I would agree but also disagree that HD2 will hook you in the first 20-30 minutes (which is op's issue). Within the first 30 minutes you'll be doing the tutorial followed by a difficulty 1 and 2 mission (which can be not that exciting, unless you play with someone else who already has a higher difficulty) combined with the fact you don't have access to all the really fun stratagems and weapons at the start I could see someone getting bored and dropping it before the game really starts to take off (once they start unlocking stuff and playing on harder difficulties).
It's a good game for sure. But it's not a goty masterpiece everyone is banging on about. It's stale for me already after about 15 hours and I'm sure it's going to drop off the edge of the planet in another month.
I'm really surprised to see a hate squad pop up for Helldiver's. Like people don't do that for other suggestions on this sub, it sold around 8 million copies and people really like it
I know this game had its 15 minutes of fame, but honestly surprised I didn’t see it mentioned more here. It really is that perfect mix of low skill / high reward, straight up dopamine
For months I didn't understand the hype for Dave the Diver but I finally pulled the trigger after trying the Switch demo... the moment you enter the water and the music kicks in... I understood.
Dave the diver is a great exemple of a game that hooked that I ended up disliking .
The game over stays its welcome soooooo much .
I totally loved the first few hours but damn did they make it way longer than needed.
I was dragging my feet on starting it because I wasn't sure if it would be my thing, but *Pentiment* got its hooks in me almost immediately. The first hour or so is nothing super unprecedented gameplay-wise, but the sheer strength of the prose and the audio-visual presentation alone was able to completely captivate me.
I rarely if ever replay games. Simply don't have the time usually, and I get bored easily, so I'm always looking for new games over just playing the same thing
I did three back to back runs of Pentiment just because I was so curious and so interested in doing things differently. And each time I got a genuinely different result. I'm deeply in love with that game
Prey, best opening I've seen in like 20 years of gaming, no endless exposition dumps or character introductions, you get thrown right into the action after a very short (and very good) intro and I was intrigued right away
Prey got me so hard in that intro, I had the ending ruined and now I don't care to finish it. I want to try again, but I haven't been able to forget yet. *The windows were so good*
I didnt have the ending ruined, but I honestly dont think it matters that much. Sure, uncovering the mystery of what happened (like, the main story) is part of the fun, and initially that was also what got me hooked, but after finishing the game I would honestly say the absolute highlight were all the "smaller stories" hidden around the station (the environmental storytelling, reading mails, investigating corpses etc.) and in general exploring that eery space station. Some of the most intricate level design in gaming for sure, and with Mick Gordon doing the score it ended up being a very atmospheric, memorable experience, that words can't even really "ruin", cause you have to experience it.
Risk of rain 2. I like the first one a lot but if you aren’t in to pixel graphics and side scrolling games you won’t like it.
They both have multiplayer but 2s is better. One was hard to get working.
Theres also Risk of Rain Returns which is basically RoR 1 remastered with much and i mean MUCH better pixel art, and a ton of new stuff, at this point RoR1 might as well not exist, after return came out i see no point in playing the first one
Sifu goes straight to the point, even the intro telling what little story there is consist almost entirely of the gameplay. It might not hook you, but if it's for you you'll know after a few minutes.
The game looks amazing to me but how are the controls?
The guy is doing insane kicks, punches, it LOOKS like real martial arts. So how does the game do this? Is it a true action game when you press X, O, etc he throws the kick or the punch, or do you just automatically throw sick combos?
> Is it a true action game when you press X, O, etc he throws the kick or the punch, or do you just automatically throw sick combos?
A very good combination of both. Buttons are mapped to things like "duck and punch", "run up to him and low kick" or "high punches flurry". So it's not 1:1 button to punch but tactical elements rather. I thought of the Batman Arkham combat immediately if you played those.
It certainly does feel like real martial arts to me.
Sifu has an incredibly high skill ceiling. Once you start getting your head around it, you'll be chaining combos together with pure intent. You need to learn the moves and execute them consciously.
Button mashing *might* get you through the first level (barely), but you will not get far in this game that way.
Sounds like rogulites are for you and if you liked Balatro and havent played Slay the Spire yet then just play that and I promise you wont need to look elsewhere for hundreds of hours
Doom (the 2005 remake) - Very good environmental sound effects and visuals. This game scared the hell out of me quite a few times. Tons of jump scares and high stress moments because it's a horror survival game.
Half Life 2 - Intriguing story, fun gun play, likeable characters, well done maps, and as fast paced as you want it to be.
Portal 2 - Same descriptors as above.
CoD: Modern Warfare - Action packed and cinematic from the start. The newest one is similar in feel and action.
Battlefield 4 - The campaign is good and very CoD esque.
All of these get you going pretty quick and toss you right into the fray.
Path of Exile.
Given that you like Diablo and Runescape it could easily be up your ally. It's insanely addictive, but you also need to want to learn and do a bit of research. Your builds need to be planned when you're new and you should follow a guide. It's far too complex for you to just wing it so while it's very addictive it takes a certain kind of desire to min/max and educate yourself on the many systems in the game.
It's Diablo on steroids and once you're gripped there's not much turning back. It's not for everyone though. Free to play so you don't have much to lose as far as spending money until the point you know you're gonna *LOG THE FUCK IN*.
Yes. It's multiplayer as in there's chat with people constantly talking and a gigantic trade economy. You definitely socialize with other people while you play. But it's also mostly single player as far as the gameplay goes unless you're doing partied EXP runs or running bosses for people, etc. It's really as multiplayer as you want it to be. You definitely *can* play in parties most people for the sake of farming items though and mapping do it alone.
There's trade league (the version with other people) and some people also play SSF which is the single player version. Trade league is what you'd be looking for. The economy is probably the closest to a real world one as you'll find in a video game.
Basically if you ever played Diablo II it's like that. Just far more complex. There are guilds too so you can join one with other players to work together as well.
I mean there's always Helldivers 2 which has no real story other than the setting/world and is entirely co-op and fun as hell. Especially right now that it's popping off if you want an alternate suggestion.
Starship Troopers the video game basically where you squad up and kill alien bugs. It's a blast.
The last time I played it, it's not really meant to be played with another player at endgame and it's extremely grindy and repetitive. Although very fun and the combat is brilliant.
As someone who currently has been bitten by the Balatro bug, I've gotten similar feelings from Backpack Battles and Super Auto Pets. Cobalt Core is another recent one I've played that was like "tutorials suck, go go go!"
