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That said, Inscryption's ending was pretty bad. I was left with the feeling that there were many more possibilities, but then everything suddenly ended.
I just have to mention Noita. The game makes you feel like the destructible levels are all there is to it. Until you notice you can break out of them. The whole game is so much stacked on top of each other I did feel a sense of wonder.
Stanley Parable is the only game i know of, which makes you wanna go against every rule given by the tutorial/narrator. That's what makes this game incredible
I know the amount of detail in it is actually amazing. For example, when I took the elevator down from the boss’s office I noticed the button was still lit, so I tried it and actually went back up, and found there’s actually an ending from repeatedly going up and down the elevator
One of my greatest feelings of wonder was in Subnautica. There are SO many times I found myself in awe gazing into the deep sea or discovering some strange new lifeform. Subnautica creates a world that feels incredibly alien, but it still ties into the real world wonder of the sea. Creating alien worlds is something I love in games. Outer Wilds creates similar feelings. You find something new and you have to take a moment to step back and marvel at what you see.
I hate when games break the sense of wonder they have created with deep lore. That why i made my game have little lore for you to fill in the rest yourself, its more interesting that way, like reading a book, rather than watching a move
deep lore is great if used correctly and if it can only be revealed if you actually explore and ty to uncove it, a great example of this is kenshi, it has a DEEP lore, but you still dont know shit about the world no matter what you do, every part of it is incredibly unique and has mind-boggling zones with terrifying creatures
@@the.true.A Yes, i completely agree, i think it all depends on how well the lore is written. when a game has not told you anything the whole time, you start to imagine things, and it can sometimes ruin the mystery of the game for me. Obviously it depends on the game you are playing, this is just my experience.
Well I don't think that deep lore is the right term for that, but I know what you mean: a lot of cutscenes and very linear gameplay and level design. I'm probably making myself enemies by saying this but imo red dead redemption 2 is an awful game for exactly that reason.
I think i already destroyed my sense of wonder just because how many times i got disappointed by it, there's a lot of times when i wondered in games and was like "oohh can i do that?/can i go there?"etc. and at least half the times i was left with nothing
Me too, soo many RPGs that i played were i though those choices i made might bite me in the ass, only to reach to the ending and the only thing that matter was the last 15 min of the game.
That also reminded me of Cyberpunk, i was a fool for falling for the Hype, i was exploring every thing and every invisible wall, no collision terrain, and places with nothing in it killed my will to explore.
There’s a really short puzzle game called linelith by the creator of Patrick’s Parabox. Even though it’s mechanics are really simple, it manages to surprise you by applying those mechanics in unexpected places, and you start to wonder of there are other places where you can use that mechanic.
haha he spoiled this in another video too, and I didn't like to have that spoiler as i'll probably play that game. your comment is way more subtle but its still a spoiler
I felt the sense of wonder in Minecraft again when I downloaded Distant Horizons, a mod that allows ludicrous render distances without tanking your framerate I could see the mountains in the distance, and walk to them High vantage points actually let me see further
In Scribblenauts unlimited, one of the puzzles involves reuniting a plane crash survivor with his dead wife, killing him is a acceptable solution. In another puzzle, there's an old lady who is tired of standing, removing her legs is a acceptable solution. Moments like these were some of the few times in any game I was genuinely amazed.
I feel like I mention celesete on every damn video, but celesete does this really well, you play throughout most of the game with a basic moveset, but either by accident or later in the game you discover you can do a bunch of insane moves, and the developers completely embrace it in the level designs, not just at the end, but in every level you've already played, you can suddenly solve each screen in a ton of different ways. there's also the strawberries and crystal hearts, I think my favourite is the crystal heart in the second map, you have to manipulate the loading of the next screen to regain your dash, you've probably already discovered you can do this but you think that surely the devs wouldn't include this as a feature intentionally, but they do.
3:20 so glad you're highlighting Outer Wilds, it's my favorite game of all time for the specific reason that it relies purely on your own curiosity and wonder, and rewards you for doing so consistently. No other game has brought me that childlike joy and wonder, and I doubt another game ever will. It took all of those preconceived video game mechanism ideas and threw them out the window.
I never actually noticed myself doing that before, but I also avoid looking for secrets and easter eggs in games made with a low budget or in a short period of time and always look in every single spot in a bigger game
I definitely had a moment of wonder in teardown not from destroying things though I already knew about that but from how realistic the smoke and water was especially compared to the rest of the game
The beginners guide Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist Also if you tried TSP super deluxe and drop down at the screen room they mention it used to be a bug in the original and its now officially an ending!
TSPSD actually gave me the sense of wonder without me seeing any of the new endings. As I played it, I slowly realized something was wrong, the collision didn't feel quite right, and there was a slight flickering when I went through the non-euclidean spaces. Eventually I realized that they had remade the whole game in a new engine.
Celeste does that really well too. You keep finding secret areas and strawberries as you dash through some walls or take an alternative route so it makes you feel like as long as you keep trying to find some new secret areas, you'll eventually find a challenging level rewarded with a strawberry.
I don't think that's really what the video is talking about though. There's no sense of wonder because you *know* that there will be hidden walls with strawberries and secrets. The only time I think this really applies for Celeste is when you stumble onto a Crystal Heart.
Before watching this video, i wasn't aware that i've been interpreting "a sense of wonder" the same way i interpret "a sense of awe", because some people will use it to describe what they feel when they see "world big". Besiege really did give me the drive to try an figure out what i could and couldn't do, but only now do i realize that "a sense of wonder" is what i felt.
Something I think is important wasn't talked about is that the game itself needs to be slow and safe enough to allow curiosity and exploration to flourish. A game that's all about speedrunning conflicts with creating wonder, since players usually ignore everything else for minimizing time. Conversely, puzzle games with no time limit, or sandboxes complement the sense of wonder. As a side note, having open-ended goals does wonders in invoking curiosity. The developers of Don't Starve had a problem, where when prompted with the goal of "Survive X days". Players were found not exploring the world, and played safe until the goal was met. When the goal was changed to "Survive", players were found to explore and experiment a lot more with the game's systems. It's more about guiding the player and giving them a sense of direction rather than a target.
well, lately TUNIC came out and it's a masterclass in evoking wonder. It is particularly good on how it gives you information and how ample it feels. Like I think I am halfway and it's beating Elden Ring in this field for me, and I thought elden ring had some incredible wonder moments
That clip you showed me of Elden Ring hit me so hard. I feel like if that game came out when I was a child I would have loved it 100x more than I already do. And from descriptions of what miyazaki wanted to do I imagine he feels the same slight disapointment that I do.
