What are some good games with *zero* replayability?

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• Deestan@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Antichamber - clever first person puzzle game

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  • the16bitgamer@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I replayed it after many years. It was fantastic, now I need to wait another many years to forget the solution.

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    • agent_flounder@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      The older you get the more often you’ll be able to play!

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  • Gork@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I’d place Superliminal in this category as well.

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    • Cethin@lemmy.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Superliminal was cool, but I just didn’t enjoy it. It was fun for a bit, but I feel like the mechanic overstayed it’s welcome for how simple it is. There’s not very many unique ways to use it. That’s probably why Valve abandoned the idea too.

      Still, it’s interesting and worth a shot. Plenty of people love it.

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    • smeg@feddit.uk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      You can replay it to find all the extra secrets though

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  • Broken_Monitor@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    This goes for most of these first person puzzle games. Once you solve the puzzle its not very fun to do it again.

    Portal 1 and 2, the Witness, Talos Principle 1 and 2, Manifold Garden - all worth a play through. Next on my list to try is Viewfinder.

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    • Donjuanme@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I feel portal could be replayed if you focused too hard on the puzzles the first time through, there were quite a few secrets worth exploring in that world, though none too deep unfortunately

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    • jqubed@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I play through both Portal games every few years; maybe every 5 or 6. I think I’m due again soon.

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    • SorteKanin@feddit.dk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I kind of got bored of manifold garden. I guess it was the lack of any story. I just had no motivation to continue.

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    • sxt@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I feel like portal 2 can get by on a playthrough every so many years based on the writing/VA making it enjoyable even if you half remember the puzzles.

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  • SorteKanin@feddit.dk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Good suggestion, I played it many years ago as well :)

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  • Zozano@lemy.lol ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Awesome game. I was high on cannabis when I played it, and managed to beat it in one sitting about 10 years ago. I want to play it while high on shrooms, that would be even crazier.

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  • Donjuanme@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Copying my comment from elsewhere in this thread

    I was going to write anti chamber, because I never want to play it again, but %'s 30-90 of the way through the game I was itching to start over. It had me so hooked, but then the ending just took the wind out of the sails so hard. Heck maybe 10-98% of the game had me itching to replay it.

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• Abucketofpuppies@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  There was an old flash game called “You Only Love Once”

  It’s basically a rudimentary mario-like platformer. But once you die, the game just cuts to your funeral. Each time you load up the game again, it just shows time passing as your grave slowly ages and is forgotten.

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  • LunarLoony@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    There’s a similar one called ‘One Chance’, in which you have three days to cure a disease that will otherwise kill everything. Same sorta concept.

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    • Cethin@lemmy.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      This feels like it’d be great for a networked game where what you do gets passed onto other players so eventually someone can finish it. Souls-like or Death Stranding-like multiplayer style. The issue is it’d probably take a lot of effort to make in a way that be interesting and take long enough, and also if it can only be done once then that sucks for making money. I guess it could use procedural elements and make it replayable, but that’d probably remove some of the charm.

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  • dandroid@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Could you could clear your cookies or open an incognito tab and start over?

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    • Abucketofpuppies@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yeah, you could clear cookies to start over. I never actually got to see what happens if you survive the whole game though

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• Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  What Remains of Edith Finch. A psychological horror game that REALLY sucks you in. As you play, there is a lot of stuff that doesn’t make any sense, but there’s a secret (disturbing) meaning behind it all.

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  • Aviandelight@mander.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    And if you do want more try out Unfinished Swan.

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    • Coelacanth@feddit.nu ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      The Unfinished Swan is such a hidden gem, honestly. I never hear anyone talk about it. Very unique style and mechanics and an endearing story. Some beautiful environments too. And pretty short, so not a big commitment.

      It’s a great, great game.

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    • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Thanks for pointing that out, I had never heard of that one. I looked it up and I’ll definitely check it out.

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  • cloudless@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I am thinking of replaying Edith Finch because I must have missed a lot of details by the time I realised what the story was about.

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  • frickineh@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a little older but it kind of reminds me of Edith Finch in vibes. It’s also really beautiful.

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  • einlander@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Also take a look at: The Suicide of Rachel Foster

    It’s currently 90% off on steam at 1.79USD

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  • swordsmanluke@programming.dev ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Oh man - I loved WRoEF, but the bathtub segment has ensured I can never play it again.

