General Gaming Great single player games with very little narrative

[thedarkstark]

I'm getting old and as much as I love games there are often times I don't want to start a game because they require me to invest too heavily and thus playing them gives me anxiety.

 

I want to play something that's engaging but simultaneously fairly mindless that won't require me to watch 10 hours of cutscene or have crazy depth in gameplay mechanics that require extreme attention to detail.

 

I just started god of war hoping it'd be similar to the older games but instead I'm spending much of the first 2 hours watching cutscenes...  I need something lighter how are the Nier games in this regard?

 

 

[crispy4000]

The best chill and have fun single-player game I can think of in recent years.

[AbsolutSurgen]

Forza Horizon 5

[thedarkstark]

14 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

The best chill and have fun single-player game I can think of in recent years.

Already beat it and while I enjoyed I think it was probably the least enjoyable 3d mario game aside from maybe sunshine

 

 

[Moa]

DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal

[Moa]

Hotline Miami

[Moa]

Weirdly enough, Metal Gear Solid 5

[Bacon]

9 minutes ago, thedarkstark said:

I need something lighter how are the Nier games in this regard?

 

Anyway. Try Dark Souls.

Or Zelda. 

DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal are good options. Almost any FPS would be a good option if it isn't open world. 

And stay away from anything Sony first or second party. They get labeled cinematic for a reason. 

Also look for indie games. Pretty much any AAA game with a fantasy flair is going to have big story these days. 

[thedarkstark]

51 minutes ago, Moa said:

Weirdly enough, Metal Gear Solid 5

Beat it, incredible game. It does have a ton of cutscenes but it's very front & back heavy, the middle is definitely pretty chill.

 

50 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Anyway. Try Dark Souls.

Or Zelda. 

DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal are good options. Almost any FPS would be a good option if it isn't open world. 

And stay away from anything Sony first or second party. They get labeled cinematic for a reason. 

Also look for indie games. Pretty much any AAA game with a fantasy flair is going to have big story these days. 

So that's a no on Nier eh?  Damn.

 

Love Dark souls but dying all the time is definitely not relaxing.

Zelda is a top 3 franchise for me beat every zelda except skyward sword which I own but the intro is way too hand-holdy which really put me off.

Doom is kinda meh, after like 4 hours it didn't really ever hook me.

 

Been playing cuphead, monster hunter rise, rogue legacy 2, dead cells, neon white, and enjoying them a ton but they're all on the harder side which again not super relaxing. 

 

The only thing I keep coming back to over and over is rocket league and just messing around in free play.

[AbsolutSurgen]

What about The Ascent?

 

it’s a twin-stick shooter RPG. I’m about 5 hours in. Not mechanically difficult, and the cut scenes are short, infrequent and inconsequential. 

[thedarkstark]

3 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

What about The Ascent?

 

it’s a twin-stick shooter RPG. I’m about 5 hours in. Not mechanically difficult, and the cut scenes are short, infrequent and inconsequential. 

That looks like a pretty solid option I will look into it a bit more later thanks!

[Bacon]

5 minutes ago, thedarkstark said:

-snip-

Then, I kinda just want to say yer fucked, buddy. At least for anything modern. If you have missed out on a bunch of shit from the PS3 and 360 generation then that would be the best place for less story driven single player games. Not that there won't be story, but there will be less with something like Gears of War or Halo. Fable 1-3 might be good options. 

[silentbob]

I still think TitanFall 2 had one of the best single player campaigns in ages. Not many cutscenes and the gameplay is fun as hell. Forza Horizon 5 is a great suggestion too because I think they just released the Lego expansion for the game. Still like my Ratchet and Clank series for good action but maybe too much narrative that you are looking for. 

[thedarkstark]

15 minutes ago, silentbob said:

I still think TitanFall 2 had one of the best single player campaigns in ages. Not many cutscenes and the gameplay is fun as hell. Forza Horizon 5 is a great suggestion too because I think they just released the Lego expansion for the game. Still like my Ratchet and Clank series for good action but maybe too much narrative that you are looking for. 

