Mysterious, thoughtful games? A genre I can't define
Hello everyone,
I have been craving a sort of game genre, but I'm not quite sure what it is or if it really exists as a genre at all.
It is a game with a lot of existential twists to it. I could call it Mystery though I feel it falls short.
The main story tends to be a complete upheaval of what we thought was the basic premise. Think of it like paradigm shift: the game.
They also tend to be games that you can really only play once. Lucky for me my memory is horrible.
So far I came up with these games:
- Outer Wilds
- Enderal (which is a "total conversion mod for Skyrim", but an amazing game)
- The Forgotten City
- Paradise Killer
Most of these have some kind of cycle involved in them, but I'm not sure if that's coincidental. All of them have you learn how the world works and it's never really what you first expected.
They tend to be light in battle, which is probably a skill issue bias on my part.
Honorary mention to:
- Strange Horticulture
- Horizon Zero Dawn, but the sequel less so (although still a very good game)
- The Zero Escape series, although I haven't played the first one yet
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (as it really breaks away expectations you got from earlier games too, and the existential dread is dripping off it)
- Nier Automata
- Doki Doki Literature Club
Do you know any others? Or do you know a good match to this list?
What do you think kind of links all this? Feel like playing one of these games?
Stanley Parable was the first game that popped into my mind when you mentioned the existential twist criteria. Other games I think you'd probably might want to check out would be Return of the Obra Dinn, The Talos Principle, The Witness, and To the Moon.
Seconding Talos Principle, Stanley Parable, and another favorite of mine, The Beginner's Guide, by the same creator as Stanley Parable. All three are fantastic "existential" or "thinking" games.
Putting The Beginner's Guide in the basket, thank you!
To The Moon is a great addition too! The Talos Principle I will check out too, thank you.
+1 for the Talos Principle. My interactions with Milton in the game were some of the most though provoking interactions I've had in gaming. Specifically regarding sentence.
I'm not sure if it fully slots in but I will wholeheartedly speak up for Return of the Obra Dinn. It is a short experience but it's premise and the path it takes you on is absolutely phenomenal. The basic premise is that you have to uncover the fate of a ship crew, with a device that plays back the final moments of their life. I would hesitate to tell you any more about the game, because it is best experienced with as little info as possible. An excellent murder mystery tale, with fun twists and turns as you unravel the story of this mysterious ship.
God I wish I could play RotOD for the first time again.
What a perfect experience. Nothing else like it.
Yes I love that game. I'm hoping if I wait long enough to replay I'll forget most of the mysteries.
That's my plan too! Haha. I truly hope we get a sequel someday
Return of the Obra Dinn is an interesting game. I liked it but I didn't really love it like I do Enderal and the others in the list. Still not sure why myself, but it is an excellent suggestion nevertheless.
Fair! It's a very unique game, so it wont appeal to all. I've not actually heard of Enderal before, but total conversions fascinate the hell out of me, so I will give it a peek.
I can't tell you how envious I am right now. Have fun, if it looks like your thing!
I am baffled that this is not the top post in this thread. Once the gameplay loop and deduction scheme clicks Obra Dinn is an absolute gem - one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had, and one I wish I could experience for the first time again.
God, I adore Obra Dinn. The story, the concept, the music, the visual style, everything just comes together to create such an interesting and mysterious experience that nothing else has ever come close to replicating. Definitely one of my favorite games.
I went in blind at the nagging insistence of my friend and BOY do I wish I could erase my memory of this game so I could play it again. So damn good. One of a kind experience
I think the game is beautiful and I enjoyed it for an hour or so. But the transitions get really tiresome the 30th time. Actually, the entire gameplay loop wears thin once you’ve closed a dozen cases. What’s worse is it’s absolutely not a game you can put down and pick up a few weeks later when you’re back in the mood.
I would have loved it if it was broken into 3 completely discrete stories that I could tackle on their own.
Fully agree. I played for an hour and loved it so much that I stopped - I'm waiting until I find someone to share the experience with, this one is special.
Many of the other games mentioned here are great, but my vote goes to The Witness. I won't spoil it for you, but it has exactly the sort of mid-game recontextualization that is just mindblowing.
The Witness is such a difficult game to start a discussion about because you have to say things like "Have you found... the thing yet?"And if they have, then they'll know what you meant - but if they haven't, it's completely baffling.
Yeah... And because you love it, and loved that moment, you don't want to spoil it for people, but because you don't want to spoil it you can't really properly sell why it's so good... It's rough.
I just adored The Witness throughout the many hours I spent therewith; perhaps it's been the years since playing, but I've no idea what you mean by this comment, and because of that I'm newly inspired to go back and replay. Thank you very much!
There is one major, major epiphany moment in The Witness that outshines everything else, so if nothing comes to mind (and assuming you didn't just forget) you're definitely missing a big slice of the game. I hope you have a fun second playthrough!
A-ha, if your wordplay was deliberate then I think that I'm picking up on what you mean; very nice. If the moment to which you're alluding is what I think that it is, then yes, that was such a highlight! That realisation left me with the biggest grin.
I'm always so torn about the Witness. On the one hand it is drop dead gorgeous with simply mind blowing visuals and nestled within all that some very clever puzzles.
