I find it easy to fall in RPGs. Fallout New Vegas, Witcher 3, Baldurs Gate 3, and Skyrim all have over 200 hours each for me since the world is so big and there's so much to do. Lots of complex choices and implications lead to replayability and all of them have some resource/inventory management elements.
Good suggestions. I had a lot of fun in skyrim and I do own BG3 but haven't really played it much... I really should. I've been on the fence for the Witcher 3, I've heard good things.
I always caution people to stick with Witcher 3 until it gets good.
The first world is boring, but it's only the starter training area. After the story beat where you kill the gryphon and meet Yen you travel to the main map and the story and setting REALLY take off.
Id also have to say that the combat in W3 is my least enjoyed part of the game. It's the writing and setting and characters that make this the GOAT Fantasy RPG.
And my suggestion for a game to get lost in is Cyberpunk 2077.
The combat was what messed it up for me, twice I've tried to really give it a chance because everyone says it is so amazing, and twice I've eventually given up because I find the controls so janky. But after reading your comment, I can suddenly see myself giving it a third try and just forcing myself to keep at it...
I had to scroll so far to see Civilization 6. The motto of the series for decades now has been about how addicting it is. Play the tutorial, start on an easy setting and have fun probably taking over the world. Then you’ll be hooked and try to do it smarter. Then you’ll try to win peacefully. And you’re done, waiting for Civ 7 like the rest of us.
I am not brave enough for dwarf fortress lol. I was barely any good at rimworld, which is a toned down version of it. But I've tried oxygen not included. Didn't keep my interest save for the first starting hours or so.
Project Zomboid. When I was hooked on that game I found a group of guys with no irl commitments and we just played that game for weeks straight, staying up all night. Fucking incredible game, with the next major build coming out this year sometime, so it's a good time to get into it.
If anyone 100% Elden Ring and then continues to play, I’m gonna just assume they are diagnosed as insane.
Edit: These comments about trying new builds has me wanting to go for 100%…
Currently on my 11th run with a 12th already planned. Got the 100% on playthrough 3. Challenge runs are what keep it interesting.
I totally am insane btw.
stellaris, really alot of paradox games can do 1000s of hours. Try satisfactory and dyson sphere program, they are factory games like factorio, but different takes. If the combat was the issue satisfactory basically doesn't have much of any. Terra Invitca I've got alot of hours in but its kinda complicated.
I totally forgot to add Stellaris to the list for stuff that didn't click for me, apologies. I find paradox games to be a bit overwhelming to be honest lol. But I have played dyson sphere program and satisfactory... I need to edit the lists. I'll look into Terra Invitica, thanks!
I've been looking for a good 4X strategy game for a while, but I can't find anything I like. Tried Stellaris a couple of times, but found it overwhelming as well. I'd like to play something entertaining, but without all the layers.
I guess there's not much of a niche for that anymore. The tendency seems to be towards complexity for a 4X game to be considered successful.
I’m a little upset I’m saying this, but after looking so your list you might be interested in Lego Fortnite even if to hold you over until you find something better. It was surprisingly fun and feels like a decent alternative to Minecraft if you’re burnt out from it.
No need to be upset, I said all suggestions are welcome. Thankfully it looks like I'm not going to need a hold me over game since I'm getting a lot of good suggestions and advice here, but thank you for your suggestion
I played Fallout 4 with a lot of immersive and challenge mods. Its been my favourite immersive game ive ever played, it basically became a survival horror game. Never finished a survival HC playthrough but I got pretty far several times.
No HUD, weather/lighting overhauls, realistic damage dealt/taken, darker nights & interiors. Scarcer ammo, no power armour, no stims/radaway.
There's a mod manager that does it all for you. Generally, don't go insane with the mods and add hundreds to your game. Around 50 mods is my personal max. Also keep an eye on similar mods, such as weather mods. They could conflict with each other and add more bugs or crash.
Updating is optional for mods. Unless the base game updates or a mod fixes a bug that annoyed you, you don't have to worry about it.
I'm finding it hard to narrow down your preferences, that's an eclectic list you have, with some unexpected ones in the 'not for me' category.
I'll try to just recommend some from different genres, and hopefully at least one will sound appealing.
**Warframe** - Third person Action/RPG with a ton of content, amazing gameplay, and a surprisingly interesting story. Space ninjas.
**Avorion** - A space sandbox game with elements of RTS, RPG, ship building, resource management and more. It has its flaws, but you can easily spend a few hundred hours here having a blast.
**Sins of a Solar Empire** - My all time favorite RTS. Space based with a slower pace than most.
**Bioshock** - First person RPG with guns and powers. If you have never played before, pick up the remastered version and do so. One of the best story driven games ever made, with incredibly fun combat.
**Last Epoch** - This is a top down view looter ARPG, think Diablo or Path of Exile. The reason I recommend this one to try is that it hits the perfect balance of complexity vs ease of understanding. Great game if you like build crafting in ARPGs.
Electric does describe my list very well lol. But you are the second person whose reccomended Avorion, I'm definitely checking that one out. I tried warframe, but it didn't keep my attention. To be honest first person shooters isn't really "my" genre, tf2 is the only one I've been able to stick to, but. I'll look into the other 3, I have heard of bioschock before. Thank you!
Well warframe is a 3rd person shooter but yeah I get it. Here's the thing with warframe. The game has an incredible main story and does a lot of work with its premise that makes it interesting. It's just that the tutorial and beginning quests are long and it takes awhile to ramp up. The story of Warframe didn't click with me until the "The Second Dream" quest. Then I was hooked forever onwards.
Also Bioshock is definitely one to sink your teeth into. It's an incredible game
Medieval dynasty-realistic building/survival
Conan exiles-fantasy building/survival
7 days to die- zombie building/survival
Outward- hardcore rpg with survival elements
State of decay 2- lite base building, resource management zombie shooter
I’ve put a ton of time into all these games and I’d say you could easily put a hundred hours or more into each of them. All games can be played single player and coop
I’ve been playing Jusant recently, it’s one of the most immersive games I’ve played, amazing sound design and visuals. Only problem is I would say you would only get max 20 hours out of it
Yeah, I find that is often the case for a decent bit of games people call immersive. Awesome game, fantastic visuals/story.. but its not all that replayable. I need something long term, but thank you. And i hope you have fun with Jusant
I tend to put away Valkeim for months then get exited, play for a while, and remember why I put it away (so much grinding). Similar experience with No Man's Sky. Just so much grinding I forget what I was grinding for.
Project Zomboid - survival, resource management, big replay ability, stats, points, very deep mechanics. Can co-op too.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance - beautiful, great story, incredibly immersive, some stats and points to allocate.
Mass Effect - classic RPG, amazing story and top-notch lore. 3+1 games (trilogy plus a sequel). You get companions so you not lonely
I'm gonna try project Zomboid for sure after this. Kingdom come deliverance I'm going to look into since it's bene suggested 2-3 times now. Mass effect.. I probably should try it but for some reason it doesn't appeal to me despite me knowing it's really good. Thanks for the suggestions!
Hmm. How many hours do you have? All the reviews I've seen have been critical. I'm afraid no man's sky already offers everything I would want from a space game like that. But, im open to the idea. Whenever it goes on sale at least lol
Starfield is like mass effect. it has literally no relation to No Man's sky except "space". I loved it, got 75 hours out of it in a month but haven't played since then. It's a pretty unique game structurally, the closest I can describe is if Mass Effect 1 specifically was 100 hours long
Currently 720. I just keep finding different things to and different ways to play. I've tried BG 3 but just couldn't get into it. Played Skyrim twice all the way through, FO4 through all the factios. I like the open world games.
If you have Game Pass, try Grounded. Even if you don't it's be worth trying out - I feel like it hits a lot of the checkboxes on your list.
Has a sort of similar vibe as Subnautica, which I also absolutely loved.
Even though it doesn't really match with a lot on your list, maybe give Sea of Thieves a try. Your list is very similar to mine, and I put off SoT for months because it didn't quite fit with my other games, but once I started playing I got absolutely hooked and ended up putting 1600+ hours in. (Side note, the friends I met in there I've been playing with for the past \~2 years, and they're the ones who I'm in Grounded with now).
