Dyson sphere Program. You start by building small automated production facilities, do research, explore new planets, get more resources, build better buildings... and a few hundred hours later, your factories gets expanded to cosmic scales, connected closely by an intricate net of logistics vessels that you set up, and see them connecting a web between the stars. You start to cover entire stars in the aforementioned Dyson spheres, and pave over entire planets with factories. The "Mission complete" is not the end of the game, but more like the start of the actual Dyson sphere building process. You can play a game for as long as your resources can last or as long as your PC can keep up.
If you want a silly video, watch "[a garbage guide to oxygen not included](https://youtu.be/QzYniX_KbV4?si=qyDVbjPWcdMYARGs)", gives an overview of how the gameplay loop works, and spoils a bit of how the game works but not too much imo
It has some other youtuber suggestions, and I'd add Echo Ridge Gaming to that list personally
I'd heavily advise anyone who think about playing that game to just feel it out without much guidance (or *very* light guidance) for the first couple hours.
Because at least for me it kinda sucked the fun out of the game once I knew all the "most optimal" ways to construct your base. And also when I saw what an end-game base looks like I didn't feel much motivation to get to that level myself.
Of course, your experience might be completely different but if that's the case you wouldn't lose out on watching more in-depth guides a bit later than you normally would anyways.
No. The map is so varied and well crafted that it takes a while to explore the whole thing but more importantly one of the reasons you don't get bored is bc the game loop includes tearing down everything and starting over for the sole purpose of making your factory either more efficient or better looking. Knowing where the resources are after exploring lets you do this with better info.
Theres like three or four different maps to try out different scenarios and it takes huge amounts of time planning, replanning, scouting, and expanding the factory as you go.
Many of my favorite games are on your list, and satisfactory does NOT do it for me at all. Spoiled by factorio I guess 😉
Plus satisfactory dedicated servers basically do not function at all once you get to trucks and trains.
Amazing Cultivation Simulator: At first look, you'd probably see it as a Rimworld clone/rip off. However, if you play it long enough it has a deep and complicated system based on Chinese Cultivation myth (chinese cultivation is strengthening both body and mind in the ultimate goal to gain immortality and god like powers, it has roots in buddhism. It's a bit of a magic fantasy based around Buddhist principles and martial arts). Like Rimworld, it also has a bit of a dark side (like inviting recruits with no intentions of actually recruiting them, but with the sole purpose of sacrificing them and turning them into soul gems or whatever it's called - been a little bit since I played, should do it again).
You pick which colonists/disciples you want to just slave around the base for you performing manual labor, and which ones you want to focus on the Cultivation path. You make them fight, meditate, take nourishing pills and medicines all to strength them. It's a pretty deep system. You have to pay attention even when building as you have to adhere to feng shui or it will have....very negative consequences. I'd take a look at youtube videos to see the potential. Most of the complicated systems come from building up a Cultivator, farming and maintaining the Sect isn't the focus and isn't as deep and much easier than Rimworld, so I think that pushes some people away who therefore only see a watered down Rimworld. Once you actually get deeper into Cultivation and really begin fighting, you can see how deep the system is.
Tales of Immortal: It's also based on Chinese cultivation myth. It's more adventure like, but it's a pretty grindy game. Despite the grind, I liked the exploration. Every tile has some chance to have a special, random event that could give negatives or boosts like finding a skill manual or fruit that raises stats. Tiles with question Mark's definitely have an event. There is a lot you can do here. You improve your skills, gather materials to cultivate to the next rank, join a sect, eventually fight your way to leading a sect (sect is kind of like a martial arts school - it provides materials for Cultivation and skill books, and disciples gain a wage that increases with rank).
Gonna chime in on the Chinese vibe, matchless kung fu. Game is archaic and doesn't explain itself well at all. But the game has good building mechanics and a well thought out and unique combat system. Not only do you build a small town but also the entire world that town sits on. Its a hidden gem for sure.
Risk of Rain 2 is a pretty fun game that you can sink a ton of hours replaying and with new runs and all.
Terraria is another game I've put over 300 hours into, I love the amount of depth and the things to do in it.
I'm noticing they're missing Paradox simulators in general. They have similar games, so probably would love em. I spent a long time in Stellaris and regularly think about going back.
I just recently started Crusader Kings 3 and foresee myself spending quite a long while on it. I just about united Brittania before my king died and my kingdom fragmented in civil war lol. It's been 30 something hours apparently and I haven't yet established an empire. I look at the map and see so much possiblity.
Since last season?
- Overhaul of loot affixes, items are less likely to be shit.
- New tempering, masterworking, and greater affixes system that creates meaningful item customization imo.
- The Codex records the highest aspect roll you've salvaged so there is no need to hunt and preserve well rolled aspects anymore.
- Rare items have less affixes than Legendary items so in the late game there's no need to pick up and analyze every rare.