But on the other hand... It's just too long. And basically always the same. At least to me. I probably lost a good deal of patience over the last few years (damn you Reddit...), but it sort of feels like a game that doesn't respect my time, for lack of a better phrase.
I really want to like it and I'm very happy other people do, but god damnit I just can't stand it...
We've had a few discussions about The Witness here in the past few years (I feel like it's mainly because I stubbornly evangelize for it whenever I get the chance, but that's another story). Here's a lightly-spoilery thread you may find interesting. As far as it not respecting your time, I've seen and heard that enough to realize that is primarily due to players' assumptions/expectations about the game, and not so much the game itself. Sounds vague, I know, but that's the easiest spoiler-free way to sum it up.
The Witness is fantastic, and while the thing doesn't really re-contextualise the gameplay, it's definitely a defining moment for your experience in the game (and maybe even outside of it). Some first-person puzzlers are more explorations of philosophy that almost use puzzles as a way of slowing you down and making you think about them (The Talos Principle has been mentioned throughout this topic, for good reason), and maybe The Witness falls in with those?
I know it's not quite what OP is asking for, but more recently in the screen-based puzzle-games-that-make-you-figure-out-their-mechanics-without-telling-you (genre name pending) there's been Taiji, which is very clearly inspired by The Witness, but manges to get a few ideas of its own in there. I'm not sold on the difficulty progression, as some puzzles I perceived as difficult were intermixed with ones that were definitely more achievable.
There is also a parody of The Witness, The Looker, which does a pretty good job of poking fun at the serious nature of The Witness while not going overboard. It still manages to fit some fantastic puzzles in there too (a highlight was figuring out Snék).
Hey, I'll have to check out Taiji. That looks amazing.
What I would give to forget everything about The Witness to play it again. I finished all of the non-special puzzles. It's absolutely one of my favorite games of all time and I wish I could find more games like it. Recently Taiji scratched that itch, but I'm in the same boat with that one where I finished everything it it already.
Subnautica is a beautiful game, both in it's atmosphere and gameplay. I really enjoyed it, way more than Outer Wilds. It's very survival/crafting heavy, so perhaps it won't appeal to you if you're not interested in that. But the drip-fed story and the mystery behind the lore is really well executed.
Subnautica! I was just wondering if I should've put it on the list. Nevertheless, I truly adore it too.
Usually I'm not much for tense games (reapers... i love/hate) but I couldn't resist.
What did you think of Below Zero?
I liked Below Zero ok, just wasn't the same experience as playing the original for the first time.
Yes, I feel the same. I was wondering if it was fair to the game to feel that way. I wanted more of Subnautica and I got it hahah
I think while the story was more fleshed out, there was less mystery and tension. That, couple with the absence of truly leviathan creatures, made it less alluring. But it did have a lot of great quality of life features.
If you’re playing Subnautica I recommend playing on PC and installing a few inventory management mods. I played on PS5 and in the later game you basically spend all your time moving raw materials from one thing to another and trying to find stuff scattered across various lockers. It gets to be a pain.
If it's existentialism you're after... SOMA always gets a recommendation from me. It is technically a horror game, but once you get used to the oppressive atmosphere, the science-fiction really shines through. One of the best narratives in any game I've played.
(There is also a 'safe' mode, which makes things a bit easier, if you're not into sneaking around horrible monstrosities.)
I really need to finish SOMA. The atmosphere is intense and the story, as far as I got, was great. I might just download it to play over the weekend.
Aw definitely give it another shot... the ending does not disappoint.
SOMA is one of my all-time favourite games. It will give you an existential crisis and you'll still be thinking about the game for weeks afterward. Not many games have left an impression on me the way SOMA did.
I've tried replaying SOMA so many times, but it just never hits the same as the first time.
Frictional Games is so underrated. I've enjoyed every single release they've done from Penumbra all the way to the latest Amnesia game
Is The Bunker good? I'm staying away from trailers and spoilery things until I can work up the courage to dive in.
Haha I can understand.
Without spoiling anything, I'll just tell you that it is not exactly the same as the other amnesia games. However, the story is really good as expected of Frictional. I haven't finished the game but I'm having a blast with it (and getting scared shitless)
Tunic might qualify for a few reasons, but it’s both different and similar to many of these games
Doesn't quite work for the "light in battle" element though! Tunic makes it a little bit harder to explore the magic than some of the games listed.
Sorta, but others have recommended things like Environmental Station Alpha, which I think has similar levels, if not more, combat.
Very true, I think that wouldn't work as a suggestion either. It's a cool game, but one where you could easily get stuck if you're not "good at games"/don't enjoy difficulty
I think Pony Island would be a good match. And though I haven't played them yet, I understand The Hex and Inscryption by the same author fit a similar bill.
I mention it more as a novelty now, but Frog Fractions was one of the first of this genre.
It's a little difficult to recommend games with a twist, because sometimes revealing a twist can ruin the experience. So best to tread carefully when discussing this topic!
Never heard of Pony Island, but that trailer... was certainly something! Very Doki Doki vibes. The Hex is new too, thanks for the suggestions.
Frog Fractions being one of the first blows my mind. It does look like an innocent flash game.
