Mods - I am not sure how to read the rule against game suggestions. If it means no asking for suggestions please just wipe the post. No harm, no foul.

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Fall is usually my busiest time of year preparing for winter in our little forest home. But I have been given orders from the doctors to basically take bedrest for up to 3 months, but I’m allowed to be sitting up… So books and games are basically all that is on the menu.

I enjoy automation games, tower defense, survival/building games, and exploration games.

I dislike ‘souls-like’ experiences where combat is tight and requires perfect timing. In fact in most games where combat can be disabled I usually do that.

My top games of all time would be factorio, minecraft, WoW/FFXIV (yeah… i know. But they count as one), Dyson sphere program, vampire survivors (and many of that type), and gemcraft type TD games.

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Some games that have been recommended and tried, but don’t work for me right now or I have already finished:
mindustry, satisfactory, valheim, no man’s sky, alchemy factory, luanti, terraria.

Thanks in advance for your time. Much appreciated.

  • alphabethunter@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    6 days ago

    If you haven’t played it yet, give a try to Astroneer, a space automation/exploration game with no combat and light survival elements (basically oxygen). Above Snakes is also fairly cool, is an isometric survival game where you build the world piece by piece. I have also had fun playing As We Descend it’s a roguelite deck-builder of sorts, but with some turn-based tactics RPG mixed in. Because you like mmos, I’d take a look at Bitcraft.

    • Bo7a@piefed.caOPEnglish
      1·
      6 days ago

      Another set for the list. Above snakes looks especially intriguing. Thanks!

  • Bo7a@piefed.caOPEnglish
    1·
    6 days ago

    Wow what a thread. You all rock! Thanks for taking the time to reply.

    I have grabbed demos for most of these and will write a follow-up post at some point with my thoughts on some of them.

    But for now… The Last Caretaker grabbed me almost instantly. Highly recommend even after only playing the demo.

  • SapphironZA@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    7 days ago

    Humanity is a great Civ alternative. Much more responsible and responsive developer and publisher. They also do the endless legend and endless space strategy games.

    Fantastic soundtracks and art style. Very well polished games.

  • SapphironZA@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    7 days ago

    Rimworld, the best war crimes simulator.

    Open transport tycoon, open source remake of the best transport simulator ever.

    • Bo7a@piefed.caOPEnglish
      1·
      7 days ago

      Another one for rimworld. I’ll bump it up the list a bit. I am a bit afraid that the learning curve will eat my downtime and then I’ll just be addicted but have stuff to do :p

      • SapphironZA@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        7 days ago

        The learning curve is quick, it has different AI “Storytellers” called Phoebe Basebuilder that can give you a more chill experience.

        And then there is Cassandra Classic for the dev curated experience that is challenging without being impossible.

        And then there is Randy Random for when you absolutely have to have the slavers abducting your colonists get hit by a chunk of Uranium from space.

        Without a doubt, this game has the highest levels of replayability I have ever seen in a game.

    • Bo7a@piefed.caOPEnglish
      1·
      7 days ago

      Factorio is an old love, but not the one I want to spend this time with ;)

      KeeperFX is a huge undertaking. Huge respect there. Added to the long list. Thanks.

      • Taleya@aussie.zoneEnglish
        2·
        6 days ago

        If factorio is an old love, then Keeperfx / dungeon keeper will bring much joy :) There is some fighting, but you don’t have to pvp at all on the og game, and you can basically just construct death mazes of traps. Kept me sane when i was in hospital

        Crazy machines is another fun one, its rube goldberg, Two Point hospital is like theme hospital so add that one too if you were a bullfrog fan

  • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    9 days ago

    Caves of Qud is one of the best exploration games I’ve ever played. It’s a traditional roguelike where the overworld map is the same each time but the world history, factions, and most individual zones are procedurally generated each time you start over.

    You play as either a mutated human with strange bonuses like extra arms, the ability to mind control, wings, etc. or a Truekin that starts with higher base stats and the ability to use implant tech to do things like replace your legs with tank treads or your eyes with night-vision goggles.

    It’s a deep simulation; all of the NPCs in the game are as fully modeled as the player character, the NPCs you meet are a result of the generated history, and the best choice is often to run away.

    It’s turn-based with multiple difficulty levels. I recommend playing on classic, but the other ways are just as valid.

  • Lucius_Sweet@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    9 days ago

    If you enjoy automation, tower defense, survival/building games Rimworld might be of interest to you. Enjoying committing war crimes is optional but a nice bonus!

