Games Where Nothing is Wrong
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- Опубликовано: 25 июн 2024
- One of the most established standards in game design is a balance between the player, and active challenges they are faced with. But what about games with as little challenge as possible?
Games shown, in order:
Dark Souls 2
store.steampowered.com/app/33...
Proteus
store.steampowered.com/app/21...
Endo
store.steampowered.com/app/15...
Outpath
store.steampowered.com/app/22...
Songs used, in order:
Majula Theme [Dark Souls 2] - The Sea [Machinarium] - Frog Pond [Broken Reality] - Compass [Fez] - The Sea [Machinarium] (Yeah I used this one twice lol)
Shishi-odoshi footage was used from here:
• Tranquility Unleashed ... 
Игры
Proteus the calm little exploration game, as opposed to Prodeus the hellish Doom-inspired shooter with gallons of blood everywhere
Proteus is NOT a game but a toy. An actual game requires a _winning_ and _losing_ condition. Proteus has neither.
@@MichaelPohoreskiNo? Many games have no win condition. Normally it is standard for a game to one but it isn’t necessary.
@@MichaelPohoreski...no?????
@@aykarain Go ship games until you learn the difference between a toy and a game.
Toys are not games no matter how much you want to hijack the term.
@@MichaelPohoreski What is the winning condition of Tetris?
My favorite "nothing wrong" game is a little gem called Rainy Season.
Just a boy who wanted to go to the park, but it's a rainy day, so he stays home with family and explores the house.
I've not heard of that one, but after giving it a look, it sort of reminds me a little of Boku No Natsuyasumi. It looks nice, thanks for mentioning it. I think I'll check it out.
I don't know exactly if it fits the category but my favorit is "A short hike". I öove the music, the characters and it's just a relaxen game about taking a well... short hike up a Mountain 🤣
@@diamant_2dot0 It's also a lovely game, I frequently listen to its OST too
Cat Poke by Squiddershins too
If you were a cynical SOB, the fact that it's raining is what went wrong in the game. But no one's that cynical, are they
A Short Hike!
Also a great example! I even have an artsy music video I made with it on the channel lol.
That's the one I immediately thought of when I saw the title
Wrong. In that game. There is…
College Debt!
@@The_OwO_Shogun 😂
I was going to comment this game! Glad someone else thought of it as well :)
Proteus inspired Amanita Design to create Samorost
Then Samorost inspired me to create ENDO
So crazy seeing them side by side in the same video haha
And there's even Machinarium music in this video, a game made by Amanita. It all comes full circle lol
MACHINARIUM BEST CZECH GAME LESSSSGOOOOOO 🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿 @@ScarfKat
Samorost is from 2003, Proteus from 2013, u r wrong.
Proteus is from 2013 and the first Samorost is from 2003... Did you get that backwards?
@@jayjasespud Ohh I meant Samorost 3 not the original. I remember seeing it in one of their presentations/talks
Get algorithm'd, son
Townscaper! Lovely little game, there isn’t even really a goal
Eastshade is a beautiful indie game where you are a traveling painter. The rickety little bike you eventually get is a blast and you camp, paint landscapes, animals and the people of the world while exploring and doing some light quests and a few puzzles. It is very special. I think it deserves a spot on the list. It was quite buggy when I initially played but I played anyway since it was so wholesome and dear and now they seem to have fixed it.
Ah, yeah that one's on my wishlist. It looks really comfy.
I second eastshade! It's literally designed for you to explore and find the prettiest views
I love Eastshade! Need to replay it some time :)
we need more wandering simulators
It only adds to the warmth of this video's concept that the narration voice resembles a certain superbad bluth Cera.
It's funny I get the "You sound like Michael Cera" thing a lot but I don't really hear it myself lol. That dude is awesome though so I always take it as a compliment :P
A Short Hike kind of fits this! Sure some things go "wrong," but there's never any danger, just exploration and dialogue. Lil Gator Game is another!
Outpath seems like it's inspired by Minecraft skyblock challenges.
A few of the icons look like they may be ripped or traced from Forager, so I’d wager a guess that the early to mid stages of Forager was another, possibly bigger inspiration
The research table is very look alike from the Thaumcraft 4 mod.
Sable, a cool sci-fi game about exploring an alien desert while trying to figure out your place in the world
God, I wish it ran better. It's such a lovely game.
I've been working on a tabletop card game where nothing is wrong, and this video really helped encourage me to keep going!
I saw Proteus in the thumbnail. I played Proteus it's release week from the front page of Steam. I encourage anyone to play it, as you do in this video. It's an amazing experience, I cried.
Finally. Joe Pera Plays Games With You.
