I want to go on a lonely adventure into an unknown, interesting world. Any PC recommendations?

ninja666

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JUMBO PALACE said:
Niet Automata has a lot of the things you're looking for. It's story driven but there are a TON of side quests and content for you to explore at your own pace and at any time. Plus the world has exactly the aesthetic you described- lonely, barren, melancholic. The music and narrative all revolve around this loneliness and meaninglessness.
Look at my PC's specs in the OP. Does my PC look something that can run Nier Automata to you?
 

JUMBO PALACE

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ninja666 said:
JUMBO PALACE said:
Niet Automata has a lot of the things you're looking for. It's story driven but there are a TON of side quests and content for you to explore at your own pace and at any time. Plus the world has exactly the aesthetic you described- lonely, barren, melancholic. The music and narrative all revolve around this loneliness and meaninglessness.
Look at my PC's specs in the OP. Does my PC look something that can run Nier Automata to you?
Ah, I did read them but forgot by the time I read through the thread. Sorry Mr. Grumpy.
 

Rangaman

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Go outside.


I'm just kidding you. Hyper Light Drifter might be up your alley.

EDIT: Actually, it's quite a bit more linear than what you want. The only other things I can think of off the top of my head are The Elder Scrolls and Dark Souls (no, I didn't mean for that rhyme).
 

the December King

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Another vote for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games!

Call Of Pripyat is a shorter game than SoC, but it feels more polished. Both games are great and my favorite exercises in lonely, immersive, horror survival.

P.S: Avoid the Misery Mod for CoP- in my opinion, despite adding tons of features, it takes too much out of the game.
 

ninja666

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Rangaman said:
Hyper Light Drifter might be up your alley.

EDIT: Actually, it's quite a bit more linear than what you want. The only other things I can think of off the top of my head are The Elder Scrolls and Dark Souls (no, I didn't mean for that rhyme).
Yeah, you're right - it's not something I'm looking for. HLD is more like traditional Zelda games, in a way that it technically is open world because you can go wherever you want, but ultimately all you're gonna find are things required for you to progress, like dungeons or key items. No side content whatsoever.

JUMBO PALACE said:
Ah, I did read them but forgot by the time I read through the thread. Sorry Mr. Grumpy.
Nah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out so harshly. It's just that The Escapist is the third place I'm making this request on because the other two places I've made it on - reddit's "gamingsuggestions" and 4chan's "worksafe requests" boards were just giving me hilariously innacurate suggestions, or suggestions that fit, but I can't run them on my PC, because they didn't even care enough to read the thread thoroughly, effectively wasting my time and pissing me the hell off to boot, so seeing another recommendation like that just rubbed me the wrong way (especially since I actually kinda want to play Nier Automata, but I literally can't). Once again, I'm sorry.
 

JUMBO PALACE

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ninja666 said:
JUMBO PALACE said:
Ah, I did read them but forgot by the time I read through the thread. Sorry Mr. Grumpy.
Nah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out so harshly. It's just that The Escapist is the third place I'm making this request on because the other two places I've made it on - reddit's "gamingsuggestions" and 4chan's "worksafe requests" boards were just giving me hilariously inaccurate suggestions, or suggestions that fit, but I can't run them on my PC, because they didn't even care enough to read the thread thoroughly, effectively wasting my time and pissing me the hell off, so seeing another recommendation like that just rubbed me the wrong way. Once again, I'm sorry.
No worries, I can understand your frustration. I saw up above that you are considering Darksiders 2 - the original is also very good and has very reasonable system reqs as well.
 

ninja666

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JUMBO PALACE said:
I saw up above that you are considering Darksiders 2 - the original is also very good and has very reasonable system reqs as well.
Thanks, but I've already played it (although I never finished it; maybe one day). As much as I liked it, I wouldn't consider Darksiders 1 to be what I'm looking for right now. It's much more linear in terms of level design, and the setting is much more contemporary - New York City (during the Judgment Day, sure, but still, it's just New York City), as opposed to the open world and whimsical fantasy setting of Darksiders 2, which is more what I'm after.
 