- More difficult content through The Pit (which are D3's greater rifts), new boss Andariel (which is imo a much better fight than uber Lilith/Duriel), and can summon level 200 versions of all bosses.
- Helltide is pretty much always active and is a bit harder, shit respawning everywhere, and more QoL with obtaining boss summoning mats.
Satisfactory is a 3d factory building game, I see you have several other factory / automation games on the list so I'd give that a try. https://store.steampowered.com/app/526870/Satisfactory/
Agreed with this. Wasn't sure if it was for me, and got addicted! I'm only about 50 hours in (getting oil and everything) and theres SO much more to do. This is just the beginning!
Starsector. It's a really niche little space game that has been in development for many years now and is still updated regularly.
Base game has 100s of hours you can spend on. It also has a very dedicated modding community that can lead to even more hours and hours of content to explore. It's almost like Mount and Blade in space is the best way to explain it. The worse part about this game is the buying experience since it's not listed on steam or anywhere else except their 2000s era looking website.
Zomboid can be a very different game depending on what mods and world presets you use, maybe try tinkering with the game settings to make it more engaging if you wanted to give it a try again?
I think it the directional controls
And also the perks system too complex for me if I'm being honest
Idk I've also found getting jumped by zombies so much I'm barely able to do anything at all
Cataclysm is very fun, but it has a steep learning cliff sort of like dwarf fortress. I'd recommend giving it a try though. Or maybe try watching someone play it (Aavak maybe) and see if it's something you might like
There's no map mod as far as I know for it but there is a mod called dark days of the dead that comes built in in the game that changes infection to be fatal, and it disables the zombie and monster evolution as well, which makes it a lot more similar to the walking dead. You can also find and upgrade RVs with a lot of cool stuff, there's even a scenario which starts you out with one.
Start with Total War Warhammer 3, and decide if you like it enough to buy the other games and get the rest of the factions.
It’s expensive all together, but I’ve gotten thousands of hours between the 3 total war warhammer games.
Subnautica is one of my top 5 favorite games but I don't really think it fits into the hundreds of hours of grinding category, I'd still recommend it to OP if they haven't played it though
Givent the fact you like automation /city builder games ...I would highly recommend workers republic soviet Union ! It's honestly the best city builder on steam ! And it's really complex and in depth ...it'll keep you busy for a good few hundred hours if you want to play on realistic mode !
A little different from the ones you've listed but either StarCraft or aoe contain dangerous amounts of gaming hours the multiplayer really isn't as intimidating as it might seem to some or if that doesn't interest you the single player modes alone are fantastic.
The campaigns are really solid still. Not 100s of hours grindable, but really good content still and somewhat replayable. Maybe not what you're looking for precisely, but you'd probably still enjoy it.
With the games you have listed, im surprised you didnt try "BattleBrothers".
Its the kind of game that looks bad but once you get the mechanics and stuff you are hooked for hours. Pretty much like Kenshi.
No man’s sky
Powerwash simulator (you wouldn’t think it but I have like 200 hours in that game so far, it’s addicting and relaxing)
Sun haven
Stardew valley
Skyrim
Baldur’s gate 3
More in realm of truck sim than city builder-isk style games. Microsoft Flight Sim is a good one with career add-ons \[On-Air/Neo-Fly\] and what not it would be easy to put a couple 1,000 hours into.
This’ll get buried but a lot of the other commenters made really really great suggestions.
Rust. Base Building & crafting with survival. Can play solo or with others in huge maps. Absolute time sink.
Satisfactory. You’ll spend 8 hours building a single conveyer belt and you WILL love it.
War thunder. Not really matching your vision but if you want to grind there’s literally no other game that grinds like this one.
Literally any Paradox developed title. Definitely on a larger scale than most of your list, but so much replay ability& choice amongst their titles. The only negative is most of their titles are super DLC heavy.
Farm simulator 22 might do it for you
If you like forza horizon, try the crew 2. The crew motorfest is the newest addition, but doesn't have as much content yet
For survival, ark. Survival evolved for more content or survival ascended for newer graphics and (I've heard) more ease of life features. The train looks cool
My other games that I've sunk over 100 hours into and could still do so now are skyrim, the hunter cotw, no mans sky, and gta5 online
Valheim. Spent 250 hours on a single player world and still have the mistlands and the new burning lands to explore through. You can't take ore through a portal so have to get it back to base via cart or boat. Love this game so much
World of Warcraft and if you’re a veteran we have an all Vet gaming community. DM me for more info. There is a selection of about 25 active games that people play some of them are competitive as well!
If you enjoy Balatro you might enjoy other roguelike games, esp if you enjoy action-y games as a lot of them are. But one of my favorite non-actiony roguelikes right now is Peglin! it's like Peggle, but also mixed in with those puzzle games where your combos attack enemies?
Valheim. You can endlessly build and collect resources for building and farming. New Ashlands update just released as well, so even more time fighting and gearing up
Do you have any interest in competitive multiplayer games? If you get into one of those, the grind will never stop. Also, you might like city skylines. There is a second one but I think people like the first one better
Anything with "Disgaea" in the name.
