I loved playing VtM: Bloodlines back in the day, and it still holds up well as a gaming classic, but Blood of the Dawnwalker is what I always dreamed a modern vampire RPG could be. Just the fact that you can play a pacifist run and not drain anyone, or go full vampire and suck the blood of everyone you come across, important to the plot or no, means this game does what most open-world RPGs can't.

Also the doomsday clock that is the main questline is much less of a concern when you realize you have 30 days to get stuff done, even if you have to let go of a few sidequests here and there. Personally, I like having something there to add a bit of pressure on the player, makes the stakes seem much higher and more personal. Too many games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Cyberpunk (much as I love those games) impose stakes, but give too much freedom to the player, and after awhile it feels like the issue at hand is not as big of a problem as it was made out to be.

Edit: I will say, as someone who has an older computer, it did take some modding and hard tweaking to get the game to run properly. I’d keep that in mind before buying; it’s a very graphics-intensive game and not very well optimized like all Unreal Engine 5 games have been.

Let’s say there are 6 options in front of me, oriented vertically. My D-pad is sitting on option 1.

If I hit “up”, what is a good argument for why this CAN’T immediately go to option 6? I still see this in games nowadays and it bugs me every time.

there is so few games like that

Melina & Ranni
Inst madame.de.Zhukov

For me, it’s Final Fantasy VII Remake: Cait Sith’s first appearance.

Context: Cait Sith is a silly, anthropomorphic cat wearing a crown and a red cape who usually rides atop a large, silly robotic Moogle.

In remake, the devs changed his first appearance and instead inserted him directly in the middle of a devastating scene where thousands of people are dying, where he drops his knees and punches the ground in his sorrow.

I’ve seen countless reaction videos of people who begin crying to this scene, then suddenly see him and yell “WHAT THE F*** IS THIS WEIRD CAT THING DOING HERE?!?!”

Replayed IV last month and I forgot how fucking depressing Niko’s story is. You spend most of it working for people you hate just to find this guy, and when you finally do, he’s a wreck who got your friends killed for a thousand dollars. I didn’t even feel like killing him at that point.

Then either Roman or Kate dies. CJ gets his hood back, Franklin gets a nice house, and I finished IV wondering what Niko was even going to do the next day. He has money now, I guess, but what’s he supposed to do with it?

Arthur gets brought up a lot, understandably, but Niko’s ending stuck with me more. You’re still playing after all that and I barely felt like doing anything.

Even saw a jewel case for the ONI game on PC! Sadly the disc wasn't in there, bummer!

Came out last month. Its a character driven turn based game. More character interactions than gameplay but the characters are fun and its all voice acted and they do a great job. Highly recommend it.

How many people are actually playing this game. I am level 24 and I saw a complaint post and went to check just to see. The enemies in the first region are being absolutely annihilated. Alot of them go down in a single hit. If you aren't beating up on stuff in the early levels then your gear probably sucks. When you level there is no stat gain it is all attached to equipment.

Report: New Killzone Project in Very Early Stages of Production

I HATED Bloodborne when I first played it.
Hated how anyone could find It fun. Hated dying all the time and losing my stuff and dying before I could get it back. Couldn't get past the bonfire area in Central Yarnham and traded the game in shortly after. I just didn't get it, what I was supposed to do, where to go and the point of it.
Fast forward a few years I gave it another after getting a free copy and it just clicked and I've done about 10 or so play throughs of it and probably in my top 5 games. Probably a common question but Just wondered if anyone has any similar experiences with other games.

You know the kind of game I mean. You look at everything it offers—the genre, setting, combat, story, developer, whatever—and think, “This is literally made for me.”

Then you actually play it…and nothing.

Maybe you even recognize that it’s a good game. You can understand why other people love it. But for whatever reason, you keep putting it down or have to force yourself to continue.

What game was that for you, and what do you think stopped it from clicking?

Bonus points if (1) it’s a game you’ve tried to get into more than once because you really wanted to like it, (2) it became the genre’s go-to standard/fan-favorite, (3) you’ve played basically every other game in that genre and (4) it’s currently staring at you from your library lol.

Basically I work as a receptionist at a small hotel. I barely have to get up from my desk usually and I always bring my laptop over so I can play vidya and watch my toobz.

But I've run into the issue of running out of stuff to play. Let me elaborate what it is I exactly need:

-Something arcadey. A game that doesn't require much thinking, reading or planning. I've tried to do some X-Com but I can't get myself to focus on the planning and the dialogues keep distracting me.

-Something I can pause at any time. Very important

-Something that doesnt "run out of content". I guess nothing linear is what I mean.

-Something that doesn't get more and more complicated. i.e Factorio or satisfactory.

Some games I've played already:

Vampire survivors ( Honestly not too big of a fan. Very great game but gets overbearing and bland fast IMO )

Vampire crawlers ( Something about the navigation just loses my attention )

Factorio ( Fun until I have to manage pipelines along with check-ins)

Halo Series ( Good for shooting away the shift )

Along with.. FTL, Doom 1-2-3, Balatro, Coal LLC and some other time-sinks, idlers and incrementals you've no doubt heard/played before.

I realize I'm asking for a little too much but I'm happy for any recommendation I haven't tried yet. Thanks in advance !

EDIT: Thanks for the amazing recs guys. Honestly knew this sub would not disappoint. Got suggested some titles I've played but failed to mention along with stuff I'd never heard or seen before. Can't respond to all your comments but appreciate every single one. Looks like I'll be busy at work for a long while.