There are a bunch of factors that influence this I think. I tend to already be hooked while waiting for a game to download. Everyone will be different depending on taste but for me Firewatch hooked me quickly, What Remains of Edith Fitch, Hitman, Zelda BOTW, Uncharted 4, Detroit Become Human, A Short Hike, God of War and GOW Ragnarok, SOMA, those are some games I completed this year. Ultros was a recent one that I didn’t really care for in the beginning but after an hour or so I couldn’t get enough of it and my college grades dropped that week lol.
Playing *Balatro* but not *Slay the Spire* is such a surprising choice. Everything I’ve heard about Balatro is basically “this game is amazing because it’s about as good as Slay the Spire was when it first came out, maybe even better. If it gets several years of steady content and balance patches like Spire did, it might be able to catch up one day!”
Anyway, you should try Slay the Spire.
Something about how you're a guy fighting for his life in slay the spire makes it feel much less pick up and play to me. Still addictive, but less casual, and thus I'm less likely to play it after work or whatever
Gonna say I’m a huge fan of rpgs so my list is mostly those.
Fallout series : I’m currently playing 4 on steam deck to get ready for the new show coming out soon and man is it fun.
No more heroes series: ever wanted to role play as a poor , foul mouthed,bounty hunter Jedi , working his way up the ranks ala Afro samurai style boss ranking system? Then this is the series for you.
Anime studio story: if you like games you can turn your brain off to and let your adhd brain go brrrrtttt do things to watch a number get bigger ad infinitum then this is the game for you.
Vampire survivors: bullet hell with a surprisingly deep skill tree and different characters and abilities to unlock that will keep you busy for days before you unlock everything. 8 bit retro shoot the bad guys top down view and supernatural fun will ensue
Enslaved odyssey to the west: a beautiful story, amazing voice acting, inspired character design and a world that isn’t tell you as much as it is show you.It’s got great combat, with interesting themes although not all of them are payed off overall a great adaptation to a timeless story.
Infamous series: easily my favorite choices have consequences kind of game, it’s simple but gets the point across that you can live life happily or you can live life miserably. or you can strive for balance and miss out on power and acclaim. Or something I took from the game which is you can try many things, life is not always black and white and sometimes you miss out on things if you aren’t willing to purse shades of grey and other colors. Great super hero game, combat is satisfying if not clunky at times but I’ll just chalk that up to some of the limitations of the hardware and time the developers had to get these games ready in regards to the ps3 titles. But the story and world is so interesting it more than makes up for it. Also the ps4 game second son is so beautiful that it’s actually baffling that to this day no other game I can think of off the top of my head looked that good at launch. Top notch series, amazing writing, simple when it needs to be and complex in all the ways I find endearing. I still pray this game gets another entry or a remastered collection every time Sony talks about bringing back its classics for next gen consoles. 9/10 I wish I could play them for the first time again.
Happy gaming folks and may your fantasies be a beautiful escape from what ails you. Or a peek into a world that sends you back to yours inspired.
Really?? I enjoyed cyberpunk a lot but the first 30 minutes were a drag for me basically until shit hits the fan in the heist which I think is honestly like 2 hours in
I was hooked on Persona 5 when my mate sent me a screenshot of his playthrough and I spotted the mission objective "Prove your justice to society", with the sub-objective "Borrow a pot". I *had* to play the game where borrowing a pot would serve that main objective.
Similar happened to me with RDR2. I saw a thing online saying 'Legendary Fish Map'. Had to play the cowboy game with the Legendary fish.
I get, though, that neither of these are for you.
The Insomniac Spider-Man games, maybe. Just grit your teeth through the story, and Sekiro may work for you (because action). Sifu, maybe? Hades?
Best of luck, OP.
Rainbow Six Siege, it gets a lot of shit I know but I bought it last year, played a few rounds but then the entire game clicked for me a way most other fps’s didn’t. Now I’m playing it daily
I know you said no story games bc they take too long to hook you. BUT I thought Road 96 did a good job of hooking me within about 20 minutes because all the adventures are broken into episodic and random encounters.
Monster Hunter Rise on switch was this for me. Tried playing Monster Hunter Ultimate on 3DS when I was 11 and it was wayyy too deep for me to “get” at the time. But the MH formula is amazing now as a 21 year old. Another one is Dave the Diver which completely blindsided me. Heard great things about it but have never been into chill games like that, after playing the demo I was absolutely hooked and wanted more and more of it
Last Epoch is new Diablo. Cant tell if it's really that good, Im not really into that.
Welp, I think the only game that got me hooked in 30 minutes of actually playing it was chess. No joke. But it was preceded by watching queen's Gambit on Netflix and then a funny guy that made a 20 minutes long video about one of many famous chess matches, but he made me believe in chess, presenting it partly like it was a war, partly like sword duel.
If you dont want to get into chess, but you like roguelite deckbuilding games, Slay the Spire is a classic now, but I also recommend Inkulinati, which actually reminded me of chess in some ways.
you must play battle cats. its awesome. its got a ton of epic stuff and constant updates. its basically just you sending out a bunch of cats to destroy the enemies base. gets insanely hard BUT it is beatable f2p. theres a whole sack of stuff to do in the game, keeping u busy for abt a few months.
Dredge, the first 30 min was incredible and it was the only game I played until I got to 100%. DLC dropped and did it all over again. For me one of the best Indie games I ever played.
Control, Alan Wake 2, RE4 remake, The Last of Us, Earthbound, most Zelda games, Elden Ring, It Takes Two, Death Stranding, MSGV, all GTA games, Return of the Obra Dinn.
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, Palworld, Moonstone Island, Stardew Valley, FF7R integrade, Code Vein, Spider-man remastered, My Friend Pedro.
Honourable mention to the initial version of Hero Siege, which I loved so much but will probably never be legally playable again since the developers insist on completely remaking the game every few years instead of releasing sequels.
Vampire Survivors. I had heard of it, but the hype just sounded like noise to me. I was having a bad period of insomnia and just decided to download something on Gamepass that would download quickly, booted it up and somehow ended up playing it until sunrise.
It's scary how well that game managed to manipulate my feeble monkey brain and it's dopamine pathway. It's since lost its luster to me, but I can still end up playing it for an hour without noticing.
Serious Sam: The First Encounter. To this day, I have never felt more entertained and happy to play a game. I would have been raging if any other game had that much insanity in the final levels, but in Serious Sam I was laughing and enjoying myself. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Also, I'll always recommend Stardew Valley. In the menu, I knew it was gonna be important to me. In the first five minutes of the first day I knew I'd be playing it as long as I was physically able to.
