The Five Games Challenge
Naithin over at Time to Loot set an interesting thought experiment. In a nutshell, if you could only pick five games to play in one year, what would they be. There are some minor caveats regarding choice. The games can be across multiple platforms. Any game chosen also includes all available DLC as well as mods. However, if you pick multiple games from a franchise, they each count as an individual choice. But beyond these minor rules, you’re free to choose what you want. So theoretically you can pick a classic game on the SNES such as Donkey Kong Country, as well as something newly released on the PC such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Judging from Naithin’s post, he feels the idea of being limited to just five games is quite restrictive. I, however, don’t really have an issue with this, as I tend not to play too many games concurrently to begin with. I’ll expand upon this point later. Firstly here are the five games I would play. I have chosen games I have previously or currently play and not included forthcoming titles, as I cannot say with any certainty whether they would prove a hit with me.
The Lord of the Rings Online
The Elder Scrolls Online
Star Trek Online
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Sniper Elite 4
The MMO genre is a mainstay of my gaming activities. I currently play three. Furthermore, if one has new content available then that will be the one that gets the most attention. So for the purpose of this scenario, I would continue to play The Lord of the Rings Online, The Elder Scrolls Online and Star Trek Online. There is plenty of content in ESO that I still haven’t seen or experienced, so that guarantee’s that this MMO will get the most priority. And LOTRO has an expansion coming which offers fresh material. I also have an alt in the game that needs levelling and fine tuning. STO is a great game for short bursts of play, especially with its Task Force Operations and new event system. There are daily missions and rewards to progress towards, so again it’s a game that has plenty of content. MMOs are very versatile in this respect. Plus if you get a little fatigued doing purely PVE quests, they can offer group play with a wealth of instances and dungeons to run. I’ve spent a lot of time this year playing these MMOs, so I definitely think that if I really was limited to five games, these three would continue to not disappoint.
I spent over six hundred hours playing through Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its DLC when they were originally released. I would happily do so again and try to follow a different path this time. I would vary my build and try an alternative approach with my stats, this time round. From a narrative point of view there are multiple story options and decisions. Again I would try to see if I could take a different route through the various stories. I’d also see if I could master the game of Gwent this time round, as I always fared badly during my previous play through. And if I got tired of the fantasy vibe that runs through three of the game’s that I’ve chosen, I would take a break by playing Sniper Elite 4. In my younger days, I loved the FPS genre but over the years I’ve slowed down both physically and mentally. I can no longer cope with games based primarily upon reaction skills. What I enjoy about Sniper Elite 4 is that you can do things at your own pace. You can spend as much time as you like setting up a shot then relocating elsewhere. It is a real antidote to the breakneck speed of modern gameplay. Plus the game also features co-operative and player versus player modes so again offers a lot of variety.
For several years now, I have limited myself to playing about four or five games at a time. One of the main reasons I do this is the confusion of trying to remember multiple control schemes. I returned to LOTRO recently after focusing mainly on ESO and found myself continuously and pressing the H key to mount my horse, even though LOTRO is not by default configured that way. Another reason I keep myself focused on a handful of games, is that I tend to achieve more. I often listen to the Massively OP podcast and hear Justin Olivetti talk about his game’s rotation and schedule. As a writer he has to cover a lot of ground but it does seem sometimes that he’s spreading himself a little thin. Plus I am a man with a moderate income, so I don’t buy as many titles as I use to. My Steam and Epic Store libraries have more than enough content, should I ever need anything new. So for me, Naithin’s five games challenge is not so much a Hobson’s choice but more of a case of business as usual.
