One common complaint among modern gamers is the excessive hand-holding seen in many of today’s games. They often have lengthy tutorials that provide a lot of information from the outset. Then, for the rest of the game, you follow objective markers or the dreaded yellow paint to discover where to go.
Older games used to be a bit more hands-off. They may give you an objective, but they rarely make it obvious where you have to go or how you even complete the objective. Plus, different combat techniques and combos had to be discovered, instead of a hint on screen telling you how to do them. As a result, doing well in those games felt more rewarding. Well, you may still get that rewarding feeling in the following titles because they, too, offer little to no guidance.
It’s common forsurvival games to start you with nothing, so it’s unsurprising that you only begin with your fists in Ark: Survival Evolved. Yet, this game also doesn’t provide you with much knowledge.
This is despite the fact that it has placed you into a world that contains a litany of dinosaurs, many of which can kill you on the spot. In this situation, a few pointers would be nice. However, the game requires you to figure out everything, from combat to crafting, on your own. You may be lunch for a few dinos before you get the hang of things.
Outer Wilds is set in a little planetary system that is about to get wiped out by a star going supernova. However, when that happens, time is simply reset. You must explore this small system to learn more about the world and why the star is going supernova.
The game lets you discover all of this on your own. It doesn’t even really give you a guide on how to explore different planets in the first place. There is a starting area with little things that you can interact with, which effectively teaches you how to play the game, even if you don’t realize it initially.
Terraria is a sandbox game where you fight monsters, craft things, anddo a bit of mining. There is no clear goal, so there are no objective markers to follow. You can just build and explore to your heart’s content.
Not only do you not have instructions regarding your goal, but the game also doesn’t provide information on how to craft certain items. The game is all about experimentation and discovering how to build things and survive. There is an NPC that provides some tips if you desire, but talking to them isn’t a requirement.
In Stray, you play as a little cat roaming around a futuristic city filled with robots and other machines. You spend the game traversing the enviroment, avoiding danger, and solving puzzles. Figuring out how to do all these things is down to you, as there is no in-depth tutorial.
When you approach things, there is sometimes a button prompt, and you do have a robot helper that occasionally gives you information. Besides those things, though, you’re pretty much on your own. Even the story takes a bit of figuring out, particularly due to the limited dialogue in the game.
As the name suggests, in Journey, you go on a journey. More specifically, you’re heading toward the large mountain in the distance. There is no dialogue in the game, so you aren’t told why you’re heading there or who your character is.
There aren’t a lot of gameplay mechanics, as you mainly just move around, jump, and do a little shout to get through areas and complete puzzles. So, there isn’t much for the game to teach you from a gameplay standpoint, which is likely why there aren’t really any instructions.
The Stanley Parable is an interesting game when it comes to instructions because, technically, you get a lot of them. However, you’re supposed to ignore most of those instructions. It’s a game where you play as an office worker who explores a deserted office building to discover what happened to everyone.
Along the way, there is a narrator telling you where to go. you’re able to follow his instructions, but that isn’t what the game is really about. You’re actually supposed to head off the path that he’s leading you down and discover all of the other endings in the game. You have no instructions when it comes to unlocking these endings, so it’s all about figuring things out.
Inside places you in the shoes of an unnamed red-shirted boy. As him, you need to do a bunch of platforming and puzzle-solving as you progress through the game. Along the way, you will begin to understand more of the thought-provoking narrative, which leans heavily on environmental storytelling.
While you’re working out the story, you also need to work out how to play, as the game doesn’t give you any instructions. It isn’t very complex, as you mainly just run and jump around. Yet, there are a few extra mechanics thrown in at times, which you need to figure out.
Tunic is an action-adventure game that is clearly inspired by the Legend of Zelda series. Yet, it’sa ‘copycat game’ that actually lives up to its inspiration. Instead of a little boy, though, you play as a small fox in a tunic. Who the fox is or why they’re here is unclear. Much of the story is open to interpretation.
As for the gameplay, the game pretty much leaves you to it. You simply explore and have to figure out the game’s mechanics along the way. You can find pages of a manual around the place that give you a hint on how to do certain things. But they aren’t always easy to find, as the game doesn’t just hand them to you. So, you even have to work to unlock the manual in this game.