I have to honestly say that your videos are one of the best ever right now. I love getting a glimpse into different games and then seeing something I've played and discovered myself gives me another kick. Thanks for such great content
As you’re building a list of games that do unexpected things: check out Everhood! One of my favourite indies of this decade. It’s best experienced blind, but it’s a rhythm game that plays with the format a lot. In case you need more: -SPOILERS BELOW- The game’s main mechanic is having a guitar hero-style board of notes coming towards you, and you have to dodge them to get through the song alive. Halfway through the game: you get your arm back, and suddenly those notes coming towards you aren’t weapons being used against you, they’re ammunition that can be used against your opponent. You can pick up notes and match them, sending back projectiles - turning the songs from a survival experience into one with an active role. Same music, completely different feel. And that’s just the start. Some songs do some insane stuff, which I refuse to spoil. Very similar to Beat Doctor in its creativity.
exoeriencing things from an analytical perspective doesnt always suck out all the fun in things, i feel like it can actually intensify it sometimes. watching old anomated movies now that im an animator puts me in awe about how masterfully made they are
I distinctly remember in Shin Megami Tensei IV when the player arrived at the temple of the Ring of Gaea and Lilith started asking the player moral questions before you where allowed to meet her. I was expecting a battle, and this confrontation asking the player what they thought surprised me. I've never seen something similar in any game I've played before or after. SMT4 did a lot of things right to make the player feel as if they were in control, and make them feel that they truly played a part in this games world.
One of your bests videos, well played ! For the "breaking the unexpected" part, I will always remember the end of Oneshot. Also, the whole game plays with the 4th wall, and every use of it is so clever
wow. this video was absolutely incredible to watch. I am trying to make my own first video essay, on a similar topic and you really hit the nail on the head. this is inspiring me a lot more to make that video lol. but you are so right. this innovation/wonder is such an incredible feeling that is so hard to get right. your analysis and production are on levels I have never seen ever before in any other channel. so thank you so much for the passion put in these videos. I really am inspired and I appreciate it so much.
Great video, but it's interesting how little about it was about narrative. It's hard, but narrative can be a great source of wonder, not just with twists but with discovery as well, as you realise how you can uncover or interact with a story. A lot of Inkle games are built on this, including Heaven's Vault where you have to decode an entire language and Overboard, where you have to get away with murder, and each time you end a run you learn more about the people who you're trying to trick. A personal favourite came from an Ink jam, where users made interactive fiction games. There was one game, black out, where the main character suffers from blackouts. But these aren't built in, your character can do stuff while blacked out and you have no control, or possibly even no idea what they've done! It was amazing, because it changed the way I played. There was a moment when I could pocket a gun, but I didn't, because I didn't know what I would do with it when blacked out! I'd never made that sort of decision in a game before! There are more, it's really worth checking out these games to see what they're doing with interactive stories!
I certainly think that you can create a 'oh wow' moment through narrative. But I also think that the impact we as players have on the narrative is very limited. I think that there is like three kinds of impact we can have on the narrative/story of a game. We can either somehow create an abrupt alternate ending (that most of the times is like a bit of a joke), we can have branching parallel narrative that where any impact you had on the story is ultimately futile, or you we can have multiple branching storylines of which (most of the time) only one is the true one. So for example in Far Cry 4 you there is that moment in the beginning where you can wait for the villain to return and this gives you a quick alternate ending. Then in the mass effect series you have significant impact who lives and who dies and the fates of different races/planets but ultimately none of this matters. In the zero escape games you have multiple paths that for the most part are fairly different from each other but.. in the end only one path is the true one and the rest is just steps on the way to get to the true ending. The only game I can really think of that doesn't neatly fit these categories would be 'The Stanley Parable', cause it's like the branching paths but it doesn't feel like most endings are just stepping stones to a true ending.
@@mauriceraat2781 Endings and choices aren't the only thing that can provide narrative surprises. In Neir, you're presented with a text adventure, making your game completely different. In What Remains of Edith Finch, the game presents many "vignette" stories, each with unique mechanics or story structures. In 13 sentinels, you play as multiple characters in scenes who all eventually lead to the same ending but you get a clearer idea of what exactly is going on. The impact a player can have on a game isn't just the ending. It impacts their own story, these many small moments that make this experience unique for them.
@@GreenCloversGuy Well I was specifically talking about choices since the video was talking about a 'sense of wonder' that comes from "I wonder if I can...?". Maybe it's just for me personally but most games don't create this 'sense of wonder' in the narrative. It's not like I broke through a "wall of my expectations how I can interact with the story" .
Possibly my favorite video yet! loved the thoughts and gave an answer to a question that I have seen popping up on the internet recently: "Why arent games fun anymore". Fantastic video
Those are some useful design tips. For a one person developer, hiding information is probably the easiest to do, but there is also some danger in hiding too much information and confusing the player when they shouldn't be. The dose is key.
This is why GRIS was so good! When I first played it and learned that I could sing... damn, instant chills - this is great! I kept using the action over and over, even when it was unnecessary, just because it was so fun!
Noita is a really good example of a game that's unexpected in variety of ways. The emergent gameplay always creates new and surprising situations. It's also full of secrets, most of them extremely hard to discover. And the most important element is how Noita never arbitrarily limits you in ways other roguelikes do, and turns breaking through the bounds of the world and levels into a mechanic.
I always loved this kind of effort put into games by devs, I love it when they reward the player who explores and goes the extra mile, and the Metro games always had this philosophy, I've played the first 2 but don't a setup that can run the 3rd one so whenever I went around looking for Easter eggs or loot I almost always found the game to be more enjoyable, nothing is worse than putting in effort to do something and getting nothing in return
For anyone wondering, the adorable ball swinging game at 7:10 is called "Crumble". It was like the only thing missing from the fantastically comprehensive "Footage Used" link, and I just had to track it down to play it myself. 'u'
Yoooo, I started Outer Wilds some days ago, and I was so gripped with terror but even moreso with complete wonder, and that’s made me brave so many scary things in the game despite being one of the most personally terrifying games I’ve ever played. It honestly completely broke every expectation I entered the game with. Can’t wait for your video on it! An honourable mention for breaking my expectations and instilling wonder in myself has to be The Witness.
Talos Principle has some moments of unexpected, where you "go out of bound" of the puzzle to solve it, or a secret that is unlocked by interacting with the moon in the skybox.
