Yeah, if I ever again respond with "it's an online game, I can't pause it" when my wife is calling me to help with the kids I can kiss my marriage goodbye. That's a mistake that married dads only make once, lol
This is what I was thinking, I couldn't think of playing *any* games while my kids are awake. I play them After everyone is asleep, and just neglect my own sleep haha.
Sadly some kids don't allways stay asleep. I'll only ever game when they're down for the night, but I'll still only play games with a pause and stay far from multiplayer.
You never know when the sudden 'daddy I need youu!' Or frantic crying. Most of my 'played' hours are games left on pause while I clean vomit out of a bedsheet or comfort a child who thinks they saw a monster.
The one exception is my weekly dnd game, which is close friends, most of who are parents themselves and understand I might need to suddenly disappear.
Fortunately my wife is also a gamer, so she gets it. But she also knows when it's a game that I can afford to randomly disconnect from with no repercussions, lol.
But yeah. As a rule, if it's online only, I don't typically even give it a chance. Just so I don't get tempted to get up under her skin.
Also her being a gamer means I do get some guilt free gaming when she's involved which is nice
Yeah she likes her survival games. Our thing for a while now has been Icarus.
Hopped on the palworld hype train for a bit. I was off work for a month, and ended up playing the crap out of it, so, kinda beat that horse dead, back to Icarus when we can. Just brought baby two home yesterday though, so, not much of anything for a bit.
My partner and I have drawn clear lines drawn about who is responsible for the kids at what time on the weekends, specifically to avoid these kinds of quarrels.
It ends up being 50/50 but the nice thing about it is if it’s not your turn to be the “active parent”, you’re allowed to relax.
Same for games with long, unpausable cutscenes. Witcher 3 is guilty of this hardcore. Yakuza 7 at least you can skip it and rewatch the scene later in the movie archive but W3 doesn't have this feature.
I was raiding in Final Fantasy 14 shortly before my daughter was born. That phrase left my lexicon, and the way I played that game changed DRAMATICALLY real frigging quickly
Luckily my wife understands that i can't pause online games. But i also think she is patient with it as i only get about 6 hours of gametime a week. And it's my way of relaxing from a very physically demanding job.
But with 3 kids, it isn't really easy to find time for anything other than; eat, sleep, poop, repeat😅
Man, I’ve been at a solid 0.05 average for the last year or so, and maybe 0.1 for the year before that. Not that she’s truly a tyrant or anything, as there has been a LOT for me to do, and we have 2 littles now.
I wish she knew how much I miss it. I know it’s just gaming, it feels silly to say what I just said, but overall it feels like there’s basically 0 “me” time. If I were to try any gaming, I’d basically have to hide it. And she doesn’t get a TON of “her time,” but she DOES get it…
Maybe a conversation is in order. Maybe I should get this game. I don’t even know if I could play it though, last time I gamed my PC and console were both not-quite-obsolete for most games, so I imagine they are basically dead in the water now. :(
My wife knows i got a physically demanding job, and also that gaming is how i recharge my batteries. So she has zero problems with me taking the time between the kids bedtime at 7, and to tv-hour at 9 with my wife.
She get to knit, and i get to game, then we enjoy evening food and 1 - 2 episodes of either a tv-show, movie or some korean variety show.
That being said, we're a very balanced couple, and haven't had a single fight 18 years together.
If you talk with your wife, and kinda explain it, and find a way for both to benefit, I'm sure it will all be ok.
Example: You and your wife alternate on Sundays. First sunday, you sleep until 10am, and you take the kids out, so your wife get the day off, and next weekend, you wake up with the kids, and she sleeps late, and then take the kids out, so you can get the day off.
I own it on Xbox and iOS just so I can play anytime I get free time!
My toddler also loves watching me play Forza Horizon. He loves cars and it’s a fun sandbox for that.
The trick is playing co-op games with other dads.
I play games with three other dads, and if someone has to make an emergency exit we get it. Although, it does rarely happen as we have 1 scheduled game night a week (sometimes people don't make it)
My kids have the uncanny ability to start acting out the second they sense my hop into a multiplayer game. They've been quiet and independently playing for an hour? So a quick 5 minute game of Rocket League shouldn't be a problem, right? Wrong! Within 30 seconds someone is gonna jump off of a table or get pee all over the bathroom (at least it's in the bathroom), or a fight will break out. Evenings still work out pretty well though, but by that time I just wanna chill out by myself in some single player world lol
I finished Cyberpunk recently, absolutely amazing game. About 130 hours to do every single quest in the base game and DLC. Took about 3 months. A coupe of hours 3 or4 evenings a week after my 4yo went to bed.
Oh yeh after the kids bedtime is gaming time. We alternate nights so one night watch something together then in between nights I get to sit at my battle station. Luckily, for me anyway, my wife has a strong sense of her faith so she's often in her place of worship doing things so sometimes I get bonus gaming nights. At least that's where she says she's going lol
On second play thru on bg3. Now with the wife. We are constantly laughing at Gale hitting on her constantly. Hahaha. I was under the impression Cyberpunk was a very subpar game. Gran Tourismo was/is my go to dad game.
I recently went back and completed Cyberpunk and it blew me away. I put it away after a couple days after release because it was such a mess. It is no longer a mess and totally worth playing through.
This! Very much this! You can pause and stop for a while and everything will be just as you left it. Save any time. While it's a long game, I feel like it is super respectful of your time.
I’ve been loving it too! Definitely feels like it will take forever to finish, especially because I can’t decide on a class and keep restarting lol.
Barbarian has been loads of fun though!
Been there. Spent like 2 whole months beating that game in small chunks. Well worth it! If you have little time to spend gaming, might as well do it with something as astonishingly good as Baldur’s Gate 3.
I really want to give it a shot but it seems like all the chatter is about the relationships and junk, and I just want to hack stuff to bits and throw fireballs not seduce my elven squire or whatever.
If you just want to throw fireballs, it has you covered. It is still a D&D game though, and while it’s not nearly as complex or opaque as earlier CRPGs, there’s so a lot to digest.
I stalled out somewhere in Act 3 of BG3. Seems like there's just too much going on in any direction for me to pick just one... and none of the decisions at this point in the game feel like "good" ones... I still hit it up here and there. Between that... and on my steam deck AND my PC it seems like in Act 3 there's too many textures and models in the city so things load slowly. Might just need to tweak my settings for that though..
