Maybe try playing shorter games, or games where you are just thrusted into the game the moment you select start on the menu, there's plenty of titles like that.
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I would love to take this route for awhile. Is there a way to tell at a glance average playthrough time? I use https://howlongtobeat.com/steam.php to see how long I would have to play to finish my backlog when I feel like having a good laugh.
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I don't think there's a reliable way of guessing game length, looking at the steam reviews might give you a rough idea, checking howlongtobeat is a good alternative too. Or you can do an educated guess based on the genre, like how it's extremely rare for a platformer to be longer than an RPG, or how arcade games are actually very brief when you take the credits system out of the equation.
Just remember that tags like "online multiplayer", "rogue-like/lite", "turn-based", "grand strategy" and "4x" translate to "potentially infite time sinks" in normal everyday speach. My prefered approach is to treat them as radioactive warnings, specially the later three.
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On topic. Try indie games they are usually shorter than other games and carry a great story to boot.
Something like "Beyond Eyes"
And I hate and love you right now for showing that homepage.
I have some work to do it seems:
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The thing about How Long to Beat is that they don't take into account the games you've already beaten. I've completed about half my library, but it's still telling me I have hundreds of days to get through it all.
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How Long to Beat will let you organize all your games by playtime, so you can pinpoint one that's just the right length! As DeltaBladeX said, it'll probably help if you vary the types of games you're playing, too. Seems like you're mostly trying fairly intense AAA's, if long download times and character creation are bogging you down.
I'd especially look into calmer, less involved games—maybe something narrative-heavy but with low-stress interaction, like a Telltale game or an adventure game. I dug through your library for games that we both have, and here are some starting suggestions:
- The Shivah (and the Blackwell series, which is by the same devs but a longer commitment)
- The Tiny Bang Story (Hidden object)
- Tales from the Borderlands
- Undertale (not completely easy, but could be the boost you need to get back into gaming, depending on how deep you get into it)
- Limbo
- La-Mulana (hard, but quick to jump into and addictive)
- Fran Bow
- Glorkian Warriors (a single round lasts, like...one minute)
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Wow! Thank you for all that. Appreciate you taking the time!
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I actually started "The Tiny Bang Story" last night so thank you for the recommendation. Very impressed with the game. Love the fact that I can just chill and decompress while playing the game. I've heard "Abzu" is like that as well.
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Awesome! So glad to hear the recommendations helped. I think The Tiny Bang Story is my favourite hidden object game, it just comes together so nicely.
Abzu has more of a story. I watched my sister play it, and I remember there being some sort of scary mine thing that could explode and make it hard to progress? I don't think there was a way to actually lose, though, and there's a mode where you just watch the fish swim around.
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Have a look at a previous discussion about this same thing discussed only last week or so.
I don't know how the search works on this site, cos I can't find the discussion myself.
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Did not think of looking - thank you for letting me know.
Edit to add: Is this the post you mentioned @MayaYingu? https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/FbZXD/how-do-you-boost-your-moral-to-finish-a-game
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Very true, I now have a handful installed and just play something that tickles my fancy. Sticking with one game can grow old unless its something that stole your heart (like Deus EX:HR and Dead Space 2 did mine), or If your're achievement hunting.
Besides shorter games I've noticed that co-op games keep me more engaged these days. How about a few of those?
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I'm working on being more open-minded to game types I normally shy away from. Horror games and turn-based are two genres I've shied away from. Genre at the bottom of the barrel is rpg-maker games. Thank you for the suggestions!
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I get like that often enough. My suggestions for dealing with it.
- Try genre outside of your usual preferences. I've found myself getting burned out after beating several RPGs in a row, but an action game was still something I could dig into.
- Short games. So short that you will beat them before you have a chance to take a break from them. For example, go through a fighting game in arcade mode, or play some short freeware games like LiEat. You will make significant progress in under an hour and feel like you did something. Many other games, an hour may mean nothing of importance happened.
- Go do something else. Sometimes you are just burned out and it doesn't matter what game you try. In that case, indulge in another hobby. I'll go read something or watch a DVD, I have a fair backlog of both myself.
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I've played a few Grand Strategy/RTS games and I'm not the biggest fan. Thank you for the suggestion though!
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I've played a few Grand Strategy/RTS games
There's only one CK II, my friend.
For what it's worth, I didn't really like it the first time I played it either.
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I told myself I would be open to all suggestions when I made this post, so I will look into it. I noticed you are quite the fan with ~2.5K hours this year :-)
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I have 2 small toddlers and work full time, I get about 3 hours to myself in the evenings as long as I willing to sit up later. I would say i play only about 10-15% of what I was 5 years ago. Life blows, eh?
I also find it harder to find something engaging that I can play in small bursts. I generally watch netflix now and then play online if one or two of my mates are online.
I've set myself a challenge this year to finish all the single player games that I have started over the last couple of years without starting new ones. This should help me deciding what to play. Don't like my chances.
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I wish you the best in your endeavors for 2019! We no longer have kids at home but we do have 5 grands so I do understand the challenges. Thank you for taking some of your time to answer.
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Have you tried Stardew Valley at all?
It's pixel, farming and a generally calming game.
I have a good time every time I play it.
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I have not tried it, but whenever I hear it mentioned in a thread or youtube video the opinions are always positive. Thank you!
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Sometimes calming games help, and while playing them, you can probably download something else on the side so that your time isn't wasted.
Good luck!
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I also went on youtube and searched for short steam games and got some ideas for games to play. Again, thank you all for taking the time to help me.
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I feel the same about gaming often. my response is that I play less and less and try to read in the bed. it's probably better than a night shift on YouTube.
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I have felt it for a very long time, since I started working 6 years ago, I have felt that it is becoming too difficult for me to go back to the same. Your post describes my exact feeling. I love gaming but I'm not able to commit to anything that has a long storyline. I'm just trying my hands at small indie games for maybe 20 minutes in a day. Otherwise I start reading something or Netflix series. The idea of starting a new game feels like a work more than the enjoyment that it'll bring. Though in my heart I know if I do start I'll stick to it day and night but not able to start.
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My gaming definitely has went through peaks and valleys as I have matured. As far as Netflix, seems like some days I could finish a short game by they time we decide on something to watch lol
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Lmao. Seriously... Deciding what to watch is like half our lives... Lol
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I've noticed my desire to play lately has waned. I'm sure a large part of it is I've recently returned to work after a 2 year medical leave. I still have time in the evenings and weekends though.
I sit down every evening with the express purpose of losing myself in some pixelated fun for a bit. And every evening pretty much has the same result. After surfing/sifting through my library for my next victim, I'll either download something to check it out or reload something already installed. This approach has diminishing returns for me - by the time everything is downloaded/installed and character created my play time has been cut in half at least. For the already installed games, I usually have to start from the beginning just in case I don't remember the playstyle/story. Even after all that there is no guarantee I'll feel like playing it the next day lol.
So what usually happens probably 75% of the time I just get tired of looking and watch youtube until I should be in bed. I know it's first world problems but how do y'all overcome the ennui and dig yourself out of the rut? I've just shy of 3k games on steam and then there is origin, uplay and however many other sites I check out. I would like to think I don't have a problem with commitment, even with something as trivial as a game lol. This year will be my 30th wedding Anniversary - but that's probably more of a testament to wife (she's a Saint). But so much for the rambling, if you have anything to add I love to hear it.
And with that, thank you for your time!
TLDNR: No GA sorry
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