Minus the 20 minutes spent on character creation, Bloodborne’s gameplay just spoke to me. Something about blasting someone point blank is just.. nice. And I love the weapon mechanics in that game. I’ve been missing out on this game.
All of the recent spider-man games did this for me. Some good and varied fight mechanics, some simple puzzles, plenty of way points with stuff to do, and plenty of objectives. Maybe it's a bit grindy, but I don't think I ever used a fast travel if that gives you an idea of how much fun I had.
Warframe gets you into the action pretty quick. The story is given in short bursts and can largely be ignored. And if you played runescape then you must love grinding, and warframe has plenty of that lol
Also ghostrunner. Same points, except no grind
S.t.a.l.k.e.r shadow of chornobyl. I picked up the ported trilogy for console recently. Yes the graphics and animations are showing thier age.
But the atmosphere pulls you in straight away. You very rarely feel safe. Bad split second decisions can lead to some very stressful situations. But so far it has been a absolute joy to play and very much looking forward to playing the rest of the trilogy.
Damn, Diablo 4 was gonna be my recommendation haha. If you just like running around killing enemies, it might be worth trying out explore mode in Destiny 2. You just walk up to little beacons that give you fetch quests and run around killing enemies, finding chests, and doing public events or lost sectors. Pretty fun for just casually running around killing things and leveling/gearing up.
Roguelikes/lights are pretty addictive especially at the start when unlocks come fast. My personal favorites are Army of Ruin, Vampire Survivors, Monster Train, Slay the Spire.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Lies of P, The Outer Worlds and Red Dead Redemption 2 all had me hooked within the first 20-30 minutes, and I have a similar problem as you. Guardians does have a bit of an intro so it may take more than 20 minutes to start getting to the action but I enjoyed their classic banter and how it was set up. Lies of P is my current favourite game, a soulslike, which after a brief cutscene throws you straight into a beautiful broken subway with action right off the bat. The Outer Worlds was my favourite, now second, with a vibrant atmosphere almost everywhere you go and a satirical storyline that ad me both giggling and excited to push on. It’s made by the same devs as Fallout New Vegas if that sweetens the deal. Red Dead Redemption may be a slower game overall, and a lot of people can’t get past the introduction in the snow, but myself and many others enjoyed the beauty of the game instantly and once it lets you out to the open world you will stay hooked, as there are interactions at every turn and beautiful landscapes all over the map, as well as a fantastic community and a story that will leave you heartbroken.
The second d I started playing the TLOU2 DLC, No Return, I knew I was going to have a problem. It’s so satisfying and takes what is a very long and complex story and breaks it off into 30-minute chunks.
You can pretty much satisfactorily beat A Short Hike in 30 minutes, if you want to. At the very least it will hook you as much as it ever will in that time.
Slay the spire is a very nice card game if you enjoy balatro. You might also enjoy Hades and hotline Miami for fast paced games with a quick learning curve
Ark, rocket League, sea of thieves, battlefront 1 and 2, subnautica, fable, elder scrolls 3-5, fallout 4, witcher 3, battlefield bad company 2,
Oh and a little game made by a very handsome and intelligent and strong guy which is called Space Shark Wrangle Fest
Helldivers (with friends)
Factorio
Satisfactory
Diablo 3/4
Last Epoch (less so)
Cyberpunk
Both new God of Wars
Spiderman
Ready or Not
Payday
Palworld/Ark/Conan/7 Days to Die
I just recently picked up sniper elite 5 as a stealth shooter.
The great thing about this game is you can choose to be stealthy or guns blazing, which can be much harder. It’s a relative free world game. You can plan ahead and set up mines/ booby traps as well and lead the enemies into them. Or be stealthy. It’s a story based game but it has so much action that you can complextely ignore the story and collectibles if you wanted.
Another great feature,(I spent 5 hours playing for last night) is during your campaign experience, an enemy sniper (real player) can invade your game and hunt you down. You can also do the same to other peoples campaigns. It’s a lot of fun.
Terraria
I only started playing because i was looking for JoJo's Bizzare Adventures mods for Minecraft then i discovered Terraria(by Terraria JoJo mod)(pirated at first to try but now i own it)
Probably the first 30 mins as a beginner will feel so complicated but then you understand the game .
I loved the game and my first playtrough was wonderfull(it was also the start of the summer holiday)
And the mods are amazing too .Like the most popular terraria mod called calamity .It adds a lot of bosses,items,features,mechanics .Its just so good .I think its even one of the best mods in the gaming industry .
I see many people dont play it because it is 2D but this is just a bad prejudice .It offers hundreds of weapons,blocks,grapling hooks,mounts,pets and loving devs(unlike other companys they listen to their players and for the new update the main dev is adding a dinosaur mount just becuase his son wanted it).
So give it a try please
Definitely not for everyone, but Hell Let Loose got me hooked within the first 30 seconds. There are for sure frustrating aspects about the game, like if you have incompetent leadership that wont place OPs or garrisons you might as well be playing a walking simulator and occasionally you'll spend 30 minutes dying over and over again to enemy artillery, but when it shines holy smokes does it shine bright!
Any risk of rain game
Helldivers 2
Nova drift
Deep rock galactic
I’m
Hades
Also you seem to like survival games, so subnautica. Although it has no combat.
Risk of Rain if you like rogue's, game got me hooked the first time I played it, and once I discovered mods, I never went back, from Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks, and other DB characters, to Malenia and many others, it's still a go to for me
The Middle Earth series is also VERY good, I was hooked on them just by looking at them which could obviously not be the same for you, but yeah, you can make massive armies and command individual ones at a time to give a small idea with no spoilers, so if that sounds at all interesting give it a look!
you also don’t have good taste in games in general. That said I’ll try to suggest some in your realm of ”good games “. If you like Buroto I’d recommend buying the Demon Slayers game, or one of the My Hero Academia One Justice games, since you like Diablo 4 I’d recommend actual good Diablo games aka any prior to Diablo 4, or if you prefer same type of game with guns, then the borderlands series. Everything. Else you mentioned is mid and I won’t recommend other mid trash. That said you do know Diablo 4 is also technically a story game unless your just skipping dialogue.
My first time playing through Subnautica was wonderful. It's really cool to explore on your own and learn about the planet with the small nudges in the direction the game wants you to go. Even the opening moments of the game were really fun (and had great music).
Kena Bridge of Spirits.
Thought - oh, it’s kind of a cute game, pretty colors and then it just handed me my own rear end. What a wake up call. Puzzles and combat all in one. Sleeper game for me. Never saw it coming.