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    • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Oh yeah. They aren’t subtle in that one, you know what’s coming and I think I just muttered “oh no. Oh no. Oh no.” through the whole thing.

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• gaael@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Firewatch

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  • supercriticalcheese@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I replied it after several years cause of nostalgia, but yeah first time is where it is at!

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  • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    First impressions, I thought it was going to be a boring on-rails walk simulator.

    Then I teared up at the end with Delilah. I can’t believe how good the acting is for me to fall in love with a voice.

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  • INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Great example

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• cradac@feddit.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Puzzlers usually fall into that category. If that’s up your alley you should try the Talos Principle.

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  • SorteKanin@feddit.dk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    My favourite game of all time, hands down.

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    • the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Why do i keep bouncing off this game? I keep hearing it’s great and then i play a bit and get bored. I don’t get far. Is there a point i need to get to where the story opens up?

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  • Aielman15@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I’ve played it once, waited a few years until I forgot the solution to all puzzles, and then played it again.

    I’ll probably replay it again a few more years from now. I love that game.

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• Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Subnautica.

  I found it to be one of the best games I have ever played with a fantastic story that really pulled me in. If you do decide to play it, look up nothing. As in don’t even google it because it’s a slightly older game and people spoil the entire thing.

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  • Tedrick02@lemmy.today ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Great game, too little story line and too much grind to replay.

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    • dustyData@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It’s actually very granular on the grind difficulty. There’s a story only mode that removes the survival elements and leaves only the material gathering for crafting. There’s also a creative mode where you don’t even have to gather materials and can just build whatever and go wherever and see all the story bits with almost no challenge at all. You choose how you want to go at it.

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    • toddestan@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      For me, it wasn’t just the story, but also just randomly going out and exploring, checking things out, and finding cool (and sometimes scary) things.

      It’s one of those games that I’m hoping in like 10 years or something I’ll have forgotten enough of it that if I go play it again it’ll be mostly all new again.

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• Okami_No_Rei@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Tunic is a solid 10-15 hour adventure game, and I highly recommend playing without spoilers as several experiences are information-locked like Outer Wilds. It’s an isometric adventure game heavily inspired by Zelda with some Souls influence bleeding into the lore, mechanics, and boss fights. Replayability is limited to speedrunning and challenge runs.

  Bastion is a wonderful adventure game with a heavy focus on combat. It’s a precursor to Hades from the same developer, and shares the same mechanical DNA minus the rogue-lite elements that Hades introduced. The followup game, Transistor, is also worth checking out, though it didn’t quite hit the same highs for me as Bastion. Both are 10-20 hour adventures with limited replayability if you want to achievement hunt.

  More games to check out: Psychonauts and Psychonauts 2 Journey, Abzu, and The Pathless Subnautica

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  • Tier1BuildABear@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Saying Tunic has zero replayability is absolutely insane to me. IT EVEN HAS A NEW GAME PLUS!!

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    • CrayonRosary@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I kind of agree with OC’s sentiment. The game is a masterpiece, but the puzzle solving and metagame is half of the game, if not more. Once you’ve solved that, replaying it is just going through the motions of a pretty OK action adventure game. I dunno.

      It’s like playing Braid after beating it. Another masterpiece of a game! You could speed run it—which I was very much into—but the thought of playing it again after that just doesn’t interest me. It’s just going through the motions.

      That being said, its been years and years since I’ve played it and there’s a new anniversary edition coming out with new content. I’m almost certainly going to buy it.

      I loved the built-in speed run of that game. You only had 45 minutes to beat the whole thing. The first time I accomplished that, my time was 44:58 and some change! I lost my shit that I managed to juuuust squeak in a win! 😂

      I ended up getting it down to 37 minutes. There are so many tricks in that game to speed it up. I wonder what the official best time is. Back in the Xbox 360 days there were a lot of cheaters using the back-end to submit bullshit scores. Or people doing save trading and all having the exact same time down to 1/100 of a second.

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    • Okami_No_Rei@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      NG+ is optional since it’s not required to finish the game or appreciate the story. It’s there for the challenge.

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  • fireweed@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I would somewhat disagree with Subnautica. There are lots of different settings you can try to make the game harder or more survival-oriented that might be worth a try if your first play-through was on a simpler/easier mode. Plus there are the creation modes where you can create your own base without restrictions. However as a story-oriented game I’d agree it has lower-than-average replay value.

