Over the many years I’ve tried to get into gaming (Dark Souls, Cats, Valorant, Hogwarts, Portal, etc), I’ve always backed out due to motion sickness. I’m getting really tired of never truly enjoying any gaming experience so it’d be nice to have some non-motion-sickness-inducing games to try out.
It sounds like you need to stay away from 1st person perspective games. Find some “top down” style games: Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Starcraft, etc and see how those work for your motion sickness since the camera is much more locked in place.
I’ve looked at Stardew before (my friend plays it) and didn’t quite like how crowded the game looked if that makes sense. It seems like there’s too many things moving on the screen at every point of the game. Maybe its the design but that’s what drew me away from the game. Apart from that, I think I’ll try out Starcraft. It’s been under my radar for a while now. Thanks for the recs.
Or maybe ARPGs like Diablo 4 / Lost Epoch, they also feature a mostly static top down camera.
Ooh, Diablo 4 looks really promising. The gameplay looks abit like a combination of Hades, Dark Souls, and single player Dota 2 if you know what I mean. Gonna try it out, thanks for the rec!
Sure thing! As for Stardew, I think the only “chaotic” part is when you do the combat stuff in the dungeons - but the beauty of Stardew is that content can mostly be ignored if you want and you end up with a very relaxed farming/fishing/discovery game. For what it’s worth, every family member who hates gaming I’ve suggested Stardew and they all got hooked.
Make sure that your framerate and especially frame timings are consistent and high (low for frame timings). I experienced motion sickness myself when this wasn’t the case.
Most games aforementioned, I’ve locked my fps at 75 so the game runs smooth. Perhaps it wasn’t high enough? Anyhow, I don’t think I’ll be running a higher framerate due to limitations in my current PC. Not thinking of getting an upgrade anytime soon though. Unless I get into resource heavy games. Thanks for your suggestion, I’ll keep that in mind
Does your monitor support that framerate? 75 fps is not a typical framerate. Maybe things are getting out of sync
Perhaps I’ve remembered it incorrectly. But yes, I think I was running some of the aforementioned games at around 75. Maybe you’re right, I can’t say for sure though.
I know someone that has a lot of trouble with motion in games; they don’t really do 3D, or most 2D games. Wingspan, a port of a boardgame, is still pretty enjoyable to them. There may also be other categories of games that just don’t revolve around constant camera motion, like Slay the Spire, that could be fun.
How much motion sickness do you get with 2D games? Looking over my steam library, I’ve really enjoyed things like: Crypt of the Necrodancer, Ori and the Blind Forest, Don’t Starve, and Pyre. FTL is another one that has minimal movement.
There are some 3D games that don’t have much motion but the list is small. Currently the only one I’m playing is the Black Book, which is primarily a card game set in Slavic pagan mythology with some 3D exploration (but minimal).
Oh and there’s Mini Metro for a subway/train building game, but that’s a really niche one
Not much, I don’t think so. Partially the reason why I’ve stuck with retro games for so long. I’ll go take a look at Black Book, though I’m not that familiar with card games. Thanks.
Honestly I just load up on motion sickness pills and defy the world to stop me 🤷♀️
Haha! I should try that sometime
I relate. First person games are more likely to cause it for me, but there have even been a few third person that do it. Stray was horrible for me, I got stuck within 20 minutes! Interestingly enough, BOTW and TOTK do not cause me any problems despite being action based (though they are third person). I guess how they handle the camera and other video issues it’s the reason? I’ve played nearly 70 hours in TOTK and over 150 in BOTW and never felt green in the least.
Otherwise, I try to stick to turn based games and third person for the most part. Turn based games reduce the frequency that I have to spin the camera around to get my bearings. I’m lucky that I prefer rpgs, so there’s a good collection of third person turn based games to choose from. Persona 5 for example. No issues at all.
Rain World. 2D platform / survival but the camera never pans. And it’s a wild ride. Never played anything quite like it.
I’ve recently stumbled upon a video essay about this game! Looks promising will give it a try. Thanks for the rec!
I play only on PC and get motion sickness, if the FOV is too low / the camera is zoomed in too much.
Maybe try increasing the FOV (if possible) and see if it helps.
But I think this is only relevant when your monitor fills out your field of vision. If you are sitting back at your couch and gaming on TV which doesn’t fill out your vision, this is probably not that big of a deal.
Right, I’ve tried increasing FOV whenever I could for 3rd POV games but for some it’s just not possible to make the game more comfortable due to the camera angles.
