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What video games have a player insert character who actually reacts like you would?
I'm looking for some new rpgs to play and I'm interested in stories that they and act like tye player character is some clueless out of towner to basically act as an avatar for the player.
I feel like most of the gltimes I've seen this done its pretty hamfisted and doesnt seem like the interactions go right. I'm wondering if anyone has encountered good examples of this idea?
Classic response, but Disco Elysium. You're literally an amnesiac cop, and a big chunk of the game is trying to piece together who you and the world around you are. Plus, the writing is some of the best I've seen in any medium, period
Everything about Disco Elysium is wonderful, hilarious and amazing. I haven't played something that stuck with me so much since Planescape: Torment. And I haven't laughed so much since Jazzpunk. I remember I took this (skill? Feat?) Called Encyclopedia, thinking it would prove to be very useful (I was after all a detective right?). The amount of useless and out of context info I got made me laugh so much.
And I will never forget the feeling when [REDACTED] happens towards the end. Everything tied together so well.
Does Firewatch count? I would reccomend checking it out. It really immerses you in the world.
Oh I loved Firewatch! I went in completely blind after learning that the random phone background I'd been using for ages was from that game, basically entirely on the premise that I liked the art style so the game itself must be good.
If you liked Firewatch you should also check out Life Is Strange, it's a similar style of interactive novel with a really compelling plot.
Rimworld.
In all seriousness, my first thought is of horror walking sims like Amnesia, Pathologic, even Alien: Isolation, or an anti-power fantasy like the Monkey Island games. These are games where, just like in real life, you can't brute force your way to any solutions.
This War of Mine is a bit slow-paced, but it's meant to put you in the shoes of very ordinary civilians surviving in an urban warfare environment (think Stalingrad more than Black Hawk Down). It's depressing and good.
But since you specify RPG, Kingdom Come: Deliverance has a reputation for starting you off as a true nobody: you can barely swing a sword, can't ride, can't fight, can't craft, can't do anything. It's not supposed to be particularly easy, but people who like it say that it really rewards patience. I haven't played it myself because it hasn't dipped below that magic $8 number I wait for in a sale, but I plan to at some point.
KC:D was my first thought here too. I was about 20 hours into it when Jedi Survivor came out, and I I paused my KC:D playthrough for survivor, but I still itch now and then for Bohemia. It's everything you said, and also manages to be a lot of fun despite the lack of player skills at the start.
For example, OP, when I started Kingdom Come: Deliverance and was tired of being ganked by every bandit crossing my path in fast travel, I went to the appropriate npc for combat training. Rather than being able to buy skills or do a few quick quests, I had to train in real time with the npc for several hours to get both the character skill and my personal skill up to a place where I could reliably handle the road bandits.
It's a great game. It's grindy, but in a really good way.
Not being able to read was my favorite, both hilarious and well implemented. Book texts start out as complete gibberish. As you learn to read, bits and pieces become intelligible English, so you can get a rough idea of what it says. Eventually you can read every word and get the full meaning.
That's amazing. That sounds like living the "Antonio Banderas learns to speak viking" sequence in "The 13th Warrior"
Doom 2016. I would be grumpy too when I wake up from coma and have seen the world gone to shit, especially since I tried to save it earlier. (Half-joking but.. Hey. I would be angry.)
Plus they killed his pet bunny Daisy. I mean, if there's any motivation to raze through hoardes of demon spawn that's it right there.
Maybe not what you would expect but, honestly, Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars: Jedi: Survivor. Cal Kestis and I have a lot in common--mostly trauma and a sincere wish to reclaim innocence. There were a lot of tears.
Helps that Cal is a very believable and likable character. I can't think of any story situation where he acts out of character or is completely "move the plot forward" stupid like some game characters.
It might not be what you're after (and I do agree with delphi about Disco Elysium), but Zelda games (especially the most recent two) do a good job of not getting in the way of you as the player.
I know it sounds like a bit of a 'why not always mention Zelda' answer, but they genuinely put effort into this.
Link (the protagonist, for the few unaware) never speaks, and has a passive personality. Usually, he's new in town, so people don't know who he his and he learns about new places at the same time as you.
The game even lets you be insolent or impatient from time to time - like in BotW, when you realise you're going to unlock the paraglider and the guy is making you do stuff and listen to him talking, and you can choose to keep demanding he just gives it to you.
It's definitely not nearly as open as titles like Disco Elysium in this respect, but the protagonist characterisation does step out of your way pretty persistently.
Pre: I typed this up, then saw that you wanted a self insert. This is not that.
