Looking for suggestions for a timesink game.

[Spacewolf]

So recently I've kind of lost my drive to really sink alot of time into the games I've been playing, not because of a lack of time or anything just that the recent games I've played just haven't grabbed me. The last games I've really played alot of where Bloodborne and before that DoW2. I'm looking for something that's challenging but has a decent story to keep me interested (Preferably branching but not a necessity) or at least and interesting world to explore.

Just about any type of game is admissible apart from Civ or similar games and multilayer only games. So the question is basically what games have you played recently that you've enjoyed and that have kept your interest for a long period of time.
(Also I know about Dark Souls 3 but I'm going to wait for the GOTY edition. Even tiding me over for a month would be good since Warhammer total war looks pretty good so as long as there are no game break bugs on launch I'll probably get that.)

 

[Saelune]

What about Dark Souls 1? Dunno if you played it or not, but if you didn't it seems the obvious answer. I know it quickly rose to the upper area of my most played games on Steam.

Before that I had gotten back into Fallout: New Vegas. It crashing my whole computer stopped that though...

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I would recommend you try out the classics.
Vampire the Masquerade, Beyond Good & Evil, Anachronox, Arcanum of Magick and Steamworks, Knights of the Old Republic, Deus Ex, Fallout 2, Morrowind.
Maybe also check out Torchlight 1/2, Diablo 1/2, Titan Quest Immortal Throne and Dungeon Siege 1/2.
There is a third choice as well. 4X Games. Just one game session can take months and months.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Skyrim (With or without mods, but obviously, modded is better.)
Oblivion (If you want to be more old school but don't want to deal with Morrowind's weird combat.)
Morrowind (If you wanna go really old school and/or just like the world of Morrowind much more.)

Far Cry 2
Divinity: Original Sin
Unreal Tournament (Mods, mods, and MOAR MODS!)
Freelancer
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter/The Second Encounter and Before First Encounter

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I've been investing a lot of time into Jalopy.

It's an early access title in Beta right now, still very buggy, but you're on a road trip in a car that keep breaking down and you gotta maintain it.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I have no idea what systems you own. If I knew that, I might be better able to aid you in your quest to slay time.

I'll take a stab at it 3dswise though
Scribblenauts in general.
Tomodachi Life
Harvest Moon games
Animal Crossing New Leaf if you have time to dedicate to visiting it as it kinda requires upkeep.
Fire emblem awakening, revelations, and birthright work well for me. Conquest is very linear so a lot of the optional side stuff like randomly generated fights just aren't there.
Pokemon games in general.
Lego games can have you back to collect everything in levels.
Assorted musical games exist that let you compose music.
Radar Mission which is basically battleship and variants
Brain Age express is a good choice, imo.
style savvy trendsetters is nice.

There's an immense amount of games on the 3ds that might fill your needs. Plus themes! On the go I can play an instrumental version of Frozen's "let it go" to see what chaos I can stir up! mwahaha*cough* erm.

Thanks to the 3ds's ability to close on itself, it pauses what ever you're doing so you can stop gaming at a moment's notice.

 

[Souplex]

In terms of being a pure time-sink I'd say Cookie Clicker.
http://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

If you have a Vita (Though it's also on PS4), Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth is a fantastic time sink.

It's also a terrible, terrible game. But it's addicting, and for some reason I'm still playing it.

Really though, terrible. To the point I'm determined to write a review on it once I'm finished. The reviews I read online did nothing to prepare me for the mess of a game that I've picked up.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

The games that tend to take up my time the most are open-world, and turn-based RPG's like X-COM. Open-world RPG's especially though, like Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, currently Fallout 4, The Witcher 3. These are all bound to be 100+ hours of exploring, side quests, tinkering around with build and inventory, and most likely modding the living crap out of it as well.

But your mileage may vary. I've also put a LOT of time into Resident Evil Revelations 2's Raid mode. It's a hell of a lot more addictive than the main game itself, and the constant levelling, skill points and weapon upgrades keeps me coming back for more. Really good fun on the local split screen as well, as you level up 2 characters at once.

 

[Ryallen]

Dark Souls 1 and 3 are both fantastic games. While I like Dark Souls 3 more, Dark Souls 1 is the better game of the two. We don't talk about Dark Souls 2, though. A fine game in its own right, but it felt really "off" compared to the other two. At least, it did for me.

Stardew Valley is a really good choice. I've lost a lot of hours within a few days to that game and didn't even realize it until I looked at the clock.

Warframe is another good one. Yeah, it's really grind heavy, but the combat and missions are fun enough to compensate for that. Not to mention that having friends to help you out make it even more fun. So, I guess the game comes with a caveat: get some friends to play with you.

Divinity: Dragon Commander is another game that I quite like, if only because it takes what I usually find to be a boring or rather difficult genre of game and spice it up with dragon based third person shooting, which I think would make any game fantastic.

It wasn't until I looked up a guide to Pillars of Eternity that I realized that I was playing the game wrong, and when I finally actually started READING the journal did I start having the company mandated amount of fun that came with a good story based RPG.

 

[lacktheknack]

I've been addicted to Darkest Dungeon, please help.

It doesn't have a cohesive story, but the risk-management mechanics are pretty much perfect.

 

[distortedreality]

Tharsis, FTL, and Papers Please.

Playthroughs of each can be quite quick, but will keep you going back for hours. If you have those three on rotation, it'll keep you busy with varied gameplay for ages.

 

[FPLOON]

Any Disgaea game...

Other than that, pick a simulator... Any simulator...

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

Terraria
Minecraft
Devil May Cry 4
Any roguelite/like
-Heavy Bullets
-Eldritch
-Barony
-Dwarf Fortress
-Nethack

 

[Mechamorph]

If that sort of game tickles your fancy, try Civilization V or Europa Universalis (or any Paradox Interactive strategy game). If it hooks you, there may be police checking in on you because your loved ones are worried for your continued health since you all but disappeared off the face of the planet.

 

[PacDwell]

X3 (either Terran Conflict or Albion Prelude) are huge time sinks once you 'get into them'.

Starting off can be slow but, by Christ, they can evolve into something you'll play for days without sleeping.

 

[Landwalker]

I'm going to go off the mostly-beaten path here and recommend Stardew Valley.

I do love me the hell out of some Paradox Interactive strategy games (Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis), but if Civilization is off the table then those probably will be off the table as well.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Star Trek Online has an excellent single player experience. The Old Republic does too, though ToR is hamstrung by the restrictions placed on it's free to play model, whereas Star Treks does not.

I have sunk more time in Fallout 4s settlement system that I had thought. Which can be hours of tweaking placements and making sure defense turrets have optimal line of sight. I really only took a break from it when Captain McBland wandered over to me and said there was a settlement that needed my help.

I have been playing a lot of Tropico 4 recently. It's a fun city simulator like game.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I'm gonna second Stardew Valley. It's my ultimate chill-down-and-zone-out game. Though that doesn't really have a story, it does have characters to learn about which can be pretty cool or sorta meh depending on the character.

Something with a decent story to simply sink time in? The Witcher series fits, I suppose. The Banner Saga is good too if you want something you can take slowly. Fallout 4 kept me busy for a long time too, though the main story is a bit basic I like some of the character stories and side quests. And I surprised myself by spending hours just on settlement building and interior decorating ala The Sims: Post-Apocalypse Edition.

Get something hardcore, like philosopy lectures. They would go well with all of the gothic architecture.

Dark Souls' gothicness + 19th century existentialism lectures = a recipe for suicide.