Not sure it strictly counts as Grand Strategy as it’s more of a sandbox, but X4 might be up your alley on the sci-fi front. Build a galaxy spanning empire from a single ship; complete missions, mine, trade, explore. You -can- fly the ships, but you don’t have to. You can just sit in a station issuing orders.

If you’re into boomer shooters, you can’t go past the original doom for infinite playability. Literally 30 years worth of user created content and mods.

Downhill Domination will always get my vote. It’s also excellent in multiplayer.

First game of this style that i really enjoyed. The characters actually feel and play differently, the mechanics make sense and finding synergies is so much fun. My favourite is the silent but I’m not actually that good; haven’t finished the game yet but have gotten damn close a couple times.

That’s one of the things that’s not explained, related to the DLC launch. There are a few different versions of the game. The console version is considered legacy and is functionally “disconnected” from the live version. It no longer receives updates outside of the occasional security or stability patch. Only PC is receiving new content. If you can get it for free it’s a good way to test out the general gameplay, but most of the community is on PC these days.

It’s the only MMO I still play regularly after three years. That said, I hesitate to outright recommend it. It’s fairly niche, and kinda still recovering from a disastrous DLC launch a couple years ago. It’s in a pretty good place now but confidence in the playerbase is still a little shaken. Mechanics-wise there’s a lot built up over the years that just aren’t explained at all in-game, so the learning curve is more of a sheer cliff face. OTOH, the community is honestly one of the most supportive I’ve ever experienced; even the griefers will chat with you after blowing you up and explain how to avoid it next time. And having the entire physically modelled milky way to explore is honestly an amazing experience. I’d suggest checking out a few streams to suss out if it’s for you, streamers are generally lovely and happy to chat with and help out new and prospective players.

Elite Dangerous. It’s so freeing to just hurl yourself out into the middle of nowhere and not come back.

That was fast.

As much as I enjoy hating on Apple, their track record popularising niche technology is admittedly pretty good. They made mp3 players mainstream, then everyone else scrambled to catch up. They made smartphones mainstream, then everyone scrambled to catch up. I wouldn’t be surprised if they managed to pull off the same thing with VR/AR. Just don’t mention the Newton.

I just finished The Invincible. Runs like dogshit on my system (i5-9600 16Gb/RX6650XT 8Gb), but very engaging for a walking simulator. About ten hours long and very little replay value unless you’re a completionist. Recommended if that sounds like your cup of tea, but don’t pay full price.

I’m running mine on Pi4. It works, but I wouldn’t really recommend it. It needs frequent reboots and tends to choke on anything over 1080.

This confused the living shit out of me for a good five minutes, seeing a sidey on the MFD but a battlestar in the main screen and an X4 HUD.

Prayer

Plot twist: the “quick, decisive action” will be to tell them to shut the fuck up or get fired.

In Australia we have the EFA. Inspired by but not related to the EFF. If you want to get involved locally there might be something similar in your country.