If you liked Doki Doki then Inscryption will be definitely up your alley. I highly recommend it. There’s waaaay more to the game than the trailer suggests. That’s all I can say without spoiling it.
I've played Pony Island, The Hex, and Inscryption. Inscryption is the best one imo and I'd highly recommend going into it blind.
Journey is the first thing that springs to mind.
Also:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/323380/The_Magic_Circle/
Is a criminally underappreciated game.
Played Journey, I love it indeed.
I'll check out The Magic Circle, thank you!
The Talos Principle? It's a puzzle game and the story is told almost entirely through "notes" found in the environment, the story certainly took me for a spin back then when I played this.
Yeah! I came here to post this - one of my favorite experiences in gaming and I'm very excited for the sequel. It's also gorgeous.
I'll check it out, thanks!
I literally only just discovered the game is getting a sequel after writing my first comment. Looks interesting, the "PC" logo in the trailer without a Steam or GOG logo there makes me wary of it being an EGS exclusive, hopefully not.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/835960/The_Talos_Principle_2/ Steam has a page on it, so hopefully that means something!
Unfortunately, the only way I've gotten anything similar to the emotions Outer Wilds led me to feel is by watching other people play Outer Wilds blindly. I would definitely suggest watching some blind let's plays on youtube or finding a small <5 viewer streamer trying it out on twitch.
A few people have mentioned some, but one I want to point out is Observation. Really enjoyed this and it gave me somewhat similar feelings to Outer Wilds in terms of realizations, the sort of... cosmic horror, I guess? The puzzle solving is different but still interesting.
I couldn't get into Paradise Killer unfortunately. The art style and dialogue turned me off way too much and I just couldn't get past it. But I've added The Forgotten City to my wishlist, and hopefully I'll try it soon! Thanks for the recommendation on your end!
Oh, and I just remembered another. I don't know why, but my brain puts Oxenfree in a similar category sort of.
There's a channel called Symbalily on YouTube and her playthrough of Outer Wilds is excellent! I enjoyed it a lot after having completed Outer Wilds myself
I started watching her play through today. Really great so far. Thank you for the recommendation!
Extremely fair, Paradise Killer is one of the only games I played where I think I geniunely felt a kind of culture shock (although from a fictional culture). It took a few days to feel "at home". But if it wasn't for Shinji I probably would've been put off too much to play further.
The Forgotten City is great, if you ever play it and want to tell me how you feel about it, I'm super interested to know. And if you like it, you'll love Enderal!
I find myself doing this a lot. Not just for games, but scenes from movies and shows too. You really do get to relive your experience if you find the right (authentic...) reaction. Sometimes I feel it more that way. Can you believe there are young folks who are able to go into The Sixth Sense blind? Here's a great reaction, it makes me tear up every time.
Any particular Outer Wilds ones you remember well enough to link to? There are so many "aha" moments I'd love to see people feel. I might have to do a deep dive.
Wanderbots has a great full playthrough on youtube. Was one of the first I found and watched when I was trying to find more Outer Wilds content.
Aside from that, my biggest sources are searching Twitch for Outer Wilds and just silently watching low viewer count streamers play through. They'll keep going and start vocalizing their thoughts more with a little chat interaction too which actually makes the experience better.
Aside from that, sometimes if I have a friend on discord who hasn't played the game, I'll buy it for them and ask that they stream it to me or tell me about it when they get around to playing it.
You're a fiend! :D
But I know how you feel. Almost any other genre you can replay the game and have a similar experience. Not these...there's no going back.
I just hope, sometime, someday, they give us another one.
To give a wide swath, I'm going to suggest Death Stranding, Journey, Shadow of the Colossus, and Citizen Sleeper. However, my absolute top recommendation is Inscryption.
For Inscryption in particular, I would suggest you don't look up anything about it, don't read anything, don't try to get any kind of feel for it, just play it! You won't regret
I've tried Inscryption and it's a very cool game, but I never got the hang of it and kind of quit early on. Maybe I should check out a let's play? Or get good, I guess.
I finished Journey and Abzu, and saw an analysis video of Death Stranding. So you're pretty much in the ball park off my interests in games, very good.
Shadow of the Colossus is something I'm slowly working through, but the feeling of you're doing something right but at the same time wrong is amazing. These beings never really slighted you, but you're cutting them down to help someone... At least, you hope you do.
Citizen sleeper is completely new to me though, thank you!
I'd say for Inscryption, either trust the process and let yourself be taken along, or watch a let's play. It's a really unique game.
Citizen Sleeper is also unique, in a different way, and has a pretty interesting play style, something I've never seen before, which, to me, helped add to the feeling of being lost. You might also like NORCO.
Death stranding is so, so very good. I adore it for the sense of isolation, and for never really knowing what I'm supposed to be doing at any given moment except walk, just walk. And you summed up my experience of Shadow of the Colossus perfectly!
If you only played a couple hours of Inscryption, you haven’t played Inscryption. Definitely keep playing or watch a playthrough of it. There’s much more to see.
You probably don't need a Let's Play for Inscryption. In the early game, just keep in mind that you are supposed to "lose" at least a few times and reset back to the start of the board. Don't worry when that happens. You are still making progress.
