My partner Rubén said a few years ago, after the boom of Xbox Game Pass, how curious the choice paradox. The more we have, the less we value it, and after wasting valuable time deciding what to play, we tend to go for something familiar in the end. And this also applies to services like Netflix, Clear.
In a market as saturated as that of video games, It is not only that it is difficult to find time to play everything that comes out a week (technically impossible task, there are games that are not aired in one afternoon, precisely … or in a month), but also decide which one we want invest our time without distractions. Something that is becoming more and more complicated for me.
“This in my time did not happen”
I remember that time with Mega Drive or the Amiga 500, where despite having many games a year, I had enough time to spend them all. Even in the days of the first PlayStation, in high school. And that there were games with more than 100 hours, like Final Fantasy VII or the magical sequel to Suikoden.
Now I have the excuse of work, but it is also true that I am grateful when I have to analyze a short game instead of dedicating zillions of hours to the new RPG on duty. Although if it is the remake from an old man known as Demon’s SoulsI’m not going to put any hits on it either. In fact because of this update in PS5 I’ve gotten hooked on the Demon’s Souls de PS3 and start another game at Dark Souls, in this case on Xbox 360. Even bounce to Dark Souls III and One.
I love getting lost in those universes, no matter how many times I have played them (and suffered), something that for me it was unthinkable in the nineties. Of those who replayed were the usual soccer players (Sensible Soccer) or fights, like Street Fighter II, without missing, of course, the Meetings with the Bombermans, Worms and Co..
With so much game now available on systems such as PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One or Steam, not counting the new consoles or others that resign themselves to dying and that I still revisit, I have realized that every week I end up reserving a special space for my wild card games, those before which I can “disconnect” in another way than being in a familiar environment that never disappoints.
The games I turn to automatically
It is not an abundant list and it does not have to be shared by you, after all tastes are very different, but it is a sample of what suits me the most today: old mechanical thread passes or in which I can enjoy without worrying, for the simple pleasure of having a good time playing.
Spelunky + Spelunky 2
Spelunky 2, one of my personal GOTY 2020s, has been to blame that I got hooked on this new Derek Yu job … and back to the first Spelunky. It’s funny because the 2012 remake is still very harsh and cruel by the behavior of the objects, the sequel being more accessible … up to a point. Because I’m still a denier who hasn’t been able to pass them on, damn it.
I always screw up in the end, always. I don’t screw it up with traps, ironically, but rather with some enemies who end up playing it in a very vile way. And these months, apart from dedicating many hours to them, I have also invested quite a lot of time in watching videos of experts who pass it on in three minutes, who accomplish other impossible feats (like not taking money) and the like. I fantasize about one day achieving a game this perfect. I do not lose the hope.
Sky Force Anniversary + Sky Force Reloaded
HUMAN RESCUE. WEAPON UPGRADE. HUMAN RESCUE. HUMAN RESCUE. It is impossible not to stop hearing what they say tanto Sky Force Anniversary como Sky Force Reloaded, From shoot ’em up that have hooked me fine thing since 2018.
I’d always thought of them as a decaf Capcom 1943 … until I tried them and discovered that that apparent simplicity was just a layer of something much more complex, demanding, and deep, with insane replayable heights. With saying that I spent them on Xbox One and ended up buying again on PS4 to continue exploiting the addiction to challenges and your online bookmarks, it’s all said.
Borderlands + Borderlands 2 + The Pre-Sequel + Borderlands 3
With the saga Borderlands The explanation is quite simple: it is one of my favorites and with so much reissue that it has received, I have had to replay its multiple deliveries on repeated occasions, also on the occasion of each expansion, such as those that have been published this last year in Borderlands 3 or his way a lo Battle Royale.
But it is also true that I have replayed all the chapters (at least) a couple of times, with more than 1,500 G in the first Borderlands on Xbox 360, dos Platinos en Borderlands 2 and the latest installment on PS4, and having the one of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Some I spent in their day on Xbox, others on PlayStation … and I would like to have them 100% in which I played less. Also, to top it all, this year was launched Borderlands: Legendary Collection on Nintendo Switch. The madness.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare + Battle for Neighborville
A shooter what I will not tire of claiming for its originality, sense of humor and the fun that its proposal is, it is Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. Especially, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, which enhanced everything in a big way, being practically perfect. Just Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville it fell far short of that upward progression by not being better.
The three are, in addition, games that I have (or had) in duplicate, staying at an achievement of 1,000 G in the first of Xbox One (with 50 hours), to later get Platinum on PS4 (with 80 hours), or dedicating almost equal parts vice in the sequel on both consoles. Because I have a great time even “wasting” time in the field. And since each plant and each zombie is a world, the experience is always fresh and it motivates me to level up everyone to unlock more absurd aesthetic elements.
The Settlers II
My biggest drug by far. Since I tried the first The Settlers In Amiga 500 in 1993, I completely fell in love with this Blue Byte work, reaching its zenith with a sequel that was practically perfect until a group of fans corrected its limited limitations in The Settlers II: Return to the Roots.
Strategy that I like, of knowing when you start but never when you finish. The one to play one more game and I quit. The game that brings out my procrastinating vein like no other. To say that it still happens to me to see some landscape in the mountains and think of calling someone from the castle to go to level the ground to press the space bar and see what can be built later … But the treatment I take it well. I leave it when I want.
Now it is your turn. What wild card games do you turn to when you don’t know what to play? Tell us without being cut off, that this way more alternatives also arise.
Table of Contents