Talking of subverting expectations, The Hex (previous game from Daniel Mullins) is 100% a plot twist after another. The game is divided in 7 main parts, and each part has its own twist. It's really really cool imo, and the whole story is also very good. Most underrated game I know (also check out its secret ending if you ever play it)
In The Witch's House, a RPG maker horror game, while it is made in just RPG Maker of all thing, its puzzle solution is quite interesting. From the start , the rule stated that in this game, you can't open door with literally "keys", but something else must act as the "key". But then you find a sliver key and try to open the locked door anyway because you are conditioned to that in both real life and game, while the actual solution is putting the sliver key in a poison bowl . There is another puzzle with the hint on the wall telling you to just ignore everything in the next room, and quite true it is, if you turn left , right or turn back in that room, you would get a game over. But the real impressive thing is, if you simply ignore the hint on the wall, in the next room, you can just do whatever you want.
Something that always makes me feel a sense of wonder is being able to freely climb in a game. Once I realize that I have the ability to do so my brain immediately switches to "i wonder if i can climb that tower/cathedral/mountain/..." and it's fantastic. Assassin's Creed did this very well and I love the series to this day. More recently, Genshin Impact did a great job invoking that. There's truly nothing like looking at the giant cathedral in the first region, wondering if i can get up there, and discovering that 1) yes i can and 2) there's a chest waiting for me at the top. Or realizing that my character with ice powers can freeze water and with enough patience i can cross the sea and get to that island in the distance. I know we all love to clown on the game and it's gacha properties and pretty anime girls but it was the exploration that made me stick around. I've heard Breath of the Wild was similar, I'm very excited for when I'll finally own a switch and be able to play it ^^
Dude, Stop is another game I'd like to mention that fits directly with that sense of wonder. Much like with The Stanley Parable, both games have it's own narrator and both games have that theme of choice. Sure DS only had a few hours worth of playtime on average but it still gives you that feeling of "I wonder if I do this instead?" and it rewards you with different kinds of "cups" as they call it in the game and new bits of the narrator's dialogue that you weren't able to get before on your first playthrough (probably). You can either piss the narrator off or follow ahead with the narrator's instructions in both games as well which is a bonus in my book because it gives you a sense of "I'm in control here, not you." too.
I think the first thing is to build trust with players. Which means the interaction rule is unified, clear and cohesive information and almost no bugs to distract players.
Superliminal nails this concept. Another of these wonder and exploration games is linelith. I recently tried it after seeing aliensrock play it, and just wow. SPOILERS: . . . . The feeling you get once you understand that you can solve EVERYTHING is unmatched. Seeing that huge notch in the green and thinking “wait.” Is such an aha moment and i love it.
Modded Minecraft is a pretty wondrous game. Back when I was a kid it couldn't quite do all the amazing things I wished it could do, like make a flying base or build a realistic railroad one could walk on... then the Metaworlds mod was released, which was amazing and broke what I thought possible, then later Immersive Railroading also blew my mind at what was possible, as well as Immersive Portals, Dynamic trees.... Metaworlds no longer exists but I really look forward to whenever Valkyrien Skies (which also enables fully-functioning flying ships made of fully-functioning blocks just like Metaworlds) updates to the same version Immersive Portals is on! With Minecraft modding, nearly everything I had once thought impossible in the game has now been done, and that is totally AMAZING!! So so many amazing mods exist... and yet even still I can't _quite_ run all of them at once due to incompatibilities! I think with all of them working at the same time, and more, _that_ would finally be a moment, where if I want to do it, I can do it, without limit. Imagine taking a helicopter to a train station and buying some things in some automated stores there (perhaps a jetpack and a tablet computer, both of which and more exist with mods), then taking a train to a city where a portal somehow transitions from the outside of a building to a FULLY FUNCTIONAL FLYING BASE! That will be so good whenever those mods all exist on the same version and are compatible! I absolutely love it when things are fully functional like that and let you do ANYTHING!! I _really_ want some real portals on flying metaworlds. It would be one of the most awesome things imaginable, and I think that would be around the point where there is nothing really left to squash my sense of possibility in it. Well, maybe if it was compatible with some space mod it could be even better... Today I can also get a sense of wonder realising that with Blender, I can make practically anything I want. Still doesn't have real portals though; would love to program that into it one day. But most any type of avatar, environment, etc I want to make... I can do anything! That only dawned on me fairly recently. I wonder why I don't currently get a sense of wonder with the internet. It _should_ be possible to discover a lot more. I guess it's just kind of hard to find truly new things; lots exists, but the vast majority is pretty similar to each other and it's hard to sort through it all, especially when algorithms dominate and kind of steer people to what they already know. Of what is accessible, I've explored fairly thoroughly at this point. This is also why I find it nearly impossible to be bored in this day and age -- I've discovered so many unique places on the internet to do things that there is quite a lot more content I know of than I could possibly ever see. VRChat is pretty wondrous. I have not discovered it all yet, and discovery is not dictated by algorithms. I wonder what amazing things I have yet to see. Probably the primary things I like about stories is a sense of wonder, wondering how the world works and then slowly discovering it. For me Minecraft is really one of the best games at doing this, though, because time and time again, everything I used to want to do but was not possible, has been implemented with mods, and that is so very amazing.
Hollow knight is amazing at withholding knowledge and new map areas for the player to discover themselves. The developers said they didn’t mind players missing out on some content in order to make the kingdom feel larger. Also, (spoiler) When you deposit your money with the banker to supposedly keep it safe from the death mechanic, you actually get scammed and it is stolen. Pretty sure no player expected that and it was a great twist, breaking convention.
I love how your making a video on outer wilds I was watching it for three minutes and was literally just about to comment on how outer wilds is 100% built on wonder and player curiosity
Some wondrous gaming moments from my childhood include realising you could get items twice in Chrono Trigger if you got them from the future first. Otogi with it's persistent destruction, even across your save file also had my jaw dropping. And Rez, just... Rez. Both playing it the first time on Dreamcast, and again recently in VR. For actual recent games that evoked wonder, I recommend The Pathless to anyone that likes open world exploration. As for games that subvert the expected, try Icey. It also has a narrator in a similar way to Stanley Parable.
For me it takes two really nailed this aspect. The rate of new stuff and different that's executed pretty much perfectly really made you wonder what the next world or even section of the same world has to offer. You constantly go "surely this is just some scenery in the distance or reskinned version of a previous game mechan... holy shit this actually looks and functions fully like it's supposed to, now the game is streetfighter/has completely changed physics/is a third person shooter"
One thing I find especially interesting to obfuscate is the player’s location. Having to determine where you are on the map by looking at landmarks can make you feel more connected with the landscape, since you have to look around and determine the most memorable points. It can even be good fun when you don’t have a map at all. I always thought it was cool how Zelda 1 encourages you to make your own maps. I feel like it’s a big part of the appeal that’s lost when most people just look up a map online.
