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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?

#301

Post by gww »

scott_s wrote: post #121

Outer Wilds. (Not to be confused with Outer Worlds which came out around the same time.) While the game is non-violent in that you never actively harm anything, your character will die, a lot, in maybe concerning ways (crushed, out of air, crashed, etc). It also has a story with themes that may be over your kids’ heads. Look up reviews to see more.

I wish I could forget this game and play through anew.

It does contain spoilers but the games creator wrote a masters thesis on this game[1].

[1] https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/Share/o7d2vbuapqgd2mkjke8j752...

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

#302

Post by burnished »

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.

Oh, you'd lose a challenge certainly but you'd have many more remaining besides. Biters provide a nice clock for advancing your base by forcing you to progress your military industrial complex, but like all Factorio problems you solve it by automating the solution. I think the presence or absence of biters changes the game less than choosing between default worldgen and train worlds.

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

#303

Post by ChoGGi »

smolder wrote: post #48
tapoxi wrote: post #28

My favorites from the past decade: Soma, a science fiction horror game around the idea of transplanted consciousness. It's a common sci-fi theme but Soma handles it much better than most and adds a very interesting setting. What Remains of Edith Finch, not scary, it's a "walking sim" that explores a family's surreal curse over generations. It's actually really touching. Disco Elysium, a detective RPG in an interestin…

Disco Elysium is not exactly devoid of violence and aggression, even if they aren't central mechanics. It's great storytelling but with some mature themes. Honestly, I thought I'd have an easier time coming up with some other suggestions to throw in but there's usually some ass-kicking in my favorite story driven games. The Oni platformer games are a little bit fight-centric but not really violent or cruel, and the s…

Oni? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni_(video_game)

Or Ori? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ori_and_the_Blind_Forest

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

#304

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

scott_s wrote: post #121

Outer Wilds. (Not to be confused with Outer Worlds which came out around the same time.) While the game is non-violent in that you never actively harm anything, your character will die, a lot, in maybe concerning ways (crushed, out of air, crashed, etc). It also has a story with themes that may be over your kids’ heads. Look up reviews to see more.

Just finished this game and recommend it. There is one spot which is somewhat spooky.

Also, skip the DLC together.

Dying is not depicted in bloody ways, should be acceptable even for kids of certain age.

A masterpiece indeed

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

#305

Post by kwyjibo1230 »

rockwotj wrote: post #249
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 loved playing ape escape on PS1 as a kid!

Same! I just got an emulator working this weekend for my PC and realized I can run the game directly from my original Ape Escape disc and use an Xbox controller. It's really bringing me back.

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

#309

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

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 have "cartoon violence", yoshi throwing eggs, not sure if you would count it as that.

Does super mario count as violent with jumping on monster heads?

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