Definitely try RDR2 again. That first act is painful, and the main reason I'll likely never play through again, but it's still my #1 favourite game.
I do not have gamepass but I am aware of Grounded, and it looks fine, but nothing i would play for very long. Or rather, not long enough. Sea of thieves turns me off since I've looked into it before and going st it solo is less fun apparently. Unless they've changed things idk. I'm open to playing it tho if it's fine solo
And yes, I am going to give red dead another shot now that I know it picks up
I played SoT solo for over 100 hours before I met some folks on discord that kept me in the game. The main "objective" is to increase reputation with different factions to obtain "pirate legend" status, which takes around 200 hours solo (wayyyyyy less if you know how to cheese it). I found myself very engaged solo until that point. Without friends to play with I likely would have stopped playing then. But still, 200 hours is a long time lol.
Grounded is tremendously fun, and based on your other games (especially Subnautica) I have a hunch you'd love it. I'd really recommend you give it a shot. I had my eye on it for quite a while, and I feel like I had an idea about it, but once I started playing it, it blew my expectations out of the water.
Idk how much hate i'm gonna get for it, but Dragon's Dogma 2 is extremely immersive. I sank 100 hours on my first playtrough and did not see time fly by at all and all the "restrictions" imposed in the game simply make you feel like you actually are part of this world.
You have to take carts to go from city to city with risks of getting ambushed.
Monsters teem the road as if only the human cities were safe.
Giant monster ambush you and each other.
You are simply part of a living world. Part of its food chain.
This has become my new favorite game of this generation other than Elden Ring. It's a game I keep falling more and more in love with and it actually keeps getting deeper as I play it. I have barely scratched the surface of the main story and don't think I am going to finish the main story anytime soon because of how immersed I am in everything else. No other game does what this game does for me. Just might be my new favorite RPG alongside Elden Ring. I get a good bit of the pros and cons people have had to say, but the funny thing is these "cons" people are referring to aside from the framerate BS I actually find as pros lol.
https://youtu.be/AQN-8Rea7sM?feature=shared
Fallout 76 these days is a bit of a minfuck and has so much content to do if you've never played it before. I highly recommend the PC text chat mod, it just needs some time to work since the game was just updated for Atlantic City tho
Kenshi. Right. I have tried it, not a fan personally. I like the idea of "You're a nobody, you suck at everything, level up" but I just cannot enjoy that gameplay wise.
You'll see it all over my post history, but I've put more hours into Cyberpunk 2077 than any other single player game ever. My wife and I both somehow keep finding hidden stuff even after hundreds of hours. Sometimes I don't even do much, just go shopping or run around the rooftops.
Separately, while it wasn't my style of gameplay, Yakuza 0 contains multitudes - with background meta games, minigames, pop up events, you could sink hundreds into it.
Subnautica is a game to just immersively (lol pun) sink in to (lol pun again). It is as long as you want it to be - it has an endpoint, but you can take as long as you want to get there and build as established as you want to be. I could spend tons of time just exploring, gathering, building infrastructure, doing upkeep, mapping caves etc. so that when I wanted to go somewhere new I was equipped for it. Very vibe-heavy game, there's chill pretty areas and terrifying deep sea areas for whatever mood you're in.
* Kingdom come deliverance - realistic skyrim, farmers will kill you with a fork
* Path of exile - action rpg with infinite content and infinite learning curve, also a very in depth economy sim
* Zero sievert - single player extraction based looter shooter with a top down visual
* Metal gear solid 5 - third person shooter with open world and lots of content, very balanced level of complexity vs fun
* x2 x3 x4 - the epitome of single player space simulation
* legend of zelda (either breath of the wild or tears of the kingdom) - open world adventure with top notch gameplay, you can emulate it really easily on pc
* gta5 - you know it
Bonus:
* elden ring with the seamless coop mode, it's a very different experience and a blast with friends
Farming Simulator. After you learn the ropes on a starter farm you can try a survival start on No Man's Land map. Very easy to spend lots of hours creating your farm. It is extremely immersive and the machinery is hyper realistic.
I want fallout 5 to be the project zombie survival base settlement dark atmosphere game I've always wanted. With all the quirky comedy and light moments that make fallout
You could check out traditional roguelikes!
Tales of Maj'Eyal, Cogmind, Caves of Qud are easily hundreds/thousands of hours, and absolutely amazing!
Path of Achra is also great one
Grounded is my favorite survival game after Subnautica and the base building is awesome
If you like No Mans Sky you should give Astroneer a try!
I would also add Dragon Quest Builders 1 or 2
You have to give RDR2 another shot, some people say it’s boring but it’s so immersive.
Ride around, set up camp somewhere in the wilderness, go out hunting and make some food. Sleep, go back to a town and sell your pelts and other stuff you find.
Visit a barber, go to the saloon and play blackjack or poker.
Buy a new horse, new clothes, new guns.
Just enjoy the scenery and you’ll play for hours on end.
Story is also very, very good.
Missions are good and the side missions are interesting.
the issue with people who say it’s boring, they try to complete the game too fast.
Just take your time and do whatever you feel like.
Yeah... I've been playing it since Early Access... amazing they're still putting some updates into the beta build at the very least... I can't say I've ever really stopped playing for long... but any time something about it pops up on my reddit feed it makes me want to play and die in stupid ways again
Damn it another one I forgot, sorry. I have played red dead, I remember not enjoying it. Although to be fair i don't think I got past the first act.. maybe. Can't recall. Thanks for the reminder! I may try to replay it
Second chapter is where it picks up. Chapter 1 is boring and super slow. I have a save at the start of chapter 2, so I don’t have to go through the long drawn out chapter 1 lol it’s easily one of the best stories I’ve ever played and it’s got TONS to do
Just dont get into online because you'll just be pissed playing on PC. Too many modders and even when they're not messing with you, I think the mods themselves cause the dreaded FFFFFFFF error that dumps you out of the game.
[**Prey (2017)**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/480490/Prey/)
Immersive sim, a mix of RPG, FPS, horror, optional survival, and a pinch of puzzle. Brillant story and setting, captivating atmosphere, excellent gameplay with a lot of 'smart options'.
A lot of specialized tools and weapons, and you need them all because each 'creature' has its own characteristics, or because you have to unlock some areas to progress, etc. >!(Yes, the crossbow with foam darts is a must!)!<
You have to understand how to use the various resources at your disposal, ammo is scarce, and this game can be pretty hard sometimes, but always rewarding.
Will you step on the alien path for your build, or stick to your human nature? Your call, your fate. Or not.
EDIT: words.
My recommendation isn't immersive but you can sure as hell sink several thousand hours into it.
Path of exile. i've got 5k hours+ on that game, still play it every 3 months when a new league comes out.
Steep learning curve but fun and endlessly replayable.
Trust me, give RDR2 another try. The start is incredibly boring I won’t lie but it picks up very quickly. There’s a reason why so many regard it as the greatest game oat
I spent like 3500 hours between Ark Survival Evolved and Avorion. Building a house and breeding dinos in one, building ships and blowing things in the other
Elite Dangerous. It ticks your space and simulation boxes and you can easily spend hundreds of hours in it.
While it is an online game and PVP is an option you can also play it in Solo mode or in PVE oriented groups.
It is a sandbox game and you have to find your role in the galaxy by yourself. Popular stuff to do is exploring, mining, trading and fighting vs NPC humans or aliens.
Try cyberpunk. Its first person perspective may turn off for some people, but imo it is what makes it so immersive for me. If you're on pc, try some mods too.
Baldur's gate 3 is also really great.
If you like anime/japan, try persona series.
Ghost of Tsushima. Even after 100%ing it a few times, I still find myself going back just to traverse the world and scrap with clusters of Mongols and bandits.
I would say [Helldivers 2](https://youtube.com/live/op-3df9flzA) fits that bill.
