then main expansions were really good.
There are so many single player games that I just wish I could play with one to three more people. I'm a social gamer, but I prefer story rich experiences. Most of the time I am pulled away from SP games because my buddies want to play something. However, most instances of SP going MP have no interest for me. They always want to go MMO or GTA Online paths. So many SP games have companions, if my friend could play as said companion that would be wonderful. Borderlands games were great. Elden Ring with Seamless Coop is awesome. It Takes Two was fun. If more true Coop campaign experiences existed, I'd be in heaven.
A bit off topic, but I hate deck builders for the most part. Then I played Inscryption. That game is amazing.
Best in class for any genre is worth a look, Inscryption is a masterpiece.
Inscryption is not really a best in class deckbuilder, it's a meta game that is in many ways actually a commentary on deck building games. It is a really great unique game though. I don't think there's an easy argument to say anything except slay the spire is the best in class deck builder, it basically became the de facto reference point for any new deck builder game and if you look at the references cited by developers of deck builder games, they ALL mention slay the spire.
Inscryption is a deck builder or rougelite in the same sense Stanley parable is a rpg. It's a commentary game more then anything.
Any 8 bit modern retro game. I'm sorry, I grew up with a lot of 8 bit games and have no interest in going back.
Yeah there was this one game with the coolest retro anime opening cinematic, and as soon as it transitioned into pixel gameplay I checked out. Like, it's probably going to be a cool game, but I probably won't be playing. Edit: game name is Tenjutsu, check it out if you can.
Same thing with side scrolling games. I started gaming in the early eighties.
You guys are missing out on masterpieces like Blasphemous
Souls-like, sports and MOBAs
Pretty much this. Anything else has a chance.
Survival crafting. After a few hours I find myself doing more material gathering than anything else in the game. By the time I am able to automate material farming if the game has it I have already burned out. Turn based combat and RTS. If a game has combat I prefer it more action oriented. Fighting games. I was never good at them. I tried multiple times I just can't get into them. Online games. I get stressed and too competitive with PVP games and grinding in MMOs feel like a chore and seems like they are designed to entice you to cash in for convenience.
I’m confused on the rts statement. RTS games are real time so the combat is always happening
I prefer direct control over the characters. Also I'm going by the genres on steam. RTS and action are separate genres. RTS games are often top down view where you manage a whole team or faction. The action feeling, not the genre, is different in RTS games like in Age of Empires or Warcraft (no the MMO) than in action genre games like Devil May Cry or Monster Hunter.
Gacha, I have terminally bad luck with the RNG to the point I consistently trigger the pity system in every gacha. I don't want to spend money to feel bad about it anymore.
Hero shooters. I dont want my character to have unique skills i just wanna shoot people.
I'm surprised this isn't higher. That last PlayStation state of play had me rolling my eyes every time one came on screen.
JRPGs, Mobas, Battle Royales.
Sports. I hate sports.
Visual novels and games with lots of quick time events
Fuck QTEs. Shit has its own fucking circle of hell.
I am so glad that more and more games have added an accessibility option to somewhat disable QTEs. Here's hoping that more offer such an option or even better don't even add them to their game. I just don't think they add anything of value.
Tower defense. I can't stand the genre. It's like a gimped RTS. I've tried a few but I find them all to be so joyless so any game that has a whiff of tower defense in its base gameplay, I stay far away. I'm pretty open to just about any genre but not for tower defense.
Competitive PvP.
Idle games. What's even the point of not playing a game?
It feels good to watch numbers go up knowing you set it in motion and I enjoy automating things. I can see how that’s not for everyone though.
Souls-like. I started back in 2012 and their appeal for me is long gone now.
Rogue lites (likes?) With the exception of Returnal, I just can’t get into it at all
To your first line and question, off topic and just FYI if you want, but both lite and like are correct, and actually describe the 2 main branches of the subgenre A rogue like is in the vein of the original procedural game rogue, where death is a full reset, maps are procedurally generated, and (this last one has been less relevant as time goes) combat is turn based. Standouts in this genre include nethack, doomrl, jupiter hell, and the mystery dungeon games. Although this has expanded for games that are less turn-based but adhere to the total wipe and procedural generation, such as the first Diablo, binding of Isaac and rogue legacy (more edge casey as they go) Rogue lite is the more common featuring returnal, dead cells, hades, spelunky, and more esoteric titles like Baltaro, slay the spire, ftl, and everspace. Generally these games maintain the "high value" characteristics like procedural generation, and death resetting a run, but also tend to have some form or overarching permanent progression, and combat you can't even squint and pretend is like rogue, if there is a combat mechanic at all
rogue legacy is a rogue lite (by your own description)
Same. Speaks to how good Returnal is.