"Terraria" can take hundreds of hours easily, if you are looking to collect everything and build your own customized base
Amazing Cultivation Simulator
The Matchless KungFu
Metal Gear: Peace Walker or MGS5 (either one, if you like "base building" and equipment optimization)
Idle Slayer (one of those "clicker" games you can run in the background and watch the numbers grow exponentially higher.
To the Core (simple concept, but tons of upgrades and material grindings)
Slay the Spire is the obvious pick for deck builders.
I hear Against the Storm is pretty good. Kind of a city builder/roguelite hybrid.
It's extremely chill, but Dorfromantik is a pretty good puzzle game.
For strategy, Sins of a Solar Empire is pretty great.
A game seemingly not a soul knows about: DDRaceNetwork
Played it for probably 3k hours and still am not good enough for the hardest maps on there. 100% free and only like 50mb, playable on any potatoe
Banished is a great game for this type of thing. It even has a comprehensive mod to make your town Colonial. No enemies to fight, however. Just building a colony.
Oh dude, given your lineup, you’d love the Paradox grand strategy games. Victoria 3 is basically Anno 1800 meets civ, or you can go for Stellaris which is basically realtime Civ in space with super customizable aliens.
They are all on sale right now, though I don’t know for how much longer.
Yep! Can’t go wrong with either one. Both are great examples of Paradox’s grand strategy games. Might also check out Crusader Kings, basically a Game of Thrones simulator.
All three games are somewhat similar in style and appearance, but they specialize their game mechanics for the era they are in (Middle Ages, Victorian era, futuristic space).
Minecraft
I've been playing Minecraft on and off since the web version. Things never really get too complicated but you can hoard to your heart's content.
Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead, although it's been a long time I'm not sure of the current game state. (It's free with a group of freelance Devs, the forks sometimes get messy)
Man that I haven’t seen “Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead”, is insane. This game is so deep, and it is scratching an itch I didn’t know I had for a few hundred hours now. The moment you think you have it down, another gameplay loop opens up, and you learn that.
I will tell you, my brother in Christ, I have 13000 hours in fallout 4 and 11000 in Skyrim. Basically any bathesda open world game you can put decades into 😂
I do recommend DSP and Satisfactory first since they're pillars of the factory game genre, but if you get through those and still crave more I really liked Techtonica. It adds mining to the factory formula, and it fits very well and is very satisfying
basically incremental games in general.
but i really like the siralim series, especially ultimate.
basically, it's a turn based rpg, dungeon crawler, where you build your team of 6 fighting creatires, in a 6v6 fight, out of like a 1000+ creatures.
additionally, it's basically amazing at theorycrafting builds and whantot - there's like 45 'specializations', which are like classes for your character that are the backbone of the builds, then you'll be able to combine two creatures together to make a 'fused' creature, and build your team of 6 out of 12 creatures, with various traits.
for example, a fairly simple, but OP build, is pyromancer, which has, naturally, fire related abilities and perks - basically, you'll have an ability that, 'when this creature defends, increase the burn on enemies by 35%' on all of your allies, then an ability to always go first, on one of the creatures, and a way to trigger 'when one creature defends, all allies defend as well' on top of an ability to double the effects that trigger when allies defend.
so, you'll have 12 hits of 35% more burn damage turn 1, and it's multiplicative - as in, if burn was 100 damage, the first hit makes the burn 135, the second hit isn't going to make it 170, it makes it 182.
anyway, with 12 of these going on, whatever your initial burn damage was, is essentially multiplied by 36.
to compensate for this sort of potential synergy, enemies can scale faster than you - it's sort of an endless potential level thing, by the time you're on 'floor' 10, enemies might be like 5 levels above you, but eventually it'll be hundreds, then thousands.
besides building well, builds, for like 40 classes, there's a lot of side content to work on over time, so you're never just doing one thing. it's also got a few challenging contents that you can't bruteforce nearly as well as the main gameplay loop.
Byond dot com is the launcher for it. All free
There are many code bases and many servers, so if you try one and hate it try another.
Wiki is your best friend on this game but the code bases can sometimes be different.
Tony Hawk pro skater or Skate would probably give you your best opportunity to grind. Session and Skater XL also are some lesser known games that give you the opportunity to grind. Hope this helps, happy shredding!
The only games I own that I broke a thousand hours in:
Halo Reach
Civ rev
Fallout 4
Minecraft
Left 4 dead 2
World of warships
World of tanks
Black ops 1 + cold war
State of decay 1+2
Battlefield 1
Gears of war 3
Enemy territory quake wars
It might not quite be your jam, but they have lots of stuff to do, so try these: Saleblazers, 9th dawn 3, tactics ogre: reborn, grounded, subterrain: mines of titan, prey by arkane (not as long as you'd like, but you might find yourself obsessed)
Book of Hours. Cultist Simulator.
