This is a very strict bar with a limiting price requirement. As for the title of the post, I fully mean giving the enjoyable feeling 100% of the time. Put forth the niche games which do this, because I do not know of any popular AAA or popular/fairly big developer indie which does this. The game must be playable for 100 hours at least, or must be replayable with the same enjoyability if it is shorter. This includes older games which have dropped their regular price.

I do not want games which “nearly do this” in your opinion (because I have plenty of those already), but which do this in your opinion. I’m looking for these for a specific reason. Do not want replies like “there’s no such thing” because there are. I know of one game which nearly does this completely, while many others which do this in a major degree. And then there are the relatively unknown games which few have ever heard about but are well made, even if drowned in negative reviews (Driftland: The Magic Revival, for example, is a very decent single player real-time-with-pause strategy with bad reviews because it doesn’t follow popular norms, and the makers chose to also market the multiplayer which removes the important pause. It is more enjoyable than many popular time-tested AAAs from the 2010s I have played). I’ve played some games which most people haven’t heard about that are really well made.

I’m going to start writing a book series (it will be completely free to download and read, and share) which will follow this method. It is not easy to make such a book such that I’ve not read more than a very small number of long-ish books which nearly manage it, and that has frustrated me so I’m attempting to do it myself. To go the 100% enjoyable route, I need to know more things which naturally put people in this state. I do such things by experiencing them myself, and once they get there I know this is something which would fit in such a work. Some of the things I’ve decided on already are—

  • Not-good guys shown to be going exclusively after bad guys
  • Persons making use of technical knowledge and the knowledge of reality in general, making use of them towards a specific end like resolution of problems by their own hand. In a practical manner.
  • Making individuals, who do some or another deed(s) which is intended to harm others, feel loss and pain (not by engaging in cruelty to do so) and generally denying them what they want so they feel pain due to it.

I’m looking to expand on this by knowing more things which give me the feeling.

Any genre and type of game will do, as long as you’ve played it substantially and the enjoyment comes from only playing the game itself—and not things like talking about it or sharing what happened in it with others. The feeling comes even if you play it alone and have no one to talk to about it.

A game which has 100% enjoyability has no parts which get more frustrating the more you play the game, or replay the game. It doesn’t matter if the game has very old graphics (early 1980’s as well) or no animation. It doesn’t matter if it does not fulfill modern sensibilities like full voice acting. Putting aside all concerns of what a game should be, looking at what a game is—is that 100% enjoyable. I would both like to enjoy such a game as well as possibly learn from it.

Games from any source will do. Thank you if you’ve read this long post till the end.

  • ugo@feddit.it
    8·
    2 days ago
    • Vampire Survivors
    • Dwarf Fortress

    That said, I find it very hard to understand exactly what you are asking for, the post is rambly with a middle section about books that I couldn’t really understand even after 3 rereads.

    I think what you are asking for is:

    1. It must be possible to legally acquire the game for 10 usd or less, even if only for a limited time (via discounts or other special offers)
    2. the game must not have any parts that become more frustrating as you play the game (which is how you seem to define 100% enjoyability)
    3. must be playable for 100 hours, or be replayable for that amount of time while being 100% enjoyable throughout
    • rtc@beehaw.orgOP
      3·
      2 days ago

      I’ve not played vampire survivors or survivor likes. I could try it to see myself. Dwarf Fortress too I have had an eye on but it shows many situations which would be obviously frustrating (I enjoy some permanent death games which label themselves as roguelike/roguelite, without frustrating elements). I’d had a look at the ASCII version of Dwarf Fortress a while ago, I find those visuals more appealing in comparison to the steam version. I’ll add these to the list of games to play.