this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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What are your favourite single-player games without much fluff, grinding or difficulty spikes? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 day ago by benni@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world
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Hello, in the recent years I find myself willing to spend much less time and energy on games, but I do still enjoy them. Oftentimes I end up quitting a new game I tried out relatively early on, because I'm encountering some block, grind, non-optional boring side quest, empty open world, uninteresting clutter or details that I have to manage, or similar. Like, I just wanna play the actual game play, see how the story continues, and visit those areas that were designed with care. Not worry where on the map I can sell the glimbrunses I collected so I can buy a 37% stronger glarpidifice that I'll need to beat the next glutrey after which I'm allowed to continue the main story.

Sorry if this turned into some kind of a rant, but I hope it's understandable what I'm looking for and what I meant by fluff. Some games that have fulfilled this for me during the last years:

  • Stray
  • Skyrim (there's a lot of fluff you can worry about in Skyrim, but the thing is you don't have to worry about it, you can also just walk in any direction and see what situation you wind up in, at least for the first 10-20h of a playthrough, which IMO is enough time for a game anyway)
  • Life is Strange
  • Some Pokémon ROM hacks where the difficulty spikes were not too harsh

Looking forward to hear your suggestions :) Games where there is some fluff but you're allowed to just ignore it are also fine, but not having any fluff is preferred. Bonus points for anything on the Xbox game pass.

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[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If you haven't already tried Oblivion Remastered, that's a no brainier.

Avowed was pretty straight forward with a decent story. It's more linear than Skyrim, and sometimes I had to reload a save because I walked into a situation I wasn't ready for, but all in all, I made quick consistent progress.

I played both on Gamepass.

Also, there's no shame in turning that difficulty bar down when it's available. I'm in the same boat as you. I don't want to master the game, I just want to enjoy it.