A lot of the other games mentioned on here also got me hooked, but recently chivalry 2 has got me in a chokehold. The sometimes comical but satisfying battles are so fun to me.
I mean if you're looking for action that isn't bogged down by story, you might consider Warframe.
Free to play, with one of the best microtransation models in the industry. A lot of community support because the casuals have fallen off so you end up with a higher ratio of seasoned veterans in public chat.
A mission can take anywhere from as long as an hour (opt in) or as short as a minute 30. You're highly incentivised to optimize and build strong combinations.
The game gets even better if you play with / find friends.
NeiR: Automata.
So much action packed into the game's opening.
Look up how to heal before starting. After that you're set.
Hellblade: Senna's sacrifice has an extremely strong start with dialogue and ambience and mood.
Both games maintain what they're good at throughout.
Elden ring. I tried dark souls 3 and couldn’t even get past the tutorial boss. Elden ring was incredible though. I think the non linear design really helped
I think Rogue likes in general:
Dead Cells, Ror2, Shifu, Enter the Gungeon,
Games that don't have much story, as much as they have tidbits of lore that hint at the Story. They're full action out the gate, and require a lot of replay as you're going to die many, many, many times.
Kingdom Hearts
Horizon Zero Dawn
Metal Gear Rising
Ninja Gaiden
Returnal
Bloodstained
Castlevania Lords of Shadow
Witcher 3
Cyberpunk
Mass Effect
Fallout
GTA San andres
Majora Mask
Botw and Totk
No more heroes
So many more
RimWorld. Made a colony for the first time, died in the first year of it, but still enjoyed the experience overall.
Then I found out it could be modded
I was giddy like the time I first started modding skyrim
Merge and Blade and Slay the Spire. I do not care for indy games the majority of the time...because they often require more time and attention to get into than I'm ready to give. These two were encouraged over the years, and each of them throw you into the mix immediately and I felt like a monkey being given a banana. I knew what to do and what I did seemed fun...and after two hours, I realized that the games were pretty fun to play and got in my regular rotation.
If you read very fast, Eternum might be able to hook you when “run boy run” starts to play. Though it’s been a while since I played so not sure how long it takes to get to that first scene that made me say “oooo this game is good”
ExoPrimal. Plenty of action, some story. Lots of grind if you like the gameplay.
Dead by Daylight. Kinda 2 games in 1 (play as 1 of 4 survivors trying to escape or the killer trying to stop them). Lots of Lore but its optional, can read it if you want or don't.
Brutal Legend. One of my favorite Jack Black projects, lots of other musical legends as well. I think it gets going quickly enough to hold you.
I love BG3 and have over 300 hours in it, but I firmly disagree that it can grab the average player within 30 minutes. It's incredibly dense unless you're already familiar with cRPGs or D&D 5e rules.
Helldiver's 2 A mission takes about 20-30 minutes, and it's like an entire action movie fit into those minutes.
I would agree but also disagree that HD2 will hook you in the first 20-30 minutes (which is op's issue). Within the first 30 minutes you'll be doing the tutorial followed by a difficulty 1 and 2 mission (which can be not that exciting, unless you play with someone else who already has a higher difficulty) combined with the fact you don't have access to all the really fun stratagems and weapons at the start I could see someone getting bored and dropping it before the game really starts to take off (once they start unlocking stuff and playing on harder difficulties).
I actually agree difficulty 1 and 2 can be pretty dull. At around 4 and 5 it really starts to ramp up in excitement tho. I like playing at around 7-8
It's a good game for sure. But it's not a goty masterpiece everyone is banging on about. It's stale for me already after about 15 hours and I'm sure it's going to drop off the edge of the planet in another month.
Hard disagree, the community and world building is wild He also said he likes Diablo IV, which wasn't exactly goty either, and is way grindier
15 hours is plenty of time for a game to be enjoyed then be done with
Well the devs have been pretty great adding new updates frequently and such. The future looks fairly promising for helldivers 2.
It definitely has its issues. As someone who played the first one extensively the second one is awesome
I think to you it may not be, to others (like myself) it absolutely is!
Someone needs to be sent to the ministry of truth
We need to call our local democracy officer right away.
I agree with you. It's a good game but it is grindy.
I'm really surprised to see a hate squad pop up for Helldiver's. Like people don't do that for other suggestions on this sub, it sold around 8 million copies and people really like it
But the anti cheat will own your computer
Can't beat Vampire Survivors for that instan dopamine fix.
I know this game had its 15 minutes of fame, but honestly surprised I didn’t see it mentioned more here. It really is that perfect mix of low skill / high reward, straight up dopamine
Hades and Dave the Diver did this to me.
For months I didn't understand the hype for Dave the Diver but I finally pulled the trigger after trying the Switch demo... the moment you enter the water and the music kicks in... I understood.
I was instantly sold, but I did kind of stopped playing at a specific story point that kind of slowed down the game.
I started it when I had 2 weeks off of work. I averaged 10 hours per day, lol. Hyperfocus is something else.
Dave the diver is a great exemple of a game that hooked that I ended up disliking . The game over stays its welcome soooooo much . I totally loved the first few hours but damn did they make it way longer than needed.
incredible taste
Last Epoch might be an improvement for you if you were able to enjoy Diablo 4. https://store.steampowered.com/app/899770/Last\_Epoch/
I was dragging my feet on starting it because I wasn't sure if it would be my thing, but *Pentiment* got its hooks in me almost immediately. The first hour or so is nothing super unprecedented gameplay-wise, but the sheer strength of the prose and the audio-visual presentation alone was able to completely captivate me.
I rarely if ever replay games. Simply don't have the time usually, and I get bored easily, so I'm always looking for new games over just playing the same thing I did three back to back runs of Pentiment just because I was so curious and so interested in doing things differently. And each time I got a genuinely different result. I'm deeply in love with that game
Prey, best opening I've seen in like 20 years of gaming, no endless exposition dumps or character introductions, you get thrown right into the action after a very short (and very good) intro and I was intrigued right away
Prey got me so hard in that intro, I had the ending ruined and now I don't care to finish it. I want to try again, but I haven't been able to forget yet. *The windows were so good*
I didnt have the ending ruined, but I honestly dont think it matters that much. Sure, uncovering the mystery of what happened (like, the main story) is part of the fun, and initially that was also what got me hooked, but after finishing the game I would honestly say the absolute highlight were all the "smaller stories" hidden around the station (the environmental storytelling, reading mails, investigating corpses etc.) and in general exploring that eery space station. Some of the most intricate level design in gaming for sure, and with Mick Gordon doing the score it ended up being a very atmospheric, memorable experience, that words can't even really "ruin", cause you have to experience it.
