Games that you love but don't play

[Memory]

Was difficult of thinking up a title for this one! So I'll elaborate here.

Are there any games that you love or otherwise enjoy but for some reason or another haven't/can't/won't play?

For example: I love Resident Evil and Silent Hill as series, but rather than just being genuinely scared of these titles, I'm much more interested in the lore of the series than actually playing them. It's more fun for me to watch my friends play them instead, and to have a little streaming party where I get to enjoy watching the game without the chore of playing! I hope that makes sense. Or like Elden Ring, the premise, characters, lore, and world really interest me, but I just don't have fun playing it.

Does anyone else have games like that? And if so, why?

[shevek]

I feel the exact same way about them (or rather, horror games in general). I cannot bring myself to play them because they scare me too much. The added element of actually controlling the character adds a scare potential horror movies don't have. So I love to watch them played by someone else as well!

My favorite is SOMA. I love everything about it. I could talk for hours about the story.

[Skykristal]

I love watching others play games more than playing myself. Does not include every single game out there but usually all sorts of "big titles". I also can't even play most of them even if I wanted to because my laptop can only handle very simple games, mainly 2D or simple 3D (which is painful considering that thing wasn't cheap, but I also haven't bought it for gaming. still awful tho)

One of these games I am especially "scared" of is ARK. I watched so many lets plays of this, especially back then. It's been a few years actually. But it's still a cool game. As well as The Forest and the new Sons of the Forest. I LOVE this game omg. But I would never play it myself. The same is with pretty much any other game in either the horror or survival genre. (except for Minecraft, but even there I pretty much always had mobs off lmao)

I am overall not much of a PC gamer actually. If I play it was always, or well, mostly at least, Nintendo!

[shevek]

One of these games I am especially "scared" of is ARK.

I am also a bit scared of ARK - scared of its file size! When I first heard about it taking up 400GB, I couldn't believe it.

[Skykristal]

I am also a bit scared of ARK - scared of its file size! When I first heard about it taking up 400GB, I couldn't believe it.

Holy molly, yea! It's a big game. I actually tried it out before but for mobile 🤣 My phone was definitely close to catching fire but it was smooth. Deleted it, however, because it was literally overheating and big too. But the actual version is of course nicer... If I could even run it haha. The graphics are amazing and dinos are amazing. It's not too surprising the size is big. But it's still... crazzzzy big.

[kurohaato]

I've tried to play osu in the past but I just found it way to confusing. I love watching other people play it though, especially super hard charts that you really need a wacom tablet to even attempt. Animal Crossing is another one I love but don't play. I don't own any Nintendo systems so except for the occasional mobile game all of their first party IPs are off limits to me. I still like seeing what others manage to do with their islands though.

[Memory]

The added element of actually controlling the character adds a scare potential horror movies don't have. So I love to watch them played by someone else as well!

My favorite is SOMA. I love everything about it. I could talk for hours about the story.

This too, honestly. Something about horror games is a bit too immersive for me, and so I suck at playing them because I literally can't LOL. SOMA is another game that I love but haven't played too, so my brother often replays games for me if if I wanna watch em!!

As well as The Forest and the new Sons of the Forest. I LOVE this game omg. But I would never play it myself.

Completely understand about this too, though for me it's more because I find those games incredibly boring while I'm playing them, but enthralling when I'm watching them. I don't know... The world and setting are fun, but not when I'm a player in those settings, if that makes sense?

Animal Crossing is another one I love but don't play.

Yes this! Ah, I'm so glad I'm not alone in this one especially haha. I've played every instalment of animal crossing that I can, and I'd even go so far as to call it one of my favourite game series ever. But man, I can't bring myself to continue any save file I've got going! It just becomes tedious after a certain point for me, but I'll still look at animal crossing related content online all the time lol!

[creaturefeature]

pretty much any horror game, i love watching horror playthrough but I was too chicken to try it, I think the closest I got was vampire the masquerade bloodlines, cuz I thought, hey at least i´ll be playing as a powerful monster Instead of a helpless human....but as soon as I got to the hotel.
I was like, NOPE. and decided to instead just watch other people play the rest of it. I mean I love the lore and voice acting, but yeah.

As for the non-horror, my fave games are splatoon, Legend of Zelda breath if the wild and animal crossing horizons, mostly because i don't have a switch, I don't think the price is enough to justify it.

Also I heard you need to pay a subscription to play online? That´s kind of wild, since that wasn't a thing with the 3ds and wii

[Memory]

Final Fantasy is this for me these days. I used to play it a lot but now I think I'm content to just enjoy the art and lore without engaging in it... at least for a while. I have so many other games I want to play that I just can't see myself jumping back into it for a while.

Driving/racing games might also count? I love watching people play them and kind of zoning out but I haven't picked one up since the early '00s other than to crash into things for a minute or two in Burnout Paradise.

[shevek]

Driving/racing games might also count? I love watching people play them and kind of zoning out but I haven't picked one up since the early '00s other than to crash into things for a minute or two in Burnout Paradise.

Do you also like TrackMania? I used to watch videos on YouTube like this or this about it lots years ago because it looked so smooth and satisfying. I have them in my library because a friend knew and gifted them to me, but I somehow also prefer to watch rather than play I think they are perfect to watch and zone out

[appleAlc]

Fear & Hunger: Termina, it's a deeply fascinating game but I haven't played it myself.

[Memory]

Fear & Hunger: Termina, it's a deeply fascinating game but I haven't played it myself.

Completely understandable, I've completed this game once and it took me roughly 25+ tries to even manage to get through one in game day. Definitely not for everyone, content aside, and I really struggled given the fact that at the time there wasn't many in depth guides so I got stuck and lost often lol...

[Memory]

Do you also like TrackMania? I used to watch videos on YouTube like this or this about it lots years ago because it looked so smooth and satisfying. I have them in my library because a friend knew and gifted them to me, but I somehow also prefer to watch rather than play I think they are perfect to watch and zone out

I'll have to check that out - I never really got into TrackMania (though like 90% of my friend group did back in 2009ish) but it definitely sounds like something I'd like to put on in the background. Many thanks!

[Nippo]

Pokemon by far is a series that I don't really engage with but I love the characters. I find the games to be quite boring and repetitive, I feel like after you play one of them you got the gist of every single one after (except for the spin-offs like Legends Arceus cuz that game is awesome). However I really love Pokemon cuz they are cute and I enjoy drawing most of them (also without a doubt is the reason why I am a furry )

Final Fantasy is this for me these days. I used to play it a lot but now I think I'm content to just enjoy the art and lore without engaging in it... at least for a while. I have so many other games I want to play that I just can't see myself jumping back into it for a while.

Same here. I end up cutting my play sessions short either because I don't have enough time or because I get burnt out. The classic Square JRPGs can get boring to me if they are too long. My last game that I played extensively is FF7. I bought FF9 but I didn't really get into it unfortunately. However, I just recently bought FF10 for really cheap and it honestly looks like a lot of fun so I might try to stick with it...  I really enjoy the game's music.

More often than not I will listen to a game's OST without even playing it to begin with. I guess that could be an example of enjoying games without actually playing them.

[Memory]

Pokemon by far is a series that I don't really engage with but I love the characters. I find the games to be quite boring and repetitive, I feel like after you play one of them you got the gist of every single one after (except for the spin-offs like Legends Arceus cuz that game is awesome). However I really love Pokemon cuz they are cute and I enjoy drawing most of them (also without a doubt is the reason why I am a furry )

I agree with this, I never really played a pokemon game not even the spin offs but the characters are fun to look at.