Games to play while Binge-watching TV shows

[leberkaese]

So, 2 weeks ago Netflix launched in my country. With many shows on German Netflix combined with even more shows from US Netflix I've got a lot of binge watching to do.

But I always loved playing games while watching a TV show. For example: A few years ago I watched all seasons of Scrubs and King of Queens while leveling characters in World of Warcraft. Same goes for Minecraft.
You don't need to give these games your full attention, so they're perfect to play while watching shows. Also, you can put a lot of time into those games. It's not like you want to pay $40 for a game that lasts 10 hours and you've done nothing but watching House of Cards during these 10 hours.

I played WoW and Minecraft to death, so I need new games to do this with.
So, Escapist! Please help me find games I can play while watching shows. Help me satisfy my low attention span!

 

[x EvilErmine x]

X-Com: Enemy Unknown (or Within), you do need to pay attention but as you have unlimited time to make a move then you wont get slaughtered for taking your eyes off the screen for a few moments.

And err...Solitaire?

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I'm sorry that I can't help you, since I've never understood not giving something your full attention.
Even when I'm re-watching Stargate SG-1 for the 112th twelve do I give it so little attention that I miss anything.
In fact, even listening to music I hesitate to do anything more than perhaps read some web-comics or play solitaire.
I feel that doing so lessens both activities and if I do so they - aren't worth doing/deserve more.

Could you try your hand at explaining this phenomena to me?
I too have low attention span from time to time,
but it manifests itself by me skipping from one thing to another rapidly instead of not 'paying attention'.

 

[leberkaese]

I guess, I could give Xcom a try.

Could you try your hand at explaining this phenomena to me?
I too have low attention span from time to time,
but it manifests itself by me skipping from one thing to another rapidly instead of not 'paying attention'.

I don't know exactly, why I'm doing this. I've always been someone that needs to do stuff simultaneously. In gaming it probably started with WoW. I had my share of fun while leveling new characters, but I felt that this doesn't need my full attention and that I have 'some attention left' I could use on something else.

Also, I'm only doing this with shows that I already watched and want to do a rewatch or shows that just aren't good enough to 'deserve' my full attention.
For example, when I watched Scrubs while playing I watched that show for the 5th time or something. House of Cards on the other hand was probably a bad example in my original post, because that's a show that gets my full attention.


Captcha trying to tell me something? "don't waste time"

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I guess, I could give Xcom a try.

Could you try your hand at explaining this phenomena to me?
I too have low attention span from time to time,
but it manifests itself by me skipping from one thing to another rapidly instead of not 'paying attention'.

I don't know exactly, why I'm doing this. I've always been someone that needs to do stuff simultaneously. In gaming it probably started with WoW. I had my share of fun while leveling new characters, but I felt that this doesn't need my full attention and that I have 'some attention left' I could use on something else.

Also, I'm only doing this with shows that I already watched and want to do a rewatch or shows that just aren't good enough to 'deserve' my full attention.
For example, when I watched Scrubs while playing I watched that show for the 5th time or something. House of Cards on the other hand was probably a bad example in my original post, because that's a show that gets my full attention.


Captcha trying to tell me something? "don't waste time"

Ah, I think I understand then. You can give it exactly as much attention as you think it needs at the time.

Perhaps games that leave some time to between actions then.
Like; Freelancer, Settlers, Sim city, Gnomoria, Cultures, Craft the world, Children of the Nile, Rimworld and Dwarf fortress?

How do you feel about turn-based games then? You can then devote time to game when the show is bland or vice versa because the game follows your pace at all times?

Captcha: "I'm batman" ... wut ??

 

[leberkaese]

I play turn-based games like Civ most of the times online with friends, so I'll rather talk with them instead of watching shows.

Instead of Craft the World I installed Starbound (it at least looks similar!). Let's see how that'll work out. I also wanted to try games like DF, Gnomoria etc. for a while now... if those are perfect for only giving half of your attention they might are even more interesting now.
Sim City also sounds like something that could work with this, but I dunno. At least in SimCity 4 you have a lot to do.

 

[Synthetica]

Borderlands 2 would also be a good candidate. I also used to play Titanfall while listening to TV (talk)shows while listening to music, but there Titanfall was my main activity, and the TV was more of a side dish.

 

[Morgoth780]

Starcraft 2, at least the custom games, could be pretty decent.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I play turn-based games like Civ most of the times online with friends, so I'll rather talk with them instead of watching shows.

Instead of Craft the World I installed Starbound (it at least looks similar!). Let's see how that'll work out. I also wanted to try games like DF, Gnomoria etc. for a while now... if those are perfect for only giving half of your attention they might are even more interesting now.
Sim City also sounds like something that could work with this, but I dunno. At least in SimCity 4 you have a lot to do.

