What I mean by this, is instead of when you fail and are met with a game over, the game finds some way to keep it going. Instead of being forced to reset to a previous save or an autosave checkpoint, the game’s story continues in an interesting path. Are there any games like this?
Asking because in IRL TTRPG’s, a lot of DM’s will find reasons to keep the story going, no matter how ludicrous because I mean… that’s why you’re there. Do games do this? What are some that do?
I have fond memories about Prince of Persia (the 2008 incarnation). it was a beautiful game and you basically could not die. your companion (a beautiful woman, because originality) would just rescue you in the last second.
Monaco is a fun example where stealth frequently fails and yet, you just have to scramble to do something and ruuuun. You can end up hiding and trying again but short of getting everyone killed, it’s hard to get a game over. Your friends can revive you, as long as they don’t get caught and killed themselves.
It’s a good mechanic where it’s more “let’s go save Dave” then “thanks Dave now we need to restart”.
No I don’t know any Dave’s, names have been changed to protect the guilty.
Most of the comments focus on death states, as far as I recall you can totally beat TES 3 Morrowind after an essential npc dies. The game will tell you it’s doomed and will prompt you to load a save, but you are largely able to continue, just have to live with the consequences, it might be a pain to do or rely on cheese, but apparently technically possible.
Yeah, there’s a “back path” that was originally intended to be found with a breadcrumb left if you went rogue and killed Vivec, but thanks to UESP’s documentation, you can find your way there at any point. Very fun for roleplay.
In the puzzle platformer Braid you can always rewind time, so any failure or minor mistake can be corrected by rewinding a little bit. Technically there is a fail state where you can die, but rewinding is such a basic mechanic, going back feels seamless.
Antichamber was pretty good for this. You would accidentally fall off a bridge or something and expect a game over, only to find an entirely new area to explore. There were no failure states as far as I remember.
Bioshock games (and System Shock before them) have in-game systems for reviving protagonists after death. Sometimes they’re Quantum Reconstructors that need to be turned on in each level to use them, sometimes they’re Vita-Chambers ready to use, sometimes it’s your all-in-one utility companion Elizabeth with a medical bag. In all cases you’re free to continue the fight after your death, though sometimes with penalties like restored enemy heath or monetary costs.
Atrio: The Dark Wild - has you control a clone with a limited life span. When you die and resume from a new clone, the old clone corpse is lying around and you can harvest it for parts necessary to continue the story.
Sifu - when you “die” your character ages and gets stronger before trying again.
Karateka - plays a lot like a regular game with lives, but it’s not the same life. Every time you have to resume from a new life, it’s a different person attempting to get to the end.
Shadow of Mordor - when you are killed by an orc, you resurrect from a spirit. The orc, however, gets high-fives from all his mates and gets promoted, plus some new skills. Next time you see him he will call you out.
Hades - the entire story is based around you repeatedly failing and dying.
Super Meat Boy - well basically you die and restart, but when you finally beat the level, you get an instant replay with all your failed attempts simultaneously playing on top of it. The effect is more glorious the more you struggled to beat the level.
A DC game with the system would be interesting. Not necessarily Batman, but on the street level of Batman. You start with a bunch of known villains and random thugs and as you progress and take out the known fixed villains, you get to see the progress of your own rogues gallery. That would be amazing. You see a villain at the end of the game and know their origin story, which you may have been part of, you know where they earned scars, where they got equipment and what drives them.
You know that’s not Evil McDouchebag that someone directly wrote. That’s the Evil McDouchebag that naturally occured and was forged in your play through.
(I specifically mention DC because WB has the licence, so what’s keeping them)
edit:
Just saw that Monolith is actually working on a Wonder Woman game. Not quite street level, but otherwise I kinda might get my wish.
That sounds fantastic. I would also rather start as a grunt that knows some martial arts or is good with gadgets and have a rockman/megaman mechanic that let’s you learn/open the skill tree from the enemies you defeat.
That would mean that going for a big baddie can give you a big reward, but you’re also risking making it stronger.
Plus it would give a boon to strategize lining oponents as you see what skills you need for defeating bigger enemies.
Katana ZERO. The fact that your character can fail and “die” and yet be able to control the flow of time to return and try again is not only contextualized through the game’s lore and your character’s usage of a drug, but becomes basically the entire story by the end of it. Brilliant game.
There’s a PC game called Ctrl Alt Ego (Steam link) where you play as a disembodied conscience that can project itself into - and control - different entities in the game.
When your current host is destroyed you just become disembodied again and can project yourself into another nearby entity (even the enemy that destroyed your host, in some circumstances). It’s quite a unique concept and almost completely removes the need to quick save/quick load.
If you’re into Immersive Sim games then I would highly recommend it - Stands alongside Prey and System Shock 2 IMO.
Avenging Spirit for Gameboy and Arcade was exactly like that, and I think maybe Messiah had that mechanic, although you spent a long stretch being a plump and frail cherub.
Yet often you have to repeat the mission, and often said missions have concrete failing states (don’t be spotted, don’t miss the car, don’t let x die) and less opportunity for branching from a failure.
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Owlboy is a story about failure. Each time you “succeed” it turns out other events that were happening nullified that success.
It’s not really the same thing, but the choice to foist failure on the player even when they “win” was an interesting story device.
