Cleansing your gaming palette

[Baron von Blitztank]

I often just move to a different genre entirely.
Like earlier this year when I had a bit of a slump playing through Skyrim and just couldn't bring myself to go through another Draugr filled dungeon or fight the same Ancient Dragon's who always turn into complete wimps with Marked For Death.

After a playthrough of Serious Sam 3 and Vanquish I was right as rain

 

[Rumpsteak]

I've found that playing games of genres I don't normally play, even if not to completion, is a pretty good way to give my interest in games a kick start. Then again there is always Minecraft, ,I'll go back to it every now and again and work on my custom levels/game modes.

 

[Darth Rahu]

After finishing the campaign of Spec Ops: The Line, what ultimately cleansed my palette was Serious Sam 3: BFE. You'd be surprised how effective that was.

 

[Hollyday]

I'm in a bit of a gaming slump now actually. Just finished a run of Ubisoft games: AC2, AC Brotherhood and POP:Sands of Time, and have been flailing around trying to find something to fill the gap they've left. I tend to turn to my nostalgic favs: Dungeon Keeper 2, Theme Hospital, Grim Fandango, LBA2... something that really gives me great memories.

 

[thesilentman]

Since I'm usually playing shooters with my friends, I usually take platformers, puzzlers, or RPGs after a good time with being stuffed with brown.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

If I'm having a slump in a game, usually caused by a difficult part, I'll either clanse my pallette with a short (usually indie) game or an online game.

 

[Product Placement]

I haven't really ever thought about it but, oddly enough, I think I have to pick FreeCell. It's the game I jump on, when I have absolutely nothing better to do and I need to burn away 5 minutes or so. You can kinda tell that it's a game I frequently play. My Win percentage is 99%, longest winning streak is 580 wins (current streak is 34) and my longest losing streak is 1.

Other than that, I play allot of different games, where I tend to do short/long binges with one particular game and then leave it alone for a good while, while occasionally visiting others.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

A lot of games I play are for the "experience", more so then the gameplay.

When that grows tedious, when narrative, characters, atmosphere or themes cease appealing to me I switch to something more traditional. Games where I can drop an hour of my time and not worry about furthering the plot, or advancing my skills.

I usually fall back on classic platformers or shooters (FPS, Sidescrollers and the such), but sometimes I play beat em ups as well. I like to throw on my Sega Classic collection and just fart about in Sonic 3 or Sonic and Knuckles. Maybe play a bit of golden axe or streets of rage. I have a few Indie games that fill that niche too, like super meat boy.

When the wear and tear of actual gameplay becomes tedious, I either switch to something more narrative heavy like the Metal Gear series or legacy of kain. Some RPGs are good for this as well.

A personal preference, I can also just boot up Skyrim, oblivion or morrowind, depending on my mood, lower the difficulty and just explore the world (quests or guilds I haven't tried), try some mods (for oblivion or morrowind; skyrim is, sadly, on PS3) or experiment with Classes to create unorthodox experiences (how I discovered the wonders of pure illusion assassin).

More often then not though, I just load up Minecraft. The simple aesthetics and variety of ways I can waste time with little to no stress makes it a good palette cleanser.

 

[ms_sunlight]

Doctor Mario - I love picking up a nice twitchy puzzle game when I get gaming ennui. You don't have to think, just do.

 

[Sonicron]

In extremely rare cases I'll move outside my comfort zone and try a new genre, but in my experience being stuck in a gaming slump can be put down to simply playing too much. The mind needs different kinds of stimulation to function at optimal capacity, so maybe the unwillingness to pick up a controller is your body's way of telling you to do something else.
For example, I think I'm actually in the early stages of a slump right now. Fine then - I'll just do a bit more sports and read a few novels; it's worked before, so no reason it shouldn't work again.

 

[Quazimofo]

Funnily enough, the games I play to 'cleanse my palette' are the Call of Duty games. I'm a big fan of huge, long, open world, story driven games such as Mass Effect and Red Dead Redemption. I love them, but every once in a while I get to the stage where I just can't stomach anything so... heavy, so I pick up Call of Duty in all its simplistic, linear splendor, and have fun not engaging.

Minecraft is a good palette-cleanser as well. It's uncomplicated, has nice soothing music in the background and reminds me of all the fun I had with lego and mechano when I was a kid.

Yeah, I do this too. I play simple "beat the shit out of every single person in the room in a cool manner" games whenever i just feel angry or frustrated or just mentally fatigued with other games. Unfortunately, i dont own any fighting games, or games in a DMC style (for lack of a better term), so I have to resort to "Shoot the crap out of every single person in the room" games. Modern Warfare, Gears 3, Bulletstorm, all great games for this (bulletstorm a little less so, because it is a bit... unique in how it handles, and has that fun leash mechanic, so it takes some getting used to).

Its fun to just go through a simple story and setpieces, and just kill shit. Simple, mindless fun.

 

[Quazimofo]

Doctor Mario - I love picking up a nice twitchy puzzle game when I get gaming ennui. You don't have to think, just do.

Tetris is another good one. It is as simple or complex or as difficult as you make it, since every piece you place is the only obstacle in your way to clearing the board. It gets faster sure, but still mostly self-inflicted difficulty.

More relevant however, it is just fun to put shapes into nice, orderly rectangles and watch them disappear.

 

[cubikill]

I find realm of the mad god to be a great cleaner. It's just so different and weird. It also helps that if doesn't really follow many gaming conventions. So that or I read. My latest game break book was The Name of the Wind, and wow that was amazing.

 

[debra_ beretta]

I like to go wandering Skyrim until something else grabs me, nothing like a bit of Nordic sightseeing and archery to whet the appetite! Minecraft is another one I reach for, mostly because the soundtrack is absolutely inspiring but also because I've just discovered the joys of creative mode!

 

[night_tiger9]

I play Arkham City's challenge mode. Nothing gets me back into gaming more than a dance of combos and battarangs!