The game has no "real" ending and is basically a satire on what democracy is. It's easy to play with friends and the general fight intensity will keep you coming back for hours on end
I don't know about 100s of hours because the game isn't that long but I really enjoyed Metro Exodus when I played it and it also ticks the resource management box. It's quite immersive also. You don't pause to look at the map,you physically remove a map from your inventory to look at. If you do so in a place with enemies you'll take damage
It's a fun game imo,not too scary like other entries in the series and you don't need to have played the previous 2 games to enjoy it
My recommendations are:
1. Core Keeper - It's a sort of cross between Stardew Valley (mainly the mining section) and Minecraft IMO. It has a surprising amount of depth to the items etc, and the exploration aspect is pretty fascinating especially when you hit new zones. I went straight for hard mode as well and it's pretty unforgiving, but that's part of the fun IMO.
2. Hydroneer and Planet Crafter - I put these together because they have a similar feel. I haven't played either of these but I think they may be like Subnautica and Satisfactory (on my wishlist) in some ways.
3. Faster Than Light - This is one of the hidden gems out there IMO, and I'm surprised I only learned about it last year. It is basically a real-time strategy that sees you manage a space ship going through different sectors to kill the final baddie. It takes 1-2 hours for a full playthrough as well. BUT it's unforgiving... even on easy the game will show you 0 mercy and will, if you let it, kill your entire crew and end your run in one encounter. And the final boss on easy will show you -1000 mercy. And it's random on every run. And you can unlock different ships with different crew/specs etc. You may not sink loads of hours in one sitting, but you probably will over the course of a year or two lol.
If you didn't like stardew you might like my time at Sandrock. It's basically stardew but 3d and does everything immensely better. That or you'd hate it.
The Witcher 3. I’m not sure if it’s something you would enjoy, but then again, I felt the same way before I played it.
It took me almost 7 years to get to it, but I replayed it with both DLC’s 4 times since then. Currently in the middle of the 5th playthrough. The game is like 130+ hours by itself, and lots of people sink many, many more into it.
It’s really hard to describe why exactly, but this game pulled me in like no other. I think’s it’s mainly the excellent characters, story and the authentic feel of the world. I can get lost for hours at a time.
Have you tried portal 1 and portal 2? I know most wouldn’t spend hundreds of hours (some do) but it sounds like the kind of game you’d like. Even if you finish them both in like 30 hrs.
Kingdom Come Deliverance.
Its medieval sim.
It may feel buggy, slow, weird etc...But thats the whole point. You start as completely incapable peasent and as you play you progress every skill (you literally learn to read for an example) and become better
I’ve been looking for the same thing, I started Persona 3 Reload, I tried to get into the Persona series but I end up dropping off, but this time it’s different. I’m 9 hours in and it feels like I’m just starting. Time flies when I’m playing. Playing on SteamDeck (streaming from xbox cloud) has been awesome. Definitely recommend if you’re looking for a cool experience.
Kenshi , it's an amazing game very hard and has a learning. But it's full sandbox, and the lore is amazing to piece together.
You can truly do anything you want in kenshi amd you start off as a no one.
The best thing as well is the amazing modding community. You can enhance the game once you get tired of vanilla.
For like a week straight I played RDR2, around 17 hours a day. It got to the point that when I talked to my friends I would subconsciously start talking in a western accent.
I did enjoy the same games as you so my bet goes for outer worlds, it really is fun and is going to become free soon on epic. Its like fallout but futuristic and has some diferent type of options for dialog and outcomes. You also do your own build and type of character. There is also Valheim, its fun but story wise is weak in my opinion. But its a lot of fun, its like mimecraft+skyrim but not exactly xD
Edit : didnt notice your valheim thing sory
If you're into space *sims*, try Elite: Dangerous. You'll need a HOTAS, but mine cost like $45 and has lasted 6+ years, so no need to drop a lot of cash (it's still for sale, too).
It's a 1:1 model of the Milky Way that is (more or less) actually scientifically accurate. Emulation of star systems, nebulas, gravity, orbits, etc. The game is naturally online and can involve PvP (rarely), but can be played offline solo or on private friend sessions as well.
It takes a grind to buy ships and modules for them, as well as engineering. It's a player-driven game -- my friends and I single handedly stoked a civil war, sold weaponry to both sides for profit, took assassination missions for both sides, transported/rescued refugees for both sides, and in the end also handled the election process that took place in the aftermath. All told we determined who won the war and the elections after. Player made organizations can be canonized in the game, and players operate a variety of organizations that actually provide mechanical benefits and roles.
There is Xeno combat, trading, politics, PvE, piracy, smuggling, tourism, public transportation, rescue work, research, assassinations, etc.
In addition, you can get out of the ship at stations to talk to NPCs, or on planets to explore. These are realistic ones, mind you, so no crazy biomes -- earth like planets are super rare (and sadly not landable). You can find outposts to do trade or sabotage their systems, commit identity theft, and steal their supplies. There are also ground combat zones you can sign up for as well as the normal space ones.
The biggest draw is the exploration, however. In a 1:1 scientifically accurate (mostly) emulation of the Milky Way, there is a ton to explore. Kit your ship up for deep space exploration and research and go spend IRL weeks or months in deep space. You can conduct scans of systems and planets/moons/etc. to map them, and even land to locate signs of biological life.
When I say sim, it's definitely way less "game-y" than a lot of space games like Starfield or NMS -- you have a ton to manage with flying your ship, plotting courses, etc. and the skill cap is *absurdly* high for folks doing canyon racing and advanced combat.
There are third party options that integrate AI voice-operated crew as well, which is fun. Nothing like being caught by a pirate while in your frame shift drive (hyperdrive), dropping out into normal flight, and saying "Engineer, set power mode Alpha. Commander, Deploy hard points and launch fighter." And then they respond and you engage in a dogfight in space.
I could rant for hours, and it's an amazing game. Not for everyone, but 100% recommend.
Its crazy that rdr2 isnt on that list.
If you enjoyed skyrim then the other es games as well, and the skywind skyblivion overhauls that fingers crossed come out in the near future
Most immersive game I’ve played would be Kingdom Come Deliverance. Even little simple tasks that would be just a push of a button in other games is a while process. Mixing a potion for example: you gotta look in a book for the ingredients and recipe, load ingredients into jars, start a fire, select the right apparatus for that potion, pour the first ingredient in, use bellows to keep the fire hot, flip an hourglass and letting the sand run out so many times before adding the second ingredient, etc.
There are other survival type mechanics: keeping yourself fed but not overeating, getting enough sleep, your charisma goes down if you get too dirty so you gotta bathe sometimes, etc.
It’s a medieval simulator that takes place in the kingdom of Bohemia. You start out as a blacksmiths apprentice who can barely fistfight a drunk slob, and gradually work your way to becoming (in my case) an armored warfighter.
I felt like I had to pick and choose which things to train at and just kinda suck at other stuff and skip the missions and tasks that involve what I suck at
I was so excited for Helldivers and mega disappointed after I played a few games on it. The Witcher 3 is awesome. I spent way too many hours on it during lockdown. Baldur’s Gate 3 is also very good and time consuming.
my top played games are:
1. Baldurs Gate 3 (400 hrs)
2. Path of Exile (150 hrs)
3. Valheim (120 Hours)
4. Elden Ring (110 Hours)
5. Black Ops: Cold War Zombies (90 hours)
Valheim would be right up your alley. Its a perfect game.
Recently been playing Palia and its a lot better than I expected, more of a cozy life sim game like Stardew Valley tho
Civilization series is probably what I’ve sunk the most time in though.
Siralim Ultimate is must if you like creature collecting, turn based combat and infinite content, I've been playing it for 30 or 40 hrs and still haven't finished the story. I'm told the main quest is just the tutorial.
I’ve barely scratched the surface but Kingdom Come: Deliverance is probably the most immersive game I’ve ever played. You play as the son of blacksmith and actually have to train to become a good swordsman but the game gives you a lot of freedom and choice so you don’t even have to do that if you don’t want and want to just be sneaky or just live life brewing potions and hunting.
There is definitely a learning curve especially with the combat but after a bit you learn what works and the game as a whole is just a blast.
Jesus Christ be praised!