One of my favourite games that did this was Dragon’s Dogma (happy 10th anniversary!) - venturing outside was always dangerous as you had limited supplies with a rapidly depleting weight capacity and oil supply. If it ever reached night time, it went pitch black, not Fallout/Skyrim-style night, but complete darkness. Discovery makes you want to continue your journey, but reason tells you to go back to the only town and stock up. It’s a fantastic risk/reward scenario that occurs naturally, and neither is inherently better.
elden ring has such good exploration experience because of the diversity of settings and density of content. i was blown away by the crumbling farum when i tped there from the 4 bellfries. until the very end stages of the game theres always something thatll exite you to explore and also blow your mind
A game that subverted my expectations a lot, in only positive ways, is paradise killer. You expect a rather linear detective (inspector) story, but end up in an open world where as of now I have sunken in 14 hours and I still feel that there's so much more to explore and learn.
I'll go with Hollow Knight in general, but specifically finding Deepnest if you take the secret path that falls down the giant hole. And then you find out way later that there's a secret stair case hidden in said giant hole that you can climb out of.
Tiny bit of unexpected game design - I remember old Titus game like Prehistorik having a special callout at the start if they are played after a certain year. Something like "oh wow, I didn't expect anyone to be playing this game past 1996!". Probably the best unexpected game stuff I can think of comes from a TTRPG. In Exalted, you play mythic heroes with a heroic flaw that turns your game into a tragedy of sorts. Sidereals are heroes of fate. Their heroic flaw is that the more of them are together the worse decisions they make. The mechanic for it is that there isn't a mechanic for it - given enough time players will come up with worse and worse ideas on their own. And as follows, the Sidereal's biggest mistake was done when all of them got together to figure out the fate of the world and decided to usurp other heroes. Everything fits together so nicely.
idk as a game dev also, i think that resistance to feeling wonder is an active choice to some extent. Its easy to get into the habit of analyzing everything and focusing all your attention on negative aspects, but really after a while I started actively shutting that part of my brain off while playing, and just assuming every game has cool new things for me to discover and learn. Im almost always right to assume that, if you start actively looking for cool things youll find them. Most games are made with passion and care, but if you go into them with cynicism youll miss that
Supraland + the DLC "Crash" + the extra DLC/semi-sequel "Six Inches Under" are all great for that unexpected wonder - the shear amount of different uses you can get from each ability is astounding!
8:47 no way, that hit me out of nowhere. That was one of my first issues of LEVEL dad bought me waaaay back in the days. _(I shall assume you're also Romanian)_
I feel like Hitman is simultaneously the best and worst at this. If you only see it as a game were you have to kill a target and that is it, you are given tons of creative and wondrous ways to do it. However when the game specifically tells you how to do it, it kills the wonder and it just becomes a mission woth steps to follow.
True!!! Everytime i played and heard 2 NPCs talking loudly aboth how it would be a disaster if someone did X or Y thing i wanted to close the game. Let me explore and find out myself.
"Hey steve watch out, dont press that buttom, or it will cause an eletric shock, on the floor and the boss always cross this path" "Hey Jon, Why the f are you saying that soo loud, why we have this buttom here in the open and why the HELL we dont fix it?" "Oh hi there sir, nice codebar tatto, but could you stop with the creepy stare? Hey i hope you did not listen to our conversation, Because our Boss could die if you press that buttom"
this is exactly the feeling i've been missing for years now. Weird that half life 2 was mentioned because i just recently played it for the first time, and it felt pretty claustrophobic to me (but it's okay since it's old). It doesn't exactly get boring since it constantly switches things up, but i quickly learned that there's no point in asking "i wonder if..." because there's always just one way forward, and stuff only ever happens in response to things you do.
this will prolly get buried but whatever, here it goes: one of the most unexpected things I recently had was in CrossCode: its retro style RPG. What surprised me is that ALL of the mobs are passive and you can just walk through new areas to get to your destinations, no need to fight anything. New DLC with new content and area? just walk through, don't even have to fight new mobs... Also its SO GOOD. I wish more people covered it, as it has truly special narrative and combat.
There are two games I want to mention that have evoked my sense of wonder in spite of me being a programmer and a seasoned player. I won't mention popular games like SUPERHOT here. 1. "else Heart.Break()" - this game is amazing in terms of giving the player a possibility space to explore. It starts as a point'n'click game with some minor frustrations, but it turns out to be an immersive sim where you are given (but instantly) a tool to program in-game objects to solve problems. The game doesn't have a list of achievements, so you never know how deep is the rabbit hole. The game doesn't hold your hand, but rather guides you through world design, leading you to interesting places and events gently. The greatest part of it is that it is deeper than you think. And you don't know how much deeper it is. It's also very cool that your progression is tired to your understanding of the systems and your knowledge of useful in-game places. 2. Infinifactory - I'll spoil it a little bit, but it's a game by Zachtronics, which means it's gameplay first and it's made for engineers at heart. The moment this game surprised me was a moment when I thought it would end.
OH definitely can of wormholes, it nails that unexpectedness because most puzzles have an alternate solution involving mechanics that don't appear till the end of the game. and that seems very standard but it does this over, and over and over again. even at the end of the game, you're still revisiting those puzzles
An example of a game that gave me a sense of wonder was Summer Carnival '92: Recca. Before playing it, I had fairly low expectations, because it's a SHMUP for the Famicom. Then it blew my expectations out of the water, as it turned out to be the fastest, hardest, and best bullet hell game I've played. And I mean bullet hell when I say it- by using flickering it goes well over the famicom's sprite limit, and sometimes it's actually easier to not shoot enemies. It didn't need easter eggs or an expansive world, it just needed to do the impossible. It also uses lag as a game mechanic, encouraging avoiding score items to make avoiding enemies easier, and making it unplayable on bad emulators.
I know a couple old flash games that did unexpected pretty well, those being This is the Only Level & Super Karoshi Man. Flash games did this quite often, granted on a much smaller scale
This is why I have never watched behind the scenes videos of movies, I don't wanna know how the magic is made. Darkwood, Witch hunt, and skinwalker hunt games have that sense of wonder and the woods of Witch hunt are one of my happy places. Right now and for the last month or so however Elden Ring has been my mental and visual playground, and though it's a book not a game Piranesi by Susanna Clarke does the same. One of my absolute favorite parts of watching the beginning of a new Playthrough of Elden ring is when the person finally understands how big the map is lol.
