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alias_sqbr) wrote2022-01-28 07:58 pm
alias_sqbr) wrote2022-01-28 07:58 pm
Entry tags:
Easy To Play Narrative Games
Over on tumblr, bamboocounting asked for recs for good narrative games without any difficult gameplay, and I thought it would make a good topic for a post.
So, first: I have a Steam Curator account with a heap of recs, the Visual Novel and Exploration tags are the best place to look, and I try to always mention if there's any difficult gameplay parts.
But that's a lot to sort through! So! Some arbitrarily chosen recs.
All of them require a lot of reading. Some of these are "hard" in the sense of requiring a bit of thought to avoid bad ends, but it's always the sort of thing you can get through with a walkthrough. But to the best of my memory there's never any need for fast reflexes etc (except in the last section).
I added a (*) next to any that don't have major romance arcs since my recs have a certain bias >.>
Text Games:
Stay: A really good text based interactive game set in a magical world. At first I thought it was a bit bland, but once I got to the end the first time I started to realise what a great job it does of rewarding multiple playthroughs which layer on top of each other. You choose your pronouns and there's male, female, and non-binary love interests, but while the optional romance side-plots were sweet it's not really a romance game.
Birdland: a young adult text adventure about falling in love, coming to terms with who you are, and saving your entire summer camp from weird alien bird monsters.
(rec by aka_rat in the comments but I vaguely recall quite liking it) Gun Mute by C.E.J. Pacian: a Zork-style text adventure where you type in commands to play (i.e. "examine grue", "take lantern", etc). The twist is that there are only a few commands, most of them related to the Wild West theme - "reload" and "shoot" being the big ones. You play "Mute", a gunslinger who is trying to save his boyfriend from hanging. The puzzles aren't too bad for a text adventure and there's also a great instructions screen and hints.
Straightforward 'Dating Sim" Style Romance Visual Novels:
I tried to pick games that have more going on than pure romance, with compelling characters and plots.
Cinders: A clever interactive retelling of the Cinderella story, all the characters are complex and you can choose to befriend or alienate any of them, from the Prince to the stepmother, and either go for the fairy-godmother-and-Prince ending or something totally different. My full review.
Hustle Cat: a really cute fluffy dating sim about 19 year old of unspecified gender who ends up working at a cat cafe where all the other workers turn out to be cursed to turn into cats. My full review.
Hatoful Boyfriend: A surprisingly compelling dating sim about being the only human girl at a school of giant sentient birds. Deeply strange, often silly, and sometimes surprisingly dark.
My Vow To My Liege An excellent, well made dating sim about a bitter, angsty princess forced to cross-dress as King in Ancient China. My full review.
Nightshade: Good dating sim about a tragic ninja princess questioning whether her life has meaning. Most romances are quasi-incest with a lot of Angst. My full review.
Hakuoki: Great dating sim about the doomed Shinsengumi police force in a Japan on the cusp of civil war. Lots of history but also sexy vampire samurai. My full review.
In general: if you're up for traditionally feminine and kinda passive but determined heroines who suffer a lot but ultimately prevail, well intentioned but patchy ethical philosophising, and a heavy dose of heternormativity, Otomate does great stories and characters. Hakuoki is my favourite of theirs, but I also really liked Code Realise (Steampunk, heroine melts anyone she touches), Cafe Enchante (heroine runs a cafe frequented by monster boys), and Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly (a moody exploration of grief and moving on)
Other Visual Novels/Interactive Visual Stories:
We Know The Devil: Brilliant, understated queer visual novel about three teens stuck at a religious camp where you literally confront the devil. Has dark aspects but is ultimately very optimistic and cathartic.
(*)One Night Hot Springs: Delightful little story about a Japanese trans woman going to a hot springs with some friends.
(*)Chook and Sosig: A really great little charmingly dark New Zealand comedy about a talking cat and his ghost chicken friend. There's a whole series of these games but I haven't played the others yet. The art is fantastic, too, very unique and expressive.
It Will Be Hard: A sweet little interactive graphic novel about a m/m couple working through their issues in a fantasy setting.
Can You Say My Name Again: Sweet little romance story about two trans women.
Butterfly Soup: Very funny f/nb rom-com about a group of Asian American girls.
Exploration:
(*)The Stanley Parable: Brilliant and very funny game about refusing to play a game the way the creator wants you to.
(*)Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist: A short, free, funny walking sim type game about games.
(*)Tacoma: Fantastic exploration game on a space station by the creators of Gone Home. Diverse cast, cool AI , engaging stories and characters. A bit short for the price.
(*)One Shot: A great little 2D exploration/puzzle game where you play yourself, on your computer, helping a little catboy who has found himself in a fantasy world in need of a Saviour. My full review.
Mild Difficulty:
These have some stuff I didn't find too hard personally, as someone with pretty bad hand eye coordination and reaction times, but that may cause trouble for other people.
Retrace: A short and simply made but very enjoyable time-loop point and click adventure game about a girl who gets trapped in a strange place with her friends. My full review.
