I would suggest trying out the INFRA. It's great and atmospheric puzzle no-gun FPS which gives Half-Life vibes as it uses Source engine. I've had much fun with it.
Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?
421–430 of 452 posts
Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?
#422racing sims and MS flight simulator are non-violent, but lack story. Some classic games in these categories have detailed historical settings and a lot of complexity, allowing you to create your own adventure in an open world. The adventure is different every time you play. Some classic sims of this type are here: https://github.com/sim-museum/esports-for-engineers
Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?
#423Biohazard of course
Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?
#424Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's hard for me to express just how incredibly brilliant this game is and how beautiful it is to play. What's incredible to me is that the successfully make a game where all of the progress is through information gained while exploring, there are absolutely zero artificial barrier to progress. Once you know the world, you can finish in one play through. Most games cheat regarding exploration by tying exploration to…
Riven is another brilliant game that shares the structure of using information about the world as both the purpose and the means to exploration. Outer Wilds excels with creative planets full of adventure, while Riven is a slow paced affair that is impressively dedicated to creating an intricate world wordlessly. Without written aids ala the logs in Outer Wilds, gleaning insights from disparate information in Riven of…
Riven is an absolute masterpiece in visual storytelling. I remember playing it when it came out and just being blown away by it.
Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?
#425for those who love story-driven games, The Longest Journey is old but amazing
Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?
#426Ms. Pac-Man, Burgertime, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Lady Bug.
Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?
#427Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is absolutely not a non-violent game. Here’s a scene from the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12FNU8bNEbE
Wow, thank you for linking that. I've been meaning to buy this game, and in fact I just about bought it today (it's on sale right now). Now I'm not sure I want to. If I understand correctly, this is a game in which great pains are taken to make you take the emotions and ethics seriously, in which you are railroaded into making an unethical choice (murdering an innocent thinking creature for the sake of personal conve…
“Railroaded into an unethical choice” is an interesting concept in video games. The notion of “railroading” itself is unique to video games—if you were reading Tale of Two Cities, would you feel railroaded into the ending? Well, no. What makes video games different? Perhaps video games only provide an illusion of choice, most of the time?
To be honest, I can’t think of railroading as “right” or “wrong”, but instead as a poorly understood narrative choice in games. Another example that stands out in my mind is Nier and Nier Automata, which both feature early boss fights that occur mechanically, regardless of the player’s personal morality. You, as the player, may be playing a character and this is a deeply troubling thing for people to do. That character may have desires that do not match the player’s desires.
On a more real level, the question about violence in games is more “can I talk to my children about this” and less “does this game depict violence”.
I don’t have the answer for It Takes Two.
Games can’t really force you to take ethics seriously, IMO. Few games have ever really had any serious take on ethics. If you want a serious take on ethics in games, play Undertale or something.
Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?
#428Earlier quoted context omitted.
FYI some games my son has enjoyed that had reasonable difficulty and/or co-op so we can play together: * Super Mario Odyssey * Sackboy: A Big Adventure * Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker * Paw Patrol Games (gameplay maybe a bit too simple though) * Overcooked 1 & 2 * Untitled Goose Game * Ultimate Chicken Horse * Astro's Playroom
Captain Toad is on my radar. Overcooked is nice for like... the first hour, then my brain goes mushy because it's too repetitive and my daughter goes into panic mode because it gets too fast, lol. Super Mario Odyssey was good early on, but now she gets bored because it's too easy to play as the hat. If she plays as mario, it's too boring for myself, but playing by herself is still too challenging. The other ones, I w…
Yeah I know what you mean there’s surprisingly few games that hit the sweet spot. The latest sackboy is probably the best one I’ve played in that you both get to play a full character (ie no boring cappy), it drops extra lives like a sieve if someone isn’t doing very well, so the adult can usually get you both through a tough level and there’s plentiful checkpoints. It does get hard towards the end game but there’s a lot of content before then.
I originally thought super mario would be good but the older ones are surprisingly hard for younger players. Although that reminds me Super Mario 3D World / Bowsers Fury is pretty good for co-op too if you’ve not tried it yet.
I’ll also mention its worth playing any game with a builder, my son loves building his own tracks in track mania turbo for instance.
Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?
#429Earlier quoted context omitted.
Captain Toad is on my radar. Overcooked is nice for like... the first hour, then my brain goes mushy because it's too repetitive and my daughter goes into panic mode because it gets too fast, lol. Super Mario Odyssey was good early on, but now she gets bored because it's too easy to play as the hat. If she plays as mario, it's too boring for myself, but playing by herself is still too challenging. The other ones, I w…
Yeah I know what you mean there’s surprisingly few games that hit the sweet spot. The latest sackboy is probably the best one I’ve played in that you both get to play a full character (ie no boring cappy), it drops extra lives like a sieve if someone isn’t doing very well, so the adult can usually get you both through a tough level and there’s plentiful checkpoints. It does get hard towards the end game but there’s a…
Thank you, this is really good input. I evaluated the builder but haven't found anything that would hook my daughter, she gets caught in the "full freedom" thing and regresses to "I'll just go around" mode.
SUper Mario 3D world looked good, but I was afraid after the Odyssey experience, I'll put that on my wishlist.
I'll check sackboy, never heard that game!
EDIT: I see, it's playstation only, I'm cut out of that. PC or Switch in this home, and it was a big sacrifice bringing a Switch in (I'm against consoles in their current form and try to vote with my wallet against them. Steam Deck is a good compromise)
Re: Ask HN: Non-violent video games with great stories?
#430Earlier quoted context omitted.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania: Don't get Banana Blitz HD, the camera controls suck. If you're unfamiliar with Monkey Ball: Monkeys in balls navigate puzzles to get from the start to the finish in as little time as possible. Originally an arcade game. Sponsored by Dole, the banana people. Tetris Effect: It's Tetris! With lots of shiny colors! I'm not the hugest fan of how they set up the grading system, but it has lo…
Thank you, that's amazing list
You're welcome.
If you'd like some games that you might enjoy playing with your daughter watching (or sometimes engaging in as appropriate), I left another list: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31625560