r/gamingsuggestions • u/moondreamer96 • 9h ago
Looking for fantasy games that make me slow down and "smell the flowers"
No Elder scrolls, thank you. Gave it a fair chance, not for me and not the kind of game I look for. Sadly same goes for many open world games or ones with extremely huge but empty maps.
Genre or graphics don't matter, execution and artistic vision does. If your recommendation is an obscure early 2000s title I'll jump on the opportunity to discover it. I'd never call low poly or pixel graphics bad, it has a charm and some old games look realy beautyful even by today's standards cause the artists clearly knew what they were doing. 3 games I love, Lunacid, Blasphemous and Blasphemous 2 intentionally went for retro graphics and its suits them extremely well.
Little bit about my preferances gameplay wise, I like games that actually let me or encourage me to slow down, apreciate the details, read some lore, do side content. There was a time before AI slop taking over when I realy enjoyed hidden object games, even if they were generic fantasy showelware. It was my spiritual comfort food. I also realy loved Witcher 3 and Elden ring, both of them are expansive open worlds but Witcher's world feels very alive, its cities and people feel real, I love just exploring it it doesn't feel like just going from A to B or a hectic search for another thing to do. Elden ring, but especially SOTE made me slow down to a snail's pace, its often devoid of npcs or fights, but in my eyes its never empty, taking in the often dream like scenery is worthwhile content in my eyes. I could also gush over other FS games, especially DS3, I spent so much more time soaking in the atmosphere than advancing towards anything cause its just such a cozy dark world.
I'm eyeing with Baldur's gate 3 at the moment, excited for Queen's domain, and patiently waiting for Lords of the fallen 2,ff14 evercold and Spyro a realm beyond.
Please suggest me anything you think would help me to slow down, immerse myself in something new
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u/KooKayXYZ 8h ago
Banquet for Fools is the answer. Its decently obscure and very very challenging. It has absolutely no quest markers nor quest log besides the notes you have to take yourself in conversations. It really makes you pay attention to the world and the people in it or you'll just have no clue what to do or where to go. Side content is barely diffrentiated from main quest because all quests are given in conversation, whether someone asks you to convince a deity to favour them, tells you about a hidden treasure, or begs you to rescue their friends from bandits, the game's presentation makes no distinction between what is 'important', and what isn't. The result is a very human experience that demands you take your time and consider the world around you, and if you don't you're fucked.
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u/BrownDriver 9h ago
Witcher 3, going through another play through with this beautiful remaster (if your pc can handle it). I catch myself stopping alot to admire the views and whats around me
Immediate edit: I was too lazy to read your whole post, and just saw you already mentioned Witcher 3...my baddd
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u/Cerrida82 8h ago
Strange Horticulture. You identify plants for the customers and can either save the world or destroy it.
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u/FentheDragon 9h ago
Not sure if you have a Switch, but Breath of the Wild seems to be exactly what you’re looking for
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u/Floffy_Topaz 5h ago
Kingdom come deliverance 2 and red dead redemption 2.
Removing the fantasy part, I’d also suggest maybe a hunting game such as call of the wild.
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u/markallanholley 9h ago
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has plenty of fantastic elements and is one of the most immersive games I've ever played.
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u/X--Henny--X 9h ago
Check out Crimson Desert. I went into it with very little expectations and it’s blown me away in regards to slow pace exploration, reading the lore of each of the places and characters, etc.
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u/VioletTracey 9h ago
I definitely recommend Baldurs Gate 3 for an immersive world that is amazing to explore!
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u/Piorn 9h ago
Book of Hours is my current comfort game. You are restoring an arcane library, full of stuff to read. There's no rush, just you, your cards, the cross section view of a manor, and tons of lore. Brew tea, meet a dog, uncover arcane secrets by reading while thinking about the weather.
It's like a hidden object game almost, but instead of one arbitrary solution, there's basically magic physics and points at play that you can calculate and master. The joy of it is figuring out how things can interplay, and how you can use objects in different ways.
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u/DracoCross 9h ago
Disco Elysium feels like it could be its description. If you haven’t played it yet, ABSOLUTELY DO. But it’s not really fantasy, and I don’t think I can recommend anything else that you’re looking for, so I’ll just leave DE here shamelessly.
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u/jojoknob 9h ago
Caves of Qud might be perfect if you really don’t mind pixel art. It has phenomenal writing that won a Hugo award.
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u/monkeyhousena 8h ago
As someone who is also patiently waiting for evercold and Spyro 4, I am currently playing through the Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei series. Any persona game in particular is great for making you slow down and smell the roses because of how the calendar system functions. Having two slots each day to pick who you want to hang out with, when you want to dungeon crawl, and what activities to do forces you to really think about what is important to you. I have never met two people with the same Persona playthrough. It's like a giant personality quiz.
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u/subtletoaster 8h ago
Dread Delusion is worth checking out. Visually similar to Lunacid but open world. I enjoyed the lore and exploring the world.
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u/TraditionalBerry2319 7h ago
The game I know which has all these qualities is "No Man's Sky", but it's not fantasy.
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u/Kircala 6h ago
I'll throw in guild wars 2 as a recommendation. It's really up to the player to play how they want, so you can go slow and take the time to read things, listen to NPCs, take in the scenery. The only 'punishment' you get is missing an event here and there. And the events will always happen again some other time. Sometimes as soon as 10 minutes later, sometimes every 2 hours or so.
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u/personman000 2h ago
I think Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the best match I can think of. It's slow paced, with a gorgeous world, and little secrets around every corner. I've never wanted to just slow down and enjoy the journey more than that game. Whenever the soundtrack picks up, with its gentle piano, I feel like I'm in a ghibli movie.
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u/QAD16 1h ago
If you like I can suggest DDO. I have been playing it forever. It is an online game yet I don't think any solo title comes even close to how detailed it is. The World is open and there are wilderness areas where you cn find mobs and secrets but the real quests are instance based. Luckily you cna choose any difficulty you want and enter a quest. Due to the wast amount of quests and builds, you can find anything you like. Usually qusts are lore deep, makes you think and pay attention to detail. Veteran players due to knowing the game so well (Most people are older and probably has been playing it for +10 years) navigate through the quests with ease. But if you try to do it yourself, the quests do need attention.
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u/Natural_Pea_1709 8h ago
As a souls game, I'd rec Lies of P. Dynamic level designs and atmospheric that adds character on your journey through Krat.
Might be obvious and already played but Ghost of Tsushima is all about venturing across landscapes and appreciating the beauty of every visual effect (e.g. sunrises, crashing waves, flowing breezes across meadows, etc).
Not sure about this next one but since you mentioned Blasphemous, gonna squeeze in Akham Knight. They did such a great job rendering Gotham City and idk if we'll get another that tops that gritty gothic feeling it brings.
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u/Ok_Magazine_2805 25m ago
KCD2 indeed
Crimson Desert
Avatar FoP
And obviously Red Dead Redemption 2
Surprised
I haven’t seen it yet
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u/Herbiehanx 9h ago
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 1&2