(*)Heaven's Vault: A point and click puzzle game about being an archaeologist deciphering and learning an ancient language to understand the history of her fantasy-ish scifi world. A mix of uniquely fantastic and irritatingly flawed, but overall very much worth playing. My full review.
So, first: I have a Steam Curator account with a heap of recs, the Visual Novel and Exploration tags are the best place to look, and I try to always mention if there's any difficult gameplay parts.
But that's a lot to sort through! So! Some arbitrarily chosen recs.
All of them require a lot of reading. Some of these are "hard" in the sense of requiring a bit of thought to avoid bad ends, but it's always the sort of thing you can get through with a walkthrough. But to the best of my memory there's never any need for fast reflexes etc (except in the last section).
I added a (*) next to any that don't have major romance arcs since my recs have a certain bias >.>
Text Games:
Stay: A really good text based interactive game set in a magical world. At first I thought it was a bit bland, but once I got to the end the first time I started to realise what a great job it does of rewarding multiple playthroughs which layer on top of each other. You choose your pronouns and there's male, female, and non-binary love interests, but while the optional romance side-plots were sweet it's not really a romance game.
Birdland: a young adult text adventure about falling in love, coming to terms with who you are, and saving your entire summer camp from weird alien bird monsters.
(rec by aka_rat in the comments but I vaguely recall quite liking it) Gun Mute by C.E.J. Pacian: a Zork-style text adventure where you type in commands to play (i.e. "examine grue", "take lantern", etc). The twist is that there are only a few commands, most of them related to the Wild West theme - "reload" and "shoot" being the big ones. You play "Mute", a gunslinger who is trying to save his boyfriend from hanging. The puzzles aren't too bad for a text adventure and there's also a great instructions screen and hints.
Straightforward 'Dating Sim" Style Romance Visual Novels:
I tried to pick games that have more going on than pure romance, with compelling characters and plots.
Cinders: A clever interactive retelling of the Cinderella story, all the characters are complex and you can choose to befriend or alienate any of them, from the Prince to the stepmother, and either go for the fairy-godmother-and-Prince ending or something totally different. My full review.
Hustle Cat: a really cute fluffy dating sim about 19 year old of unspecified gender who ends up working at a cat cafe where all the other workers turn out to be cursed to turn into cats. My full review.
Hatoful Boyfriend: A surprisingly compelling dating sim about being the only human girl at a school of giant sentient birds. Deeply strange, often silly, and sometimes surprisingly dark.
My Vow To My Liege An excellent, well made dating sim about a bitter, angsty princess forced to cross-dress as King in Ancient China. My full review.
Nightshade: Good dating sim about a tragic ninja princess questioning whether her life has meaning. Most romances are quasi-incest with a lot of Angst. My full review.
Hakuoki: Great dating sim about the doomed Shinsengumi police force in a Japan on the cusp of civil war. Lots of history but also sexy vampire samurai. My full review.
In general: if you're up for traditionally feminine and kinda passive but determined heroines who suffer a lot but ultimately prevail, well intentioned but patchy ethical philosophising, and a heavy dose of heternormativity, Otomate does great stories and characters. Hakuoki is my favourite of theirs, but I also really liked Code Realise (Steampunk, heroine melts anyone she touches), Cafe Enchante (heroine runs a cafe frequented by monster boys), and Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly (a moody exploration of grief and moving on)
Other Visual Novels/Interactive Visual Stories:
We Know The Devil: Brilliant, understated queer visual novel about three teens stuck at a religious camp where you literally confront the devil. Has dark aspects but is ultimately very optimistic and cathartic.
(*)One Night Hot Springs: Delightful little story about a Japanese trans woman going to a hot springs with some friends.
(*)Chook and Sosig: A really great little charmingly dark New Zealand comedy about a talking cat and his ghost chicken friend. There's a whole series of these games but I haven't played the others yet. The art is fantastic, too, very unique and expressive.
It Will Be Hard: A sweet little interactive graphic novel about a m/m couple working through their issues in a fantasy setting.
Can You Say My Name Again: Sweet little romance story about two trans women.
Butterfly Soup: Very funny f/nb rom-com about a group of Asian American girls.
Exploration:
(*)The Stanley Parable: Brilliant and very funny game about refusing to play a game the way the creator wants you to.
(*)Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist: A short, free, funny walking sim type game about games.
(*)Tacoma: Fantastic exploration game on a space station by the creators of Gone Home. Diverse cast, cool AI , engaging stories and characters. A bit short for the price.
(*)One Shot: A great little 2D exploration/puzzle game where you play yourself, on your computer, helping a little catboy who has found himself in a fantasy world in need of a Saviour. My full review.
Mild Difficulty:
These have some stuff I didn't find too hard personally, as someone with pretty bad hand eye coordination and reaction times, but that may cause trouble for other people.
Retrace: A short and simply made but very enjoyable time-loop point and click adventure game about a girl who gets trapped in a strange place with her friends. My full review.
(*)Heaven's Vault: A point and click puzzle game about being an archaeologist deciphering and learning an ancient language to understand the history of her fantasy-ish scifi world. A mix of uniquely fantastic and irritatingly flawed, but overall very much worth playing. My full review.