What asynchronous games, or games with asynchronous features would you recommend?
A recent example being Death Stranding and its light social features of indirectly building/maintaining structures or leaving helpful equipment around. The Souls’ games message system is another even lighter example.
I enjoy these indirect, optional social features in some games, but they seem few and far between.
Preferably no MMOs/always online game recommendations. Thanks in advance!
Super mario maker’s “x” bubbles that show where people died in the level really gives the game a nice touch. Makes you not feel as bad for dying in an easy obstacle lol.
I loved Subnauticas Time capsules, but there hardly a permanent mechanic, and more of a single time experience per playtrough.
the base invasion system in metal gear solid 5. it was a risky optional side part, but you would place your best guys and equipment around your base and other players could try to break through that. i don’t remember many of the specifics, but it was kind of interesting.
Its not really as… Inactive as the examples.
When someone raids your base, they are physically there as if your base was just another mission in single player, against your soldiers decked out in whatever gear you set them to use.
If you are online at the time, you can choose defend your base personally and engage in straight up real-time PVP.
I’ve been playing it again on PS5 without a PS+ subscription, and it says I can still do the passive base stuff including raiding others bases, but not the real time PVP which makes me wonder: what happens if I raid someone’s base and they are online and choose to defend it? Is it just gonna kick me the fuck out?
i couldn’t remember if there was active pvp. i just remember never actually running into it in my time playing.
Journey is the only other one I can think of.
Journey is so extremely not asynchronous though hahaha
You play with a person the whole time, actively
That is not really true. You can ignore the persons you meet completely and play the whole game on your own. Also, you can only interact through audio effects and a small proximity effect, to charge your scarve. They are more like a ghost, playing alongside you.
I played the first time and had an amazing time with a person who showed me the world… my partner hates the game because some cunt speedrunner joined them and just left. Fuck anyone who ruins the experience of Journey for someone else
Not your preference but Ascension is my favorite deckbuilder. You can play a round and ship it to someone, and they can play with you right away or you can play over the course of a week. Like chess over mail or whatever that was.
Oh it’s solo or multiplayer! You play a hand and ship the game to someone else. Or you can play against a CPU. I play mobile, it’s like the only mobile game I enjoy. I wonder if the Steam version is cross play?
Mario Odyssey’s luigis balloon world. Spent a lot of time on that
Solium Infernum : strategy game, with a lot of diplomacy mechanisms ( like you can’t attack directly an enemy but you can ask them to pay you tribute, if they refuse you can attack on response).
Majora’s mask feels full of life. If you’re not familiar it’s a Zelda game based around a 3 day time loop.
It’s a mobile strategy game about sending your armies (ships) to fight your opponents over territory. A game typically lasts about a week. Each action (like sending a ship to a location) typically takes an hour or two to finish. The game lets you scroll time forward and backward to review what happened, or preview what will happen if nobody changes anything. You can schedule actions to happen at a certain time in the future (e.g. as soon as my ship arrives, send another ship).
It’s really neat because you can check in on it periodically throughout the day!
Thanks for the suggestion!
This is definitely in the vein of what I’m interested in, however real-time mechanics as you mention, “Each action (like sending a ship to a location) typically takes an hour or two to finish.” are never to my tastes, even if the game is wholly built around them.
Still, I’ve read some amusing stories produced from games of Subterfuge, so at least I’ve managed some secondhand entertainment from it!
Yeah it’s not for everyone, but it is free to play if it ever piques your interest enough to try!
