That game you're always in the mood to play

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

We all our favorites, right? You're browsing through your library and come across those select few titles and for a moment consider just popping it in, knowing no matter how many times you've played it, you'll enjoy yourself.
You may not play it tonight because you just got Whatever: Revolutions 6, but there's always that niggling little voice saying "You could be playing something else right now."

Now of course moods and preferences change, so it may be a little unrealistic to have a game you're always willing to play, so how about the game(s) you're most often in the mood to play. And it may not be your absolute favorite game ever. I love Mass Effect, but I need to be in a very specific mood to get through it.

Mine would be Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Silent Hill 3(preferably at night) and...Conker's Bad Fur Day.

 

[tippy2k2]

It's very very very very very *breath* very rare that I replay...well....anything ever. Even my favorite games ever almost never gets played more than once. There is basically one game that has been the exception to that rule...

XCOM: Enemy Unknown (and Within)

As my many many many many fan knows, I did a "Let's Play" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Tippy2k2-s-XCOM-Army-Let-s-Play] type thing with XCOM. As of right now, I have no intentions of doing another one (though that can change) but this is one of the few games that I've played multiple times and will almost certainly play it again at some point. I have (successfully) completed the game twice, I think three failures or so, and got everyone murdered a lot. One poor bastard got killed so often that his name became a verb for someone dying...

For whatever reason, I just can't find another Tactical RPG that worked so freaking well for me as XCOM (I'm a console gamer so that doesn't help but seriously, if anyone has a XCOM-like game I can get for the console, I will be forever in your debt).

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

It's very very very very very *breath* very rare that I replay...well....anything ever.

Wait really?! with the exception of XCOM, you don't think any other game ever has any replay value?!

 

[tippy2k2]

It's very very very very very *breath* very rare that I replay...well....anything ever.

Wait really?! with the exception of XCOM, you don't think any other game ever has any replay value?!

Oh don't get me wrong; games have plenty of replay value and it can be very important for people...I just don't do it

With the exception of XCOM, there has not been a game that I have fully replayed in the last decade. As a kid, I would replay the hell out of games like Super Mario Brothers and whatnot but I have not replayed through a game since the PS2 era.

I'm really not sure why I play that way since there have been some amazing games released but I just don't replay games. Even games where you can play a different way (like Mass Effect or Fallout) don't get replayed unless I am replaying to get to DLC.

 

[Barbas]

Left 4 Dead 2 or Company of Heroes 2, because they're just a constant drone of gunfire and swearing punctuated by the thumps of bombs and the crackles of pyrotechnic displays. I have little skill and it's dumb as hell, but I looooove the displays.

 

[Bad Jim]

For whatever reason, I just can't find another Tactical RPG that worked so freaking well for me as XCOM (I'm a console gamer so that doesn't help but seriously, if anyone has a XCOM-like game I can get for the console, I will be forever in your debt).

Have you played the original XCOM: UFO Defense? Yes, the graphics suck and it is a PC game, but it's cheap, really fun, and should run on an old laptop or whatever kind of PC you have around the house.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Any Pokemon game, really.

More recently though, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I have no idea what it is about that game but every so often I really want to play it again. I think at this point I've played it about six times, and I kinda want to play it again.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Any Pokemon game, really.

More recently though, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I have no idea what it is about that game but every so often I really want to play it again. I think at this point I've played it about six times, and I kinda want to play it again.

I blame shrek for that xD

As for myself, it's definitely Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth. Not only is the game great, but everything in it lends itself to being infinitely replayable, from the different characters to the random items and their synergies. It's pretty damn great.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I can't think of any game that I always want to play but if I'm really bored and just can't think of anything else to play I tend to go back and re-start one of the PSX Final Fantasy games. I either start FF7 and get to the point before you reach Cosmo Canyon, FF8 and get to some point in disc 2 or, FF9 and play through to the end, where I weep like a baby. I also used to play a ton of Guitar Hero but that was on the 360 and that stuff is currently packed up...and 600 miles away...once I finally get a copy of Guitar Hero Metallica though I may have to go up north and unearth some things.

After playing Hotline Miami though, I think that may be my new go-to when I'm feeling bored or just in need of some post-work catharsis. Really glad I picked that game up...

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Any Pokemon game, really.

More recently though, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I have no idea what it is about that game but every so often I really want to play it again. I think at this point I've played it about six times, and I kinda want to play it again.

I blame shrek for that xD

Actually, I think it's about every time I talk to him about it I end up playing it, now that I think about it.

Damn him!

Doesn't he know I have a backlog to manage? XD

 

[ExDeath730]

Crusader Kings 2

I just don't even consider uninstalling that thing anymore. Just all the crazy stuff you can pull there is insane, i really like how the cultures play differently, like, when you're a Pagan Norse, the gameplay is really different from when playing as a Zoroastrian. Other thing is that they go about stuff humorously, but the don't shy away from how different things are from one corner to the world to the other. I have one game as a Zoroastrian, and i was actually taken aback with how the best way there is to marry your half-sister, and i'm not even going into how brutal you can be to your enemies, specially when playing someone into the Byzantine Empire, you don't like someone? Welp, after you win a war against him, just blind and castrate him and send him back, that's cruel mercy for you.