Lufia Erim

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ninja666 said:
Lufia Erim said:
I knw this will cause some PTSD on some people but how about No Mans Sky? If you are unaure check out its reddit page
Isn't this game pretty much just a walking simulator, with literally nothing to do apart from that?
No. It's an actual game with actual gameplay, with exploration being the main focus. But you know misinformation and poor first impressions will have people believe that.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/
 

ninja666

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Lufia Erim said:
No. It's an actual game with actual gameplay, with exploration being the main focus. But you know misinformation and poor first impressions will have people believe that.
I'm not sure whether I should believe Steam reviews or not, but reading the more constructive ones, NMS just appears to be like Starbound, except with better graphics and much less varied and refined gameplay. From what I'm reading, all there is to do in NMS apart from exploring pretty, but ultimately empty, planets is just collecting resources to upgrade your ship, and an occasional space battle. Other than that, nothing.

Is this misinformation, wrong impressions, and needlessly hating on the game as well? It's a serious question. I'm genuinely curious because I'm pretty open minded, and NMS seems like it might be an interesting and fun experience, despite all the flak it's getting. The thing is, I'm also pretty skeptical when it comes to everything, and I fear that it might as well not be such an experience, so I need to know for sure.
 

Redvenge

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ninja666 said:
I'm very starved for a decent open world experience right now. I'd like an open world game that's more on the sandboxy side, where I can truly feel like an adventurer. Something that's more gameplay than story-driven and where there's very little urgency. Something where the world destruction I have to save everyone from can wait until I actually start giving a fuck about it.

What I want is something with a vast, open world that's interesting to explore, where I can just go on a lonely adventure (preferably with my own created character, but that's not a dealbreaker), full of immersion, exploration and interesting discoveries. Something where almost every few steps there's a new, unique cave/tomb/dungeon to explore and plunder, an atmospheric landmark to look at, a village/town to restock my supplies in, or an interesting quest to complete.

Basically, I'd like the game to have a very fleshed-out side content department and a world that doesn't feel empty, so that I won't get bored of playing it too quickly. The problem with finding such a game is that many of today's open world games feel pretty much like single player MMO, where the world is just a lifeless, barren space, with some monsters sprinkled around, and where the quest variety begins and ends with "bring me 10 wolf pelts because reasons".
Hey, you and me both. Let me know if they ever make such a game.

Based on your responses, you want something action/adventure/real-time, no strategy mechanics thingy? Something that can run on a toaster built in the 90's?
 

ninja666

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Redvenge said:
Based on your responses, you want something action/adventure/real-time, no strategy mechanics thingy? Something that can run on a toaster built in the 90's?
Yep, pretty much. Got anything like that?
 

HotPie

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ninja666 said:
MHR said:
ninja666 said:
I'm very starved for a decent open world experience right now.
How has nobody mentioned Don't Starve? It fits the OP's description perfectly. You've been tricked into creating a portal device that transports you into a strange and isolated wilderness world and must use your wits to try and figure out how to survive, fight, craft, and not starve. It's a top-down isometric indie game and $23 dollars gets you the base game, and 2 expansions. Reign of Giants adds new content that makes the game even harder, and Shipwrecked offers an alternate sea exploration world with lots of island hopping.

But it has permanent death. There are ways to use mysterious magics that can give you another chance at life, but when you die you get XP totaled up based on how long you've survived and that unlocks new characters.
Thanks but no thanks. I hate games that have permanent death. I don't want to lose my entire progress because of one single fuck up. Even Terraria and Starbound I played on a difficulty where dying meant simply respawning at your home base. I play those games for fun, and permadeath doesn't equal fun in my book.
In response to this, its worth noting Don't Starve has an excellent modding community, which includes mods to disable permadeath (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=196023750). I know I was looking for something similar to you, and I fell in love with Don't Starve. I would urge you to try it with permadeath first, and use it if you really can't stand it.
 

Trunkage

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ninja666 said:
trunkage said:
How about the original parts to the trilogy for the Witcher. They are set in acts with smaller maps but I think they are still good. (Witcher 3 has segments to the map too, but there is one huge one that you spend 2/3 of you time in.)
I've already played the first two Witcher games. They don't really fit what I'm looking for, though. The maps are too small and the game is too story-driven for what I need right now.