Multiplayer games often cause unexpected moments. For example, I never get jump scared when a zombie gets in my face in a survival game, but when you hear a shotgun going off behind you in Rust, you will jump a bit. The same thing happens in sandbox games with a lot of content: for example, the SS13 playerbase never ceases to amaze me when I play a round, there's just so much you can do in that game. But I think this is a double edged sword, the same thing happens when you include jokes in your games. It will make the game have 0 replayability, because the second time you hear a joke/see something unexpected, it won't be the same. And it's not just about music, textures, models, or layouts; you have to get the feeling right to have that sense of wonder. It's not repeatable with procedural generation. You need a human input, by either having a carefully created ambience, or by making the game multiplayer and relying on the players to create this sense of wonder.
This just reminds me of when I started getting into how games worked it really ruined a lot of my expectations on what I see as playable spaces in games.
I still watch a much smaller creator play a game he is not very good at rather than watching larger creators who are more skilled because his lack of skill brings more wonder to the same situations. good video. +1.
I'm thinking about Hollow Knight. About how I kept exploring and finding not just new rooms but surprise entire new zones. I'd break through a wall and just. Wait, this is a whole new section of the map?! It got to a point where I went back over the entire map space rubbing my face on every single wall that showed the slightest hint of promise to see if I could find more secrets. Even tiny rooms with a bit of money were exciting. If I could erase just one game from my memory and play it again fresh, it would be Hollow Knight. I love that sense of exploration and there being more to see around every corner. Subnautica is also a strong contender for giving me that sense of exploration. The ability to go in any direction and not know if I'll find a new fish, or a new zone, or a weird cave, or who knows what else...
Few games have inspired a sense of wonder in me like Open Sorcery. It is a text adventure game in a world of magic and technology and exploring the world, both spacially and conceptually, is very fun. There is nothing quite like being quizzed by the queen of faries, where one misplaced word could have horrifing consequences.
i feel like the games that do recontextualization well fit very well in this category, so stuff like the witness and the outer wilds evoke a lot of wonder through the hints they leave in their design that there may be more to the world than the player expects idk how appropriate this is to the topic at hand, but mystery games have the sense of wonder at their core, trying to piece together what happened in the story. the series i love most is zero escape, from the mystery genre. kotaro uchikoshi's design philosophy is really interesting, and i fear mentioning the very way in which he does recontextualization in his games may be a spoiler. all i can say is, among many other things, he uses the idea that you have to get multiple ends before getting to the "true end"
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Overpriced Trash!
Thank you for blessing us with another one of your uploads
thats unfortunate. gotta keep the lights on though, no shame
eyo m8, theres a slight relay/echo of the sound in your video. At around 2:46 you can hear it slightly
edit: Its intentional innit?
In terms of "unexpected" content, Inscryption's pretty good. There's that moment you figure out there's more to the game, and then it happens again.
That said, Inscryption's ending was pretty bad. I was left with the feeling that there were many more possibilities, but then everything suddenly ended.
I just have to mention Noita. The game makes you feel like the destructible levels are all there is to it. Until you notice you can break out of them. The whole game is so much stacked on top of each other I did feel a sense of wonder.
Have to agree, I hadn't seen anything like Noita when that trailer first came out. I don't think anything else like it exists.
@@Swordslash noita feels like the spelunky formula taken to the extreme
Stanley Parable is the only game i know of, which makes you wanna go against every rule given by the tutorial/narrator.
That's what makes this game incredible
I know the amount of detail in it is actually amazing. For example, when I took the elevator down from the boss’s office I noticed the button was still lit, so I tried it and actually went back up, and found there’s actually an ending from repeatedly going up and down the elevator
Broom Closet
One of my greatest feelings of wonder was in Subnautica. There are SO many times I found myself in awe gazing into the deep sea or discovering some strange new lifeform. Subnautica creates a world that feels incredibly alien, but it still ties into the real world wonder of the sea. Creating alien worlds is something I love in games. Outer Wilds creates similar feelings. You find something new and you have to take a moment to step back and marvel at what you see.
I hate when games break the sense of wonder they have created with deep lore. That why i made my game have little lore for you to fill in the rest yourself, its more interesting that way, like reading a book, rather than watching a move
deep lore is great if used correctly and if it can only be revealed if you actually explore and ty to uncove it, a great example of this is kenshi, it has a DEEP lore, but you still dont know shit about the world no matter what you do, every part of it is incredibly unique and has mind-boggling zones with terrifying creatures
@@the.true.A Yes, i completely agree, i think it all depends on how well the lore is written. when a game has not told you anything the whole time, you start to imagine things, and it can sometimes ruin the mystery of the game for me. Obviously it depends on the game you are playing, this is just my experience.
Well I don't think that deep lore is the right term for that, but I know what you mean: a lot of cutscenes and very linear gameplay and level design. I'm probably making myself enemies by saying this but imo red dead redemption 2 is an awful game for exactly that reason.
You must be turkey man is it a turkey?
@@Kam_pq bro what
I think i already destroyed my sense of wonder just because how many times i got disappointed by it, there's a lot of times when i wondered in games and was like "oohh can i do that?/can i go there?"etc. and at least half the times i was left with nothing
Me too, soo many RPGs that i played were i though those choices i made might bite me in the ass, only to reach to the ending and the only thing that matter was the last 15 min of the game.
That also reminded me of Cyberpunk, i was a fool for falling for the Hype, i was exploring every thing and every invisible wall, no collision terrain, and places with nothing in it killed my will to explore.
There’s a really short puzzle game called linelith by the creator of Patrick’s Parabox.
Even though it’s mechanics are really simple, it manages to surprise you by applying those mechanics in unexpected places, and you start to wonder of there are other places where you can use that mechanic.
I second this one. Linelith is something everyone here should try blind.
Spoilers for The Witness ahead
Just a little exemple for your list: The Witness when you discover there are puzzles to solve in the environment too
Witness is incredible
haha he spoiled this in another video too, and I didn't like to have that spoiler as i'll probably play that game. your comment is way more subtle but its still a spoiler
@@lunaponta594 oh yes I forgot to warn about spoilers, I'm changing that sorry
@@raphaeldubuget7770 its ok :) thanks
And when you take another look at the pond.
I felt the sense of wonder in Minecraft again when I downloaded Distant Horizons, a mod that allows ludicrous render distances without tanking your framerate
I could see the mountains in the distance, and walk to them
High vantage points actually let me see further
In Scribblenauts unlimited, one of the puzzles involves reuniting a plane crash survivor with his dead wife, killing him is a acceptable solution.