Most of the good (at least in my opinion) turn-based games are single-player actually.
A lot of 4X and Grand Strategy games included.

You could also add Empire Builders (my own definition, think gnomoria, tropico, DF, etc) to that list.
A lot of time setting it up and then waiting for it to be finished.
Gnomoria and DF especially have that nasty "I just need to do that, and this and ooh, yeah, this would be fun to try."

Then we have Dungeons of Dredmore, Tales of Maj'Eyal and other turn-based action/rogue-likes.

Starbound is good (but it's nothing like Craft the World, think more Diggles). Not as good as Terraria at the moment though. Not as much to do and traveling around means you don't get to build that awesome Fortress of Dooooom you've always wanted. With matching carpets and drapes.

 

[Jandau]

Aside from turn-based games, which by their very nature are well suited to situations where your attention is divided, almost any grindy game qualifies. MMOs in general are a good choice, as basic leveling and questing tends not to occupy too much attention. Even something like Diablo 3 or Path of Exile wouldn't be a bad choice.

 

[leberkaese]

Thanks for all the suggestions.
I think I'm gonna give Path of Exile a second chance. Borderlands 2 would probably also be awesome for binge-watching, but I already saw nearly all the content in that game on every difficulty...

Most of the good (at least in my opinion) turn-based games are single-player actually.
A lot of 4X and Grand Strategy games included.

Well, I played Civilization 5 for a while now (I guess, 300h+ ...), always prefered to play that with friends. The same goes for other 4x titles I tried like Endless Space. I also played a lot of Europa Universalis 4 from Paradox as one of the grand strategy titles. It's also a game I rather play with other people, in Singleplayer it would be awesome for binge-watching, though. Despite being no turn-based game

I'll most certainly take a closer look at Craft the World. I already knew Gnomoria and DF, but only played them for a very short time. But Craft the World looks very promsiing.

Also: you should give the nightly build from Starbound a chance. They'll add a lot of stuff to it. It won't get as extensive as Terraria is now but it gets a lot of better with all the new changes. It's still an unstable version, though.

 

[rgrekejin]

Pokemon was always my favorite thing to mindlessly play while watching TV. Like XCOM, nothing bad happens if you just set it down for a few minutes.

The handheld Animal Crossing games also work quite well for this.

 

[Mister K]

Anything turn-based: RPG's JRPG's with turn-based battle system, turn based strategies, for example.

 

[Patrick Buck]

I go for a bit of Binding of Isaac, because I can have it on the same screen as the thing I'm watching. Got over 250 hours on it, for that very reason.

 

[leberkaese]

I go for a bit of Binding of Isaac, because I can have it on the same screen as the thing I'm watching. Got over 250 hours on it, for that very reason.

Same here, but I'm waiting for the remake right now.

 

[Delerien]

This was exactly the reason why I bought Anno 2070.
Since you're german (lol racism, but seriously those games were rather popular in Germany) you might enjoy Sierra's citybuilders, namely Caesar, Zeus/Poseidon, Rise of the middle Kingdom. Rollercoaster Tycoon would also probably work but I usually get to enthralled with it to watch anything else.

 

[Frankster]

Total War Rome 2 gets my vote.

I ain't in the habit of watching something whilst I play normally but end of turn loading times for Rome 2 were hefty enough that I'd alt tab and watch a few mins of a show before doing the next turn.

 

[EHKOS]

I've been doing this with Skyrim for the past two weeks. It's loading times are bad enough where you can fully pay attention to the show for a good ten seconds if you're playing it on console. I basically have my laptop playing a show with my headphones on and Skyrim muted. I turn into a blob with a controller and my eyes get wide and my mouth hangs open. I love it.

Unfortunately, my Oblivion Walker trophy didn't pop and I started playing on PS3 to get the platinum in the first place so...might need fifteen hours more of TV show.

 

[Tanis]

I do this ALL-THE-TIME!

Turn-based games really are the best, especially when you're grinding.

 

[RedDeadFred]

You could try Space Engineers. It's still in early access but I've already put 48 hours into the game. It's basically Minecraft in space with addition of actually piloting your creations. There's also a whole bunch of complex stuff that I haven't even touched yet since I've mostly been doing creative mode (or whatever this equivalent is called -can't remember).

So ya, if you like Minecraft, and you like space ships. Give this one a go. Also, crashing your creations into each other is incredibly satisfying. I made these magnet ships that would use landing gear to grab other dense blocks that I had created. Then, I would launch these extremely dense blocks (they're dense because they're built with small ship blocks but are the same size as medium sized ships) at my other creations. They could often punch a hole straight through or just utterly obliterate some of the smaller ones (like the preloaded ships).