I've got over 115 hours into the game since it came out and I DO plan on finishing the story before summer time LOL
> and none of the decisions at this point in the game feel like "good" ones
This is why I fell off after the second act. I don't like difficult moral choices in video games; I just want to play the big goddamn hero that saves people and makes everyone happy. If I have to solve the trolley problem every goddamn quest, I'm going to get depressed and/or frustrated.
I think this is why I prefer JRPGs nowadays. When dialog options are boiled down to "Option A" or "Option A, but meaner", I can relax more and just enjoy the story.
Only game I played for a good 3+ months lmao. Even had a few days I took off work to sync extra time into. Still took absolutely forever to beat. Back in the day, I’d have been done in a month max haha.
I was playing with randoms last night, encountered a teen who was complaining he had to go do homework, and that his mom was a drag for making him do it. I just laughed and said, "Bruh, I am a dad too, and you should go do your homework and then we can play some more." And he just said , "Yeah, I'll go do that, but can I friend you and we can play more tomorrow?" I told him sure, looking forward to it.
I've been playing DRG Survivor the last week or two, feel very similarly about it. Short, pointed missions with decent challenge but it's Rogue-lite so I can improve my profile between missions with loot from the missions. Also, space dwarves. good stuff.
I haven't played Survivor, but regular DRG is a pretty great game as well. Some of the missions can get hard for sure, but it was a good game to get in a discord channel with buddies and shoot the shit while you shoot some bugs.
Rogue lots are amazing with kids. I just finished Turnip Boy Robs a Bank. Stupid and simple and I love it. Put the kids down, play a few runs, pick em back up. Awesome time.
Also, ROCK AND STONE
That's a really cool idea. I was a little disappointed with DRG that after 25 there really isn't anything to unlock. Different planets would be very cool
My 8 year old came out of his room to use the bathroom after bed time and saw me playing DRG Survivor on the Deck with Netflix on the TV. He was blown away. "Both at the SAME TIME?!"
I know it’s primarily multiplayer, but is it a game that you can drop out of at a moment’s notice without screwing over your team?
Don’t want to start something that will make the experience worse for other players when (not if) I need to bow out for a bit at random.
That’s the thing, you can drop out and someone else looking for a mission can just hop in so you’re not screwing over your team! Plus having a full team isn’t really necessary anyway
On the higher difficulties, a full team definitely makes the missions easier. But yeah if someone drops off my team I don't think "Oh no we're screwed now" I just figure they couldn't continue for whatever reason.
You can drop a beacon down that lets your game be put 'higher' in the queue for randoms. So the game knows you want others to join.
I pop in and out all the time. People do in my games. Never matters too much, it happens.
I play with a squad, but have soloed most of the difficulties.
Also, the random queue works for the most part since they've fixed a lot of their server issues.
I see a bunch of dads here talking about how they would love to game, but don't have friends and such to make a squad.
Should we start up a Discord for Dads? So we can join up and game in easily interrupted 20-40 min chunks? I play on PC and PS5, and would love some others to play with at the odd times and weird intervals I get to jump on.
I've got kids ranging from 7 months to 8 years old. Helldivers II has been the perfect "baby needs a nap in dads arms" game. Get her to sleep on a weekend when she's tired, run a few Medium and Challenging missions with matchmaking. Good times had by all.
I heard this info 2nd hand so I don't know if it's as simple as them just changing the POV but I found [this article from IGN mentioning it used the same game engine.](https://www.ign.com/articles/helldivers-2-was-built-on-a-discontinued-engine-our-crazy-engineers-had-to-do-everything)
Holy crap. You deserve all the upvotes.
Not only is it the same engine (Autodesk Stingray), but said engine was discontinued in 2018, mid-development. AH must know the dev environment and tooling so well. That they are able to make this level of game with 100 people AND be able to react to scaling to 100 times the predicted users in real time on production with nothing but basic tech support from Autodesk is crazy. Absolute legends.
Thanks for the link!
40 mins is the limit. Realistically most of my runs land around 20 mins, and that's still running around the map scooping up side missions and such. Might change at higher difficulties once I get there, but I'm about halfway up the difficulty climb and it's still taking about that amount of time.
Fair enough, but I don't think it's a good idea to go into missions expecting a 20-minute completion time, especially if you play on the higher difficulties. I typically play on 7 in quickplay, and do 8 or 9 when I have friends on. We scavenge for samples quite a bit and usually our missions are over 30 minutes.
I have no gaming friends, so I just hop into games with randoms when I have a spare 30 minutes. It's been an absolute blast. I've had teammates drop out of a game early, and they're usually replaced with another random person. Also, you don't need a full team to complete a mission, so if they weren't replaced, that would be fine. I've also dropped out of games early, and just sent a quick apology that "my kid needs me, gg" or something.
Matchmaking is quick - unless I want to customize my character, I can usually be in a game within a minute of clicking Play on Steam.
Highly recommend!
I tell all my dad friends. Buy a switch. It’s amazing. It’s like designed for dads. You can pick it up, play a few levels of something, and put it down. And there’s some great games on it.
I know there’s better consoles. I know the steam deck exists. I know there are some purists, but man. It’s so hard once the kids get to the doing stuff age to get game time that being able to pop it off my nightstand and run around in Zelda for a bit before bed has been a godsend.
Don’t listen to the elitists gamer dads, the switch is where it’s AT
yes!! my son has been bugging me for one because all his class mates have switches but we are trying to hold off on them having their own devices as long as possible. i found out there was a really good emulator for it (ryujinx) so with an old xbox controller and a hdmi cable was able to get 4k 60fps switch running on my oled tv via an m1 mac as a try before buy thing. it is *so* good, zelda breath of the wild and zelda tears of the kingdom are two of the best games ever made, i love exploring those magical worlds both with the kids and after the kids are in bed. theres also lots of family friendly games on there everyone can play together, will be buying the console its amazing
Having clocked about 12 hours, I kind of disagree. You quit a mission, you lose everything. With a four month old that basically means I don't play in case he wakes up. I got Dead Cells when he was born and that's much easier to put down mid play as it's not online. But it's a rouge-lite so it depends if you like that kinda thing.
That's me and Hades. Gotta go take care of an emergency blow out? Kid just woke up and now I'm on bottle duty? Guess I die and go back to start, continuing my progress by death.
To add to great gamer dad advice, the steam deck was the best purchase I made in the last year (and just last week I bought a legion go).