In another puzzle, there's an old lady who is tired of standing, removing her legs is a acceptable solution.
Moments like these were some of the few times in any game I was genuinely amazed.
I feel like I mention celesete on every damn video, but celesete does this really well, you play throughout most of the game with a basic moveset, but either by accident or later in the game you discover you can do a bunch of insane moves, and the developers completely embrace it in the level designs, not just at the end, but in every level you've already played, you can suddenly solve each screen in a ton of different ways. there's also the strawberries and crystal hearts, I think my favourite is the crystal heart in the second map, you have to manipulate the loading of the next screen to regain your dash, you've probably already discovered you can do this but you think that surely the devs wouldn't include this as a feature intentionally, but they do.
Linelith was such a fantastic game for wonder, learning the twists in the game felt so good
For the unexpected thing I think that superliminal is a perfect example
3:20 so glad you're highlighting Outer Wilds, it's my favorite game of all time for the specific reason that it relies purely on your own curiosity and wonder, and rewards you for doing so consistently. No other game has brought me that childlike joy and wonder, and I doubt another game ever will. It took all of those preconceived video game mechanism ideas and threw them out the window.
I never actually noticed myself doing that before, but I also avoid looking for secrets and easter eggs in games made with a low budget or in a short period of time and always look in every single spot in a bigger game
I definitely had a moment of wonder in teardown not from destroying things though I already knew about that but from how realistic the smoke and water was especially compared to the rest of the game
The beginners guide
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist
Also if you tried TSP super deluxe and drop down at the screen room they mention it used to be a bug in the original and its now officially an ending!
did you get the broom closet ending?
TSPSD actually gave me the sense of wonder without me seeing any of the new endings. As I played it, I slowly realized something was wrong, the collision didn't feel quite right, and there was a slight flickering when I went through the non-euclidean spaces. Eventually I realized that they had remade the whole game in a new engine.
Celeste does that really well too. You keep finding secret areas and strawberries as you dash through some walls or take an alternative route so it makes you feel like as long as you keep trying to find some new secret areas, you'll eventually find a challenging level rewarded with a strawberry.
I don't think that's really what the video is talking about though. There's no sense of wonder because you *know* that there will be hidden walls with strawberries and secrets. The only time I think this really applies for Celeste is when you stumble onto a Crystal Heart.
@@ir-dan8524 Yeah that actually makes sense. Thanks.
Before watching this video, i wasn't aware that i've been interpreting "a sense of wonder" the same way i interpret "a sense of awe", because some people will use it to describe what they feel when they see "world big".
Besiege really did give me the drive to try an figure out what i could and couldn't do, but only now do i realize that "a sense of wonder" is what i felt.
Something I think is important wasn't talked about is that the game itself needs to be slow and safe enough to allow curiosity and exploration to flourish. A game that's all about speedrunning conflicts with creating wonder, since players usually ignore everything else for minimizing time. Conversely, puzzle games with no time limit, or sandboxes complement the sense of wonder.
As a side note, having open-ended goals does wonders in invoking curiosity. The developers of Don't Starve had a problem, where when prompted with the goal of "Survive X days". Players were found not exploring the world, and played safe until the goal was met. When the goal was changed to "Survive", players were found to explore and experiment a lot more with the game's systems. It's more about guiding the player and giving them a sense of direction rather than a target.
well, lately TUNIC came out and it's a masterclass in evoking wonder. It is particularly good on how it gives you information and how ample it feels. Like I think I am halfway and it's beating Elden Ring in this field for me, and I thought elden ring had some incredible wonder moments
That clip you showed me of Elden Ring hit me so hard. I feel like if that game came out when I was a child I would have loved it 100x more than I already do. And from descriptions of what miyazaki wanted to do I imagine he feels the same slight disapointment that I do.
What do you mean
I have to honestly say that your videos are one of the best ever right now. I love getting a glimpse into different games and then seeing something I've played and discovered myself gives me another kick. Thanks for such great content
As you’re building a list of games that do unexpected things: check out Everhood! One of my favourite indies of this decade. It’s best experienced blind, but it’s a rhythm game that plays with the format a lot. In case you need more: -SPOILERS BELOW-
The game’s main mechanic is having a guitar hero-style board of notes coming towards you, and you have to dodge them to get through the song alive. Halfway through the game: you get your arm back, and suddenly those notes coming towards you aren’t weapons being used against you, they’re ammunition that can be used against your opponent. You can pick up notes and match them, sending back projectiles - turning the songs from a survival experience into one with an active role. Same music, completely different feel. And that’s just the start. Some songs do some insane stuff, which I refuse to spoil. Very similar to Beat Doctor in its creativity.
Everhood is great and super weird. Definitely a 10/10
@@Raoul1808. Euthanism Rollercoaster is on my permanent favourite music playlist for how emotional I found the ending, fantastic OST in general
exoeriencing things from an analytical perspective doesnt always suck out all the fun in things, i feel like it can actually intensify it sometimes. watching old anomated movies now that im an animator puts me in awe about how masterfully made they are
I distinctly remember in Shin Megami Tensei IV when the player arrived at the temple of the Ring of Gaea and Lilith started asking the player moral questions before you where allowed to meet her. I was expecting a battle, and this confrontation asking the player what they thought surprised me. I've never seen something similar in any game I've played before or after.
SMT4 did a lot of things right to make the player feel as if they were in control, and make them feel that they truly played a part in this games world.
Love the title screens, and great concept, editing, examples and video as always
One of your bests videos, well played !
For the "breaking the unexpected" part, I will always remember the end of Oneshot. Also, the whole game plays with the 4th wall, and every use of it is so clever
wow. this video was absolutely incredible to watch. I am trying to make my own first video essay, on a similar topic and you really hit the nail on the head. this is inspiring me a lot more to make that video lol. but you are so right. this innovation/wonder is such an incredible feeling that is so hard to get right. your analysis and production are on levels I have never seen ever before in any other channel. so thank you so much for the passion put in these videos. I really am inspired and I appreciate it so much.
Great video, but it's interesting how little about it was about narrative. It's hard, but narrative can be a great source of wonder, not just with twists but with discovery as well, as you realise how you can uncover or interact with a story. A lot of Inkle games are built on this, including Heaven's Vault where you have to decode an entire language and Overboard, where you have to get away with murder, and each time you end a run you learn more about the people who you're trying to trick.
