Spring has always been a rough season for me; the transition from consistent winter pain to variable – and often intense – pain due to frequent weather changes makes planning any sort of fun times an exercise of folly.
So, rather than binging one game at a time, I have a series of games I’ll play depending on how functional my body and brain are right now.
This is that list – written briefly, because I’m in high pain right this very moment – with some general thoughts.
Starfield (and the Free Lanes/Terran Armada DLC) – This one is for when my hands are working well enough and I don’t have extreme nerve pain in my fingertips. I’m mostly playing this right now because I’m curious how much of an improvement the updates are, and honestly? They’re even less than what I was expecting. While I liked Starfield initially, I didn’t have high hopes for it and felt it was already dead. I still feel that way so far, but I’m reserving my complete judgement until I get through Unity a couple of times (as I’m starting 100% fresh). Aside: As cool as Entangled was the first time, this is my 5th time replaying that quest.. It’s much too long and relies too hard on the gimmicks to plump it out.
Star Citizen 4.7 – The 4.7 update adds crafting and some general polish, and I am honestly here for it.. When my body cooperates. I’ve enjoyed Star Citizen for a very long time, and because it provides 2 core gameplay styles (FPS and flight) with lots of sub-genre gameplay (want to chill and listen to a podcast? Mining or salvaging is your friend), I usually have plenty of room for enjoying the game. If my finger tips have bad nerve pain? I stick to flight.. However, if my wrists hurt I stay away just because it relies on the ability to twist the grips too much (fucking carpal tunnel sucks).
Mechwarrior 5: Mercs – A new DLC is on the way, so I’ve been playing random challenges (such as my light mechs only run) and having a blast. Bonus? No twist grip needed with my HOSAS setup, so I can typically play this one during elevated pain sessions.. However, I do frequently have to switch my right hand to the mouse for precision shooting.
Sins of a Solar Empire 2 – This one is my “fuck you pain, you fucking suck” game.. Assuming my brain is functional. If I have general fully body pain that is elevated – but not completely distracting – This is a great “hop in and kill a few hours”.. With the ability to pause, save, take breaks and more as-needed, this is just awesome. No quick reflexes, no precision clicks, and you can stop and breathe/think as-needed.
That’s not all, however! There are a few games on my list to play that I recently acquired or – in some cases – just came out.
Mechabellum – This one looks interesting; It’s an auto-battler tactics game, which is great for situations where I really don’t want to have to click and move around to play.
Morbid Metal – I played the demo for this one a few times, and it is just amazing for a small indie title. It’s a rogue-lite style fighter, which ordinarily wouldn’t be my jam, but the demos were fucking amazing despite the challenge. I will note that this one is probably going to have to wait until my new treatment starts kicking in and I regain some functionality of my hands. Still, as soon as it entered Early Access this past week I grabbed it.
Road to Vostok – Another awesome indie title, Road to Vostok is a hardcore survival shooter in the vein of Stalker. It’s single player, tickles the gun nerd in me, and shows a lot of potential.. Like Morbid Metal, this just entered Early Access, but I bought it immediately to show my support (having played the demos and enjoyed them already). Unfortunately, precision aiming and quick reflexes aren’t skills I have during elevated pain days.. And are critical to not die constantly, so this one will have to wait until a good pain day.
1348 Ex Voto – I have been wanting to play this one for a while, but still haven’t had the mobility needed to touch it.. And yeah, it gets a lot of criticism from the anti-woke mafia (“Lesbian Knight Game” sounds like a fun time to me, but whatever), and definitely launched with some rough jank, but welcome to the world of small indies. Fuck off, let people make their art. I can’t wait to play it.
That’s it! Hopefully you’re having better luck than I in regards to being physically able to enjoy some games, but if not, I hope this list helps you find something new to play (or wishlist)!