I played a bit of “Nobody saves the world” it was pretty fun but my wife got mad that I was checked out. This happens when I play games. Played some Pokémon legends with my daughter. She loved it and I do think it’s the best Pokémon formula. It just needs some balance tweeks. I need more star dew valley like games or like terraria. I want to play some Dyson sphere or another factorio round but I don’t think I can spare that much time.
I got into Xenonauts on my last sick leave, which, customization/complexity-wise, is a fun (for me) compromise between batshit insanity and exploits of old X-COMs and somewhat lacking modern ones. Recently realized I never actually finished any of the Black Isle-ish games (from Baldurs Gate to Arcanum), and plan to rectify it down the line this year. More to OP's question, I guess I'm in a similar spot of making up on social interaction and learning to communicate better.
I try and not game as much during the summer months. In winter I go hard on a single player or strategy game usually. Last few were Outer Worlds and Cyberpunk. Lately I've been playing League of Legends with some friends from college, just because its something we all understand mechanically and we know how long it takes to play. It feels like my interest in gaming other than with people is dying rapidly. It's really damn hard to make a narrative gripping for me, particularly in the sci-fi/horror space that a good chunk of popular titles reside in. When I can call Before anyone suggests indie or retro titles, I'm not interested in anything like hotline miami, super meat boy, hollow knight, the usual indie game favorites. Halo was the first science fiction game franchise I ever really played devoutly and really gave a shit about as a child/teenager. I had all the books right up until about 2010 when college destroyed my reading for fun time. Halo has been absolutely run into the fucking ground narratively and I can't stand it. The TV show is ass, the games are hot garbage except for multiplayer, the books are in shambles. Halo Infinite was supposed to be 'The next decade of Halo' and it's so half assed and micro-transaction focused it just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Just free associating. Feeling bad and free associating.
See, and having never played Halo I would argue the TV series is better than anything Star Trek Paramount is doing this season. I wouldn't describe it as good? But I mean, I read the original script (the one they shopped around with master chief-dressed dudes waiting in the lobby while you read it) and that project had nowhere to go but up. Horizon Forbidden West is a great game. It's abundantly clear that Sony has decided HZD is their marquee title, who cares if Elden Ring comes out a week later, it's multicultural, it's hopeful, it opens itself to at least three different play styles and it's got a rich storyworld in which you use bows and arrows to take down robot dinosaurs. Its one drawback, this time around at least, is that the endgame is pretty weak. Once you get through the narrative there isn't a lot of impetus to keep playing.
I've been getting a serious kick out of Control, lately. I should check out Elder Ring, at some point. I kind of like having a life, though, and I feel as though that might go out the window once I get started on ER.
I only play Fallout 76 on Xbox anymore. kleinbl00 got me to download The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077. I played Cyberpunk 2077 for a while, and was generally enjoying it (while still being kinda lost on the controls), but then Keanu Reeves showed up as a ghost in my brain and started messing with things... and I ran out of time to play it. I'm generally an hour-a-day player, 4-5 times per week. So even STARTING a new game is too much of a time commitment for me. Just getting the controls sorted out and getting through the back story takes several hours on games, and I just don't have that much time/focus. So I stick to FO76. I'm mostly a settlement builder and vendor for other players, and play the game solo. I like to say, "I play Fallout 76 like a Sims FPS..."
Well, Fallout 76 is routine now. I can do a full run of the game and big events in an hour. With Cyberpunk I'm deep into a story, nowhere to pause or save, and have to just keep going for 2-3 hours until the story ends, or lose all my progress. I realize I'm close to the cliff here, where I can just run missions and progress the story at my own pace... but I'm not there yet. I get the feeling that the appearance of Keanu just indicates the end of the "training modules", and now I'm getting into the real meat of the game. Save opportunities may be more prevalent once I get into the "real game" part of the game. But Cyberpunk is also very dialog-heavy... and I get interrupted a lot when playing games. That's a little bit frustrating, and probably explains why it took me so long to get through the training stuff, and to Keanu... I do love the look and feel of the game, though! This is one I do want to put more time into.
I've been back to Stardew Valley recently. I tried playing some of the SV-like games recently (Ooblets, Doraemon Story of Seasons, which is super pretty) but every time I do I just feel like Stardew is a better game and I should be playing it instead. Also played Outer Wilds a bit. It's pretty fun to explore, but I'm honestly not sure that I have the patience to stick with it and figure things out. The time limit can feel super constricting at times.
Stardew is dope but I can't stop myself binging it once I start, so I have to stop myself from ever starting. It's strangely serious "casual" gaming, for me. Boohoo. What type of farm do you choose at the beginning? Who do you marry, and why?