Hello. I got a walkpad a month or so ago (it’s a small treadmill) and I try to walk 1hr per day daily for health.
As far as making the most of this otherwise boring workout I have found it helps to play relaxing games on my CRT. I have a PC but lean more towards pre 2005 games (it’s not a limit though).
I mention the treadmill because the games have to be engaging but not require 100% of your attention. For example I finished Resident Evil 1 the other day. It was a wonderful game although it had a lot of backtracking which was annoying.
A bad example would be Megaman 1 (too strenuous and attention requiring, also brutal)
A good example would be civ2 on the PS1.
In terms of what games I can play, I can pretty much play everything up to 2005 either handheld or console up to that time. I have a PC/ 3DS/ Analogue Pocket.
I lean towards pre 2005 games but not limited to that. I don’t really have any specific genres in mind so you can recommend whatever you want and enjoy.
Thank you all for your suggestions :>
Oh, Need for Speed! I still break out the originals like NFS III Hot Pursuit when I want to focus on a podcast or an audio book, but don’t want my mind to wonder. Letting my visual and motor cortex enter a flow state while doing timed laps pacifies my ADHD, keeping me on track to complete any audible reading, pun intended. It also helps having all the maps memorized from nostalgia.
Emulating the PS1 and PS2 titles is an option, but there are modern patches of the PC ports that improve the ergonomics of running them on current operating systems, including Wine and Proton:
- Need For Speed III Modern Patch v1.6.1 [2016/10/28] (HD + Widescreen + Portable)
Another racing series with a similar flow vibe could be the Track Mania titles. Forza Horizon is a little flashy, but if you create a waypoint race route and then avoid the finish line, you can then free roam without traffic making for a relaxing and scenic diving game. The Hot Wheels DLC for Forza Horizon is also rather zen once you get a grasp for the different gravity and motion model dynamics.
- Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels on Steam
Additional notable zen like titles, with less arcade driving:
- Absolute Drift
- over the hill (unreleased)
Turn-based RPGs generally move at the speed you do, so they aren’t intense in a way you’d have to worry about, and there are a LOT of them. Many Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, etc. games.
What I call ‘procedural’ games would also work, things where it’s less about pushing yourself to have perfect reaction times or compute complex values in your head, and more about just walking through the process in search of the Zen of flow state. Lots of simulator games fit in the category: train station renovator sim, house flipper sim, power wash sim, rover mechanic sim, mech mechanic sim, etc. Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a favorite in this category. There are also games like ‘Papers, Please’, ‘Contraband Police,’ etc. where you run down a checklist and try to spot anomalies.
Life games serve as well. They usually don’t have a hard limit on how you play through them so you can play as you like and progress in whatever way. Stardew Valley, Staxel, the My Time At … series, Farming Sim, etc. all lean toward just being pleasant rather than an intense challenge.
it had a lot of backtracking which was annoying
…but very immersive on the treadmill, no? LOL
…I‘ll show myself out
Slay the Spire
This and Balatro (and probably many rogue-lite deckbuilders I haven’t tried) are perfect compulsive time killers. Even though they’re newer, I would say they deserve serious consideration.
And Monster Train
And Dicey Dungeons
Turn based RPGs. I played through Persona 3, 4, and 5 on an elliptical machine in the past few months, and am now on Metaphor Refantazio. Atlus games seem perfect for this, heh. Not your pre-2005 style, but there’s plenty of old RPGs out there.
I also played through most of the Yakuzas on the elliptical too, although on easy difficulty since they didn’t become turn based until very recently.
Dome Keeper
Another vote for turn based RPGs, but that also includes ones like Pokémon.
Factorio, osrs, rimworld.
I tried playing games like Tony hawk pro skater or racing games, but every time I’d turn I’d lose my balance and almost fall off the treadmill. So anything i could play had to be slow placed or not have a 3d camera.
Sounds like the Fire Emblem games would be perfect for this!
Agreed! There are several good ones on 3DS.
Advance Wars is also a great option - you can play a couple of them on 3DS with back-compatibility. Or, of the pocket can play GBA, there’s those.
And there are some PC games out there (although much more recent than 2005) that are in similar genres, like WarGroove or Dark Deity.
Hello good sir, How does one play Porsche unleashed on PC these days? Would you have any hints please?
There’s several videos on getting it to run on windows 10 on youtube, however I think the best way to play NFS Porsche is on an old computer. And a CRT monitor.
Resident Evil on a treadmill isn’t strenuous?! Mad lad territory.
I love a simple but satisfying puzzle game like Peggle, Nubbys Number Factory, Hexic, Lumines etc
No Man Sky. Pretty relaxing, not really needs super concentration.
Into the Breach, turn-based and would probably look great on a CRT
I have played a few hundred hours of XCOM 2 on my treadmill. But I’ll play anything turn based that I can use a controller with. Steam controller takes care of the ones that need a mouse.
