Games to Sink Lots of Hours Into?

[Vrock_Summoner]

Due to a recent loss in my life (some of you may recognize the name BrokenChord around here, so there's a status update if you care), I have deigned to become a vegetable for a little while. I need something that engages my mind enough that I can't think about much else while playing it, but isn't so complicated/difficult that I'm likely to give up in frustration after failing to overcome the first challenge in fifty tries, and I'd like it to be something I can sink a good number of hours into. I'd prefer a handheld to a console game so I can lay in bed while playing it, but I'll make do with whatever comes around.

Over the past week and a half, I've nuzlocked two Pokemon games (specifically Pearl and X), beat Final Fantasy V, and kicked around a few hours in Disgaea, Hoshigami: Remix, Fire Emblem, and even Rogue (I ragequit the hell out of that though). I'm a fan of turn-based games, but maybe that's not what I need right now... Too much free thinking time. Definitely no arena fighters though, I'm not good at remembering complex controls in the middle of fast-paced action so most will have me quitting in minutes.

Anyway... Suggest away! And thanks guys. And sorry for being weird and depressing.

[Ogremindes]

When I was in a bad state a few years ago, I found Rune Factory 3 to be a perfect piece of escapism. Rune Factory 4 is also great, and more expansive than 3, but the lack of antagonism in 3 may make it better for this purpose.

[Beacon of Chaos]

I'm sorry for your loss.

What consoles do you have? Might help us make suggestions.

Have you played Minecraft? That can be a huge timesink if you can give yourself a good project to work on.

[Cespenar]

Some simple browser based tower defense games (like Gemcraft) offer arguably months of gameplay.

[Rodin]

My recommendation is Peggle. It's available as a handheld game (regular Nintendo DS, but backwards compatible with 3DS) and doesn't take a lot of brainpower and it is extremely addictive.

[OrcusMcP]

If you have a decent tablet, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 are available, as are the new XCOMs, but XCOM might be a bit too much if you don't want to frustrate yourself.

[Gray Mage]

If you have a tablet/smartphone you can play Hearthstone (http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/), it's a card game (like magic, but less clunkier) with World of Warcraft lore. We have a good community here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?425473-Hearthstone-12-Costs-(1)-less-for-every-poster-in-this-thread) on the forum and we always welcome new players. If you'd like I can show you the ropes and help out whenever you want, just PM me.

And I'm sorry for your loss.

[GolemsVoice]

Let me also say sorry for your loss!

As for sinking time, Hearthstone is good, as is Heroes of the Storm, although that might be too fast paced for you. Tropico 4/5 are also excellent timesinks, I personally have only played 4, but I've heard 5 isn't that different. The Witcher saga is great, you can start with 1 and progress up to 3, where you can easily spend 100+ hours from what I've heard.

Maybe the Dragon Age games?

I'm sorry I can't provide anything for handheld consoles, I have never owned a smartphone, tablet or other handheld device.

[Winthur]

Try Hitman: Blood Money. Every level is a little self-contained sandbox puzzle with tons of replayability. Tinker to your hearts content. Do self-imposed challenges like using unorthodox weapons or not using disguises. It's not very difficult on a virgin playthrough, you can have a Deus Exian approach to everything if you don't care for the maximum stealth rating - so if you get caught doing something bad and have to have a shootout, you can jump into a disguise and continue on with your assignment however you prefer. You can beat it in a few hours, but the replay value can easily go for hundreds. You don't have to be a great twitch shooter or meet some ridiculous windows of opportunity; you'll prefer to isolate your targets and treat them in melee, or with silenced weapons, anyway.

Alternately, if you feel like shutting yourself down, beat the classic RPG trilogy: Wizardries from 6 to 8. You need a vacation to marathon these, and they have so much party customization. If you prefer something real time, Might & Magic 6 to 7 are huge games with real time combat and massive dungeons you can have tons of fun in (seriously, I love the dungeon design in M&M6). Gothic is good for the exploration too.

Sorry for your loss.

