Divinity: Original Sin II Definitive Edition -- one of the best CRPG's, rivaling all of the Bioware D&D games from late 90's to early 2000's.

Darkest Dungeon 1 (2 is in EA) -- Roguelite dungeon crawler / resource management / eldritch horror

Check out Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, 3 is still in development by the D:OS II devs.

Ahh, CRPGs are a genre I absolutely didn't think to mention! I absolutely wanna play BG3 when it's fully released, but holding off until then. Watched a lot of BG1&2 being played on streams, and really enjoyed playing some of the more recent Pathfinder games. Unfortunately I kinda bounced off Divinity Original Sin (couldn't get into the world/lore) so never played the second one. Maybe I'll give it another go in the future!

As for Darkest Dungeon, a roguelike is a bit too 'intense' for what I'm looking for right now. It's an incredible game though, already own the first one and have watched a tonne of it played on streams.

Shining Force 2
Ogre Battle 64

I know Shining Force well, but never come across Ogre Battle before!

OB64 is a rather rare game so a bit expensive to obtain, but it’s a fun game with multiple endings.

Love me some OB64 it is amazing never letting my copy of it go!

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is always a favorite.

I never played that series, but watched a lot of HoM&M2 being played on stream! A good call. :3

I mean, it's not in the genre you've suggested, but Kerbal Space Program is arguably the most addictive, slow paced game I've ever played. I have well over 4000 hours in it. Definitely watch a few videos and pick up some of the "essential" mods on day 1 however, because the mods maketh the game with that one! Also preparation. The learning curve is more of a cliff, but it is an amazing game once you get past the start!

Subnautica is first person, but has remarkably little high speed action. Mostly you're carefully thinking about how to survive the next zone you want to dive to. I find it very mellow, although I am aware it triggers phobias in some people.

Stellaris is a fast forward button for the real world. Start playing and suddenly it's 4am and you're really thirsty, tired, and bursting to pee.

Or maybe something like Cities Skylines? Couple of the DLCs do feel essential but the others are pick what you like. Another timeskip button; I frequently end up messing with road layouts and wonder whether it's worth making lunch at 4pm or just wait for tea time :')

And out of left field, one I only picked up recently; Eastshade. No guns, no weapons, no fighting of any kind. I don't think it's actually possible to kill your character, or take any injuries. You are a painter, you solve problems by painting. And sometimes talking. Bonus, the world is entirely populated by beastfolk.

I played a fair bit of KSP, but haven't gone back to it in a long time. I'm also very inexperienced and not very intuitively good at picking good/right mods for things, so that was probably a barrier to me getting 'more' into it. Still, I certainly agree it's a fantastic game! Subnautica is also on my list of things to play, though I'm holding off on that as I know it has a 'story' to it, and I kinda wanna play a game where I don't have to follow a specific narrative to progress right now.

I also have Cities Skylines, but alas I'm just not very good at city builders. I struggle to make them work and go bankrupt before I can get to the 'fun' part, haha. Haven't played or heard of that last one, but I'll look it up. Tyty! :3

The shadow run returns trilogy is pretty dope.

I've heard interesting things about the Shadowrun games! Never played or seen anything of them though. :)

The gameplay of the trilogy mixes a lot of the classic isometric rpg mechanics of the 90’s (turn based combat with a focus on party comp and lots of text based dialogue to deliver the story.
With some modern garnish like having the cover mechanics from the firaxis xcom games.

As for the setting, it’s best described as if dungeons and dragons merged suddenly with nurimancer and people just adapted after 30 years.
My favorite nugget of the lore is how dragons have evolved their hord behavior to become heads of corporations. Although you don’t encounter them directly.

Take a look at Dorkromantik. It's really cute, just came out, and it's only like 15 bucks. You can pick it up for a 10 minute session or go for hours.

Legend of keepers is also a pretty nice turn based game. You're a dungeon master/corporate slave and your job is to manage your monsters and pretend heroes from conquering your dungeon.

Oooh, those both sound interesting! Ty!

For the King is a fun little one. You can play it solo or up to 3 allies, and it's a turn-based quest-chasing game with a randomization factor. If you play on standard difficulty it's quite relaxing and enjoyable, and if you want to up the difficulty later there are settings to do so.

That name really rings a bell. I'll have to look it up, I might have seen a streamer play it a couple of years ago, if it was out then?

For me, you can never go wrong with a good JRPG, especially the classic turn-based ones like Final Fantasy 7. Some of the older ones are great too, like Final Fantasy 6. Games in the "Tales" series (Tales of Symphonia, Berseria, etc.) are really good too!

I love JRPGs, FFX is one of my favourite games of all time (indeed it held the top spot as my favourite game from 2004 until 2019), though I'm not really looking to play a story-heavy game right now so I'll probably hold off on diving into those for a while. :)

Monster Sanctuary, my personal Game Of The Year pick for 2020. Great monster battler game that combines RPG battles with Metroidvania-style explanation using the abilities of captured monsters. The main game is generally quite easy and forgiving but there's no shortage of optional missions if the mood strikes for a tougher challenge.

