Rekkar

Grounded comes to mind

Ravine, just for the irony and probably just a 2x52 pack of regular cards to have the most options

Played it in solo mode and also with friends for a while.

A thing I really liked was the shared savegames, that system replaces the need for dedicated servers completely (savegames are cloud-shared between the players automatically, everybody always has the latest version)

Gameplaywise I really loved it, basebuilding was so much fun, the crafting system has some really good ideas I wish to see in other games (automatically picking ingredients out of boxes for example)

I’m not sure why we stopped playing, it felt a bit lengthy at times I think, also coordinating 4 people to find common timeslots so that everybody experiences most of the story was difficult. Also the mobs get a bit repetitive/annoying sometimes - I could do with less spiders in general…

Writing this though, I almost feel like reinstalling it and diving into the singleplayer again. Got it over MS Gamepass, if that is stil on there, you might want to try to get the trial for 1€ for the first month.

non-paywalled link: https://archive.is/foKCB

The reason simply seems to be a: “Well, what are you gonna do? We want to squeeze every cent out of you”

I played the hell out of Slipways

Their slogan “Build vast trade empires, still be done in time for lunch” is on point here. You connect planets with different resources and different industries to an interconnected network in a (turnbased) race against the clock. Easy to learn and always great fun to cram into a 30min slot in your day.

I didn’t ask for this

Killing 20min here and there during the days with SNKRX a “roguelike snake” for next to no money (~3€ at the time of writing)

Love the concept and the artstyle doesn’t win a price but fits the theme perfectly. The soundtrack is quite good though!