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Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

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Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

#351

Post by capableweb »

remram wrote: post #219
goopthink wrote: post #186

Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley have a lot of great game mechanics and are also about discovery, trade, and building relationships. Factorio is probably a bit more advanced, but meets your criteria (except for story, maybe). There is a rabbit hole of games like that to go down. Assassins Creed Origins and Odyssey have “education” modes that are about exploring the world and not murder. The Mario-plus games (Tennis, R…

I don't think Factorio counts as non-violent. You might be able to make it so via some settings but that would remove a big part of the gameplay and challenge.

> that would remove a big part of the gameplay and challenge

That's subjective! Personally, having the biters enabled removes a big part of the gameplay for me as suddenly I need to focus on being able to defend myself, while for me that game is about building as effective factory as possible.

Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

#352

Post by awildfivreld »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #158
christkv wrote: post #119

Journey, flower, Minecraft, Astroneers

They mentioned a good story though. Do those first 3 have any at all? It's been awhile and I loved Journey, but I don't remember a story. MC definitely doesn't.

Journy does not explicitly tell a story, but it allows you to try to figure it out for yourself.

What is the character? What is it doing? What are those? During gameplay, you might reason to possible answers.

Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

#353

Post by gwinsyth »

bananaoomarang wrote: post #95

Outer Wilds I think has a great story, and is a modern evolution of a Myst point and click sort of thing with more physics. The base game I think is suitable for kids but may be difficult to play, the DLC on the other hand is pretty creepy so maybe not for kids!

I haven't played the DLC, but base game can be really creepy - especially the fog planet (with those fishes or how to call them)

Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

#354

Post by MrYellowP »

The Space Quest series, Kings Quest ... basically all games from LucasArts and Sierra, at least assuming the thousands ways to die in Sierra adventures don't count as violent. And in case you didn't know, thousands is an understatement.

Generally you should be really fine with adventure games. Also text adventures, if you can handle that.

There's also this, which is quite the change from usual games: https://adarkroom.doublespeakgames.com/

Maybe you like it. I actually did! Enjoy!

Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

#355

Post by spywaregorilla »

ksec wrote: post #106

Age of Empires as History Lessons. Or get a Nintendo Switch. If Gaming is a necessary evil for kids ( I wouldn't say that but some people do ), Nintendo is trillion times than anything on the market. No stupid Mobile Games Pay to Win or 30 sec Ads. ( Those companies should pray, someday, somewhere, someone will take revenge on them in the market ), Playstation and Xbox gets you Serious Gaming which isn't really good…

I remember being surprised when, contrary to what I learned in aoe2, the aztecs did not defeat cortez and his conquistadors.

Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

#356

Post by mynameishere »

Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #309

I'm struggling myself to find videogames for my daughter (almost 4). She played Kirby star allies and Yoshi's Crafted World (both finished now), but after that I've been struggling to find any meaningful game that had the right difficulty, right theme and didn't have the requirement of being able to read. I avoid all tablet games because there is too much garbage. Anyway, depending on the age of your kids, those two…

Here's some unrequested parenting advice, but almost-4 year olds do not need video games in their lives.

Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

#357

Post by pcthrowaway »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #10

Portal and Portal 2 are absolute classics which I cannot recommend highly enough. The story in the second game is fairly detailed, and the way that it tells that story through gameplay is absolutely phenomenal. Life Is Strange is a well-done adventure game. It's not quite *zero* violence in that the story takes some turns, but you're fundamentally a high schooler in a relatively normal setting, I wouldn't expect you…

I can second Life is Strange, though it gets a bit dark towards the end (though you as the player never engage in violence directly)

Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

#358

Post by riezebos »

lloeki wrote: post #299
NikolaNovak wrote: post #153

Single player games fun to play around tv / switch controls : Firewatch - about 6 to 10 hours narrative walking exploring adventure with beautiful scenery. Teens and up probably. Outer wilds : astonishing space exploration game. So many mysteries and puzzles and wonders and connections to be made. Cannot recommend highly enough. Tale of two brothers. There's sadness in this game but handled very well. If you're ready…

That list above is what I was mainly thinking of. Here's a few more with great storytelling, done in various ways (sometimes non obvious but they all have a story to tell that kept me hooked) I don't recall any physical violence in the following games, although psychological violence can be very personal and some may run you in a mood or facing events that can be unsettling at times. Some of these have neither. Gone…

Although they are less violent than COD, I think your memory might be a bit off on some of these. 2 examples:

In Portal 1 & 2 there are quite a lot of robots that trying to kill you with guns.[0] In Mirror's Edge there is a lot of parkour but there's also killing people with various guns.[1]

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NBDulvHYr8 [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbcaMnQD7G8

Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

#359

Post by pcthrowaway »

In addition to seconding a few recommendations others have already made (Earthbound, Undertale, Monkey Island, Life is Strange), I'd also recommend Alan Wake (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466662/parentalguide/#advisory...).

It's a thriller/horror though so perhaps not what you're looking for (but someone else mentioned Soma which is far more horrific in my opinion)

Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?

#360

Post by awildfivreld »

* This war of mine.

While it does take place in a war zone, you play from the perspective of the civilians that are trapped within a besieged city and struggle to survive. Violence here is incredibly dangerous for survival, and should be avoided at all costs.

* Papers please

You play as a border control employee that must validate that all people crossing the border have the correct documentation. Due to the nature of the environment there will be some guns/violence involved, but it is by far not the main focus of the game. Glory to Arstotzka.

These games may not be to your liking, depending on how hard you are on the "NO gun/violence" requirement. These approach the topics from a more civilian view than other games.

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