Games you play constantly that mean NOTHING to anyone else

[Lemming42]

What are some unusual games that you find yourself playing often whenever you have time to kill? Obviously we all occasionally play Doom WADs, Thief fan missions, HoMM, Paradox games, Slay the Spire, that kind of thing.

I'm talking games that aren't necessarily obscure, but which you bet nobody else plays as much as you, which weren't designed to be played repeatedly, and which you find yourself playing at least once a month if not far more often.

Here's mine:

Delta Force - I play Delta Force 1 and 2 a lot nowadays. I have no idea why. They are not good. When I have time to kill, I will select a random mission and just snipe people from two miles away while listening to the radio or podcasts or whatever.

Regency Solitaire - the definitive solitaire experience, complete with lush Jane Austen-y music and visuals. Can you help Bella find true love and escape her arranged marriage to the odious cad Mr Bleakley? I can, and I have, about fifty times.

The Elder Scrolls: Arena - for some reason, this game continues to absorb my attention, even though it's not very good on the whole. I've done unarmed-only runs, pacifist runs, bow-only runs, all kinds of shit. I know every dungeon off by heart. I can beat the game in about 3 hours, and I could happily play the whole thing again right now.

XCOM: Chimera Squad - this came out in 2020 and was pretty swiftly forgotten, its main problem being that it's essentially too easy, even on highest difficulty. Nevertheless, whenever I want immediate turn-based fun with (almost) no window dressing, I keep playing this. Godmother-Terminal-Blueblood-Zephyr is the ULTIMATE TEAM.

Gunman Chronicles - despite being a pretty middling game overall, for some reason, I find myself launching this and playing the whole thing whenever I'm especially bored or upset. Why? No idea. Maybe some weird subconscious link between the game and mental trauma or something. I like driving a tank around a desert planet with Fair Use Policy SHODAN complaining at me the whole way.

 

[Hobknobling]

Ski Jump International (1994)

Beautifully simple rendition of ski jumping that requires consistency and almost a meditative calmness to excel at. Infinite replayability once it clicks.

You can give it a go here: https://archive.org/details/msdos_Ski_Jump_International_1994

Up-Arrow to jump.
Right-Arrow to adjust ski angle. Head one pixel away from skis is usually optimal.
R or T (for telemark) to land. Can't land long jumps with telemarks, but you get more points for them.

 

[Taxnomore]

Nanaca Crash

I stumbled on this stupid game ages ago and got hooked instantly. Once in a while, I do remember about it and it happens again.
It seems random until you find there is a tiny bit of strategy involved too.
https://megami.starcreator.com/nanaca-crash/

 

[Dark Souls II]

Settlers II

Will always be to me the best citybuilder, my favorite antiquity-themed game, one of the best-looking 2d games in general, and the most chill game ever made.

 

[Falksi]

Thunderforce 3 & Afterburner 2

Two of the greatest games ever made hands down, both intense and exciting as fuck (especially on their hardest settings), both have banging soundtracks, and both are Top 10 games of all time to me.

I find it amazing that shit like Tears of The Kingdom, Ocarina of Time, Red Dead Redemption 2, Skyrim etc. get hailed as masterpieces when they are all vastly inferior to these two games.

 

[Necrensha]

I have over 2000 hours on Dungeon Keeper.
Over 10 playthroughs of Klonoa.
I've replayed Quake multiple times every single year since it's release.

 

[Reality]

Majesty : Fantasy Kingdom Sim (2001).

Maybe Rogue Leader because I kept playing after gold medals.

Virtua Tennis 2. Used to take it off the default and do official 6 game 3 set matches.

 

[udm]

Darkwind: War on Wheels. I played this when I was still a student. Now I have a family and I'm still playing it occasionally because there is nothing like it out there (phase-based car combat). I recommend this to a lot of people, but because of the jank and learning curve, few take to it.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

SpellCross. An amazing TBS inspired by Final Liberation, but managing to outperform it in every possible way. Still replay it every now and then, coz its just that good. It has everything - handcrafted missions, huge selection of upgradable units, cool enemies, great strategic layer, great storyline. Fuck, they just dont make gayms like these anymore.