Not big on racing games but ratchet & clank is actually not a bad suggestion I will have to see if I can find it cheap I wanted to play it but $60 is/was too much imho.

 

Since people keep mentioning shooters where do RE Village and Hitman 3 land?

[best3444]

Disco Elysium

[silentbob]

19 minutes ago, thedarkstark said:

Not big on racing games but ratchet & clank is actually not a bad suggestion I will have to see if I can find it cheap I wanted to play it but $60 is/was too much imho.

 

Since people keep mentioning shooters where do RE Village and Hitman 3 land?

that’s the fun thing about FH5 is that you can race, jump, speed traps and other events for fun. I’m not the biggest racing fan either (GT7 copy is collecting dust) but this game had me hooked because of the open world?

 

If I’m not mistaken, the R&C games are now part of the new PlayStation Plus free games to play (or whatever they call it now)  

[stepee]

The new TMNT

SOR4

Grapple Dog

Kirby

Cruisn Blast

Wario Ware Get it Together

Pokémon Legends

Yooka Laylee Impossible Lair

Sifu

Horizon 5

Bloodstained

Dusk

Klonoa Remasters

Lego Star Wars Skywalker (story is silly and quick enough to count imo)

Strider, the 360/ps3/pc one

 

 

[stepee]

35 minutes ago, thedarkstark said:

Not big on racing games but ratchet & clank is actually not a bad suggestion I will have to see if I can find it cheap I wanted to play it but $60 is/was too much imho.

 

Since people keep mentioning shooters where do RE Village and Hitman 3 land?

 

Re Village is a bit of story but you’re never sitting there watching a movie for long. Deathloop is one I’d recommend if Village counts. Hitman I would count, the story is mostly just a one minute setup at the start of the missions.

[DarkStar189]

I've felt the same about a lot of games lately. Just feels like a big commitment to start something new because everything wants to be a 40 hour adventure.  I'm less than an hour into Devil May Cry 5 for PS5 and I gotta say, it feels pretty refreshing. There are cutscenese but they are fun. I don't really know what's going on but it's been a blast so far. Check out this cutscene if you want to get a feel for the game.

It picks up about 2 minutes in. When the van is rolling and the lady catches the cigarette in her mouth in slow motion I knew I found the right game.

[stepee]

I wish the locations in DMC5 weren’t so borrrring though.

[crispy4000]

3 hours ago, thedarkstark said:

Already beat it and while I enjoyed I think it was probably the least enjoyable 3d mario game aside from maybe sunshine

I think it’s way better than 3D World and Galaxy 1, but it’s all subjective when the baseline quality of these games is so high.

[Brian]

Stray 

[Biggie]

14 hours ago, Moa said:

Weirdly enough, Metal Gear Solid 5

You got me thinking. I’m going to re-download it onto my PS5 and give it another whirl. 

[best3444]

26 minutes ago, Biggie said:

You got me thinking. I’m going to re-download it onto my PS5 and give it another whirl. 

 

That game was like crack to me. So much fun approaching missions in different ways. The stealth is second to none. 

[number305]

I'm kind of surprised people are recommending the new Doom games for this.  Those are great games... but if you take an extended break and come back to them it is hard to jump back in.  Takes a while to remember all the timing and weapon switching and such.  Very muscle memory intensive game.  

 

My recommendation for a shooter would be sniper elite 5.  There is a story there but I usually skip through it.  I play in short bursts.  Kill some Nazi's.  Set up some long range shots, snap some necks and I'm good for a while.

[Keyser_Soze]

1 minute ago, number305 said:

My recommendation for a shooter would be sniper elite 5.  There is a story there but I usually skip through it.  I play in short bursts.  Kill some Nazi's.  Set up some long range shots, snap some necks and I'm good for a while.