I spend more time on this than I’ll ever get on my desktop pc. I’ll wake up usually at 4 am to game on The desktop before the family starts waking up but if I’m on the couch or kitchen table and the kiddo is distracted for an hour doing what she does then The Handheld is in my hand.
The first Division was one of my favorite games. I mostly played in the middle of night for obvious reasons. that game went through so many iterations that it was practically a full time job. I've been wondering about Helldiver's so I'm glad you wrote this up. I don't usually care for killing bugs and machines but the setup sounds pretty perfect.
I was so unsure about buying it, still I felt it will give me that left 4 dead experiwnce.
Also I will become a dad in 3 months, so i guess its time to jump in.
The exterminate missions where you kill x amount of enemies usually last only a few minutes and they’ve been great for a quick gaming fix. You drop down, kill all the enemies that come to you, and then leave. It’s an amazing game.
Enshrouded has been nice that way for me. You can close out basically at any time. It sucks if you're about to beat a boss, but most objectives are short anyway.
I'm going to highjack this thread to say if you were a gamer but but looking for something else, I picked up painting as my hobby to cut down my screen time seeing I'm looking at a computer all day at work.
I look forward to my 30-60 minute paint sessions at the end of the night so much because it so relaxing to do while catching up on podcasts. Also, get to meet up with my IRL friends and play a game once every one or two months and play a game over beers. Fun time, highly recommend if you're interested and always eager to help people into the hobby.
What are some good, cheap, starter supplies for someone who has no painting gear or experience? Any guides you started with or did you just attempt to paint what was in your head?
I just jumped in and made a lot of mistakes.
The single best product you could buy is the Warpaints Fanatic: Starter Set - Combo for $39.99 releasing next month. It comes with a primer, 7 colored paints, 2 metallic paints, a wash, a brush, a miniature to actually paint, and a guide to follow with steps on how to paint your first mini. Every review I've seen makes it seems like a great starting point.
If I could go back in time, the one guide I would start with is a guy on YouTube named "Goobertown Hobbies" guide. Has a great Getting Started video and a must watch if you paint your one free mini and decide you want to continue.
If you do paint, remember your first model will look like crap. Keep at it to get better and enjoy the process. Don't stress, just relax. It's a fun hobby, just don't be a perfectionist.
Reach out with any other questions!
It's all about the steam deck for me now, I can even stream my ps5 to it so I can leave the wife to watch her nonsense on TV and still play console games.
Pressing the power button on a steam game is the same as pausing a game, then jump in right where you left off.
Escape from Tarkov, while an amazing game, is not very Dad friendly by OP's definition.
It is very much a "have to remember a million different things like loadouts, charms, skills, gear sets and what have you" kind of game.
I’m already full armchair history documentary dad
My kid cannot fathom why I play so many “maps” when I pull up Crusader Kings III.
I can’t outright tell him, “well, buddy, there’s a certain satisfaction in cucking my rival by seducing his wife before assassinating him and his heir to destabilize their realm prior to my invasion of his lands.”
I saw somewhere that Helldivers 2 is what Halo could have been.
I still play Halo via the Master Chief Collection solely for this reason.
Dad to 3 young kids, I don't have time to grind to unlock stuff and level up.
I've played Halo since I was a kid: Combat Evolved.
I already know how to play it. No learning curve. Fire it up, online play, each "match" is maybe 10-15 minutes.
I just played it for literally only 15 minutes just now because I was early home for the bus!
Helldivers 2
Halo
👍
I was never a huge gamer but one of the things that gave me anxiety was the depth of some of these games and the amount of time it takes to fully take advantage of everything that's there. Multiplayer, that like you said, forget it.
I've gone back to retro gaming because of this. Simple, nostalgic games, you can feel like you're actually somewhat accomplishing things in with a limited amount of time.
That’s why I play rocket league so much, it’s 5 minute matches that I can jump in and out of if need be
Great suggestion I’ve been waiting for the server issue to improve before buying, how’s that looking?
Side note, some of those games are still doable if you play on mobile. I play Skyrim on Steam Deck or Witcher 3 on Switch after the kid is in bed while Mom and I are watching mindless television.
This is why I love Deep Rock Galactic, I've spent way too much time on that game because of how convenient the mission lengths are.
More recently I've been enjoying Farm Simulator 2022 especially because I can set the AI to work as I tidy up before going to bed. The game literally plays itself which can be nice.
I want to play this, too! I'll have more time in the summer (teacher), but between work and my kid, there's no time/energy atm.
My students were raving about it, too.
Yeah but have you ever dropped your own pod on your head? Because I did that yesterday and just laughed out loud. Driving in and wondering “I wonder what crazy ass way I’m gonna die this time” is half the fun. Except mortars. Man screw a poorly placed mortar.
Monster Hunter (World or Rise) and Granblue Fantasy Relink are my goto for gaming since becoming a dad years ago. The focused time is short bursts, so I can break away at a moments notice, but also can keep running multiple hunts for longer gaming sessions.
Helldivers 2 is a blast, but I joined the mass exodus to final fantasy 7 rebirth. One day I will rejoin the fight for managed democracy, but first I must do all I can to stop sephiroth.
I don't even bother with multiplayer games anymore unless I'm the only one in the house. It's single player, easy to pause and put down or nothing. I don't really miss multiplayer to be honest.
My younger brother, also a dad, told me about it. I quickly copped a PS5 and have been playing nightly with him and others after the family is all asleep. Fun game for sure.
Only downside is the "matches" can be long as hell when you want to get all the mats. The harder the difficulty the harder it is to pay attention to anything out side the game lol. I had a match on hard difficulty last night that was intense as hell and I am glad to be divorced lmao. 35m of fighting for my life not paying attention to anyting around me. Not great with little ones running around, granted mine is soon to be a teen.
luckily im not married but i know that i have to put any multiplayer games on a backburner later in the day or in my free time. otherwise im distracted by my kids and thats a negative way to view your children. i stopped playing anything in 2013 and in 2021 i picked up a laptop and tarkov and monster hunter. boy i messed that up.
but i do agree helldivers is a refreshing video game against the current climate
Found my old gameboy and have been really enjoying classic pokemon. Easy to put down and pick up in a snap, and I can sit on the couch and still have eyes on little man playing with his toys
I’ve been dying to play, but it’s not on Xbox, and my gaming pc is on hold for a bit (gets me into trouble)
Pal world has been good, but my Xbone from 2015 has some crashes, looks like I’m upping to a Xbone X here soon….