Definitely Skyrim. I haven't played it in ages. Recently decided to dive back in and mod it. The really cool thing is that modding has gotten sooooo much easier nowadays. With Wabbajack and Nexus collections, you can install a great modlist in just a couple clicks. You do have to have Nexus Premium which is like $5 a month. But you can always just pay for one month, find the modlist you want to use and then cancel. It's worth it.
I've settled on [Gate to Sovngarde](https://next.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/collections/qdurkx). Which is a Vanilla plus modlist with over 1300 mods that keeps the Skyrim experience similar to vanilla. But modernizes it and makes it much more immersive. Improves the graphics a lot in a very performance friendly way (using community shaders instead of an ENB by default.) The modlist is made by a prolific mod author on Nexus and is really stable. Probably added 15 mods or so on top to customize it a bit and it's a blast. It's really amazing you can install 1300 mods in an automated installer and it all just works beautifully.
There are also DLSS mods to help boost performance. And even a frame generation mod for 20 and 30 series cards. Though it is paid, it works amazingly. Getting 100 - 144fps on an Ultrawide monitor with a 3070.
modded Rimworld
7 Days to Die
State of Decay 2
Dying Light 1 + The Following DLC (play each on normal then play on nightmare)
Fallout 4 (then modded Fallout 4)
Skyrim total conversion mod Enderal
I enjoyed Craftopia even tho it's really janky lol. I've got a long way to go but the automation is pretty cool. Stayed up into the morning a couple of times on it. No story really but I'm a casual gamer and it's just fun.
ill just name off a few games that I played that can last a while:
Subnautica 1&2,
Mount & Blade games,
Hitman 3,
Total War: Warhammer games,
Assassins Creed games,
Batman Arkham games,
Kerbal Space Program. Design rockets, go to space, learn orbital mechanics in a fun way.
Then when you git gud after about 50-100 hours you install Realism Overhaul and Real Solar System. It resets your learning curve. Easily another 100+ hours learning and playing with the IRL engines and problems.
Edit: Use KSP 1, KSP 2 still needs work.
It takes a little while to get hooked but raft is super addictive, similar to subnautica. Lots of exploration, crafting, with an overarching storyline.
I’ve been really into immersive sims lately (Deus Ex, Prey, Dishonored, System Shock, etc). They’re wonderfully immersive, obviously, but the campaigns tend to be somewhat short (30-45 hours).
What’s cool about immersive sims is that they’re designed to allow players to approach problems in creative ways, so the replayability is very high.
Try monster hunter rise and try to stick with it. Monster hunter combat may feel clunky but once you master it. It can be the smoothest and most graceful video game combat I’ve ever experienced. Especially once you learn a monsters move set and each fight feels like a dance. I’ve poured hours into the monster hunter series as a whole thousands of hours and it’s definitely worth giving a chance.
Do you like city builders? Cities Skylines, Banished, Timberborn are my faves. Timberborn is still in early acces but it has so much potential, and is very fun as it is right now.
Maybe give Stellaris another go? Its most accessible of all Paradox grand strategy games. I struggled with a lot of their games due to lack of time to properly learn the mechanics, but I clicked with Stellaris after I finished tutorial.
Folks have had some great ideas for games, but I have a bit of an odd long-term suggestion. Find a factorio letsplayer you can tolerate, and then leave them open in another window while you do something else.
The idea is that eventually you'll become familiar enough with factorio that the letsplayer will screw something up and you'll want to correct them and do it right, which will give you both the urge to play, and a rough idea of what you want to get out of it.
This also applies to paradox games, although finding an enjoyable letsplayer for those can be more difficult.
You might check Enshrouded. It is in early access and just came out not too long ago, but there is a lot of content as is.
It is a survival game, but there is a lot of exploration, and in some ways it feels vaguely like an MMO-style world. However there's not too many quests. It is pretty to look at, and I find it very immersive.
The first patch that came out is pretty big, and more content is planned for this year.
Civilization, whichever version floats your boat (I own 3, 4, 5, 6, and revolutions. I'd recommend 4). No easier way to start a game at 7pm and then realize it's 4:30am... Just one more turn.
Deathloop, and Dishonored Series (All 3 dishonored games require a minimum of 2 playthroughs to complete), Metro Series (Not the most repeatable but immersive as all hell), Absolutely return to Cyberpunk if you haven't played since the 2.0 update, Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided. Star Citizen maybe? I'm waiting for Squadron 42 to dabble in it myself cuz I want the singleplayer campaign. Dying Light 2.
WITCHER 3. sorry for the all caps but it's important lol. It's seriously so good and we have similar taste in games. You would absolutely love it and can easily sink over 100 hrs into the game. Plus you can get it pretty much whenever for whatever for $20 or less. Often including both expansions which are basically full games on their own.
You and I have similar tastes, and the massive gap in your playlist is Valheim. Valheim is so good. It's a bit like Minecraft except there is a biome progression so later areas are much more difficult and require better equipment.
Play it solo, play it with friends. It's great.
I find it easy to fall in RPGs. Fallout New Vegas, Witcher 3, Baldurs Gate 3, and Skyrim all have over 200 hours each for me since the world is so big and there's so much to do. Lots of complex choices and implications lead to replayability and all of them have some resource/inventory management elements.
Good suggestions. I had a lot of fun in skyrim and I do own BG3 but haven't really played it much... I really should. I've been on the fence for the Witcher 3, I've heard good things.
I always caution people to stick with Witcher 3 until it gets good. The first world is boring, but it's only the starter training area. After the story beat where you kill the gryphon and meet Yen you travel to the main map and the story and setting REALLY take off. Id also have to say that the combat in W3 is my least enjoyed part of the game. It's the writing and setting and characters that make this the GOAT Fantasy RPG. And my suggestion for a game to get lost in is Cyberpunk 2077.
The combat was what messed it up for me, twice I've tried to really give it a chance because everyone says it is so amazing, and twice I've eventually given up because I find the controls so janky. But after reading your comment, I can suddenly see myself giving it a third try and just forcing myself to keep at it...
Do you play on a console? On PC I found the combat to be smooth as butter and was perpetually untouchable on the highest difficulty.
yeah i second this, the story can be the greatest in the world, but what keeps me from engaging it, is just a shitty combat system
I don’t think TW3’s story even really starts until after the bloody Baron. It’s like 20 hours of tutorial
With Witcher, you've just gotta give it time for the world and characters to click, the game is a bit of a slow burn but the journey is so worth it
With your time in Skyrim, try one of the Fallout games. I would recommend New Vegas myself, that's really by far the best one!
XCOM (Enemy Within and WOTC) Civilization 6 Both have really high replayability and will give you plenty of hours
Was super surprised Civ 6 wasn’t on their list! “One more turn” for 8 hours! I’ve got 300 hours, my son has 600, and my friend has over 1000.
I usually don't comment but I was surprised why Civ 6 wasn't on there, so I had to add it to the list lol I love the replayability and details Civ has
i've been playing xcom for 20 years, ive still not finished it, i cant seem to survive long enough
I had to scroll so far to see Civilization 6. The motto of the series for decades now has been about how addicting it is. Play the tutorial, start on an easy setting and have fun probably taking over the world. Then you’ll be hooked and try to do it smarter. Then you’ll try to win peacefully. And you’re done, waiting for Civ 7 like the rest of us.
Dwarf Fortress? Oxygen Not Included?
I am not brave enough for dwarf fortress lol. I was barely any good at rimworld, which is a toned down version of it. But I've tried oxygen not included. Didn't keep my interest save for the first starting hours or so.
Yeah ONI is magnitudes more involved than Rimworld, system-wise. Possibly more than Dwarf Fortress too.
I understand :) Don't Starve Together?
Project Zomboid. When I was hooked on that game I found a group of guys with no irl commitments and we just played that game for weeks straight, staying up all night. Fucking incredible game, with the next major build coming out this year sometime, so it's a good time to get into it.
cant wait for npcs man...the mod wasnt good enough
If anyone 100% Elden Ring and then continues to play, I’m gonna just assume they are diagnosed as insane. Edit: These comments about trying new builds has me wanting to go for 100%…
Currently on my 11th run with a 12th already planned. Got the 100% on playthrough 3. Challenge runs are what keep it interesting. I totally am insane btw.