That's just the base gameplay, there is the DLC stuff, like the Ways of Life, i mean, my British Emperor in 1175 was the one who discovered the laws of motion and universal gravitation, and when the Pope came knocking? He just told him to shut it, since he is an Emperor and can crush anything the Pope can throw at him, after that the Pope was silent And his grandfather? That discovered Ctulhu and had the Necronomicon? Better yet, his father! Who basically bed every queen and princess in Europe, had about 40 bastards and at the 40's became a family men, falling in love with his wife and breaking up with most of his mistresses? Yep, that's variety of play right there, and i don't even had to say anything about the plots or the military exploits of those guys (know the lecherous one? He was a badass that never lost a battle and dueled a lot of enemies 1 on 1).

 

[Darks63]

Surprising even myself the souls series. Atm I am trying to platinum both Demon and Dark 1 and I will likely do the same for Scholar DkS2 as well when I get it. There are so many potential builds nad cosplays that you can run that the series has some really high replay value.

Paradox Titles; I love most of Para titles The EU series, Ck Series, and Hoi Series. Although even if i feel like playing them the games dont see o fell the same way. They are always getting patched and breaking my save games which is constantly forcing me backto square one.

 

[SKBPinkie]

Monster Hunter - The game has damn near infinite replay value. The core game's mechanics are deep enough that you're always discovering new ways to play and actually realize how much depth the combat has to offer. Hell, the better weapons / armor are only a side objective to me. The core gameplay is satisfying on its own.

Skyrim - It's a huge world, and I still haven't discovered every location / quest. Plus, simply roaming around in that world is kinda relaxing.

Minecraft - As long as you have some sort of project in mind, this game is limitless. Made a home? Expand it. Added more rooms? Now make a castle. Made a castle? Now make a moat / force field around it. It keeps going on and on. Plus, it's the perfect game to play while listening to a podcast.

Gears of War 2 / 3 Horde mode - Always fun. And the few times you clear wave 50 are some of the best co-op experiences I've ever had online.

Halo 4 - Not a lot of people like this game, but I find myself playing the campaign every few months. Dunno if that counts as good replay value, but every 4 or so months, I crave the game for some reason.

Journey - Same as Halo 4, I end up playing it about 2-3 times every year.

 

[lacktheknack]

Quite honestly? Hoyle Board Games 3.

I just got it working again, and it's like playing with old friends.

 

[Bizzaro Stormy]

Any early 90's sidescroller like Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, Crystal Caves and such. Also any of the Warriors games Dynasty, Samurai, Orochi, or Troy. They all share the same basic element. they were meant to be fun and that's it.

 

[Remus]

Whatever MMO I'm currently addicted to. Currently, that's ESO. There's just something about a game that captures that visual style, the beauty of an Elder Scrolls so well. It's not all whitewashed like Skyrim largely was, more in the vein of Oblivion with its variety in landscapes so that your eyes never really tire of the world you're presented with. Screenshots are nice but they don't compare to seeing the game in motion. With the addition of the justice system, I've started a nightblade so I get to see everything new, again. And I get to steal from that snooty woman that shooed me away before.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

I still pop in Skyrim now and again.

I also strangely like playing through the Tomb Raider reboot a lot. It's like a R-rated action blockbuster movie for me, and I always have fun playing through it. I kinda layed off it for a bit, though, as I'm planing on getting the definitive edition once I got my PS4.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I'm almost always in the mood to play one of the BioShock games. I absolutely love both Rapture and Colombia and always want to return to them, and I'm generally able to find some new way to have fun despite not being a huge fan of the shooting. Granted, the stories (at least for BioShock and Infinite) have begun wearing thin because I know them about as much as you can without dedicated studying of the finer details (e.g. I still haven't bothered putting together the timeline for the voxophones in Infinite), but they still hold some charm.

I also am generally in the mood for playing through the Mass Effect trilogy or Xenoblade Chronicles. Problem is, I normally don't have anywhere near enough time for those, so I generally just fall back on Skyrim, which has been my Elder Scrolls game of choice for a while now. At least with that game, I don't feel like I'm trying to get to the end of a story.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

I don't play it as often as I would like, but Dead Rising 2 (Off the Record, specifically, but they're pretty much the same) is pretty fun. I'd say it's not much else, actually, doubly so for OTR's sandbox mode. After I'd beaten the game once and entered the Groundhog Day loop where only I ever react differently to things, the sense that anything I did mattered turned to dust and blew away. That in mind, I generally like to just fuck about, throw stuff without aiming at anything, drive through zombies until the engine blows up or I just stop feeling like it, kill everything that can die just because it's there, etc.

It's weird that in designated sandbox games like Saint's Row and it's sequels, I almost never find myself just having fun, but going after objectives, completion and such. When Dead Rising 2's objectives are all things I've done before, I couldn't care less about doing them again unless it's just a thing to do and I happen to be in the area. There are still plenty of achievements and such I don't have, some things I could unlock, but that's the case because they're things I can't even be bothered to look up again and never wanted to begin with. Maybe it's just that there's no XX.X% meter attached to my save file?

I do in that game what I've been doing with this post; bumble about like an idiot with a bucket on his head with only a vague direction in mind, because it's one of surprisingly few games I can do that without thinking about some kind of goal or long-term objective I told myself I'd work towards. Fuck medals, fuck missions, fuck survivors, fuck even answering the pager, because I've done it all before and I don't feel compelled to care anymore.

 

[Iwata]

IL-2 Sturmovik, Dishonored and Fallout 3/New Vegas are some of the very few games I can play repeatedly without getting tired of them.