There's also Kor if you want a throwback to old Gameboy RPGs. It involves action commands, some of which can be rather demanding, but it also has a story mode with much more generous timing windows.

Ooh, Monster Sanctuary sounds very fun! I'll look that one up, thankee. :D

Armello is a board game, and you can't get more turn-based than that. It's still supported with updates after all these years, is surprisingly addictive... and the cast of cute furries might inspire some writing!

I'm also biased in favor of Armello because the board design means we get bunny, bear and rat ladies towering over mountains, but that's just me.

I have Armello! A good friend recommended it to me a while back, and I think gifted it to me on steam back then too. I never did find the time to play it, but perhaps now is that time!!

I'm surprised FTL isn't on here. It's absolutely a casual 'easily pausible' game. Pausing is an intended mechanic. All of your actions should be set while in freeze time, and you can pause any time and revise those actions.

Oh, I LOVE FTL and have played it through to multiple endings with multiple ships/crews. :D Perhaps I should re-visit Into the Breach. I never got as far with that.

Frostpunk, Rimworld, Anno 1800 if you aren't too removed from real time.

Rimworld is one I own and really do want to play more of. :D I've never played an Anno game, though I've always seen them pop up as "Recommended for You" on steam, hehe.

https://www.furaffinity.net/gallery.....990/Game-Work/

There are a couple games made here that are pretty good. Can't wait to see more from them.

I'll do my best to check them out, thankee. :3

I've always been a fan of the Civilization series. Recently I've evenjoyed deeply Dorfromantik (tile-layers have always been a weakness of mine). Opus Magnum is also great fun to futz around in.

That's the second recc for Dorfromantik here, I'll certainly have to give that one a look. Thanks!!

endless Legends is a fun take on Civ, but might be a bit too 4X for what you're in the mood for.

personally, i'm playing No Man's Sky. still pretty laid back :P

I've got hundreds of hours of time in No Man's Sky! Actually I started replaying it just recently, but I found myself a bit uncertain as to exactly what my 'goal' was since I've already explored the main quests and gotten to the centre of the universe.

Oh, and weirdly Endless Legends is one of the only Endless games I haven't played a tonne of. Endless Space I played hundreds of hours of, and Dungeon of the Endless was my obsession for a while. :D

check out Invisible Inc too if you haven't seen it, interesting isometric turn based stealth game.

wait i got you, i have the perfect game


euro truck simulator

I have Invisible Inc! And omg, I've genuinely considered getting into some of those relaxing simulator type games. But, I've never seen anyone else playing them and I tend to form my final opinions on whether to buy a game by watching gameplay vs just trailers/reviews. Got any recommendations for any streamers/youtubers who have a good 'into to Euro Truck Simulator' gameplay video? (Assuming you weren't kidding. If you were, lmao)

farm simulator

im sorry, i was actually kidding but you might find this amusing anyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J8V7fPmxH4

Aww, haha. No worries, but I maintain that they're totally the kind of relaxing thing I could see myself getting lost in if given the right introduction. :D

NMS is one of those games I go into hard for a month or so, set some goals, and then drop for a few months. which is perfectly ok! games are supposed to be fun, and it serves that purpose well, it's just something i only do in small increments. personally i'm going for:

* fleet of all yellow ships (due to an early streak) [ ]

* upgrading first crashed ship (yellow shuttle) to max inventory and S class [ ] [X]

* max out freighters because starships are cool [ ]

* get to next universe...eventually? [ ]

* take lots of cool photos along the way in photo mode [X]

it's definitely a game where you have to pick goals, and also one of those games that you'll get bored of for awhile. i think it's just the nature of the beast!

i also settled a dry/desert planet and started a base there that i want to make as a memorial to the family member i lost a few years ago, for personal reasons. i won't be able to share it with this community because it's under my other steam name, but i'll upload it eventually.

Those are some good goals!! I really want to get more into the base-building side of things, but I still can't figure out how to not get massive chunks of earth clipping through my bases floor lmao.

i've heard that terrain sometimes randomly regenerates. i try to build above ground when i can. they made it REALLY HARD to place foundations, but what i've found works is building a fortnite-style ramp staircase and then placing the long-legged foundation on top of that. that way i can preserve some of the natural beauty without messing up the terrain lol

i'm really bad at designing bases though lol

Check out the disgaea series. Turn based lots of depth absolutely hilarious and fun stories and hey you are a demon of the netherworld and you are gonna be the bestest of overlords. Good dark comedy lots of customization options and the item world for near infinite replay ability.

I've heard of the series, but I will certainly check it out in more detail. Thankee!

More of a "city" builder, but very causal and relaxed is Surviving Mars for me

Ooh, I saw a few hours of that on a stream a while back and was definitely curious then. Time to give it another look!