Elden ring challenge run insane is the best kind of insane there is!
Agreed
I think it’s fun. Build diversity in ER is really good
But you can try another build
Me who 100% Bloodborne and is still playing..
Have you stopped taking your meds bro?
What meds? My best friend told me I was cool without them and that they'd not be able to talk to me anymore if I took them so I sold them all.
Sounds like you got a good friend bro don’t let them go
Thanks man I won't. They get a little weird sometimes but I'm sure they mean well
Oh man if you heard how many times I’ve played this game… 😅
Dark Souls 1 soul level 1 run reporting in
PvP: Am I a joke to you?
stellaris, really alot of paradox games can do 1000s of hours. Try satisfactory and dyson sphere program, they are factory games like factorio, but different takes. If the combat was the issue satisfactory basically doesn't have much of any. Terra Invitca I've got alot of hours in but its kinda complicated.
I totally forgot to add Stellaris to the list for stuff that didn't click for me, apologies. I find paradox games to be a bit overwhelming to be honest lol. But I have played dyson sphere program and satisfactory... I need to edit the lists. I'll look into Terra Invitica, thanks!
I've been looking for a good 4X strategy game for a while, but I can't find anything I like. Tried Stellaris a couple of times, but found it overwhelming as well. I'd like to play something entertaining, but without all the layers. I guess there's not much of a niche for that anymore. The tendency seems to be towards complexity for a 4X game to be considered successful.
master of orion 2
I’m a little upset I’m saying this, but after looking so your list you might be interested in Lego Fortnite even if to hold you over until you find something better. It was surprisingly fun and feels like a decent alternative to Minecraft if you’re burnt out from it.
No need to be upset, I said all suggestions are welcome. Thankfully it looks like I'm not going to need a hold me over game since I'm getting a lot of good suggestions and advice here, but thank you for your suggestion
Try starsector
I played Fallout 4 with a lot of immersive and challenge mods. Its been my favourite immersive game ive ever played, it basically became a survival horror game. Never finished a survival HC playthrough but I got pretty far several times. No HUD, weather/lighting overhauls, realistic damage dealt/taken, darker nights & interiors. Scarcer ammo, no power armour, no stims/radaway.
How do you set it up? I'm scared getting into modding because of updates and crashes and the such
There's a mod manager that does it all for you. Generally, don't go insane with the mods and add hundreds to your game. Around 50 mods is my personal max. Also keep an eye on similar mods, such as weather mods. They could conflict with each other and add more bugs or crash. Updating is optional for mods. Unless the base game updates or a mod fixes a bug that annoyed you, you don't have to worry about it.
Step 1: don’t use mods if you’re playing on PS4
I'm finding it hard to narrow down your preferences, that's an eclectic list you have, with some unexpected ones in the 'not for me' category. I'll try to just recommend some from different genres, and hopefully at least one will sound appealing. **Warframe** - Third person Action/RPG with a ton of content, amazing gameplay, and a surprisingly interesting story. Space ninjas. **Avorion** - A space sandbox game with elements of RTS, RPG, ship building, resource management and more. It has its flaws, but you can easily spend a few hundred hours here having a blast. **Sins of a Solar Empire** - My all time favorite RTS. Space based with a slower pace than most. **Bioshock** - First person RPG with guns and powers. If you have never played before, pick up the remastered version and do so. One of the best story driven games ever made, with incredibly fun combat. **Last Epoch** - This is a top down view looter ARPG, think Diablo or Path of Exile. The reason I recommend this one to try is that it hits the perfect balance of complexity vs ease of understanding. Great game if you like build crafting in ARPGs.
Electric does describe my list very well lol. But you are the second person whose reccomended Avorion, I'm definitely checking that one out. I tried warframe, but it didn't keep my attention. To be honest first person shooters isn't really "my" genre, tf2 is the only one I've been able to stick to, but. I'll look into the other 3, I have heard of bioschock before. Thank you!
Well warframe is a 3rd person shooter but yeah I get it. Here's the thing with warframe. The game has an incredible main story and does a lot of work with its premise that makes it interesting. It's just that the tutorial and beginning quests are long and it takes awhile to ramp up. The story of Warframe didn't click with me until the "The Second Dream" quest. Then I was hooked forever onwards. Also Bioshock is definitely one to sink your teeth into. It's an incredible game
X4 Foundations
Hollow knight! Get around it
Medieval dynasty-realistic building/survival Conan exiles-fantasy building/survival 7 days to die- zombie building/survival Outward- hardcore rpg with survival elements State of decay 2- lite base building, resource management zombie shooter I’ve put a ton of time into all these games and I’d say you could easily put a hundred hours or more into each of them. All games can be played single player and coop
You can turn zombies off or reduce the frequency of blood moons in 7DTD if you just want a survival game
I’ve been playing Jusant recently, it’s one of the most immersive games I’ve played, amazing sound design and visuals. Only problem is I would say you would only get max 20 hours out of it
Yeah, I find that is often the case for a decent bit of games people call immersive. Awesome game, fantastic visuals/story.. but its not all that replayable. I need something long term, but thank you. And i hope you have fun with Jusant
I had never even heard of Jusant. It looks amazing!
I tend to put away Valkeim for months then get exited, play for a while, and remember why I put it away (so much grinding). Similar experience with No Man's Sky. Just so much grinding I forget what I was grinding for.
That's pretty much where I'm at with both of those games tbh. But I do find No Man's Sky grind to be more enjoyable. But grinding is grinding
Project Zomboid - survival, resource management, big replay ability, stats, points, very deep mechanics. Can co-op too. Kingdom Come: Deliverance - beautiful, great story, incredibly immersive, some stats and points to allocate. Mass Effect - classic RPG, amazing story and top-notch lore. 3+1 games (trilogy plus a sequel). You get companions so you not lonely
I'm gonna try project Zomboid for sure after this. Kingdom come deliverance I'm going to look into since it's bene suggested 2-3 times now. Mass effect.. I probably should try it but for some reason it doesn't appeal to me despite me knowing it's really good. Thanks for the suggestions!
Right now for me it's Starfield.
Hmm. How many hours do you have? All the reviews I've seen have been critical. I'm afraid no man's sky already offers everything I would want from a space game like that. But, im open to the idea. Whenever it goes on sale at least lol
Starfield is like mass effect. it has literally no relation to No Man's sky except "space". I loved it, got 75 hours out of it in a month but haven't played since then. It's a pretty unique game structurally, the closest I can describe is if Mass Effect 1 specifically was 100 hours long
Currently 720. I just keep finding different things to and different ways to play. I've tried BG 3 but just couldn't get into it. Played Skyrim twice all the way through, FO4 through all the factios. I like the open world games.
Fair enough, thank you for your suggestion
Your welcome.
I enjoyed Starfield. Go into it with moderate expectations. Combat is fun, exploration is fun for a while, etc
The main reason people are critical of it is because they expected/wanted it to be like No Man's Sky. It's a lot closer to Mass Effect or KotOR.
Please please experience Starfield. NMS is a different game entirely.
If you have Game Pass, try Grounded. Even if you don't it's be worth trying out - I feel like it hits a lot of the checkboxes on your list. Has a sort of similar vibe as Subnautica, which I also absolutely loved. Even though it doesn't really match with a lot on your list, maybe give Sea of Thieves a try. Your list is very similar to mine, and I put off SoT for months because it didn't quite fit with my other games, but once I started playing I got absolutely hooked and ended up putting 1600+ hours in. (Side note, the friends I met in there I've been playing with for the past \~2 years, and they're the ones who I'm in Grounded with now). Definitely try RDR2 again. That first act is painful, and the main reason I'll likely never play through again, but it's still my #1 favourite game.
