How to figure out what to play next?

[Saelune]

How do you do it? I mean, sometimes its easy, its that game you have been waiting months for, and it finally came out and you easily drop everything else to play it for hours on end, but sometimes it is not so easy.

Sometimes I feel caught between a bunch of games I kind of want to play, but none really draws me in. Or sometimes I think I want to play something, only to quickly tire of it.

I personally find this hits hardest when I am done playing whatever I was super into prior. No longer hyped to get on and play whatever, I now seek a different game to replace it, but have great difficulty figuring it out.

Don't know how the rest of you feel about this though. Do you have specific methods of figuring out what to play? Or is it rarely an issue cause you always know what you're currently into? Do you have specific methods for finding your next game to play, or do you just give a bunch of games a shot until something clicks for you?

 

[Lufia Erim]

The worst moment is between two games. When i finish one it's so hard to decide which one to pick.

My rule of thumb is to pick a game that is as far from the genre of the game i just finished.

So this year, I played Divinity origin sin then i went to Dragon quest 11, then a little Apex legends, then Anthem, The Ni no kuni 2 and i am currently playing Sekiro.

Next game is probably going to be an FPS, or a JRPG. Either , Metro exodus or digimon: next world order.

 

[Squilookle]

These days I usually think about the competitors of my favourite games that came out before 2005 or so, and think 'I may as well give that a shot, because even though it won't be as good as my favs, it'll still be a complete package and better than the shit that's coming out today'

Unsurprisingly, gaming hasn't been a particularly joyful hobby for me for a long, long time now...

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I just try to alternate between drastically different kinds of games so I don't get burnt out and enjoy them at their full potential. Usually it boils down to going back and forth between short, relatively linear games and the big timesinks.

 

[Dalisclock]

Normally I have a couple games or a short list of games I want to play next in mind. Normally there are ways to help me narrow now my choices, such if I just finished an Open World game, I'm gonna play something that isn't an open world game next. If I just finished a big AAA game, chances are I'll try out one of the Indie games(or maybe an older game I never got to).

Though as soon as I finish AC Odyssey(that is, put it down until the Atlantis DLC comes out) I need to go back and finish Hollow Knight, which I stopped played 6 months ago because I wanted to play....something and never got back to it.

 

[Hawki]

So, here's how I do it.

I've got a list of "Electronic Options" (I have a similar "Reading Options" list). At any given time, I'll be playing or watching one of these options, whether it be a game, movie, or a season. Now, this is in addition to me usually having some form of entertainment on at a given point that I'll watch out of the corner of my eye while tidying up for instance. But basically, choose an option, finish* the option, mark off the option, then move onto the next option.

This is in addition to doing multiplayer stuff that I do in short bursts. So if I choose a game as an option, it'll almost always be singleplayer, but I might do some multiplayer in a different game on the side.

*This isn't 100 percenting either, just getting to the end of it. 100 percenting is something I don't really bother with.

 

[SckizoBoy]

I look at my backlog, then pick one at random...

I was intending to play Horizon: Zero Dawn... but ended up continuing Skyrim... but bear in mind I have never finished SKyrim, always spend so much time just dicking around that (presumably like many), the story never gets resolved (that said, the PS3 playthroughs should be forgiveable, it chugged like a *****).

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

can't say for sure, but money and time play as big a part as actual interest. did make a beeline to AC Odyssey straight after finishing Origins, it didn't seem to cause any of that "sandbox burnout" that people talk about these days either. and it was dirt cheap. maybe if they were bad, it could've happened, but they weren't, and i kinda think they're both more enjoyable than Witcher 3 overall, perhaps mainly due to not dreading every dialogue option being uttered by a monotone self-insert sex robot boring me to tears even if I pick the sassiest of replies. what kind of phrase is "bored to tears" anyway? if you cry when you're bored, that might indicate other issues worth talking to a professional about. get to the doctor, silly. Odyssey is like Black Flag 2.0: Spartan Edition though, was not expecting that sort of comeback. main protag shall be referred to as Sassandra: warrior pirate princess from now on. have no plans beyond this one yet, it's a bit of a biggie

 

[Dalisclock]

Odyssey is like Black Flag 2.0: Spartan Edition though, was not expecting that sort of comeback. main protag shall be referred to as Sassandra: warrior pirate princess from now on. have no plans beyond this one yet, it's a bit of a biggie

After more or less finishing Odyssey(aside from a few of the smaller quests and the yet to be released Atlantis DLC) I've actually been feeling the same way and I'm kinda surprised that nobody else is mentioning it. Odyssey feels like the best successor to Black Flag so far, especially since you're essentially a pirate again, just one who spends a lot more time on land then Eddie did, but with morals that are just as flexible.

