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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?

#311

Post by KaoruAoiShiho »

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.

Dyson Sphere Program is similar but definitely non-violent.

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

#314

Post by spoiler »

mcphage wrote: post #283
spoiler wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The story is abstract in the sense that it might go over a child's head, but there's definitely a deep story in it about coping with loss

Ah, interesting—it might have gone over my head as well. I did at least pick up that it was coping with loss, but I don't remember picking up any specifics beyond that. What did I miss? And does it involve picking up all of the collectables? I've tried repeatedly, but whenever I start playing, my kids want to play too, and inevitably restart the game.

Hmm, the way I used "deep" is in the sense that it's meaningful, not that there's a deep/rich storyline. The depth I was talking about is that it shows going through stages of grief.

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

(no username pun intended)

As she is grieving, the world is bland and she's lost her voice in the world. As she processes grief, her voice and powers come back to her. The world represents human perception, while her voice and her powers represent how we interact with the world. Eg, as we grieve our perception is diminished, and our ability to handle/do things is also diminished.

The little cute creature that come and help you are a metaphor that it's okay to let friends in and that they can help you through your grief.

The "enemies" are the dark side of grief, the ones that tries to pull us down and makes recovery harder. So, depression, anxiety, and just "brain demons" (eh dark thoughts) in general.

[END OF SPOILERS]

There's other elements that I think also act as good metaphors, but I don't want to make the post too long.

Also, I discovered the game during a difficult time, so I could just be looking into it too much. Lol

Edit: wordsmithing

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

#315

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

gravypod wrote: post #165
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think The Witness is pretentious. Pretentious means "attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed", but The Witness really is as deep and meaningful as it acts like it is if one bothers to be open to all it is saying in all of the ways it is saying it. > except one.... you know which one it is jblow I found several to be un-fun, but yes, that's part…

> "attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed" I think the critiques in this video [0] sum up my main feelings about the game. The puzzles are fantastic. The puzzles are fantastic. The movement, environment, graphics, etc are all fantastic. But, the "story" and "message" of the game can be interpreted in many ways. It is art in the sense that everyone gets…

I haven't watched that video, although many people do reference it[0], in part because its clickbaity nonsense title leaves me with a poor impression of the creator.

It would be pretentious if Jon's intention had been to throw a bunch of crap out there and then say "it means what you want it to mean", but I don't think that's what Jon did. Jon did what artists do: they take ideas that can be difficult to express simply and they try to express them in art. That any individual can come away from the work with one experience or another is just how the world is. We all exist in our own contextual bubbles that inform our interpretation of the things around us, and while an artist can try to communicate the meaning more clearly they will find, like Heisenberg, that precision in one aspect ensures imprecision in another. And yes, these are all themes expressed in the game itself, though by no means the only ones.

When I see criticism like this, I can't help but feel like some people just can't stand that there isn't some definitive documented interpretation, some twist ending that makes it all makes sense. Like it's a twilight zone episode or something.

[0] Actually, I've only ever seen people link to it and try to claim its ideas as their own. I don't know about you, but I'm especially disinclined to take "here, read this link" seriously if it is the sum totality of an argument.

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

#318

Post by jordanpg »

Thank you for this post!

Violence in video games, if it must be present, should be a like a garnish: in vanishingly small quantities and hyper-realistic.

The fantasy (as in ludicrous, not swords and sorcery) violence of modern gaming is just a skin on underlying game mechanics. The imagery, sound, and themes of ultra-violence are not really necessary.

It is ultimately laziness on the part of studios; understandable, though, since the violence sells. Still, I hope studios take note of this thread. There is a thirst out there for non-violent games. And studios hold an awful lot of power in what they contribute to the culture these days.

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

#320

Post by aerovistae »

hyperman1 wrote: post #277
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…

Portal is an interesting case study in psychological torture. The cake (is a lie). The weighted companion cube(that you kill faster than any other test subject). The test result saying you are a horrible person and we weren't even testing for that. It goes on and on. It wouldn't give it to kids that aren't old enough to handle complex and subtle emotional situations. Not to say it isn't a great game, but the subtle v…

I'm not sure I understand this comment. For the record I downvoted it because I don't think it makes any sense.
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