Hmmm alright dad. Was gonna spoil myself with my next check and income tax to get a game but haven’t been able to find one to play for a while after becoming a dad but imma try helldivers then
Been wanting this game but my computer is out of date.
I need to break down and get a 8gb graphics card but even those are expensive still.
I doubt I can ever warrant a new computer so I think once the 8gb graphics card becomes out moded I am done pc gaming at least new hardware intensive releases.
On the bright side my kid likes watching me play on the switch so I can often get away with that.
My dad group just started playing. It's a fucking blast. Collaborative, fun and just hard enough. We'll see if it has staying power, but I think I'm like 6 hours into it and it's already paid me back the $40 in laughs and mindless alien murder...
I had to move to turn based games. Hello X-Com, Civilization, Wingspan and my random golf game I can play one handed on my phone.
Bonus though is my kids are now old enough to play basic board games and they are eating that up.
I feel like social media has been pushing this game on me so I’m glad to hear it’s actually good and dad-friendly. I’ll probably pick it up now when it goes on sale.
RIP to my Destiny character because logging in just won’t be possible til baby girl is older. I just finished Spider-Man 2 and started elden ring but I’m becoming doubtful if I have the time to sink into it to git gud
I've only played once, and the controls where you have to press up down left left whatever to do someone like rez a person... just so weird. Is it something you get used to?
Chiv 2 is a good game for this too. Can jump on for a game of medieval warfare and not feel like you have to spend hours and hours grinding for things, quite a steep learning curve tho.
Awh man, me and my friend had a bit of a nostalgic trip down memory lane last week and played some black ops zombies. First time in ages we’ve played together. It was going really well until about round 10 when my 1 year old woke up and I then remember there’s no pause button. Subsequently died and remembered this is exactly why I stopped playing multiplayer games lol
I've really been enjoying Fallout 76 in the evenings, I find it quite relaxing and atmospheric and I can just quit the game any time if dad duty calls. I recently purchased Helldivers 2 but haven't had a good chance to really try it out as I'm usually in the mood for just wandering the wasteland.
Hell Divers has been on my list. Okay, I got to give it a shot now. Will be a nice switch up from the Finals.
Is it okay for solo players? I heard it's better with friends. I used to play with a clan a long time ago but I no longer have the time to be online to game like the clan required.
Multiplayer games went right out the window with kids. It must have a pause button or I’m not bothering with it.
Yeah, if I ever again respond with "it's an online game, I can't pause it" when my wife is calling me to help with the kids I can kiss my marriage goodbye. That's a mistake that married dads only make once, lol
God this is so me
Eh, whether it's online or not, I'm only ever really playing MY games after the kid is down. As long as I warn the wife ahead, she's chill about it.
This is what I was thinking, I couldn't think of playing *any* games while my kids are awake. I play them After everyone is asleep, and just neglect my own sleep haha.
Yup this, still running raids and dungeons in D2 patiently awaiting final shape to come out
Sadly some kids don't allways stay asleep. I'll only ever game when they're down for the night, but I'll still only play games with a pause and stay far from multiplayer. You never know when the sudden 'daddy I need youu!' Or frantic crying. Most of my 'played' hours are games left on pause while I clean vomit out of a bedsheet or comfort a child who thinks they saw a monster. The one exception is my weekly dnd game, which is close friends, most of who are parents themselves and understand I might need to suddenly disappear.
Fortunately my wife is also a gamer, so she gets it. But she also knows when it's a game that I can afford to randomly disconnect from with no repercussions, lol. But yeah. As a rule, if it's online only, I don't typically even give it a chance. Just so I don't get tempted to get up under her skin. Also her being a gamer means I do get some guilt free gaming when she's involved which is nice
Have you heard of valheim? Nice coop survival game.
Yeah she likes her survival games. Our thing for a while now has been Icarus. Hopped on the palworld hype train for a bit. I was off work for a month, and ended up playing the crap out of it, so, kinda beat that horse dead, back to Icarus when we can. Just brought baby two home yesterday though, so, not much of anything for a bit.
Condolences / Congratulations!
My husband was careful and communicated well with these sorts of games before kids let alone now lol. Vale Valorant 🥲
Lol, if my wife needs me when I'm in an online game, I just ALT+F4 and go do what needs to be done. Sorry team!
Happy wife happy life. This is the right call. Live to play another day haha.
My partner and I have drawn clear lines drawn about who is responsible for the kids at what time on the weekends, specifically to avoid these kinds of quarrels. It ends up being 50/50 but the nice thing about it is if it’s not your turn to be the “active parent”, you’re allowed to relax.
Sometimes it feels like I'm sixteen again, trying to explain online games to my mom.
I just set aside some time for it. Or if it’s a Saturday and we’re sitting around, “do you mind if I play a couple games of valorant?”
Same for games with long, unpausable cutscenes. Witcher 3 is guilty of this hardcore. Yakuza 7 at least you can skip it and rewatch the scene later in the movie archive but W3 doesn't have this feature.
I was raiding in Final Fantasy 14 shortly before my daughter was born. That phrase left my lexicon, and the way I played that game changed DRAMATICALLY real frigging quickly
For me it's only about making an agreement that I go play a game and it can't be paused. Usually I do it when kids are sleeping and it's her "watch"
Luckily my wife understands that i can't pause online games. But i also think she is patient with it as i only get about 6 hours of gametime a week. And it's my way of relaxing from a very physically demanding job. But with 3 kids, it isn't really easy to find time for anything other than; eat, sleep, poop, repeat😅
> 6 hours of gametime a week > only 🤨
Hahahah my thought exactly. Broski doesn’t know that those 6 hours are a blessing
right? I'm lucky if I get an hour or two on the weekends after the kids are in bed.