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    • Okami_No_Rei@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I find Subnautica has less replayability than other survival games since the map and questline is static. Once you know where everything is and you’ve seen all the plot beats there’s not much reason to play the game again unless you want to challenge yourself with a speedrun or, as you said, one of the harder difficulties.

      I wouldn’t consider creative mode or sandbox mode to be a core part of the game. They’re great for fucking around or as an extended tutorial, but I see them more as external tools than as part of the game experience proper.

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    • Cethin@lemmy.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I would absolutely consider replaying subnautica if managing inventories wasn’t so bad. Playing it to build up a base would be fun if it wasn’t such a frustrating process to deal with. I think all crafting should pull from all inventories in your base, and also preverably adding inventories just increases the size of one large abstract storage system of your base that you don’t need to worry about organizing.

      As it is, once the story was done I was done. I had become so annoyed with building out my bases that I just couldn’t be bothered to do it again.

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  • BugleFingers@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I would highly recommend Tunic as well, played through with a GF and it’s an amazing game! (Single player though)

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  • Abucketofpuppies@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I definitely played through Bastion at least thrice. There is enough build variety that you can make another playthrough feel totally different, not to mention the difficulty modifiers. First game that I took the time to 100% for achievements.

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    • Okami_No_Rei@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Bastion’s story doesn’t necessitate multiple plays. Sure, it’s fun to play through again and try different builds. I’ve also 100%'ed the game.

      The important thing, I think, for OP’s question is that it can be finished in one play. It has a satisfying ending from which the player can set down the game and move on.

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  • catalyst@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    +1 for Tunic especially if you go for all of the late game puzzles and other stuff that I shall not spoil. I have the Tunic plushy up on my shelf!

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  • Patches@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    For Tunic - you will 100% be expected to play like an old school game. So keep physical paper notes of what you see or you’ll be going back and forth.

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  • dandroid@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    +1 for Tunic. Fantastic game. Not too long. Get it on sale.

    I played it on my Steam Deck when I had Covid and was banished from my bedroom so I didn’t get my wife sick. 😅

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• SharkyAttack@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Firewatch. Road 96.

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  • yamanii@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Road 96 Huh? The point of that game is being a narrative roguelite, everytime you start out different and have different choices to make.

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    • tsonfeir@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Same with firewatch.

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    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I felt like the gimmick in Road 96 wasn’t worth it.

      It feels more like window dressing. Turning night into day. Or instead of looking for a walkie talkie, it’s batteries.

      The beats are too specific and if you had one motorcycle minigame, you had them all.

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  • SorteKanin@feddit.dk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    How “bad” is the walking simulator aspect in these games? Is it mostly just walking or is there actual gameplay?

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    • cloudless@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Bad if you hate it, good if you like it.

      I like walking simulator and Firewatch is great. Lacking gameplay doesn’t mean it is bad.

      What Remains of Edith Finch is even better.

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    • Cethin@lemmy.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I hate the term “walking simulator”. It’s totally missing the point. They’re never about walking, but about discovery. Outer Wilds is a “walking simulator” in that there’s no combat and traversal is the only “action” you take. That’s definitely not what Outer Wilds is about though, right? That term should probably die.

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  • rainynight65@feddit.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Road 96 has quite a bit of replay ability as you’re unlikely to get 100% of all stories on the first playthrough.

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• quafeinum@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Superliminal - once you know the puzzles you know the puzzles, till then it has its fair share of mind bending moments. Speedrunning it is fun though

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  • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Absolutely this! I hate that I now know how to think in the Superliminal world.

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• spunkycomics@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The Witness has a lot of generative puzzles that I guess technically are replayable, but you can’t go back to before the moments of joy of discovery and that’s the core of what made that game incredible to me

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  • sp6@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If you want a good laugh, check out The Looker. It’s a short satire of the Witness, free on Steam

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• fushuan@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Brothers, a tae of two sons. It’s a 2h ish long story, really good.

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• Donjuanme@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Thomas was alone.(I recommend this one up there with obra dinn)

  Spec ops the line

  Dlc quest

  Limbo

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• FireTower@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Might be an unpopular take but the Red Dead Redemption 2 campaign. I’ve tried twice to start a second campaign but it’s so slow. The first time around the narrative carries it, so it doesn’t feel so slow. But knowing what happens next takes that away. The worst part is how ridged it is with mission failure/success conditions. It removes room for creative solutions.

