What strategy or RPG video game should I play?

September 20, 2021 5:17 PM

I have a vacation (~1 week) coming up and I'd like to invest my time in a video game (or maybe more than one), but I'm not sure what to play. My favorites genres are strategy and RGP and I play on computer (Linux). What should I play next? It doesn't have to be The Latest Hotness.

Favorite games of the past include:

- Planescape: Torment
- Civilization (1-6, but esp. 4 and 5)
- Fallout (1-3 and New Vegas)
- Skyrim
- XCOM (1, 2, Enemy Unknown, War of the Chosen)
- Neverwinter Nights
- Knights of the Old Republic (1 & 2)
- Dragon Age
- Minecraft (esp. Thaumcraft, Tinker's Construct, and Galacticraft mods)
- Diablo 2
- Starcraft

My gaming setup is a linux computer with 2 monitors, with an Intel i5 and a GeForce 2060 SUPER GPU. I'd guess I can play pretty much anything that'll run under Linux (including Steam and Wine). I can dual boot to Windows if there's a compelling reason.

Things I'm considering:
- Fallout 4
- Dragon Age 2

Things I tried that did not grab me:
- Pillars of Eternity
- Cyberpunk 2077 (I think I just don't like urban settings; and the cyber upgrade tree didn't inspire me)
- Bioshock (loved the setting, but it was too anxiety-inducing)
- Divinity: Original Sin (combat too fiddly and hard)

Thanks!

posted by at home in my head to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (22 answers total)

Soooooo... did you ever play Legends of Grimrock 1 or 2? 2 is better and much bigger. Grimrock 2.

Really oldschool dungeon crawler but with many QoL improvements and great design.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 5:26 PM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

If you loved Planescape: Torment, an rpg praised for its writing with little (and mostly bad) combat, you might also love Disco Elysium, an rpg praised for its writing with no combat.
posted by rodlymight at 5:38 PM on September 20, 2021 [6 favorites]

Have you tried any of the Paradox Development Studio games? I've been getting back into Crusader Kings 3 of late, though have also had fun times with Stellaris. They are long, engrossing strategy/RPG games, CK3 particularly hits the latter note, which can eat up a ton of time, and are supported on Linux natively.
posted by Alensin at 5:43 PM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

If you haven't tried traditional Roguelikes, I'd suggest giving Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup (DCSS) a shot.

Free, open source, play online in browser or SSH/telnet, plus ofc local play on most any platform.

There's a great short tutorial, in-game help, as well as a very useful wiki, subreddit, in-game watch/chat, discord, etc.

Try it for 15 min, and if if grabs you, you'll have a great free game for years :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:58 PM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Disco Elysium is an amazing mood, yes.
posted by Scattercat at 6:01 PM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Shadowrun: Hong Kong are both engaging, isometric turn-based RPGs with native Linux support. They're cyberpunk fantasy (based on the pen and paper Shadowrun system), which you might find more palatable than pure cyberpunk.
posted by givennamesurname at 6:02 PM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Sounds like we have fairly similar taste in RPGs. A few ideas:

• Horizon: Zero Dawn is my all-time favorite game. Deep story and worldbuilding, great characters, postapocalyptic but not grimdark. (Pretty different in terms of gameplay from the entries on your list; gameplay is more akin to The Witcher 3.)
• Just like you, I was left cold by Pillars of Eternity (found the setting and plot quite dull), but I found Tyranny (same developer and engine) a lot more interesting.
• There are no JRPGs in your list, but Trails in the Sky is worth a try. Dialogue-heavy game with great storytelling, character development, and worldbuilding. Slow start (you start as a junior member of a sort of peacekeepers' guild, and the game takes the story slow and lets you sort of absorb the setting for a while), but it's one of those stories that keeps getting bigger and more interesting with each chapter.

posted by Syllepsis at 6:48 PM on September 20, 2021 [2 favorites]

You would probably like Into the Breach a lot.
posted by aubilenon at 7:50 PM on September 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

Since you played and liked Fallout: New Vegas, I'd say The Outer Worlds (also by Obsidian) is going to be a must-try. Combat is a slight improvement on the Fallout 3/NV/4 formula, and the story maintains the same absurdist sci-fi feel.
posted by commander_fancypants at 9:37 PM on September 20, 2021 [2 favorites]

[actually reads post] Oh, wait, you haven't played Fallout 4 yet? Totally do that before The Outer Worlds! I put more than 100 hours into Fallout 4 (the only game I've played longer is Skyrim).
posted by commander_fancypants at 10:08 PM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

I thought Disco Elysium was a phenomenal bit of storytelling. Some flaws, for sure, and not a strategy- or tactics-oriented RPG, but really terrific. Reminded me of Planescape: Torment in many respects.

Another terrific story-oriented game with much more of a tactics angle is Wildermyth. But this time they nailed a really rich story feeling and engaging character while being mostly procedurally-generated. The main gameplay is, I think, a bit like X-Com lite (but I haven't actually played X-Com, so I'm not sure),

And seconding SaltySalticid: if you want to go really old school, I think Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is a great roguelike. Thoughtful design, touch tactical decision-making, some lovely quality of life touches (except that it is still brutally punishing).
posted by col_pogo at 11:50 PM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

We have similar tastes. If you like Civ take a look at Humankind. Dragon Age 2 may have been my favorite of the 3, even with the weird repetitive dungeons, though I like the gameplay in 3 better. Fallout 4 is pretty great. A couple of older quirky RPGs I am very fond of - Psychonauts (there's a sequel just released) and Beyond Good and Evil. Have a great week! I miss being able to devote that much time to gaming.
posted by kittyloop at 12:30 AM on September 21, 2021

I think you'll like Fallout 4.

