It’s an unfortunate reality, but it seems like loadshedding is here to stay for the unforeseeable future. With backup power alternatives being so expensive, combined with modern AAA-titles’ insatiable hunger for battery power, what is a gamer to do? No worries, we got you!
Obviously, mobile games are the natural choice because of their long battery life, etc. But, you know, sometimes mobile games just don’t scratch that gaming itch.
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If you have a laptop fully charged and ready to go, here are some great PC gaming titles you can play during those dreaded loadshedding sessions.
Author note: We based these recommendations on a DELL G3, 16GB RAM, GTX1050Ti 8GB, Intel i7 (8th Gen).
Crusader Kings 2
Crusader Kings II is a turn-based, grand-strategy game set in the Middle Ages (1066 – 1452). It is by far the most battery-hungry title on this list. However, what it lacks in battery-friendliness, it makes up for in engrossing gameplay. It starts you off in a historically accurate world and, through its sandbox-style gameplay, allows you to alter the very course of history.
Establish dominance through epic warfare, cripple kingdoms through spy networks, or establish alliances with sprawling empires through meticulously arranged royal marriages.
While your battery probably won’t last through an entire loadshedding session, if you drop all your video settings to the lowest requirements, including switching to windowed mode and lowering your aspect ratio, you will make it almost all the way through.
Fallout
The original Fallout is still one of the best RPGs you can play today and gave birth to one of the most celebrated franchises in gaming history. While Fallout is better known as a third/first-person RPG today, the 1997 flagship title (and its successor) was a captivating, narrative-heavy isometric RPG that has all the hallmark features that the series is known for today.
Thanks to its old release date, Fallout will take a very small toll on even the most basic laptop rigs. So, jump into the original wasteland and let the post-apocalypse suck you in while loadshedding breezes by.
Papers, Please
Loadshedding or travelling are two great opportunities to try out titles that are a bit more unique than the usual popular titles that often adorn Steam’s storefront. Papers, Please is one such title, and one that is very easy on a laptop battery.
In Papers, Please, you play as the border-control officer of Grestin at the end of a six-year conflict with neighbouring Kolechia. Your job is to interview visitors and immigrants trying to enter the country in the hopes of identifying and capturing terrorists, spies, and smugglers hidden among the crowd.
Fail to do so and it could have devastating consequences on the security of your country and its people.
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley lets you play as a young adult who inherits a derelict farm from their late grandfather. Sick with your desk job, you decide to give it all up and spend the rest of your days in the eponymous Stardew Valley restoring your farm to its former glory.
Beyond the duties of the farm, there is also an entire town filled with wonderfully vibrant personalities and a string of timed events where you and the townspeople get together to blow off some steam.
This title and its absorbing gameplay are so amazingly addictive that you won’t even realise that you’re sitting through another session of loadshedding.
Feature image: Screenshot/ConcernedApe