 

@SoberChef

[XxEvil AshxX]

Elder Scrolls Online. The entire game can be played solo and you can literally just tap through all the conversations because the marker on your compass will tell you where you need to go anyway. The combat is so simplified and mindless you really don't even need to pay attention to what you're doing. It's my go-to game when I don't want to use my brain at all. Also, the game is fucking massive. And the best part is, when you're done you can just log out wherever you are and pick right back up next time.

[AbsolutSurgen]

18 hours ago, DarkStar189 said:

I've felt the same about a lot of games lately. Just feels like a big commitment to start something new because everything wants to be a 40 hour adventure.  I'm less than an hour into Devil May Cry 5 for PS5 and I gotta say, it feels pretty refreshing. There are cutscenese but they are fun. I don't really know what's going on but it's been a blast so far. Check out this cutscene if you want to get a feel for the game.

It picks up about 2 minutes in. When the van is rolling and the lady catches the cigarette in her mouth in slow motion I knew I found the right game.

I really wanted to like DMC5, but it ended up being a big "meh" for me.  The combat was "OK", but, IMHO became overly complex as the game progressed.

I couldn't get into the story at all (and there was a LOT of it).

[nublood]

6 hours ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

Elder Scrolls Online. The entire game can be played solo and you can literally just tap through all the conversations because the marker on your compass will tell you where you need to go anyway. The combat is so simplified and mindless you really don't even need to pay attention to what you're doing. It's my go-to game when I don't want to use my brain at all. Also, the game is fucking massive. And the best part is, when you're done you can just log out wherever you are and pick right back up next time.

Does it have an endgame? Been thinking about trying it. 

[XxEvil AshxX]

15 minutes ago, nublood said:

Does it have an endgame? Been thinking about trying it. 

 

There are three factions in the game. You'll pick one to start, but after you complete the story, you'll be able to do another faction, and when you finish that one, start the third. That alone takes a huge chunk of time, but after that they've also been doing chapters for a few years now, which are expansions. Each expansion is a new region. But you can easily get 500+ hours out of the base game. The level cap is 60, but then you start earning champion points, and each level is one point, I think they're currently up  to 1600 CP. That said, the game scales to you (up to lvl 60), so you can literally go wherever you want without having to worry about grinding levels.

[nublood]

37 minutes ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

 

There are three factions in the game. You'll pick one to start, but after you complete the story, you'll be able to do another faction, and when you finish that one, start the third. That alone takes a huge chunk of time, but after that they've also been doing chapters for a few years now, which are expansions. Each expansion is a new region. But you can easily get 500+ hours out of the base game. The level cap is 60, but then you start earning champion points, and each level is one point, I think they're currently up  to 1600 CP. That said, the game scales to you (up to lvl 60), so you can literally go wherever you want without having to worry about grinding levels.

Thanks for that. I think I’ll give it a try. I know’s  it’s an MMO but I’ll go it alone and see if it grows on me. 

[DarkStar189]

3 hours ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

I really wanted to like DMC5, but it ended up being a big "meh" for me.  The combat was "OK", but, IMHO became overly complex as the game progressed.

I couldn't get into the story at all (and there was a LOT of it).

That's a shame to hear.  I'll probably dig in more tonight. 

[unogueen]

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

[best3444]

51 minutes ago, nublood said:

Thanks for that. I think I’ll give it a try. I know’s  it’s an MMO but I’ll go it alone and see if it grows on me. 

 

I can second that it’s very enjoyable and user friendly for an mmo. It's actually pretty damn solid. 

[CitizenVectron]

Fallout 4. If you play it as "I'm just going to wander around and ignore all the quests" you can get dozens of hours out of it, especially if you replay with different builds/styles. My last few plays have been:

• Stealth sniper
• Power armour shotgun, with no VATS (no freezing time to target enemies)
• Scavenger-only (no buying/selling or modding, only looting)