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What are your favorite experimental games?

Aurica

Aurica

音楽オタク - Comics Council 2020
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,496
A mountain in the US
Experimental how?

Experimental in gameplay mechanics, like Katamari; Papers, Please; or Hypnospace Outlaw.

This could also be experimental in terms of narrative structure, like Virtue's Last Reward, NieR: Automata, or Tacoma.

I don't wanna be the judge, so however you think is fine with me. Please don't just list things. Tell me about your favorites!
 
Comrade Crunch

Comrade Crunch

Member
Jan 15, 2018
840
Kentucky Route Zero

It's pretty experimental in structure in that instead of solving puzzles as you normally would in a point and click adventure game, you're defining the characters through dialogue while playing. The tone and presentation is pretty experimental too.
 
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Aurica

Aurica

音楽オタク - Comics Council 2020
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,496
A mountain in the US
I'm sure there are tons of good VR ones I've never even heard of. Hope someone in here is well versed in VR.
 
beelulzebub

beelulzebub

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,597


Work Time Fun. Video emphasizes the wacky bits, but the game is a satire of working shit jobs for shit pay. You then take that money
and spend it at gacha machines, where most of the things you get will be useless crap but hopefully, MAYBE, you'll get something good.

Your experience early on will involve putting caps on pens (or to change things up, you can sort chicks into male, female, or dead boxes. There are very few jobs to start, and all of them are monotonous) for 10 minutes at a time and hope you have enough money and luck to buy something that will lift you out of the pen doldrums. Nothing quite like spending 20 minutes putting caps on pens and having nothing to show for it. Lol

If you're lucky, you'll get something new to do, but it may not pay as well, so even then it's not a golden ticket out of the pen factory. If you're especially lucky, you'll get a sexy ramen timer.
 
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mikhailguy

mikhailguy

Banned
Jun 20, 2019
1,967
Katamari..the music, the visuals, the weirdness

Inside..

the meat blob, the locations that you make your way through, the stunning art direction, etc
 
Messofanego

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,189
UK
Another vote for Kentucky Route Zero. The various perspectives, dialogue system, haunting atmosphere, cinematography, surrealism, small town Americana, and post-recession vibes is just perfection.
 
Tatsu91

Tatsu91

Banned
Apr 7, 2019
3,147
Aizō said:
Experimental how?

Experimental in gameplay mechanics, like Katamari; Papers, Please; or Hypnospace Outlaw.

This could also be experimental in terms of narrative structure, like Virtue's Last Reward, NieR: Automata, or Tacoma.

I don't wanna be the judge, so however you think is fine with me. Please don't just list things. Tell me about your favorites!
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Click to shrink...
Recently Wattam
 
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Aurica

Aurica

音楽オタク - Comics Council 2020
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,496
A mountain in the US
beelulzebub said:


Work Time Fun. Video emphasizes the wacky bits, but the game is a satire of working shit jobs for shit pay. You then take that money
and spend it at gacha machines, where most of the things you get will be useless crap but hopefully, MAYBE, you'll get something good.

Your experience early on will involve putting caps on pens (or to change things up, you can sort chicks into male, female, or dead boxes. There are very few jobs to start, and all of them are monotonous) for 10 minutes at a time and hope you have enough money and luck to buy something that will lift you out of the pen doldrums. Nothing quite like spending 20 minutes putting caps on pens and having nothing to show for it. Lol

If you're lucky, you'll get something new to do, but it may not pay as well, so even then it's not a golden ticket out of the pen factory. If you're especially lucky, you'll get a sexy ramen timer.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Wow. This has got me craving some Indian spaghetti.
 
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Aurica

Aurica

音楽オタク - Comics Council 2020
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,496
A mountain in the US
Traxus

Traxus

Spirit Tamer
Member
Jan 2, 2018
5,197
beelulzebub said:
I wholeheartedly second these
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Aizō said:
I love this game. It was on Japanese PS+ years back, and I had a good time playing it on my vita.
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Lol you guys caught both edits before I got the name right. But yeah, it's crazy. The PS1 library has some really wild stuff.

Ore No Ryouri, awesome food chopping game.
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Bishi Bashi Special, like Mario Party on crack
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Depth (aka Flow), game that's really a music sequencer that you control via a dolphin floating around. Your movements in the sea determine how the music develops.
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Pepsiman, what more needs to be said?
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Mizzurna Falls, an early open world game like Shenmue and Twin Peaks
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DarkplaceGarth

DarkplaceGarth

Member
Mar 25, 2019
435
Everything. Loved shifting perspectives, listening to Alan Watts quotes while floating around as a microbe or making multiple galaxies dance. Incredibly soothing game.

youtu.be

EVERYTHING - Gameplay Trailer | PS4

Everything is a beautiful new interactive experience from David OReilly, narrated by the late great philosopher Alan Watts - coming to Playstation on March 2...
youtu.be youtu.be
 
CannonFodder52

CannonFodder52

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,007
Canada
Gone Home - a System Shock like game with the combat removed and full emphasis on environmental storytelling.

Kentucky Route Zero - for reasons listed by the above posters.

Return of the Obra Dinn - non linear detective game giving a full sense of discovery to the player. For me it's only rivaled by Her Story in this aspect.


The Last Guardian - Unique take on the escort mission, where you are the defenseless character and the NPC is protecting you. Learn to work together and form a meaningful relationship though gameplay mechanics.
 
HiroTSK5

HiroTSK5

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 4, 2017
572
Off the top of my head, Journey's take on cooperative multiplayer, both how you communicate with whomever your paired up with as well as the idea that the person you're playing with might not be the same one your were playing with in the previous level.
 
