[albertgoeswoof]

CS has always been a great mind clearer. A ranked 5v5 game is high pressure and intense, lasts about 30-45 mins, and has enough human contact to satisfy me. I haven’t found anything to replace it since I quit a few years ago.

[Cyph0n]

TF2 (another Valve game) is an excellent option if you want something more casual/low stress and also flexible when it comes to time (no penalties on leaving since it’s a casual game).

[nxobject]

Watch out for 1/2-hour ish capture-point campaign style maps, though... I wasted so many Fridays in my early 2010s doing that.

[thot_experiment]

DotA is the same thing for me, though I assume you quit for a reason that would probably hold true for DotA as well. I hate how harshly CS punishes acting rashly, it really encourages you to hold angles and play methodically/strategically and I feel like in DotA I'm afforded more leeway to gamble with flashy plays. That all being said they are both brilliant games. There's something particularly appealing about the round model in CS, buy vs save rounds and the way the game gives you an opportunity for a series of rematches where you can learn from the way your opponents played the last round to try and get a better outcome is just a really compelling gameplay loop, even if I don't love it personally. (rather be playing q3dm17)

[jmb99]

> I hate how harshly CS punishes acting rashly, it really encourages you to hold angles and play methodically/strategically

It does, but at the same time it doesn’t. If you spend as much time practicing rushing/+w as you do playing methodically/intelligently/holding angles, it works really well. Especially considering most people don’t expect it and don’t have a good counter to it since most people don’t play like that. This is true at all levels of play (except maybe tier 1/2/3 professionals teams). Check out the streamer/youtuber renyan for an example (on de_vertigo in particular). His play style worked well enough to get him to 4400 elo on faceit in csgo, so it can’t be that bad.