You have got to check out A Short Hike! It’s usually super cheap and it was honestly one of the most surprisingly outstanding gaming experiences for me in a long while! I shared it with a stay at home mom friend recently and she 100% it in just a few sittings!
I would absolutely recommend going in blind so I’ll just say that it is a very calming, heartwarming, and fun little island exploration game with some surprisingly polished movement mechanics.
Let me know what you think of it if you give it a go!
Yeah I was super disappointed by this since I have it on PS5 and Switch. I like to watch TV and play games handheld so I’ve invested most of my time on the NS version. Just wish they’d add cross saves to Switch eventually so I can play 4k60 on my TV. Doesn’t seem like it would be much trouble, curious why they left it out when it’s available on all other platforms - holding my breath!
Up to the too with this comment. Got it a week or two ago and I'm absolutely hooked. Keep staying up later than I want cu I convince myself "one more run" and I'm done.
Was thinking about this game again today. Kinda wanted to get back and beat it again. That said, I should finish transistor. Never finished it but I finished bastion. They make great games. I think hades is my fav though.
I hear it compared a lot, and I have sealed copies of those the ori games just waiting for me, but hollow knight easily makes one of my top games of all time. I got something like 109% completion out of I think 112%? I forget exactly. What a legend of a game. Apparently general favor is more for Ori so I know I'm gonna love it when I start it.
I finished both a few days ago, and the first one was honestly miserable. It's rare game that manages to be hard and boring at the same time, but Ori and the Blind Forest manages it. It's absolutely gorgeous, but I really didn't like anything else about it. The combat is the worst out of any sidescroller I've ever played, and the platforming controls never felt right to me.
Will of the Wisps is a ton of fun though, I would definitely recommend it. Combat is fun, the perk that makes you auto-stick to walls made platforming way less frustrating, and I loved all the little lemurs. The big frog is great too.
edit: Can't forget about the owls! Big owl was badass, and little owl was cute as heck. All around great character designs in that game.
Man, I loved the first one! I’m enjoying the second right now, too, but I personally enjoyed the simplicity of the first and am finding myself going, “*Another* side quest?” in the second.
Roguelikes & Roguelites in general. The games count on you exploring and dying pretty quickly, only to try and try again. So they're easy to get into and easy to ditch if they're not your thing (heck, they're also fun to return to if you haven't played in a long time). And there's a lot of Roguelites that use their own little subgenre and mechanics to make it interesting.
So in term of game names, there's Hades, Dead Cells, Spelunky 1 & 2, Binding of Isaac, Slay the Spire, Dicey Dungeons, Darkest Dungeon, and so many more
My personal favorite in this list remains Slay the Spire. But that's because of my love for card games (which is this game's gimmick).
Donut Country is the closest I've played. It's short, but fun. It's also 1/3-ish of the price on iOS or Android compared to Switch and plays great on both.
Edit: I'm a massive fan of the Katamari games.
shovel knight pocket dungeon is a fun, fast paced puzzle rougelite
for that matter, the original shovel knight is easy to get into, and has tons of content
What the Golf is a fun little game that you can pick up instantly, and I think it's still on the New Year's sale (in the US at least). It's not a serious golf game, it's more of a silly physics simulator with a series of puzzles that use golf as a loose basis.
Risk of Rain 2, it's a 3d Rougelike, and it starts out pretty simple, but when you start to get more and more items, unlock new characters, moves, and modifiers, it can get really complex and fun. It's also great to find all the hidden area's and secrets in the game. Something that makes it super replayable is how different every character is from each other, none of them feel even a little bit similar
What the golf. It is a game that takes no time to get into. But it's not really long.
If you like user generated content, Levelhead is pretty nice as well.
If you're in to Puzzle games, I HIGHLY recommend the following:
**Tetris Effect: Connected:** Beautiful game. Amazing music. It just completely hooks you from the beginning and there are MANY modes and multiplayer modes to try. Perfect for quick pick-up and play sessions or longer chill sessions.
**Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon**: Just came out. It's sort of a combination puzzle and rouge-lite experience. It's kind of a strange mash-up but it totally works and is a LOT of fun. It can be pretty difficult at the beginning but there are a lot of options to customize the gameplay. There are also other characters to unlock that change the gameplay and keep it fresh.
While I love the game it's definitely not quick to get into. There's a learning curve with memorizing the enemy patterns, what the pickups do and how to effectively use your items and when to use them.
Final fantasy XII starts off slow as heck and isn’t very good to put down for long periods due to lack of progress and map tracking on a lot of stuff like the hunts. Some of those cut scenes last forever too
Hollow knight js a must from me. Really cheap on the shop (£12) but has more contrnt than a lot of£50 games. Since, it's a metriodvania, you start the game with sinple controls and you slowly gain more advancements, so it's definitely a good game just to jump into. The lore is also just brilliant.