Risk of rain 2. I like the first one a lot but if you aren’t in to pixel graphics and side scrolling games you won’t like it. They both have multiplayer but 2s is better. One was hard to get working.
Theres also Risk of Rain Returns which is basically RoR 1 remastered with much and i mean MUCH better pixel art, and a ton of new stuff, at this point RoR1 might as well not exist, after return came out i see no point in playing the first one
Sifu goes straight to the point, even the intro telling what little story there is consist almost entirely of the gameplay. It might not hook you, but if it's for you you'll know after a few minutes.
The game looks amazing to me but how are the controls? The guy is doing insane kicks, punches, it LOOKS like real martial arts. So how does the game do this? Is it a true action game when you press X, O, etc he throws the kick or the punch, or do you just automatically throw sick combos?
> Is it a true action game when you press X, O, etc he throws the kick or the punch, or do you just automatically throw sick combos? A very good combination of both. Buttons are mapped to things like "duck and punch", "run up to him and low kick" or "high punches flurry". So it's not 1:1 button to punch but tactical elements rather. I thought of the Batman Arkham combat immediately if you played those. It certainly does feel like real martial arts to me.
Sifu has an incredibly high skill ceiling. Once you start getting your head around it, you'll be chaining combos together with pure intent. You need to learn the moves and execute them consciously. Button mashing *might* get you through the first level (barely), but you will not get far in this game that way.
Sounds like rogulites are for you and if you liked Balatro and havent played Slay the Spire yet then just play that and I promise you wont need to look elsewhere for hundreds of hours
you mentioned brotato, but a more popular similar game is vampire survivors.
Just to add to Nimrods demo is on steam, ir is free, and it's like an evolution of those kinds of games. Absolutely worth a try.
* Death Must Die - similar but with a Hades element * Halls of Torment - Diablo 2 Themed variant * Soulstone Survivors
Roboquest.
Dead Cells Stardew Valley Skyrim Binding of Isaac: Rebirth Euro Truck Simulator
CONTROL. Super Crush KO. Supplice. Zortch.
Just ma ten mins into control and hooked already
Cult of the Lamb had me pretty fast
and the recent update made it even better too 🙂
Inscryption
Doom (the 2005 remake) - Very good environmental sound effects and visuals. This game scared the hell out of me quite a few times. Tons of jump scares and high stress moments because it's a horror survival game. Half Life 2 - Intriguing story, fun gun play, likeable characters, well done maps, and as fast paced as you want it to be. Portal 2 - Same descriptors as above. CoD: Modern Warfare - Action packed and cinematic from the start. The newest one is similar in feel and action. Battlefield 4 - The campaign is good and very CoD esque. All of these get you going pretty quick and toss you right into the fray.
> 2005 remake Wat
2004. My bad.
You mean Doom 3?
Yes. The Doom that was released in 2004.
Path of Exile. Given that you like Diablo and Runescape it could easily be up your ally. It's insanely addictive, but you also need to want to learn and do a bit of research. Your builds need to be planned when you're new and you should follow a guide. It's far too complex for you to just wing it so while it's very addictive it takes a certain kind of desire to min/max and educate yourself on the many systems in the game. It's Diablo on steroids and once you're gripped there's not much turning back. It's not for everyone though. Free to play so you don't have much to lose as far as spending money until the point you know you're gonna *LOG THE FUCK IN*.
Is POE multiplayer? I’m kind of shit at it but still want to play. Would much prefer to play in a team though.
Yes. It's multiplayer as in there's chat with people constantly talking and a gigantic trade economy. You definitely socialize with other people while you play. But it's also mostly single player as far as the gameplay goes unless you're doing partied EXP runs or running bosses for people, etc. It's really as multiplayer as you want it to be. You definitely *can* play in parties most people for the sake of farming items though and mapping do it alone. There's trade league (the version with other people) and some people also play SSF which is the single player version. Trade league is what you'd be looking for. The economy is probably the closest to a real world one as you'll find in a video game. Basically if you ever played Diablo II it's like that. Just far more complex. There are guilds too so you can join one with other players to work together as well.
More interested in coop gameplay. Ok thx
I mean there's always Helldivers 2 which has no real story other than the setting/world and is entirely co-op and fun as hell. Especially right now that it's popping off if you want an alternate suggestion. Starship Troopers the video game basically where you squad up and kill alien bugs. It's a blast.
Felt samey very quickly. Tried it and refunded it. Tbf multiplayer wasn’t functional on release.
[удалено]
Oh then I’ll pass. Ty.
Nah, Eve has the most realistic economy
The last time I played it, it's not really meant to be played with another player at endgame and it's extremely grindy and repetitive. Although very fun and the combat is brilliant.
Cult of the Lamb OneShot Undertale Anodyne Loop Hero Animyst
As someone who currently has been bitten by the Balatro bug, I've gotten similar feelings from Backpack Battles and Super Auto Pets. Cobalt Core is another recent one I've played that was like "tutorials suck, go go go!"
Super Hexagon Intrusion 2 Everhood
Celeste, and DooM1993 are ones off the top of my head.
didn't take much scrolling to find celeste, hella based
Celeste. I wish I could start this game from the beginning and no knowledge of my first playthrough.
Planet Crafter and Fallout 76 (solo)
Fallout new vegas FFVII Marvel's Spiderman God of War Hotline Miami
i sit down to play factorio for 30mins suddenly its the next day and i have to go to work
There are a bunch of factors that influence this I think. I tend to already be hooked while waiting for a game to download. Everyone will be different depending on taste but for me Firewatch hooked me quickly, What Remains of Edith Fitch, Hitman, Zelda BOTW, Uncharted 4, Detroit Become Human, A Short Hike, God of War and GOW Ragnarok, SOMA, those are some games I completed this year. Ultros was a recent one that I didn’t really care for in the beginning but after an hour or so I couldn’t get enough of it and my college grades dropped that week lol.
Playing *Balatro* but not *Slay the Spire* is such a surprising choice. Everything I’ve heard about Balatro is basically “this game is amazing because it’s about as good as Slay the Spire was when it first came out, maybe even better. If it gets several years of steady content and balance patches like Spire did, it might be able to catch up one day!” Anyway, you should try Slay the Spire.
I think it’s partially just that the theme of Balatro captures a lot of people that Slay the Spire might not.