A personal favourite came from an Ink jam, where users made interactive fiction games. There was one game, black out, where the main character suffers from blackouts. But these aren't built in, your character can do stuff while blacked out and you have no control, or possibly even no idea what they've done! It was amazing, because it changed the way I played. There was a moment when I could pocket a gun, but I didn't, because I didn't know what I would do with it when blacked out! I'd never made that sort of decision in a game before! There are more, it's really worth checking out these games to see what they're doing with interactive stories!
I certainly think that you can create a 'oh wow' moment through narrative.
But I also think that the impact we as players have on the narrative is very limited.
I think that there is like three kinds of impact we can have on the narrative/story of a game.
We can either somehow create an abrupt alternate ending (that most of the times is like a bit of a joke),
we can have branching parallel narrative that where any impact you had on the story is ultimately futile,
or you we can have multiple branching storylines of which (most of the time) only one is the true one.
So for example in Far Cry 4 you there is that moment in the beginning where you can wait for the villain to
return and this gives you a quick alternate ending. Then in the mass effect series you have significant impact
who lives and who dies and the fates of different races/planets but ultimately none of this matters.
In the zero escape games you have multiple paths that for the most part are fairly different from each other but.. in the end only one path is the true one and the rest is just steps on the way to get to the true ending.
The only game I can really think of that doesn't neatly fit these categories
would be 'The Stanley Parable', cause it's like the branching paths but it doesn't
feel like most endings are just stepping stones to a true ending.
@@mauriceraat2781 Endings and choices aren't the only thing that can provide narrative surprises. In Neir, you're presented with a text adventure, making your game completely different. In What Remains of Edith Finch, the game presents many "vignette" stories, each with unique mechanics or story structures. In 13 sentinels, you play as multiple characters in scenes who all eventually lead to the same ending but you get a clearer idea of what exactly is going on.
The impact a player can have on a game isn't just the ending. It impacts their own story, these many small moments that make this experience unique for them.
@@GreenCloversGuy Well I was specifically talking about choices since the video was talking about a 'sense of wonder' that comes from "I wonder if I can...?".
Maybe it's just for me personally but most games don't create this 'sense of wonder' in the narrative. It's not like I broke through a "wall of my expectations how I can interact with the story" .
Possibly my favorite video yet! loved the thoughts and gave an answer to a question that I have seen popping up on the internet recently: "Why arent games fun anymore". Fantastic video
Those are some useful design tips. For a one person developer, hiding information is probably the easiest to do, but there is also some danger in hiding too much information and confusing the player when they shouldn't be. The dose is key.
Yeah, this is a very common problem, hide too little, the player gets bored, hide too much the player gets confused and/or angry
7:58 I like how your C:/ drive is named Heart, it gives your pc personality and is really wholesome :D
This is why GRIS was so good! When I first played it and learned that I could sing... damn, instant chills - this is great!
I kept using the action over and over, even when it was unnecessary, just because it was so fun!
NO WAY
morbius refrence at 4:42
😱😱😱😱
Noita is a really good example of a game that's unexpected in variety of ways. The emergent gameplay always creates new and surprising situations. It's also full of secrets, most of them extremely hard to discover. And the most important element is how Noita never arbitrarily limits you in ways other roguelikes do, and turns breaking through the bounds of the world and levels into a mechanic.
I always loved this kind of effort put into games by devs, I love it when they reward the player who explores and goes the extra mile, and the Metro games always had this philosophy, I've played the first 2 but don't a setup that can run the 3rd one so whenever I went around looking for Easter eggs or loot I almost always found the game to be more enjoyable, nothing is worse than putting in effort to do something and getting nothing in return
For anyone wondering, the adorable ball swinging game at 7:10 is called "Crumble". It was like the only thing missing from the fantastically comprehensive "Footage Used" link, and I just had to track it down to play it myself. 'u'
Thank you!
Yoooo, I started Outer Wilds some days ago, and I was so gripped with terror but even moreso with complete wonder, and that’s made me brave so many scary things in the game despite being one of the most personally terrifying games I’ve ever played.
It honestly completely broke every expectation I entered the game with.
Can’t wait for your video on it!
An honourable mention for breaking my expectations and instilling wonder in myself has to be The Witness.
Oh wow the editing is really well done!
Talos Principle has some moments of unexpected, where you "go out of bound" of the puzzle to solve it, or a secret that is unlocked by interacting with the moon in the skybox.
Talking of subverting expectations, The Hex (previous game from Daniel Mullins) is 100% a plot twist after another. The game is divided in 7 main parts, and each part has its own twist. It's really really cool imo, and the whole story is also very good. Most underrated game I know (also check out its secret ending if you ever play it)
Thank Nick Everyone at Pabin Games loves you man! Love from canada
We love you man ❤
In The Witch's House, a RPG maker horror game, while it is made in just RPG Maker of all thing, its puzzle solution is quite interesting. From the start , the rule stated that in this game, you can't open door with literally "keys", but something else must act as the "key". But then you find a sliver key and try to open the locked door anyway because you are conditioned to that in both real life and game, while the actual solution is putting the sliver key in a poison bowl .
There is another puzzle with the hint on the wall telling you to just ignore everything in the next room, and quite true it is, if you turn left , right or turn back in that room, you would get a game over. But the real impressive thing is, if you simply ignore the hint on the wall, in the next room, you can just do whatever you want.
Something that always makes me feel a sense of wonder is being able to freely climb in a game. Once I realize that I have the ability to do so my brain immediately switches to "i wonder if i can climb that tower/cathedral/mountain/..." and it's fantastic. Assassin's Creed did this very well and I love the series to this day. More recently, Genshin Impact did a great job invoking that. There's truly nothing like looking at the giant cathedral in the first region, wondering if i can get up there, and discovering that 1) yes i can and 2) there's a chest waiting for me at the top. Or realizing that my character with ice powers can freeze water and with enough patience i can cross the sea and get to that island in the distance. I know we all love to clown on the game and it's gacha properties and pretty anime girls but it was the exploration that made me stick around. I've heard Breath of the Wild was similar, I'm very excited for when I'll finally own a switch and be able to play it ^^
For me the most memorisable moment happened in Skyrim, when I realized I could put a bucket over someone's head and steal stuff
Dude, Stop is another game I'd like to mention that fits directly with that sense of wonder. Much like with The Stanley Parable, both games have it's own narrator and both games have that theme of choice. Sure DS only had a few hours worth of playtime on average but it still gives you that feeling of "I wonder if I do this instead?" and it rewards you with different kinds of "cups" as they call it in the game and new bits of the narrator's dialogue that you weren't able to get before on your first playthrough (probably). You can either piss the narrator off or follow ahead with the narrator's instructions in both games as well which is a bonus in my book because it gives you a sense of "I'm in control here, not you." too.