It's peculiarity interesting when I occasionally see people complain "Why is it called Assassins Creed when you're not an assassin?" seemingly forgetting Edward was a Pirate for 90% of Black Flag and only joins the Assassins formally near the end. Until that point he just happens to share some of the same goals(and notably disliking the Templars due to their authoritarian attitudes) but his big goal is to get paid, not unlike Kassandra/Alexios.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Odyssey is like Black Flag 2.0: Spartan Edition though, was not expecting that sort of comeback. main protag shall be referred to as Sassandra: warrior pirate princess from now on. have no plans beyond this one yet, it's a bit of a biggie

I'm with you and Dalisclock on this...

One thing I'll add is that I'm disappointed there weren't any properly unique and challenging legendary ships, like in Black Flag, 'cos all the bosses and live event targets are just souped up triremes with nothing really notable about them (aside from maybe a quirky looking main sail that the player isn't guaranteed to pay attention to), which is a pity.

That said...

After more or less finishing Odyssey(aside from a few of the smaller quests and the yet to be released Atlantis DLC) I've actually been feeling the same way and I'm kinda surprised that nobody else is mentioning it. Odyssey feels like the best successor to Black Flag so far, especially since you're essentially a pirate again, just one who spends a lot more time on land then Eddie did, but with morals that are just as flexible.

It's peculiarity interesting when I occasionally see people complain "Why is it called Assassins Creed when you're not an assassin?" seemingly forgetting Edward was a Pirate for 90% of Black Flag and only joins the Assassins formally near the end. Until that point he just happens to share some of the same goals(and notably disliking the Templars due to their authoritarian attitudes) but his big goal is to get paid, not unlike Kassandra/Alexios.

While I'll concede that the similarities are indeed there, the sailing part of AC:Ody isn't as fun to me as in BF, 'cos there's less to do and less to do it with, be it going on plundering voyages, managing the ship (crew losses if you go boarding-action-happy, getting the elite plans to unlock the upgrades), eye-glass inspection, aforementioned legendary ships etc. etc. So I view it more as AC3 (in terms of at sea vs on land) with a better gameplay balance between the two settings, rather than BF which pretty much wanted you to stay at sea (not that I minded).

Funnily enough, I'm one of the ones who 'complains' (I'll complain, just not especially vehemently) about the series having lost its assassin's core concept, but the thing is, I don't really care that much about it, since the only real difference between, say AC2 or 3 and now is that before, you got desynch'd for getting detected (not all the time, but you get the idea), whereas now, the player can go about it however they like, and Black Flag was part of the generation of AC games that had mandatory stealth sections.

All hail the removal of eavesdropping mission sections, however...!

 

[wings012]

There are definitely times where despite having games to play - I choose not to play them. Just don't wanna, don't feel like it. Would rather veg out watching mousetrap videos on youtube. Then I might suddenly choose to play one of them. Sometimes I will replay some other games rather than play the ones I haven't.

Personally I think it's fine that there isn't some sorta game schedule going on. Just roll with it. No point forcing yourself through a game for the sake of doing so. Isn't the point of entertainment to have fun?

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

After more or less finishing Odyssey(aside from a few of the smaller quests and the yet to be released Atlantis DLC) I've actually been feeling the same way and I'm kinda surprised that nobody else is mentioning it. Odyssey feels like the best successor to Black Flag so far, especially since you're essentially a pirate again, just one who spends a lot more time on land then Eddie did, but with morals that are just as flexible.

It's peculiarity interesting when I occasionally see people complain "Why is it called Assassins Creed when you're not an assassin?" seemingly forgetting Edward was a Pirate for 90% of Black Flag and only joins the Assassins formally near the end. Until that point he just happens to share some of the same goals(and notably disliking the Templars due to their authoritarian attitudes) but his big goal is to get paid, not unlike Kassandra/Alexios.

I'm with you and Dalisclock on this...