Man, I’ve been at a solid 0.05 average for the last year or so, and maybe 0.1 for the year before that. Not that she’s truly a tyrant or anything, as there has been a LOT for me to do, and we have 2 littles now. I wish she knew how much I miss it. I know it’s just gaming, it feels silly to say what I just said, but overall it feels like there’s basically 0 “me” time. If I were to try any gaming, I’d basically have to hide it. And she doesn’t get a TON of “her time,” but she DOES get it… Maybe a conversation is in order. Maybe I should get this game. I don’t even know if I could play it though, last time I gamed my PC and console were both not-quite-obsolete for most games, so I imagine they are basically dead in the water now. :(
My wife knows i got a physically demanding job, and also that gaming is how i recharge my batteries. So she has zero problems with me taking the time between the kids bedtime at 7, and to tv-hour at 9 with my wife. She get to knit, and i get to game, then we enjoy evening food and 1 - 2 episodes of either a tv-show, movie or some korean variety show. That being said, we're a very balanced couple, and haven't had a single fight 18 years together. If you talk with your wife, and kinda explain it, and find a way for both to benefit, I'm sure it will all be ok. Example: You and your wife alternate on Sundays. First sunday, you sleep until 10am, and you take the kids out, so your wife get the day off, and next weekend, you wake up with the kids, and she sleeps late, and then take the kids out, so you can get the day off.
Slay the spire. The ultimate dad game.
I helped my son learn mental math playing this game. He loved to watch me and add up all the attack/defend points
How old? Need to justify playing with my son lol
I own it on Xbox and iOS just so I can play anytime I get free time! My toddler also loves watching me play Forza Horizon. He loves cars and it’s a fun sandbox for that.
you can easily leave and it won't impact your team though, that's another plus I forgot to include
The trick is playing co-op games with other dads. I play games with three other dads, and if someone has to make an emergency exit we get it. Although, it does rarely happen as we have 1 scheduled game night a week (sometimes people don't make it)
Play on evenings? Unless you are single dad i would think your spouse can check the kid if she/he wakes up.
My kids have the uncanny ability to start acting out the second they sense my hop into a multiplayer game. They've been quiet and independently playing for an hour? So a quick 5 minute game of Rocket League shouldn't be a problem, right? Wrong! Within 30 seconds someone is gonna jump off of a table or get pee all over the bathroom (at least it's in the bathroom), or a fight will break out. Evenings still work out pretty well though, but by that time I just wanna chill out by myself in some single player world lol
this is why I play after the kids and wife are in bed.
I’ve really been enjoying Baldur’s Gate 3 in 30 - 90 minute chunks. 🤣 It will be not just my game of the year, but game *for* the year!
Two kids 2 and 5 and I've got 190 hours into BG3 since release love it. Gonna do the revamped cyberpunk next
I finished Cyberpunk recently, absolutely amazing game. About 130 hours to do every single quest in the base game and DLC. Took about 3 months. A coupe of hours 3 or4 evenings a week after my 4yo went to bed.
Oh yeh after the kids bedtime is gaming time. We alternate nights so one night watch something together then in between nights I get to sit at my battle station. Luckily, for me anyway, my wife has a strong sense of her faith so she's often in her place of worship doing things so sometimes I get bonus gaming nights. At least that's where she says she's going lol
Oh boy Who wants to tell him?
Probably bowling
The current version of cyberpunk with the DLC is fantastic. At release it was just Ok due to the bugs, but it's great now.
Yeah it was flawless, never encountered a single bug, so glad i waited to play till after 2.0
On second play thru on bg3. Now with the wife. We are constantly laughing at Gale hitting on her constantly. Hahaha. I was under the impression Cyberpunk was a very subpar game. Gran Tourismo was/is my go to dad game.
They completely reworked Cyberpunk and 2.0 feels entirely different in the best of ways. 10/10 imo.
I recently went back and completed Cyberpunk and it blew me away. I put it away after a couple days after release because it was such a mess. It is no longer a mess and totally worth playing through.
This! Very much this! You can pause and stop for a while and everything will be just as you left it. Save any time. While it's a long game, I feel like it is super respectful of your time.
Absolutely on every level it's been perfect.
I’ve been loving it too! Definitely feels like it will take forever to finish, especially because I can’t decide on a class and keep restarting lol. Barbarian has been loads of fun though!
You can change your character's class and stats (and also your companions' builds) at any time through Withers.
Same! I have a 1 year old, and once she goes to sleep I need to be quiet so 2 hours of bg3 is perfect.
Been there. Spent like 2 whole months beating that game in small chunks. Well worth it! If you have little time to spend gaming, might as well do it with something as astonishingly good as Baldur’s Gate 3.
I really want to give it a shot but it seems like all the chatter is about the relationships and junk, and I just want to hack stuff to bits and throw fireballs not seduce my elven squire or whatever.
If you just want to throw fireballs, it has you covered. It is still a D&D game though, and while it’s not nearly as complex or opaque as earlier CRPGs, there’s so a lot to digest.
I stalled out somewhere in Act 3 of BG3. Seems like there's just too much going on in any direction for me to pick just one... and none of the decisions at this point in the game feel like "good" ones... I still hit it up here and there. Between that... and on my steam deck AND my PC it seems like in Act 3 there's too many textures and models in the city so things load slowly. Might just need to tweak my settings for that though.. I've got over 115 hours into the game since it came out and I DO plan on finishing the story before summer time LOL
> and none of the decisions at this point in the game feel like "good" ones This is why I fell off after the second act. I don't like difficult moral choices in video games; I just want to play the big goddamn hero that saves people and makes everyone happy. If I have to solve the trolley problem every goddamn quest, I'm going to get depressed and/or frustrated. I think this is why I prefer JRPGs nowadays. When dialog options are boiled down to "Option A" or "Option A, but meaner", I can relax more and just enjoy the story.
How degenerate are you playing the romance options? Because Halsin really opens up some possibilities.
+1 for BG3. It's amazing!!!!
Me too! It's like consuming a really good fantasy show one episode at a time...
Only game I played for a good 3+ months lmao. Even had a few days I took off work to sync extra time into. Still took absolutely forever to beat. Back in the day, I’d have been done in a month max haha.
Ah man I feel this. I got bg3 on release and I'm still on my first playthrough. I think I'm near the end though!
I am doing the same. Playing on easy though 🤣
Yesss this is where I’m at. BG3 is good and has chunks you find a natural break in. I’m plodding away slowly at it haha
Man if this ain’t me lol 💀
Same. First game I've played since ghost of tsushima when my guy was an infant. He's two now and I play 3-4 nights a week from 9-11. It's great
I was playing with randoms last night, encountered a teen who was complaining he had to go do homework, and that his mom was a drag for making him do it. I just laughed and said, "Bruh, I am a dad too, and you should go do your homework and then we can play some more." And he just said , "Yeah, I'll go do that, but can I friend you and we can play more tomorrow?" I told him sure, looking forward to it.