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,289
Aizō said:
Tell me more. I've never heard of this.
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It's a game where you go through a procedurally generated city in a bus. It's just that but it's a lot of fun, and the music is on point too. Just a game about a very specific thing and it does that very well. You can get it on itch.io.

It's from the devs of recently released Wide Ocean Big Jacket, A Good Gardner, Little Party and others.
 
TheSpaceBetween

TheSpaceBetween

Member
Jan 11, 2018
9,653
Deadly Creatures - I love playing as small things in a big world, and playing as a Spider and a Scorpion made for an interesting experience not only in perspective but also in mechanics and storytelling.

Red Steel 2 - The best swordfighting game ever created, thanks to motion controls.

Killer7 - There is just nothing else like this mindfuck of a game. Suda 51's crown jewel. NMH is more fun to play, but Killer7 is the better gaming experience.
 
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Aurica

Aurica

音楽オタク - Comics Council 2020
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,496
A mountain in the US
TheSpaceBetween said:
Killer7 - There is just nothing else like this mindfuck of a game. Suda 51's crown jewel. NMH is more fun to play, but Killer7 is the better gaming experience.
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I wanted to love this. I love Suda. I was shocked to find that I just didn't like it. I felt like it was such a chore to walk around the level and solve the puzzles. I'm sad, because it's stylistically on point. I thought it would be my thing.
 
DashReindeer

DashReindeer

Perfect World
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
531
Aizō said:
I love this game. It was on Japanese PS+ years back, and I had a good time playing it on my vita.


I need to play that still. Doesn't the dev have a new game coming out that looks cool? That one that's like a deck building horror game?

What's frog factions?
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I hadn't heard of something new by the Pony Island creator, but it's an instabuy for me just based on that game.

Frog Fractions you've just gotta play for yourself.
 
ElCidTmax

ElCidTmax

Member
Oct 28, 2017
695
Resident Evil 7 on PSVR - experimental as VR was still quite new and devs were (are) still figuring out what works. Also that you could play the entire game in VR, which makes it perhaps the largest AAA VR game to date. Also, it kind of ruled in VR - amazing game! Also fantastic as a non-VR game.
 
Kieli

Kieli

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
3,736
Pyre is one of my favourite experimental games. There's no other game quite like it on the market. It's somewhat like a Rogue-lite in terms of "instanced" rooms and choosing your next step, but it's much more persistent. The art and music are both splendid; there is a lot world-building and unique character interactions. The combat is fast-paced and thematically consistent with the world (plus it's not violent for once!).

I don't think it was Supergiant's most successful game, but it's certainly still my favourite (although Hades is fast catching up).
 
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Aurica

Aurica

音楽オタク - Comics Council 2020
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,496
A mountain in the US
Kieli said:
Pyre is one of my favourite experimental games. There's no other game quite like it on the market. It's somewhat like a Rogue-lite in terms of "instanced" rooms and choosing your next step, but it's much more persistent. The art and music are both splendid; there is a lot world-building and unique character interactions. The combat is fast-paced and thematically consistent with the world (plus it's not violent for once!).

I don't think it was Supergiant's most successful game, but it's certainly still my favourite (although Hades is fast catching up).
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Supergiant games are all incredible. Got really into Hades last month, and I typically don't care for roguelikes.
 

Deleted member 16908

Oct 27, 2017
9,377
mikhailguy said:
Katamari..the music, the visuals, the weirdness

Inside..

the meat blob, the locations that you make your way through, the stunning art direction, etc
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I wouldn't call Inside experimental. It's a 2D puzzle platformer with a minimal story that relies on the player to fill in the blanks outlined by its thought-provoking visuals.
 
Etter25

Etter25

Member
Oct 27, 2017
84
Flower

You literally play as the wind. Probably the most ethereal game I've ever played.
 
mikhailguy

mikhailguy

Banned
Jun 20, 2019
1,967
Robinson said:
I wouldn't call Inside experimental. It's a 2D puzzle platformer with a minimal story that relies on the player to fill in the blanks outlined by its thought-provoking visuals.
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There is some interesting meta stuff about player control as well. (The moments when you have to jump on command along with everyone else. The weird helmet that allows you to control the puppet people..becoming one with the blob). But yeah, it's debatable.
 

Mjester

Banned
Mar 3, 2018
44
It seems people in this thread are confusing stylistic with experimental. Experimental is more going against conventions in such a way to be quite alienating to most people, be hard to get into or make people question conventions.

Walking simulators used to be experimental but today it's just a genre. You could say that Undertale and Kentucky Route Zero are experimental (haven't played either to be honest) But I would be hesitant to call Inside or Pyre experimental, while both quite stylistic, both their gameplay follows convention?

Now Frog Fractions is without a doubt experimental; its narrative and gameplay changes every moment and it has a sequel that was hidden inside some other game.

Now this game, this one is highly experimental as per the name. A game in twelve sections by twelve different devs, each section has its own gameplay and visuals and tells the story in its own way: something about an invasion of earth, played it a couple of years ago don't remember it that good anymore but I do remember it being quite gripping.
 
Dr Pears

Dr Pears

Member
Sep 9, 2018
2,673
Portal series. Thinking with portals is just so unique.

And to go even further, Portal 2 coop. With 2 players each with their own set of portals, puzzle complexity is increased substantially, and you reaaally need to think outside the box on some of the puzzles.
 
sir_crocodile

sir_crocodile

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,506
Ghost Trick. The way the puzzles work was just so interesting to me. Just trying to get from item to item.

One of the finest games ever made.
 
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