Mods - I am not sure how to read the rule against game suggestions. If it means no asking for suggestions please just wipe the post. No harm, no foul.
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Fall is usually my busiest time of year preparing for winter in our little forest home. But I have been given orders from the doctors to basically take bedrest for up to 3 months, but I’m allowed to be sitting up… So books and games are basically all that is on the menu.
I enjoy automation games, tower defense, survival/building games, and exploration games.
I dislike ‘souls-like’ experiences where combat is tight and requires perfect timing. In fact in most games where combat can be disabled I usually do that.
My top games of all time would be factorio, minecraft, WoW/FFXIV (yeah… i know. But they count as one), Dyson sphere program, vampire survivors (and many of that type), and gemcraft type TD games.
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Some games that have been recommended and tried, but don’t work for me right now or I have already finished:
mindustry, satisfactory, valheim, no man’s sky, alchemy factory, luanti, terraria.
Thanks in advance for your time. Much appreciated.
Wow what a thread. You all rock! Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I have grabbed demos for most of these and will write a follow-up post at some point with my thoughts on some of them.
But for now… The Last Caretaker grabbed me almost instantly. Highly recommend even after only playing the demo.
Emberward would be right up your alley. It’s a rogue-like TD with tetrimono you customize during your run. It just went 1.0 last week and has 96% positive ratings on Steam with almost 4,000 reviews. It’s also currently on launch sale.
I installed the demo and did one level. This is really promising!
These might not be for you but I want to provide a couple of options that aren’t exactly what you’re asking for but are pretty close. No offense taken if you think they are terrible.
Lonestar - Top down space rogue-like where you place modules in your ship to synergize damage output. Also known as ‘space math’.
Sunless Skies - Steam punk space train set in the Fallen London universe. Emphasis on exploration and the setting just oozes style. Also the soundtrack is awesome.
Halcyon 6 - Take control of a space station and try to put together a fleet to replace the one that gets nuked at the start of the game.
These all sound very much worth a look. Thank you for the recs.
You’re very welcome.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Game about cutting up spaceships with lasers and gravity tools with a bit of a narrative.
It’s not a great alignment for the types you identified, but I like all the things you mentioned and found this quite nice.
Thanks! I’ll check it out.
I’ve been having a really fun time with vintage story, a.minecraft alternative that goes for detail. It has stuff like crop rotation, a realistic (compared to minecraft at least) steel making process. I think it offers a lot richer and more varied experience than vanilla minecraft, and is surprisingly good about not forcing you to grind.
Hmm I think I may actually own this one already. Putting it near the top of the list!
Since you have played Luanti and Vintage Story I think it is worth throwing the open source game Veloren in here too. It has a very fun gliding mechanic.
nifty! thanks.
Yesterday I bought “Ball x Pit” (Vampire Survivors meets Pinball) and “No Man’s Sky” (Space Exploration/Survival). And Last week I’ve played around 12h of one of my favourite survival games “Valheim” that just came out of Early access.
I hope you get well soon. m
VS and pinball. I never would have guessed. This does look cool though. Thanks for the rec.
Oxygen Not Included
Its a colony management sim with plenty of depth. Design plumbing and electricity systems. Farm and ranch. Make oxygen because … its not included. Disease management. Expand your base. Adorable art style. I love the game and was my go to when I was bed-ridden. Hope you enjoy your time off even though your sick.
Definitely sounds right. On the list!
thanks
You’d love space engineers.
Ooh this does look great. No demo so it goes at the end of the list, but I will get to it!
Honestly though the game could use more of a campaign, right now its hard to find a goal beyond basic survival.
Space engineers 2 seems to be stepping up to the task, but still needs a couple more years before I’d reccomend it.
Me and my friend did modded se (getting a server running on anything that isn’t windows is really fucking annoying) and we did have fun. Problem is that he is Australian and I’m on basically the other side of the globe so timing stopped working out. Also coupled with him also getting a job.
A pretty chaotic mix but I tried to imagine games that would deeply reward close engagement over long stretches, a game like Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead is a game you can come back to again and again for the rest of your life!