What, you couldn't handle eight bears out of nowhere?
I kid, I kid. I agree wholeheartedly. It's hard to know in a given game whether losing is how you advance or not until you've played for a bit, and it's easy for people to bounce off of it. I include myself in that statement, though I'm trying to learn to persevere a bit more when it feels like there's an unreasonable wall.
For Inscryption specifically, if you go the LP route, the one by MBH is, in my opinion, the definitive version. Excellent narration, just enough "voice acting" to establish characters, a sprinkling of mechanics where it's interesting, good pacing, just solid work overall. All that being said, you should definitely try playing it again, just because the concert is always better than the music video, y'know?
Steam really wants me to play Inscryption. They will not stop recommending it to me! The thing is, I'm not crazy about card games or deck building. I don't hate them, I'm decent at them, but it's just not a genre I'm very excited to play. But I know there's more going on in this game. Think I should go for it?
There's definitely more going on under the hood, and it's got weird mysterious undertones, but if you don't like card games, I'd recommend playing something else that sounds interesting to you - no sense adding something to your backlog if it doesn't sound interesting and you're just picking it up on a recommendation.
Go for it! And don't read anything about it! I promise it's not what it seems to be.
Yeah, Fez and The Witness have been the most impactful for me of these games. A delight.
Toki Tori 2+ has also scratched the itch somewhat, although I got a little stuck after a while and didn't return to it. That's on me though. It's a really cleverly designed game.
Yeah, good callout! I liked Toki Tori 2 as well, but I think I've played the opening around 3-4 times thinking it would be easier to follow through.
I played the Switch version and evidently that got a pretty major rebalance update that the PC version never got, adding things like manual checkpoints. Might be the version to play if you haven’t tried it (and, crucially, if you own a Switch).
Firewatch, which was discussed in another thread recently. You play as a dude getting away from it all in a firewatch tower and... stuff happens.
Casette Beasts: It's sort of Pokemon but not. I'm not going to repeat myself, but here's a description I wrote. The experience is very well-made and the larger story reveals itself in this open world as you come into pieces. The story starts with you waking up on a strange island, getting a rundown on these dangerous Beasts, and you're off to solve the mystery and try to find a way off the island.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: It's a pretty standard game with a basic prophecy formula, but when I played through the story a couple years ago I found the story quite compelling, and beyond many games I have experienced with how things are never quite how they seem. It was definitely unique and mysterious, but I think really well-crafted. Every storyline has something going on that makes it unique, which isn't quite the case for later entries, and I think make this game match what you'd want.
A minor technical/opinion note: The only drawbacks are spammy attacks don't hit, and there are some of the systems that got tweaked in later games that can be fixed with drop-in mods like Fair Magicka Regen and Alex's Running Without Fatigue to ensure you can move decently quick and recover mana as you run. You can use OpenMW, which should have one if its best releases soon, to play it without having to hack the hell out of the original engine, as well as those two mods. It's how I did it. Setting the game up is as easy as installing it and pointing OpenMW's wizard at it.
I'm here to stump for Kentucky Route Zero.
Amazed that this wasn't mentioned already. An extremely influential classic.
Has it really been long enough to view it a a classic? Amazing game and I came here to stump as well, but... or maybe I'm just old and don't want to accept how long it's been since Act I came out.
We're not old!
Oh crap, we're old.
Disco Elysium is definitely what comes to mind. Not so much in terms as what you describe in terms of expectations, but in the light of being a mysterious, thoughtful game, this one hits the mark. This game has a certain mood to it which I haven't seen in other games.
I am surprised that I had to scroll this far to find someone talking about Disco Elysium! The gameplay doesn't really evolve in any fantastical way from the things you discover, but there is so much subversion of expectations, intense philosophical dialogue/monologue, deep extestential theming, and (if you choose a certain path in developing your character) a chance to explore and discover things about the physical manifestation of the void.
My god, it's just so great. This game brought more emotion out of me than any other I've ever played, and it's visually beautiful too.
My number 1 vote for mindful/exestentialist gaming is definitely DE (get the director's cut!)
Inscryption is definitely the first thing I thought of.
I don't know if this is the right fit, but check out Her Story.
Oh, Her Story is a good pick, I think. I was very invested in its mystery, and my notebook looked bonkers with random words I had written down to try and search for.
Looks interesting, thank you
I really recommend it. My wife and I had a pretty full Saturday planned, but we decided to turn on Her Story for like 20 minutes and see what it was like. My wife is absolutely not a gamer, but almost immediately we were both hooked. 5 minutes in and we grabbing a notebook and making lists of names and drawing and event timelines. 30 minutes later and we wrote off our plans for the day. Pretty much played through the whole thing in one day.
I definitely vouch for Inscryption, quite unique in its setting, story and mechanics, and definitely an interesting development. You get thrown out into a world you don't understand and pick clues along the way to unveil a multi layered enigmatic story, in a sense quite close to what Outer Wilds offers.
I definitely recommend!
It hasn't been mentioned yet, so I'll say to check out The Curse of the Golden Idol. It's an excellent logic game which is telling you a story that you don't realize it is telling until it all clicks together. It's a super unique game, well designed, short and quite satisfying.