As much as I loved the original Dragon Age, I did not like Dragon Age 2 at all. I hated the change from gritty realism (yellow teeth!) to weird JRPG spinning-combat moves. I hated the repetitive dungeons all on the same floorplan, the enemies that would drop from the skies in the cities. I disliked it so much I did not finish the game. Dragon Age Inquisition was an improvement, and I played it all the way through, but it still wasn't as good as the first one.

I agree Into the Breach is fabulous. It's like an unforgiving science fiction time travelling chess game with awesome moves and great writing.

Darkest Dungeon from 2016 is something I haven't seen recommended yet. It has turn based combat, so you get some of that XCom feeling, but it's its own thing with a lovely paper doll art style and a very grim theme about how violence damages people permanently. That sounds depressing, and it is, but the game is also fun.. After reading about it for years, I bought it last month, and it is very very good. Also, I paid less than five dollars for it in a Steam sale. Although, if you found Bioshock anxiety-inducing, then the themes here may do the same thing. Still, worth looking into.

Return of the Obra Dinn is like nothing else. In a beautiful black and white pixel art style reminiscent of early Macintosh programs, you play an early 19th century insurance investigator with a magic pocket watch who is presented with a crime scene-- a ship where everyone is dead. You have to figure out what happened, using just your brains and your ability to view the last moments of the murder victims. It was Game of Year for many journalists. It sounds bonkers when I type out the description, but check it out and you'll get a feel for whether or not it might work for you.

If you can handle a bit more action, then the first Dying Light game really captured my heart for several months. A huge Mediterranean Turkish city three months into a zombie plague with beautiful graphics, fantastic environmental locations, and some really satisfying parkour combat moves. The story-telling from just the locations alone was fascinating-- looking at the apartments where people survived (or didn't) throughout the crisis was so interesting to me. Like I said, it is definitely an action RPG where you will need to be good with a keyboard or a controller, but I liked it a lot.

I hope you enjoy your week of gaming!
posted by seasparrow at 1:17 AM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

Quite different from the ones recd so far, I just started Wildermyth which is a sort of autogenerated story RPG/D&D. It has a little bit of RPG characters and choices, a little bit of D&D for battles and stories, a little bit of strategy and plotlines and - it's just all super fun in a very restful way.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 1:39 AM on September 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

If you liked Dragon Age, I would say, skip Dragon Age 2, and play Dragon Age Inquisition. 2 was a bit of a bore, but Dragon Age Inquisition has a lot of the feeling of a grand scope that the first has.

If you enjoy the type of story telling with bits of combat with bits of role playing that Dragon Age offers, I would definitely recommend Mass Effect (assuming it's playable on Linux). The first one is a bit clunky, but is still a really great story line with characterization and decisions. And then, if you enjoy that, you can port your character over to Mass Effect 2 and 3 and have a blast!
posted by ellerhodes at 5:36 AM on September 21, 2021

Wait, people mention dungeon crawlers and yet no mentions of Diablo?! How? OK so, right, windows or mac. Still you mention wine and the ability to boot into windows. Here's a page with links to the various specs you need. I really enjoy these games specifically 2 & 3. I haven't played 4 yet so I can't comment on that. Have fun whatever you choose.
posted by evilDoug at 7:53 AM on September 21, 2021

I showed up recommend Zero Dawn, but you should be aware that it's not the kind of RPG where you support this faction over that faction and it changes the ending in some significant way.

--OR--

Go totally old-school and get the Gold Box games from the 80s/early 90s.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:37 AM on September 21, 2021 [2 favorites]

Mass Effect. IMO it's one of the best games/gaming series ever made. The legendary edition (all 3 games + 40 DLC) came out earlier this year, but it's not on sale right now. If you choose buy them separately I'd start with ME 2.
posted by Stoof at 9:34 AM on September 21, 2021

You might like Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark. It's a turn-based fantasy RPG in the Final Fantasy Tactics vein, with lovely 2D artwork, decent story and writing, and plenty of classes and abilities. It's also very easy to mod, if you enjoy tinkering and want to add or modify classes and upgrade paths.

I know you mentioned that you didn't like Pillars of Eternity, and I share that, but I loved Pillars of Eternity 2. The important differences to me are the inclusion of a turn-based mode, which makes combat much less chaotic and thoughtful, and multi-classing. The main story is somewhat baffling if you didn't follow PoE1 to the end, but rather like Bethesda games, the main story is of little consequence and can be mostly ignored until you're ready for it.

You could also look into Dominions 5 (or really, 3 or 4... they're all similar). It doesn't look or sound like much, but it's hard to beat for sheer breadth and depth. You play an aspiring god who is trying to take over a world map, province by province. Along the way, you spec out your deity, effects of belief, the nation supporting your faith, available magic paths, and so on. I could list more features, but the main thing is that there are hundreds of options for almost every facet of gameplay.
posted by Transmissions From Vrillon at 4:01 PM on September 21, 2021

If you loved Civ IV like me, you will definitely love Old World. It's by Soren Johnson, who was lead designer for Civ IV and he has improved the civ Formula considerably. Old World has a really smart AI, which was a major turn of for me in civ V & VI, where the AI can't handle anything. And the gameplay is fantastic!
posted by SweetLiesOfBokonon at 2:27 AM on September 22, 2021

Your favorites list has a lot of overlap with mine and my RPG itch is currently being scratched by Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Plays pretty well on Linux under Steam, and is old-school but with some modern touches.

People on forums are complaining that the endgame is unbalanced if you haven't played an optimal game that far, but I haven't reached it and cannot vouch for that.
posted by each day we work at 3:12 AM on September 22, 2021

Response by poster: Thanks very much, all. I think I'll be entertained on my vacation!
posted by at home in my head at 3:59 PM on September 23, 2021 [2 favorites]