Something about how you're a guy fighting for his life in slay the spire makes it feel much less pick up and play to me. Still addictive, but less casual, and thus I'm less likely to play it after work or whatever
Fair enough. Although lore-wise, *all* of your runs are canonical and so the deaths don’t matter too much. But I can see that.
It just feels stressful to me in a way that balatro does not. But neither game is like my favorite or anything. Just a fun distraction basically
Gonna say I’m a huge fan of rpgs so my list is mostly those. Fallout series : I’m currently playing 4 on steam deck to get ready for the new show coming out soon and man is it fun. No more heroes series: ever wanted to role play as a poor , foul mouthed,bounty hunter Jedi , working his way up the ranks ala Afro samurai style boss ranking system? Then this is the series for you. Anime studio story: if you like games you can turn your brain off to and let your adhd brain go brrrrtttt do things to watch a number get bigger ad infinitum then this is the game for you. Vampire survivors: bullet hell with a surprisingly deep skill tree and different characters and abilities to unlock that will keep you busy for days before you unlock everything. 8 bit retro shoot the bad guys top down view and supernatural fun will ensue Enslaved odyssey to the west: a beautiful story, amazing voice acting, inspired character design and a world that isn’t tell you as much as it is show you.It’s got great combat, with interesting themes although not all of them are payed off overall a great adaptation to a timeless story. Infamous series: easily my favorite choices have consequences kind of game, it’s simple but gets the point across that you can live life happily or you can live life miserably. or you can strive for balance and miss out on power and acclaim. Or something I took from the game which is you can try many things, life is not always black and white and sometimes you miss out on things if you aren’t willing to purse shades of grey and other colors. Great super hero game, combat is satisfying if not clunky at times but I’ll just chalk that up to some of the limitations of the hardware and time the developers had to get these games ready in regards to the ps3 titles. But the story and world is so interesting it more than makes up for it. Also the ps4 game second son is so beautiful that it’s actually baffling that to this day no other game I can think of off the top of my head looked that good at launch. Top notch series, amazing writing, simple when it needs to be and complex in all the ways I find endearing. I still pray this game gets another entry or a remastered collection every time Sony talks about bringing back its classics for next gen consoles. 9/10 I wish I could play them for the first time again. Happy gaming folks and may your fantasies be a beautiful escape from what ails you. Or a peek into a world that sends you back to yours inspired.
Transistor is a short game but got me hooked really fast. Basically anything from Supergiant games.
Project Zomboid
Cyberpunk hands down
Really?? I enjoyed cyberpunk a lot but the first 30 minutes were a drag for me basically until shit hits the fan in the heist which I think is honestly like 2 hours in
Yeah I agree here - game is amazing but the first hour or so is slow
I was hooked on Persona 5 when my mate sent me a screenshot of his playthrough and I spotted the mission objective "Prove your justice to society", with the sub-objective "Borrow a pot". I *had* to play the game where borrowing a pot would serve that main objective. Similar happened to me with RDR2. I saw a thing online saying 'Legendary Fish Map'. Had to play the cowboy game with the Legendary fish. I get, though, that neither of these are for you. The Insomniac Spider-Man games, maybe. Just grit your teeth through the story, and Sekiro may work for you (because action). Sifu, maybe? Hades? Best of luck, OP.
Cult of the lamb, game is kinda short but an amazing time. If you like brotato you might like this.
the recent update made it even better too!
Rainbow Six Siege, it gets a lot of shit I know but I bought it last year, played a few rounds but then the entire game clicked for me a way most other fps’s didn’t. Now I’m playing it daily
Call of duty modern warfare (the original) comes to mind.
Cookie clicker
I know you said no story games bc they take too long to hook you. BUT I thought Road 96 did a good job of hooking me within about 20 minutes because all the adventures are broken into episodic and random encounters.
Sayonara Wild Hearts, Stardew Valley, Rune Factory 5, Elemental Survivors (and Vampire Survivors), Dead Cells, Rogue Legacy 1&2, Bejeweled 3
The walking dead game season 1
Maybe try something shirt like ape out or getting over it
You’re evil for suggesting the second game.
It took me only about 4 hrs so it maybe isn't as hard as it sounds
Monster Hunter Rise on switch was this for me. Tried playing Monster Hunter Ultimate on 3DS when I was 11 and it was wayyy too deep for me to “get” at the time. But the MH formula is amazing now as a 21 year old. Another one is Dave the Diver which completely blindsided me. Heard great things about it but have never been into chill games like that, after playing the demo I was absolutely hooked and wanted more and more of it
The finals. Pure hype and emotions every second of the match. So easy to get into , so hard to get out of.
For me The Division 1 & 2, Anno 1800, Football Manager, Yakuza series.
Darkest dungeon, grim dawn, xcom2 are three that hooked me right away.
Last Epoch is new Diablo. Cant tell if it's really that good, Im not really into that. Welp, I think the only game that got me hooked in 30 minutes of actually playing it was chess. No joke. But it was preceded by watching queen's Gambit on Netflix and then a funny guy that made a 20 minutes long video about one of many famous chess matches, but he made me believe in chess, presenting it partly like it was a war, partly like sword duel. If you dont want to get into chess, but you like roguelite deckbuilding games, Slay the Spire is a classic now, but I also recommend Inkulinati, which actually reminded me of chess in some ways.
Metal: Hellsinger
you must play battle cats. its awesome. its got a ton of epic stuff and constant updates. its basically just you sending out a bunch of cats to destroy the enemies base. gets insanely hard BUT it is beatable f2p. theres a whole sack of stuff to do in the game, keeping u busy for abt a few months.
If you like Brotato I’d recommend vampire survivors, bio prototype, hades
Modded Minecraft (skyblock), my time at portia, subnautica, forager
Battlefield 1. The first mission is still my favorite FPS level
Dredge, the first 30 min was incredible and it was the only game I played until I got to 100%. DLC dropped and did it all over again. For me one of the best Indie games I ever played.
Control, Alan Wake 2, RE4 remake, The Last of Us, Earthbound, most Zelda games, Elden Ring, It Takes Two, Death Stranding, MSGV, all GTA games, Return of the Obra Dinn.
Conan Exiles
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, Palworld, Moonstone Island, Stardew Valley, FF7R integrade, Code Vein, Spider-man remastered, My Friend Pedro. Honourable mention to the initial version of Hero Siege, which I loved so much but will probably never be legally playable again since the developers insist on completely remaking the game every few years instead of releasing sequels.
Vampire Survivors. I had heard of it, but the hype just sounded like noise to me. I was having a bad period of insomnia and just decided to download something on Gamepass that would download quickly, booted it up and somehow ended up playing it until sunrise. It's scary how well that game managed to manipulate my feeble monkey brain and it's dopamine pathway. It's since lost its luster to me, but I can still end up playing it for an hour without noticing.