long list
Farm Together 2
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2418520/Farm_Together_2/
Survivalist Invisible Strain
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1054510/Survivalist_Invisible_Strain/
Chronicon
https://store.steampowered.com/app/375480/Chronicon/
Apico
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1390190/APICO/
Wayward
https://store.steampowered.com/app/379210/Wayward/
Ships At Sea
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1266540/Ships_At_Sea/
Zero Sievert
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1782120/ZERO_Sievert/
Pimantle
Brigador
https://www.gog.com/en/game/brigador_deluxe_edition
Saga Of Ryzom <- free and open source
Veloren <- free and open source
Timberborn
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1062090/Timberborn
Star Of Providence
https://store.steampowered.com/app/603960/Star_of_Providence
Songs Of Styx
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1162750/Songs_of_Syx
Airborne Empire
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2438680/Airborne_Empire
Barotrauma
https://store.steampowered.com/app/602960/Barotrauma/
Duskers
https://store.steampowered.com/app/254320/Duskers/
Easy Red 2
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1324780/Easy_Red_2/
The Sea Will Claim Everything
https://store.steampowered.com/app/337720/The_Lands_of_Dream/
Wobbly Life
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1211020/Wobbly_Life
Atomicrops
https://store.steampowered.com/app/757320/Atomicrops/
Old Market Simulator
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2878420/Old_Market_Simulator
Pathologic 3
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3199650/Pathologic_3/
Beyond All Reason <- free and open source
https://www.beyondallreason.info/
Hero Siege
https://store.steampowered.com/app/269210/Hero_Siege
Zeus & Poseidon
https://www.gog.com/en/game/zeus_poseidon
Panzer Marshal
https://openpanzer.itch.io/panzermarshal
Slay The Spire 2
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2868840/Slay_the_Spire_2
Legends Of Runeterra
https://playruneterra.com/en-us/
Zombasite
https://store.steampowered.com/app/408960/Zombasite/
The Wandering Village
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1121640/The_Wandering_Village
Avorion
https://store.steampowered.com/app/445220/Avorion/
Citizen Sleeper 2
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2442460/Citizen_Sleeper_2_Starward_Vector/
Let’s School
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1937500/Lets_School
Roadwarden
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1155970/Roadwarden/
Necesse
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1169040/Necesse/
Corsair Cove or really ANYTHING from Hooded Horse
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1368140/Corsair_Cove
Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead <- free and open source
Mutazione
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1080750/Mutazione/
Wingspan
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1054490/Wingspan/
Star Traders Frontiers
https://store.steampowered.com/app/335620/Star_Traders_Frontiers/
Heart Of The Machine
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001070/Heart_of_the_Machine/
Battle For Wesnoth <- free and open source
Vintage Story
7 Days To Die
https://store.steampowered.com/app/251570/7_Days_to_Die/
Endgame Road To Salvation
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1264920/Endgame_Road_To_Salvation/
Shredders
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874170/Shredders
Out Of Ore
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2009350/Out_of_Ore/
Motor Town Behind The Wheel
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1369670/Motor_Town_Behind_The_Wheel/
Intergalactic Fishing
https://store.steampowered.com/app/949600/Intergalactic_Fishing/
Sailwind
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1764530/Sailwind/
Flashpoint Campaigns Southern Storm
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2366530/Flashpoint_Campaigns_Southern_Storm
Rainworld
https://store.steampowered.com/app/312520/Rain_World/
Alba
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1337010/Alba_A_Wildlife_Adventure/
Against The Storm
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336490/Against_the_Storm/
Deep Rock Galactic
https://store.steampowered.com/app/548430/Deep_Rock_Galactic/
Monster Hunter series!
A second mention for vintage story. Moving it up the list a bit!
And wow - that is a well-sourced reply. Thank you kindly. I’ll look into them.
Genshin Impact
I don’t know why - but my instinct is just to say ‘No.’
Thanks for the rec though :)
Your instinct is right. There are so many great games without predatory monetization, so there’s no need to play this nonsense.
If you’re weak with your money I agree. It’s a really good game at a face value though.
Monster Hunter Rise or World are superb alternatives with tons of content.
I’m really into souls games so I’m going to focus my recommendations to games with little combat and also tailor the list based on what you tried and didn’t like so far.
Optional or minimal combat
- Green Hell
- My Summer Car [AI generated paintings]
- Potion Craft
- Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
- Subnautica [controversy with dev buyout and lawsuit, but a solid game]
Combat required but easy
- Yakuza Kiwami (the other yakuza and like a dragon games are great too but some of them might have kernel level rootkits, and some are available on GOG without rootkits)
- Final Fantasy 12 The Zodiac Age
Exploration focused
Story focused games (non exploration)
Worth trying
Wow that is a great reply. I will look into all of these that I have not tried yet.
I really enjoyed dave the diver and stray. Disliked disco elysium (I know. that is on me, not the game). And for some reason subnautica seems daunting/dangerous to me but I’ll check it out a bit more.
Subnautica can be considered to have some horror elements. Especially for beginners. However, as you play it and unlock technology you realize it’s not actually too bad.
You can play it at your own pace, just do the minimum yo unlock the next thing and so forth.
Exo Rally Championship: Probably the best rally game out there right now. Rewards carefulness and planning ahead.
Outbrk: Storm chasing simulator.
DinoSystem: Very deep survival simulation with dinosaurs.
Stationeers: Build and automate your own space station. Also features gas simulation.
Brainfuck Challenge: Brainfuck is a esoteric programming language with very few instructions you can learn in a few minutes. And this game is just a collection of puzzles/challenges made to be solved with this language.
shapez 2: Factorio but with shapes and colors
Beton Brutal/White Knuckle/Idols of Ash/Lorn’s Lure: A bunch of precision platformers with no combat whose sole goal is go up/down as fast as you can. Lorn’s Lure would be my favorite of the bunch but they’re all unique in their own ways.
Nubby’s Number Factory: Plinko meets neuron activation
Other than shapez (love that series) I had never heard of any of these. I have aded them to my list.
You rock! Thanks.
You’re welcome. If you ever need more just hit me up
Halls of Torment is a lot like vampire survivors and done extremely well
Emberward is a great tower defense game where you also design the track the enemies use with little Tetris prices
Shape of Dreams is a isometric top down roguelike with optional co-op that is reminiscent in league of legend’s character design but is fully PVE with encounters where you clear rooms and boss challenges.
Thanks! Checking out all three.
If you’ve never tried it before, Dot Age is a fun little time sink made by an Indie dev. It’s a city builder people/resource management type game where you’re trying to build a successful village to survive a coming apocalypse. You have to plan ahead and deal with upcoming ‘bad events.’ A run is like 5-6 hours long and there is a lot of variety between runs thanks to building variants, etc.
That sounds perfect. Snagged!
A very fun exploration and puzzle game would be Tunic. It has combat which can be pretty tricky at times but in the game’s settings you can make yourself invincible so you can just get through the combat if you’d like. If you try Outer Wilds and like it, I would try Tunic as well.
Both of these games are so interesting because they can be completed at any point, but it’s completely dependent of everything you the player learn while playing the game. But for that reason I would not look into the games more than what’s on the Steam store page, you gotta go in blind.
Thank you kindly. Tunic looks quite unique. On the list!
Tunic is very good, just note that it does cross into soulslike a bit. The combat is reminiscent at minimum.
Ahh thanks for that warning. I’ll skip that for now then.