I'm not sure if you're a fan of vintage star wars content but if you've never played the original Knights of the Old Repulic games (1 and 2, not the MMO) they're quite amazing and hold a special place in my heart from when I used to play them all the time (and still do). It's early Bioware so it's good story and character development content, but it's before they did mass effect, so the combat is a turn-based sort of style? You move in real time but you can pause and the actions your character (and party) makes are done in a turn order. Highly recommend them both.

I got a bundle of Star Wars games a while back so I could play Rogue Squadron again on PC. :D When I'm more in the mood for story driven games that definitely sounds like one to go back to. :D

i quite enjoyed Bravely Default II https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....LY_DEFAULT_II/

I've heard good things about BD! Thanks. :3

Cities: Skylines is always good.

I've been playing Deep Rock Galactic and No Man's Sky recently.

Oooh, I've heard interesting stuff about Deep Rock Galactic. I'll have to check that out. :3

Hit me up if you like it! I play quite often.

This list I'm collating will be a more long term thing, so I doubt I'll be playing it in the next few weeks, but thankee! If I get it and get into it, I'll certainly know where to come if I have questions. :3

I don't have anything to add beyond what other people have (and also you and I already play a ton of the same games it sounds!), but I've been sinking a frankly unreasonable amount of hours into Stellaris. It really is a 'fast forward' button for the remainder of any given day.

I also play Destiny 2 with a few friends. Persona 5 Royal is one I've been playing, with Persona 5 Strikers on my list for after I finish P5R. Finally, whenever I just wanna run around and kill things with a sword, I kick up Shadow of War and run around the open world going 'shank shank shank' and looking for new Orcs to recruit.

Oooooooh I never did get around to playing Shadow of War! Loved Shadow of Mordor, so that certainly sounds like one to go back to when I have a craving for a story driven game. :3

Definitely check out Fire Emblem, Advanced Wars, or Wargroove (which is heavily inspired by Advanced Wars)!

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is one of, perhaps my absolute favourite games of all time. :D

It's a little short, but something you can sink a ton of time into is Opus Magnum. A pseudo-programming game about making different elemental combinations, I spent hours going for optimizing size, cost, and time. And the steam community in this game is strong, tons of unique custom levels made by fans to try and solve

Haha, I've seen that game before! It's a super interesting game and I should give it a go at some point. :3

I find myself hooked on digital card games, so I keep coming back to Slay the Spire. It's a single-player roguelike deckbuilder, and with the Downfall Fan Expansion, there's plenty of content to explore!

I also recommend the Pathfinder Adventures Card Game for experiencing an RPG campaign simplified to a deckbuilder with dice. On PC (or mobile) it's cheaper and easier to deal with than the physical card game -- well, cheaper until you decide to buy multiple campaigns of the physical card game to play with your gaming group.

I really should play Slay the Spire! I've seen it played a tonne but never actually got to playing it myself.

Let's see, As far as my recommendations under the category of not quite in the vein you're looking for I would say Tank Mechanic Sim is a good one, though german tanks are a pain... Kerbal Space Program, and maybe straying a bit into the "having good reflexes" area there is Bomber Crew and Space Crew.

As for those more in the category being asked for, I would recommend; Into the Breach, Going Medieval, and Prison Architect.

Into the Breach I certainly need to play more of! Wasn't a huge fan of prison architect, but I'll definitely check out Going Medieval. Thankee. :3

It's in early access but it's pretty good for what it is at this point. Good communication from the devs as well as far as what they're working on next.

What PC game isn't early access for 2 years after release at this point? XD

Fair, though it's only been out for a few months, so a bit earlier in its dev cycle than most.

Do you like big, stompy mechs? If so, BATTLETECH.

I know of the game, but I've gotta admit it's kinda flown under my radar so I'll have to research it more! :D

For an (Pretty) Casual Turn-Based game: Trails of Cold steel.

I'll certainly look that one up, thanks! :3 :3

Space engineers, mini metro, the sequel to mini metro whose name i cant remember right now, mindustry, this one you can actually get it for free on the itch io page, or support the developer on steam

Thankee! I've heard of Space Engineers before, but the others I'll have to look up. :3

Two sets of RPGs I can throw in the pile:

1. The original Fallout and its sequel were both turn-based RPGs. You should be able to get them on Good old Games. They're not pitch-black, but they can get dark, so be ready... and they can get silly.

2. Spiderweb Software makes a lot of older-style turn-based RPGs. Their flagship series is Avernum, about adventures in an underground kingdom. The graphics can be simple, but the stories can get complex.

Haha, thank you! I've watched playthroughs of both the first two Fallouts (and played some of the Wasteland series which follows a similar turn-based style as a spiritual successor series), but I'll certainly check out Avernum! :D

Geneforge is good, too - it has the 'player leads a team' element of Pokemon, but the setting is distinctively unusual.