Nier is pretty fun mechanically (although it has some annoyances). You even play differently to a certain extent in susequent playthroughs. Since most people say you have to play the game three times in order to experience enough of the story, you could just treat each playthrough as completing a really long chapter in the story. But regardless, it might not be your type of thing still.
I had somehow missed The Outer Wilds (I think I kept mixing it up with Obsidian's The Outer Worlds, still not yet released), but I've started noticing people talk about it lately. If you're putting it up there with The Witness, then I need to check it out.
Even if you normally hate tactics games, I would recommend watching a video or two on Into The Breach. I do like Tactics games, but I no longer have time for a proper one. I tried playing Wargroove, spent an hour on a mission and failed it, to have to start it all over again, and I went... "Yeah...guess I'm not playing this game again for awhile." It left a sour taste in my mouth.
But Into the Breach is different. It's a roguelike, so failing is okay, you just make your survival situation tougher for yourself and might not "beat it" that playthrough. And each map has a strict turn limit to accomplish your objective, usually only like 5 turns max, so each level takes about 5-10 minutes, usually. And again, knowing exactly how the enemies will attack during your turn really changes the feel of it, and it feels less like a tactics game and more like a puzzle game using tactics mechanics. Like the difference between playing Chess or solving a Chess Problem. That example might not make it sound that sexy, but it's really addictive.
Also I heard that FF7 remake is more action oriented, and doesn't really have an ATB bar this time around. Maybe you'll like it more than you think.
I had somehow missed The Outer Wilds (I think I kept mixing it up with Obsidian's The Outer Worlds, still not yet released), but I've started noticing people talk about it lately. If you're putting it up there with The Witness, then I need to check it out.
Even if you normally hate tactics games, I would recommend watching a video or two on Into The Breach. I do like Tactics games, but I no longer have time for a proper one. I tried playing Wargroove, spent an hour on a mission and failed it, to have to start it all over again, and I went... "Yeah...guess I'm not playing this game again for awhile." It left a sour taste in my mouth.
But Into the Breach is different. It's a roguelike, so failing is okay, you just make your survival situation tougher for yourself and might not "beat it" that playthrough. And each map has a strict turn limit to accomplish your objective, usually only like 5 turns max, so each level takes about 5-10 minutes, usually. And again, knowing exactly how the enemies will attack during your turn really changes the feel of it, and it feels less like a tactics game and more like a puzzle game using tactics mechanics. Like the difference between playing Chess or solving a Chess Problem. That example might not make it sound that sexy, but it's really addictive.
Also I heard that FF7 remake is more action oriented, and doesn't really have an ATB bar this time around. Maybe you'll like it more than you think.