Games that get the Pilto seal of Approval:

[Ace_Pilto]

If you're looking for something to do in the holidays:

 

Arma 3, Sandbox Warcrime Simulator. Protip: Avoid the DLC cashgrab, most of it is gratuitous crap and the base game is mediocre. Go straight to the mods. There are some great mods, Star Wars, Vietnam, WW2, Cold War. It can be a real timesink. Online play is kind of uninspired and just turns it into PubG with bad controls, but you can have some real fun in private co-op.

 

Assetto Corsa and Assetto Corse Competitione. Great racing games, great mods for AC. ACC is very high fidelity.

 

Astrox Imperium. It's essentially "Eve Offline". Unlike "Eve Online", where you have to constantly give the game real money, just to get immediately killed to some speadsheet minmax analyst who has been grinding for the last 15 IRL years, this game is actually good. All of the online people are banished from it so you can enjoy the rich and complex mechanics without resorting to prostitution to pay the bills and you can train your skills in a timescale that does not make tectonic plate movement look like the Indy 500.

 

Cities Skylines. Plenty of mods, harness your industrial grade OCD and make a perfect city. Then delete it and start over because it isn't perfect enough.

 

DCS, it keeps getting better. (And more expensive)

 

Deus Ex (The original one) because they were able to predict the future and it's terrifying how accurately they managed to do so.

 

Exanima. Physics based top down RPG/hack and slash/ dungeon crawler with a very innovative and unique physics based combat system that punishes you for using its' very innovative and unique physic based combat system. Get lost in a subterranean labyrinth that is impossible to navigate because you have no map and can't complete the first level without watching someone else do it on youtube. Give up on the main story which is trash and just play the combat arena which makes the entire main game irrelevant because it is vastly more fun and rewarding to train a dojo of gladiators from feeble drunk flailing idiots into finely honed fighting machines.

 

Hellish Quart: A complex and very engaging fencing simulator. Sometimes it seems like you can use utmost of skill and finess to win, other times it seems like a coin toss. Just like real fighting.

 

Ion Fury very cool Retro Shooter. Was originally called "Ion Maiden" but some money grubbing lawyer thought you might mistake it for a generic 80's metal band and stop giving them money, even though they have enough of it to fund their own airliner. I call it Ion Maiden and listen to pirated copies of Aces High while I play it.

 

Metal Gear Solid V. Disguise yourself as a box to save the world from killer robots while listening to 80's hits on your walkman. Made produced and written by Hideo Kojima, Sunglasses designed by Hideo Kojima.

 

Mount and Blade II Bannerlord. Ignore the base game because it is horribly boring, install the Trials of the Seven Kingdoms mod and, unlike the incompetent writers on the TV show, end Game of Thrones the way it should have ended. 

 

Project Zomboid. Outstanding zombie survival game. Incredibly detailed, great mods.

 

Red Dead Redemption 2. I can't fault this game, it's literally perfect.

 

RimWorld. Probably one of the best games ever made and hundreds of mods that make it even better. Basically you become a benevolent, interventionist but untimately incompetent god who watches over your colonists until the storyteller kills them. Sounds stupid but this game is truly engrossing and one of the best I have ever played.

 

Sleeping Dogs. Stop organised crime in some asian country by grabbing organised asian criminals and smashing them into industrial equipment until there are none left.

 

Star Wars, the Old Republic. I hate MMO's so incuding this game here is unusual but I really enjoy this one, largely because it's good enough that you can ignore most of the MMO cancer most of the time.

 

State of Decay 2. A top notch zombie apocalypse game. Build a community, turn the difficulty up and lose everything before rage quitting because 2 plague juggernauts decided to come live in your base. A really tight game with great combat mechanics and consistent new content.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin, another interesting retro shooter for people who like old school quake/doom type games.

 

Wreckfest. Win car races by being the only car that finishes, the way nature intended.

 

X4 Foundations. A space empire simulator where you can personally command any ship in the game from fighters to capital ships. Build your own stations, create trade routes, become a pirate, bounty hunter, whatever you want. They say "Trade, Think, Fight..." in their promotional materiel but it's really more like this: Google, Install mods that fix the worst of the counter intuitive interface and mechanics and THEN trade, think, fight. Then you can watch the amazingly advanced AI epically fail to follow any commands you issue to them and see your entire fleet get melted before your eyes. Despite all of this, there are many excellent quality of life mods that allow you to clutch hundreds of hours of fun from the jaws of asinine design and enjoy this game inspite of itself. I highly recommended that you try the Star Wars Interworlds mod. It's absolutely bloody amazing. Go over to their discord if you do and and try my modlist, custom start and savegame.

 

Xenonauts: Like old Xcom, fail to save the world from alien invasion and get all your guys killed. Then try again because you figured out a little bit more than last time and you just can't stop playing.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Ace_Pilto

[DD_fruitbat]

You have more spare time than I do, lol.

