Yakuza 0 and Grounded; two totally different games but both in the category of genres that I’d been burnt out on. I had grown out of Shenmue-style games after I left high school (admittedly until the Yakuza series ramped up, there weren’t many in that category), and I had tried Yakuza 3 but just couldn’t stick with it. For some reason Yakuza 0 seemed to have just the right amount of distraction without feeling overwhelming and the progression of the story clipped at just the right pace for me… I can’t really put my finger on it.
As for Grounded, it’s just overflowing with heart! I’ve tended to shy away from Survival games these days, save for my love of Minecraft, because too many are samey and with an overwhelming amount of jank; I feel as though that was something that the team at Obsidian strived in earnest to avoid. Sure, it’s a smaller project and there’s definitely some low-budget elements to it, but that’s the only complaints I have otherwise in a game I’ve gotten lost for hours in.