When I saw your thumbnail my thoughts immediately went to the Frog Detective Haunted Island game. An adorable indie story game where… well, very little is actually wrong :)
Oh my GOSH, sometimes I get this itch to just walk around in a 3D game environment without any danger but it's not a clearly defined genre, so I've never known where to look. (The closest I've ever gotten is Superliminal, since it's such a chill puzzle game.)
I'm going to look at all these now, thanks so much for making this video!
“Aw, you don’t have to apologize for taking time to create your content- OMG IS THAT A CAT?!”
i once saw a roblox game called "oobja", which FEELS like the npc is gonna be fucked up in some way shape or form, but no. its just wholesome
there's also oodja, where the ball "hates you" (though i think its a lil more complicated than that)
Is that an iterator OC pfp?
@@acorngnomehmm iterator legs
@@Bubblegum-Cupcake Hmm iterator puppets
This video reminded me of two games I love, Grow Up (you’re a little robot collecting pieces of a mothership to return home on a very peaceful, plant-filled, open world) and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (highly interactive PSVR puzzle adventure where you follow a little robot who’s trying to rescue all his friends across a few planets). It’s not like nothing is wrong, exactly, but the stakes are low and there isn’t souls-like combat or monster fighting. I remember both of them filling me with such curiosity, coziness, and a mix of isolation and comfort. Astro Bot in particular is actually just such a well-made game
Here's a few more that might fit:
Universe Sandbox, Minecraft's early versions (especially the Minecraft Classic versions when it didn't have mobs or hitpoints), a game called Everything, the games Floating Point & Powder Toy that are free on Steam, and anything that's made by MelonKing like Ozwomp Online & Crow Island.
I LOVE Powder Toy! I didn't even know it had a Steam version, that's awesome.
Just Minecraf in general, tbf. The world ecosystems are long formed before the player and will live once the player is gone.
The only decent threat I can think of are village raids (both the legacy zombie ones and modern pillager ones).
In Minecraft, there's peaceful and creative modes, so you can play even modern Minecraft without having to fight.
Not sure if this fits, but I’d like to describe the game Toem. You are a young creature living in a black and white world. You are sent by your grandmother to go see Toem, a rare natural event. You also have a camera that you use to solve puzzles to progress, fill up your creature compendium, and just take pictures for fun
Outpath feels like Forager in 3D. Hacks my brain in a similar way.
It's been forever since i heard someone mention Proteus! I'm glad you enjoy it, it's such a great place to escape to every now and then, great video!
Man I have a semi-abandoned project based around the atmosphere of the game, the ambient sounds and all that good stuff you talked about, now I really want to continue developing it...
Not entirely related, but I'm imagining this game where at its surface, it seems like nothing is wrong and there are tasks to complete but easy ones, but completing these tasks won't let you win the game. To win, you have time find secret ways and ways to exploit each area, and then it becomes like a puzzle game where you have to complete hidden tasks.
Harvest Moon/Story of seasons has been one of my favorite "Everything is fine" series. You're just a guy managing a farm for 2-3 years. There may be a time limit before you get graded, but it isn't hard to succeed. Magical Melody doesn't even have that.
Slime Rancher is another one. Just have fun. There is no game over state.
It's not exactly a "nothing wrong" kind of game but I got a lot of the same feelings playing outer wilds as you describe in this vid
I love to mention the early access game of *Book of Travels* made by the Swedish company Might & Delight, best known for the Shelter series. In the game you are basically a traveller walking around from town to town to barter items for more highly valued items (there is no currency in the game). It's a tiny multiplayer online game, in which it feels like a single player experience of which you can suddenly bump into other players, which you only communicate with symbols. The world is a mix between the Oriental and Mediterranean cultures, and it's very zen to explore and learn about the ideas of it's people.
There are threats in the game, but they aren't as available compared to an MMO which entire forests are inhabited by threats to slay.
Not a game for everyone, but certainly worthy to check out and fund as the company does risk a lot taking artistic endeavours. Also a great game if you want to dopamine detox buy still play something to distract yourself time to time.
Excellent video!!
Lately I've come to see combat and violence as a lazy crutch to generate "gameplay" and these games are brilliant additions to my new favourite niche of noncombatant games! My favourites to mention are the long dark (on peaceful wildlife settings, a wonderful wilderness survival game) and windosill, which falls into my beloved "toybox" games genre.
All three of these look like super chill vibes, Proteus in particular I find the artstyle super appealing
I might give it a go sometime, looks very nice :D
Awesome vid keep up the good work!
Proteus reminds me a little of "Everything". A game literally about everything. More of a meditative experience than a game, it even has a mode to play itself.