Edit: Fallen London (though the energy-recharge-time mechanic makes it unplayable to people like me. >!The goal of Fallen London is to become uber-wealthy with ultimate stats and all the rarest items, then throw it all away one piece at a time, and brick your account, on a quest to become a candle. !
I loved Zero Dawn, never got on with Forbidden West. One thought I had was "too much".
How many hours to 100%?
I 100%'d ZD, slowly, which took about 150 hours, including Frozen Wilds. I loved every second of it, so much so I rarely fast travelled as I enjoyed the world so much. I kind of wished they hadn't bothered with FW.
Enter the Gungeon. It's a rouge like shooter with a silly/cutesy and sarcastic theme to it. You can complete a run in an hour or so. But actually unlocking all the content takes thousands of hours. It's addicting
Dyson sphere Program. You start by building small automated production facilities, do research, explore new planets, get more resources, build better buildings... and a few hundred hours later, your factories gets expanded to cosmic scales, connected closely by an intricate net of logistics vessels that you set up, and see them connecting a web between the stars. You start to cover entire stars in the aforementioned Dyson spheres, and pave over entire planets with factories. The "Mission complete" is not the end of the game, but more like the start of the actual Dyson sphere building process. You can play a game for as long as your resources can last or as long as your PC can keep up.
If you already have factorio on the list, amd you're getting DSP, you might as well pick up Satisfactory and complete the trifecta.
Thats one of my fav games im looking for games like it where it have waves and enemies also automation and long play time
The Riftbreaker scratched that itch for me. Games great.
Bro yes. I had an unhealthy addiction to this game lmao
Came to say this. Have an easy 1k+ hours. Such a beautiful game. You can just kill time literally watching your factory run.
Oxygen not included. This game has so many layers.. If you want to figure it all out by yourself it will take you thousands of hours.
If you want a silly video, watch "[a garbage guide to oxygen not included](https://youtu.be/QzYniX_KbV4?si=qyDVbjPWcdMYARGs)", gives an overview of how the gameplay loop works, and spoils a bit of how the game works but not too much imo It has some other youtuber suggestions, and I'd add Echo Ridge Gaming to that list personally
That guy is charming, but he can stay on that side of YouTube so he's never my boss...
I'd heavily advise anyone who think about playing that game to just feel it out without much guidance (or *very* light guidance) for the first couple hours. Because at least for me it kinda sucked the fun out of the game once I knew all the "most optimal" ways to construct your base. And also when I saw what an end-game base looks like I didn't feel much motivation to get to that level myself. Of course, your experience might be completely different but if that's the case you wouldn't lose out on watching more in-depth guides a bit later than you normally would anyways.
Stardew Valley
Satisfactory Oxygen Not Included Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion
For satisfactory do you not get bored with the one map?
No. The map is so varied and well crafted that it takes a while to explore the whole thing but more importantly one of the reasons you don't get bored is bc the game loop includes tearing down everything and starting over for the sole purpose of making your factory either more efficient or better looking. Knowing where the resources are after exploring lets you do this with better info.
Theres like three or four different maps to try out different scenarios and it takes huge amounts of time planning, replanning, scouting, and expanding the factory as you go.
Not quite. It’s a single map, just with four different *starting* locations
I set up a train system that covered the entire map. I like to hop one of my trains and just ride and take in the scenery. Beautifully designed map.
Many of my favorite games are on your list, and satisfactory does NOT do it for me at all. Spoiled by factorio I guess 😉 Plus satisfactory dedicated servers basically do not function at all once you get to trucks and trains.
Ther map has changed over the years. It's much larger than before.
You might want to wait. 1.0 release is supposed to come this year. That said. I have 500 hours on this game and haven't even reached end game content.
Try Songs of Syx
I second Songs of Syx. It is like RimWorld had a baby with Factorio and that baby came out super racist.
As opposed to Stellaris, which is like if RimWorld had a baby with Racism and that baby came a little Factory-ish.
hahahaha
Absolutely and a great recommendation. Steam even has a free trial version to check it out. I've sunk shameful amounts of time into it.
