Oddly Specific Game Suggestion Requests

Miscellaneous Blather
#1

I looked and don’t see an old thread for game suggestions. So starting one.

I am looking for a new “standing in line” game. But, it needs to meet a few conditions:

  1. It has to be easy to play one-handed (in case on the subway and strap-hanging)
  2. You need to be able to pick it up and start playing right where you left off, and easily just shut it off
  3. I am old, so it also needs to not have a lot of text I cannot read without my glasses. Even small numbers can be difficult without getting my reading glasses out, and that can be a problem in line at the bank (when I forgot my reading glasses elsewhere). So big numbers or primarily images, shapes, figures are easier.
  4. Cannot require an internet connection

Past games that have fit this spot for me: Triple Town, Threes, Drop 7, Dungeon Raid, 888-Hack and I Keep Having this Dream are all good examples.

Thanks for any suggestions, and hope this helps others.

1 Like
#2

Was going to suggest Threes! and then read it in your post… dammit. Best I have on my phone, which fits the criteria because that’s what I load on it, is Mini Metro. Great game all around, fits what I think you’re looking for?

1 Like
#3

HyperRogue - $2.99 USD; A roguelike using an interesting terrain mechanic. It takes place on the hyperbolic plane. A high score chase. Collect treasure from many different realms (all of them are pretty crazy really, with their own rulesets. No real instructions), and the more you collect the more dangers that pop up. Games can take a bit for me, 30 minutes to an hour if I’m focused on it. Otherwise, 10-15 minutes. I really like this one - the lone dev did a great job on the translation. I’d recommend looking for gameplay to be sure it meets your requirements.

Pathos: Nethack Codex - Free: Roguelike in the Nethack vein. Really designed for mobile, touch controls are spot on. Graphics are a bit wonky, so I’d recommend looking it up to be sur it’ll work for you. There is a solid quick save option in the menu, as well as save and quit within easy reach. This one is a lot more involved - it’s a nethack clone almost. I haven’t made it very far, but still good. EDIT: there’s a faux ascii option that’s much clearer to read and decipher.

There’s also Pixel dungeon and Imbrogilio. I don’t really recommend the former since it hasn’t been touched for ~2 years now. iNethack 2 is actual nethack (3.4.3) but it’s ability to be one handed and easy to read is very suspect.

I’ll dig through my games and see if there’s anything else that pops up tomorrow.

2 Likes
#4

Lessee… Card Crawl and Card Thief come to mind, depending on if you find the numbers too small. Cinco Paus, to make another Brough suggestion. Hoplite. Militia, if you like Hoplite. Aqueduct, possibly the best tile-shuffler puzzler I’ve ever played.

2 Likes
#5

Meteorfall

Teeny Titans is a great little RPG where you collect DC comic figures and battle them/level them up. There is a sequel coming in a couple weeks and the original is currently on sale. The game is easily playable in one hand and is very pick-up-and-play. There may be some small text (I don’t remember) but you will know what your attacks do without having to read. The game isn’t necessarily the deepest, but it scratches the gotta-catch-them-all itch.

1 Like
#6

Reigns and Reigns: Her Majesty are both quick and pick up, easy to read. They do get old after a few playthroughs, but are good for a couple bucks.

1 Like
#7

I like Onirim. There are three expansions with the game. The third one has some special cards, which I can never remember, so I have to look them up (reading). But the other versions and the base game don’t need that.

2 Likes
#8

Main problem with Hyperrogue is that it fails the “easy to switch off and pick back up again” criterion: it only actually saves the game when you acquire a particular orb (a relatively common one, but certainly not at-will), so stopping anywhen can lose you progress if iOS decides it needs the game’s memory. Unless it’s been changed since I last looked at it?

#9

I haven’t had that problem at all. I thought I noted that it might have resume problems above, but apparently I deleted that line for some odd reason.

#10

Flipflop Solitaire still gets daily play from me. There’s a number size toggle, too.

#11

Although I want to recommend Dream Quest to everyone because of what it is, in your case Solitairica might be a better bet. Plays in portrait mode, good for one-handed.

3 Likes
#12

Yeah, I play Dream Quest on my iPad. I have been thinking about Solitarica and wondering if it would fit this criteria.

#13

I really like threes, just a tad burned out on it. Mini Metro looks interesting, I might try that along with the Solitarica suggestion.

#14

Mini Metro is good casual fun. Solitairica should fit for everything. No Internet connection, one-handed friendly, card numbers are fairly large. If you close it out by locking the phone, it usually stays right where you were in that match. If the app itself ended and has to be restarted, you might have to begin that particular match again but your playthrough progress is still there.

I also just started Dungeonism. Feels like it could be another one for you.

#15

I picked up Solitarica this morning, as I have 30 minutes of piano lessons and 1 hour of art class to sit around and wait on for a 5yo this morning.

#16

Unfortunately Solitairica was a bad choice. I can’t read any of the spell cards or items as there is no way to zoom in on them. So unplayable without glasses.

Really need no reading after tutorial.

#17

Ah, sorry about that. I didn’t think about the spells. If your sight is that bad I definitely recommend not getting Mini Metro. Passengers show as various shapes you have to distinguish between to serve them effectively, and they are not very big.

#18

It’s just age, I just can’t read small text any more. I have glasses though, I just forget them a lot. I did end up getting mini-metro though. And so far, so good.

#19

Well, that’s good news. Hopefully it will stay that way even on the larger maps.

#20

I’ve got a specific request:

My wife an I are enjoying competing against each other in the Spell Tower daily challenges. What other games have similar daily challenges? I think we’d prefer a game where you get one or two attempts and that’s it because it would prevent us from playing ad nauseum until we beat the other. A one (or two)-and-done would be cool. I’m sure there are a ton of games out there that have this feature, but what recommendations do you all have?

1 Like