I have fond memories about Prince of Persia (the 2008 incarnation). it was a beautiful game and you basically could not die. your companion (a beautiful woman, because originality) would just rescue you in the last second.
deleted by creator
Assassin’s Creed. They are basically games inside games.
Monaco is a fun example where stealth frequently fails and yet, you just have to scramble to do something and ruuuun. You can end up hiding and trying again but short of getting everyone killed, it’s hard to get a game over. Your friends can revive you, as long as they don’t get caught and killed themselves.
It’s a good mechanic where it’s more “let’s go save Dave” then “thanks Dave now we need to restart”.
No I don’t know any Dave’s, names have been changed to protect the guilty.
Rogue Legacy! You are a knight invading an evil wizard’s castle. When you die, your children take up your mantle and try again.
Dying means you get to try again with a descendant that has different quirks, like “being left-handed” or “dwarfism”
Most of the comments focus on death states, as far as I recall you can totally beat TES 3 Morrowind after an essential npc dies. The game will tell you it’s doomed and will prompt you to load a save, but you are largely able to continue, just have to live with the consequences, it might be a pain to do or rely on cheese, but apparently technically possible.
Yeah, there’s a “back path” that was originally intended to be found with a breadcrumb left if you went rogue and killed Vivec, but thanks to UESP’s documentation, you can find your way there at any point. Very fun for roleplay.
In the puzzle platformer Braid you can always rewind time, so any failure or minor mistake can be corrected by rewinding a little bit. Technically there is a fail state where you can die, but rewinding is such a basic mechanic, going back feels seamless.
Antichamber was pretty good for this. You would accidentally fall off a bridge or something and expect a game over, only to find an entirely new area to explore. There were no failure states as far as I remember.
Bioshock games (and System Shock before them) have in-game systems for reviving protagonists after death. Sometimes they’re Quantum Reconstructors that need to be turned on in each level to use them, sometimes they’re Vita-Chambers ready to use, sometimes it’s your all-in-one utility companion Elizabeth with a medical bag. In all cases you’re free to continue the fight after your death, though sometimes with penalties like restored enemy heath or monetary costs.
Atrio: The Dark Wild - has you control a clone with a limited life span. When you die and resume from a new clone, the old clone corpse is lying around and you can harvest it for parts necessary to continue the story.
Sifu - when you “die” your character ages and gets stronger before trying again.
Karateka - plays a lot like a regular game with lives, but it’s not the same life. Every time you have to resume from a new life, it’s a different person attempting to get to the end.
Shadow of Mordor - when you are killed by an orc, you resurrect from a spirit. The orc, however, gets high-fives from all his mates and gets promoted, plus some new skills. Next time you see him he will call you out.
Hades - the entire story is based around you repeatedly failing and dying.
Super Meat Boy - well basically you die and restart, but when you finally beat the level, you get an instant replay with all your failed attempts simultaneously playing on top of it. The effect is more glorious the more you struggled to beat the level.
Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis system is fantastic, and also a shame they copyrighted it, not allowing others using it…
A DC game with the system would be interesting. Not necessarily Batman, but on the street level of Batman. You start with a bunch of known villains and random thugs and as you progress and take out the known fixed villains, you get to see the progress of your own rogues gallery. That would be amazing. You see a villain at the end of the game and know their origin story, which you may have been part of, you know where they earned scars, where they got equipment and what drives them.
You know that’s not Evil McDouchebag that someone directly wrote. That’s the Evil McDouchebag that naturally occured and was forged in your play through.
(I specifically mention DC because WB has the licence, so what’s keeping them)
edit:
Just saw that Monolith is actually working on a Wonder Woman game. Not quite street level, but otherwise I kinda might get my wish.
That sounds fantastic. I would also rather start as a grunt that knows some martial arts or is good with gadgets and have a rockman/megaman mechanic that let’s you learn/open the skill tree from the enemies you defeat.
That would mean that going for a big baddie can give you a big reward, but you’re also risking making it stronger.
Plus it would give a boon to strategize lining oponents as you see what skills you need for defeating bigger enemies.
That would be a dream too.
Not just enemies emerging dynamically, but your hero developing too.
Katana ZERO. The fact that your character can fail and “die” and yet be able to control the flow of time to return and try again is not only contextualized through the game’s lore and your character’s usage of a drug, but becomes basically the entire story by the end of it. Brilliant game.
There’s a PC game called Ctrl Alt Ego (Steam link) where you play as a disembodied conscience that can project itself into - and control - different entities in the game.
When your current host is destroyed you just become disembodied again and can project yourself into another nearby entity (even the enemy that destroyed your host, in some circumstances). It’s quite a unique concept and almost completely removes the need to quick save/quick load.
If you’re into Immersive Sim games then I would highly recommend it - Stands alongside Prey and System Shock 2 IMO.
Avenging Spirit for Gameboy and Arcade was exactly like that, and I think maybe Messiah had that mechanic, although you spent a long stretch being a plump and frail cherub.
Getting over it?
All of the Grand Theft Auto games have you respawn outside of a police station or a hospital.
Yet often you have to repeat the mission, and often said missions have concrete failing states (don’t be spotted, don’t miss the car, don’t let x die) and less opportunity for branching from a failure.
I mean I guess that’s an answer but at least the ones I’ve played have you restart the mission and you lose cash upon leaving the hospital.
Leaving the hospital with thousands of dollars gone is just US developers adding realism.