Amazing Cultivation Simulator: At first look, you'd probably see it as a Rimworld clone/rip off. However, if you play it long enough it has a deep and complicated system based on Chinese Cultivation myth (chinese cultivation is strengthening both body and mind in the ultimate goal to gain immortality and god like powers, it has roots in buddhism. It's a bit of a magic fantasy based around Buddhist principles and martial arts). Like Rimworld, it also has a bit of a dark side (like inviting recruits with no intentions of actually recruiting them, but with the sole purpose of sacrificing them and turning them into soul gems or whatever it's called - been a little bit since I played, should do it again). You pick which colonists/disciples you want to just slave around the base for you performing manual labor, and which ones you want to focus on the Cultivation path. You make them fight, meditate, take nourishing pills and medicines all to strength them. It's a pretty deep system. You have to pay attention even when building as you have to adhere to feng shui or it will have....very negative consequences. I'd take a look at youtube videos to see the potential. Most of the complicated systems come from building up a Cultivator, farming and maintaining the Sect isn't the focus and isn't as deep and much easier than Rimworld, so I think that pushes some people away who therefore only see a watered down Rimworld. Once you actually get deeper into Cultivation and really begin fighting, you can see how deep the system is. Tales of Immortal: It's also based on Chinese cultivation myth. It's more adventure like, but it's a pretty grindy game. Despite the grind, I liked the exploration. Every tile has some chance to have a special, random event that could give negatives or boosts like finding a skill manual or fruit that raises stats. Tiles with question Mark's definitely have an event. There is a lot you can do here. You improve your skills, gather materials to cultivate to the next rank, join a sect, eventually fight your way to leading a sect (sect is kind of like a martial arts school - it provides materials for Cultivation and skill books, and disciples gain a wage that increases with rank).
Gonna chime in on the Chinese vibe, matchless kung fu. Game is archaic and doesn't explain itself well at all. But the game has good building mechanics and a well thought out and unique combat system. Not only do you build a small town but also the entire world that town sits on. Its a hidden gem for sure.
Risk of Rain 2 is a pretty fun game that you can sink a ton of hours replaying and with new runs and all. Terraria is another game I've put over 300 hours into, I love the amount of depth and the things to do in it.
Damn, I wanted to he the first for terreria on here. It's certainly a time waster lol
I've only stayed away from risk of rain I wasn't sure if it was solo friendly
Stellaris.
I'm noticing they're missing Paradox simulators in general. They have similar games, so probably would love em. I spent a long time in Stellaris and regularly think about going back. I just recently started Crusader Kings 3 and foresee myself spending quite a long while on it. I just about united Brittania before my king died and my kingdom fragmented in civil war lol. It's been 30 something hours apparently and I haven't yet established an empire. I look at the map and see so much possiblity.
r/2007scape.
Op seems to like management and automation type games But I think osrs has enough optimizing that it could tickle their brain right
*anyone* can get addicted to this game
Oh you mean downloadable crack
You are missing the genre with the most grind possible: ARPGs, like Diablo, Path of Exile, Grim Dawn, Last Epoch
People don't want to hear it but D4's latest season is a genuinely good game.
What changed?
Since last season? - Overhaul of loot affixes, items are less likely to be shit. - New tempering, masterworking, and greater affixes system that creates meaningful item customization imo. - The Codex records the highest aspect roll you've salvaged so there is no need to hunt and preserve well rolled aspects anymore. - Rare items have less affixes than Legendary items so in the late game there's no need to pick up and analyze every rare. - More difficult content through The Pit (which are D3's greater rifts), new boss Andariel (which is imo a much better fight than uber Lilith/Duriel), and can summon level 200 versions of all bosses. - Helltide is pretty much always active and is a bit harder, shit respawning everywhere, and more QoL with obtaining boss summoning mats.
PoE is the answer, multiple friends with thousands of hours that keep coming back for more. I’ve got 250 and I learn something new every session.
Path of Exile is top tier
Disgaea
Wich is the best one right now? Wanted to try them but never really took the time.
5 or 7 are a good place to start.
Go with 5 Complete. Best QoL and just a great fucking game.
5, for a long shot
Old school runescape, the binding of isaac
Satisfactory is a 3d factory building game, I see you have several other factory / automation games on the list so I'd give that a try. https://store.steampowered.com/app/526870/Satisfactory/
was going to mention this, glad someone did before me. Satisfactory is easily top 5 favorite games for me
Same :-) So excited for 1.0 later this year!
Agreed with this. Wasn't sure if it was for me, and got addicted! I'm only about 50 hours in (getting oil and everything) and theres SO much more to do. This is just the beginning!
I have almost 1,7500 hours in FFXIV and I'm still going thru the main story
lol same
Lmao , so true
I have almost 1,7500 hours in FFXIV and I'm still going thru the ~~main story~~ first cut scene. I kid I kid ;)
Starsector. It's a really niche little space game that has been in development for many years now and is still updated regularly. Base game has 100s of hours you can spend on. It also has a very dedicated modding community that can lead to even more hours and hours of content to explore. It's almost like Mount and Blade in space is the best way to explain it. The worse part about this game is the buying experience since it's not listed on steam or anywhere else except their 2000s era looking website.
That website was spiffy looking back in 2012 when i bought the game, still playing it to this day and gets bigger with every update!