Snip

Overall, I think I'll either pick myself up a copy of Darksiders 2, or dig up my Two Worlds DVD from the bottom of the drawer. From all of the suggestions so far, they seem to fit what I'm looking for the most (if not perfectly). If you have any more suggestions, then by all means, feel free to post them - I'll be observing this thread for a little while longer. Although in general I feel I'm already satisfied with what you've given me, so thank you all for the help once again, especially to Adam Jensen and Saelune.
Congrats on finding what you want.

If you are upgrading later, and are desiring the set of criteria - Witcher 3 can act a lot like the previous 2. Specifically you cant interact properly with parts of the map unless you. Think of side quests in Skyrim compared to main. You can generally accidentally complete side quests in Skyrim but main quests are gated off somehow. Witcher 3 is a lot like the later. If you are a person who explores, it could be frustrating
 

MHR

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ninja666 said:
Thanks but no thanks. I hate games that have permanent death. I don't want to lose my entire progress because of one single fuck up. Even Terraria and Starbound I played on a difficulty where dying meant simply respawning at your home base. I play those games for fun, and permadeath doesn't equal fun in my book.
Well aaalright, but I think you're kinda dismissing this permanent death thing out of hand. You're meant to actually survive as long as possible, not just die when you hit that skill curve at the wrong angle like some kind of roguelike. Death is not a forgone conclusion, and there are ways to safeguard against death like I mentioned.

And it's not like Terraria where you have to lose a huge base when you reset. Don't Starve is more about exploration and finding fun interactions. Buildings aren't really even needed if you prefer the roaming playstyle.

And as mentioned, I guess there are mods that make it so you don't get reset just for dying.
 

Jerast

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I hate to be that guy, but what about minecraft with mods? You can mod the fuck out of it so you can make it an adventure game sorta and your toaster could probably run it as long as you don't try to host a server for multiple people.
 

The Rogue Wolf

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ZombieProof said:
Sweet Jebus, nobody threw out Stalker: SOC or COP yet? If you haven't, give those a whirl OP....
And if you decide you like them, there's a unique mod for Call of Pripyat called "Call of Chernobyl" that stitches together the maps, factions and major characters of all three STALKER games, and lets you play as a member of any one of the major factions- including military, bandits, or even Monolith. There are also a number of weapon packs and other add-on mods to adjust the experience. And if that isn't enough of a challenge for you, someone adapted the Misery mod to CoC, so if you like the idea of a game kicking you in the balls every five steps, you're in luck!
 

Frezzato

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Jerast said:
I hate to be that guy, but what about minecraft with mods? You can mod the fuck out of it so you can make it an adventure game sorta and your toaster could probably run it as long as you don't try to host a server for multiple people.
I also recommend Minecraft. I've become extremely busy over these past three years and I keep going back to it because it's relaxing.

I've also never played in Creative mode except to try out a new mechanism; all of my serious play time has been spent in Survival and I've loved every minute of it. Knowing there's an actual ending really keeps me playing as well, plus I've never taken it online and I've never regretted it.
 

Mike Richards

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Consider this recommendation coming with some significant caveats but all the more obvious answers were already covered. You might want to look into Pathologic.

It kinda reminds me a lot of the best parts of Morrowind in a way but turned up to eleven. Unique and bizarre setting, a gameworld that feels like you really have to put the effort in to get somewhere, mechanics that you have to really sink into before they start to click, and a complex, incredibly esoteric, philosophical kind of story and worldbuilding. But it's a Morrowind where you have to frantically claw for survival. Not just because it's hard, but because it asks a lot of you as a player.

You play as one of three outsiders arriving in a small ambiguously eastern European town in an ambiguous, anachronistic time that's been struck by a terrible plague. You have twelve days to try and fight the disease, while navigating dealing with the locals and simply trying to stay alive. Time is always moving forward and things will happen whether you're there to intervene or not, forcing you to keep making difficult choices about how to advance your goals.