Looks great! Thank you very much
I absolutely second this recommendation.
Love this series! I needed something after my second playthrough Obra Dinn, after 18 months 'forgetting' time.
Did you play the new DLC?
It's not an exact match to what you describe, but Gorogoa might sort of fit the vibe you're looking for?
I can highly recommend a little gem called The Sexy Brutale. It's a groundhog-day style murder mystery puzzle game set in a sprawling casino mansion. The music is incredible.
Just listen to the title music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP8RxMnqt94
I really like Heaven's Vault for this. It's not perfect by any means but I think it's a very unique game that must have been quite challenging to design. The core of the game is translating an ancient language and piecing together events of the past based on your translations. The game lets you be wrong, which is something I think is important for a sense of mystery - your translations are often just educated guesses, and you may find contradicting evidence later for a particular word or phrase that causes you to re-evaluate your assumptions.
The ending of the game is always pretty similar but everything else can diverge RADICALLY depending on your actions. There were many choices that I didn't even realize were choices, but in a good way - it made the story feel relatively natural without the big branching paths being made explicit.
Sometimes the concept of mood can be more useful than genre.
I guess that's true. I'm not sure what mood it is either though.
Certainly something in the flummox/wonder/curiosity sphere.
Also, the goal is to find more games like it. Isn't that then again a genre? Like "cosy games".
English isn't my first language though, I might be butchering the nuances here.
You may be trying to group games that are too different using criteria that is too broad. Like Horizon and Doki Doki.
That is incredibly broad.
Horizon and Doki Doki are games that have that kind of epiphany moment which changes everything, but they are in the nominees list for a reason. The main four are more what I mean.
Also, in my defense, if I knew how to call it I wouldn't have made the thread hahah
You are essentially describing the mystery genre with a twist, which is a very broad and traditional genre. You get that with Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, The Twilight Zone, Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, M. Night Shyamalan, etc.
Somehow this hasn't been mentioned yet, and doesn't exactly fit in with the games you list, but came to mind after reading the title... Night in the Woods. It's a little more grounded in our present day, but there's no shortage of mystery, mood, and surreal dreamy imagery once things ramp up. And it's certainly thoughtful, goodness me.
Also, for anyone reading who knows and loves Night in the Woods, I also want to give attention to the announcement of the upcoming game Revenant Hill, which seems like it'll be right up the same alley as NITW.
I absolutely loved NITW. It is almost more story than game and I agree I'm not sure it fully satisfies what OP is looking for, but it was also the first thing I thought of. Highly recommend for anyone who likes story-driven, emotional games. Especially for anyone who grew up in the rust belt but outside the big cities.
I'll essentially copy-paste a comment I made a few days ago in a different thread as I feel its relevant here as well.
I've got a game that might be of interest, it's called "The Way". It's a very niche title made for RPG Maker 2000 back in the early 00's by mostly one person (with help from others for testing and some custom art and music) but it's great fun.
It's set on a strange world where the people of The Way (called Wanderers) believe that the entire world is enclosed by the Rolling Mists. The very front of the world is gradually revealed by the Mists while the rear of the world is swallowed by the Mists. What lies in between is the titular Way and every human being spends their life walking the Way, either alone or accompanied by other Wanderers. Settling down is considered blasphemous and the religious order of The Guided ensure that people keep moving forward.
The story follows Rhue, a young wanderer on a quest to regain a lost piece of his past. He's been searching the Way for many years already, desperate for a simple clue that might help guide him to that which he lost so many years ago.
He encounters many weird, wonderful and dark characters and factions along his journey and takes part in duels, gang wars, and even a grand stage production.
Thematically the game deals with loss, grief, trauma, how the obsessive pursuit of an unobtainable ideal can cause more pain than good, the power and corrupting influence of religion and is a very dark, existential journey of self-discovery.
The gameplay itself is varied, there's a standard RPG combat system along with a duelling system called The Plunge and a lot of fun mini games (although all of these can be turned off so that they auto-skip, although you still gain all items, abilities and experience as if you completed them). It takes place over six episodes (episode 1 can be a bit of a slow burner, episodes 3-5 are definitely the peak in my opinion and episode 6 can be a lot of fun and there are a variety of endings available depending on how you've done throughout the game due to it's save game transfer system).
Highly suggest giving it a go as its one of the best JRPGs I've played.
Great pitch, you've absolutely piqued my interest. I suspect actually playing it may feel a little dated now but I definitely want to at least check it out.
For anyone else interested, here's the trailer in glorious 240p. It should be available on RPGmaker.net, but the site seems to be down for me at the moment. There's a similarly named game that came out in 2016 that has much more visibility, but that's not it.
Yeah, the trailer with Boulevard of Broken Dreams, really dates it haha! Definitely gives you a taste without ruining anything.
I picked the game up once episode 5 was released in 2004 or something like that and used to post about theories and got super hyped along with everyone else on the Crestfallen Forums in the run up to episode 6's release, there used to be a great little community around this game back in the day.
You're right in that it lacks some of today's games quality of life enhancements and grand orchestrated soundtracks settling for MIDI tracks instead but the game was definitely ahead of its time offering players a chance to skip combat, plunges abd mini games for those who just want to experience the story.