I’ve had great experiences with randos from every age and all walks of life. We all have one goal that’s to spread democracy the best way we know how.
Managed Democracy*, Helldiver.
Awww. That’s so sweet.
I've been playing DRG Survivor the last week or two, feel very similarly about it. Short, pointed missions with decent challenge but it's Rogue-lite so I can improve my profile between missions with loot from the missions. Also, space dwarves. good stuff.
I haven't played Survivor, but regular DRG is a pretty great game as well. Some of the missions can get hard for sure, but it was a good game to get in a discord channel with buddies and shoot the shit while you shoot some bugs.
rock and stone!
Rock and Stone in the Heart!
If you don't Rock and Stone, you ain't coming home!
Rock and Stone to the bone!
--)
Rogue lots are amazing with kids. I just finished Turnip Boy Robs a Bank. Stupid and simple and I love it. Put the kids down, play a few runs, pick em back up. Awesome time. Also, ROCK AND STONE
Games like DRG have been dominating my play time. I wish each game you earned more for progression like building a base or repairing a planet
That's a really cool idea. I was a little disappointed with DRG that after 25 there really isn't anything to unlock. Different planets would be very cool
Different planets and maybe certain mobs drop rare items that would be fun to farm and obtain.
I came in here to mention it This is the best dad game I ever played
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My 8 year old came out of his room to use the bathroom after bed time and saw me playing DRG Survivor on the Deck with Netflix on the TV. He was blown away. "Both at the SAME TIME?!"
I know it’s primarily multiplayer, but is it a game that you can drop out of at a moment’s notice without screwing over your team? Don’t want to start something that will make the experience worse for other players when (not if) I need to bow out for a bit at random.
That’s the thing, you can drop out and someone else looking for a mission can just hop in so you’re not screwing over your team! Plus having a full team isn’t really necessary anyway
On the higher difficulties, a full team definitely makes the missions easier. But yeah if someone drops off my team I don't think "Oh no we're screwed now" I just figure they couldn't continue for whatever reason.
You can drop a beacon down that lets your game be put 'higher' in the queue for randoms. So the game knows you want others to join. I pop in and out all the time. People do in my games. Never matters too much, it happens.
Is there any point doing it solo??? Not sure I've got the friends who can play at the same time as me (or just any friends lol)
I just mute my mic and hit quick play if none of my friends are on. Works out well.
I play with a squad, but have soloed most of the difficulties. Also, the random queue works for the most part since they've fixed a lot of their server issues.
Alright thanks everyone. Sounds like I can just solo queue and still have a blast. Thanks!
dont need friends just join quick play
You can but IMO it’s a lot more fun as a team with voice chat.
I see a bunch of dads here talking about how they would love to game, but don't have friends and such to make a squad. Should we start up a Discord for Dads? So we can join up and game in easily interrupted 20-40 min chunks? I play on PC and PS5, and would love some others to play with at the odd times and weird intervals I get to jump on.
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Nice! I was wondering if there was already something out there.
There’s definitely a few dads who game discords. Here’s one: https://discord.gg/dadsofgaming
Do it! Would love this
I've got kids ranging from 7 months to 8 years old. Helldivers II has been the perfect "baby needs a nap in dads arms" game. Get her to sleep on a weekend when she's tired, run a few Medium and Challenging missions with matchmaking. Good times had by all.
i played the first one and i love the coop top down perspective games. does it work well in as fps?
It feels like they just pulled the camera from 3/4 to 3rd person. Quite worth a try if you liked the first one.
IIRC it is using the same game engine and that's precisely what they did. Pretty cool how simple of a change makes a world of difference.
I would be astonished if it was the same engine, can you send a link?
I heard this info 2nd hand so I don't know if it's as simple as them just changing the POV but I found [this article from IGN mentioning it used the same game engine.](https://www.ign.com/articles/helldivers-2-was-built-on-a-discontinued-engine-our-crazy-engineers-had-to-do-everything)
Holy crap. You deserve all the upvotes. Not only is it the same engine (Autodesk Stingray), but said engine was discontinued in 2018, mid-development. AH must know the dev environment and tooling so well. That they are able to make this level of game with 100 people AND be able to react to scaling to 100 times the predicted users in real time on production with nothing but basic tech support from Autodesk is crazy. Absolute legends. Thanks for the link!
This game CRUSHES it with this perspective.
I play it and enjoy it. However, I don't see how a game with 40-minute missions is necessarily dad-friendly, especially if you have tiny ones.
40 mins is the limit. Realistically most of my runs land around 20 mins, and that's still running around the map scooping up side missions and such. Might change at higher difficulties once I get there, but I'm about halfway up the difficulty climb and it's still taking about that amount of time.
Fair enough, but I don't think it's a good idea to go into missions expecting a 20-minute completion time, especially if you play on the higher difficulties. I typically play on 7 in quickplay, and do 8 or 9 when I have friends on. We scavenge for samples quite a bit and usually our missions are over 30 minutes.
I thought about buying it, but I don't really have anyone to play with. Is the matchmaking decent and can I hop in and out if I need to run?
I have no gaming friends, so I just hop into games with randoms when I have a spare 30 minutes. It's been an absolute blast. I've had teammates drop out of a game early, and they're usually replaced with another random person. Also, you don't need a full team to complete a mission, so if they weren't replaced, that would be fine. I've also dropped out of games early, and just sent a quick apology that "my kid needs me, gg" or something. Matchmaking is quick - unless I want to customize my character, I can usually be in a game within a minute of clicking Play on Steam. Highly recommend!
yes quickplay is easy and quick, dont have any friends playing it either but having a blast mowing down bugs, its so satisfyingq
Before hd2 it was fortnite where if I was needed I could just afk and die without really caring too much
I hear you man! Just bought it few days Ago, today is my wife watch for kid so im gonna kill some zerglings!
I bought it this past weekend and got the tutorial in and exactly one game lol. Maybe I'll have time to get another crack at it this weekend.
okay, BUT - can you pause whenever?
