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Games in which the player can't die

I was talking to someone who's playing Tenchu at the moment and having trouble with a boss.

"There's an actual boss fight on this level," she said.

"Fuck bosses," I replied. "Fuck all combat in games. I don't like dying."

I don't like dying. It was like some kind of epiphany. I don't like dying. It's not so much the dying itself, it's the irritating returns to checkpoints that are too far back, or just shite combat getting in the way of a game that could be fun without it as a mechanic to threaten the player in lieu of putting in any other sort of challenge.

I played (tried to play) Uncharted 2 the other week. It got Game of the Year everywhere a few years back and I expected fun. What I got was alright platforming and terrible shooting sections that ruined the game for me. I appreciate that some of you like terrible shooting sections, but they're not for me! So I stopped really early on, because I couldn't be bothered to go through all these stupid gunfights to get to the alright platforming bits. If the game was just platforming, I'd have enjoyed it so much more.

Here's a game that gets it nearly perfect: Prince of Persia 2008. You can lose, but you can't die. Mostly, when you lose, you instantly go back no more than five seconds. If that game had ditched combat entirely it probably would be my favourite game ever. Everyone else in the world would have hated it, but I'd have been full of an eternal love for it. It's just the most chilled out relaxing platformer, for the most part, and that's the kind of experience I love.

Are there any adventure games, platform games, anything like that, that don't include Game Over screens? That don't allow the player to die? That, ideally, avoid combat entirely? Something where you can just run around and take in the world around you without having to worry about enemies every few seconds? Or even modes in other games that allow this.

There are probably a ton of stupid joke answers to this topic (even if we leave aside "lol u suck" and "play on easy"), please try to avoid them. I mean stuff in genres where the player would normally expect to die, like PoP.

(tl;dr, what adventure games don't have combat in?)
 
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What an ugly mofo...
 
I believe that one or two of the Wario Land games on GBC had it so that Wario couldn't die. He would just transform when he got hit, or something like that.
 
Kirby's Epic Yarn. You lose all your gems and thus get a low score, but it is impossible to 'die'.
 
Some people didn't read the OP.

He's looking for adventure games with limited to no death scenarios. He already mentioned PoP 2008 as a close example to what he's looking for.

There are probably a handful of 2D platformers that could fit what OP is looking for, but is OP actually interested in 2D platformers?


Graphics Horse said:
Wario Land 2! Can't remember which other Wario games that applies to.


That.
 
Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light - you can "die", but there's no game over screen; you respawn at the nearest checkpoint (and there are lots of checkpoints) and just loose few points. There's lots of shooting there, but it's a fun, arcade type of shooting ;)
 
I'm too slow..
AndyMoogle said:
I believe that one or two of the Wario Land games on GBC had it so that Wario couldn't die. He would just transform when he got hit, or something like that.
Wario Land 2. I don't know if 3 carried this mechanic on. The other Wario Land games all have a life bar of sorts (even if it is pretty hard to die in Shake Dimension outside of the boss battles).

Does Braid count its not an adventure more a puzzle game disguised at a platformer, you rewind time then get frustrated as in doing so you've messed the puzzle up again...

Pinzer said:
Prince of Persia 2008?
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toythatkills said:
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Here's a game that gets it nearly perfect: Prince of Persia 2008.
...
 
Almost every LucasArts adventure game is the kind you're describing. Steam has a bunch of them for sale. The Longest Journey is a good one too.
 
toythatkills said:
I played (tried to play) Uncharted 2 the other week. It got Game of the Year everywhere a few years back and I expected fun. What I got was alright platforming and terrible shooting sections that ruined the game for me. I appreciate that some of you like terrible shooting sections, but they're not for me! So I stopped really early on, because I couldn't be bothered to go through all these stupid gunfights to get to the alright platforming bits. If the game was just platforming, I'd have enjoyed it so much more.

whatthefuckisthisshit.jpg
 
Mirror's Edge is based around trial and error, so there is still plenty of dieing, but there aren't lives or game overs in the traditional sense. Checkpoints are also fairly generous so you never get spawned too far back. And hey, platforming and minimal combat. If OP hasn't played it he should.

Cow Mengde said:
Bioshock. Dieing is pointless in this game.

Good one.
 
Cow Mengde said:
Bioshock. Dieing is pointless in this game.
which makes wrench runs a blast. set it to easy, keep the resurrect stations on, equip every wrench tonic possible and do nothing but bash everything with your wrench. completely turns the game upside down, so fun
 
Never played it but i've heard you can't die in this game.

FPT26.jpg
 
Pokemon doesn't really have any death, if all your Pokemon faint you white out and lose half your money and go back to the pokemon center or somthing but thats pretty lenient I think, you keep all your experience and don't lose hours of progress.

Dragon Quest series does the same thing, at least in 8 and 9 it did.
 
The Wario Land games managed to be much more furstrating because you couldn't die. Boss battles specifically turned into "one hit = get sent back 5 minutes"
 
toythatkills said:
I played (tried to play) Uncharted 2 the other week. It got Game of the Year everywhere a few years back and I expected fun. What I got was alright platforming and terrible shooting sections that ruined the game for me. I appreciate that some of you like terrible shooting sections, but they're not for me! So I stopped really early on, because I couldn't be bothered to go through all these stupid gunfights to get to the alright platforming bits. If the game was just platforming, I'd have enjoyed it so much more.)

High five OP.
 
Heavy Rain. Though "you"/the character you are playing can die, there's no game over screen, or loading of the last checkpoint and the story continues nonetheless taking that death into account.
 
Seda said:
There are probably a handful of 2D platformers that could fit what OP is looking for, but is OP actually interested in 2D platformers?
Definitely. There's one on Xbox LIVE Indie Games called Ophidian Wars: Opac's Journey, the whole thing is based around just exploring this cave, and there's no enemies at all so you can just take it at your own pace. It's wonderful.

Cheers for other suggestions. The first four proper ones are all games I enjoy, aside from Demon's Souls which I'm yet to fully get into yet so I haven't worked out what happens when you die when you're dead.

Will check out Journey
 
bhlaab said:
The Wario Land games managed to be much more furstrating because you couldn't die. Boss battles specifically turned into "one hit = get sent back 5 minutes"

The first Wario Land wasn't like that. Once you lost all of your lives, you lost the last treasure you found, so you had to get it all over again. It was an interesting way of punishing the player.
 
Heavy Rain ?

Characters can die, but there is never a Game Over screen or never a need to repeat an entire scenario.
 
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