  This is not to say it wasn’t wonderful to play once. But it plays like they wanted to make a movie not a game.

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• owsei@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Untitled Goose Game

  once you played it, or even just watched it, it loses the initial trill.

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• Nibodhika@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  • Spec ops: The line. I think this was delisted from most stores though, so you might need to sail the high seas to get it. It might not be as impactful today as it was when it came out, but it’s a great game with a great twist.

  • Life is strange. It’s a story driven game, sure you can replay it and choose different things, but realistically you probably won’t since the main of the story is the same.

  • Batman games. Those were my go to for a while when I wanted something linear with an end.

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• captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  • Please Don’t Touch Anything. What genre does it even belong in? It would have been a flash game if made 10 years earlier. You’re left at a console with a single large red button, and told to wait for a minute and don’t touch anything. Depending on how you interact with this console, there are many different things it can do/behaviors it can have, and your goal is to find all the different endings. It was entertaining, I don’t need to own it anymore.

  -Shenzhen I/O and TIS-100. Both Zachtronics assembly-em-up games, which…I don’t think there’s absolutely zero replayability, because you might redo the level you just did or go back to an earlier one with a solution you just learned from a later level, but I don’t know finishing these games feels less like beating Bowser at the end of Super Mario and more like graduating from high school. I’m done with that phase of my life and I can now move on.

  • Antichamber. The video game equivalent of a Piet Mondrian painting. It’s an abstract and brain knitting non-euclidean first person puzzle game that uses its surreal mechanics as a metaphor for the journey of life itself, and halfway though you get a gun that shoots cubes and it turns back into a video game. A lot of the actual impact of the game comes from how it comments on the epiphany you just had, and that effect is spoiled somewhat by “Oh I remember this part.” I will note there is a speedrunning community for this game.

  • Firewatch. There are some games where you’ll watch a Let’s Play, decide you want to have a go, so you’ll buy and play the game. Not Firewatch; a Let’s Play gives you 96.4% of the experience. It’s a walking simulator that probably should have just been a short film. I’m not even convinced it is a “video game” because…how do you play it well or poorly? Like do we need a new term like “narrative software” or something?

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• reboot6675@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Am I the only one who just plays any given game once?

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• cafuneandchill@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Out of all that I could’ve suggested, Ace Attorney series probably fits the bill the most

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• RobotZap10000@feddit.nl ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Omori. Finished the game in 15 hours across 3 days. Bawled my eyes out for the next few weeks. 15/10 would recommend.

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• Persen@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Stray

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• postmateDumbass@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Tic tac toe has only a handful of replays.

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• Peddlephile@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  To The Moon; Once you go through the experience of the story, there’s really no need to replay again.

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• bionicjoey@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Funny OP, you named the exact 3 games I was planning on naming here.

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• RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Honestly felt this way about BioShock Infinite - the gameplay was alright, but it was the story that made it good, but you only get to explore it for the first time once. I have zero plans to ever pick that one up again

  Same for the latest Tomb Raider trilogy for me

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• MarauderIIC@dormi.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Myst

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• whotookkarl@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  90s style adventure games like Sam and Max hit the road, day of the tentacle, monkey Island, Indiana Jones, etc. Lots of comedy you can’t hear again for the first time, and puzzles that can be memorable.

  scummVM can be used to run those games and runs on basically everything, phones, tablets, desktop.

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• Kolanaki@yiffit.net ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Literally anything focused entirely on telling a story.

  They’re only worth replaying if you forget the story.

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• B0NK3RS@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It’s quite an open question. Most games I play are “one and done” even though I think most people go back to them. Even with replayability it doesn’t mean that you have to and I’m happy to leave things be once the story is over.

  Mafia trilogy sticks to the story and will take a decent amount of hours.

  Inside is short but fun.

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• Construc_@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Outer Wilds. not only is it a fantastic game, but the entire premise and gameplay is centred around discovering the world. theres no progression, the story is all diagetic and not quest-bound or anything, and once you know the world you cant really discover it any more (unless you forget)

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• Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Dredge comes to mind. It’s a nice game and all, but outside of the two endings (which are basically a choose left or right situation) you see pretty much everything there’s to see in a single playthrough.

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