Morrowind and FTL. Both I revisit every couple of years.

I suspect Stardew Valley might become something like that too, but I only had one cycle of stopping and coming back with it so far.

I'm actually tempted to say Snatch too. City of God (Cidade de Deus 2002) is up there with it. Some time ago I probably would've said Donnie Darko, but I've grown out of it over the years.

Academics needs good discipline for the most part provided you have an okay head for it.

Somebody with a very high intelligence can cruise by for a while, but they will hit a wall eventually where they need to sit down and do the boring, borderline useless or administrative stuff too. Lots of people have a hard time to find the motivation to do these parts and fail.

That's just teenagers. They will arrive eventually if Lemmy gets more popular.

Papers, Please just turned ten recently. It's a simple concept (just check the papers!) getting progressively more difficult as you get further. The bleak setting with the colours and music gives that very "nice" 50's soviet vibes. Definitely recommended.

I very much use the subscription feed. I don't know how alone I am with this, but I usually only subscribe to channels when I want to watch almost all videos they post.

A lot of the time if a creator gets a little bit popular they start to spam videos and that's when I unsubscribe, even if I generally like their content. I feel like I cannot ever keep up anymore so I just watch their videos sporadically from then on.

Yeah, my intention was to ask more in the spirit of the capital Patient Gamer, as in the community name, instead of just a gamer who is patient. Some good discussions happening here so it's all good either way.

For me there are a couple.

Hades (2020) - I'm not in any hurry with this one. I'd get it if GOG starts to sell it, otherwise I'll wait a bit more.

Outer Wilds (2020) - I'm getting impatient with this. I'd like this more on GOG too, but I think I'll just buy it when Steam winter sale comes.

The Guild III (2022) - quirky trade/life sim game and I have some fond memories of the second one. But that had quite a few bugs even long after release and I hear the third game still looks unfinished so I'm patient.

One Finger Death Punch

Simple, but surprisingly addictive stickman fighting game. Although the title is a lie because you probably need two fingers to play it. I think this was the first game I went for 100% achievements.

Apparently it has a sequel which I didn't know about. Both are on sale for pretty much pocket change now too.

In the last few years I started actively trying to stop myself from thinking about company code (and other work stuff too) when I'm not at work. You know, work life balance and all that. Did wonders to my mental health.

I had this too. I decided that I'll get the max rating from Grampa and the everything will calm down, but after reaching that point in game I was sort of burnt out and stopped playing.

Also I never could get into the island part of the game. I felt like I abandoned what I worked for all that time!

"Oh hidy-ho officer, we've had a doozy of a day..." Definitely a good watch.

For ARPGs if you feel burnt by Diablo IV, I can recommend Path of Exile. Arguably the king of the genre today.

Others mentioned Grim Dawn, which has a bit slower gameplay, but a good choice nonetheless.

If you're looking for indie ARPG, then there's Chronicon. Nice little game that I really want to go back to again.

I'm afraid I'm a victim of algorithms because I pretty much only look at stuff from GOG and Steam front pages or games that are recommended as 'similar' over there. And of course youtube.

As a side note. I should even stop checking those because I just keep playing the same games nowadays instead of chipping away at my backlog.

Good for you if that's your experience, but I cannot say the same. The difference I found is with the way those people ignore arguments and insult you.

I can talk to a person from a technical field and come out of that conversation feeling like shit because I was called all kinds of stupid indirectly.

Most classic RPGs have lots of combat. What I don't see mentioned here so far is Neverwinter Nights. Especially the first expansion of the second game. Mask of the Betrayer. Lots of combat of course, but a story that your behaviour has an impact on. Search for a cookie cutter build, lower the difficulty. You can skip through the combat parts quickly that way, if you don't like them.

Also mentioning Planescape Torment again because it's weird and not so combat focused.

Honest question, what's the scam here? You are pricing in divines and they spam you with lowball offers in chaos?

I've been slowly playing through Vampire Survivors again with each hero only using their starting weapon. I did the lightning ring dude on the first map the last time. Only barely made it to 30 minutes with that one.

Papers, Please. Maybe not crying, but could definitely put you into a depressed mood if you manage to get into character. Needing to make a choice between letting some poor bastard's wife follow him without proper papers and feeding your family is tough.

10k? I hope it's hours and not money. Even though 10k is some insane amount of hours too.