I picked up Just Cause 2 after a long time of not playing it a little while ago and I had a bit of a realization…
I simultaneously get bored easily with and highly enjoy these games. Outposts and towns are incredibly repetitive, and those make up 90% of the game’s runtime. It’s not like that’s all there is, and Just Cause 3 does have some other side diversions and new tools, but in the end, I’m just running, driving, and/or flying around a massive largely empty, albeit pretty map.
It’s incredibly mindless sometimes, and I never stick around too long, but there’s also this call to it. It is mindless.
It’s simple. I know where to go, what I’m gonna do. Im gonna see some pretty sights, big explosions, and I’m gonna zip around like a deranged Spider-Man. No deep planning or strategy, just spur-of-the-moment chaos. See a thing? Blow it up.
It’s almost like candy. As long as I only come back and play it here and there, I will play it consistently.
Side note: On a certain level, exploring Just Cause’s maps is pleasant in its own way. They are remarkably pretty and it kind of scratches an itch of just being able to GO. No real destination, no plan, just going.
I play Just Cause 4 every once in a while, and ironically because of that mindlessness it’s almost the perfect game to pick up and play in short bursts - go in, blow some shit up, be done in 20 minutes. It has its appeal because I know I can just pick it up, where bigger story games like Cyberpunk or Fallout you spend a few minutes every time you start up going “now where was I…”
I always tell myself I am finally going to finish a long story-based game, but when I make time to play I end up always starting up something like Dead Cells where I can do a run and be done. I love huge, sweeping narratives and deep mechanics, but it always falls back to being exactly how you said it, “where was I? What was I doing again?” I can’t always make time to play something, so when I do I tend to pick up something I can play in bursts. Games like Just Cause are great for this.