Outer Wilds changed my life then Tunic changed it again

Edit: Game Recommendations by the people in the comments:

  • Disco Elysium - @Sibbo@sopuli.xyz
  • Kingdom Come Deliverance - @McFarius@lemmy.world
  • Fez - @TestFactor@lemmy.world, @Glaive0@beehaw.org, @clearleaf@lemmy.world
  • I Was a Teenage Exocolonist - @alltheweird@lemmy.tf
  • Noita - @Goodman@discuss.tchncs.de, @yjr4df0708@lemmy.ml, @Crow_of_Minerva@feddit.it
  • The Witness - @Suppoze@beehaw.org
  • Lingo - @dexa_scantron@lemmy.world
  • Bad End Theater - @Exocrinous@lemm.ee
  • Celeste - @tkk13909@sopuli.xyz
  • Fear & Hunger - @RIP_Cheems@lemmy.world
  • minit - @naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
  • The Forgotten City - @naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com, @Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com, @terrifyingtuba@lemmy.world
  • Deathloop - @tills13@lemmy.world
  • The Soulsborne games - @Philharmonic3@lemmy.world
  • Void Stranger - @clearleaf@lemmy.world
  • Baba Is You - @clearleaf@lemmy.world
  • Roguelikes as a genre - @Piemanding@sh.itjust.works
  • The Long Dark - @rbos@lemmy.ca
  • Who’s Lila? - @Crow_of_Minerva@feddit.it
  • Cultist Simulator - @Frogodendron@beehaw.org
  • Sorcery! - @Frogodendron@beehaw.org

And some game recommendations by me to add on to the post:

  • Taiji
    • A 2D puzzle game where you slowly unravel how to solve each different element of the puzzles, eventually culminating in a massive puzzle gauntlet. Basically identical in concept and execution to The Witness, but still very much its own unique and fun game.
  • The Golden Idol
    • A puzzle game where each level you must examine a scene to figure out exactly what happened, eventually piecing together the full story over several levels. Don’t let the art style put you off, it’s an incredibly well done game. Most similar to Return of the Obra Dinn in concept.
  • Stories: The Path of Destinies
    • an action RPG with a branching choice-driven storyline, but not every story has a happy ending… You’ll piece together the true story over multiple playthroughs and eventually find the one true path. It wasn’t a particularly life-changing game but it was still a lot of fun and worth checking out if it sounds interesting!
    • Ashen44@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      There is a framed picture of Kim Kitsuragi in my parent’s house, maybe I should actually play it…

  • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    Curiously Deep Rock Galactic is about practical knowhow. At least that differentiates greenbeards from greybeards.