 

[anvi]

Manalink. Permanent thing on my pc, I play it a lot. It's not as good as playing against a real person but it does very well with some decks so load up the AI with decks it is good with, you get a big challenge. And you get to try any deck or ideas out that you can imagine and it all costs nothing. Amazing.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Sims Medieval - Very underappreciated Sims game. I found it a great combination of freedom, focused design, and humour. I always have it installed on my main pc.

Champions of Norrath 1&2 - Two of my favorite ARPGs. Easy to play, familiar, great music and my favorite game setting combined with a genre I like. If you are going to emulate, it takes a bit of hankering for a smooth experience, as the Snowblind engine is finicky.

Rygar - A classic. Been doing playthroughs of this game for a very long time.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

I always seem to go back to Conan Exiles. Not every month though.

 

[Lemming42]

Sims Medieval - Very underappreciated Sims game. I found it a great combination of freedom, focused design, and humour. I always have it installed on my main pc.

I really want to play this! I got it off archive.org a few months ago but it invariably crashes after like five minutes. Any good way to get it working on Windows 10?

 

[octavius]

Age of Wonders, maybe.

 

[luj1]

Gunman Chronicles - despite being a pretty middling game overall, for some reason, I find myself launching this and playing the whole thing whenever I'm especially bored or upset. Why? No idea. Maybe some weird subconscious link between the game and mental trauma or something. I like driving a tank around a desert planet with Fair Use Policy SHODAN complaining at me the whole way.

Ahahaha

Funny Half Life clone. Cowboys and dinosaurs. I enjoyed it

 

[anvi]

Age of Wonders, maybe.

You would be shocked at the number of hours I've spent playing that game. I have 1 2 and 3 on my PC all the time. I wish there was one that combined the best parts of them all.. I mostly play 3 with mods these days.

 

[Late Bloomer]

I really want to play this! I got it off archive.org a few months ago but it invariably crashes after like five minutes. Any good way to get it working on Windows 10?

For my old Windows 8.1 machine I had to switch it to compatibility mode (windows XP) to get it to run. Perhaps that would work for your version. My current version runs on Windows 10 off of the EA App (formerly Origins) so I haven't had to tinker with it.

 

[NecroLord]

What are some unusual games that you find yourself playing often whenever you have time to kill? Obviously we all occasionally play Doom WADs, Thief fan missions, HoMM, Paradox games, Slay the Spire, that kind of thing.

I'm talking games that aren't necessarily obscure, but which you bet nobody else plays as much as you, which weren't designed to be played repeatedly, and which you find yourself playing at least once a month if not far more often.

Here's mine:

Delta Force - I play Delta Force 1 and 2 a lot nowadays. I have no idea why. They are not good. When I have time to kill, I will select a random mission and just snipe people from two miles away while listening to the radio or podcasts or whatever.

Regency Solitaire - the definitive solitaire experience, complete with lush Jane Austen-y music and visuals. Can you help Bella find true love and escape her arranged marriage to the odious cad Mr Bleakley? I can, and I have, about fifty times.

The Elder Scrolls: Arena - for some reason, this game continues to absorb my attention, even though it's not very good on the whole. I've done unarmed-only runs, pacifist runs, bow-only runs, all kinds of shit. I know every dungeon off by heart. I can beat the game in about 3 hours, and I could happily play the whole thing again right now.

XCOM: Chimera Squad - this came out in 2020 and was pretty swiftly forgotten, its main problem being that it's essentially too easy, even on highest difficulty. Nevertheless, whenever I want immediate turn-based fun with (almost) no window dressing, I keep playing this. Godmother-Terminal-Blueblood-Zephyr is the ULTIMATE TEAM.

Gunman Chronicles - despite being a pretty middling game overall, for some reason, I find myself launching this and playing the whole thing whenever I'm especially bored or upset. Why? No idea. Maybe some weird subconscious link between the game and mental trauma or something. I like driving a tank around a desert planet with Fair Use Policy SHODAN complaining at me the whole way.