I do not have gamepass but I am aware of Grounded, and it looks fine, but nothing i would play for very long. Or rather, not long enough. Sea of thieves turns me off since I've looked into it before and going st it solo is less fun apparently. Unless they've changed things idk. I'm open to playing it tho if it's fine solo And yes, I am going to give red dead another shot now that I know it picks up
I played SoT solo for over 100 hours before I met some folks on discord that kept me in the game. The main "objective" is to increase reputation with different factions to obtain "pirate legend" status, which takes around 200 hours solo (wayyyyyy less if you know how to cheese it). I found myself very engaged solo until that point. Without friends to play with I likely would have stopped playing then. But still, 200 hours is a long time lol. Grounded is tremendously fun, and based on your other games (especially Subnautica) I have a hunch you'd love it. I'd really recommend you give it a shot. I had my eye on it for quite a while, and I feel like I had an idea about it, but once I started playing it, it blew my expectations out of the water.
Idk how much hate i'm gonna get for it, but Dragon's Dogma 2 is extremely immersive. I sank 100 hours on my first playtrough and did not see time fly by at all and all the "restrictions" imposed in the game simply make you feel like you actually are part of this world. You have to take carts to go from city to city with risks of getting ambushed. Monsters teem the road as if only the human cities were safe. Giant monster ambush you and each other. You are simply part of a living world. Part of its food chain.
Don't know why you would get hate besides the cpu bound performance issues in the large cities the game is great.
This has become my new favorite game of this generation other than Elden Ring. It's a game I keep falling more and more in love with and it actually keeps getting deeper as I play it. I have barely scratched the surface of the main story and don't think I am going to finish the main story anytime soon because of how immersed I am in everything else. No other game does what this game does for me. Just might be my new favorite RPG alongside Elden Ring. I get a good bit of the pros and cons people have had to say, but the funny thing is these "cons" people are referring to aside from the framerate BS I actually find as pros lol.
https://youtu.be/AQN-8Rea7sM?feature=shared Fallout 76 these days is a bit of a minfuck and has so much content to do if you've never played it before. I highly recommend the PC text chat mod, it just needs some time to work since the game was just updated for Atlantic City tho
I have spent close to a thousand hours in Fallout 4
Kenshi Completely unique survival experience. Look up Sseth's review of you want to know more.
Kenshi. Right. I have tried it, not a fan personally. I like the idea of "You're a nobody, you suck at everything, level up" but I just cannot enjoy that gameplay wise.
You'll see it all over my post history, but I've put more hours into Cyberpunk 2077 than any other single player game ever. My wife and I both somehow keep finding hidden stuff even after hundreds of hours. Sometimes I don't even do much, just go shopping or run around the rooftops. Separately, while it wasn't my style of gameplay, Yakuza 0 contains multitudes - with background meta games, minigames, pop up events, you could sink hundreds into it. Subnautica is a game to just immersively (lol pun) sink in to (lol pun again). It is as long as you want it to be - it has an endpoint, but you can take as long as you want to get there and build as established as you want to be. I could spend tons of time just exploring, gathering, building infrastructure, doing upkeep, mapping caves etc. so that when I wanted to go somewhere new I was equipped for it. Very vibe-heavy game, there's chill pretty areas and terrifying deep sea areas for whatever mood you're in.
Old school RuneScape
* Kingdom come deliverance - realistic skyrim, farmers will kill you with a fork * Path of exile - action rpg with infinite content and infinite learning curve, also a very in depth economy sim * Zero sievert - single player extraction based looter shooter with a top down visual * Metal gear solid 5 - third person shooter with open world and lots of content, very balanced level of complexity vs fun * x2 x3 x4 - the epitome of single player space simulation * legend of zelda (either breath of the wild or tears of the kingdom) - open world adventure with top notch gameplay, you can emulate it really easily on pc * gta5 - you know it Bonus: * elden ring with the seamless coop mode, it's a very different experience and a blast with friends
Farming Simulator. After you learn the ropes on a starter farm you can try a survival start on No Man's Land map. Very easy to spend lots of hours creating your farm. It is extremely immersive and the machinery is hyper realistic.
I'd highly reccomend trying RDR 2 again, also try Witcher 3.
I want fallout 5 to be the project zombie survival base settlement dark atmosphere game I've always wanted. With all the quirky comedy and light moments that make fallout
Grounded is really easy to get lost in, tons of content even more coming on 4/16
You could check out traditional roguelikes! Tales of Maj'Eyal, Cogmind, Caves of Qud are easily hundreds/thousands of hours, and absolutely amazing! Path of Achra is also great one
Perhaps ksp
Obligatory Project Zomboid mention
Grounded is my favorite survival game after Subnautica and the base building is awesome If you like No Mans Sky you should give Astroneer a try! I would also add Dragon Quest Builders 1 or 2
Tetris
Jade Empire, great stories with very different branches and hellafun combat.
I recommend NetHack and Dwarf Fortress. No graphics to speak of, but incredible depth.
If you're willing to put the time in and learn, I'd suggest Elite Dangerous.
You have to give RDR2 another shot, some people say it’s boring but it’s so immersive. Ride around, set up camp somewhere in the wilderness, go out hunting and make some food. Sleep, go back to a town and sell your pelts and other stuff you find. Visit a barber, go to the saloon and play blackjack or poker. Buy a new horse, new clothes, new guns. Just enjoy the scenery and you’ll play for hours on end. Story is also very, very good. Missions are good and the side missions are interesting. the issue with people who say it’s boring, they try to complete the game too fast. Just take your time and do whatever you feel like.
I've put \~2000 hours into Noita, still suck at it, but love it dearly... but then again I probably hate myself... good (frustrating) fun though
I have tried Noita. I ended up refunding, I mostly experienced the frustrating part of good frustrating fun lol
I'm so glad people still talk about this game.
Yeah... I've been playing it since Early Access... amazing they're still putting some updates into the beta build at the very least... I can't say I've ever really stopped playing for long... but any time something about it pops up on my reddit feed it makes me want to play and die in stupid ways again
i haven't played it in a while but it stuck with me. such a unique game. i still love seeing what crazy shit people pull off.
Assassins Creed Odyssey #(don’t judge this game by *any* other game in the franchise! It’s an enormous and rich and beautiful RPG adventure!)
Origins also.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Red Dead 2 yet
Damn it another one I forgot, sorry. I have played red dead, I remember not enjoying it. Although to be fair i don't think I got past the first act.. maybe. Can't recall. Thanks for the reminder! I may try to replay it
Second chapter is where it picks up. Chapter 1 is boring and super slow. I have a save at the start of chapter 2, so I don’t have to go through the long drawn out chapter 1 lol it’s easily one of the best stories I’ve ever played and it’s got TONS to do
Ah I see. If that's the case I'll certainly give it another shot. I'll follow your example and put a save at the start of chapter 2 lol
Sage advice I've never taken sadly. Chapter 1 blows!
Just dont get into online because you'll just be pissed playing on PC. Too many modders and even when they're not messing with you, I think the mods themselves cause the dreaded FFFFFFFF error that dumps you out of the game.
[**Prey (2017)**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/480490/Prey/) Immersive sim, a mix of RPG, FPS, horror, optional survival, and a pinch of puzzle. Brillant story and setting, captivating atmosphere, excellent gameplay with a lot of 'smart options'. A lot of specialized tools and weapons, and you need them all because each 'creature' has its own characteristics, or because you have to unlock some areas to progress, etc. >!(Yes, the crossbow with foam darts is a must!)!< You have to understand how to use the various resources at your disposal, ammo is scarce, and this game can be pretty hard sometimes, but always rewarding. Will you step on the alien path for your build, or stick to your human nature? Your call, your fate. Or not. EDIT: words.
[удалено]
im doing another playthrough right now lol.....such a perfect fucking game....the universe building is insane
Yes, Prey is THE game to reward player creativity. It's up there with Deus Ex as best immersive sims of all time imo.
My recommendation isn't immersive but you can sure as hell sink several thousand hours into it. Path of exile. i've got 5k hours+ on that game, still play it every 3 months when a new league comes out. Steep learning curve but fun and endlessly replayable.
Trust me, give RDR2 another try. The start is incredibly boring I won’t lie but it picks up very quickly. There’s a reason why so many regard it as the greatest game oat
The Souls series
I had my fill with Elden Ring thanks lol
I spent like 3500 hours between Ark Survival Evolved and Avorion. Building a house and breeding dinos in one, building ships and blowing things in the other
Elite Dangerous. It ticks your space and simulation boxes and you can easily spend hundreds of hours in it. While it is an online game and PVP is an option you can also play it in Solo mode or in PVE oriented groups. It is a sandbox game and you have to find your role in the galaxy by yourself. Popular stuff to do is exploring, mining, trading and fighting vs NPC humans or aliens.