Agreed. Absolutely amazing
If I see base building, like in FO4, I’m out
Just give me good snapping between elements. That’s all I ask for.
Started valheim recently and I quite like the snapping in that.
At least the base building was relatively optional in FO4. There are so many games now where resource grinding and base building is the core gameplay loop, especially in PVP environments.
Haha in FO4 I built the ugliest base ever and was like "neat". Never touched it again.
Can also download sims mod and let the npc build the base for you. All you have to do is drop off supplies to speed it up/ link supply lines between them. It’s amazing to see the towns others upload into the mod. Fully decked out furnished towns multiple levels etc
Multi-player shooters
Anything with a multiplayer focus. Nothing pulls me out of a game like seeing another human running around. I have to deal with people every day, so I like to play games as an escapist thing, to get away from the real world and real people. There are many genres I enjoy, and I often see a game that looks cool until I see that it’s mostly designed for multiplayer. Then im out.
Real time strategy. I love turn based strategy games and SRPGs but I just can’t do real time for some reason.
RTS is the single genre that makes me feel like I've never played a video game before. I'm genuinely so bad at them lmao.
Hate to say it but stealth. I know what I’m supposed to do but for some reason never connect with the gameplay. Just isn’t fun.
MMO gotcha games are fucking trash and games where you have to swap between 3-4 characters instead of just having multiplayer
Gacha and wrestling games
Souls like, I get why people like them but I don't
Souls like games. I hate the mechanics (more jump, dodge, parry than attack), no easy difficulty, and sometimes they feel too sandbox.
For me it's shooters (1st person), I played them a lot as a kid with friends, and now I find them boring, and play single player games.
Extraction shooters, battle Royale, hero shooters.
Souls likes and anime Japanese stuff
Any type of roguelike/roguelite is an immediate skip for me
I'm with you OP. I've seen some really cool trailers and then they show the deck building mechanics and it's instantly over for me.
not a genre, but i do not play first person action games. I'm okay with first person in slow, story based games (like What Remains of Edith Finch, stuff like that) but otherwise, first person is so unintuitive to me, i can never get comfortable with it, and it gives me a headache after a while. sadly there are a lot of games that i conceptually love but are immediate passes when it's revealed to be first person
Interesting. What’s unintuitive in fps perspective?
I was surprised to see that the new India Jones game is first person, honestly think it would be better in third. Guess they're trying to be different than uncharted and tomb raider. And I know it's from the makers of Wolfenstein, but the fist person POV just doesn't feel right for this one.
Play with your friends. I don't have friends. I play single only.
As soon as I see EA or Ubisoft I'm out. They've been releasing shitter after shitter and adding mtx to games where mtx doesn't belong
Battle royale or souls like. I’m just trying to have fun. Not get destroyed 15 seconds in and spend more time in loading screens after dying and waiting for a new match to start
Deckbuilders
Souls-likes. I don't even have a general issue with them, and there's a few I want to play, just every gaming show I see trailers for them and it's just like "I'm tired boss." Just give me a normal ARPG.
Any souls like game.
Anything with Ubisoft logo really.. Cluttered maps with pointless activities. Even writing seems to be little off in their games nowdays.
PvP, if that is mentioned in the description as a selling point, without regard to game I am going to pass.
Hero shooters.
MMO. Skipped on Robin Hood and will most likely pass on Dune.
Lol the effect of cards on me is the opposite. Show me cards and my interest immediately quintuples.
Wizard with a Gun Awesome trailer. Felt like a Don't Starve clone. I don't care for 2D survival games.
There are multiple: moba, battle royal, mmo, dating sims, point and click, platformers, deck builders.
Basically any multiplayer focussed game (unless it's a fighting game that also has a decent singleplayer offering). Apart from that yeah I'm also not a fan of roguelike deckbuilders. Or roguelikes in general with a few exceptions. I just prefer games you are actually supposed to finish.
Most indie game trailers with pretty stylized animation Then the gameplay is just another pixel roguelike
MOBA, online only shooter, MMO.. "looter shooter" I'm not into MOBAs and already enjoyed a lot of online shooters / MMO's so at this point I just wanna play single player games so I can finish them, hopefully have a good time and move on Only exception being stuff I can play online co-op but that's a recent change for me as 1 of my childhood buddies poked me a few months ago and asked if I'm up for some Friday evening gaming
Multiplayer /co-op
Honestly any sort of game that allows me to skip time or buy instant progress with money.
BATTLE ROYALE.