I do enjoy game mechanics that interact in emergent ways that weren’t fully planned out by the developer in games like Dwarf Fortress.

Inventory Tetris

I love anything with a tech tree or a skill tree or items that improve based on usage. The ratchet and clank games have such a great mix of all of those things, I end up spending a bunch of time just leveling up the guns!

Parry and riposte mechanics make me happy. Idk why exactly, but something about timing a parry and making the enemy entirely helpless for the followup is just great.

Among plenty of the other things mentioned, I enjoy “diagetic interfaces”. Ways of interacting with a game’s systems that stay grounded in the reality of the setting of the world. Dead Space is a prime example, but I’ve been enjoying a lot of the crafting in Vintage Story for this reason. The smithing in particular has had me hooked for a while. Hammering out my armor and weapons voxel by voxel made finally suiting up and feeling ready to take on a boss that much more satisfying.

Puzzles, traditional or unique, as well as physics and spatial-heavy thinking.

More floaty, less realistic platforming. Thugs like double jump, or somehow your character has less gravity when they jump, stuff like that. Stuff like that. As a general platformer lover, I really enjoy more fictional cannot be done IRL physics in games.

Intricate character building with multi-class synergies. Is. My. Shiiiiiit!

Small wonder I love BG3 and Owlcat’s Pathfinder games.

I’m an absolute sucker for a hidden traitor mechanic. Boardgames like Battlestar Galactica, Werewolf, and Secret Hitler (the latter of which might be my absolute favourite board game). More recently I’ve just started playing Among Us (I never got into it during its ~2020 peak) which is the first time I’ve seen the hidden traitor translated well into video games (unless you count that one minigame from Jackbox Games).

I like most game mechanics to some extent. Creativity in combining game mechanics is key to making an outstanding game imo.

However, I don’t like things that force a time limit. I play games as an escape. I don’t like feeling stressed by a clock while I’m off the clock. These can be literal timed missions or things like a food/water meter. Escort missions also suck for similar reasons.

I think difficulty in a game should come from overcoming a foe, traversing harsh terrain, or solving a puzzle. If the game is hard because I have to stop what I’m doing to feed myself, or I have to rush to complete an objective on a timer, it just becomes work.

Peaceful exploration

The controls for the Skate games, especially 3, are great.

It’s easier to say what I don’t like. Open worlds and crafting mechanics, they are just so boring

Not a game mechanics maybe but more of an engine thing i guess. I just love simulations. Good VR combat physics, elemental stuff like water, fire, smoke, crumbling stuff. I love a world that feels dynamic but not necessarily realistic that makes sense of itself.

I used to think i didn’t like fighting games, but I fell in love when I found a game with characters and mechanics I really liked (Mark of the Wolves) and realized that technical skill means nothing unless you have good fundamentals and can read and react to the opponent. Now KoF XV and SF6 are two of my favorite games and I have a lot of fun playing and practicing :3

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