Which games blow your mind, but only if you know nothing about them in advance?
Best examples I can think of are:
- Outer Wilds
- Doki Doki Literature Club
- The Stanley Parable
What are yours?
(please no spoilers)
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Frog Fractions
What, and I can’t state this clearly enough, the FUCK did I just play?
I wasn’t prepared to have the history of punching explained to me on Mars in a frog platformer.I envy you.
Subnautica I guess
I’m gonna go with Skyrim, the more unoptimized and aimless your playthrough is, the more fun you’ll have.
Just started playing Skyrim for the first time last week.
My character is optimized for ending fights before they begin – by liquifying the opponent’s noggin’ with one swing of her 2-handed warhammer.
Other than that, she travels the world collecting ingredients to cook, brew and smith stuff with.
I suspect that’s not an optimal build, but it’s fun.Perfect, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Nethack / Cdda / coq…
Because going blind Is the game
The Beginner’s Guide
It’s by the same guy that made The Stanley Parable, but it’s more serious.
It’s the same themes from Stanley Parable except made into an actual story instead of one long recurring joke.
I’m not saying the long recurring joke is bad - someone will probably hate that I said that - but they’re just two different things that both do their different things very well. The Stanley Parable explicitly never builds to any kind of conclusion.
BioShock. It really depends on playing it blind in order to have an impact.
What Remains of Edith Finch, I think it has a fantastic narrative. Not so much twists, just best experienced yourself.
Subnautica. You can only play it for the first time once.
I tried it a few years ago and gave up after an hour of not knowing what to do. But I had this week off and tried it again, it I’m really enjoying it this time. It’s not like anything else, and once that initial bump is passed its learning curve is really quite good.
It is one of my all-time favorite games. I have unfortunately played it to death; I’ve run out of stupid challenge runs. The game has a story and uniquely for survival games it has an ending, there’s a Win The Game button. But the game is as much about the story you’re going to create; the way you choose to go about things, the order you decide to explore in, the happenstances of your adventure are maybe more important than what the wiki says the story is. Savor that.
I will offer this hint. I don’t think it’s a spoiler; I think there is a strong possibility this hint will prevent you from alt-tabbing out to look up the wiki and accidentally encounter a spoiler. But I will tag it as a spoiler anyway.
spoiler
If you find yourself without an immediate goal, you’re milling about the ocean thinking “well now what?” Go deeper.
Absolutely this. I am jealous each time I recommend it to someone who hasn’t played it yet.
I’m glad there was a thread about Subnautica in here.
absolutely stunning, especially if one has any kind of decent audio system
Nobody said Firewatch yet?
I’ll also add To The Moon as well. I could list more, but almost any game where narrative is the main focus and gameplay is secondary.
Rez and Fez. Similar names, very different games.
Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
An astonishingly good story line that can only be really appreciated blind.
For those of you who remember TotalBiscuit, he rated this as one of his favourite games.
Maybe literally the only game that’s ever done storytelling through gameplay mechanics-- really cool concept
a lot of games do this?
Death Stranding would like a word…
haven’t played it-- how do the mechanics change with the story?
Honestly… I would say that the game fits with the theme of the original post, and explaining it would ruin the magic.
I will say that not only do the mechanics change based on the story, but there is an entire asynchronous online system where users help other users (that they will never see or meet in game) to construct be infrastructure to make travel for others (they will never see or meet) easier.
Then those mechanics feed back into the actual story. It’s kind of wild.
I know it’s a divisive game, but I will say it’s a masterpiece imo. Even if only for those mechanics.
And yes, the controls change based on how the load you’re carrying is balanced. I believe the definitive way to play is the Definitive Edition on PS5 with the DualSense controller since the adaptive triggers become harder to press as your load increases.
The Long Dark
Getting lost in the snowy wilderness I so much fun. I have many “oh shit” moments that kinda don’t happen once you learn the maps and improve.
I’ve had that one in my library since it originally came out and I’ve been wanting to play it ever since, but haven’t found time. I understand they’ve added quite a bit since the early days!
Yeah it’s changed a lot over the years but is such a unique experience I recommend it to everyone.
They still haven’t released all the story mode chapters but survival mode is by far the best way to play.
Oh, the story mode is not finished yet? Any idea if they have a goal date?
They are on to the last episode now but it’s all overdue by like 5 years at this point so who knows.
I had this kind of moment with Prey.
Tunic. Knowing how to do the puzzles defeats the fun of the game.
+1 Loved every time I learned a new mechanic through the game.
You should go into Nier: Automata thinking it’s a game about a hot chick fighting a bunch of robots. The only spoiler you should know is that the end isn’t the end, and you need to play it again.
You should go into Spec Ops: the Line thinking it’s a game about a cool special forces team fighting a bunch of terrorists or something. The only spoiler you should know is that it’s supposed to feel like a generic third person shooter.
I love Nier! I’m thought the second play through would be a slog, but they kept it really interesting imo. And starting it up for a third time was wild. Even starting that game is part of the game mechanic, it’s so neat!
I would have to disagree about the second playthrough; I found it to be a very large slog. The third and subsequent playthroughs were amazing though.
To each their own! I enjoyed playing as
spoiler
9S
But I’m glad you like the other playthroughs!
Oh I enjoyed the gameplay. But the actual story of the second play through was a slog until about 75% of the way through.
Haha I stopped playing Nier Automata after finishing it once. Yeah, yeah I heard it’s not the end, but the gameplay really isn’t good enough to go through it again. Right now I’d give it a 7/10, but if you force me to do it all again I am going down to 3/10. I think it feels incredibly cheap to do this gimmick.
For you, a little extra spoiler: the next ending also isn’t the end, there’s a lot more. I will admit that playing the second run is a big grindy at first, but it quickly differentiates itself from your first run by the time you get to the first boss. Also, in the second run, the side quests are crucial.
An extra-extra spoiler: there’s a lot to dig your teeth into, philosophically, that makes the whole rigmarole worth it.
An extra-extra spoiler: there’s a lot to dig your teeth into, philosophically, that makes the whole rigmarole worth it.
That’s a strong point for me, and the main reason I liked it as much as I did. Same reason I loved The Talos Principle, despite having to look up guides for the majority of the puzzles.
Ooh, yeah, Talos Principle! Perfect rec for someone who loved Nier and Portal. I haven’t played the sequel yet, but really really enjoyed the first game. I agree about some of the puzzles, though.
I bought it expecting like a Devil May Cry or maybe Souls… then the game started and I noped the hell out. It’s weird and I did not like it at all.
If I remember right, the first couple minutes is like a top-down shoot-em-up, but it transitions into that Devil May Cry style pretty quickly
Not really, the out-of-combat movement was almost strictly 2D? And the first real fight did not teach me the controls in any way, I had no idea what was going on.
