Ask Lemmy

DotAge. It's a rogue-like turn-based strategy game where you try to build a village on cursed land, where you have visions of upcoming doom events and the eventual apocalypse. You have to balance stacking resources for growth and basic survival against efforts that will improve your chances of surviving doom events.

The board obviously is different every time. The factors you have to weigh and plan for are just complex enough, and just enough of the future is beyond your sight and control. The gameplay mechanics also change just a bit every time, due to a new mix of buildings and resource gathering methods, as well as new random events that can sometimes have a huge effect on your strategy. You're not just accounting for randomness in your strategy--you have to adjust how you play the game all the time.

Just when you think the game is getting easy, the next chapter drops, you start doing the math, and realize you have overlooked something that may doom your village, depending on whether the RNG punishes you sufficiently. There's definitely a big luck factor, as there is in real life. But you can make your own luck if you see far enough into the future and play well.

It's a very well-made game that can run on a potato, and I'm a little obsessed with it.

For video games, Full Spectrum Warrior.

It's got a unique third person-ish view where the player swaps between different fire teams or special units, and orders them. It looks like a third person shooter but is just a real time ground level tactical game. It's demanding but fun. It's the kind of game that Brothers In Arms, old school Ghost Recon, or Doorkickers players would love. I don't know why nobody really remembers it or why somebody hasn't made a spiritual successor.

Simon the Sorcerer

It always seems to be overshadowed by Monkey Island. Personally I think it's actually better in many ways.

I thought Slice & Dice was going to take Steam by storm but it kinda just came and went. Amazing little roguelike dice battler

Super Puzzle Fighter II: Turbo. Easily the most fun and competent puzzle game I have ever played. It is especially great with 2 players.

Aotenjo Infinite Hands is like Balatro for mahjong. Strongly recommend it

For tabletop, I loooooove Sentinels of the Multiverse, always hard to find other folks that play it though.

Video game: Remember Me

Would chess count?

I mean chess is not not popular by any stretch of the mind, a lot of people around the world are playing it every single day and that won't go away anytime soon, but I'm always surprised to see so much more excitement going on around a new version of This or That video game that people will play for a little while before switching to a newer version than for chess. Despite its apparent simplicity (and lack of visual effects), chess has remained a challenge for the smartest among us, and will keep on being so no matter how much better computers can be playing it.

Cattle Country, a completely unique stardew-esque game set in the wild west. It feels way more in depth and polished than Stardew, and you can be attacked by random wildlife and even outlaws lol

I could name so many tabletop RPGs for this. Unfortunately, since Hasbro has dominated the space like a generational pile of elephant dung for over 2 decades now, and TSR actually did manage to make a few smart marketing decisions before Dragon Dice and the bankruptcy, I guess I can't be too shocked.

So I guess I'll go with a board game. Tsuro - The Game of the Path. It's super-simple to learn and play, can be interesting for kids and adults alike, and it's just a really solid, fun, game. There's even an iOS version. I don't understand why it's a niche game instead of being front-and-center ahead of Monopoly or Clue(do). It's not even prohibitively expensive, honestly - the wholly valid argument against Carcassonne and other niche games. There's no good reason I can think of why Ticket to Ride is more popular than Tsuro.

The Legend of Alan D'ar, it was for me the first co-op rpg I'd ever played. My brother and I couldn't out our controllers down. Sadly all you ever hear about it IF anything is how much people hated it.

star trek online and champions online. they were pretty reasonable for free to play mmo's and the costuming was amazing.

Me and my girlfriend are big fans of Doomsday Paradise, a rouge like dating sim

Quake Champions is pretty great, surprised it's not at least a little bigger

RS isnt really popular outside millennials groups, although it's declining a lot last few years

Shoot Shoot Mega Pack is extremely underrated imo. It's a really fun 2D shooter +party game, and it only has 13 reviews on steam.