3 ms·

It has become more difficult, at least for me, to find games without gambling components as a main design elwment in recent years. On the one hand this lead me

by c0balt 3y ago

It has become more difficult, at least for me, to find games without gambling components as a main design elwment in recent years. On the one hand this lead me down a quite enjoyable route of (re)discovering single player indie games and retro tutles but on the other hand it also made me avoid most modern, AAA-level games. My current recommandation would be, if anyone is also looking for tutles like this, Cloudpunk, an athmospheric, indie, simple driving game in a cyberpunk-ish dystopia. The game runs great on Linux w/ Steam.

dimgl 3y ago
You should try Halls of Torment. It’s $5 on Steam. It’s a fantastic example of a neat game with a great gameplay loop that has no gambling or in-game store. There’s many examples but this is the one I’m currently playing.
Tao3300 3y ago
Your comment made me think of the most recent indie-ish game I've discovered (albeit late to the party) which is Hades. Looking at it in light of this discussion, it would have been way too easy to include microtransacations. Make it a little harder, make the elements you invest into building your character a little more scarce, sell the weapon aspects... It's an absolute blessing really that it didn't happen that way.
jstarfish 3y ago
> Cloudpunk, an athmospheric, indie, simple driving game in a cyberpunk-ish dystopia. I liked the game and was looking for exactly that as something to replace post-endgame Death Stranding (I just want to get high, drive around and deliver packages), but did not find Cloudpunk simple-- while it was fun, it was confusing, depressing and unrewarding. This sounds negative but I can't articulate the "feel" of it any other way-- it's a beautiful-yet-sterile corporate dystopia so soulless (Harry Canyon's cyberpunk future, with none of the edginess and grit), in-game suicide would have been a reward worth grinding for...not because "this game sucks," but because "this character's life sucks." Like living inside Reddit rendered in VRML. As much as I wanted to keep going, I couldn't bring myself to care to progress her in that world anymore. Not even Dark Souls made me feel this much despair. Atmospheric indeed. The descriptions of it being a desktop wallpaper engine are on point.
p1necone 3y ago
Playstation exclusive/Sony published (single player) AAAs are a pretty safe bet. I can't think of any that have bad faith paid content - just mini expansion/story dlc type stuff. Spiderman, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, Horizon are all recent-ish ones that I really liked. Anything From Software puts out is great too - Elden Ring being the most recent example. Just avoid anything published by Activision, Ubisoft and EA. (Although you'd be missing out on some titles that are still pretty good amongst the microtransactiony stuff)
anthonypasq 3y ago
any game which has random loot drops or really any sort of randomness is fundamentally designed around the same things that make gambling fun. its unavoidable

by c0balt 3y ago

dimgl 3y ago

You should try Halls of Torment. It’s $5 on Steam. It’s a fantastic example of a neat game with a great gameplay loop that has no gambling or in-game store. There’s many examples but this is the one I’m currently playing.

Tao3300 3y ago

Your comment made me think of the most recent indie-ish game I've discovered (albeit late to the party) which is Hades. Looking at it in light of this discussion, it would have been way too easy to include microtransacations. Make it a little harder, make the elements you invest into building your character a little more scarce, sell the weapon aspects... It's an absolute blessing really that it didn't happen that way.

jstarfish 3y ago

> Cloudpunk, an athmospheric, indie, simple driving game in a cyberpunk-ish dystopia. I liked the game and was looking for exactly that as something to replace post-endgame Death Stranding (I just want to get high, drive around and deliver packages), but did not find Cloudpunk simple-- while it was fun, it was confusing, depressing and unrewarding. This sounds negative but I can't articulate the "feel" of it any other way-- it's a beautiful-yet-sterile corporate dystopia so soulless (Harry Canyon's cyberpunk future, with none of the edginess and grit), in-game suicide would have been a reward worth grinding for...not because "this game sucks," but because "this character's life sucks." Like living inside Reddit rendered in VRML. As much as I wanted to keep going, I couldn't bring myself to care to progress her in that world anymore. Not even Dark Souls made me feel this much despair. Atmospheric indeed. The descriptions of it being a desktop wallpaper engine are on point.

p1necone 3y ago

Playstation exclusive/Sony published (single player) AAAs are a pretty safe bet. I can't think of any that have bad faith paid content - just mini expansion/story dlc type stuff. Spiderman, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, Horizon are all recent-ish ones that I really liked. Anything From Software puts out is great too - Elden Ring being the most recent example. Just avoid anything published by Activision, Ubisoft and EA. (Although you'd be missing out on some titles that are still pretty good amongst the microtransactiony stuff)

anthonypasq 3y ago

any game which has random loot drops or really any sort of randomness is fundamentally designed around the same things that make gambling fun. its unavoidable