Ask Lemmy

I like open world games where I can mute the background music. That soundtrack might be great but after a few hours of playing in a loop it gets old, also some games have awesome ambient sounds that go mostly unnoticed because the music drowns them.

Playing with friends. I don't find games a fun solo experience, nor do I line playing with randos, but I like cooperating with folks I know on a challenge.

486, SVGA CRT, Sound Blaster. Twelve years old, on vacation, playing Wing Commander.

It depends on the genre.

If it's a single player narrative-driven game, I want your story to be gripping. I want to be thinking about your game even when I'm not playing. Most recently, Expedition 33 is the gold example of this.

With a multiplayer co-op game, I want to ＯＰＴＩＭＩＺＥ. I want to complete goals as though they are all engineering challenges, and I want collaboration on the same axis from the people I'm playing with. Games like Factorio and Satisfactory fill this niche for me, obviously. But I also really like co-op puzzle games like Portal 2 or We Were Here.

With a multiplayer free-for-all game, I crave chaos. I want to interject enough random chance into a game that it's basically gambling where you can tip the scales by being a skilled player. Party games and kart racers go here.

If I can solve the challenges in your game by being absurdly single-minded, I'm a happy camper.

Let me win by pumping a single stat or stacking a single affix. When I start a new run and decide I want to solve every problem through liberal application of ____, let me do that. Nothing rains on my parade like diminishing returns or forcing different builds to get through different parts of the game.

To me, storytelling and immersion is everything. Good visuals are of course a bonus, but soundtrack is almost more important than visuals. Gaming, to me, is a means to escape, instead of drugs and alcohol. I put on my closed Sennheiser headphones and just disappear. Skyrim was my salvation for years, until I discovered the two Horizon games.

Feeling of accomplishing something. It's an escape from real life and you actually can complete something that's considered complete.

No shifting goalposts or w.e just a complete game. Good story and makes me feel rewarded.

How well multi-player works.

If it is coop, like in Bubble Bobble(1986), that needs occaisional partner assists or straight-up player saves.

Or competitive, like Wipeout 2097(1996), which has excellent catchup mechanics.

Or larger scale competitive, like Quake1 shareware(Qtest) at 16-player.

Each of these showed examples of quality play-testing and balancing, making for enjoyable player interaction.

These days, Cube2:Sauerbraten shows top coop and competitive play in the one game, with insta-CTF interactions largely being good, due to the high quality of sight-line polishing in the base maps.

I really like mmo's and ones that really had a life to the world which was very open. I like the cryptic ones and they are sorta a good example as their stuff getting further from the mmo thing I like. champions had day/night cycles and like chinatown had fireworks in the evening an you could see the traffic patterns follow the workday and you saw the bussiness high rises lights go out as it got later and residential ones come on. It was real neat. STO only had day night on risa and they had to get rid of it with an update where now the time of day was basically different for different instances. neverwinter not only had no cycles like that but became much more on rails with sorta pho environment that was by and large just big long tunnels. I love customization in both character visuals and builds which again became more limited as you went through what you had. The big thing with mmos though is the online reliance. You have all these neat things but if the servers go offline then you lose it all. Would love an online/offline mmo with all sorts of options for look and builds and big open living worlds. As far as type of world I have a soft spot for superheroes as you can sorta do everything with it. magic. technology. and of course just powers. I just wish I had the time to get back into them.

I want something with fun gameplay. I don't care about story and cutscenes and crap unless I'm playing something like an RPG. There's nothing more frustrating than getting an action game where I'm just watching a frickin movie.

Immersion. Simracing/driving with a car seat, a decent wheel and pedals, and VR is sublime.

I like something with enough lore I can learn about and enjoy but not so cinematic I cant listen to secondary media while I play. There are plenty of exceptions but that type of experience is my most consistent. Elder Scrolls, fallout, fable, dragon age, mass effect, saints row, gta, far cry, etcetera. I've been really enjoying crimson desert so far.

Comfy office chair, curved screen, cup of tea, glass of water, one banana.

I have two distinct moods:

1. The immersive world. Not necessarily open world, but a story that sucks me in (or at least doesn't suck) with lots of things to upgrade or collect. I'm always looking for that next best thing that will finally make unstoppable!

2. I ain't got time for growth. I just want to get in there and start blasting things. This is the type of game where the enemies try to avoid YOU. Don't tell me about the princess's sick aunt, just keep bringing me more things to pummel, and bigger things to pummel them with!

And for mobile: something that makes me think, and I can play it short intervals.

Generally for me, its all about the flow-state - generally anything with a strong primary gameplay loop thats not too hard to learn, but impossible to master. Roguelikes specifically tend to scratch this itch, since the genre is all about finding a strong core gameplay loop, and than milking every drop of enjoyment out of it. Things like Slay the Spire, Roboquest, or Crypt of the Necrodancer. Others games I like, that do this really well are arcade indie games like Hotline Miami and Anger Foot, and esports titles like CS2 and DotA2.

That said, my more niche interest in games is in hyper-specialized or experimental hardware. This includes more common stuff like VR, or flight sims with HOTAS, but also less intentional stuff. One of my personal favorites that unfortunately no longer works, was playing CS:GO with a joystick for movement. The analog movement allows for way more percise control in movement, and including allowing you to walk silently faster than is normally possibly. The downside is fact that you couldn't counterstrafe, although given that I almost exclusively use the Negev, it wasn't much of a downside.

Cards around the table with a group of friends.

Something that elaborates in the direction I was already interested in imagining. Back when there were few open world games, that was really interesting to me, because I was always trying to find ways to get around the confines of constrained game areas or think about what could be there, where the game does not let you go. After playing enough of those, open world specifically got less interesting, but I think the same concept can apply to a lot of different things; a game gets a lot of points with me if it goes somewhere new that I have imagined going but been disappointed that it isn't yet possible.

World of Warcraft. That is the plum line. Whenever I judge a game I ask myself "is this game World of Warcraft or Half Life"

If not it sucks

My answer to this question has changed radically many times over the years. Right now my ideal experience involves teamwork and growth.

Think Overcooked where you need to work as a team to maximise your potential. There are lots of games that pull that lever, but they all come with "frenetic chaotic physics-based ACTION" and im looking for more Stardew Valley/Arcade Paradise kind of energy where the better you do the faster/further youll improve, but there's no real fail condition.

Drop in/drop out also very much desired as family members come and go as life allows.

I like games that make me feel things. Escape From Tarkov gives me the highest highs and the lowest lows.

Other than that, anything with an open world that I can explore.

Getting to express myself through a variety of options and mechanics, interesting character work. And not giving my money to bad actors who exploit their employees and make the art form worse.