So, I hope this allowed, if not, I’ll remove.
I have a small problem, y’all. I’m a filthy casual, and don’t game often. But right now, due to a lot of very stressful things going on, I’m having trouble sleeping. I’d like a game I can play on the deck for an hour or two at night to get sleepy. Here’s where the hard part comes in:
It’s gotta be cheap (25 or less)
It needs to be not-stressful to play, as in, it works well on the deck, with no fiddling, because I am a dumb and don’t understand things
I don’t actually know what kind of game I want. I don’t care for FPS games, I don’t have the time/patience/money for online multiplayer stuff, and I’m not super in super heavy action games.
I like puzzles, platformers, laid back games. Open world is great. Very small games are fun, but I need something that I can play pretty much every night for a while. I loved portal and the Stanley parable, but I’m burnt out on TSP and I’ve played both portal games several times. I need something with a little more longevity.
Can anyone help with this not at all reasonable request?
The last thing you want to help you sleep is lights flashing in your face. Buy a book, not too interesting but enough to keep you reading for a bit. My go to book for years was Don Quixote. Lately I switched to David Copperfield. The Count of Monte Cristo would also be a good one.
I agree. If you’re having trouble sleeping, playing an interactive game at bedtime is likely to make the problem worse, not better. If reading isn’t your thing, consider listening to audio books or podcasts.
Outer Wilds.
Open World - Puzzle - Exploration - Mystery - Space
Outer Wilds is not small (15-25 hours, + about 10-15h for DLC), but it is a great game to be enjoyed in shorter gaming sessions (even just 30-60min) each night if that’s your requirement. Although if you get hooked I expect you to think about the game during the day as well out of session.
OW is not too mechanics-intensive, nor is it action-based. Most of your time is spent exploring the nooks and crannies of a solar system and following your leads to uncover an ancient mystery. The puzzles are genius, differ between small and large in scale and figuring them out feels rewarding. For the most part, it is far from stressful, maybe excluding certain few parts of the game.
The game is very curiosity driven. Your hand is not held after the first hour or two - it’s only you, your ship and the tools at your disposal. Progression is unlocked via knowledge, not power-ups or new tools, so you need to thirst for new pieces of information.
The game is on sale right now. If you’re intrigued, give it a go!
Easy to recommend Vampire Survivors. It’s not at all as stressful as it looks. All you basically do is walk around trying not to get hit (or try to get hit if you have the right build) and choose the random items on level up. It’s 5 bucks without sales, so the financial entry is low too.
Similar to this I’ve been playing so much Brotato on my deck
- Into The Breach
- Invisible Inc.
- Dicey Dungeons
- Strata
- LYNE
- Mini Metro
- FTL: Faster Than Light
- Wargroove (1 and/or 2)
- Timelie
- Ynglet
- Please Fix The Road
- Firewatch
- Gorogoa
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Have you seen superliminal? It’s a very similar vibe to Portal.
Also the guy who made The Stanley Parable has like three other games. One is free to play, very short. But worth downloading. There is another that is about a friend who does or something, it’s really meta but different than TSP. Also, The Stanley Parable has a remaster with a bunch of new content. I don’t remember the names of these games but if you are at your computer they shouldn’t be hard to find.
Have you tried many roguelike games? They are basically games that are super easy to sink an hour or two into without much consequence. They intend for you to die and just start over frequently. Anyways, some of my favorites are Inscryption, Cult of the Lamb, and Slay the Spire. The first and last are card games too. So super easy to start and stop.
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Project zomboid is game I’ve sunken 860 hours in since purchasing it in late 2018 I highly recommend it to anyone best zombie game on the market in my opinion even the base game alone without mods you’ll find nothing like it
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beamng. Drive is a decent title quite fun I’ve sunken 290 hours into it it’s a good game to pass the time I only recommend getting it if it’s on sale due to £20 being way to much for this game considering its unfinished nature
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watch dogs 2/1 is another great game to get your average ubisoft open world title I found these games to be quite fun would recommend for you to wait for them to go on sale
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gta 5/4 great titles no explanation needed especially for gta 4 10/10 if you haven’t tried gta 4 your missing out
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celeste is a game that you may find enjoyable it’s top notch stuff and can run it on anything
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I cannot play Vampire Survivors because it puts me to sleep every time. I don’t know why. Some searching around on the web indicates it’s not just me.
That being said I don’t have sleep issues so your mileage may vary.
Same! I’ve fallen asleep a couple times for what I imagine is like 5 minutes and when I wake up I’m still alive lol
I’m surprised no one has recommended Dorfromantik
I’ve heard the controls on the steam deck aren’t that good. do you agree?
I played a bit on both controller and mouse and keyboard. I prefer m&k but the controller wasn’t bad. I played it on a stationary bike using the controller and it was fine. Its not a game that requires perfect controls unless you do timed challenges or something.
Stardew Valley is $15 USD. It’s pretty laid back. Easy to set down and pick back up. I like to play it when my head is all over the place and want something soothing.
I’d disagree only in the sense that Stardew Valley is not easy to set down for me. It’s never helped me get to sleep, only stay up way past when I should.
Stardew Valley is what I was going to suggest as well. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I’d like it but it was cheap (I bought it fir the Switch) and it has been worth every cent so far.
There’s so much that you can do but nothing you really have to do if that makes sense. There’s very few missable elements (if any) and it’s surprisingly deep if that’s how you want to do things.
Get this one OP.
Fez and Outer Wilds are both must experience games imo and have a really chill vibe.
I absolutely loved Outer Wilds. The game throws you in and the rest is up to you, go where you want, play when you want etc. The music and atmosphere are great.
- Risk of rain 2: fun 3D roguelike game.
- Onirism: looks fun but I haven’t bought it yet
- Vermintide 2: fantasy left 4 dead with overgrown rats
- Titanfall 2: just got an update
Sea of Stars. Nice RPG, inspired by Chrono Trigger. I’ve been playing that for some nights on my deck. Easy to engage, nice story and difficulty can be adjusted depending on how much time you want to invest.
Portal reloaded and Tony hawk pro skater 3(ps2 emulator) are super chill games I can pickup and put down any time.
Here’s where the hard part comes in: It’s gotta be cheap (25 or less)
That’s not hard. I don’t even buy games above 15 € anymore. And I still get tons of great games that way.
(Not that I would need any new games with my unplayable backlog.)