Thats frustrating, I know Luke, the creator, took the games down off the Crestfallen site because it was taking up server space but once RPGmaker.net is back up you should be able to get all six episodes there.
Lots of good recommendations already made. Here's an indie puzzle gem - Starseed Pilgrim. It gives you precious little instruction, and you have to figure almost everything out on your own... which is tough, but not necessarily frustrating. There is a HUGE paradigm shift later on that doesn't exactly turn the world upside down but is central to whether or not you "get" the game. It's not for everyone, but it's a very unique, challenging, and rewarding experience. If discovery intrigues you, do not pass it up!
If you’re cool with mobile (you have phones, don’t you?! Jkjk), Afterplace by Evan Kice is sort of a Zelda-like that has a much different kind of existential story. I think it’s on sale at the moment after Apple gave it a super well deserved Design Award.
https://afterplacegame.com/simple.html
I was terrible at it, but the solo dev had put in an invincible mode. It was nice, for me, to get to play through the story without being overly worried about dying.
Axiom Verge kind of fits this description from a plot-based perspective, but it's a metroidvania that's actually fairly difficult at points. Definitely has elements of the existential dread as well.
Environmental Station Alpha is another metroidvania that I absolutely loved exploring despite the extremely minimal graphics, though it's brutal past some point in the later stages and I haven't finished it as a result.
Manifold Garden has basically no plot but I found the puzzles pretty satisfying (for the most part) and the visuals of certain areas were breathtaking. I'm not sure if I'd put it in the same genre but it scratched a similar itch for me.
I don't really know if these fit the ticket very well but it's hard to properly grasp what you're referring to because I don't know if we have a proper, well-defined term for it. There's definitely something there though. One thing that tends to drive games especially like Outer Wilds is that you can only really play them once, because the learning is a core element of the gameplay. Once you know what's going on and crack the formula, you can't really go back which makes the experience all the more special.
In that sense where you can only have the "first time" experience once, a lot of games are like that if you look through them under the right lens. Minecraft, for instance, was at one point pretty engaging to learn all of the crafting recipes in the game (before this was unfortunately trivialized with "item selection" menus by the console editions, and eventually the PC versions as well). It was a fun element that made let's plays of the game entertaining, because you got to watch people stumble through what you also dealt with at some point.
You're right, that's something that every puzzle has when looked at closely. I think the difference tends to be at what scale we're talking about. Minecraft has crafting recipes you can learn, but a pickaxe is a pickaxe. Although the line gets blurry again with the netherworld and the creatures.
Manifold Garden is new to me, so I could be wrong. To me it feels like a universe where I can't really expect any of my current knowledge to properly translate. And that concept woven in the fabric of the world. As if the creation/building of the world was made with natural laws that are wholly different to ours or most other games when really properly looked at. But they do look the same at first glance, thus the paradigm shift later.
Magic systems in other games blur the line again though.
I hope I'm being somewhat clear hahah. Thank you for the suggestions! I will certainly look into them.
Deliver Us: The Moon?
Ever try Myst?
I have! I love its concept, but the game itself didn't really click. I did watch a let's play and the lore is great
Edit: I just don't have the mind for that kind of puzzles, but I really love what they did in the story (without wanting to give too much away)
Immortality is my recommendation. Its similar to Her Story as it was made by the same person and I saw someone already suggest that. It is also a FMV game but it has a very eerie mood to it throughout.
While looking at other people's replies, The Witch's House popped into my head. A pretty simple RPG maker game where you enter a house full of traps and puzzles that try to kill you, and a pretty significant twist in the true ending. It does take some effort to unlock because you need to find an item during the climatic sequence where it's easy to die, and it's not obvious the item exists. Only clue is the cabinet near the start of the game tells you to come back after the house is back to normal.
AI: The Somnium Files might also appeal to you? Visual novel-esque mystery game where you're investigating a murder and do so by entering people's minds to explore dream-like spaces and memories. I went in totally blind, hadn't even seen a trailer, and it was one of my all-time favorite gaming experiences. It has the kind of story that I strive to write in terms of complexity, and I kept second-guessing myself and predictions up until the very end. Even when I managed to successfully figure some stuff out, I'd find out I was only partially right and missing much bigger facts. Just one mind-blowing reveal after another.
Speaking of AI: The Somnium Files with which I had a similar experience to yours, did you play the sequel yet? Somehow I had missed it even existed!
I did! It's actually the first time I ever ordered a collector's edition of a game because I enjoyed the original that much. It felt just a little underwhelming compared to the original, but still an amazing game and story!
Oh, I see! I haven't started it yet so it's a bit disheartening to hear it doesn't quite live up to the first one, but still very much looking forward to it.
To be fair, the first one is incredibly hard to live up to, it would be nigh-impossible to make a sequel of equal or greater quality. Nirvana Initiative is still amazing and I had a blast playing it! Highly recommend it!
I LOVE the AI: Somnium games, finished them both and both times got kind of obsessed lol. I wasn't completely sure if they fully fit in in what I meant, but the story is wild and the characters are fun
I'd mention NaissanceE, a monochromatic puzzle game which is pretty much about figuring out how dark and light affects the world in order for you to find the way.