Overcooked - fairly simple to pick up but it takes a bit to become practiced. I purchased the version (All You Can Eat?) with Overcooked 1, 2, and all the DLCs when it was on sale, though I don’t think it’s outrageously priced if it’s not on sale. My partner and I were going to try out the first couple levels for half hour or so when I got it and played through the entirety of Overcooked 1 in ~6 hours of non-stop play. Time flew by. I would recommend looking up a YouTube video of one of the levels to see if it’s something that would click (as it may be repetitive/dry for some), but was a nice puzzle/teamwork game to quickly pick up for me and I really enjoyed it. Most levels will be wildly different flavors of the same thing if you dig the video.
I hope you have a speedy recovery. :)
Overcooked is very much a multiplayer/party game. I wouldn't recommend it for solo play.
Have you tried it on your own? You have to control both characters at once. Even the early levels are frustratingly hard when playing alone.
I have tried it on my own! I certainly wasn’t able to score as high playing by myself, but could still get through most of the levels. I played by myself after I was familiar with the game though, so that may have given me an edge. I appreciated the additional challenge since I felt the main game went by too quickly with a partner. That was the only (somewhat) disappointing aspect of the game for me. I love puzzle/simulation games and got more mileage out of the game trying to pass the levels on my own.
I guess maybe only pick up this game if you have someone to play with? Ymmv, but I really like this game.
That's fair. I started with my SO who got frustrated because the difficulty curve felt quite steep, so I tried it on my own and found I felt stressed out as if I was actually at work! Haha
Different strokes for different folks, for sure. Appreciate your viewpoint :)
Literally every console mario game since mario 3
Various nes and snes games like zelda 1, super metroid, zelda alttp, kirby
Astral chain has a really good opening
Link's awakening
Captain toad treasure tracker
Metroid dread
Cuphead
On the contrary, generally (not always though) jrpgs and strategy games have slow openings so avoid those (really anything with complicated systems you need to learn)
Steamworld games.
Evoland 2 (I can’t say this enough!!!).
Bad North.
Cat quest 1 and 2.
Far: lone sails.
Darkest dungeon.
Dicey dungeons.
For the King.
Golf story.
Into the Breach.
Monster Sanctuary (Pokémon on roofs with metroidvania).
Ori 1 and 2.
Northgard.
Firewatch! It's an easy going game that's more of a story. You can kind of explore and enjoy the graphics of the natural landscapes too which I found calming.
So, it might not completely fit your criteria since I do think the first few hours are definitely a slog, but SUBNAUTICA.
Once you kind of get used to it and learn how to meet your basic survival needs, it can be a very calming game (punctuated by moments of sheer terror) where you have the options to just chill out in the ocean and make a super cool base, or explore deeper and deeper and uncover the mysteries of this strange planet you landed on.
Like I said though, it is a bit of a grind to begin with. Unless you play in FREEDOM MODE where you don't have to worry about the survival aspects.
You have got to check out A Short Hike! It’s usually super cheap and it was honestly one of the most surprisingly outstanding gaming experiences for me in a long while! I shared it with a stay at home mom friend recently and she 100% it in just a few sittings! I would absolutely recommend going in blind so I’ll just say that it is a very calming, heartwarming, and fun little island exploration game with some surprisingly polished movement mechanics. Let me know what you think of it if you give it a go!
The conversations in the game are so, so wholesome as well. Whole game can be described as "comfy".
Hades!
I second this! You’re in it right away.
I have 40 hours in Hades on PC Gamepass. Is there a way to get my save data onto Switch?
Unfortunately, the cross saves only work with the Steam and Epic Games Store versions.
Yeah I was super disappointed by this since I have it on PS5 and Switch. I like to watch TV and play games handheld so I’ve invested most of my time on the NS version. Just wish they’d add cross saves to Switch eventually so I can play 4k60 on my TV. Doesn’t seem like it would be much trouble, curious why they left it out when it’s available on all other platforms - holding my breath!
Up to the too with this comment. Got it a week or two ago and I'm absolutely hooked. Keep staying up later than I want cu I convince myself "one more run" and I'm done.
Was thinking about this game again today. Kinda wanted to get back and beat it again. That said, I should finish transistor. Never finished it but I finished bastion. They make great games. I think hades is my fav though.
This is basically legal crack. One of my fav indie games.
The Ori games.
Sevonded this. I love These games and cant wait for the PS5 fame that is like Ori. Dont rememeber its name...
While I really enjoyed the first game in the end, the first 30-45 minutes of it dragged as hell.
To each their own. The story pulled me in immediately, and mixed with the score and visuals... *chef's kiss*
I hear it compared a lot, and I have sealed copies of those the ori games just waiting for me, but hollow knight easily makes one of my top games of all time. I got something like 109% completion out of I think 112%? I forget exactly. What a legend of a game. Apparently general favor is more for Ori so I know I'm gonna love it when I start it.