    • The oppressor is nearly immune to bullets but melee attacks are super effective
    • The Driller will overheat digging about 12 meters (depending on the upgrades used) Digging ten clicks then pausing to cool will prevent overheat
    • Cave leeches make a distinct yummy noise before attacking. You can escape by seeking cover again. Cave leech attacks are often facilitated by a distraction such as minerals or glyphid ambushes
    • The Scout’s grappling hook does not account for safe perch or landing. Scouting to a sheer cliff is a good way to just get hurt. Mind where you’re going to land.
    • On the other hand minerals embedded in a cliff face often protrude enough to get purchase. This can be facilitated with a flying pickax attack. Practice, practice!
    • Likewise, dwarves can scamper up steep slopes like mountain goats with forward movement and spamming jump.
    • Then again, gravity is the number one killer of dwarves, seconded by common Glyphid Grunts. Don’t underestimate them.
    • The Driller’s Collette Wave Cooker can defuse unfuzed Exploders when it deals the killing damage (defuse = doesn’t explode). The Driller’s Cryo Cannon can defuse fuzing Exploders…sometimes.
    • Overhanging cliff-sides are the nemesis to the Engineer’s platforms. If you dont want to carve out headroom, extend them out a layer or two.
    • The Engineer / Scout team (platforms and grappling hooks) can quickly exploit the high-positioned minerals in a cave.
    • That said, platforms can make for great bridges. Do so at whimsy for starters and learn where it’s useful.
    • And yet, the engineer has the most trouble traversing sheer incline, especially in tight quarters. Make sure your Engie can get to the drop-pod safely.
    • Speaking of extraction, Simple Mining missions are the most linear and require the most attention regarding preparing traversal back to the droppod. Escort is also linear but naturally comes with a big tunnel which makes it easy (when Dotty doesn’t carve a vertical drop). Other missions feature a rounder, unlinear complex and a shorter exfiltration. Sometimes the pod will drop onto a crap place, with the ramp in mid air, or embedded in hard rock.
    • Drillers should watch for adjacent chambers to connect by tunnel. Engineers should bridge chasms and seal holes. Engies can also create safe steps to traverse hot slag and slime. Both can level out arenas where fights are expected (say when prepping for a dreadnought or powering up a salvaged drop-pod)
    • In escort the Engineer’s grenades make short work of rocks and beamers. (The latter needs something that chips into rock, even a scout with a pickaxe power attack). The Gunner’s hurricane rocket launcher manages both nicely.
    • Dotty, Hack-C, Steeve, lootbugs, Hexawings, Breathers, Cave Vines can all be petted and should be. Bosco can be saluted. Using the laser pointer, other Dwarves can be talked to.

    These are all off the top of my head. There are dozens of others one learns on the path to Greybeard enlightenment. Rock and Stone.

    • Olmai@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 year ago

      I’m a big rock’n’stoner (700 hours) but I think you’re stretching it a bit.

      Of course there’s knowledge and experience to acquire, but it’s not the main progression system. They are needed to beat harder missions, but the same could be said about 90% of the games out there.

      On the other hand, I will agree that DRG does allow the player to express them more than your average RPG, because upgrades won’t beat haz 5 on their own. You still need to know how to play the game, and that is made of little know-hows and techniques like the ones you listed.

  • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    4·
    1 year ago

    I hear you’re taking reccos. May I suggest The Forgotten City? It’s not quite the same, but has a very similar “learn wtf is happening* as you go” mechanic. Also it’s one of my favorites.

    • Ashen44@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Another comment recommended that as well, I’ll add that to the list! I always love a good “wtf is going on” type mystery.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 🏆@yiffit.netEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    I tend to not get into these types of games because the progression is often a time-limited loop, and a lot of the time you have to go to the same place or do the same thing multiple times before you can finish it because those are places or actions that don’t persist through a loop.

    Similarly, games setup like Mario 64 where every level is intended to be played 5 or 6 times to get all the stars instead of just having it designed in a way that you can get everything in one go if you’re good enough.

  • Glaive0@beehaw.org
    4·
    1 year ago

    For those looking for more. Fez is a delight and a classic in the genre. The very last puzzle is more interesting from a community lore standpoint than actually being a decent puzzle, though. So be kind to yourself on that one.

    • Ashen44@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I played it and bounced off long before I got medicated, I should really go back to it now that I have acquired the ability to think!

      • Glaive0@beehaw.org
        1·
        1 year ago

        My brain went in reverse once I got treatment, I’d get hooked for hours on these sorts of puzzles and now it’s a bit harder to fall that deep into something. I did all of fez in a weekend and it’s not entirely a weekend game.

        • Ashen44@lemmy.caOPEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          That’s very interesting! My experience with treatment has mostly been that all the games I thought sounded really cool but weren’t very fun turned out to actually be extremely fun, I was just utterly incapable of immersing myself in anything before treatment. Granted my issue was severe ADHD and I have no idea what yours is.

  • alltheweird@lemmy.tfEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Probably not for everyone here but ‘I was a Teenage Exocolonist’ is one of the best games in that category I ever played. You feel the developer’s love in every character and storyline and being able to have so many different outcomes really made it feel special.

