The last time I had something like that was when BF3 was still the most revent entry in the franchise. I knew how the game would go by looking at which side had more names that I recognized lol, good times

I always thought CIV was „that game“ for me until I played CK3 and realized that what CK3 does was what I had looked for in CIV but had never really gotten

I can‘t really pinpoint one game, it‘s easier for me to list a top 5ish in no particular order (but even then I‘ll probably answer differently in a month from now when I remember games I‘m forgetting about right now). It goes something like this:

Crusader Kings III

Monster Hunter World/Wilds (the latter if it didn‘t run like shit)

Nioh 2

Rocket League (haven‘t played it in years though)

HITMAN

maybe League of Legends if it still was season 7 lol (haven‘t played that in a while either)

Counterstrike 1.6

Dark Souls II (my first soulslike that I played on release with an active online population, so I have the fondest memories of this one, DS1 and its awful PC port was nothing to make fond memories with for me)

Seems like I‘m a competitive/challenging game enjoyer, but not the „1v1 no-hit bosses“-kind, I enjoy all of these games most in coop if they support it. Overcoming challenges together is my thing.

I‘ve played 20 odd hours of the initial release version on my Deck and hadn’t hit its content cap. It ran smooth, I didn‘t encounter any bugs or crashes.

Gameplay-wise, it‘s more shallow in the farming aspect but cozier in its atmosphere compared to SDV. Personally, I had a lot of fun, probably the most in a farming sim after SDV. I loved the cast.

I‘ve read criticism that it‘s just a clone which even if true (IMO it‘s not), I don‘t think is a problem: I‘ve played so much SDV, I really needed a different flavor of farming sim (but without any extra BS) to get over the fatigue.

The initial release was already a good and competent game by its own merits, IMO. However, it’s not the second coming of farming sim Christ. This is just my 20 hours impression of the release version, it had two major updates since IIRC.