A gaming community free from the hype and oversaturation of current releases, catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game. Whether it's price, waiting for bugs/issues to be patched, DLC to be released, don't meet the system requirements, or just haven't had the time to keep up with the latest releases.
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Crypt of the Necrodancer.
Really fun roguelike game where you and enemies have to move to the beat of that floor's song. I think part of the reason I still play it a lot is that it's amenable to very short sessions. I've played enough that runs go fast and I either clear or die within 10 minutes.
Over 1200 hours now almost a decade after release, and a huge chunk of that is probably sessions of under 30 mins in length.
Dark Souls. If there's nothing else I want to play, I'm always up for another run through Lordran with a build I've never tried before.
For me this is the most unhinged option. But then DS is like putting hot needles in my eyes to me.
StarCraft. The original. My brain and body is hardwired to play that game. "SCV ready" triggers something. I have a fantasy of retiring in an old folks home and me and a few of my fellow geriatrics fire that shit up and play LAN games until the DNR kicks in.
The atmosphere in that game is very unique and extremely well done. No shade to SC2, it just didn't require capture the feel, the music, the dread the way SC1 does
The Long Dark. Something about wandering an icy wasteland scavenging, hunting, fishing, works for me.
Europa Universalis IV. There are tons of countries to play, lots of variation each time, and so many options for self challenges (e.g. accomplish goal by year).
The only thing that would get me to stop playing is if EUV is good, and then only a few years and DLC in. Even then, I could see myself coming back to it.
I'm late but: Fights In Tight Spaces. I thoroughly enjoy their daily challenges, and save my replays when I have a spectacular run with no damage.
Rimworld
I just keep coming back.
Burnout 3
Burnout Legends for me!
I was going to say, mine is Burnout Revenge. I think last I looked though only Burnout Paradise was available on Steam for me.
Skate 3
I'll just load it up, find a new spot and make some clips.
Oh me too. I can just roll around for a long while, not even doing anything in particular.
Skate 3, the relaxation tool.
Hey, make sure you get a balanced diet of board sports though.
You got your downhill longboarding racing with Driftwood
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2223700/Driftwood/
and your realistic, park/trick focused realistic snowboarding with Shredders
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874170/Shredders/
All part of a healthy breakfast
For years that game was Warframe for me. Just turn of my brain and run missions I know inside and out while watching twitch from the corner of eye on a second monitor. At some point I wanted to have more time to play other games so I stopped and didn't find a new cozy game
These days I mostly just grind the same handful of games. Actually having a hard time pulling myself away long enough to get through the JRPGs on my backlog...
Space Engineers. I can just build and build and build, and the community seems to always have a few new interesting mods whenever I'm looking to start a new world.
For me that's rocket league.
Phigros
It's a mobile rhythm game without ads and in-app purchases. It's also completely offline so I don't need an internet connection to play.
Ys Seven for the PSP. I have Ys VII and Ys: MoC for the Vita and Ys IX for the Switch, but there's something about Seven that keeps me coming back.
I love hunting for achievements and there’s always one unfinished game that’s a fallback to push a bit further in these cases where I stare at my Steam library for five minutes without starting anything, right now it‘s „if in doubt, play Metal Gear Solid V“
Runs 60 FPS all high on the Deck as well, which is crazy to me
Civilization 6
Same! It's so great on the Steam Deck. I've got a game going right now ...
I've been chipping away at that deep rock galactic reverse bullet hell game for a while now. Don't have the patience to play anything for more than half an hour these days.
There's good free multiplayer games (e.g. delat force, marvel rivals, deadlock)
Unless you mean single-player
When in doubt, true doubt, Doom is always there for me, in every device I own.
Mass Effect. Always new choices waiting for you
Oh! I just started the Legendary edition this week for the first time.
You’re in for a treat! The Legendary edition was a great release, and the perfect excuse for me to replay the whole trilogy a couple years back for like, the fourth time. So good.
Project Zomboid, or one of the Arkham games.