ive been trying out lots of games lately so heres a little list of recs. this is only stuff thats not aaa, nobody needs me praising ghost of tsushima
voidtrain
set on a train running through an interdimensional void, survival crafting game with shooting. gunplay is nice and smooth, rly liked the diff traversal methods and ofc decking out the train, but i never finished it bc it just made me think how nice itd be to replay raft. give it a shot anyway, will probably work bettter for you if youre not someone whos obsessed with raft.
a game about digging a hole
you dig a hole. you sell the ore and stuff you find to buy better equipment to more efficiently dig a hole. weirdly addicting gameplay loop that consumed me for 2 whole afternoons.
above snakes
isometric survival crafting zombie western. makes you build everything, every tool and structure and even the world map. slightly unclear about the story progresion at times, but also a weirdly addicting game loop.
split fiction
can only be played by 2 people, either local or online. its got everything: cyberpunk swordfights and motorcycle chases, dragon riding, hoverboard racing, shapeshifting, jetpacks, pinball, and a level thats basically witches finding lost cats in the alps. the story is about fucking up an exploitative ceo and his plagiarism machine. also i dont care what the devs say, these bitches gay
cairn
survival climbing game. you control each limb one by one and have to carefully choose hand- and footholds and climb an entire mountain. bit of a learning curve but awesome once you figure it out (i recommend one of those "5 things the game doesnt tell you" tutorials to save yourself some frustration). the story is good and emotional and all the extra little mechanics (cooking, taping up hands, inventory management, route review) are delightful. my only crit is that the ending sequence was too long and drawn out for no reason.
pacific drive
s.t.a.l.k.e.r. meets mad max. set on a peninsula in the pacific northwest that got fucked up by environmental anomalies. you have a garage base and go out on runs into the exclusion zone to get materials to upgrade your car and progress the story. the anomalies include things like concentrated radiation pockets, acid rain, electrified tumbleweeds, and mannequins that move when you look away and explode when you touch them. every part of the car can be modified and customized, jerryrigged components can be strapped to the sides or the roof. impreccable atmosphere and gameplay, 10/10 game
