Have a win 7 mouseless laptop I’d like to put a game on and play for funs. Typically my go to game for olden computers is Heroes of Might and Magic 3 or maybe Civ 4. Any recommendations?

Diablo2, WC3, and RTSs would be tricky because lack of mouse and I’d prefer no rush to my actions so I can simultaneously be coding and just do minibreaks taking a turn or part of a turn here and there

  • Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world
    10·
    8 months ago

    In case you’re not aware, there’s a project called VCMI which rewrites the Heroes 3 engine to add lots of modern improvements, fixes and easier access to mods. Thought it might be of interest since you like the game.

    As for other games, how about XCOM? These games are turn based so you should be fine with touchpad + there’s plenty of time to think. Don’t know what specs we’re talking about but in case of modern revival, XCOM: Enemy Unknown should work without issues. XCOM 2 is slightly heavier but might also work.

    You could also go for 4X titles like Star Ruler or Total War series.

    Finally, there are turn-based RPGs like Knights of Pen and Paper - it’s light and pretty fun (as far as I remember anyway). A bit simple but might be enough to spend some time on.

    • SolOrion@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      8 months ago

      The more modern Total War games are pretty hard to run, so keep that in mind OP. If you still have Windows 7 stuff like Total War Three Kingdoms or the Total War Warhammer games are going to laugh at you. That said, anything before Shogun 2 is likely to run on anything made post-2010.

        • SolOrion@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          I have pretty much the direct opposite experience so it was the first thing that came to mind- I started with Rome 2 and couldn’t run it at the time lol.

  • stembolts@programming.dev
    7·
    8 months ago

    Dwarf Fortress LNP is free and doesn’t require a mouse 😉 It requires a special type of insanity to learn, but the rewards are WELL worth it.

    Here is a video of a drainable/refillable moat I made.

    The quick transitions are Z-axis movement, you can only view one full Z-axis at a time. Dwarves go down so you’ll be diving into the depths of hell. Oh, and don’t mine the mithril tube unless you want to experience “fun”. No further spoilers. 😁

    If you don’t want to learn the ascii, LNP comes with a few toggleable tilesets you can swap between, I personally just prefer the ascii. Once you can see it, it’s like being able to see the Matrix.

    • SolOrion@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      8 months ago

      It requires a special type of insanity to learn, but the rewards are WELL worth it.

      That’s very accurate. I’m not that guy, I tried lol.

    • Redkey@programming.dev
      102·
      8 months ago

      Back in the olden days, when we used kerosene-powered computers and it took a three day round trip to get IP packets via the local stagecoach mail delivery, we still had games even though Steam didn’t exist yet. :b

      We used to transfer software on these things called disks. Some of them were magnetic, and some of them used lasers (you could tell them apart because for the laser ones it was usually spelled “disc” with a “c”).

      Anyway, those dis(k/c)s mostly still work, and we still have working drives that can read them, and because the brilliant idea of making software contact the publisher to ask if it was OK to run had only just been invented, we can generally still play games from the period that way. Some people kept their old games, but others sell them secondhand, which I believe the publishers still haven’t managed to lobby successfully to be made illegal, unless I missed a news report.

      Even if you can’t get the original physical media for a game, sites like GOG sell legal digital downloads of many old games, which are almost always just the actual old software wrapped in a compatibility layer of some kind that is easy to remove, so you can usually get the games running natively on period hardware/software. Finally, some nicer developers and publishers have officially declared some of their old games as free for everyone to play.

      There are still legal options for playing old games on old systems.

    • ISOmorph@feddit.de
      51·
      8 months ago

      Have you really never heard of GOG? It’s an awesome platform. They allow you to actually buy games so you can 100% own them drm free. No Steam or whatever other game launcher is needed. Also they specialize in older games, so it’s perfect for this use case.

        • ISOmorph@feddit.de
          41·
          8 months ago

          Well, games used to and still run on MS DOS, so Win 7 really isn’t an issue.

            • ISOmorph@feddit.de
              21·
              8 months ago

              Actually the opposite is true. I don’t know of a single game where the devs patched out something so it stops working on the OS it released on.

                • ISOmorph@feddit.de
                  11·
                  8 months ago

                  I get the feeling you’re just being contrarian on purpose now. Most, if not all games released on win 7 will still run on win 7 now, and will continue doing so forever, period. That’s exactly why OP is asking for cool games from that era.

  • spartanatreyu@programming.dev
    6·
    8 months ago

    No mouse and like games like MaM/Civ?

    Recommendation for slower paced, top down strategy game:

    • GBA emulator and the game Advance Wars 2

    Recommendation for hard and fast paced game (audio required):

    • Crypt of the Necrodancer

    Recommendation for story based game:

    • Undertale (avoid spoilers, this game will mess with you, only goes for 4 hours per playthrough but you will replay it for the different endings)
  • Qkall
    5·
    8 months ago

    hmm, a surprisingly lack of mentioning of joining us moderately happy linux gamers. join us :) some games run better by ‘magic’

  • SandLight@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    8 months ago

    Also, as a reminder since you mentioned HoMM3, HotA is a great mod, and the VCMI project hit 1.0 last year, I think.

  • Okami@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    8 months ago

    Void Stranger, Chip’s Challenge, and BABA IS YOU are all Sokoban style puzzle games with minimal performance requirements and no need for a mouse.

    Siralim Ultimate is a creature collector RPG that will run on a potato and provide endless grinding, if you’re into that.

    The Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters of the first six games are all excellent if you’re into JRPGs.

    Dungeons of Dredmor if you like rogue-likes, or you could go old-school and pick up NetHack or ADOM.

      • slingstone@lemmy.world
        1·
        7 months ago

        That would be phenomenal, but I imagine it’s unlikely.

        However, if we’re in the realm of unlikely scenarios, maybe they can give me a follow-up to Xcom: Enemy Within that proceeds from an Xcom victory in the first game. I never got into Xcom 2 because it ignored the buildup to the greater enemy foreshadowed at the end of Enemy Within. Not knocking those who liked what we got…it just didn’t work for me.