[danielprates]

23 hours ago, Ace_Pilto said:

Xenonauts

 

Xenonauts 2 is near, I follow their DDs closely. Very promising.

[Ace_Pilto]

4 hours ago, danielprates said:

 

Xenonauts 2 is near, I follow their DDs closely. Very promising.

Yeah, I was looking at that the other day. Another title for the wishlist!

[Eisenfaustus]

On 11/30/2021 at 5:04 AM, Ace_Pilto said:

you might mistake it for an awesome 80's metal band

There - fixed that for you

 

Saw them live at Wacken Open Air and it was one of the best live acts I ever saw! Seriously - they earned the plane they fly themselves by the way. 
 

Cool list - many I already tried yet never heared of astrox imperium, thanks for the tip.  

[Ace_Pilto]

8 minutes ago, Eisenfaustus said:

they earned the plane they fly themselves by the way. 
 

Cool list - many I already tried yet never heared of astrox imperium, thanks for the tip.  

 Yes they do, maybe they were too distracted by operating Ed Force One to have any input on allowing their lawyers to bully some poor independant creator in their name... Let's just blame the label, they don't seem like corporate stooges.

 

Astrox is a really cool little game and it gets very regular updates. You can also follow the development on their discord.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Ace_Pilto

[PatrickAWlson]

Red Dead: I  enjoyed the game but not the gunfight mechanics.  I slaughtered whole towns and I didn't even really want to.  Would have preferred much better wound mechanics and much fewer, but better, people to shoot.  

[Monksilver]

42 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Red Dead: I  enjoyed the game but not the gunfight mechanics.  I slaughtered whole towns and I didn't even really want to.  

 

I did something like that too. Accidentally killed someone in hold up in the country. There was a witness who started to run off to report it so I shot them, problem was someone  else saw me do that so that was someone else to keep quiet, but then another 2 people saw that etc etc. A heck of a lot of people died that day. 

[Irishratticus72]

Sleeping Dogs was my standout game of last year, bought it when it came to steam, but never got around to it until summer '20. RDR2 was great, but damn that ending went on and on. And on. Currently, obviously apart from IL2, grinding through MW5 Mercs, and revisiting 2077, since I got a new rig, much more enjoyable. BF2042 is getting better, especially Portal 1942. 

[Ace_Pilto]

2 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Red Dead: I  enjoyed the game but not the gunfight mechanics.  I slaughtered whole towns and I didn't even really want to.  Would have preferred much better wound mechanics and much fewer, but better, people to shoot.  

You can go back the next day and they are fine. My only complaint was that there wasn't enough hats/outfits/weapons to collect. More decorations for that big Southern plantation would have been fun too.

1 hour ago, Monksilver said:

 

I did something like that too. Accidentally killed someone in hold up in the country. There was a witness who started to run off to report it so I shot them, problem was someone  else saw me do that so that was someone else to keep quiet, but then another 2 people saw that etc etc. A heck of a lot of people died that day. 

 I don't think you're meant to stay in town and shoot it out with the entire population. Better to just run away and then sneak around and lie low until you pay your bounty. You can massacre everyone if you want but it's not really worth it.

 

Also, X4 Star Wars mod screenshot of my personal Flagship:

Edited December 10, 2021 by Ace_Pilto

[itsbillyfrazier]

Great post and nice list!

 

I've tried quite a few of these and others I haven't even heard of or checked out yet, so I'll take note of those.

 

ACC/Racings sims - ACC is probably the best GT3 simulation on the market if that's your cup of tea, I get tired of GT3 cars after awhile though. I was a big fan of rFactor2, but it disappoints me more than excites me lately...wish they would fix da fackin bugs instead of releasing more and more content. Automobilista 2 is really turning out quite well with each update. Physics and FFB is getting steadily better, but it still needs to improve consistency across all racing classes, but worth checking out if you haven't already.

 

Cities skylines - I got this on release and was having some fun with it but then I got disheartened when they started pumping out the endless DLC...What a cash grab. I never knew there was a modding scene so maybe I'll revisit!

 

DCS - My potato PC never mixed well with this title, however my Z690 Mobo arrived today and the i9-12900k is arriving early next week with some fast DDR4 RAM. I still need to order a new GPU but am reluctant to part with the 980ti when i look at the prices of new GPU's....I'll probably buy an RTX 30xx if the prices come down in the new year...Maybe DCS will become more appealing. I really want to make use of the Huey DLC i picked up awhile ago, but it seems a pretty baron sim in terms of campaigns and missions etc. That said, i never spent a huge amount of time with it for the reasons mentioned. 

 

Deus EX - Great game - Bought and finished it on release. Should probably revisit it now that it's been so long and i've probably forgotten most of it. I don't generally replay many games like this once I've completed them, but I do remember enjoying this one, so probably worth a replay.