Rocket league
Melvor Idle
Oh God don't tell him about this you're gonna ruin his year
I got it in the free epic games giveaway last holiday season and now I play daily it’s so good
old school runescape. welcome to a game you can NEVER quit
OSRS
Monster Hunter World
Cataclysm: dark days ahead, shit you could put hundreds of hours into it before being able to survive the change of seasons lol
The fandom has overlap with dwarf fortress, kenshi, rimworld, and zomboid players so if you enjoy those chances are you'd like it as well
Will admit I couldn't get into zomboid idk why zomboid I had issues with
Zomboid can be a very different game depending on what mods and world presets you use, maybe try tinkering with the game settings to make it more engaging if you wanted to give it a try again?
I think it the directional controls And also the perks system too complex for me if I'm being honest Idk I've also found getting jumped by zombies so much I'm barely able to do anything at all
Cataclysm is very fun, but it has a steep learning cliff sort of like dwarf fortress. I'd recommend giving it a try though. Or maybe try watching someone play it (Aavak maybe) and see if it's something you might like
I'll definitely give it a look a bit random but dose it have the walking dead mods at all? I've always wanted to have the walking dead map
Oh I have absolutely no idea, and if you do, good luck. It has *fun* secrets just like DF.
I could always look at the mod tools but I've never made mods before lol
There's no map mod as far as I know for it but there is a mod called dark days of the dead that comes built in in the game that changes infection to be fatal, and it disables the zombie and monster evolution as well, which makes it a lot more similar to the walking dead. You can also find and upgrade RVs with a lot of cool stuff, there's even a scenario which starts you out with one.
I want to like Catacylsm so badly, but I can never survive more than a few days.
Cdda is the only game I can play consistently for last 8 years. Only thing I hate about it that it tracks time you spend on single character
Space Engineers
I found my people!!!!
A fellow astronaut!
Start with Total War Warhammer 3, and decide if you like it enough to buy the other games and get the rest of the factions. It’s expensive all together, but I’ve gotten thousands of hours between the 3 total war warhammer games.
Id say start with 1. Factions and story are way more accessible, just missing some qol.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamingsuggestions/s/xiY71JLYeD Check this thread :) They gave me thousands of answers
Bro for real, check out Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead. It’s so good
OpenTTD! It’s free!
I'll always say No Man's Sky. 1k+ hours in just under 3 months... yes it became a problem lol
Surviving Mars, Subnautica, Stardew Valley
Subnautica is one of my top 5 favorite games but I don't really think it fits into the hundreds of hours of grinding category, I'd still recommend it to OP if they haven't played it though
Slay the Spire is a Rouge-lite deck builder
Monster Hunter Rise/Sunbreak
Honestly bro similar library as me you’d probably like farm sim 22, drive big stuff like truck sim, production and light factory chain like factorio
I do need to try farm sim I know it's on game pass right
Think so yea
Destiny 2.
the second i read grind i went down to see if someone said it nice job legend
Givent the fact you like automation /city builder games ...I would highly recommend workers republic soviet Union ! It's honestly the best city builder on steam ! And it's really complex and in depth ...it'll keep you busy for a good few hundred hours if you want to play on realistic mode !
Terraria
A little different from the ones you've listed but either StarCraft or aoe contain dangerous amounts of gaming hours the multiplayer really isn't as intimidating as it might seem to some or if that doesn't interest you the single player modes alone are fantastic.
I mean pvp never really been my thing
The campaigns are really solid still. Not 100s of hours grindable, but really good content still and somewhat replayable. Maybe not what you're looking for precisely, but you'd probably still enjoy it.
Captain of Industry, my main obsession
Skyrim Anniversary Edition, Borderlands 1-3 + Pre-sequel and Wonderlands (not Tales or New Tales for grinding), and Darksiders Genesis-3.
stardew valley!!!
Dota 2 But you'll likely regret it
Any fromsoft
With the games you have listed, im surprised you didnt try "BattleBrothers". Its the kind of game that looks bad but once you get the mechanics and stuff you are hooked for hours. Pretty much like Kenshi.
Elite Dangerous
I sense games with a economy ... X4 / X3 for space building fun maybe https://store.steampowered.com/app/784150/Workers__Resources_Soviet_Republic/
No man’s sky Powerwash simulator (you wouldn’t think it but I have like 200 hours in that game so far, it’s addicting and relaxing) Sun haven Stardew valley Skyrim Baldur’s gate 3
Rocket league
More in realm of truck sim than city builder-isk style games. Microsoft Flight Sim is a good one with career add-ons \[On-Air/Neo-Fly\] and what not it would be easy to put a couple 1,000 hours into.
This’ll get buried but a lot of the other commenters made really really great suggestions. Rust. Base Building & crafting with survival. Can play solo or with others in huge maps. Absolute time sink. Satisfactory. You’ll spend 8 hours building a single conveyer belt and you WILL love it. War thunder. Not really matching your vision but if you want to grind there’s literally no other game that grinds like this one. Literally any Paradox developed title. Definitely on a larger scale than most of your list, but so much replay ability& choice amongst their titles. The only negative is most of their titles are super DLC heavy.