    • Ashen44@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I have it on my wishlist but I’ve put off buying it because I thought it was just a visual novel. I’ll have to check it out now!

    • Eagle0600@yiffit.netEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      That’s not really what this meme is talking about.

      Almost all games are about mastery in some way, in which you use knowledge to progress, or to make progression easier, but the games listed have knowledge as progression itself, which is different. Imagine if simply knowing how to perform the right jump let you skip straight from the first chapter to the final climb up the mountain, and furthermore that the game expects you to do precisely that, and that’s the kind of thing this meme is about.

      • SimplyTadpole@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        2·
        1 year ago

        Hm, if so, then does Hypnospace Outlaw also count? That game has a lot of secrets and special programs that let you find hidden/unique stuff, and it’s used to find crucial things in the final chapter, but most of them are already available right from the beginning if you know where to look, and the game is designed in a way where finding those early on is intentional for second-time players (either because it helps skip some chapters, or gives you useful upgrades sooner than you’d normally find them).

  • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    3·
    1 year ago

    There’s an interesting game that’s kinda similar called minit or something 60 second* time limit to play a zelda game but you keep some progress iirc.

    It’s an itch thing.

    That skyrim mod turned game umm forgotten city? might also count. Good shit.

    • Ashen44@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Oh Minit! That was such a well done little game. It really lived up to its name in terms of length but that made sure it never let itself get stale. I’ll have to check out The Forgotten City! I wrote it off because the other big Skyrim mod that’s its own game, Enderal, just didn’t mesh with me, but several people have recommended it now so I guess I’ll have to give it a shot!

    • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      2·
      1 year ago

      heavens vault is superior in terms of translation more accurately representing the puzzle. although the game is horrible to play and the MC is just so fucking mean

      • Ashen44@lemmy.caOPEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        yeah I definitely enjoyed the translation gameplay in heaven’s vault more, but otherwise chants of senaar way outclasses it for the reasons you mentioned.

        • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          1·
          1 year ago

          I’m so mixed on heaven’s vault. I think my steam review calls it the worst game I unquestionably recommend.

          Like the moments of jaw dropping insight, when suddenly something clicks and a new interpretation comes to light. you go through the timeline updating, reinterpreting, and recontextualising. Coming out the other side with a revolutionised understanding of the world’s history mwah. Or revisiting old sites and having a chuckle at how wrong you were.

          Yet between that is completely pointless vehicle sections, arthritic walking frame point and click navigation, dialogue choices presented as “yes” that are acted out as “Well I know you are practically working yourself to the bone to give me a better life but have you considered that you’re a shitstain and I hate you? well I’ll consider it” that make the character horrible to play.

  • bysmuth@lemmy.ml
    2·
    1 year ago

    I have some suggestions that fit this category with varying degrees so I will include some justifications so you can decide if you want to include them in your own playlists

    • Her story/the stanley parable :: fit the category perfectly
    • subnautica :: Survival game with heavy exploration. Unusually for this genre it has a story which you can only progress by finding some clues and piecing them together
    • the witness :: This one has been mentioned already but I just wanted to reiterate that although it may seem like a simple puzzle game it’s a good fit for this category. Here’s an excellent analysis of it that you can watch after playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZokQov_aH0
    • The talos principle :: the main part of this game is just a puzzle game so it seemingly doesn’t fit very well. However, along with those there are some characters which ask you some philosophical questions which you unintentionally end up mulling over while solving the puzzles. By the end of the game you have understood some things that can make the ending very meaningful and emotional.
    • antichamber/gorogoa/superliminal/baba is you :: Simple puzzle games but they are solved by lateral thinking where you’re constantly pushing the boundaries and rules of the puzzle itself
    • into the breach :: rougelike tactics game. Someone else mentioned how roguelikes in general fit this category and this is my honorable mention
    • hacknet :: You are given some tools that can open some doors but you have to learn how to exploit those doors to open the remaining ones