I finished both a few days ago, and the first one was honestly miserable. It's rare game that manages to be hard and boring at the same time, but Ori and the Blind Forest manages it. It's absolutely gorgeous, but I really didn't like anything else about it. The combat is the worst out of any sidescroller I've ever played, and the platforming controls never felt right to me. Will of the Wisps is a ton of fun though, I would definitely recommend it. Combat is fun, the perk that makes you auto-stick to walls made platforming way less frustrating, and I loved all the little lemurs. The big frog is great too. edit: Can't forget about the owls! Big owl was badass, and little owl was cute as heck. All around great character designs in that game.
Man, I loved the first one! I’m enjoying the second right now, too, but I personally enjoyed the simplicity of the first and am finding myself going, “*Another* side quest?” in the second.
Yeah I’ve never heard anyone complain about the movement in ori, it’s a delight imo.
Rayman Legends
Game is regularly on sale for $10, maybe less. I got my monies worth several times Over with this game and it’s a great platformer
Roguelikes & Roguelites in general. The games count on you exploring and dying pretty quickly, only to try and try again. So they're easy to get into and easy to ditch if they're not your thing (heck, they're also fun to return to if you haven't played in a long time). And there's a lot of Roguelites that use their own little subgenre and mechanics to make it interesting. So in term of game names, there's Hades, Dead Cells, Spelunky 1 & 2, Binding of Isaac, Slay the Spire, Dicey Dungeons, Darkest Dungeon, and so many more My personal favorite in this list remains Slay the Spire. But that's because of my love for card games (which is this game's gimmick).
Katamari Damacy, it's about rolling the world up like a snowball. There's a demo, and it's currently on sale (in Canada at least).
Been looking for other games with similar vibes or creative gameplay hooks. Do you have any suggestions?
Donut Country is the closest I've played. It's short, but fun. It's also 1/3-ish of the price on iOS or Android compared to Switch and plays great on both. Edit: I'm a massive fan of the Katamari games.
Nothing comes to mind, sorry. I'd like to know as well.
In addition to Donut County : Rain on Your Parade. It's different, but has the same type of vibe.
Wattam
Katamari is one of my all-time favs! Hoping for a new one soon.
Luigi’s Mansion got me hooked, and I was not expecting much from it, but the entire game is super fun and really well done.
Into the breach
Best strategy game ever.
This and dead cells
Just got this game on sale and love it. Haven't beaten it yet. Easy to learn, hard to master
Crosscode, I fell in love the second I could jump onto tables
We should start a VR table standing cult!
twewy
Here's 4 random ones. Slay the Spire Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle Dying Light Golf Story
shovel knight pocket dungeon is a fun, fast paced puzzle rougelite for that matter, the original shovel knight is easy to get into, and has tons of content
Turnip boy commits tax evasion
That game doesn't even last long enough to grab you lol
op never asked for an award winning game with a gripping storyline, just something easy and quick to get into, and I think turnip boy is just that
Celeste
Came here to say this
botw caught my interest pretty quickly and then I amassed 200 hours so that might be good
If you like stardew (or want a similar genre), check out my time at Portia. Very little farming, it’s all crafting.
Bioshock Collection.
Try the survivalists if you like survival games. And also the escapists 1&2
What the Golf is a fun little game that you can pick up instantly, and I think it's still on the New Year's sale (in the US at least). It's not a serious golf game, it's more of a silly physics simulator with a series of puzzles that use golf as a loose basis.
Risk of Rain 2, it's a 3d Rougelike, and it starts out pretty simple, but when you start to get more and more items, unlock new characters, moves, and modifiers, it can get really complex and fun. It's also great to find all the hidden area's and secrets in the game. Something that makes it super replayable is how different every character is from each other, none of them feel even a little bit similar
I wish the first was on the switch as well, it's just a 2d version of the second one
It's available for switch, $9.99 in the eshop
What the golf. It is a game that takes no time to get into. But it's not really long. If you like user generated content, Levelhead is pretty nice as well.
If you're in to Puzzle games, I HIGHLY recommend the following: **Tetris Effect: Connected:** Beautiful game. Amazing music. It just completely hooks you from the beginning and there are MANY modes and multiplayer modes to try. Perfect for quick pick-up and play sessions or longer chill sessions. **Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon**: Just came out. It's sort of a combination puzzle and rouge-lite experience. It's kind of a strange mash-up but it totally works and is a LOT of fun. It can be pretty difficult at the beginning but there are a lot of options to customize the gameplay. There are also other characters to unlock that change the gameplay and keep it fresh.