Okay, Proteus is cool, but hear me out... What if we took Proteus and then made it multiplayer with guns where you shoot each other and the last person standing wins? We could call it BRoteus!
Interesting. It's almost as if the players would be called to some kind of duty
@@max-rdj9741
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I think you could add a deadly weather phenomenon, and have it take place over the course of two weeks…
Triple A Designers looking at Proteus:
_I can __-milk-__ ruin you_
Needs crafting and base building 😋
RUclips decided I must watch your video and it was spot on. I grew up playing games and being fascinated with the worlds. Same driving force behind the mountains of books I used to read. Now that I'm middle aged I've lost the interest in playing games. Apart from a few brilliant ones like Gris and Journey. So knowing there's a genre of games that's meditative little pieces of exploration without making demands is awesome.
You mentioned Gris and now I have to react because I love that game so much 😁
I had the same problem with losing interest in games until I started playing some shorter ones and revisiting the ones that had really great story or gameplay (currently replaying Beyond Good and Evil).
Feel free to ignore these recommendations, or even the entire comment.
If you like Gris and Journey, you might also like other games that lean more into environmental storytelling while not applying much pressure.
I'd recommend Flower, Gorogoa and A Memoir Blue if you haven't played those. Flower is from the same developer as Journey (thatgamecompany), the other two are from the same publisher as Gris (Annapurna Interactive).
Of course there are those that tell the story a bit more outright but are definitely worth playing. Among those I recommend A Short Hike, To the Moon (and its sequel Finding Paradise), Firewatch and What Remains of Edith Finch. You might also give Eastshade a try if looking for the more meditative approach of the games in this video.
And then there's Outer Wilds, that incredible game is in a league of its own, but it does put a bit more pressure on the player.
@@epiphaner Hey thanks for the recommendations! Some I've played like Flower and A short hike. Others have been on the wishlist, but you also give me a few new titles here I've completely missed.
@@ViktorSarge nice, I hope you'll enjoy them!
A few years ago, some stressful life events made me seek out games that would put me in a peaceful frame of mind - that meant no combat or dying. Two of the best I found were Yonder and Cozy Grove.
Yonder is an open-world fetch quest with some fun twists. The music is so peaceful, and you can't kill yourself even if you try. There's a goal, but you don't have to do it at all if you don't want. You can just explore, build farms, and do quests if you like. The fantasy animals are very charming, and the whole game made me feel so tranquil.
Cozy Grove is also a fetch quest and is technically open-world but the "world" is just a tiny island. But it's so charming and relaxing, and it's nice that the premise revolves around helping utterly unscary ghosts.
I'd say these games are more "nothing _goes_ wrong" than "nothing _is_ wrong", but close enough.
i’m using this as a recommendation list ! honestly this appeared at such a perfect time i was searching for games like these !!!
Love all of these games and you deserve a tone more credit great video and cute cat
I don't blame you for using The Sea twice, it's that good of a track.
I will definitely be checkin' these games out, thanks/
omg they made 3d first person forager and people DIDN'T TELL ME?
WITH PLATFORMING MECHANICS?
When I saw it I thought the samee
great video! i absolutely loved the generative elements of Proteus, and how fantastic the sound design is and how tied it is to the world design. It blew my mind the first time I played it - never really played anything like it. I really want to see more things like it, and if the creators ever made something else in that genre i would be sooooo happy
Hey this video's quality is really high!! Keep this up and you'll get on the algorithm in no-time :)
I really liked the video and I think the pacing and sound quality and video quality were all really high and it made for a great viewing experience.
Edit:
Even the title is a nice solid hook, I think this video will blow up and you totally deserve it.
I think it DID get on the algorithm actually! There's over 200 views in only a day. When compared with that last video, this is way larger growth. This is the first time I've ever been algorithm'd so like, dang wow this is cool lol.
And I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I'm really happy to have found a format that works for me, while also being pleasant to watch. I think this is the start of a really fulfilling hobby. Thanks for the supportive feedback.