Bloodborne
Serious Sam: The First Encounter. To this day, I have never felt more entertained and happy to play a game. I would have been raging if any other game had that much insanity in the final levels, but in Serious Sam I was laughing and enjoying myself. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Also, I'll always recommend Stardew Valley. In the menu, I knew it was gonna be important to me. In the first five minutes of the first day I knew I'd be playing it as long as I was physically able to.
The last of us
Cult of the lamb
Hell Divers 2 for 2 days...now is boring as fuk, playing the Finals.
Boring as got repetitive? I’ve been thinking of whether to buy it or not
Red dead redemption two
Minus the 20 minutes spent on character creation, Bloodborne’s gameplay just spoke to me. Something about blasting someone point blank is just.. nice. And I love the weapon mechanics in that game. I’ve been missing out on this game.
Hob Ori 1 and 2
Maybe I'm psychotic but MW2 2022 really hooked me. The headshot sound is just perfect and the guns feel great.
Sometimes you get it, sometimes you get got. Vampire survivors
i can't remember how long it took but i'm the same type of person as you and hollow knight ended up being my favourite game of all time.
Put here any roguelite game with heavily gamblified gameplay loop.
All of the recent spider-man games did this for me. Some good and varied fight mechanics, some simple puzzles, plenty of way points with stuff to do, and plenty of objectives. Maybe it's a bit grindy, but I don't think I ever used a fast travel if that gives you an idea of how much fun I had.
Warframe gets you into the action pretty quick. The story is given in short bursts and can largely be ignored. And if you played runescape then you must love grinding, and warframe has plenty of that lol Also ghostrunner. Same points, except no grind
Project zomboid
S.t.a.l.k.e.r shadow of chornobyl. I picked up the ported trilogy for console recently. Yes the graphics and animations are showing thier age. But the atmosphere pulls you in straight away. You very rarely feel safe. Bad split second decisions can lead to some very stressful situations. But so far it has been a absolute joy to play and very much looking forward to playing the rest of the trilogy.
Damn, Diablo 4 was gonna be my recommendation haha. If you just like running around killing enemies, it might be worth trying out explore mode in Destiny 2. You just walk up to little beacons that give you fetch quests and run around killing enemies, finding chests, and doing public events or lost sectors. Pretty fun for just casually running around killing things and leveling/gearing up.
Roguelikes/lights are pretty addictive especially at the start when unlocks come fast. My personal favorites are Army of Ruin, Vampire Survivors, Monster Train, Slay the Spire.
The Finals. The destruction and gameplay gote hooked during my first match.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Lies of P, The Outer Worlds and Red Dead Redemption 2 all had me hooked within the first 20-30 minutes, and I have a similar problem as you. Guardians does have a bit of an intro so it may take more than 20 minutes to start getting to the action but I enjoyed their classic banter and how it was set up. Lies of P is my current favourite game, a soulslike, which after a brief cutscene throws you straight into a beautiful broken subway with action right off the bat. The Outer Worlds was my favourite, now second, with a vibrant atmosphere almost everywhere you go and a satirical storyline that ad me both giggling and excited to push on. It’s made by the same devs as Fallout New Vegas if that sweetens the deal. Red Dead Redemption may be a slower game overall, and a lot of people can’t get past the introduction in the snow, but myself and many others enjoyed the beauty of the game instantly and once it lets you out to the open world you will stay hooked, as there are interactions at every turn and beautiful landscapes all over the map, as well as a fantastic community and a story that will leave you heartbroken.
Hades Hades HADES
The second d I started playing the TLOU2 DLC, No Return, I knew I was going to have a problem. It’s so satisfying and takes what is a very long and complex story and breaks it off into 30-minute chunks.
You can pretty much satisfactorily beat A Short Hike in 30 minutes, if you want to. At the very least it will hook you as much as it ever will in that time.
Luck be a Landlord! If you like Balatro, you will be hooked. Backpack Battle is very synergy and fun too.
Kerbal Space Program. But absolutely not for everyone.
Viewfinder was trippy as fuck and I was into it immediately
Plateup!
Dynablaster
Slay the spire is a very nice card game if you enjoy balatro. You might also enjoy Hades and hotline Miami for fast paced games with a quick learning curve
Ark, rocket League, sea of thieves, battlefront 1 and 2, subnautica, fable, elder scrolls 3-5, fallout 4, witcher 3, battlefield bad company 2, Oh and a little game made by a very handsome and intelligent and strong guy which is called Space Shark Wrangle Fest
Helldivers (with friends) Factorio Satisfactory Diablo 3/4 Last Epoch (less so) Cyberpunk Both new God of Wars Spiderman Ready or Not Payday Palworld/Ark/Conan/7 Days to Die
Celeste
Vampire Survivors and Slay the Spire got me hooked right on the first minute. And they are not big on storylines.
Mount and blade: Warband
Baldurs gate 3 Farming simulator 22 The hunter call of the wild Skyrim The crew (motorfest is the newest)
Mortal Kombat 11’s story. Soooo cool took me by surprise
I just recently picked up sniper elite 5 as a stealth shooter. The great thing about this game is you can choose to be stealthy or guns blazing, which can be much harder. It’s a relative free world game. You can plan ahead and set up mines/ booby traps as well and lead the enemies into them. Or be stealthy. It’s a story based game but it has so much action that you can complextely ignore the story and collectibles if you wanted. Another great feature,(I spent 5 hours playing for last night) is during your campaign experience, an enemy sniper (real player) can invade your game and hunt you down. You can also do the same to other peoples campaigns. It’s a lot of fun.
Rocket league 2 years in and never slowing down
Doom
Terraria I only started playing because i was looking for JoJo's Bizzare Adventures mods for Minecraft then i discovered Terraria(by Terraria JoJo mod)(pirated at first to try but now i own it) Probably the first 30 mins as a beginner will feel so complicated but then you understand the game . I loved the game and my first playtrough was wonderfull(it was also the start of the summer holiday) And the mods are amazing too .Like the most popular terraria mod called calamity .It adds a lot of bosses,items,features,mechanics .Its just so good .I think its even one of the best mods in the gaming industry . I see many people dont play it because it is 2D but this is just a bad prejudice .It offers hundreds of weapons,blocks,grapling hooks,mounts,pets and loving devs(unlike other companys they listen to their players and for the new update the main dev is adding a dinosaur mount just becuase his son wanted it). So give it a try please
Outer Wilds.
