Steam for Mac OS game recommendations
November 1, 2017 1:03 PM Subscribe
I've got a Steam credit and would like to use it to purchase a game for my 11" Macbook Air. I'm looking for something that can play nicely on that and doesn't require a lot of coordination (no first person shooters, etc.). Games I've really liked (some are boardgames but they give you an idea of what I'm after): Skyrim, Carcassonne, Discworld, Journey, Ticket to Ride, Splendor, Twilight Struggle, I Love Hue, Portal, Tetris, and anything wordy or puzzley. There is so much choice on Steam, even when filtering down to Mac OS, that I'm really lost and could use some recommendations please. Thanks!
Best answer: It's aaaaancient, but I've gotten 1000s of hours of joy playing Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword on my Mac; I got it for a steal in a Steam sale a while back.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 1:21 PM on November 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by the phlegmatic king at 1:21 PM on November 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: It sounds like you might like Puzzle Agent, a Telltale game about FBI puzzle specialist Nelson Tethers investigating strange goings-on in a town that's not quite Twin Peaks nor the depiction of Brainerd from Fargo. The art's all by Graham Annable and the puzzles are generally somewhat involved but not impossible.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:24 PM on November 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:24 PM on November 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
If you would like a short game that's hilarious and built around replayability, try the Stanley Parable. No twitch reflexes required, and I imagine it's cheap by now.
For a more standard game, perhaps XCom would serve you well; it's turn based, and your team does all the aiming for you, making levels more of a puzzle to solve than anything. The first one from Firaxis is probably also cheap by now, and the second one's out if you like the first (however, the second is more difficult, in my opinion, so I think you might need the first one to learn on.)
posted by tautological at 1:47 PM on November 1, 2017
For a more standard game, perhaps XCom would serve you well; it's turn based, and your team does all the aiming for you, making levels more of a puzzle to solve than anything. The first one from Firaxis is probably also cheap by now, and the second one's out if you like the first (however, the second is more difficult, in my opinion, so I think you might need the first one to learn on.)
posted by tautological at 1:47 PM on November 1, 2017
Best answer: Civilization 4. My favorite game ever, is often near the top of those "best video games ever" lists, does not require quick reaction time as it is a turn-based strategy game, and it is not too demanding for a MacBook Air. I think Steam may have purged older reviews because it used to be "overwhelmingly positive." I would recommend all the expansion packs -- you can save if you buy them all together -- but it's fine as is too.
posted by AppleTurnover at 1:54 PM on November 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by AppleTurnover at 1:54 PM on November 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
I also recommend the recently released Opus Magnum. It’s a fantastic engineering puzzle game.
posted by Ted Maul at 2:25 PM on November 1, 2017
posted by Ted Maul at 2:25 PM on November 1, 2017
I really enjoyed Steamworld Dig, enough that I just bought SD2 without any discount, which is unusual for me on Steam. It’s relatively undemanding fun. SD2 seems fun so far but I’ve only played for a couple of hours.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 2:34 PM on November 1, 2017
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 2:34 PM on November 1, 2017
Glittermitten Grove.
I should try and finish it sometime. It really doesn't pick up until you find the secret door.
posted by egypturnash at 4:11 PM on November 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
I should try and finish it sometime. It really doesn't pick up until you find the secret door.
posted by egypturnash at 4:11 PM on November 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Some of my recent favs:
- 80 Days - Fun and chill choose-your-own-adventure game where you're a valet traveling around the world with your master
- Renowned Explorers - Turn-based strategy game where you try to compete to become the best adventurer, battling weird creatures and picking up treasures with your team. I think the expansions on this one are worth it!
- Curious Expedition - A kinda creepy roguelike where you're a famous person (like Marie Curie) and you explore the world. This is the most challenging of the three by far imo.
guess I kinda like a certain storyline eh
posted by thirdletter at 4:49 PM on November 1, 2017
- 80 Days - Fun and chill choose-your-own-adventure game where you're a valet traveling around the world with your master
- Renowned Explorers - Turn-based strategy game where you try to compete to become the best adventurer, battling weird creatures and picking up treasures with your team. I think the expansions on this one are worth it!
- Curious Expedition - A kinda creepy roguelike where you're a famous person (like Marie Curie) and you explore the world. This is the most challenging of the three by far imo.
guess I kinda like a certain storyline eh
posted by thirdletter at 4:49 PM on November 1, 2017
Best answer: Here's a mix of board game ports and accessible roguelites. I'm not much of a gamer, don't have any reflexes to speak of*, and can play all of them easily. I can't click very much or very fast due to chronic pain, so if that's a concern for anyone who might be reading, these are all safe!
Patchwork — One of my top three board games. Excellent port. It's a spatial puzzle sort of game with a lot of depth.
Onirim — Atmospheric solitaire card game, in which you're wandering through a labyrinth of dreams trying to unlock doors to escape. It's one of the most beloved & recommended solo games in the tabletop board game world, and this is a faithful port. Dreamy, evocative art.