[Flickerdart]

If you have a PC that can handle it, Crusader Kings II is an excellent time-sink. It has a steep learning curve, but failure is not a huge setback - for example, if you lose a war, the attacker will usually get just one province from you (the one they have a claim on) unlike games like Total War where the AI will often refuse to negotiate surrender until complete defeat of a side. And regardless of how many troops you lose, they replenish automatically, so there's very limited dogpiling. You mostly set your own goals, so there's no "fail fifty times at the first challenge." Start with something small like "take over Ireland" and build your way up to "conquer Europe as a blind and insane Count with only a bent spoon."

Skyrim racks up many hours as well. It is an action game, but it's easy to lose yourself in its massive world.

For handhelds, wasn't there a version of Sid Meier's Civilization for them?

[Antonok]

Terraria is a very good game. Easy controls, but can sink a lot of time between mining/building/fighting. You can get it on 360/ps3, tablet, or PC. And it just released a new massive update recently. (For the record, I have about 400 hours into this game, with more to come because of the update)

Witcher 3 a full clear on it takes 150-200 hours so it's a massive time sink and the best of the series. This one requires a high end PC or ps4/xbone.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Thoughts and sympathies with you. :smallfrown:


As for sinking time, Hearthstone is good, as is Heroes of the Storm, although that might be too fast paced for you.

Hearthstone would be great (though possibly frustrating at the start), but OP mentioned "no arena battlers" so no Heroes, I think.

When I want timesink grind games, I tend to go mobile: Super Hexagon, Threes, Ascension, and Star Realms are my go-tos.

Super Hexagon is a very simple reflex game that's almost hypnotic in its design; the only controls are "left" and "right", and you're trying to avoid walls that are slowly closing in on the center.

Threes is a calming puzzle game where you move numbers around a screen and have to smush together matching numbers so they can turn into bigger numbers. I love the visual and auditory design.

Ascension and Star Realms are deckbuilding games, and thanks to the automation of the digital version, they're very easy to boot up and just play mindlessly once you get a hang of the game. Pick the AI level that's easy for you to play against, and you can burn a half-hour optimizing your game and blowing your opponent out of the water.

There's also the Civilization series. Civ 5 is very straightforward to get into, and it's a classic timesink game.

Oh, and then there's always First Person Shooters. Team Fortress 2 can be a blast to play in its over-the-top ridiculousness.

[danzibr]

Final Fantasy X is turn-based and my first play through was like 100 hours.

[Grinner]

Terraria is a very good game. Easy controls, but can sink a lot of time between mining/building/fighting. You can get it on 360/ps3, tablet, or PC. And it just released a new massive update recently. (For the record, I have about 400 hours into this game, with more to come because of the update)

Seconding Terraria.


Super Hexagon is a very simple reflex game that's almost hypnotic in its design; the only controls are "left" and "right", and you're trying to avoid walls that are slowly closing in on the center.

I'm going to recommend against Super Hexagon. You will get frustrated with this one.

(The difficulty level starts at Hard.)

[LibraryOgre]

My condolences on your loss; I tend to find that I do best with games that have goals, but small ones and lots of them are best. However, those are a bit rarer on a tablet, at least IME.

[JabberwockySupafly]

Condolences for your loss. Hopefully some of these recommendations can help you find the escape you need.


My offer is Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (usually referred to as MH4U) for the 3DS. It is challenging without being too infuriating (most of the time. There's usually moments of ARGH in every game), can be played solo or with others (local or online, in case you want to be social without leaving your bed), makes you focus on the task at hand (not getting eaten/crushed/frozen/burnt/exploded by a giant creature while trying to make your hits count), isn't turn based (good ol' fashioned real time action), and can keep you occupied for 100's of hours pretty easily (so many weapons, so many armour sets, so many options). It can be a bit grindy though, depending on what monster parts you are hunting for and the drop percentages involved. It's not overly complicated, but some of the weapons can take a bit of practice before you really get them down, but thankfully some of the first quests you get are all weapon training quests.