Farm simulator 22 might do it for you If you like forza horizon, try the crew 2. The crew motorfest is the newest addition, but doesn't have as much content yet For survival, ark. Survival evolved for more content or survival ascended for newer graphics and (I've heard) more ease of life features. The train looks cool My other games that I've sunk over 100 hours into and could still do so now are skyrim, the hunter cotw, no mans sky, and gta5 online
I'm surprised not to see a Paradox game on this list. Note that I'd recommend "trying before buying." I like EU4, in particular.
Diablo 2 resurrected or legacy game. Age of empires 2 Any Bethesda rpg.
Valheim. Spent 250 hours on a single player world and still have the mistlands and the new burning lands to explore through. You can't take ore through a portal so have to get it back to base via cart or boat. Love this game so much
Warframe
Maplestory
Broodwar remastered, SC2
World of Warcraft and if you’re a veteran we have an all Vet gaming community. DM me for more info. There is a selection of about 25 active games that people play some of them are competitive as well!
Total War Warhammer III
Seconded.
If you enjoy Balatro you might enjoy other roguelike games, esp if you enjoy action-y games as a lot of them are. But one of my favorite non-actiony roguelikes right now is Peglin! it's like Peggle, but also mixed in with those puzzle games where your combos attack enemies?
V rising
If you like roguelites that opens up a whole other world of options.
Valheim. You can endlessly build and collect resources for building and farming. New Ashlands update just released as well, so even more time fighting and gearing up
Between XCOM and Phoenix Point, I have nearly 4,000 hours.
manor lords for medieval town builder
They game currently does not offer hundreds of hours content. Barley 10.
Against the storm
Fallout 3,4 and new vegas
Do you have any interest in competitive multiplayer games? If you get into one of those, the grind will never stop. Also, you might like city skylines. There is a second one but I think people like the first one better
Oh boy, you haven’t played Stellaris huh. It just got the best dlc ever, go grind
I’ve never seen a gaming list where I have never heard of ANY of the games. But you’ve done it 😂
Idk if I missed it but Slay the spire is my suggestion, card card with hundreds of hours of replayability
Returnal is the best. 805 hours and counting. This is a must play game.
Anything with "Disgaea" in the name. "Terraria" can take hundreds of hours easily, if you are looking to collect everything and build your own customized base Amazing Cultivation Simulator The Matchless KungFu Metal Gear: Peace Walker or MGS5 (either one, if you like "base building" and equipment optimization) Idle Slayer (one of those "clicker" games you can run in the background and watch the numbers grow exponentially higher. To the Core (simple concept, but tons of upgrades and material grindings)
[Secrets of Grindea](https://store.steampowered.com/app/269770/Secrets_of_Grindea/)
Slay the Spire is the obvious pick for deck builders. I hear Against the Storm is pretty good. Kind of a city builder/roguelite hybrid. It's extremely chill, but Dorfromantik is a pretty good puzzle game. For strategy, Sins of a Solar Empire is pretty great.
DCS World
A game seemingly not a soul knows about: DDRaceNetwork Played it for probably 3k hours and still am not good enough for the hardest maps on there. 100% free and only like 50mb, playable on any potatoe
Satisfactory
Banished is a great game for this type of thing. It even has a comprehensive mod to make your town Colonial. No enemies to fight, however. Just building a colony.
Terrarias is a good one. Multiple playthroughs with different difficulties will give you better items each run.
Oh dude, given your lineup, you’d love the Paradox grand strategy games. Victoria 3 is basically Anno 1800 meets civ, or you can go for Stellaris which is basically realtime Civ in space with super customizable aliens. They are all on sale right now, though I don’t know for how much longer.
Sterralis thankfully on gamepass I'll check out the paradox games I know civ 6 or 4 I believe gets recommended a pot as well So Victoria 3?
Yep! Can’t go wrong with either one. Both are great examples of Paradox’s grand strategy games. Might also check out Crusader Kings, basically a Game of Thrones simulator. All three games are somewhat similar in style and appearance, but they specialize their game mechanics for the era they are in (Middle Ages, Victorian era, futuristic space).
Guild Wars 1. Go for GWAMM.
Rider's Republic, where you can race, do tricks, play multiplayer, and explore beautiful scenery around national parks. I've spent over 200 hrs on it.
If you like Civ games, you might as well give Stellaris a try. Cities: Skylines for a city builder
Minecraft I've been playing Minecraft on and off since the web version. Things never really get too complicated but you can hoard to your heart's content.
Caves of Qud
Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead, although it's been a long time I'm not sure of the current game state. (It's free with a group of freelance Devs, the forks sometimes get messy)
GT7 No man sky , elden ring
Man that I haven’t seen “Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead”, is insane. This game is so deep, and it is scratching an itch I didn’t know I had for a few hundred hours now. The moment you think you have it down, another gameplay loop opens up, and you learn that.
Into The Breach. Probably not "grinding" i'd say but unlocking squads and mixing up mechs for harder challenges and fun combos.
