One thing I have struggled with lately is finding good games to play. I bounce around from game to game trying to enjoy it but it just doesn’t scratch the itch like it used to. For example, one of my favorites was old school RuneScape, but it hasn’t really been giving me the same enjoyment that it used to. So then I would open up World of Warcraft, Destiny 2, just playing a little bit of each game. Think maybe I need some new games to play but it’s tough to find them these days.
So what are your favorite 1000+ hour games?
Dota 2.
I’ve played Dwarf Fortress, Stellaris, yet I still find Dota to be the most complex game ever.
It sucks that it’s a multiplayer game, and you need people to play it well with you, but when it works, it’s amazing.
Everything in it has layers of usability, usually componded by the everything else in the game - hero abilities, items, map, neutrals, even the stupid trees play a large role in the game.
I’ve spent hundreds of hours studying the mechanics, and I still don’t grasp everything.
I played a lot of DotA too, but that doesn’t have a playtime counter. But I have over 3000 hours in Dota 2.
My second favourite game is OpenTTD. It’s just so satisfying to optimize the train network and add another 100 trains to it. I’ve tried Factorio, but for some reason that did not scratch that itch.
Or some roguelites, like Slay the Spire (or the Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend), Synthetik (haven’t tried second one yet), they are always fun.
Great list! I’ve tried Dota 2 as well, it’s definitely extremely complex and addictive but not my kind of game, I just cannot thrive and enjoy that sort of game. Same goes with League of Legends. Just not my cup of tea.
I am a little curious about Stellaris though. That game seems so incredibly complex, like, what about it is The draw for people? I’ve heard so many people talk about it and has so many freezy steam reviews but when I first tried it as a demo, it seemed so absurdly complex That my head was spinning. Like I had no idea what the heck was going on. I’m not sure how to enjoy it I guess
LoL sucks, it’s like a shallow copy of DotA. I’ve played around 300 hours, it’s very silly in comparison.
Stellaris is kinda easy once you figure out that expanding is the No1 priority for the entire game. Expand, build ships - nobody will be able to stop you.
There was always a need for a ‘tall’ empire - so you don’t expand, but focus on your small part of the galaxy - but so far it’s always crushed by the expanding ones.
Once you get stargate tech, it’s 24/7 war. For even more territory.
Right now I remembered a game that never was really finished, Stardrive, where you could design your own ships down to the electrical wiring. It had layouts with sections, and you could fill it up to your liking. It was a shame that ground troops could finish the game in minutes.
Sometimes I feel like 4X games are usually more suited for roleplaying than actual challenge of micromanagement.
Anyway, I have a huge jam on my main line in OpenTTD, gotta fix my intersection again.
It’s a mix of strategy and role-playing. Sure if you want to survive on higher difficulties, you probably need a build that is meta. But on medium difficulties or lower you can pretty much roleplay your empire as you like and there’s many mechanics in the game that help with this. Your empire can be a democratic haven for all, a mega corporation, a machine hivemind forcefully assimilating organics into its network…and much more.
There’s also a great exploration aspect of the game. Your exploration vessels regularly find anomalies that tell a neat little story and provide bonuses to your empire (which can range from a small resource bonus to making one of your leaders immortal).
Of course, there’s also the power fantasy. You start with just one planet, but you will quickly expand throughout the galaxy. You can then wage war against other empires, build a federation together with them or convince the galactic community to crown you as Emperor of the entire galaxy. But the game also regularly throws adversaries at you if the AI empires are starting to become no match for you, may it be one of the space fauna suddenly becoming extremely hostile or a Great Khan uniting a marauder horde and demanding everyone to become their vassal.
It is also rare that a bad outcome leads to a straight loss. Losing a war (usually) does not doom your empire but you only lose a bit of territory or get vassalized, both giving you ample opportunities to build up your strength again or make allies to stand together against an enemy.