Sometimes a video game can advance a genre to new heights, helping outsiders see the medium in different ways. Many video games are chaotic carnage, eg Grand Theft Auto Series, which is totally fine, but every once in a while, there has to be a game that reshapes everything and makes players think.
Great RPGs where exploration is exhausting
Exploring the game world is usually fun, but that's not always the case. Here are some of the best RPGs where exploration can be too tedious.
The following are all great examples of thought-provoking video games that are probably too mentally exhausting to play back-to-back. It will create a lot of mental stress, or it will be more awkward to play a happy game like this Astro Bot after. Instead, a break from video games, however long, may be necessary to do the following. There will be no spoilers.
12 minutes
until midnight
12 minutes Usually before an unknown husband and wife enjoy a meal together, a policeman starts asking the wife to come along, and then the husband wakes up again in the night and it's all black.
It's a time loop game where players have to figure out how to prevent themselves and their wives from dying or being prosecuted by the police. The game actively hides information from players to mask the solution, and getting it right requires a fair amount of trial and error. In the end, the truth will prompt players to reconsider the context in a new light, and this is by no means pleasant.
BioShock Infinite
A horrible ending for Booker
BioShock InfiniteOn the surface, 2010 is a fast-paced shooter with some great set pieces. Between using powers like fire to light up enemies or grinding on rails to blast enemies with an assault rifle, there's never a dull moment.
Behind the Scenes is a darker story than that, starring a private investigator sent to a utopian kingdom of clouds in the sky to save a girl. This is another game where the ending leaves players confused and racing to forum message boards trying to piece it all together, as well as grappling with how their story ends with Booker, the detective.
It takes two
Marriage is complicated
It takes two A unique co-op only experience where two divorcing parents are turned into dolls by their child. A magical book tells them they need to work together to solve this curse, and through random gameplay events, the two go on a bonding adventure. They'll play old arcade games, chase frogs in the jungle, and there's even some shooting action.
The diverse set of gameplay types is amazing and fun while it lasts, but the game also takes a hard look at the reality of relationships. Even if things end smoothly, it can be stressful to hear the couple fight, or gameplay scenarios can cause players to become frustrated with each other.
The Last of Us Part 2
Play that guitar
The Last of Us Part 2 One of the darkest games that PlayStation fans will ever play. Starting with Ellie, players go on a journey to Seattle, who seeks revenge for taking everything away from her. The reactions of the enemies he encounters are very realistic, as they often beg for their lives.
Great JRPGs that are too exhausting to finish
These JRPGs are great games, but you can feel tired after investing enough time in them to roll the credits.
Beyond that, the gameplay is pretty brutal, with the gore and injuries Ellie will incur during her campaign. In the end, he'll end up with less than he started with, leaving on a cliffhanger that can make players sick to their stomachs and question the nature of revenge.
Life is strange
A sacrificial state
Life is strange It begins with a student, Max, returning to his hometown after moving away. While going to the bathroom, she sees her old friend, Chloe, murdered, but then she sees a photo and realizes she can go back in time.
Each episode is more taxing than the last as players must make split-second decisions about what to do, which will affect the story. The idea of going back in time to save an old friend seems easy, it's not. There are big balls in the game, and the players will have to make the most serious decision in the last episode.
Red Dead Redemption 2
The life of a cowboy
Red Dead Redemption 2 It's one of the best westerns ever made, with a huge open-world prairie to explore with lots of activities to follow. Players can decide to make Arthur, the hero, an evil gunslinger, or they can make him change his ways.
Regardless, his epic isn't one that players will be happy with, as Arthur must constantly wrestle with following orders or being a decent human being in a changing world that leaves criminals like him in the past. No matter where players end up with Arthur, they will have to consider thoughts of sadness, regret, depression, and dealing with death over time.
Sekiro: Shadows die twice
hands up
Sekiro: Shadows die twice It doesn't have an unsettling story like others, but it has brutal gameplay that will test players' patience. Unlike other games from FromSoftware, this is not a Soulslike. Players can upgrade their character and find him new equipment, but they can't grind for EXP and level him up.
Instead, it's a more visceral action game where attack comes before defense. Players must actively counter, dodge, and get better at the first move, and if they manage to beat it, they will definitely be exhausted in both mind and body.
Silent Hill f
Once again with passion
Silent Hill f This is a game that is not set in Silent Hill, as it takes place in 1960s Japan in a small village named Ebisugaoka. Hinako, the heroine, will have to work together with her friends to take out the plant-like disease that is growing around the city. They also sometimes sleep and enter another dimension, and go through the pilgrimage trials with the fox man.
Great open-world games for long play
Sit back and spend weeks or months on these open-world games, because there's so much great content to experience.
The game doesn't actively tell players what's going on, so it's up to them to piece things together with notes and reference clues. That said, not everything is predictable the first time around, and each subsequent playthrough reveals more. Going through some of these scenes can be difficult the first time, let alone many.
Tunic
A meta Zelda
Tunic Looks like a typical top-down Zelda A Fox star clone instead of a young elf boy, but it's much more than that. If players go through it as an action-adventure game, they will be dissatisfied.
The bigger picture requires understanding the in-game manuals that players can find and piece together, which contain secret messages in a foreign language. Tunic is a meta game, and not easy to solve alone. While not impossible, players have their eyes glued to every nook and cranny of the map, praying for clues or otherwise going online to try and get some answers.
until the morning
Won't you leave me until next year?
until the morning is an exciting adventure game set deep in the snowy mountains, where a group of college friends are gathering for the first time in years. What starts as a fun vacation turns into a fight for their lives when a killer is on the loose.
Players can control multiple characters with limited interaction in the environment to get through each section. Dialogue choices and quick-time events can lead to characters making it out unscathed, injured, or worse, dead. With grizzly death stalking players, it can be difficult to walk far into the morning.
10 Games That Feel Shorter Than They Really Are
With well-paced action and storytelling, these epics will feel surprisingly breezy despite their true running times.