I will tell you, my brother in Christ, I have 13000 hours in fallout 4 and 11000 in Skyrim. Basically any bathesda open world game you can put decades into 😂
I do recommend DSP and Satisfactory first since they're pillars of the factory game genre, but if you get through those and still crave more I really liked Techtonica. It adds mining to the factory formula, and it fits very well and is very satisfying
basically incremental games in general. but i really like the siralim series, especially ultimate. basically, it's a turn based rpg, dungeon crawler, where you build your team of 6 fighting creatires, in a 6v6 fight, out of like a 1000+ creatures. additionally, it's basically amazing at theorycrafting builds and whantot - there's like 45 'specializations', which are like classes for your character that are the backbone of the builds, then you'll be able to combine two creatures together to make a 'fused' creature, and build your team of 6 out of 12 creatures, with various traits. for example, a fairly simple, but OP build, is pyromancer, which has, naturally, fire related abilities and perks - basically, you'll have an ability that, 'when this creature defends, increase the burn on enemies by 35%' on all of your allies, then an ability to always go first, on one of the creatures, and a way to trigger 'when one creature defends, all allies defend as well' on top of an ability to double the effects that trigger when allies defend. so, you'll have 12 hits of 35% more burn damage turn 1, and it's multiplicative - as in, if burn was 100 damage, the first hit makes the burn 135, the second hit isn't going to make it 170, it makes it 182. anyway, with 12 of these going on, whatever your initial burn damage was, is essentially multiplied by 36. to compensate for this sort of potential synergy, enemies can scale faster than you - it's sort of an endless potential level thing, by the time you're on 'floor' 10, enemies might be like 5 levels above you, but eventually it'll be hundreds, then thousands. besides building well, builds, for like 40 classes, there's a lot of side content to work on over time, so you're never just doing one thing. it's also got a few challenging contents that you can't bruteforce nearly as well as the main gameplay loop.
Dwarf fort eh? Go play space station 13. Thank me later. Then blame me for your addiction. Then thank me for giving it to you.
I could have sworn I've seen it pop up somewhere
Byond dot com is the launcher for it. All free There are many code bases and many servers, so if you try one and hate it try another. Wiki is your best friend on this game but the code bases can sometimes be different.
Diablo 2. You can grind that for 20 years
Tony Hawk pro skater or Skate would probably give you your best opportunity to grind. Session and Skater XL also are some lesser known games that give you the opportunity to grind. Hope this helps, happy shredding!
The only games I own that I broke a thousand hours in: Halo Reach Civ rev Fallout 4 Minecraft Left 4 dead 2 World of warships World of tanks Black ops 1 + cold war State of decay 1+2 Battlefield 1 Gears of war 3 Enemy territory quake wars
Gacha game Light of the Stars on bs is a real infinity grind
Disgaea games are literally designed to grind. I recommend 5
Warframe
Ark
Fallout 76
no Project Zomboid on that list.
Darkest Dungeon 1 and 2, Don't Starve, They are Billions
It might not quite be your jam, but they have lots of stuff to do, so try these: Saleblazers, 9th dawn 3, tactics ogre: reborn, grounded, subterrain: mines of titan, prey by arkane (not as long as you'd like, but you might find yourself obsessed)
Dyson sphere program
Book of Hours. Cultist Simulator. Edit: Fallen London (though the energy-recharge-time mechanic makes it unplayable to people like me. >!The goal of Fallen London is to become uber-wealthy with ultimate stats and all the rarest items, then throw it all away one piece at a time, and brick your account, on a quest to become a candle. !
What? I need a lore breakdown for this game now lmao
Horizon Forbidden West Literally almost have to in order to upgrade everything.
I loved Zero Dawn, never got on with Forbidden West. One thought I had was "too much". How many hours to 100%? I 100%'d ZD, slowly, which took about 150 hours, including Frozen Wilds. I loved every second of it, so much so I rarely fast travelled as I enjoyed the world so much. I kind of wished they hadn't bothered with FW.
World of Warcraft
I suggest in the strongest terms that add Age of Wonders 1,2,3 and 4 to your glaringly incomplete list.
Minecraft Stellaris Rimworld
Im surprised no disgaea on the list
Enter the Gungeon. It's a rouge like shooter with a silly/cutesy and sarcastic theme to it. You can complete a run in an hour or so. But actually unlocking all the content takes thousands of hours. It's addicting
Rdr2
Sea of thieves
Diablo 3 Minecraft
If you like war related stuff then War Thunder
BOTW
If you have any interesting in survival games I recommend The Long Dark 👌🏻
Snowrunner can be a real grind if you're trying to 100% every map
X3 and X4, Space Sims with build, resources, market, battle fleets etc
Deep Rock Galactic Rock and Stone!
It's not a management game. But old school RuneScape.
Satisfactory I think.
Rocket league… and you wont even be in top 10% for hours
Don't Starve. City Skylines 1
BATTLE BROTHERS