So, yesterday I broke my dominant arm. Yay! For the next 6 weeks, I have a cast, and at least for now, I can’t use my right hand or arm at all (I am typing this with my left hand).
I’m looking for suggestions what I can play. Some thoughts:
- On PC, of couse
- Can be played only with the keyboard
- No time limits or need to respond quickly (e.g. many RTSes)
- I like puzzle games, RPGs, and good storytelling. I want to like sim games, but haven’t yet found one that I love.
- Nothing too difficult
Here’s a link to my Steam profile, if that helps: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198028619119/games/?tab=all
Thank you all for any advice!
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If all else fails, Vampire Survivors.
Or many of the other games in the genre as long as they have auto-aim. Brotato and halls of torment are worth checking out, imo.
Slay the Spire and Monster Train are great singleplayer card games that can be played with just the mouse.
Pretty much any turn based RPG is on the table, I can easily recommend Octopath Traveler 2.
You can also play story-driven games like Telltale games and Pheonix Wright, those are pretty fun.
Get your mom to type or move the mouse for you. Don’t go any further than that…(Reddit flashbacks).
Oh god, why do I know this one
The recently released Baldur’s Gate 3 can be played with one hand perfectly fine. Your arm will likely heal before you finish it.
Edit: just noticed that you said you want keyboard only, in which case BG3 might not be ideal since it’s mostly mouse based. I think you can customize it to play with keyboard only since it has gamepad support, but don’t know what that’d be like.
There’s no fast paced clicking required though, so you could try to adapt to left handed mousery if you really want to play that one.
I second BG3. And just do mouse with off-hand. Or set up keyboard to act as mouse.
Baldurs gate 3
Some of the best old school turn based RPGs are on sale at Humble Bundle at the momemnt. Those should be playable with a broken arm. Get well soon!
Even Baldur’s Gate 3 should be playable with one hand if you’re after something more modern.
True
I actually think BG 1&2 might be harder because of Real Time with Pause, come to think of it. Though if you have a mouse with rebind-able extra buttons it’d be alright, just set pause to a thumb button and you’re good to go.
Right, I totally forgot about the Real Time with pause system. It’s been years.
Anything that is turn-based will work really, or doesn’t rely on a real-time mechanic.
I do suggest looking at a small trackball that you can use in the meantime. It’ll be useful for the times when you need a pointing device in a smaller space, for whatever reason.
Baba is You
I played through 'One Finger Death Punch" with a broken arm.
Would recommend.
Peglin is fun and can be done with one hand. You have to like peggle kind of games. It’s in early access, but to me it’s already complete.
Coromon is like classic Pokemon but has some really cool little tricks up it’s sleeve.
Rise of the third power is kinda like final fantasy. Lots of great story telling and music.
Halcyon 6. It’s a spoof off of space games except it’s in rpg form. Used references from a lot of space series. Most startreck.
Into the breach is a great game.
All of these are indie games that I really enjoyed.
Almost Any visual novel.
Steins;Gate is one of my favorites
There are some really decent ones that have just come out, are are on sale with the current Visual Novel fest on steam. Videoverse - VN set in a Miiverse style social network that is about to be shut down Hypnospace Outlaw - Another one set in a computer, this time it’s an alt reality internet based around old Geocities pages. Very fun/weird Analogue: A hate story ( on sale)- You’re investigating what happened to a Korean generation ship found abandoned in space by talking to its AI Long Live the Queen ( on sale) - On of those VNs where you pick activities etc to raise stats, but parodied/put on its head because you’ll die various horrible deaths until you get it right.
Good luck hope you heal fast!
Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball Xtreme 3
Caves of Qud is a really neat turn based roguelike that kinda focuses on exploration. It’s a bit hard to get into but if you do it’s really neat. Very very keyboard friendly, its my go-to game on my laptop.
It has difficulty modes that are… Less hard lol
Baulders Gate 3 is prettt mouse heavy. Dont need to use the keyboard much at all. You can also set the screen to scroll with the mouse.
Not to mention its the biggest game out now
BG3 is such an easy recommend. Not only is it easy to play mouse only, it is also turn based combat, hugely story and decsion driven, and very very capable of giving you choice paralysis so you have plenty of reasons to come back with something different.
A good suggestion, and I’ve heard a lot about it over the past week :). I haven’t played Baldur’s Gate since the first one, and I was a bit too young for itr back then. Just bought it and it’s downloadin now
Oh god I know too much about this. Long comment. Sadlol.
What kind of cast? Above or below the elbow?
I had above the elbow for 9 weeks once and below 3 times for 3-6 weeks on my right arm. Only below the elbow on my left but 5 times. My bones aren’t so good.
Above the elbow I played a lot of Warcraft 3(long time ago lol), Civ, AoE etc. Games that only required simple clicking but lots of hot keys to control. Above the elbow cast prevents a lot of you ability to rotate your arm so switching the mouse to your left doesn’t help much.
Below the elbow it depends if your thumb is immobile or not. If your thumb is free then it’s a matter of buying a cheap small mouse that will fit in your palm with the giant cast bulge. FPS and fast movements will be painful and not recommended but slower games and general use isn’t much impeded.
Immobile thumb is maybe the worst. Grab a cheap number pad and place it under your hand so you can use four fingers on the buttons. Mouse in your left hand. This severely limits what you can do with a computer.
Look up some brain exercises to ease the transition between sides of your brain and handedness. Also hold on to the skills you develop in these few weeks. Being able to work right or left hand helps with a lot of manual tasks with weird angles like using a drill under a sink or what have you.
Oh wow! That sounds rough.
I have a nice full arm cast from my elbow to my wrist (Oberarmschiene). I just learned that I will have it removed next week already, because they don’t want to immobilize it for too long, but I was told it will hurt a lot after it’s removed, so we’ll see how that goes…
My thumb is indeed mobile, but my wrist is locked in place, so it is indeed quite uncomfortable to grip a mouse.