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down.
Line of sight: Vietnam.

 

[AlwaysBrotoMen]

 

[Hellraiser]

Going under a very librul interpretation of the word "constantly", here are two I find going back to every few years that I never saw anyone else ever mention:

Traffic Giant - it's a public transport business sim, a quite deep one where every house models individuals citizens that need to go to very specific schools, workplaces, stores or recreational buildings, and they bitch and moan and rather cause traffic jams if the transit time is too long, there are too many line switches or the tickets cost too much etc.

Transport Giant - made by the same guys as the above, a far more realistic take on transport tycoon with a better IMO business simulation layer, only sadly without the voxel-based terrain and terraforming tools (it's all flat with some fake isometric cliffs).

 

[NecroLord]

Going under a very librul interpretation of the word "constantly", here are two I find going back to every few years that I never saw anyone else ever mention:

Traffic Giant - it's a public transport business sim, a quite deep one where every house models individuals citizens that need to go to very specific schools, workplaces, stores or recreational buildings, and they bitch and moan and rather cause traffic jams if the transit time is too long, there are too many line switches or the tickets cost too much etc.

Transport Giant - made by the same guys as the above, a far more realistic take on transport tycoon with a better IMO business simulation layer, only sadly without the voxel-based terrain and terraforming tools (it's all flat with some fake isometric cliffs).

Are there any quality Trucker Simulators?
Been a long while since I last played a driving game...

 

[Late Bloomer]

Are there any quality Trucker Simulators?

American Truck and Euro Truck Sim are both fantastic. Heavy on the DLC, but it all goes on Sale. If you decide to give either of them a spin (ugh), and are having a good time, then head on over to https://www.worldoftrucks.com/en/ once you get settled in.

 

[Serious_Business]

Nothing like that, I guess most of the games I play are known or have high replay value. I also do not play the same games over and over again monthly, I usually switch up.

I will mention, let's say, Urtuk. Doesn't have a reputation but is one of the top fantasy tactical games for sure.

Recently I've played a bit of Missionforce Cyberstorm 1. That game is really fucking cool. It plays fairly smoothly overall still, and has a truly great setting and aesthetic - much stronger than Battletech as far as mech stuff goes. The vat grown pilots are something else. They remind me of some people I have had the displeasure of knowing. Pretty obscure title, but I don't know anyone that played it who didn't like it.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

I've been playing the arcade mode of Soul Calibur 6 for almost 5 years I think. Always one run on legendary mode in the evening after work, which was about 10-20 minutes. Partly because it can be played while standing up with a controller, and fighting games are the only genre where I like using a controller instead of mouse and keyboard.

I have also been playing Age of Wonders 3 almost constantly but I've lost my modded installation when a drive of mine died a while ago. For now AoW4 is filling that gap but I don't now if it will last as long. If the mods were all still easily available I'd probably return to AoW3 but some of the mods are published only on Steam and downloading mods from Steam for external use was no longer working the last time I tried.

 

[markec]

My favorite less known titles that I would often replay are mostly old games that I dont play as much I used to. Either due some being abandonware and/or having issues running on modern systems. But I also have a huge backload of games that Im trying to play. Still I find some time for some of my favorite games.

Birthright Gorgons Alliance, one of my favorite games despite some serious flaws, mostly really bad combat that you are forced to play since autoresolve is horrible. But the strategic layer is a joy to play and RPG part quite fun.

Missionforce Cyberstorm, love turn based tactical games, love mechs and love tinkering with huge collection of weapons and mech parts.

Civil War Generals 2, really addictive game that manages to capture the scope of major battle, and where you can alter history with each battle.

Warlords III: Darklords Rising, I finished the main campaign many times that I knew correct locations of every city even on maps with full fog of war. I would often reinstall it and just play a random scenario.

Star Trek Birth of Federation, the atmosphere in this game is top notch and I always like trying different factions.

Also more of a mod, but I often reinstall Open General and play different campaigns.