I quite enjoyed the experience.
Heh, so, I saw this thread before inquiring about registering - and in no small part I knew I wanted to add this much, at least. I see that Outer Wilds, The Talos Principle, and AI: The Somnium Files have already been mentioned, and I'd like to echo those recommendations very strongly, as well as throw my own in, for anyone who's open to visual novels - Umineko When They Cry.
Quick rundown: it's a mystery/horror/fantasy/thriller (it's, uh, kinda genre-defying, to say the least) visual novel split into eight episodes. It's strictly linear (barring some interactivity in episode 8), and takes inspiration from/is a sort of homage to classic mystery novels (the basic premise is very clearly inspired by And Then There Were None). It's about a young man named Battler (yeah, I know, lol) rejoining his birth family (the wealthy Ushiromiyas) for the first time in six years for their annual family conference. The family head, Kinzo, lives on an isolated small island called Rokkenjima, and with his health failing, his children (including Battler's father) are anxious to sort out the matter of his inheritance.
There's much, much more that I could say about it, but it's in the same kind of league as Outer Wilds and the like where it's not really the kind of experience you can adequately get by hearing someone else talk about it. It's a significant timesink (I read it with my dad and I think we clocked in at around 150 hours for the whole thing?), and it starts out very slowly (with some trite anime-esque tropes, admittedly), but once it picks up, it really picks up. It's also not the kind of story where you can just sort of sit back and enjoy the ride, so to speak - the only way to understand the story is to engage with it and try to solve the mystery yourself.
It's got a fantastic soundtrack, a deeply layered and intricate story, and some really great character writing. It's kind of a heavy story, admittedly, dealing with some very heavy and difficult topics (abuse, bullying, depression, etc.), but IMO it handles them really, really well. While I don't want to oversell it, I don't think it's a stretch to say that I found it life-changing. It's definitely my favourite work of fiction, without a doubt.
I saw the anime and tried the game, but couldn't really get into it. Did read a bit about the story and I do believe you're right that it's in a class of its own.
I love that you read it all with your dad! Sounds like great fun
The anime... We don't talk about the anime. :P But yeah, that's fair! As much as it means to me, I can't pretend Umineko doesn't have some serious pacing issues sometimes, hah. The first two episodes in particular basically start out as walls of exposition for the first half of the story before things finally get underway. It's one of those stories that definitely rewards revisiting, though - it's been close to (if not exactly) a decade since I first read it, and every time I go back to it, it manages to surprise me with something new.
I personally haven't played it yet, but I believe Dredge falls into this category. Definitely next on my purchase list!
Limbo and Inside might qualify for this.
They’re not heavy on story or philosophy but they’re quite mysterious and there’s certainly an existential dread to them regarding the horror of their settings and themes.
You may also enjoy the Life is Strange franchise.
Inside is the rare follow-up to an indie hit that really builds on the mechanics and feel of the previous game while truly being its own thing.
I burst out laughing in the last sequence because of how unexpected (and unexplained!) it was.
One that I think might fit the bill your seeking is What Became of Edith Finch. It's a pretty light puzzle game, not too difficult, but it explores the history of a family that has suffered a disproportionate amount of tragedy. It's beautifully scripted and each family member's story is told in an interesting way (both narratively and gameplay-wise).
What Remains of Edith Finch definitely worth it, especially at the on sale price of $4.99 at GOG.com
I knew something didn't look right about that title. Thank you for correcting me.
One of my all-time faves (and currently only $10) is Everybody's Gone To The Rapture. You awake in an abandoned english country town trying to piece together what happened. Totally open, no HUD, no "puzzles" (but you do need to solve mysteries). I found it highly meditative, dark (even though it's often daytime) and suuuuuper spooky.
Heaven's Vault! It's like a big, open world, that's a bit point-and-click adventure and a bit interactive fiction - but ultimately what the game is is an incredibly deep and mysterious world that you explore with complete freedom
Love Heaven's Vault! Really cool to replay.
It is stubbornly slow gameplay, though, so important to know that going in.
I'm not sure if this counts, but one of the most impressively coded/designed games I've come across is Rain World.
Honestly, I don't think I can really do it justice with words, and the less you know about the world the better. I've never quite felt like an animal than when I played this game, and the AI is absolutely fantastic(ly terrifying).
It's probably not strictly related, but Undertale does a good job of subverting expectations.
Among the Sleep, Hylics, LISA: The Painful, OneShot, Yuppie Psycho, Baba is You, Buddy Simulator 1984, What the Golf?
If Undertale counts I'd definitely recommend Omori. It's probably my favorite game from the last 3 years!
I love Omori! It's by far one of my favorite games, even though it broke me on the inside a little bit.
I adore Undertale, and you're very right. It should probably be on there too.
The others in the list are mostly completely new to me, thank you very much!
Which one did you enjoy most?
Baba is You will turn your brain to goop but the satisfaction of solving its puzzles is unparalleled. Your control over the fundamental rules of the game is the main game mechanic; it's genius. Also, very cute.
Well I actually just suggested this game in another thread today, but check out Life is Strange. The whole first "season" (really what makes up the first game) is on sale for $4 on Steam right now. It sounds like it could be what you're looking for.