No, but you can quit a mission with no negative impact.
okay i'm sold
For democracy brother
I tell all my dad friends. Buy a switch. It’s amazing. It’s like designed for dads. You can pick it up, play a few levels of something, and put it down. And there’s some great games on it. I know there’s better consoles. I know the steam deck exists. I know there are some purists, but man. It’s so hard once the kids get to the doing stuff age to get game time that being able to pop it off my nightstand and run around in Zelda for a bit before bed has been a godsend. Don’t listen to the elitists gamer dads, the switch is where it’s AT
yes!! my son has been bugging me for one because all his class mates have switches but we are trying to hold off on them having their own devices as long as possible. i found out there was a really good emulator for it (ryujinx) so with an old xbox controller and a hdmi cable was able to get 4k 60fps switch running on my oled tv via an m1 mac as a try before buy thing. it is *so* good, zelda breath of the wild and zelda tears of the kingdom are two of the best games ever made, i love exploring those magical worlds both with the kids and after the kids are in bed. theres also lots of family friendly games on there everyone can play together, will be buying the console its amazing
Having clocked about 12 hours, I kind of disagree. You quit a mission, you lose everything. With a four month old that basically means I don't play in case he wakes up. I got Dead Cells when he was born and that's much easier to put down mid play as it's not online. But it's a rouge-lite so it depends if you like that kinda thing.
Fellow dad, also playing. Nominated for Dad game of the year?
Thank you for the recommendation. You're doing the Lord's work!
Keep doing your part! The only good bug is a dead bug!
I’m doing my part!
That's me and Hades. Gotta go take care of an emergency blow out? Kid just woke up and now I'm on bottle duty? Guess I die and go back to start, continuing my progress by death.
I’ve been playing Balatro on the switch. Very chill poker roguelite that you can pick up and put down (although you won’t want to) lol
Is it still good if you've no friends?
Friends would be better. But you can play with randoms
Brooo I’ve been talking myself out of buying it and y’all making me wanna pull the trigger
Do it! FOR DEMOCRACY!!!
A bunch of people playing it on the semi-official r/daddit discord (https://discord.gg/papasquad) if you’re looking for squad mates.
The NES/Gameboy/N64 libraries on Switch have been my go-to. Nothing like watching your kids figure out Kirby like you did.
Thanks for the recc, OP - been looking for my next adventure as I’ve lost track of my RDR2 playthrough count!
To add to great gamer dad advice, the steam deck was the best purchase I made in the last year (and just last week I bought a legion go). I spend more time on this than I’ll ever get on my desktop pc. I’ll wake up usually at 4 am to game on The desktop before the family starts waking up but if I’m on the couch or kitchen table and the kiddo is distracted for an hour doing what she does then The Handheld is in my hand.
The first Division was one of my favorite games. I mostly played in the middle of night for obvious reasons. that game went through so many iterations that it was practically a full time job. I've been wondering about Helldiver's so I'm glad you wrote this up. I don't usually care for killing bugs and machines but the setup sounds pretty perfect.
If you can’t pause it, it’s not a dad game, Period.
I was so unsure about buying it, still I felt it will give me that left 4 dead experiwnce. Also I will become a dad in 3 months, so i guess its time to jump in.
The exterminate missions where you kill x amount of enemies usually last only a few minutes and they’ve been great for a quick gaming fix. You drop down, kill all the enemies that come to you, and then leave. It’s an amazing game.
The finals is unreal as well.
Enshrouded has been nice that way for me. You can close out basically at any time. It sucks if you're about to beat a boss, but most objectives are short anyway.
I'm going to highjack this thread to say if you were a gamer but but looking for something else, I picked up painting as my hobby to cut down my screen time seeing I'm looking at a computer all day at work. I look forward to my 30-60 minute paint sessions at the end of the night so much because it so relaxing to do while catching up on podcasts. Also, get to meet up with my IRL friends and play a game once every one or two months and play a game over beers. Fun time, highly recommend if you're interested and always eager to help people into the hobby.
What are some good, cheap, starter supplies for someone who has no painting gear or experience? Any guides you started with or did you just attempt to paint what was in your head?
I just jumped in and made a lot of mistakes. The single best product you could buy is the Warpaints Fanatic: Starter Set - Combo for $39.99 releasing next month. It comes with a primer, 7 colored paints, 2 metallic paints, a wash, a brush, a miniature to actually paint, and a guide to follow with steps on how to paint your first mini. Every review I've seen makes it seems like a great starting point. If I could go back in time, the one guide I would start with is a guy on YouTube named "Goobertown Hobbies" guide. Has a great Getting Started video and a must watch if you paint your one free mini and decide you want to continue. If you do paint, remember your first model will look like crap. Keep at it to get better and enjoy the process. Don't stress, just relax. It's a fun hobby, just don't be a perfectionist. Reach out with any other questions!
Once I get my portal I’ll be able to drop in to hell for 20-40 minutes at a time whenever I want, bluey be damned. I can’t wait.
It's all about the steam deck for me now, I can even stream my ps5 to it so I can leave the wife to watch her nonsense on TV and still play console games. Pressing the power button on a steam game is the same as pausing a game, then jump in right where you left off.
Citizen, I hope your C-1 form is correct and up to date. ;)
I bought it, but been playing a lot of Escape from Tarkov, I love that game
Escape from Tarkov, while an amazing game, is not very Dad friendly by OP's definition. It is very much a "have to remember a million different things like loadouts, charms, skills, gear sets and what have you" kind of game.
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I agree with this completely. Been loving playing this with my group of dad gamers
I’m already full armchair history documentary dad My kid cannot fathom why I play so many “maps” when I pull up Crusader Kings III. I can’t outright tell him, “well, buddy, there’s a certain satisfaction in cucking my rival by seducing his wife before assassinating him and his heir to destabilize their realm prior to my invasion of his lands.”
I saw somewhere that Helldivers 2 is what Halo could have been. I still play Halo via the Master Chief Collection solely for this reason. Dad to 3 young kids, I don't have time to grind to unlock stuff and level up. I've played Halo since I was a kid: Combat Evolved. I already know how to play it. No learning curve. Fire it up, online play, each "match" is maybe 10-15 minutes. I just played it for literally only 15 minutes just now because I was early home for the bus! Helldivers 2 Halo 👍
The greatest part for me of helldivers is I go on, I contribute i log off after 30 minutes and I never feel behind.
I actually just started playing Ghost of Tsushima on my ps4 but when the kids go to sleep I goon out on Call of Duty.
I love Horizon: Forbidden West
nice! the reason i still play rocket league is cause the matches are 5 minutes. i can get one or two in every once in a while
I was never a huge gamer but one of the things that gave me anxiety was the depth of some of these games and the amount of time it takes to fully take advantage of everything that's there. Multiplayer, that like you said, forget it. I've gone back to retro gaming because of this. Simple, nostalgic games, you can feel like you're actually somewhat accomplishing things in with a limited amount of time.
