Ok so I work in the animation industry and was at a industry event in LA
So we usually go to talks in the day, and go to industry parties in the evenings, it's weirdly a tossup on which will be exciting and which will be boring.
So we were just heading out of one party when we got invited to another for some random AR company, we were pretty tired but figured it would be good to go represent our company and what not.
So we hop in a car with a couple of the dudes from the company and they start driving and we're chatting and then they get kinda quiet all of a sudden, an we take a left into skid row, a super right part of town. My friend and I are looking at each other like "are we getting murdered?".
And then they take a right, still in skid row, up to the front of a pretty swanky studio. We're like "Phew, ok, but what is this place doing here!?"
The party was like something out of the show Silicon Valley, everyone was super pro their company, they will be the next Google, definitely can't fail, ext ext. Felt like talking to some kinda hive mind, they just all had the same things to say. I get towing the company line but it was next level.
Then they start a presentation showing off what they do, where they are going ext, and then have someone come up and do a dance thing in a mocap suit with a big projector pointed at him blasting colors and stuff that moved with him, it was pretty neat actually.
The guy in the mocap suit goes up to the mic, turns out it's the guy who voiced Jarjar Binx, and he proceeds to spend the next hour and a bit telling us his life story.
Got back to the hotel and had a moment of "did that just happen? Was this just a weird dream?"
My friend has one of these mugs! We call it the troll mug because the last sip is always bigger than you think and ends up all over you
This is how I describe it as well.
I usually tell people it's like collab storytelling around the campfire, the rules are used as needed to create risk and tension, but aren't something you need to know right away
Caves of Qud is a really neat turn based roguelike that kinda focuses on exploration. It's a bit hard to get into but if you do it's really neat. Very very keyboard friendly, its my go-to game on my laptop.
It has difficulty modes that are... Less hard lol
These definitely aren't everyone's cup of tea, but these are some really unique games I like.
Dwarf Fortress: A colony sim who's depth gives it it's uniqueness factor. It's been in development for forever and if you dig into it a little bit stories will begin to construct themselves in the game in a way that no other colony sim does. Heads up that you won't know how anything works and your forts will fall apart, it's part of the Fun.Check out Kruggsmash on YouTube for some great videos on it.
Caves of Qud: I just learned about this game today actually, it's a rogue lite(like?) In a similar vein as Dwarf Fortress. Super long in development with incredible depth and replayability. Really interesting stories that come out of it.
Kerbal Space Program: Learn to send adorable little green men to the moon! Build rockets, crash them, learn and try again! A few games have tried to do something similar, but nothing matches the vibe of ksp. Best to stick with the original + mods for now, the sequel needs more time in the oven.
Frontier Pilot Simulator: Be a delivery person on a alien world, fly vtol aircraft around, deliver goods, make money, upgrade craft. Ok that sounds basic as hell, but something about this game scratches a doing things itch for me. It's great once you kinda get the flight controlls and can be played in 20 or so min intervals which I actually have trouble finding these days.
Delta V: Rings of Saturn: Take the old school asteroids game to it's absolute furthest possible development and then a bit further, no, further than that, keep going.
Trackmania: Racing game that has crazy tracks but manages to stay grounded somehow. Fun if you just want to try and beat the latest tracks, also fun if you lose hours or weeks or months or years or decades of your life trying to get the best time.
VTOL VR and Jetborn Racing: Ok it's a VR game, and you need a headset. But if you have one it's literally the best flight sim ever. It's just realistic enough to make you learn a bunch, but not so realistic that you get bogged down. No sticks or equipment needed, it's all VR motion controls.
Carrier Command 2: Control a whole ass aircraft carrier! It's very microprose, so super simulated and fiddly, but really really neat. If you have friends and can somehow convince them to play this with you, it's super fun* *I take no responsibility for friendships lost due to 'fun'
Anyways, I might like odd sim games a little bit more than is strictly healthy. Splattercatgaming on YouTube is a good source for finding odd games if you haven't seen them yet.