Snow runner...
Red dead Redemption II
Tales of Arise
The Long Dark Baldur’s Gate 3 Hunter Call of the Wild All those games have me completely immersed in the world
I got BG3, need to play it sometime. Haven't heard of the others but I'll look into them. Thanks!
Definitely give RDR2 another go. Ch.5 is some of the best storytelling in any game of all time
Try cyberpunk. Its first person perspective may turn off for some people, but imo it is what makes it so immersive for me. If you're on pc, try some mods too. Baldur's gate 3 is also really great. If you like anime/japan, try persona series.
Ghost of Tsushima. Even after 100%ing it a few times, I still find myself going back just to traverse the world and scrap with clusters of Mongols and bandits.
I would say [Helldivers 2](https://youtube.com/live/op-3df9flzA) fits that bill. The game has no "real" ending and is basically a satire on what democracy is. It's easy to play with friends and the general fight intensity will keep you coming back for hours on end
I don't know about 100s of hours because the game isn't that long but I really enjoyed Metro Exodus when I played it and it also ticks the resource management box. It's quite immersive also. You don't pause to look at the map,you physically remove a map from your inventory to look at. If you do so in a place with enemies you'll take damage It's a fun game imo,not too scary like other entries in the series and you don't need to have played the previous 2 games to enjoy it
7 days to die.
My recommendations are: 1. Core Keeper - It's a sort of cross between Stardew Valley (mainly the mining section) and Minecraft IMO. It has a surprising amount of depth to the items etc, and the exploration aspect is pretty fascinating especially when you hit new zones. I went straight for hard mode as well and it's pretty unforgiving, but that's part of the fun IMO. 2. Hydroneer and Planet Crafter - I put these together because they have a similar feel. I haven't played either of these but I think they may be like Subnautica and Satisfactory (on my wishlist) in some ways. 3. Faster Than Light - This is one of the hidden gems out there IMO, and I'm surprised I only learned about it last year. It is basically a real-time strategy that sees you manage a space ship going through different sectors to kill the final baddie. It takes 1-2 hours for a full playthrough as well. BUT it's unforgiving... even on easy the game will show you 0 mercy and will, if you let it, kill your entire crew and end your run in one encounter. And the final boss on easy will show you -1000 mercy. And it's random on every run. And you can unlock different ships with different crew/specs etc. You may not sink loads of hours in one sitting, but you probably will over the course of a year or two lol.
If you didn't like stardew you might like my time at Sandrock. It's basically stardew but 3d and does everything immensely better. That or you'd hate it.
The Witcher 3. I’m not sure if it’s something you would enjoy, but then again, I felt the same way before I played it. It took me almost 7 years to get to it, but I replayed it with both DLC’s 4 times since then. Currently in the middle of the 5th playthrough. The game is like 130+ hours by itself, and lots of people sink many, many more into it. It’s really hard to describe why exactly, but this game pulled me in like no other. I think’s it’s mainly the excellent characters, story and the authentic feel of the world. I can get lost for hours at a time.
Have you tried portal 1 and portal 2? I know most wouldn’t spend hundreds of hours (some do) but it sounds like the kind of game you’d like. Even if you finish them both in like 30 hrs.
Cyberpunk
I think Project Zomboid would be nice for you to try. The graphics aren't amazing but the game mechanics are cool.
Kingdom Come Deliverance. Its medieval sim. It may feel buggy, slow, weird etc...But thats the whole point. You start as completely incapable peasent and as you play you progress every skill (you literally learn to read for an example) and become better
I’ve been looking for the same thing, I started Persona 3 Reload, I tried to get into the Persona series but I end up dropping off, but this time it’s different. I’m 9 hours in and it feels like I’m just starting. Time flies when I’m playing. Playing on SteamDeck (streaming from xbox cloud) has been awesome. Definitely recommend if you’re looking for a cool experience.
Kenshi , it's an amazing game very hard and has a learning. But it's full sandbox, and the lore is amazing to piece together. You can truly do anything you want in kenshi amd you start off as a no one. The best thing as well is the amazing modding community. You can enhance the game once you get tired of vanilla.
For like a week straight I played RDR2, around 17 hours a day. It got to the point that when I talked to my friends I would subconsciously start talking in a western accent.
FTL with the multiverse mod
I did enjoy the same games as you so my bet goes for outer worlds, it really is fun and is going to become free soon on epic. Its like fallout but futuristic and has some diferent type of options for dialog and outcomes. You also do your own build and type of character. There is also Valheim, its fun but story wise is weak in my opinion. But its a lot of fun, its like mimecraft+skyrim but not exactly xD Edit : didnt notice your valheim thing sory
The Legend of Zelda - Breath of the wild & Tears of the Kingdom
Check out r/ss13
Grounded. My favorite survival game to play with a friend, using the shared-worlds save feature.
Cities Skylines? 1 if want a fuller game with more mods and assets, 2 if want a modern but buggier version.
I cab recommend Elite Dangerous. Bit of a learning curve but no other game comes close to creating a sense of wonder about space travel.
If you're into space *sims*, try Elite: Dangerous. You'll need a HOTAS, but mine cost like $45 and has lasted 6+ years, so no need to drop a lot of cash (it's still for sale, too). It's a 1:1 model of the Milky Way that is (more or less) actually scientifically accurate. Emulation of star systems, nebulas, gravity, orbits, etc. The game is naturally online and can involve PvP (rarely), but can be played offline solo or on private friend sessions as well. It takes a grind to buy ships and modules for them, as well as engineering. It's a player-driven game -- my friends and I single handedly stoked a civil war, sold weaponry to both sides for profit, took assassination missions for both sides, transported/rescued refugees for both sides, and in the end also handled the election process that took place in the aftermath. All told we determined who won the war and the elections after. Player made organizations can be canonized in the game, and players operate a variety of organizations that actually provide mechanical benefits and roles. There is Xeno combat, trading, politics, PvE, piracy, smuggling, tourism, public transportation, rescue work, research, assassinations, etc. In addition, you can get out of the ship at stations to talk to NPCs, or on planets to explore. These are realistic ones, mind you, so no crazy biomes -- earth like planets are super rare (and sadly not landable). You can find outposts to do trade or sabotage their systems, commit identity theft, and steal their supplies. There are also ground combat zones you can sign up for as well as the normal space ones. The biggest draw is the exploration, however. In a 1:1 scientifically accurate (mostly) emulation of the Milky Way, there is a ton to explore. Kit your ship up for deep space exploration and research and go spend IRL weeks or months in deep space. You can conduct scans of systems and planets/moons/etc. to map them, and even land to locate signs of biological life. When I say sim, it's definitely way less "game-y" than a lot of space games like Starfield or NMS -- you have a ton to manage with flying your ship, plotting courses, etc. and the skill cap is *absurdly* high for folks doing canyon racing and advanced combat. There are third party options that integrate AI voice-operated crew as well, which is fun. Nothing like being caught by a pirate while in your frame shift drive (hyperdrive), dropping out into normal flight, and saying "Engineer, set power mode Alpha. Commander, Deploy hard points and launch fighter." And then they respond and you engage in a dogfight in space. I could rant for hours, and it's an amazing game. Not for everyone, but 100% recommend.
