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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?

#201

Post by TaylorAlexander »

notriddle wrote: post #184
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…

Does Portal really count as “non-violent”? You commit murder at least once.

Well you never kill biological things, just an artificially intelligent machine at the end.

But also one thing you can do is play the two player co-op mode on Portal 2, which as far as I know is pure puzzle solving.

The stories in Portal are great though, especially Portal 2 which is rich and funny. You could just skip the end of the game and I think that would be pretty non violent? I don’t know if destroying a machine counts as violent.

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

#202

Post by krallja »

hypertexthero wrote: post #171

See https://yinindie.com/ for a curated list of mostly peaceful video games. Here are some I have played that I enjoyed: Balsa Model Flight Simulator - https://store.steampowered.com/app/977920/Balsa_Model_Flight... Celeste - https://store.steampowered.com/app/504230/Celeste/ Everything - https://store.steampowered.com/app/582270/Everything/ Hollow Knight - https://store.steampowered.com/app/367520/Hollow_Knight/ Leg…

Zelda: Breath of the Wild is so violent there is a game mechanic that resurrects all the bad guys you have killed, just so the game doesn’t have to keep track of so much state.

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

#203

Post by mattbaker »

the__alchemist wrote: post #193
cableshaft wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just chiming in to concur. A technical masterpiece and lots of fun piecing together the knowledge needed to progress. Blew me away that such games exist. Only other game that gave me a similar feeling was The Witness.

Tangent: The Witness is an outstanding non-violent game as well, but unfortunately for recs here, doesn't fit due to lack of story.

I loved it too. I actually don’t agree there’s a lack of story, but it’s certainly subtle. More “poem” than “novel” in a way.

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

#204

Post by krallja »

MobileVet wrote: post #38

Does Not Commute is an absolute stitch. The story is often overlooked as the game mechanic is fairly novel as well. One of my favorite mobile games of all time. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/does-not-commute/id971756507

The same group made PinOut!, which is a quite good “infinite runner” pinball game.

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

#206

Post by fold3 »

apgwoz wrote: post #127

Untitled Goose Game is something my girls (11, 9), played collaboratively, and could not put down.

This is the best casual game I ever played, it is a really good choice for people that are new to video games. In the same spirit, I also liked piku niku. The graphics reminds me of a cool british illustration magazine called Anorak.

Some other things that comes to my mind are the Katamary Damacy series (must play!) and Wattam by Keita Takahashi.

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

#207

Post by krallja »

slim wrote: post #81

Since we're here any recommendations for a two player collaborative game I can play with my 4yo son ? I would be preferably able to assist/protect him. Right now we are playing twinbee and arkanoid for snes

Bowser’s Fury. In this game, Bowser Jr. is immortal, so great for a younger player. Also, most of the Super Mario games since the Wii have all featured respawn bubbles, where you can’t lose unless everyone dies at the same time.

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

#208

Post by jrussino »

> In real life, I don’t like guns, war or aggression. But when I play games, I often go for FPS or other, violent games

An old friend of mine is working on a game called “Air Hares”, motivated by a very similar concern to the one you’ve expressed. You might appreciate this:

“Why I Created a Non-Violent Shmup Video Game”

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/why-i-created-a-non...

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

#209

Post by krallja »

Mumps wrote: post #44

I think Limbo might fit the bill (albeit you "fight" a monster in it. Maybe give the trailer a look). It's about 3 hours of beautiful gameplay, nonetheless.

You have to throw the corpse of a child into a pool so the monster won’t kill you. This is a fucked up game to play with kids.
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