Topic: Games you play at the same time/variety of genres.

For those of you who actively play several games at the same time, what combinations of genres do you prefer — all distinct or similar? Very distinct or just somewhat different? Also, how many is too many before you lose track?

It occured to me that I played 5 games today:

• Super Mario Maker 2
• A retro shmup
• A picross/logic game themed around a farming game
• An exercise game
• A modern-world supernatural romance visual novel

I would be hard-pressed to think of 5 games with more different genres. Which got me thinking whether others prefer very different games like that to play at the same time.

Although I sometimes play multiple platformers, generally my brain gets confused if I play e.g. 2 farming games or two rpgs on the same day/week so I try to spread out my genres. I went through a brief phase where I tried to actively play 12 games of all different genres but that was too much.

What are everyone else's thoughts? It's a bit vague of a topic, so anything is fine.

At most I'll generally play like...1 longer/bigger/is on a cartridge Switch game with a 2nd often smaller, often download only Switch game on the side and then a 3rd game, either a game I'm slowly getting through on 3DS or only playing on occasion on PS3/4. And its still fairly rare I get to 3 games in one day (unless you count the absolute bare minimum I do to "play" Kirby Clash Deluxe)

I do generally do different genres, but I do it so naturally I barely even think about it. I'm sure there were points where I could've played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and F Zero 99 the same day and didn't because obviously I wouldn't and spent zero time even thinking about it.

I am most like KKSlider here too. One main one on the go and maybe something I might play a tiny little breather of inbetween, but no more than that. For something like a TTYD or Mario RPG, I played that and that alone till I was 100 percent done.

I'll usually have some sort of main game I'm playing through and then anything else I play on the side tends to be something I can easily pick up and play for a bit that no story or anything, like a roguelite or rhythm game.

RPG, shmup, visual novel, platformer, third person shooter, action/adventure, racing, point-and-click adventure, puzzle, roguelike, and first person shooter...are all genres I've dabbled in recently.

I like to hopscotch between genres fairly often and I rarely finish games these days.

I am always playing Picross on my 3DS whilst going through my backlog on my switch (Currently playing Tinykin - cartoony pickmin rip off)

I usually have 3-4 games on the go at any given time. If I were to generalise, I'd say:
1. I always have a Pokemon game on the go.
Of the remaining games:
2. One of them is typically a long game / RPG.
3. One of them is more action-focused.
4. One of them is more casual, short, or a replay.

This generally covers all bases for me.

Currently I'm playing Pokemon Yellow (#1), Tokyo Xanadu (#2, #3) and Fire Emblem Engage (#4, a replay).

I usually have a few on the go at the same time but like others, try to keep to just one 'main' game.

My current main is Ikenfell, but I was playing Dirt5 too thinking it would be good for a side game having the odd race here and there, but it's kinda become my main game. Also playing eFootball and Suika Game as sides, which to be honest are also taking up way more of my time than I expected.

I normally would have an action "hard" Souls/Metroidvanie title alongside a classic P&C adventure game

Right now finishing off Nine Sols (v hard!) alongside 'Loco-Motive' (great and very reminiscent of old Lucasarts P&C)

I usually have three games going on at time. A singleplayer game of some sort, a racer, and a fighter. Currently it's Stray, Hotwheels Unleashed, and Rushdown Revolt. A few months back I was revisiting with my Gamecube, and for that I focused on PSO Episode 3, Speed Kings, and Bloody Roar: Primal Fury.

@dmcc0 What are your impressions of Dirt 5? I plan to check it out at some point seeing as it was developed by what's left of Evolution Studios, but with mixed reviews it hasn't been a high priority. I do get the sense people are more upset about it being a departure from expectations, than an actual bad game.

Curious to hear your take

I haven't always done this but at the moment I'm only playing one 'main' game at a time, which is usually something like an RPG, action adventure, narrative-based game, or anything else where you need to keep track of where you're going / what's happening / what you're doing throughout the game. Other games that are split into levels or whatever, I'll just pick up and play whenever I feel like it. Currently my main is Fire Emblem Awakening, which kind of only borderline fits into my definition of a main game because it does have 'levels' of sorts rather than an overworld, but you do need to remember what's going on in the story and what you're planning to do with your characters long-term so it wouldn't really work as a pick-up-and-play game.

@judaspete I haven't played any of the other Dirt games so didn't really have any expectations going in, but I have to say I'm really enjoying what I've played so far.

It's definitely a straight-up arcade racer with a rally theme rather than a rally sim, as there are virtually no sim elements as far as I can tell - the vehicles have a 'Performance' (Speed?) and 'Handling' rating and there doesn't appear to be any way to upgrade them other than buying a better car - from what I've read since, the lack of sim elements seems to be the main issue people have with it compared to previous entries in the series.

It looks and sounds great (I'm playing on Xbox Series X) - although I wish there was an option to have the background music playing when you are driving. There are some decent songs, but you only hear them in the menus and briefly as you are racing - as if the music was playing track-side and you hear it when passing the start/finish line.

While it's nowhere near the likes of the Forza Horizon series in terms of available vehicles, there are a decent amount of different types/classes to race with - modern rally, trucks, buggies, retro rally etc - which all seem pretty distinct in terms of how they perform and how they handle, and quite a few different race types too which helps keep it varied - racing on ice in particular takes a bit of getting used to at first, but is probably one of my favourites now I've got the hang of it. You buy new/better cars with in-game currency which the game gives out pretty generously, although there are a few vehicles you can buy with real-life money. The game doesn't really push you to buy these though - I honestly don't even think it's even mentioned - and the ones I've seen are right at the end of the car list in each of their classes, so you have to scroll through all the others to even see them. The real-money cars aren't necessarily the best in each class either, so there's really no need to buy them if you don't want them. It's definitely not pay to win.

The AI drivers aren't the greatest - they pretty much stick to the racing line and won't budge regardless of where you are, so they will mostly just try and drive straight through you if you get in their way!

I'd say if you are fine with it being a purely rally-like arcade racer then I'd definitely recommend it, but if you're looking for a more sim-like experience I'd look elsewhere.

At most I've played about 5 games at one time, and that was due to the fact that I was going to be very busy for a while.

Right now I'm playing 3 games. One on my ps3 as the main game, and the other 2 on my switch and 3ds as side games.

@dmcc0 Thanks for your thoughts on the game. I've played a few Dirts, but Motorstorm was my jam. If it's somewhere between those, I'll probably like it.