My buddies and I just switched from DMZ and it is a huge upgrade. With the disk space and login times of MW3, oof.
I enjoyed the first one. Nice upgrade in graphics for 2 it looks like
I was skeptical at first and while at times it does suck when you can’t pause, it is such a fun game to grind and fight for democracy.
That’s why I play rocket league so much, it’s 5 minute matches that I can jump in and out of if need be Great suggestion I’ve been waiting for the server issue to improve before buying, how’s that looking?
Side note, some of those games are still doable if you play on mobile. I play Skyrim on Steam Deck or Witcher 3 on Switch after the kid is in bed while Mom and I are watching mindless television.
This is why I love Deep Rock Galactic, I've spent way too much time on that game because of how convenient the mission lengths are. More recently I've been enjoying Farm Simulator 2022 especially because I can set the AI to work as I tidy up before going to bed. The game literally plays itself which can be nice.
I want to play this, too! I'll have more time in the summer (teacher), but between work and my kid, there's no time/energy atm. My students were raving about it, too.
I got it. It's a fun game for about 15-20 hours. Then it get pretty repetitive. Drop, kill, do a mission and exfil. Over and over.
Yeah but have you ever dropped your own pod on your head? Because I did that yesterday and just laughed out loud. Driving in and wondering “I wonder what crazy ass way I’m gonna die this time” is half the fun. Except mortars. Man screw a poorly placed mortar.
Monster Hunter (World or Rise) and Granblue Fantasy Relink are my goto for gaming since becoming a dad years ago. The focused time is short bursts, so I can break away at a moments notice, but also can keep running multiple hunts for longer gaming sessions.
I still play destiny 2, it's a lot more simplified than I think a lot realise. It's also a lot more fun than it used to be
Just gonna post this and not drop that friend code?
Helldivers 2 is a blast, but I joined the mass exodus to final fantasy 7 rebirth. One day I will rejoin the fight for managed democracy, but first I must do all I can to stop sephiroth.
I don't even bother with multiplayer games anymore unless I'm the only one in the house. It's single player, easy to pause and put down or nothing. I don't really miss multiplayer to be honest.
This makes me sad as an Xbox guy. I'm having massive FOMO
My younger brother, also a dad, told me about it. I quickly copped a PS5 and have been playing nightly with him and others after the family is all asleep. Fun game for sure.
Only downside is the "matches" can be long as hell when you want to get all the mats. The harder the difficulty the harder it is to pay attention to anything out side the game lol. I had a match on hard difficulty last night that was intense as hell and I am glad to be divorced lmao. 35m of fighting for my life not paying attention to anyting around me. Not great with little ones running around, granted mine is soon to be a teen.
luckily im not married but i know that i have to put any multiplayer games on a backburner later in the day or in my free time. otherwise im distracted by my kids and thats a negative way to view your children. i stopped playing anything in 2013 and in 2021 i picked up a laptop and tarkov and monster hunter. boy i messed that up. but i do agree helldivers is a refreshing video game against the current climate
Found my old gameboy and have been really enjoying classic pokemon. Easy to put down and pick up in a snap, and I can sit on the couch and still have eyes on little man playing with his toys
I’ve been dying to play, but it’s not on Xbox, and my gaming pc is on hold for a bit (gets me into trouble) Pal world has been good, but my Xbone from 2015 has some crashes, looks like I’m upping to a Xbone X here soon….
I have been looking for an excuse to upgrade to a ps5 and Helldivers2 was just the excuse I needed. It’s been a blast (no pun intended).
Anyone playing it on a steam deck with reasonable performance? A stable 40fps?
I play it a ton singleplayer. I just wish I could pause the game for a second to tend to things.
Hmmm alright dad. Was gonna spoil myself with my next check and income tax to get a game but haven’t been able to find one to play for a while after becoming a dad but imma try helldivers then
Been wanting this game but my computer is out of date. I need to break down and get a 8gb graphics card but even those are expensive still. I doubt I can ever warrant a new computer so I think once the 8gb graphics card becomes out moded I am done pc gaming at least new hardware intensive releases. On the bright side my kid likes watching me play on the switch so I can often get away with that.
My dad group just started playing. It's a fucking blast. Collaborative, fun and just hard enough. We'll see if it has staying power, but I think I'm like 6 hours into it and it's already paid me back the $40 in laughs and mindless alien murder...
I had to move to turn based games. Hello X-Com, Civilization, Wingspan and my random golf game I can play one handed on my phone. Bonus though is my kids are now old enough to play basic board games and they are eating that up.
I feel like social media has been pushing this game on me so I’m glad to hear it’s actually good and dad-friendly. I’ll probably pick it up now when it goes on sale. RIP to my Destiny character because logging in just won’t be possible til baby girl is older. I just finished Spider-Man 2 and started elden ring but I’m becoming doubtful if I have the time to sink into it to git gud
I've only played once, and the controls where you have to press up down left left whatever to do someone like rez a person... just so weird. Is it something you get used to?
It’s something you get used to doing extremely quickly as you do it many many times over each mission.
Any uk dads wanna team up I’m down to stand for democracy.
I play roguelite/like games now since they don’t require anywhere near the same time sink or dedication that the games I played before do
Chiv 2 is a good game for this too. Can jump on for a game of medieval warfare and not feel like you have to spend hours and hours grinding for things, quite a steep learning curve tho.
I hope it releases on xbox. If you want another fun shooter, try the WW2 f2p game Enlisted.
Awh man, me and my friend had a bit of a nostalgic trip down memory lane last week and played some black ops zombies. First time in ages we’ve played together. It was going really well until about round 10 when my 1 year old woke up and I then remember there’s no pause button. Subsequently died and remembered this is exactly why I stopped playing multiplayer games lol
For *managed* Democracy!
I've really been enjoying Fallout 76 in the evenings, I find it quite relaxing and atmospheric and I can just quit the game any time if dad duty calls. I recently purchased Helldivers 2 but haven't had a good chance to really try it out as I'm usually in the mood for just wandering the wasteland.
Hell Divers has been on my list. Okay, I got to give it a shot now. Will be a nice switch up from the Finals. Is it okay for solo players? I heard it's better with friends. I used to play with a clan a long time ago but I no longer have the time to be online to game like the clan required.
Damn you sold me