Players usually want a good story in their games. I can enjoy a good story too, but sometimes I just want to get going and do stuff without listening to several minutes of dialog in-between action.
Do you know any games where there’s no story (or very minimal/skippable one), and the game mechanics alone carry the game?
EDIT: Thank you all for the suggestions. There are some that I’ve never heard of and look very interesting. Will definitely pick some of them up.
Factorio. All about letting the factory grow.
I also started playing wizards of legend recently. It takes maybe 20 minutes to get through the tutorial, then it’s just game. I’m enjoying it so far
Oh no there’s a stoty all right. It’s the story of thinking you’re in Castaway, then finding out you’re actually in The Lorax…as the Once-ler.
Tetris, along with most puzzle games.
It’s seriously hard to beat Tetris.
Tetris effect is insanely good for the music alone, and with ve the whole thing was an experience
Rogue likes usually have very little story getting in the way. Binding of Isaac, Slay the Spire, Nova Drift, Darkest Dungeon are a few of my top played. I also really enjoy the make your own adventure Creative Survival type games like Minecraft, Astoneer, Terraria, Starbound, Empyrion Galactic Survival etc. City builders, colony sims and Farming Sims are always a good choice too. Some of my favorites are Cities: Skylines, Banished, Timberborn, Forager, The Anno series, Stardew Valley. Then there’s the pure building games. I really enjoy just building stuff and testing my creations out with games like Scrap Mechanic, Instruments of Destruction, Main Assembly, Cosmoteer, Reassembly, Kerbal Space Progam (the first game, Id wait on the second until all the bugs are fixed). Hack and Slash ARPGs are always fun for turning the brain off and most of them dont have a ton of story, save for a few cut scenes here and there. Path of Exile, Torchlight, Diablo 1 and 2 (I don’t like 3 and 4 personally) Grimm Dawn, Cronichon, Fate, Last Epoch are some of my favorites.
Nice selection, thanks.
Trackmania. Any of them. TMNF/UF, Trackmania2, Trackmania Turbo, Trackmania (2020)
You mean the post-apocalyptic, self driving car game?
Lots of posts here, so maybe you won’t see this, but i think the ___ Simulator games are mindless task-oriented fun (if you enjoy that sort of thing). I have been playing House Flipper lately, which has basic task lists and skippable emails if you don’t care about the job’s context. Clean up trash, paint, build outdoor furniture. There’s just something satisfying about it for me, but it won’t be for everyone. I have heard good things about PowerWash and Gas Station Simulators as well.
It’s think I would enjoy it for a while but got bored pretty fast. But maybe some type of this genre could surprise me.
Kenshi is a post-apocalyptic sandbox open-world RPG / base-building game with a bunch of lore but absolutely no plot for you to follow.
Most roguelikes either have no story or keep it out of the way.
Minecraft. Cities Skylines. RimWorld. Helldivers.*
*You’re going to need to co-op to have any chance in the mid to late game.
Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord. Even the main campaign is basically just the sandbox.
Doom?
Played all except Doom 3. Good games.
Elden Ring is apparently good. And the dark souls games as a whole. Almost no story
Deep Rock Galactic
Vampire Survivors
I keep hearing about this one. I need to try it one day.
It’s $5 and brilliant 40+ hour game with excellent mechanical complexity
Vampire survivor? 20 Minutes Till Dawn?
Vampire Survivors has more story than vampires. Which is a low bar to clear but it just about does.
Risk of Rain 2 is probably my favorite rouge like, easily recommended if you like FPS games
ULTRAKILL is a really fun movement shooter with minimal story except between chapters I guess, but there’s also an infinite wave mode that is a great time killer
100% Risk of Rain 2. I’ve dumped so many hours into doing silly runs in that game, just because I feel like it - not even attempting to unlock anything or make specific progress. The game is fantastic.