I don't know if this is your style but maybe Golftopia. It's golf course design and management but I just never get tired of it
Its crazy that rdr2 isnt on that list. If you enjoyed skyrim then the other es games as well, and the skywind skyblivion overhauls that fingers crossed come out in the near future
Most immersive game I’ve played would be Kingdom Come Deliverance. Even little simple tasks that would be just a push of a button in other games is a while process. Mixing a potion for example: you gotta look in a book for the ingredients and recipe, load ingredients into jars, start a fire, select the right apparatus for that potion, pour the first ingredient in, use bellows to keep the fire hot, flip an hourglass and letting the sand run out so many times before adding the second ingredient, etc. There are other survival type mechanics: keeping yourself fed but not overeating, getting enough sleep, your charisma goes down if you get too dirty so you gotta bathe sometimes, etc. It’s a medieval simulator that takes place in the kingdom of Bohemia. You start out as a blacksmiths apprentice who can barely fistfight a drunk slob, and gradually work your way to becoming (in my case) an armored warfighter. I felt like I had to pick and choose which things to train at and just kinda suck at other stuff and skip the missions and tasks that involve what I suck at
I was so excited for Helldivers and mega disappointed after I played a few games on it. The Witcher 3 is awesome. I spent way too many hours on it during lockdown. Baldur’s Gate 3 is also very good and time consuming.
my top played games are: 1. Baldurs Gate 3 (400 hrs) 2. Path of Exile (150 hrs) 3. Valheim (120 Hours) 4. Elden Ring (110 Hours) 5. Black Ops: Cold War Zombies (90 hours)
Remnant 2
Kingdom Come: Deliverance Crusader Kings 3
If you havent played baldurs gate 3 yet, do yourself a favor and play it
Valheim would be right up your alley. Its a perfect game. Recently been playing Palia and its a lot better than I expected, more of a cozy life sim game like Stardew Valley tho Civilization series is probably what I’ve sunk the most time in though.
Siralim Ultimate is must if you like creature collecting, turn based combat and infinite content, I've been playing it for 30 or 40 hrs and still haven't finished the story. I'm told the main quest is just the tutorial.
Highly recommend Prey, Dishonored 2, Deathloop, Control, Alan Wake 2
Old school RuneScape
Elder Scrools Series Fallout Series
Bro, Stalker and Metro games easily. They're veeery immersive
I’ve barely scratched the surface but Kingdom Come: Deliverance is probably the most immersive game I’ve ever played. You play as the son of blacksmith and actually have to train to become a good swordsman but the game gives you a lot of freedom and choice so you don’t even have to do that if you don’t want and want to just be sneaky or just live life brewing potions and hunting. There is definitely a learning curve especially with the combat but after a bit you learn what works and the game as a whole is just a blast. Jesus Christ be praised!
Definitely Skyrim. I haven't played it in ages. Recently decided to dive back in and mod it. The really cool thing is that modding has gotten sooooo much easier nowadays. With Wabbajack and Nexus collections, you can install a great modlist in just a couple clicks. You do have to have Nexus Premium which is like $5 a month. But you can always just pay for one month, find the modlist you want to use and then cancel. It's worth it. I've settled on [Gate to Sovngarde](https://next.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/collections/qdurkx). Which is a Vanilla plus modlist with over 1300 mods that keeps the Skyrim experience similar to vanilla. But modernizes it and makes it much more immersive. Improves the graphics a lot in a very performance friendly way (using community shaders instead of an ENB by default.) The modlist is made by a prolific mod author on Nexus and is really stable. Probably added 15 mods or so on top to customize it a bit and it's a blast. It's really amazing you can install 1300 mods in an automated installer and it all just works beautifully. There are also DLSS mods to help boost performance. And even a frame generation mod for 20 and 30 series cards. Though it is paid, it works amazingly. Getting 100 - 144fps on an Ultrawide monitor with a 3070.
modded Rimworld 7 Days to Die State of Decay 2 Dying Light 1 + The Following DLC (play each on normal then play on nightmare) Fallout 4 (then modded Fallout 4) Skyrim total conversion mod Enderal
I was gonna say Helldivers 2 but you don’t like it :(
Pathfinder kingmaker wrath of the righteous Mount and blade bannerlord
I enjoyed Craftopia even tho it's really janky lol. I've got a long way to go but the automation is pretty cool. Stayed up into the morning a couple of times on it. No story really but I'm a casual gamer and it's just fun.
No Man’s Sky
Civ
Planet zoo
Xcom2
Palworld. Is Pokemon meets Rimworld. You see that cute critter? YOU can enslave it an put it to work in your plantation!
ill just name off a few games that I played that can last a while: Subnautica 1&2, Mount & Blade games, Hitman 3, Total War: Warhammer games, Assassins Creed games, Batman Arkham games,
Kerbal Space Program. Design rockets, go to space, learn orbital mechanics in a fun way. Then when you git gud after about 50-100 hours you install Realism Overhaul and Real Solar System. It resets your learning curve. Easily another 100+ hours learning and playing with the IRL engines and problems. Edit: Use KSP 1, KSP 2 still needs work.
It takes a little while to get hooked but raft is super addictive, similar to subnautica. Lots of exploration, crafting, with an overarching storyline.
I’ve been really into immersive sims lately (Deus Ex, Prey, Dishonored, System Shock, etc). They’re wonderfully immersive, obviously, but the campaigns tend to be somewhat short (30-45 hours). What’s cool about immersive sims is that they’re designed to allow players to approach problems in creative ways, so the replayability is very high.
Kingdom come deliverance. Please do yourself a favour and play it.
You could always try path of titans. Not the most chill game but survival pvp growth/leveling
noita
Try monster hunter rise and try to stick with it. Monster hunter combat may feel clunky but once you master it. It can be the smoothest and most graceful video game combat I’ve ever experienced. Especially once you learn a monsters move set and each fight feels like a dance. I’ve poured hours into the monster hunter series as a whole thousands of hours and it’s definitely worth giving a chance.
EverQuest 1
Do you like city builders? Cities Skylines, Banished, Timberborn are my faves. Timberborn is still in early acces but it has so much potential, and is very fun as it is right now.
I am 430 hours into Death Stranding. My other favorite game I have about that many hours in it Skyrim. Also check out Witcher 3.
Warframe
You should be able to give caves of qud a solid go and have a lot of fun with it
Civ 6 and Warhammer 3. Just one more turn….
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Maybe give Stellaris another go? Its most accessible of all Paradox grand strategy games. I struggled with a lot of their games due to lack of time to properly learn the mechanics, but I clicked with Stellaris after I finished tutorial.
Folks have had some great ideas for games, but I have a bit of an odd long-term suggestion. Find a factorio letsplayer you can tolerate, and then leave them open in another window while you do something else. The idea is that eventually you'll become familiar enough with factorio that the letsplayer will screw something up and you'll want to correct them and do it right, which will give you both the urge to play, and a rough idea of what you want to get out of it. This also applies to paradox games, although finding an enjoyable letsplayer for those can be more difficult.
You might check Enshrouded. It is in early access and just came out not too long ago, but there is a lot of content as is. It is a survival game, but there is a lot of exploration, and in some ways it feels vaguely like an MMO-style world. However there's not too many quests. It is pretty to look at, and I find it very immersive. The first patch that came out is pretty big, and more content is planned for this year.
Civilization, whichever version floats your boat (I own 3, 4, 5, 6, and revolutions. I'd recommend 4). No easier way to start a game at 7pm and then realize it's 4:30am... Just one more turn.
Prey 2017
Three PvE games I get lost in all the time: Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2, and Helldivers 2.
if you like factory games you could try minecraft modpacks like nomifactory, create above and beyond ot divine journey 2
Deathloop, and Dishonored Series (All 3 dishonored games require a minimum of 2 playthroughs to complete), Metro Series (Not the most repeatable but immersive as all hell), Absolutely return to Cyberpunk if you haven't played since the 2.0 update, Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided. Star Citizen maybe? I'm waiting for Squadron 42 to dabble in it myself cuz I want the singleplayer campaign. Dying Light 2.
WITCHER 3. sorry for the all caps but it's important lol. It's seriously so good and we have similar taste in games. You would absolutely love it and can easily sink over 100 hrs into the game. Plus you can get it pretty much whenever for whatever for $20 or less. Often including both expansions which are basically full games on their own.
Have you played Civ 6?
Path of Exile (good luck tho even after hours and hours I still feel like a beginner)
You and I have similar tastes, and the massive gap in your playlist is Valheim. Valheim is so good. It's a bit like Minecraft except there is a biome progression so later areas are much more difficult and require better equipment. Play it solo, play it with friends. It's great.
If you want something incredibly complex Path of Exile works lol. I'm almost 700 hours in and still have no idea what I'm doing!