u/srog_capper

I know I'm not fully alone on this given the proliferation of posts on here (and a sticky) about other puzzle games to try. Many people, it seems, came to The Witness as genre stalwarts. To me, it was part of a short ramp (Portal -> Witness) into a genre that I have not really engaged with for most of my life. I loved the Witness, and ended up sinking 60ish hours into it. I regularly read/post here and watch blind let's plays as a way of kind of re-living the highs from that experience.

Like many of you, I've wanted to branch out into other first person puzzle games; however, so far the attempt to scratch the itch has met with mixed results.

The next thing I played after this was the Talos Principle, which I largely enjoyed. However, I was immediately confronted with the impression that it was far less elegant than The Witness and far more game-y, for lack of a better word. I specifically disliked its reliance on platforming elements and dodging deadly lasers since, in my view, the controls were clunky for those elements and it disrupted the kind of zen-like state of exploring the world and thinking about solutions (I really dug the ending, though).

More recently I played Superliminal, which I felt was an amazing mechanic in search of a game. The idea was so simple and clever and powerful and they, in my view anyway, never really figured out how to use it. I spent so much time just walking through levels that were essentially linear to get to the next checkpoint.

Now I've started Blue Prince. Admittedly, I'm not far enough in yet to fully appreciate what the experience will be. However, the fact that this reminds me of Betrayal at the House on the Hill is not working on its favor. This is a type of board game I don't really click with (no pun intended). Maybe by the time I get 15 hours in I'll have something more to say. But one of the things I loved about The Witness was not having to worry about managing resources or inventory. You just walk around and do stuff.

I don't need any recommendations, just felt like commenting. Does anyone else feel like you had a defining experience with this game that leaves most of its genre brethren looking a bit pale by comparison?

EDIT: I know I said I wasn't asking for recs, but since some people are recommending games anyway, I should mention I only have a Mac running Steam which cuts down on the number of things available to me.

As the flair says, I'm a busy dad with two young children managing work, social life, hobbies, and spending time with my wife and making sure her needs are met. I was always skinny growing up and I've never been big but I've also never looked like I wanted to. I was around 155 when I graduated high school but just gangly, no abs. Over ten years ago I did a starting strength style weight lifting program and I gained a bunch of weight to get up to my heaviest, probably around 195. I basically got fatter doing that rather than strong (I did up my lifts but never anything close to what other guys my age and height seem to be able to do). I've tried running, counting calories, swimming, etc. to get in better shape but nothing ever really stuck - and I hurt my knee running so now that's pretty much off the table except for short, slow runs every now and then. I've never eaten well, always loved chips and salty snacks and fast food, and when I was younger it never seemed to be a problem so I never seriously confronted those habits.

It wasn't until last year when I found out I had high cholesterol that I decided I needed to do something more. Over the past 5-6 years I've been laid off twice and had two kids, introducing massive lifestyle changes and tons of stress on just about every front. I think this has contributed to my feeling more bloated and unhappy with what I see in the mirror and how my clothes fit, even though the scale tells me I'm still in the same range I've been my entire adult life. I started buying t-shirts a size up and feeling more self-conscious. In order to hopefully manage my cholesterol and make sure that I have the vitality and energy that I need as my kids grow, I've embarked on a new journey to drop weight: not so much to look better, but to force myself to eat better and hopefully be around for my family for a long time.

My wife and I joined a gym even though it didn't really feel like we could afford it. I figured it's an investment in our futures. With our busy schedules, I can get in two lifting sessions a week and then squeeze in swims during lunch or in the morning, and add walking on odd evenings/mornings. I knew that if I started lifting again and didn't control my diet it wouldn't work. So ever since then I've been counting my calories. The first week I used 2100 calories cause that's what MFP said, and I didn't lose any weight. So the next week I dropped it to 1800 and stopped eating back my exercise calories. At the beginning of May I was 182 pounds. As of this morning, one month later, I'm at 174. I know to expect some plateaus as I get lighter but this progress shows me that my calorie deficit it working.

My focus is on a small, sustainable deficit so that I can avoid losing too much muscle as I go. I'm training using progressive overload; started light cause I tend to get injured, but I've been adding either weight or reps to my workouts every session. In order to achieve a deficit I've had to make different food choices. I've stopped buying chips and beer. Fridge is stocked with seltzers. Cottage cheese with berries as a snack most days. Carrots if I need to snack on something due to boredom or to fill more full. Our breakfasts and dinners are already pretty decent but I'm doing more overnight oats in the mornings. The biggest thing is snacking at night; I think that's where I was probably eating most of my excess calories. So replacing that with either carrots (I made some homemade dip out of cottage cheese so that's high protein low cal) or popcorn, or just drinking a ton of water.

So far it actually hasn't been that difficult. I've had maybe two or three days where I felt very hungry, and usually I can tell that's because I made a bad choice, like I had hot dogs for lunch and they don't have much protein and don't fill me up. I ate burgers and cake at my friend's memorial day cookout cause that's a holiday. I went out to dinner with my wife and had a beer. Knowing that I can fit these things in on occasion helps with the mental part of it. I feel very fortunate to be tall and a man. If I were 5' 1' I don't know how I'd avoid being fat. Y'all have my sympathies.

Anyway, all this is to say it's good to see things trending in the right direction. I don't really see much difference in the mirror at this point, but it's only 8 pounds. My initial goal is to get 14 more - down to 160 - and see how I feel. If I can get below 160 I'll officially be the lightest I've been since college, and I think that would make me feel accomplished. Whether it actually has an impact on my labs will take more time, I imagine.

TL;DR Down 8 pounds from lifestyle/diet changes, encouraged by progress, want to drop another 15 pounds to help my cholesterol, nothing dramatic, but I'm sure there are a lot of folks out there who don't need to lose 100 pounds, you just need to feel empowered to make small changes that add up.