I recently played this flash game called The Company of Myself (you could play it on BlueMaxima’s software, Flashpoint) and I loved this mechanic in it. I wasn’t sure if it’d be considered a spoiler or not, but just in case:
The Mechanic
You know how when replaying a level in some platformers you get to see a ghost repeating what you just did? Well in this game those ghosts help you with completing the level. Thus, adding more meaning to the game’s title.
In the end, this got me wondering what are other unique mechanics/features that you came across?
Oh that’s really cool! I’m a sucker for gimmicks and unique mechanics like that.
Undertale has one of my favorites, though it’s definitely a spoiler as it concerns the final boss. The game is pretty meta and references you being in a game multiple times (like, when you restart from a save point there’s a comment about ‘try this again’) but the final boss is the only character who actually knows you’re playing a game, and when you start to beat them they just shut the game down on you. When you re-open the file it starts right back in the fight, but I believe they try again, to get you to stop fighting them.
There’s also Brothers: Tale of Two Sons, where each half of the controller controls one of the brothers. Which makes it interesting solving puzzles, (spoiler) especially towards the end of the game, when you’re down one brother.
Hmm, there was a VR shooting type game similar. Where previous iterations will also shoot things so it’s like you a second player covering some territory. Forge the name (And hadn’t played it actually) something like ‘time lines’ or ‘timesink’ want to say it was around at least two years maybe.
That is Kinda a neat mechanic could be used in a variety of genres in different ways
‘Intentionally awkward controls’ is a steam tag and mechanic that i kinda like. I been playing the game ‘struggling’ local co op with a friend and it’s a pretty enjoyable experience in how it executes this mechanic by two people control the same character and often are figthing each other.
The best execution of a bullet time mechanic has to be awarded to the sniper elite series. I’m not sure what the series does with it later down the road but I really like Nazi Zombie Army Trilogy. (When you fire shots you sometimes go into slow mo and get garish effects like ghoulish screams and bolts of lightning its just very metal)
My favorite mechanic might be Smart Pause (or pausable real-time) Tactical strategy games. While the game wasn’t the best I thought 7.62 high calibre really got it down right because you have such a high degree of control.
The first one you mentioned sounds awesome! I would love to find more games of that kind.
I just looked up Struggling and didn’t expect the main character to look that way… It’s horrifying in a good way. It seems like a really fun game to play with a friend.
Since you mentioned bullet-time I can’t help, but think of My Friend Pedro even though I haven’t played it. Looking at the trailers and videos, it seems so cool.
ok so i was thinking about this on the drive home randomly and there is a kind of mechanic i’m wondering what it could be called. I’d decribe it as De-emphasized Combat i’ll give three examples of how it can been used:
HellSign. In this game you fight monsters when you trigger them and it is kinda a panicky and sorta loosey goosey type encounter. The game is basically a hack and slash but because they move so quickly they are typically hard to hit and you can’t take much damage. You also run out of ammo so this kind of feels like the way it works in survival horror (somewhat) This adds a bit to the game by making it a bit more freaky and frightening.
Most First Person Stealth games. You can usually fight but you are generally persuaded to avoid combat, sneak, or resort to using your environment or other means rather than do the dirty deed of murder yourself. This typically goes hand in hand with exploration and brings about with it a nice level of immersion. Some games do this by making the combat very hard or more trouble than it’s worth (Thief), find ways to punish the player (Dishonored), find ways to reward the player, etc.
Mirror’s Edge This was actually the game that made me think of this and how it was used. Some might strongly disagree but I really got the feeling that combat in this game was crappy and kind of held the game back, but now that kind of feels like the point. While it’s not a stealth game it kind of has the same sort of de-emphasized combat You are running away from enemies and while the game locks you in and makes you fight them. IT’s not exactly pleasant because you are neither strong nor have a lot of control (The game plays a little squirrely as an FPS) I found this to personally be a bit of a mixed experience but I kinda think I know what it was trying to go for now.
A similar ‘trope’ of sorts I discovered through steam tags was Intentionally Awkward Controls which while VERY different COULD bring about a similar feeling or effect.
I don’t particularly like this mechanic or dislike it (Something of a double-edged sword) but it’s a bit interesting to consider how it could be used in very different ways in different genres and for different reasons.