Here’s a look at some of my favorite games. I must say pretty much anything from PS is my favorite. Ragnarok, Helldivers, Spider-Man, Ratchet and Clank, etc.
What I love: Primarily story-driven, third-person, high-fidelity, single-player games with solid fighting characteristics with simple upgrade paths. FPS are cool too. Anything with “power fantasy”.
What I hate: Anything complicated that I have to scower the internet just to learn how to play. Anything with classes or numerical attributes (Strength, Vitality, etc). I know this comprises many popular games, and if you like it, I’m happy for you, it’s just not for me.
Edit: no corporate trash. No Ubisoft, EA, Rockstar, Denuvo, or remote accounts.
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An oldie but a goodie: Rogue Trooper
Very fun 3rd person shooter based on the rogue trooper comics from 2000AD. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, has solid gameplay, and holds up well overall. I think it’s available on GoG.
Surprised no one mentioned the Batman Arkham games or Tomb Raider reboot trilogy (2013-2018). Both are third person action games with simple, but enjoyable upgrade elements.
Arkham Asylum may feel a bit dated, but Arkham City and Knight should still feel pretty fresh. And I think the Tomb Raider games hold up well.
I also suspect you’ve played them, but the Uncharted series is also great.
Other mentions that fit the third person, decent-good story, and fast/fun action:
- Sunset Overdrive
- Hi-fi Rush (rhythm game)
- Bayonetta Series (DMC like series)
- Nier series
- Kena Bridge of Spirits
- Just Cause Series (I think the stories are a little weak for this series, more about sandbox play).
- Infamous series (superhero themed 3rd person action game made by the same people who made Spiderman)
Third Person:
Mad Max
Warframe (F2P MMO)
First Person:
Mirror’s Edge
Cyberpunk 2077
STALKER series
Dying Light 1/2
Gunfire Reborn
Prey
Dishonored
Vampire Hunters (kind of an FPS version of Vampire Survivors)
Good stuff, thanks!
I just picked up Just Cause 3 for like 2.99 on a steam sale and have been no-lifing it since
You seem to like Character Action Games so why not give the Ninja Gaiden series a go? You can emulate Ninja Gaiden Black for free on Xemu and even enjoy using save states to save yourself some frustration with unnecessary runbacks (this was removed in later entries). I think NGB is an all time classic, although it leans a little bit more into the adventure game style than later titles, that are pure action. You have some exploration, platforming and even an almost Metroidvania-like hub area you backtrack back and forth through and unlock new branches of.
Or if you want something more modern and pure high octane action you can start with Ninja Gaiden 4. More free flowing combos as opposed to specific fighting-game style strings like in previous games, but still fun. I’m only a few chapters deep but any fan of DMC or CAGs in general would enjoy it I think.
Prey might be your kinda jam. I sure liked it.
Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor could be fun in the third-person power fantasy way. :)
Stardew Valley. No greater power fantasy than owning a piece of productive land
Surprised not to see Horizon Zero Dawn/ Forbidden West on this list! Have you played them?
Ahh yeah, I enjoyed both! Just played Zero Dawn from GoG.
The Yakuza series checks most of those boxes, highly recommended. Start with Yakuza Zero.
Will do, thanks!
That’s not helpful
since balatro is on your list: Slay the Spire
What I love: Primarily story-driven, third-person, high-fidelity, single-player games with solid fighting characteristics with simple upgrade paths.
There’s enough in here aside from simple upgrade paths that I think you should try Elden Ring. Just remember if you run into something that’s too hard go in a different direction.
Tried Elden Ring. Got my ass kicked by the first guy I encountered repeatedly. Tried to run away but get chased down. I don’t understand the mechanics at all. Like how do you time anything when every maneuver takes 3 seconds to execute?
If you are talking about the golden knight, you meet after emerging from the dungeon: yeah, this one is really hard and you can skip him until much later.
There is a small tutorial area, that is easily missed. After spawning into a new game, there is a big hole in the ground, jump down there (I think there is a guy or a message telling you to do it) and you learn the basics about fighting and other mechanics. Also with an adequately challenging mini boss at the end.
I have no idea who it is. I’ll give it another go 😅
Just in case you haven’t played it, the first SUPERHOT is, IMO, quite a bit better than the second, so I’ll toss that in there.
As a wilder card, I’ll suggest the Batman Arkham games. I think Arkham City is probably the most well-regarded of them.
Yeah, I played them both. The original was extra sick in VR. I think I played it on the original Oculus DK.
I enjoy the Batman games as well!
Not sure if Cyberpunk 2077 counts as corporate trash. But the main quests are a pretty good story. Combat is fun. There are upgrade trees that are a bit more complicated than CONTROL.
And as for “power fantasy” if being able to solo an entire megacorp army and win isn’t power fantasy idk what is.
There are also lots of side quests that themselves are pretty good stand alone stories.
Not sure if Cyberpunk 2077 counts as corporate trash
Not at all, enjoyed playing that game but was not a favorite. I dunno who wrote the driving mechanics for the vehicles but they are atrocious. It’s like driving a pendulum.
Sticking to motorcycles kinda helps a bit, but yeah…
Sounds like you dislike soulslikes.
Dishonored, or maybe Deathloop? Deathloops a bit more complicated but dishonored should prep you for it. They share a lot of the same abilities, the world is just laid out different in deathloop.
Wolfenstein New Order you’re the one man army BJ Blazkowicz, mowing down nazis through linear levels. Run and gun for the most part, with story between levels.
2016 doom or doom eternal
DnD does have a lot of stats but Baldurs Gate 3 makes it fun, and it has everything else you’re looking for. I would give it a shot even if you’re stats averse
I can’t get around the incredibly slow character movement in soulslikes. Like the games are all about timing but how do you time something properly when every move takes 3 seconds?
Dishonored I think I have but haven’t played. I’ll give that a go.
Deathloop I have played and enjoyed but unfortunately ran into issues with GoG on Linux that I couldn’t be bothered to track down.
Wolfenstein NO I’ll have to try as well.
Love the Doom games, esp. 2016 Dark Ages. Not sure how they got left out of my faves. Eternal I bought and then immediately returned bc it tried to force me to sign in.
Tried BG3 and I was bored to tears and incredibly confused.
Great recs, thanks!
You can spec into faster classes. In DS1, that would be scimitars, curved swords and katanas I believe. Unfortunately means looking up that kind of info online or trial and erroring a bunch of weapons.
Yeah I’m out, thanks haha
If you’re okay with Ubisoft, Watchdogs 1 & 2 are fun for third person shooters. First one gives you a lot of options to enter combat, you carry all weapons on you (no “weapon loadout” selection really).
Favorite feature of both games is the in-game radio, you can just listen to music and wander around the world
Edited, thank you.
It’s a very limited radio though. Each station only has a few songs. At least that’s how it was in 2. I just remember hearing a lot of the same songs each time I opened the music app in-game.
I prefer the game world in the second game though. Chicago is awesome, but I kinda prefer San Francisco.
The number of songs expanded as the game progressed in two, plus you can adjust your playlist to exclude songs if you want. The playlist shuffle in the first one is awful and repetitive, and there weren’t multiple radio stations to choose from or radio hosts (the punk/rock station host is hilarious IMO)