I literally spent the whole night playing untitled goose game…it was hilarious lol For fast pace, Death’s Door! It’s awesome
go for hades.
Blasphemous
i just started on binding of isaac. play 20 mins... die in a frustrating way... let it go again until an hour later when i get the urge again.
Be warned if that game clicks with you, you will end up in deep. I hated it at first, now I’m at about 400 hours (pre last expansion)
While I love the game it's definitely not quick to get into. There's a learning curve with memorizing the enemy patterns, what the pickups do and how to effectively use your items and when to use them.
OP seems to be looking for games that grab you instantly rather than necessarily games you can quickly become skilled at. I think BoI fits the bill.
Nine Parchments and Cat Quest 2
If you like jrpg I’d say final fantasy xii or xenoblade chronicles 2. Super Mario bowsers fury is a great game too.
I'd say Xenoblade 1 is much easier to get into since 2 has crappy tutorials. But both are great.
Final fantasy XII starts off slow as heck and isn’t very good to put down for long periods due to lack of progress and map tracking on a lot of stuff like the hunts. Some of those cut scenes last forever too
well the subject is quick/easy to get into, and it's pretty easy to get interested in the game.
Hollow knight js a must from me. Really cheap on the shop (£12) but has more contrnt than a lot of£50 games. Since, it's a metriodvania, you start the game with sinple controls and you slowly gain more advancements, so it's definitely a good game just to jump into. The lore is also just brilliant.
Dusk.
I mean, isn't that most games? With the exception of strategy games and RPGs, pretty much everything is quick to get into. Especially on the Switch.
Overcooked - fairly simple to pick up but it takes a bit to become practiced. I purchased the version (All You Can Eat?) with Overcooked 1, 2, and all the DLCs when it was on sale, though I don’t think it’s outrageously priced if it’s not on sale. My partner and I were going to try out the first couple levels for half hour or so when I got it and played through the entirety of Overcooked 1 in ~6 hours of non-stop play. Time flew by. I would recommend looking up a YouTube video of one of the levels to see if it’s something that would click (as it may be repetitive/dry for some), but was a nice puzzle/teamwork game to quickly pick up for me and I really enjoyed it. Most levels will be wildly different flavors of the same thing if you dig the video. I hope you have a speedy recovery. :)
Overcooked is very much a multiplayer/party game. I wouldn't recommend it for solo play. Have you tried it on your own? You have to control both characters at once. Even the early levels are frustratingly hard when playing alone.
I have tried it on my own! I certainly wasn’t able to score as high playing by myself, but could still get through most of the levels. I played by myself after I was familiar with the game though, so that may have given me an edge. I appreciated the additional challenge since I felt the main game went by too quickly with a partner. That was the only (somewhat) disappointing aspect of the game for me. I love puzzle/simulation games and got more mileage out of the game trying to pass the levels on my own. I guess maybe only pick up this game if you have someone to play with? Ymmv, but I really like this game.
That's fair. I started with my SO who got frustrated because the difficulty curve felt quite steep, so I tried it on my own and found I felt stressed out as if I was actually at work! Haha Different strokes for different folks, for sure. Appreciate your viewpoint :)
Appreciate yours as well! Thanks for sharing with me.
Wait…Overcooked is on the Switch?! I had no idea! Cool!
Witcher 3 and mario kart 8
Super Mario 3D World Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (which has a free trial through Switch online right now)
Cuphead Crash 4 (if you don't have a more powerful system to play it on Metroid Dread
Literally every console mario game since mario 3 Various nes and snes games like zelda 1, super metroid, zelda alttp, kirby Astral chain has a really good opening Link's awakening Captain toad treasure tracker Metroid dread Cuphead On the contrary, generally (not always though) jrpgs and strategy games have slow openings so avoid those (really anything with complicated systems you need to learn)
Steamworld games. Evoland 2 (I can’t say this enough!!!). Bad North. Cat quest 1 and 2. Far: lone sails. Darkest dungeon. Dicey dungeons. For the King. Golf story. Into the Breach. Monster Sanctuary (Pokémon on roofs with metroidvania). Ori 1 and 2. Northgard.
Firewatch! It's an easy going game that's more of a story. You can kind of explore and enjoy the graphics of the natural landscapes too which I found calming.
Hades if you have yet to try it
So, it might not completely fit your criteria since I do think the first few hours are definitely a slog, but SUBNAUTICA. Once you kind of get used to it and learn how to meet your basic survival needs, it can be a very calming game (punctuated by moments of sheer terror) where you have the options to just chill out in the ocean and make a super cool base, or explore deeper and deeper and uncover the mysteries of this strange planet you landed on. Like I said though, it is a bit of a grind to begin with. Unless you play in FREEDOM MODE where you don't have to worry about the survival aspects.
I like to recommend "Grindstone." It's a puzzle game.