Twelve minutes is a fantastic little game if you enjoyed the mystery solving of Outer Wilds.
The less you know going in the better.
Deadly Premonition
What looks like a shitty asset flip turns into one of the most amazing murder mystery stories in the medium. And it's not just a crime story, this game is heavily inspired by Twin Peaks so it gets metaphysical about it. Lightning in a bottle, the creator (and the sequel) could never match it. It's somewhat divisive and the gameplay sections are literally afterthoughts tacked on so it is generally recommended to only play the game on Easy and breeze through the deeply unsettling combat sequences. In the end, this game seems to win most people over because it is so utterly singular that there is nothing else like it and the story is very, very good.
I really enjoyed Gone Home and Firewatch.
Omori kind of fits the category, having some similar themes to DDLC in a way.
The Turing Test is a short-ish first-person puzzler, and it has one of those mid-game re-contextualisations I think you're looking for. The puzzles are definitely on the more logical side, with most rooms allowing you to see all of the elements right away and leaving you to puzzle it out.
The Silent Age on Android and iOS.
It's been a while since I played, but it definitely has that dark feel and twists in the story.
I'm not sure I've understood your requirements correctly, however you should try Braid. It's older now (2010) but I still think it holds up really well.
I think you'd enjoy Bokida - Heartfelt Reunion. An exploratory, relaxed puzzler that I thought had surprising depth and really hit a "Zen" feeling.
Also, TUNIC. A beautiful and unabashed love letter to The Legend of Zelda, FEZ, and others, with many secrets.
Other recommendations: Kentucky Route Zero, Inscryption, The Stanley Parable.
If you really want a challenge to figure out… try Starseed Pilgrim 👹
I'd give Katana Zero a look if you're into side scrolling arcade style action games at all. The way you unfold the story and learn more about the characters is something that I was not expecting when I first started playing.
I played this recently and after some adjustment too the odd gameplay it got really good.
The developer, Askiisoft, has been toying with those mechanics for a long time before they made that game, so you might also be interested in playing some of their earlier games.
I'm not certain it fits into this category exactly, but The Painscreek Killings is a game I got recommended after I went looking for games similar to Outer Wilds and Obra Dinn - it's a mystery game where you're a reporter in a completely abandoned town, investigating murders that happened there a long time ago.
It gives you very little direction - you just explore and pick up diaries and suchlike which give you a bit more of an idea on what specifically to check out and what you might be able to do to find out more. The gameplay often involves finding keys to various places, which is a bit less interesting than the way Outer Wilds gates stuff solely with knowledge, but it still works quite well imo. Definitely worth a go if you like that kind of detective/mystery game.
I think the word you’re looking for is Atmospheric. Dark Souls is IMO the best in the genre.
If you want a game where gameplay is subverted by the story, then the original Nier (Replicant/Gestalt) is the only one that hasn't been mentioned so far that should be played. That and Metal Gear Solid 2.
If you want a game where the plot subverts your expectation there are a few that I could possibly recommend. Number one would be Iconoclasts. It's a relatively short platformer game with beautiful pixel art, but the story has more twists than the Gordian Knot and it has a final boss that seems to have come out of nowhere but has actually been foreshadowed/lampshaded throughout the game. I don't want to give away too much because learning about the world is the best feature of the game, but you'll find yourself empathizing with the "bad" guys a whole lot, even when they're kicking your butt, and there is a gameplay element towards the end that will rip your heart out.
I'm hoping we'll see a sequel for it sometime around 2030.
A short game that I think you'd really enjoy is called OneShot.
The basic premise is that you only get to play the game one time, there's no way to reset your save or anything, so you go in understanding that there's probably going to be some kind of choice or decision to make but you don't know what it's going to be.
There's really very little room for you to make "mistakes" and the game is pretty short and compact, so there's not much need for a guide. However I would say you should play this on PC, and not in full screen mode.
Knowing nothingbof oneshot, the tipsnof how to play it make it seems intriguing
I just wanted to thank you for asking this question - I've saved the thread. Having played Skyrim and ESO for years I was looking for something new to pick up. There are so many great recommendations here. Having thalassophobia means that Subnautica won't be a priority though - might have to build up some courage for that one :).
That's incredibly kind of you. Thank you and have fun! I know I will :)
Re: Subnautica:
... I have a love/hate relationship with Subnautica.
I white-knuckled my controller through most of it, I'm not one without fear lol. But I still love it dearly. Finished it even! Pretty proud of that.
But yeah.
It can be rough.
You choose your own pace though, that helps. Get a little (or very) spooked? Return to the shallows, hunt some peepers and get water, maybe build your base further. Then forget how bad it was exactly, and go back again. Get a little further, rinse and repeat.
It is beautiful, though. Getting better at surviving is such a good feeling too.
What I did do is mod the game so I could use my Seamoth (your first true vehicle) throughout all of the depths. The larger vehicle, while tankier, often got stuck within rocks and I could not Handle That. I did build it and got use out of it, but it was good to have the agile choice.
Anyways, if you don't play it that's very understandable too. If you do, get it on a platform where you can mod it so you can get through it semi comfortably if need be.