  • CubitOom@infosec.pubEnglish
    8·
    9 days ago

    I’m really into souls games so I’m going to focus my recommendations to games with little combat and also tailor the list based on what you tried and didn’t like so far.

    Optional or minimal combat

    Combat required but easy

    Exploration focused

    Story focused games (non exploration)

    Worth trying

    • Bo7a@piefed.caOPEnglish
      3·
      9 days ago

      Wow that is a great reply. I will look into all of these that I have not tried yet.

      I really enjoyed dave the diver and stray. Disliked disco elysium (I know. that is on me, not the game). And for some reason subnautica seems daunting/dangerous to me but I’ll check it out a bit more.

      • CubitOom@infosec.pubEnglish
        3·
        9 days ago

        Subnautica can be considered to have some horror elements. Especially for beginners. However, as you play it and unlock technology you realize it’s not actually too bad.

        You can play it at your own pace, just do the minimum yo unlock the next thing and so forth.

    • Caveman@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      8 days ago

      Subnautica devs vs publisher game controversy is resolved in favor of game devs by court. It’s ok to buy nr 2 now.

  • Nefara@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    9 days ago

    My favorite game to play when I am sick is Banished, a medieval city building game that was the labor of love of a solo dev. It starts off quite brutally difficult until you learn the best ways to handle the first winters and then it becomes a cozy opportunity for optimization, and a challenge to balance expanding the city as much as you can while supporting the population with agricultural and forestry goods. It’s inspired some other games to follow in its footsteps, and it has a modding community still making content for it.

    • Bo7a@piefed.caOPEnglish
      6·
      9 days ago

      I have been known to dabble a bit in banished. I think my wife is in the 2k hours bucket on that one. Super great game.

  • D06M4@lemmy.zipEnglish
    6·
    8 days ago

    I loved minmaxing and grinding around in Grim Dawn and Timberborn. You might too. 👌

  • BCsven@lemmy.caEnglish
    6·
    9 days ago

    If you are open to anything, try Wingspan.

    It is a bird based card game you gain points for playing birds based on the number on the card, but it becomes an engine building game.

    Each turn you choose one: play a bird, gather food, lay eggs, add a bird card to your hand.

    Birds have certain “powers” such as each time your opponent lays eggs place an egg on your bird, or each turn used collect food from the birdfeeder.

    The game is limited turns so you have to develop a hand of cards that you can play that will be high points, plus give you extra bonus actions to try to accelerate birds played, eggs laid, extra birds captured by predator birds etc.

    As cards are laid down into food, eggs, collect cards sections it increases the reward of that section.

    You can play online, with friends or against the computer. It becomes addicting in my opinion, because filling each section is difficult and just as you are collecting a good way to build a good reward engine the turns are ending, so you have to plan properly.

    • Bo7a@piefed.caOPEnglish
      2·
      9 days ago

      Thanks a ton. This sounds neat. I will definitely check it out.

      • BCsven@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        9 days ago

        By default they show you your habitats separate, but its easier to understand by clicking the brown button that shows the full card layout at once. To play against computer choose custom game and chose how many opponents. The separate Automata menu option is not really a computer player its a different mechanic

  • Mighty@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    9 days ago

    Something small: Len’s Island. I had fun with that. It’s pretty light, but has some depth in resource management and exploration

  • RadiallyAxiomatic@lemmy.caEnglish
    5·
    8 days ago

    Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Game about cutting up spaceships with lasers and gravity tools with a bit of a narrative.

    It’s not a great alignment for the types you identified, but I like all the things you mentioned and found this quite nice.

  • Hummingbird@lemmy.caEnglish
    5·
    9 days ago

    If you’ve never tried it before, Dot Age is a fun little time sink made by an Indie dev. It’s a city builder people/resource management type game where you’re trying to build a successful village to survive a coming apocalypse. You have to plan ahead and deal with upcoming ‘bad events.’ A run is like 5-6 hours long and there is a lot of variety between runs thanks to building variants, etc.

  • bonesawmcl@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    7 days ago

    If you want to sink countless hours into it and are looking for automation, building and exploration… maybe X4: Foundations is something for you? It’s basically a giant, fully simulated space sandbox. (And you’d also be supporting a small independent studio, writing their own engine etc.)

    • Bo7a@piefed.caOPEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      These are all the right words, in the right order, to pique my interest. thanks!