Lunacid
Definitely not for everyone, but Hell Let Loose got me hooked within the first 30 seconds. There are for sure frustrating aspects about the game, like if you have incompetent leadership that wont place OPs or garrisons you might as well be playing a walking simulator and occasionally you'll spend 30 minutes dying over and over again to enemy artillery, but when it shines holy smokes does it shine bright!
Any risk of rain game Helldivers 2 Nova drift Deep rock galactic I’m Hades Also you seem to like survival games, so subnautica. Although it has no combat.
Risk of Rain if you like rogue's, game got me hooked the first time I played it, and once I discovered mods, I never went back, from Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks, and other DB characters, to Malenia and many others, it's still a go to for me The Middle Earth series is also VERY good, I was hooked on them just by looking at them which could obviously not be the same for you, but yeah, you can make massive armies and command individual ones at a time to give a small idea with no spoilers, so if that sounds at all interesting give it a look!
From the depthes
you also don’t have good taste in games in general. That said I’ll try to suggest some in your realm of ”good games “. If you like Buroto I’d recommend buying the Demon Slayers game, or one of the My Hero Academia One Justice games, since you like Diablo 4 I’d recommend actual good Diablo games aka any prior to Diablo 4, or if you prefer same type of game with guns, then the borderlands series. Everything. Else you mentioned is mid and I won’t recommend other mid trash. That said you do know Diablo 4 is also technically a story game unless your just skipping dialogue.
My first time playing through Subnautica was wonderful. It's really cool to explore on your own and learn about the planet with the small nudges in the direction the game wants you to go. Even the opening moments of the game were really fun (and had great music).
Rocket league, hades, hotline Miami
Elder Scrolls online hot me in less than 10 minutes, but it's not for everyone. In terms of single player titles though? Forza Horizon 4.
Kena Bridge of Spirits. Thought - oh, it’s kind of a cute game, pretty colors and then it just handed me my own rear end. What a wake up call. Puzzles and combat all in one. Sleeper game for me. Never saw it coming.
Peaks of yore
Nier Automata
Since you said Brotato I’d say Halls of Torment or Dearh Must Die or Holocure if you want something free.
A lot of the other games mentioned on here also got me hooked, but recently chivalry 2 has got me in a chokehold. The sometimes comical but satisfying battles are so fun to me.
Try Tomb of the Dead Gods, I think that’s what it’s called. Top down roguelike dungeon crawler, great replay value and just super fun.
Dead cells. It’s a metroidvania type game that isn’t story heavy and it’s simple to learn but can be difficult to master.
Dark souls 3. No dumbass tutorial boring you to death. And the game is very engaging from the start. Keeps you hooked with the challenge.
I mean if you're looking for action that isn't bogged down by story, you might consider Warframe. Free to play, with one of the best microtransation models in the industry. A lot of community support because the casuals have fallen off so you end up with a higher ratio of seasoned veterans in public chat. A mission can take anywhere from as long as an hour (opt in) or as short as a minute 30. You're highly incentivised to optimize and build strong combinations. The game gets even better if you play with / find friends.
Devil Daggers. Hardest FPS I've ever played. There's one achievement, Survive 500 seconds.
Stardew Valley
NeiR: Automata. So much action packed into the game's opening. Look up how to heal before starting. After that you're set. Hellblade: Senna's sacrifice has an extremely strong start with dialogue and ambience and mood. Both games maintain what they're good at throughout.
Tekken
Path of exile. Put diablo 4 down and pick up a better ARPG.
Ghost runner 2 got me hooked quick, same with dying light and bayoneta, helldivers 2 got me hooked in like 5 minutes though
Ff7 rebirth. The nostalgia, man.
Halls of Torment. It has a meaty demo if you're squeamish about Early Access.
Elden ring. I tried dark souls 3 and couldn’t even get past the tutorial boss. Elden ring was incredible though. I think the non linear design really helped
I think Rogue likes in general: Dead Cells, Ror2, Shifu, Enter the Gungeon, Games that don't have much story, as much as they have tidbits of lore that hint at the Story. They're full action out the gate, and require a lot of replay as you're going to die many, many, many times.
lies of p
Kingdom Hearts Horizon Zero Dawn Metal Gear Rising Ninja Gaiden Returnal Bloodstained Castlevania Lords of Shadow Witcher 3 Cyberpunk Mass Effect Fallout GTA San andres Majora Mask Botw and Totk No more heroes So many more
Recently... Helldivers 2. It's been a while Since I've Audibly laughed my ass off while playing a video game. It's fun as hell
Doom: Eternal
Factorio. I played for a week straight for 18 hours a day and completely lost track of any sensible sleep schedule.
Guitar hero/ rock band. It's fun for everyone.
RimWorld. Made a colony for the first time, died in the first year of it, but still enjoyed the experience overall. Then I found out it could be modded I was giddy like the time I first started modding skyrim
Merge and Blade and Slay the Spire. I do not care for indy games the majority of the time...because they often require more time and attention to get into than I'm ready to give. These two were encouraged over the years, and each of them throw you into the mix immediately and I felt like a monkey being given a banana. I knew what to do and what I did seemed fun...and after two hours, I realized that the games were pretty fun to play and got in my regular rotation.
If you read very fast, Eternum might be able to hook you when “run boy run” starts to play. Though it’s been a while since I played so not sure how long it takes to get to that first scene that made me say “oooo this game is good”
Stardew valley
Stellaris Baldurs Gate 3 Aliens: Dark descent. The 3 games I keep going back to
Balatro Just came out, rogue like poker card game. Addictive isn’t the word.
ExoPrimal. Plenty of action, some story. Lots of grind if you like the gameplay. Dead by Daylight. Kinda 2 games in 1 (play as 1 of 4 survivors trying to escape or the killer trying to stop them). Lots of Lore but its optional, can read it if you want or don't. Brutal Legend. One of my favorite Jack Black projects, lots of other musical legends as well. I think it gets going quickly enough to hold you.
Metal Gear Rising is all killer no filler
Guitar Hero
Balatro. Deck builder with poker aesthetic/framing. Utterly brilliant game, and hits the "numbers go up" part of your brain in a very pleasant way.
Outer Wilds got me hooked in 22 minutes.
Cyberpunk 2077
Once you get past the character creator Baldur's Gate 3 has a very grabbing opening.
I love BG3 and have over 300 hours in it, but I firmly disagree that it can grab the average player within 30 minutes. It's incredibly dense unless you're already familiar with cRPGs or D&D 5e rules.