Alphabear — A word puzzle game, very spatial and strategic. Plus cute collectible bears that give you bonuses.
Sproggiwood — Light roguelite dungeon crawl. Easy to pick up even if you haven't played roguelites before. Character classes and equipment. Cute and charming art.
FTL — A strategy roguelite that's very boardgame-y. No coordination required. You control a spaceship—resource management with pause-able battle sequences against other ships.
Invisible Inc. — Turn-based stealth roguelite in which you are a futuristic spy. Feels boardgame-y to me.
The Curious Expedition — As recommended above. It's kind of like an Oregon Trail that is hilariously cynical about colonialism, except that it also has insanity, curses, and dinosaurs.
Oxenfree — Not sure if by "wordy" you meant story or not, but this is one of the best narrative games I've played. It's mostly walking around + exploring dialogue paths. The voice acting is unusually good.
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 12:17 AM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
Patchwork — One of my top three board games. Excellent port. It's a spatial puzzle sort of game with a lot of depth.
Onirim — Atmospheric solitaire card game, in which you're wandering through a labyrinth of dreams trying to unlock doors to escape. It's one of the most beloved & recommended solo games in the tabletop board game world, and this is a faithful port. Dreamy, evocative art.
Alphabear — A word puzzle game, very spatial and strategic. Plus cute collectible bears that give you bonuses.
Sproggiwood — Light roguelite dungeon crawl. Easy to pick up even if you haven't played roguelites before. Character classes and equipment. Cute and charming art.
FTL — A strategy roguelite that's very boardgame-y. No coordination required. You control a spaceship—resource management with pause-able battle sequences against other ships.
Invisible Inc. — Turn-based stealth roguelite in which you are a futuristic spy. Feels boardgame-y to me.
The Curious Expedition — As recommended above. It's kind of like an Oregon Trail that is hilariously cynical about colonialism, except that it also has insanity, curses, and dinosaurs.
Oxenfree — Not sure if by "wordy" you meant story or not, but this is one of the best narrative games I've played. It's mostly walking around + exploring dialogue paths. The voice acting is unusually good.
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 12:17 AM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: A friend of mine wrote a game called The Flame In The Flood which is an adventure through a procedurally generated post-societal world. It involves a lot of crafting and collecting things. And steering a raft.
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:00 AM on November 2, 2017
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:00 AM on November 2, 2017
Best answer: Firewatch might be interesting to you, in that it's puzzle-ish, wordy, asks for little coordination and no reaction time. Particularly if you're a fan of the US Forest Service or public lands. It's a very laid back atmospheric mystery experience, set in 1989. Good for about 7 hours of very linear story. Once you're done there's a free-roaming option to further explore the world. Might scratch some Skyrim-adjacent neurons.
posted by mumkin at 12:51 PM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by mumkin at 12:51 PM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: West of Loathing — a single-player slapstick comedy adventure role-playing game set in the wild west of the Kingdom of Loathing universe. Traverse snake-infested gulches, punch skeletons wearing cowboy hats, grapple with demon cows, and investigate a wide variety of disgusting spittoons.
Features:
posted by zinon at 9:28 AM on November 3, 2017
Features:
- a sprawling open world, chock full of danger, quests, puzzles, and mysteries
- lush hand-drawn black and white graphics
- full stick-figure customization
- thousands of jokes, gags, and goofs
- crunchy turn-based combat (but only if you want it)
- liberal use of the Oxford comma
- over 50 hats
- disreputable saloons
- several gulches
- a drunk horse NOTE: characters are not literally colorful (the game is in black and white)
posted by zinon at 9:28 AM on November 3, 2017
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone! Just wanted to post a little update here on what I've looked into so far (and what I plan to).
Games I've loved:
posted by iamkimiam at 2:57 AM on January 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Games I've loved:
- Civilization … so far have achieved almost every type of victory (only one left!) and I love playing Polynesia; so much fun to go exploring the map before anyone else.
- Flame in the Flood – how great is this!? I haven't played as much of it but it's exactly what I was looking for … a great mix of treasure hunting, resource management and very little constraining narrative. Plus, beautiful and peaceful yet still tense.
- Steamworld Dig – not sure why, but I found it a bit boring and slightly annoying.
- Oxenfree – I was drawn to the visuals but annoyed by the pacing and dialogue. Not enough je ne sais quoi to draw me in.
- 80 Days
- Firewatch
- West of Loathing
- Puzzle Agent
posted by iamkimiam at 2:57 AM on January 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
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Stardew Valley is fun and can be played various ways. The resource-management aspects of going the farming/artisan route might be fun for you. It does have live dungeon combat if you want but it's extremely forgiving and even I've made my way to the bottom level of the dungeon, which is saying a lot.
posted by wintersweet at 1:07 PM on November 1, 2017 [1 favorite]