I’m a non-gamer looking for recommendations please. I saw the Quake II refresh and it makes me want to explore/roam some 3D environments again. But I’m really not into the intensity of any of the shooting games.

Tomb Raider was fun but I found combat hard to control.
Half-Life had great environments but too much shooting for me.
Portal was great fun but I eventually found it repetitive.
Beyond a Steel Sky is one of my favorites although the pace of exploration is a bit slower than others.

I’m tempted to give a game like Myst a try but the puzzles sound a bit too involved for me. Basically something without much stress or excessive friction against exploration of the environment. Thanks

I’m on Linux and macOS.

  • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
    5·
    11 months ago

    I have not played it, but people rave about The Outer Wilds and it sounds like it fits your needs.

    It’s not at all my thing, but search the term “walking simulator” to find stuff like that.

    Have you tried some of the games you’re talking about on the “story” difficulty modes? Most have moved to calling it something like that instead of “easy”, and I’m at the opposite extreme, but a lot of them are designed to let you experience the world and story without the pressures of combat.

    If you have access to a switch, Mario Odyssey or Kirby and the Forgotten Land have some “combat” but you can skip a lot of it, and they’re made to be beatable by kids. Other 3D platformers exist in similar veins as well.

  • khab@kbin.social
    4·
    11 months ago

    Firewatch
    Well-made story-focused, no combat whatsoever. Very few puzzles, almost exclusively about exploring.

    What Remains of Edith Finch
    More “puzzley”, but lets you discover things at your own pace.

  • guyrocket@kbin.social
    4·
    11 months ago

    I don’t see Thief mentioned yet. It’s old but it was called a “first person sneaker” by some reviewer back in the day.

    I’m seeing something on Steam that looks like it but with a 2/2014 release date, which seems newer that I remember. Apparently there’s a bunch of DLC too, so you might consider buy a bundle.

  • HidingCat@kbin.social
    3·
    11 months ago

    Right off the top of my head is Abzu. Not a hard game, simple puzzles, but really nicely crafted environments and experience. It’s a bit short but it was well worth the experience. It’s quite an old game by now so probably not hard to get it on sale.

    • FarraigePlaisteach@kbin.socialOP
      1·
      11 months ago

      Thanks, I wondered about that. Outer wilds it is :) They didn’t release for linux or Mac unfortunately, but I see that people are having success running it with the WINE translation layer.

  • CALIGVLA@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    Seems like you want something like a walking simulator, maybe a point and click game?

    There’s Journey, I’ve never personally played it but from what I gather it’s mostly walking, jumping and exploring.

    Have you also tried Minecraft? You can play on peaceful, so no combat at all, you’d be mostly exploring.

    Maybe Subnautica? There’s a creative mode, you don’t need to worry about survival and dying, you can build indefinitely.

    • FarraigePlaisteach@kbin.socialOP
      1·
      11 months ago

      Journey looks really special, thank you for the tip! I’ve played plenty of Minecraft many years ago - I should have mentioned that in my post. I even ran a server for my family for a while. I’m just looking at Subnautica now to see what the creative mode is like, thank you!

  • Rexxiter@kbin.social
    2·
    11 months ago

    I really enjoyed The Planet Crafter! It’s a crafting game bringing a barren world to fully lush environment. Lakes will form, grasses start to grow. It’s very peaceful and visually appealing.

  • cyberian_khatru@kbin.social
    2·
    11 months ago

    Gone Home is pretty neat. I usually need secondary gameplay loop to placate my short attention span but this one gripped me through presentation and atmosphere alone.