It isn't the physically largest world ever but it's highly reactive and jammed with things to see, learn and do. Not only is a lot of it optional, a lot of it you physically can't do in one playthrough, because it's happening at the same time as some other event somewhere else or because of some decision you made in the past. One the one hand it's very social because you're trying to learn about this rather isolated society and the situation they're in, maybe working with them, maybe telling them to go screw themselves because you know better, maybe just stealing all their shit where you're pretty sure they aren't looking because you need it more then they do and hopefully they won't find out. But it's also very extremely lonely because you're very much an outsider in a very strange place and the threats you face make it feel like the world is closing in on you. It's the very detached kind of desperate, slowly dawning horror of something you might not be able to escape no matter what you do.

It's kind of borderline impenetrable for a lot of people so you'll probably either fall desperately in love with it or never make it past the first 20 minutes. Those seem to be the only camps people fall in. I'm definitely in the former but I've really barely scratched the surface myself. It's a barely lucid poetic, metaphoric miasma of folklore, anthropology, slow-burn psychological horror, theater, the desperation of survival and the inevitability of death. I can't guarantee you'll like it, far from it, but it's probably pretty safe to say except for those little hints of Morrowind it isn't really like anything else you've ever played.

Plus the HD remaster they did a few years ago has a much better translation then the original as well as some bits of restored content and a few other things on top of the tech upgrade, so you're a lot better off trying it now then when it was new. The system requirements are pretty minimal too since at it's core the game is about twelve years old now. Running it shouldn't be a problem at all, and you can find it on Steam and GOG really easily.
 

Arnoxthe1

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I'm sure OP's already made up their mind but I'll just throw some out there as well.

Neverwinter Nights - Mostly lonely. Kinda dreamy and cool fantasy world. Great gameplay. Great stories. Amazing mods. Only problem is, you're not really alone of course, this being a Bioware game. You'll be traveling with party members. And they do talk but not as much at all as the more recent Bioware games. According to your demands, this game is IMO, the best one that fits your needs.

Halo: CE - Yeah, it's not an RPG, and it's not (entirely) open world, but to this day, I still say that Halo: CE has the best campaign of all the main-entry Halo's. This game does the best job of conveying a kind of dark peaceful sense of solitude in a beautiful alien world out of all the Halo games, hands down. And seriously, the gameplay is rock solid. After this game, other Halo's improved many many things about it, but in the end, I'll never forget my time on that beautiful cold alien installation in the middle of nowhere by myself.

Minecraft - The biggest thing that this game is missing for you is quests, period. There are none except maybe get to The End. Besides that though, it's a slow peaceful game. Very meditative. Just load up Mystcraft and/or some of your fave mods and have a hell of a time. It's very, very lonely, serene, and relaxing.

The Talos Principle - Kind of has an open world but it's not an RPG. Rather, it's a philosophical puzzler. And a bloody good one at that. Croteam knocked this one out of the park. The world's incredible and empty. And besides Elohim and maybe Milton, you're alone 24/7. Really great story. Great puzzles. The expansion's puzzles though IMO are way too brutal so don't feel bad if you gotta cheat through them just to see the expansion's story. I got through all of TTP without a single walkthrough but the expansion puzzles were really out there and I finally just said, "fuck it" and cheated all the way through it to progress the story.

The Beginner's Guide - This one's surreal as hell but in a very good way and kind of relaxing too. It's a short linear game with literally zero challenge but it's all about the journey for this one. JUST BE CAREFUL though because this game will mindfuck you good. Not in a brutal or sexual way I mean, but with some really hard questions and scenarios it will bring up. It's slow soft mindfuck but it's a mindfuck nonetheless. My advice is, when you get to the end, don't think about it TOO hard or you're really gonna bust a circuit.

Honorable Mention: Far Cry 2

This one's an FPS and doesn't technically have an "alien" world but it fits everything else on your list. The thing about Far Cry 2 is, you need to TAKE. IT. SLOW. That's how you enjoy it. You take the time and enjoy the details. Take some time getting to your next desired place. Think it through. Savor all the battles you run into instead of trying desperately to avoid them just to get to your goal faster. Consider your loadout and basic approach strategy. You do these things and assuming you like FPS', I almost guarantee you'll love the free, dark, easy-going grittiness of FC2.