Hello, in the recent years I find myself willing to spend much less time and energy on games, but I do still enjoy them. Oftentimes I end up quitting a new game I tried out relatively early on, because I’m encountering some block, grind, non-optional boring side quest, empty open world, uninteresting clutter or details that I have to manage, or similar. Like, I just wanna play the actual game play, see how the story continues, and visit those areas that were designed with care. Not worry where on the map I can sell the glimbrunses I collected so I can buy a 37% stronger glarpidifice that I’ll need to beat the next glutrey after which I’m allowed to continue the main story.

Sorry if this turned into some kind of a rant, but I hope it’s understandable what I’m looking for and what I meant by fluff. Some games that have fulfilled this for me during the last years:

  • Stray
  • Skyrim (there’s a lot of fluff you can worry about in Skyrim, but the thing is you don’t have to worry about it, you can also just walk in any direction and see what situation you wind up in, at least for the first 10-20h of a playthrough, which IMO is enough time for a game anyway)
  • Life is Strange
  • Some Pokémon ROM hacks where the difficulty spikes were not too harsh

Looking forward to hear your suggestions :) Games where there is some fluff but you’re allowed to just ignore it are also fine, but not having any fluff is preferred. Bonus points for anything on the Xbox game pass.

  • lime!@feddit.nuEnglish
    2·
    1 month ago

    OUTER WILDS!

    • zero fluff. every piece of text and every setpiece is in service to the main story.
    • no gating. you can go everywhere from moment one.
    • no grinding. no combat at all, in fact.
    • no time pressure. it may seem like it, but don’t worry.
    • the big mystery requires understanding the world and the story, rather than fighting a difficult battle
    • it will make you cry
  • rowinxavier@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

    I only finished it for the first time this year, after about 20 years of giving it a go, getting part way through, then forgetting about it. ADHD is evil. Still, it was fun, there were no long boring parts, nothing was grinding or luck based, and it felt really tight as an experience. Very well thought out, honestly I would consider it a masterpiece.

      • rowinxavier@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 month ago

        I have played a bunch of them, Twilight Princess was an absolute no for me for some reason, but I liked Ocarina and Majora when I was younger. I plan to play a decompilation of both of those soon, native resolution and performance etc. I enjoyed Link’s Awakening as well, finished that on my original Gameboy back in the 90s, and Windwaker looks fun though I have only recently gotten onto a computer able to render it nicely, so that is on my play list.

          • rowinxavier@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            1 month ago

            Yeah, I think I will get Windwaker going soon and beat it. I love the cell shading look and the world is interesting.

  • DickFiasco@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    Slightly old by now, but Portal and Portal 2 remain two of the best games I’ve ever played. Gameplay is intuitive and linear, and doesn’t require grinding or building up resources. I thought the difficulty increased appropriately as well.

  • Flagstaff@programming.devEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    Let me offer a spin on this: the point-&-click adventure Technobabylon, which is more a staggeringly creative and massive series of escape rooms, and not that much of an open world to explore and revisit.

    Perceptibly, it has zero grinding and is to the point with what you’ve gotta do. It is one of the only point-&-click adventure games that I’ve beaten; I normally dislike the genre, which speaks volumes to how incredible it is.

  • catty@lemmy.worldBannedEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    look back to some of the games for the 8 and 16-bit consoles. They tended to be about fun rather than shock factors. So check out the larger games for the megadrive for example.

    Also, I kinda thought borderlands was good in that it adapted to how you prefer to play and the difficulty seemed consistent.

  • truite@jlai.luEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    I don’t understand fluff in this context, what does it mean? I searched in dictionary but I’m still not sure.

    Anyway:

    • Spiritfarer: I don’t remember so much grinding in this game, and it’s a beautiful game, not too long, not too hard
    • The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
    • Slay the Princess, but you don’t really play, you make choices. It’s a masterpiece of narration. If you dislike body horror, don’t play it.
    • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      1 month ago

      Spiritfarer is awesome and I also recommend it, but I think I would concede there’s some “grinding” aspects. You’re going to be going out of your way to collect certain things.

  • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.deEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 could be what you’re looking for. The main story areas are significantly easier than all the side content.

    You’ll want to do the side quests because how can you not play that game with cool sunglasses and a baguette on your back?

    But you can easily get through the game without doing any side quests. And if you are afraid of being overpowered when you do play the side stuff, they recently added some nice controls to bump up the difficulty.