My first thought was that I'd play something addictive that I've played a lot before, in my case Civilization (or other turn-based strategy like Master of Orion). Sims also goes to that category and all kinds of sandboxing would be a step away from serious gaming.

On the other hand there are couple go-to genres for me. For couple decades I've been saying that when I "have nothing to play" (a feeling much more rare today than twenty years ago), I play old JRPGs. Because they're a genre often so generic they're easy to get into (but it's still satisfying to find interesting twist in them). Or old point'n'click adventures, a light easy thing to play (90's style, not 80's).

And most of this fits to idea that you can watch TV or do something else while playing. You don't have to be concentrating in the game, just playing a little bit on the side of doing other things. We can argue whether multi-tasking is good for you, bit it's one thing to try when out of energy for hardcore gaming.

Also: Angry Birds. Puzzle games in general, but physics based may be the best option.

Power washer simulator with a podcast. Chefs kiss.

What works for me is retreating to a game I love, at a very leisurely pace or doing a weird type of run and ignoring gaming news for a while.

For example, playing an old Monster Hunter game with a weird weapon or doing a playthrough of a Yakuza game while drawing up a map of the city by hand.

I do that for like a month or two and stay off gaming sites

I tend to get hit with a dose of gaming burnout every 4 to 5 years or so but this has yet to fail me.

My burnout buster (GT7 on PSVR2) hasn't enticed me into playing anything else yet. It's fine, just don't have the time for a lot of gaming anyway. An hour of racing around couple times a week suits me fine for now.

For the winter months: Does anyone have co-op experience with Outward? It's currently 80% off, looks like a good split-screen co-op game.

When this happens, I usually read (manhwas, mangas, novels), play chess, go for a walk, and play basketball (even if I need to use just one of my eyes).

This problem fuckin sucks horse balls. Not even The extremly precious and wonderful Witcher 3 will get me going. All I got is Powerwash simulator which is at least sonething but it's starting to tire now too.

Same here. Apart from a 40 minute session of GT7 PSVR2 a couple times a week, I haven't found the interest to play anything else :/

I did buy more games of course :/ Into Black (new PSVR2 game) and Outward to hopefully play split-screen co-op over winter.

Perhaps when the time change happens and it gets dark really early again, I'll get more interest to play games. I'm planning to pick of Lego Voyagers for light hearted co-op fun, last year we played Lego Horizon for that. And I still want to buy Death Stranding 2, just don't feel the energy yet start it (or any new game for that matter)

I should get more free time once the pool is done with. Pools are so much work during fall! 2 more days of cleaning the leaves, walnuts, horse chestnuts and other mess out and then close it for winter. The weather is still good for next week, 26c on Monday! So still more yard work and mountain biking to do. Got to buy a light as it gets dark at 7:30 now and under the trees it gets hard to see at 7 pm. Ride home in the dark :/

Time change is Nov 2nd, still a month to go. Then it's going to be dark at 5pm, lot more time for games then! Sunset 7:13 PM today, November 3rd sunset will be at 5:10 PM!

Honestly, I just stop playing until I am ready to come back to it. If I try to force myself into doing something I don’t want to do, I’ll just burn myself out more.

I have mostly cutout social media but that used to be a way to decompress. Lately I’ve been just alternating between reading and playing video games so I don’t get burned out. Though it’s taking me a lot longer to get through games because of it. 

DS2 is really easy to play but I'd still wait until things do get shorter, kind wish I had left that game for later too. Hopefully Ghost of yotei turns out to be a 95 or something. I was brutally depressed when Elden Ring came out, like stay in bed all day type depression and the hype for thar game got me on it but it was so far beyond what is considered a great game that I kept playing and it cured my depression. I need Ghost 9f Yotei to be that game.

Yeah that's a big part of it, modern games are so long with lots of systems and controls to keep track of. Making it harder to play over long periods, so many things to keep track of.

I agree with this

From the 1000s of in game hours spent to the 100s of useless game mechanics, modern gaming can feel like a chore. Especially if you are older with a job. In this video we tackle the topic of simplistic game design and how having the most complex or biggest world isn't always best in the long term.

That feeling stops me from playing new games. Everything is bloated nowadays, even shorter games like The Midnight walk feels padded / repetitive by the end. I rather have a great experience I want to play again than wondering if I'm going to lose interest before the end credits.

VR is already falling into the same trap. Thumper was pure bliss in VR, one jump button, left/right lean, that's it. Eagle flight, steer with your head, don't even need any other controls. Astrobot Rescue mission, perfection.

Now it's all body inventory, complex 'realistic' reload mechanisms, inventory management and a lot of guessing what motions the game wants you to mimic where a simple button press would suffice. Forgetting immersion comes from being in the game, rather than mimicking actions. That actually breaks immersion since there's no weight to anything. And when you come back to a game after a break, have fun remembering where everything is 'stored' on your virtual body.



No wonder kids rather play on their phones or stick to Roblox, while older gamers are looking backwards to simpler times. Remakes are doing well, new games not so much. I have enough todo lists irl, don't need them in games!