I really love Equilinox! You start with a barren landscape and slowly build ecosystems of cute low poly plants and animals. You unlock different plants and animals by evolving them or competing tasks. The game is bright and soft and has nice relaxed music. You can even choose to take control of an animal and walk around and make noises. There's also different modes that just let you build stuff if you aren't interested in goal/task-based play
That reminds me a little of the Sandbox mode in Paper Beast, which is a really fantastic and unique VR game. Equilinox also looks great, thanks for mentioning it.
really adore this video! i love whenever anyone talks about proteus, it's probably one of my favorite games ever. thanks for the cat! she's very cute :)
lovely video. I really loved proteus, and hearing the other two games brought up in its context really makes me want to check them out
Proteus has always been one of my favorite games. I remember when it came out there seemed to be a pretty big group of people that would dismiss it entirely. And for a long time "walking simulator" was kind of akin to this idea, and said about a lot of games afterwards as a general dismissal that there was no meaning to the work, whether it was meant intentionally maliciously or not. I always found it as a selling point, that if a game was being derided as a walking simulator, it was more a badge of some kind of quality than indicator of a "non-game". I still think every game should have a button entirely dedicated to sitting down, and things like the postcard system are amazing as well. Maybe I have a folder of them somewhere, still, on a hard drive or something. It's a very special game to me, and gave me a lot. I'm glad it seems to show that even as loud as the hate can seem, it's the love for something that sticks around.
I love proteus, thanks for reminding me about it. I agree it’s possible to play it just as a walk but there are tasks involved if you want to see everything which is pretty gamey
PROTEUS MENTIONED
Always thumbs up for Proteus 💚👍
Does Fez count? Its amazing. Zero enemies, all adventure, discovery, music visuals, and mystery/puzzles and platforming.
i hear fez music in the background, so based, wish fez 2 was real
Disasterpiece is a legend. I love his music.
@@ScarfKat absolutely!!!
the shishi-odoshi which we find so peaceful and soothing is, ironically, a device intended to scare animals away from our gardens XD i think the name literally means "deer frightener"?
Why are these relaxing and entertaining?! Now i want more of them..
2:55 SAME!! We must be the genre of people to be attracted to these games
great video - you have a good voice for this - keep at it! i've put endo and proteus on my wishlist, thanks for the recs :)
Eastshade is a fantastic exploration game where you get to paint the beautiful scenery. It's the kind of game that leaves you with warm memories.
This explains why I always enjoyed just casually walking around Oblivion and even Cyberpunk. And 4k walk videos on RUclips are also great.
Maybe INFRA also fits a little bit? There's never any physical threat or battling, just pure exploration with a lot of lore that unravels as you progress
There are some escape sequences occasionally, but I agree Infra is fantastic. It's like a 20 hour game of just walking around cool abandoned spaces. I love the vibe of it.
The machinarium soundtrack 🤌
A smashing video from Michael Cera. I will have to try Proteus
great video. very cool games. Outpath was great, but I'd never heard of the other two, or even really seen anything of that style. I think they appear fundamentally different from Outpath. Super interesting, definitely going to check them out.
i'm a very amateur game dev, and i'm always searching for videos like this for inspiration.
thank you!
I watched kurtjmac play proteus ages ago but never could find it after a few years. Im super happy to know what game that was again! Thank you!
I’m not sure it fits with what you were going for in this video, but some others I can think of where nothing is wrong are A Short Hike and Lil Gator Game.
Not to pile onto the recommendation train, but Refunct is another chill game with some of the best parkour mechanics I've played by far. And a great soundtrack too!
Thank you for making this video I've been wanting to get into 3d modelling and design, possibly eventually making surreal immersive environments but without much of an objective than calm sensory experiences, maybe even in VR or as AR My nervous system doesnt like to handle much overwhelm so I hoped there would be others in the same boat.. I have had no idea if theres any interest in them, as theres bot really a title for this genre, but reading the comments really helps to inspire me and I have saved this video for inspiration in future if i follow that path ❤
Proteus is such a beautiful game!!! 🌳
It may sound funny, but at this point Kerbal Space Program will sometimes serve as that for me. I'll just load it up with a bunch of visual and planet mods, send a probe or something out somewhere pretty, and just kinda take in the sights
Knew i recognised that machinarium song from somewhere. Had to check thr description. Amazing ambience
Oh crap! I had no idea these games existed. I've always preferred the adventure type games where you solve puzzles and stuff, but I thought those were all gone since people seem so enthralled with the shoot 'em ups. So I'll definitely check these out. Thanks!
I would like to add another game called Spiritfarer
beautiful art style, story is great and it is a lot similar to outpath
another game also is called forger again similar to outpath but introduces a bit of a challenge instead, kinda like minecraft
That Proteus game reminds me of the last time I played minecraft years and years ago now. I played in creative mode and I didn't build or craft anything. I just spawned in a boat and travelled down the rivers and just wandered around exploring the world and biomes and stuff. I think I may have had some biome mods and stuff but It was pretty relaxing just exploring around looking at the world like I'm out camping or something.
not really a game, but i found that creating maps is kinda relaxing as well
you take some building you found on google maps or you saw irl and try to rebuild it in the source engine or some other world builder tool
Excellent explorations of these cool experiences
Wow I never heard of Proteus before, I’m very excited to try it. I always loved game worlds and this looks wonderful.
