caut_R

I can second that, it‘s a good sim for what I can tell anyway. (Although also EA now, see OP‘s requirements)

it had a lot of backtracking which was annoying

…but very immersive on the treadmill, no? LOL

…I‘ll show myself out

You probably mean Dirt Rally 2, I meant the original DiRT 2, which is pretty arcade-y and easy.

(The one that had Games for Windows LIVE (yep lol))

I‘m happy for fans to get more, but the franchise never managed to grab me. And it‘s really hard to explain why since I don‘t have anything bad to say about the games I‘ve played. I guess they play it so safe that they‘re bland and unmemorable to me. Like it‘s less an engaging work of art and more a piece of homework by the book that‘s trying hard to be inoffensive and completely risk-averse to not upset the teacher.

But that’s just my opinion anyway, and not every game has to be for me.

Edit: There was no DLC bs in the games I‘ve played though, just complete games. I wanna explicitely praise that.

From all the racers I‘ve played, DiRT 2 and GRiD 2 are probably my favos, and Forza Horizon 4 is also really good. But the former two are EA now that Codemasters has been bought (although they weren‘t on release) and FH4 is delisted (and 30ish bucks anyway) so…

The rogue-lite (?) mode DLC is also surprisingly good, especially after you‘ve done the story missions once and can then ignore them and just try out weird stuff

Satisfactory

I think almost everyone knows this game. I‘m in phase 4 and about to start producing the needed items. All I‘m gonna say is that I would‘ve gone insane if not for community-made blueprints. My biggest gripes with the game are how awful it feels to build a train track, how dumb drones are (cause otherwise everyone would ditch trains, I reckon), and that the hoverpack doesn‘t have a built-in jetpack for when you‘re out of electrical grid range. All in all, I probably prefer this kinda game to be isometric/2D, it‘s finnicky to build a big factory in 3D, although more satisfying to then see it in 3D. I know this sounds negative but that’s just cause it’s quicker to list the negatives since there‘s too many positives - I did have a good time, as my 100+ hours thus far would suggest.

Horizon Chase Turbo

Putting the finishing touches on this one and, my God, get the Senna Forever DLC, it‘s the absolute best part of it! To anyone who doesn‘t know this game: It‘s an old-school racing game that runs at full 90 even on the Deck. I mean old old-school when racing games were 2D and scrolling, although this one is 3D it feels the same. It‘s nice to have a high fps racer on the Deck, so I recommend it. The aforementioned DLC gives it a 1st person camera and F1 racing, and it‘s a match made in heaven!

Glad to hear you‘re having a good time! That game really flew under a lot of people‘s radars. I hope more will give it a shot in the future.

That‘s hard to gauge since I haven‘t played Blasphemous or Mandragora and there certainly is some platforming but I can‘t say if it‘s to an extent you‘d tolerate or not. I personally haven‘t broken a sweat so far, it‘s only been some jumping over gaps and the odd breaking platform (essentially platforming on a mild timer) nothing precise if that helps?

I‘d say you have to do some mild platforming somewhat frequently though, at least in the parts I‘ve been.

It’s been nothing like Hollow Knight in that regard, I can promise that much.

I think you’ll like SnS then. It‘s about 80% Soulslike and 20% Metroidvania.

It‘s a game where you can tell that they played Dark Souls and thought „We really wanna make that as well.“ Armor‘s practically useless, you‘re just looking for the most OP rings and weapon movesets - just like in Souls games (magic is supposedly OP, but I wouldn’t know I‘m not playing a mage, I‘m a 2h kinda guy).

It‘s a game with lots of love and little budget, with lots of things to find and lots of extra things to fight if you look around.

This is all just my opinion being maybe 20% into the game so far, though.

Salt & Sanctuary

I‘ve finally decided to put my mind to Salt & Sanctuary which has been in my library for… a long time but it never grabbed me. Now I‘ve started a new character and I‘m following a guide, it feels more engaging and fun to me with more direction. The guide‘s crazy detailed and I‘m amazed someone sat down and typed all that out (screenshots incl.) for a - in my opinion - rather niche title. The only thing that bugs me is the animation update rate, the game can run at triple digit fps, it still looks and feels like 60.

Octopath Traveler

I‘ve also bought and started Octopath Traveler on Steam which I didn‘t want to at first since I a) have it on Switch already and b) like achievement hunting and boy does that game want you to turn every pebble for that. However, the music is so effing amazing (check out the title theme on YT or wherever) and the game so visually beautiful, I just needed the 60 fps and full res. I realized there‘s something very soothing for me in experiencing a jrpg story in pixelart. I regret nothing (yet).

Brilliant phrase lol