What I am searching for is for games that support touch screens and can be played with 1 finger / one hand. No action games with fake joysticks on the screen, just games that work with a single finger or at least one hand while lying in bed and trying to wind down. One very good example is Civilization V, which has a dedicated touch screen mode and is a turn based game. Also the windows included card games work good.
I tried to search for games on Steam, but unfortunately there is rarely a tag for touch screen support. Even Civ V with its dedicated touch screen mode has no tags telling about it in the Steam store, so it is hard to find games that work well.
I thought the “The Room” series could work well, because they are awesome on IOS devices, but the Windows version on a touch screen is cumbersome to use. So you can not even look out for mobile games that also exist for Windows.
If someone has some recommendations, I would appreciate that very much :-)
Edit: Changed Civ IV to V!
I’ll need to double check them on my touchscreen laptop this evening, but 95% sure that both Dorfromantik and Townscaper work well with the touchscreen, and they’re also some of the calmest games in existence. I’ll also check Stardew Valley, which I haven’t played on my laptop, but the Android version is compatible with touchscreen so the Windows version may be too.
Oh yes, Dorfromantik! I have this on my radar for a while. It looks so lovely. I did not know about Townscaper, but that looks very chill too.
I have Stardew Valley already, never thought about trying it on the tablet, but that´s something I will do. I love this game, but only played it with Mouse & Keyboard so far.
Thank you very much for your suggestions :-)
I also just realised: if Civ V works with touchscreen controls, then Civ Beyond Earth probably would as well, since it is essentially the same game but with a sci-fi setting. Same developer, same controls, almost identical gameplay mechanics.
That´s a good idea. A Sci-Fi setting is a nice change from the classic Civ theme. I loved Alpha Centauri back then, could not stop playing. This might scratch that itch. Thank you :-)
I just played “behind the frame”
It’s a short story that’s perfect to be played on a windows tablet! Even better if the tablet supports the pen
It’s free this month if you have an active Amazon prime subscription
I liked it, it’s casual and it can be finished in a single session (1 hour, puzzles are very easy)
Oh wow! That looks like a pretty unique experience. I have a pen, indeed! Thank you very much :-)
Check out Slay the Spire if you haven’t already. I did find some forum posts with people complaining that the touch controls don’t work well, but you can try the game and refund it if it’s not working properly. (At least steam should make this pretty easy.) it worked well for me on iPad, but I can’t personally vouch for the experience on windows.
I always miss Demos for games, but totally forgot that on Steam you can refund within the first 2 hours of gameplay. It should not hurt if it´s used rarely. I can not figure out yet if Slay the Spire is for me (for some games it is pretty clear when reading about them), so this one might be a good opportunity to test it out.
I’m not sure if there is touch screen support, but Cookie Clicker is an in browser game where you click the cookie to build up resources. Sounds boring but it’s shockingly addictive.
Oh yea, the idle game category, many of them should work pretty good. Realm Grinder is another one that´s possible :-)
I’ll double check on my Steam Deck, but from what you described, many old point-and-click game would also work, since a mouse input without right clicking should translate well one finger touch input. This might make SCUMMVM and all the compatible classic adventure games potential successes. More modern adventure games might also work well.
Like I said, I’ll have to test, but tentatively I’ll suggest:
- SCUMMVM + numerous classic adventure games (Amazon Queen and Beneath A Steel Sky are available for free for the SCUMM project, completely legally).
- Beyond A Steel Sky
- Broken Sword 1, 2 and 5
Thanks for the suggestion. “Unfortunately” I grew up with those and know probably each one of them inside out, as they have been replayed multiple times over the decades. But I did not think about SCUMMVM and reading this I get the urge to Talk to Mr. Tentacle Guy again :-)
The problem with point and click on a touch screen is that you can not point ( i.e. mouse hover). Finding interactible elements can be very tricky.
Tinyfolks is a little indie turn-based roguelike you can compete a run of in a few hours. It’s like Darkest Dungeon except with the opposite amount of stress, and it actually only supports mouse/touchscreen!
Oh cool. That looks like it might also be a battery saver and not causing too much excess heat in the tablet :-)
Hidden through time!
That looks sweet! I never heard about that, looks like a whole series. That´s on the list :-)
I didn’t test most of these personally on a touch screen, but they seem like good candidates to check:
- Pawnbarian
- Osmos
- Hexcells (+ Hexcells Plus + Hexcells Infinite)
- Frog Detective (+ 2 + 3)
- The Witness
- Taiji
- shapez
Her Storysorry, it needs a keyboard- Eufloria
- KAMI
- Hook (+ 2)
- The Pedestrian
- Subsurface Circular
- Dorfromantik
- Polychromia
- Hidden Folks
- Cogs
That´s quite a list! Thank you :-) I even have a few on that list and will try them out. I did not think about The Witness, but it´s worth a try. I did not finis it on PC, but it has some really hard puzzles in it that keep you occupied for a while at the same place without the need to move around a lot.
The Hexcells series is awesome, played through all of them (of course not through all the random ones in Infinite ;-)), but might be worth to try again on the tablet. I tried Tametsi (also a puzzler), but it did not scale with the High DPI screen and was super tiny.
I didn’t see anyone mention Slay the Spire.