The music and musical queues in proteus remind me a little bit of those videos where people plug mushrooms and plants into synthesisers and they make music. :)
I love Proteus, the perfect meditation simulator, it proves not all games have to have a lot to them to still be wonderfully pleasent.
Man, these are some really cozy games... Doing things without necessarily working towards a goal, or to fix a problem of sorts, but just cus you want to, and it feels good.
Say, would A Short Hike count as one of those?
Ray is very sweet and I will serve her with undying devotion.
thank you for this video I look forward to more like it
I think that's because that's how people usually define "video games" in the first place. It was created first of all as specifically a "game". If this medium was instead created as a continuation of movies or paintings but instead done in an interactive style, it would be much more common. This is why Detroit for example is described as an interactive movie. Here, what you're describing seems to be interactive art.
What about the game Everything? That was a wonderfully meditative, chilled experience letting you too explore the natural world at different macro and micro levels. Beautiful ethereal drone soundtrack like some of these games and then you have the dialogue made up of none other than Alan Watts quotes.
Never seen Endo before but definitely gonna try it now! :D
chill cat, chill games, chill voice, chill video . thanks chillguy
I'd argue "Sable" also fits into this. Sure, there's something of an apocalyptic event in the backstory and you can spend time to figure out what happened, but the people have since adapted and managed to get to a comfortable level, it isn't really important to your goals in the story and nothing is actually trying to harm you. Or if anything is, it's not very good at it.
Cute cat. : )
I like these positive and harmonious games. Those vibes have a lot of sustainable potential.
0:45 Oh The Sea music from Machinarium... ❤
Subbed because you opened with Dark Souls 2 (also cuz the video is Goated)
DS2 is honestly underrated. Not my favorite of the 3, but it's like comparing chocolate cakes, at the end of the day it's still 3 different chocolate cakes.
underrated video
man watching this is so relaxing. imagine actually playing em!!!
You're like the Joe Pera of games. Subscribed.
Love your vibe❤
Peaceful games like these feel like software that fulfills the promise of computers bringing a brighter, more hopeful, world.
Proteus is so nice, but I haven't played it in forever. I think Spirit of the North might count. There may be something wrong with its world, but there's no fighting. It's about exploration, puzzling, and platforming. It has great music, beautiful environments, and you play as an adorable fox.
Ohhhh that one looks cool. Gonna wishlist that.
"Games where nothing is wrong" are basically toys. I tend to classify games by how much of a "game" they really are (much like you classify foods by what kind of food they are, it's not about better or worse, just what you might want or need), and to me "games" are only the things that have Failure as an end state. I.e. things you can definitively succeed or fail in, win or lose.
Many games nowadays instead fall into a lower category of "interactive experiences", games that have a win condition but no failure state, that give the player no option but to succeed. These games mandate autosaves, automatically restart lost boss fights, give options to skip challenges or lower difficulty on repeated loss, outright respawn you right back into the fray, etc, driving you forward until the game is done.
"Games where nothing is wrong" are theoretically an even lower step, they don't even demand to be completed, and just exist for the player to wander or mess around in - but that also makes them purer than the 'interactive experiences', I think. They don't impose false challenges, they don't leverage your FOMO or drive you forward. They're just like toys, there to play with at your leisure. It's a good thing they still exist.
Shoulda watched this during the Steam Summer Sale 😭 I guess I’ll support the devs more!
Some terms you may want to explore about that meditative state you talked about: in Japanese "Yugen" and "Ma", in Sanskrit "Nada Yoga", in German "Waldeinsamkeit".
Maybe a similar game is 'a short hike'. Super chill game, with great sound design and art, about exploring an island and climbing to the top of a mountain. Would highly recommend checking it out!
Beltmatic was a fun factory game. The game just tells you which numbers you're depositing that don't currently progress anything but nothing gets blocked up like mixing wrong items together in other factory games
I've really wanted to get into factory games, but have always had some trouble getting a bit overwhelmed partway in. That one looks super casual though, and still pretty fun. I'll give it a look.
@@ScarfKat I've recently found my enjoyment in casual games
I also found the first racing game that doesn't punish you for not being the fastest. it's called Art of Rally and even though it's not quite as calm because it is a racing game, the art style is relaxing. the "career" sets you through the classic rally years but you don't have to finish first to progress. I have gotten tired of racing games that force you to do the same race over and over until you win it from starting last
The old flash game Fleur was like this. It had goals & challenges but no threats or problems.
Endo seems like the sort of game that we’d be talking about in hushed tones of reverence if it was released back when Myst was out.