What do you play when you’re not playing Blizzard games?

World of Warcraft encourages you to take all things in moderation, including World of Warcraft itself. Thankfully, it’s a big world of gaming out there, with lots of entertainment options to choose from. Yes, Blizzard makes other great games, but those aren’t what I’m hoping we can talk about today. What do you play when you’re not playing WoW or other Blizzard games?

Personally, my attention is currently taken up by a trio of acquisitions from the Steam Summer Sale. The first one is called Foundry, and I’m really digging it (pun intended, natch). It’s an industrialization game in Early Access that bears a lot of the same hallmarks as Satisfactory, in that you’re dropped onto a pristine alien world with instructions to turn it into a capital of industry. Unlike Satisfactory, however, Foundry is set in a procedurally-generated, fully destructible voxel world, a la Minecraft. It’s two great tastes that taste great together. There isn’t even any combat to distract you from your logistical challenges either, which I welcome, as combat is generally my least favorite part of games like this.

The second game has been out a bit longer, and is called Roots of Pacha. Set in a time vaguely reminiscent of the Stone Age, it feels a lot like Stardew Valley with a much lower tech level. As a recent addition to your newly-relocated tribe, you start the game shortly before your character’s Rite of Passage. Given a good omen, you’re asked to try out one of the tribe’s new ideas of planting seeds in the ground and growing them! The tribe comes up with other new ideas as you play, such as befriending the local wildlife with a flute and a simple rhythm game. It’s cute, pixel-arty, and low stress — just the way I like ’em.

Finally, there’s the most unique of the three, Chants of Sennaar. It’s a puzzle game that bears some faint similarity to point-and-click adventures like the Monkey Island series, but what the game is really about is language. Based faintly on the myth of the tower of Babel, you find yourself navigating a vast desert tower, occupied by people speaking strange languages. These languages start off completely indecipherable to start, but in order to progress, you have to learn. It’s a very different sort of game than I’ve played before, and it requires a great deal of intuiting meaning from context, which I’ve found I enjoy but am not always great at. The art is deliberately spare, and it’s a style that I think works for the setting.

That’s what I’m busy with lately. You can probably tell what sort of games I’m fond of based on this selection, but what about you? What have you been playing lately that wasn’t made by Blizzard? Share your recommendations in the comments!