Does anyone else gravitate toward slower, more complex games?

[Lukas]

I have been putting more time into Satisfactory recently than I would like to admit, and it got me thinking. Most new releases are tuned for fast feedback -- pull a lever, get a reward. Games like CK3, RimWorld, Factorio do the opposite. They take 20 or 30 hours before they even start to make sense, and that investment is exactly what makes them stick.

Worth noting this makes them nearly impossible to recommend to people who prefer something more immediate. Showing someone RimWorld cold is almost guaranteed to end with them bouncing off it.

Curious whether anyone here plays in this space or whether it is mostly shooters and action titles.

 

[Oliver]

This is the design philosophy I've been drawn to for the last twenty years, frankly. Baldur's Gate 2, Morrowind, Gothic II -- games that assumed you were willing to put in the work and rewarded you enormously for it. The shift Lukas describes isn't just a trend, it's become the baseline assumption about what players want. Which is a shame, because the audience for something more demanding clearly exists.

 

[Tyler]

Elden Ring and Sekiro scratch that itch for me from an action angle -- they don't explain anything and expect you to work for it. Different from CK3 obviously but the principle holds. The games that actually stick with you are the ones that didn't assume you were an idiot.

 

[Corey]

Valheim is the one that clicked for me on this. First few hours I was genuinely lost. Damo kept saying it wasn't for him. Six sessions later and he's the one staying up until 2am building a longhouse. That slow reveal is the whole point — the game doesn't tell you what it is until you're already committed.

Sons of the Forest is similar. Heaps of depth in the base building that you just don't see at first.

 

[Lukas]

Oliver and Tyler are making the same point from different angles, which is interesting. Whether it is a sprawling RPG or a demanding action game, the common thread seems to be that the game respects the player by demanding something from them. Worth noting though — there is a real difference between depth that rewards patience and difficulty that just filters players. The best ones in this category do the former.