What's your favorite game without killing?

submitted by [deleted] from self.Gaming

I feel like I grew up with FPSs and it's in my DNA to want to shotgun people at close range and watch them splat. I'm enjoying Hotline Miami right now on linux, but what the shit, it's kinda twisted to entertain yourself with death.

Death is so ingrained in gaming that it seems like it takes something really special to become popular without it. I guess mobile gaming has reversed this trend somewhat, but those are mobile games.

Some of mine:

  • Rocket League
  • Dirt Rally / racing games
  • Katamari
  • Rock Band / Guitar Hero

How about your favorite violent game without death?

all 23 comments
sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun

[–]wizzwizz4 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

FPSs are almost all rubbish.

I go with Minetest (like Minecraft, but better-balanced, faster and with a better modding API / educational support), Pokémon Showdown, good ol' EmPipe, Tetris… There are lots and lots of games that don't involve death.

[–]happysmash27 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Hey, another Minetest fan!

I like Minetest, Minecraft, and any other games where one can build in first person while using things they build. I have a fairly unique idea of making one with a very small, subdividable block grid, ray traced graphics, and very realistic mechanics. I wish there was a name for this genre though, regardless of if the game is made of blocks (one of my ideas for this game was to use voxels with volume rendering instead of blocks).

Edit: Perhaps something like "immersive constructor"? I often use these games kind of like a 3d modeller, and like them because I can make something and use my creations.

Edit 2: Perhaps "world simulator", because they simulate worlds one can do things in, without forcing one into any story or gamification.

Edit 3: I made a sub and subreddit.

Edit 4: Or are these just called sandbox games?

[–]wizzwizz4 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I think they're called infinite sandbox games, but technically Minecraft is bounded in the up/down direction…

[–]happysmash27 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's bounded left/right-forward/backwards too. To my knowledge, they all are, so they aren't so much infinite as very, very large.

[–]wizzwizz4 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Ok. Yes, they all are. But I mean that Minecraft's is bounded in a small way, whereas Minetest has about 224 times the amount of space.

[–]JasonCarswell 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (7 children)

I don't play games and haven't played these. But I heard of them and recommended them to my brother's kids.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fez_(video_game)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_(2008_video_game)

[–]Mnemonic 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Though spore is literally killing to survive and eat 'evolution' points. (You can go all Vegan, but that's just one of the many paths. Total genocide of the competing species on your home planet is a legit 'aggressive' way to make it to the galactic travel age.

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Didn't know about that part.

I just thought it was evolution fun playing God - like the Sims but more creative. Same diff I guess.

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

Fez was really fun, that game left an impression on me.

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

I'm not into games but might be persuaded to try that one. I don't suppose it's pirated for PC?

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

I don't think so, I played it on a console. It's very cool both in storyline and game mechanics. And the art is cool too. It's just good.

[–]JasonCarswell 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

What kind of console?

I learned about it via a documentary on indie games years ago.

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I think PS4

[–]useless_aether 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

i dont kow about modern games, but i liked old school chess, mahjong, tetris, minesweeper etc. or some emulators for retro commodore, zx spectrum, etc games

[–]Vigte 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

It depends on your definition of killing.

If you see "death because of your choices and circumstance" as not murder - then I would suggest Banished or Frost Punk (you build a city/town - people die of old age or in work accidents, the cold etc, they also have kids).

Sim City is also a fantastic, straight forward non-violent game.

Syberia 1, 2 and three a fun, click to move adventure games that (if they include death, I haven't got there yet).

I always loved the King's Quest series as a kid, KQ6 for life! (you can die if you make the wrong choices though, so still, death).

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 is endless fun - but again, people CAN die if you construct your rides with no regard for physics. (Same with Planet Coaster, but I never tried it).

Game Dev tycoon and Railroad Tycoon are also fun.

In reality, the most fun I've had avoiding 99% of violence though, has been Mirror's Edge - minimal combat (aside from disarming/knocking out and scripted death in cinematics, unless you CHOOSE to shoot them - one of the few games to offer a "no murder" trophy) - truth and red pills abound and being the main character just feels right.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Yeah I veered off track by saying 'death' instead of killing or murder. Great suggestions man, thanks.

[–]Vigte 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Anytime dude - I'm sure I have some more to make, but I figured that was enough haha.

Did you check any of them out? Find any you like? Sorry - I wasn't sure if it was suggestions for kids games or just for yourself, so I tried to keep it real.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I put Banished and Frost Punk on my list to check out. I enjoyed both SimCity and Mirrors Edge. Adventure games is a good call. Man King's Quest is going way back. I remember getting stuck and doing a bit better at Space Quest.

[–]Vigte 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah, the king's quest is not for the young! I found that out the hard way too...

To be fair, I think the difficulty of games has diminished MULTIPLE times over since the 80's - and it shows.

HUDs, objective markers, hints, walk throughs.

Back in my day, boy lemme tell you...

[–]Mnemonic 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Factorio... I guess you have to kill the aliens to expand your base though, because they keep attacking all the time

Creeper world evermore is a free flash game that has no violence, it's about building a network of defense systems to kill the "creeper" goo that expands to take over everything. I guess that's killing too, but it's an inanimate object

I like building stuff in minecraft, that's fun too. Although I guess that has killing in it sometimes too.

Rocket League is fun, Katamari too.

Surprisingly hard to think of other games... good question!

Oh Mario Kart 64, there's one. Blast Corps for the N64 was good too, I don't think anyone dies in that (except when you fail the level and the nuclear bomb truck explodes lol)

[–]Alduin 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I haven't finished it yet, but SOMA seems pretty good so far. It's like a first person horror/psychological thriller game.

[–]happysmash27 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

By far, the peaceful aspects of Minetest, Minecraft, and similar. I love making things, no matter what medium it is in.