One thing I'll add is that I'm disappointed there weren't any properly unique and challenging legendary ships, like in Black Flag, 'cos all the bosses and live event targets are just souped up triremes with nothing really notable about them (aside from maybe a quirky looking main sail that the player isn't guaranteed to pay attention to), which is a pity

yeah, somehow I avoided reading any reviews and other information on the game, only going in with minimal data along the lines of "general consensus is praise and improvements" alongside "Kassandra is bestie." so anything else was a nice surprise. Well, except that voice the male character seems to be putting on to try and sound evil, while instead sounding more like what those Batman fans appeared to lament around Christian Bale's impression in the Nolan trilogy for. that was a most jarring surprise

 

[CaitSeith]

Whenever I find myself that indecisive, I make a list of the games I kinda wish to play next, and roll a dice.

 

[BrawlMan]

There are definitely times where despite having games to play - I choose not to play them. Just don't wanna, don't feel like it. Would rather veg out watching mousetrap videos on youtube. Then I might suddenly choose to play one of them. Sometimes I will replay some other games rather than play the ones I haven't.

Personally I think it's fine that there isn't some sorta game schedule going on. Just roll with it. No point forcing yourself through a game for the sake of doing so. Isn't the point of entertainment to have fun?

This, minus the mousetrap videos. There is a backlog of games that I have not finished, yet most of them I've lost interest or not gonna force myself to play. I've made it a case to play games I know I am going to play 95% of the time. I got Seikiro when it launched, but since DMC5 released bloody palace yesterday, I want to do that before moving on.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

It depends really. Sometimes I'll spend ages waiting for a game to come out, and in that case I'll play it pretty much to the exclusion of all others for about 2-3 months after release. Other times I'll just be grazing through my library for games that I never really got around to finishing and deciding to knock them out over a weekend. Most of the time though I'll decide to pick up an old game after something piques my interest - a new character build idea, the promise of a new DLC pack, or what have you (eg I recently started up the latest Deus Ex again with the intention of playing an antagonistic combat build). I spend the majority of my gaming time rerunning old games in new ways, which is the main reason I prize replay-ability and world-building over everything else when it comes to games.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Mainly just walk over to my bookcase of games and look through all the ones I haven't played yet until I decide which one I feel like playing. It takes a while sometimes.

These days I usually think about the competitors of my favourite games that came out before 2005 or so, and think 'I may as well give that a shot, because even though it won't be as good as my favs, it'll still be a complete package and better than the shit that's coming out today'

Unsurprisingly, gaming hasn't been a particularly joyful hobby for me for a long, long time now...

Even indie stuff? because some indie games are pretty darn good.

 

[Squilookle]

Indie titles are generally a lot more creative than the heavy hitters, but at a conceptual level they're so similar I can't see a reason to try them, when I've already played the same game multiple times before in the past.

Then again, I grew up with such an ingrained sense of finishing what I start that even games I've bought just sit there in Steam waiting their turn. I've still got XCOM Enemy Unknown waiting patiently to be installed. I've barely started Mass Effect 2.

 

[Kerg3927]

I have a spreadsheet listing all of the games I have completed, going back to Zork I in 1980. And all the games I am considering playing and completing. And all the games I have identified that are coming out in the future that I might want to play. When I finish a game or I'm getting close to it, I go through the "considering" list and think about what I'm going to play next. Or if nothing really gets me excited, I look at my "completed" list and might go back and play one of my old favorites again. I just started my 5th Mass Effect trilogy playthrough after a 3 year break. I regularly go down my "future" list and google release date info and update the data.

As far as adding new games to my "considering" or "future" list, I regularly visit this site and Neogaf for gaming news. I also periodically google around and look for games in development in the genres I like.

 

[Kwak]

Whatever's on special/under $30(aus)and was previously noted by the internet-brain as 'worthalook'. Currently enjoying Shadow of War. (and managed to skip all the micro-transaction bullshit by waiting till now)

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

I suffer from choice paralysis when it comes to games quite often, and I often dither about actually starting new games. Unless something I'm super hyped about comes out (recently it was Metro) I tend to play a lot of the same things (Overwatch/Destiny), or something that takes my fancy on a whim. At the moment I'm playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey because I wanted a break from Overwatch and I like ancient Greek history/mythology, and I've been surprised how much I've enjoyed it, despite having not played an AC game for years.