Honestly? Forspoken. Everyone complained that Faye was cringe, but Faye is 22. She was appropriately cringe for a young adult to suddenly become an isekai chosen one. From "holy shit, I have magic freakin powers" to "your problems aren't my problems", to "... well, I have the power to help you and that's what a good person would do".
One of these days I will probably pick up that game and enjoy it. It’s really beautiful and I honestly just love the fashion in it. And any game that doesn’t have a cishet male protagonist gets extra points in my book.
The main thing that is stopping me is that I played the demo and didn’t really like the combat. Here’s hoping I can get used to it when i eventually pick it up.
It picks up once you have more than one skill set, and doing the skill challenges does a decent job of encouraging you to learn how to use them.
Nexomon: Extinction.
This game is hilarious. It's basically poking fun at the Pokemon/RPG genre while being an enjoyable example of it. I don't want to spoil anything, but the moment I realized I was sold on this game was when some NPCs blocked my path early game. I've played a lot of Pokemon and every time I ran into its classic stupid roadblocks I'd mentally say to myself "if that were ME, I'd call out my Pokemon and knock this guy aside. I go where I want!".
Imagine my sheer delight when that option came right up.
That sounds hilarious, and I used to like Pokémon a lot before the last few games, so maybe I'll like this one as well
One of the things I like about Elden Ring and other Souls games is that the person you play as is an identity-less husk. You don't have much choice in what you do (in ER and DS1 you get some choices in ending, but not much outside of that), but you also don't have to sit through cutscenes where a voice actor is speaking as the guy you're playing as, saying things you wouldn't say and doing things you wouldn't do.
I think Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom do the same kind of thing. Technically you're Link, a defined character with a history and traits and such, but he never talks and is just the model you're playing as.
It really bugs me in games like RDR2 or LA Noire where a cutscene happens and I watch my character say something stupid and I sit there going "no don't do it you moron, this is clearly a stupid move, stop, please stop I'm begging you". I'm not keen on the writing in most games (because they're mostly really badly written), most plot points you can see coming from a mile away, and I wish games overall had less plot! It's not a movie, it's a game, stop trying to write a movie (a mediocre one).
I really like playing BotW as non-hero Link, where I dont engage with the main story at all and just wander around doing side quests.
In Tears of the Kingdom I still have no idea what's going on. After I landed on the surface some guy was like "Oh Link! It's you! Quickly, go see Purah in that building right away!" And I just walked off.
Yeah even with the main story quests I feel like Link's personality's extent in those is people remarking "oh it's Link! I heard you're a great swordsman, let's go fix my problem!", which is great, just great. Cuts to the chase, don't have to sit through painful attempts at making Link a specific character.
And from what I've seen of the main story so far, Link (the written character, not the avatar of the player) plays very little part in it so far, and it's a good story! It's an enjoyable story, and it avoids issues of annoying characterization of your character by having you only be a tool for defeating bad guys and fixing the issues. Wish more games would do the same!
Exactly what I've done in every GTA game! I'm just glad it's an option.
I like how the Elder Scrolls series generally approaches this. In Morrowind you can kill damn near everybody, so if you want to doom the world, you do you booboo.
In Oblivion maybe the gates are too scary? Fine, don't go! Which Daedric artifact do you give Martin? Do I need to go to Weynon Priory right now? Maybe I want to be a vampire! Hey I killed them by accident I don't want to join your murder cult stab
Skyrim is similar: You can join any guilds you want/don't want, end the Dark Brotherhood of you don't have a taste for murder after killing a foul old woman. Conversation choices in the series are a bit constrained but you don't have to suffer any bullshit without at least quipping about it. This chick's talking about a hunger for people? Gross. Now she's attacking me. In this series you sort of have to consent to being along for the ride, or at least some of how you participate.
The Outer Worlds does a good job of letting you be you as well, with constraints, but I feel most similar games with that style of RPG element would qualify.
I haven't played the older games, but I think Skyrim goes a little too far with open endedness, to the point that you can be the thane of every hold and archmage of Winterhold and Listener of the Dark Brotherhood and a Vampire overlord with the power to blot out the sun. And people will still try and order you around like you're some scrub no ones ever heard of.
Morrowind does a bit to restrict a character, like affinity in one faction causing a proportional loss if standing with others so you can't easily be in charge of the Mage's Guild and House Telvanni (as well as some mission objectives I won't spoil). As the systems in Bethesda titles got more complicated they also had to be careful about what they set you up to do.
It takes more work to RP "properly" in Skyrim because you can do everything in it, but the constraint is also kind of fun if you can enforce it.