I finally finished playing (Return of the Obra Dinn)[https://www.gog.com/en/game/return_of_the_obra_dinn](Great game, highly recommended), and that got me thinking about what I want from games. Many times hawe I looked at a game, not really been sold on the idea but being convinced by everyone telling me it's great, and like clockwork being dissapontied by it.

Plenty of games that are staple "Amazing Games", like Disco Elysium and Stardew Valley never really clicked for me, while other ones like Return of the Obra Dinn and Factorio did. This post mostly exists to help me explore what I want, and what I dont want. You should not look at this as some sort of guide on what you should like, but perhaps use it to reflect on your own preferences.

Handholding

Life is scary, you mostly pretend you know what you are doing — and eventually you realize everyone else is doing the same. However, when scary turns into the mundane, that constitutes growth. I remember the first time I used a chainsaw, it was terifying, now it is mundane. I am a bit ashamed to admit that I feel like a man when I use a chainsaw nowadays, and it feels great.

I'm not saying that tutorials are bad. To harp back to Return of the Obra Dinn (let's use the acronym RotOD from now on), it explains the how the core loop works and how to navigate the book, but it doesnt hold your hand (click here, now select that guy, write that he did this, etc).

You could also use the chainsaw as an example, the first time I used a chainsaw I was basically left to follow the small image printed on it on how to start it, with my father in law nearby doing something else if I needed help. It was a bit scary, but I am also an adult with capable of deduction. I was respected and trusted enough to figure it out, and I did, and games that respect me as a player in the same way are great.

Gamey-ness

The definition of when something is "gamey" is quite wide, but I define it as when things are abstracted in spirit to define clear rules. I don't like this, since it hampers my immersion.

Even if they are in execution quite similar, I much prefer to see 120 men stand in formation in Total War, rather than having one unit stand in one hexagonal tile in Civilization. In this example, there is a small functional difference, but it doesnt have to be. Even if it's just fluff, it often really helps my immersion. Another example could be Europa Universales IV, where your units are always stacks of 1k men. They could easily had abstracted it to say:

You have 10.4 manpower

But they dont, they say:

You have 10 432 men available to recruit

And that makes it a lot easier to get sucked into the game.

Sometimes you have to make sacrifices however, and I understand that. Gates of Hell: Ostfront has quite abstract weapon ranges, since if everyone could shoot at ~1km range it would be really hard to play on maps that are rougly 500x500 meters. However it still comes at an undeniable cost for me, that for example Steel Division 2 doesnt have to deal with.

Open ended playstyle

I don't vibe with games that only have one playstyle. Games that are open ended, along with the lack of handholding — tend to be fun since the player has time to experiment and tinker with different playstyles. If you can incorporate a good amount of fluff aswell, that let's the player make their own decisions based on what they would do in that situtation, rather than "What is the best solution to this algorithm?".

What I have been describing here is basically Rule the Waves 3, one of my favorite games ever (re-read paragraph 2 before buying!). You play as a grand admiral of a nation between the year 1890-1970, and you are mostly just thrown into it. You can probably deduct that big ships with big guns can destroy the big boats with big guns that the other nations have. However, how much better is a 12" gun than a 11" gun? Do I want to armor the deck or the superstructure? Why should I even fight the other nations?

There are no clear answers to these questions, but you slowly develop a understanding for roughly what you want and what these things entail. Eventually, you start to tinker with new strategies, perhaps you build heavy cruisers with long range that you can send on far away patrols to focus on raiding merchant ships. Perhaps you build coastal battleships, where you put big guns and tons of armor where the fuel used to be. Perhaps you focuse on light cruisers and bet on being able to run away from battles you don't want to fight. Perhaps you even just try to sign a naval treaty to push everyone back so you can more easily catch up in the arms race.

Conclusion

I could probably continue, but most of the qualities I desire harp back to these three topics. I like games that respect me as a competent adult, and that allows me to use my real life thougths and biases to form my playstyle. I prefer games that are a story, rather than a puzzle.

What aspects do you like in games? What makes your favorite games so fun for you? Do let me know by sending a mail!