 

Metal Gear  Solid 5 -  Bought at release, had a few wow moments but never really grabbed me by the balls to see it through... I should probably revisit also. Something cool about creeping around in a cardboard box though! xD

 

Bannerlord - I've been playing lots of this recently (Vanilla) -  I went and downloaded a shit ton of mods only last night as I wanted to mix it up a bit more. The Devs only went and release 1.6.5 today and most of the mods I DL'd are now incompatible! FML... I do love this series but the bugs and pretty boring story line in Vanilla are pissing me off now. Also, it's been in development for so long and there's been no significant new features added...  While the modding scene shows promise,  many of the mods become incompatible with each new version released or end up introducing more bugs... I'm losing patience fast but really hope the finished product will scratch the itch for a modernised Mount & Blade.

 

Red Dead2 - Beautiful game, but I didn't finish it...I guess the Cowboy life only holds my interest for so long. I will go back to it and try and finish it though (...hopefully!).

 

Rim World - I played this when it came out first on Steam, very cool concept and fun game but like many games, I get side tracked by life or some other release and it gets shelved. I'll go back to this though for sure.

 

Sleeping Dogs - Much fun was had...great game!

 

Wreckfest -  Fun smash'em up racing. Promising that they added a free Rally DLC recently (Although i haven't tried it out yet...) Physics are surprisingly good for what it is, although I never spend long with the game. AMS2 and ACC get most of my racing attention these days. Oh R3E still gets some time too...wish they updated it from DX9 though....

 

Sub-nautica - Cool and atmospheric adventure game which i haven't quite finished. Really enjoy it every time i play it though. I know there is a follow up DLC released a few months ago which I've yet  to purchase but its on my wishlist. Worth checking out IMO.

 

Uboat - Turning into a pretty good sub sim and is getting more polished with each release. Some good mods being produced by the community to improve realism - recommended. 

 

World of Warships - A game I have a love/hate relationship with... and one i spend way too many hours with tbh. I wish another developer produced something similar but without the loot boxes and unbalanced gameplay.

 

 

 

[Ace_Pilto]

Hi Billy, if you're running bannerlord modded, you can just just revert to your old version and keep playing your mods. Thanks for adding some of your own too!

[itsbillyfrazier]

7 minutes ago, Ace_Pilto said:

Hi Billy, if you're running bannerlord modded, you can just just revert to your old version and keep playing your mods. Thanks for adding some of your own too!

 

Thanks for the tip Pilto! I probably should have been aware of that... ?

 

I just fired it up now and I'm starting a new game, I got most of the mods working on 1.6.5 but a few are incompatible with this version. I'll see how I fair and maybe revert to 1.6.4 if things start crashing. 

 

Would be interested in what mods you use. Not a big fan of "Game of thrones"  so I'd probably skip that one. I tried Calradia Expanded yesterday as it looked interesting, but all the towns and castles are missing in game so had to dump it.... I should probably go back to an earlier version though like you suggested.

 

 

[Ace_Pilto]

Only Trials of the Seven Kingdoms (Which incorporates a lot fo standalone mods anyway). You don't really have to like the TV show to enjoy outstanding content, it's just a bonus if you do because you can hunt down characters from the show that you didn't like and execute them.

Edited December 11, 2021 by Ace_Pilto

[itsbillyfrazier]

OK cool, I might check it out so, thanks.

[danielprates]

On 12/10/2021 at 8:07 PM, itsbillyfrazier said:

Deus EX - Great game - Bought and finished it on release. Should probably revisit it now that it's been so long and i've probably forgotten most of it. I don't generally replay many games like this once I've completed them, but I do remember enjoying this one, so probably worth a replay.

 

Fyi steam has a remake of deus ex, better graphucs, sound etc. Nothing drastic though. If you are planning on replaying it, get this one, I did it a while ago and felt it was worth it. 

 

PS: flatlander woman!

[LLv34_Flanker]

S!

 

Nice list of games  And now with Steam Sale going on and easy way to get more...I would add to the list games I have liked.

 

1. The Ascent. Cyberpunk themed game from 3rd person view. Very nicely done surroundings, quite grim world. Gameplay is nice even it took me a while to get used to the controls, can be a bit clunky at times. Also fixed camera angle is a small nuisance at times. But otherwise I like the game, trying to get forward..

 

2. Disco Elysium - The Final Cut. I like the setup and all those handmade environments, even some Finnish in that game! Story can be opened in many ways, depending on your game style, character abilities etc. Slow paced for some, but I liked it. Why do games have to be ADHD on nitro?

 

 

[Ribbon]

For SP and great story;

-Red dead redemption 2

-Cyberpunk 2077

-Days gone

 

Sandboxes;

-Arma 3

-dcs

-il2

-msfs2020

 

 

Own but still didn't play: 

-subnautica

-uboat

-witcher 3

-death stranding