I think the first thing is to build trust with players.
Which means the interaction rule is unified, clear and cohesive information and almost no bugs to distract players.
Superliminal nails this concept.
Another of these wonder and exploration games is linelith. I recently tried it after seeing aliensrock play it, and just wow.
SPOILERS:
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The feeling you get once you understand that you can solve EVERYTHING is unmatched. Seeing that huge notch in the green and thinking “wait.” Is such an aha moment and i love it.
Modded Minecraft is a pretty wondrous game. Back when I was a kid it couldn't quite do all the amazing things I wished it could do, like make a flying base or build a realistic railroad one could walk on... then the Metaworlds mod was released, which was amazing and broke what I thought possible, then later Immersive Railroading also blew my mind at what was possible, as well as Immersive Portals, Dynamic trees.... Metaworlds no longer exists but I really look forward to whenever Valkyrien Skies (which also enables fully-functioning flying ships made of fully-functioning blocks just like Metaworlds) updates to the same version Immersive Portals is on! With Minecraft modding, nearly everything I had once thought impossible in the game has now been done, and that is totally AMAZING!!
So so many amazing mods exist... and yet even still I can't _quite_ run all of them at once due to incompatibilities! I think with all of them working at the same time, and more, _that_ would finally be a moment, where if I want to do it, I can do it, without limit. Imagine taking a helicopter to a train station and buying some things in some automated stores there (perhaps a jetpack and a tablet computer, both of which and more exist with mods), then taking a train to a city where a portal somehow transitions from the outside of a building to a FULLY FUNCTIONAL FLYING BASE! That will be so good whenever those mods all exist on the same version and are compatible! I absolutely love it when things are fully functional like that and let you do ANYTHING!! I _really_ want some real portals on flying metaworlds. It would be one of the most awesome things imaginable, and I think that would be around the point where there is nothing really left to squash my sense of possibility in it. Well, maybe if it was compatible with some space mod it could be even better...
Today I can also get a sense of wonder realising that with Blender, I can make practically anything I want. Still doesn't have real portals though; would love to program that into it one day. But most any type of avatar, environment, etc I want to make... I can do anything! That only dawned on me fairly recently.
I wonder why I don't currently get a sense of wonder with the internet. It _should_ be possible to discover a lot more. I guess it's just kind of hard to find truly new things; lots exists, but the vast majority is pretty similar to each other and it's hard to sort through it all, especially when algorithms dominate and kind of steer people to what they already know. Of what is accessible, I've explored fairly thoroughly at this point. This is also why I find it nearly impossible to be bored in this day and age -- I've discovered so many unique places on the internet to do things that there is quite a lot more content I know of than I could possibly ever see.
VRChat is pretty wondrous. I have not discovered it all yet, and discovery is not dictated by algorithms. I wonder what amazing things I have yet to see.
Probably the primary things I like about stories is a sense of wonder, wondering how the world works and then slowly discovering it.
For me Minecraft is really one of the best games at doing this, though, because time and time again, everything I used to want to do but was not possible, has been implemented with mods, and that is so very amazing.
Hollow knight is amazing at withholding knowledge and new map areas for the player to discover themselves. The developers said they didn’t mind players missing out on some content in order to make the kingdom feel larger. Also, (spoiler)
When you deposit your money with the banker to supposedly keep it safe from the death mechanic, you actually get scammed and it is stolen. Pretty sure no player expected that and it was a great twist, breaking convention.
I did it.
I made Nick talk about Teardown and Destruction.
I love how your making a video on outer wilds I was watching it for three minutes and was literally just about to comment on how outer wilds is 100% built on wonder and player curiosity
Wow, Teardown and the Stanley Parable in the same video? This is wild!
Some wondrous gaming moments from my childhood include realising you could get items twice in Chrono Trigger if you got them from the future first. Otogi with it's persistent destruction, even across your save file also had my jaw dropping. And Rez, just... Rez. Both playing it the first time on Dreamcast, and again recently in VR.
For actual recent games that evoked wonder, I recommend The Pathless to anyone that likes open world exploration.
As for games that subvert the expected, try Icey. It also has a narrator in a similar way to Stanley Parable.
For me it takes two really nailed this aspect. The rate of new stuff and different that's executed pretty much perfectly really made you wonder what the next world or even section of the same world has to offer. You constantly go "surely this is just some scenery in the distance or reskinned version of a previous game mechan... holy shit this actually looks and functions fully like it's supposed to, now the game is streetfighter/has completely changed physics/is a third person shooter"
One thing I find especially interesting to obfuscate is the player’s location. Having to determine where you are on the map by looking at landmarks can make you feel more connected with the landscape, since you have to look around and determine the most memorable points. It can even be good fun when you don’t have a map at all. I always thought it was cool how Zelda 1 encourages you to make your own maps. I feel like it’s a big part of the appeal that’s lost when most people just look up a map online.
One of my favourite games that did this was Dragon’s Dogma (happy 10th anniversary!) - venturing outside was always dangerous as you had limited supplies with a rapidly depleting weight capacity and oil supply. If it ever reached night time, it went pitch black, not Fallout/Skyrim-style night, but complete darkness.
Discovery makes you want to continue your journey, but reason tells you to go back to the only town and stock up. It’s a fantastic risk/reward scenario that occurs naturally, and neither is inherently better.
Also I absolutely can’t wait to see your video on The Outer Wilds. Easily my favourite narrative + puzzle + adventure game ever.
Just played Stanley Parable for the first time last weekend so I immediately had to click this vid seeing the thumbnail
elden ring has such good exploration experience because of the diversity of settings and density of content. i was blown away by the crumbling farum when i tped there from the 4 bellfries. until the very end stages of the game theres always something thatll exite you to explore and also blow your mind
A game that subverted my expectations a lot, in only positive ways, is paradise killer.
You expect a rather linear detective (inspector) story, but end up in an open world where as of now I have sunken in 14 hours and I still feel that there's so much more to explore and learn.
Your channel deserves so much more attention! Your videos are always so Interesting
I'll go with Hollow Knight in general, but specifically finding Deepnest if you take the secret path that falls down the giant hole.
And then you find out way later that there's a secret stair case hidden in said giant hole that you can climb out of.
Tiny bit of unexpected game design - I remember old Titus game like Prehistorik having a special callout at the start if they are played after a certain year. Something like "oh wow, I didn't expect anyone to be playing this game past 1996!".
Probably the best unexpected game stuff I can think of comes from a TTRPG. In Exalted, you play mythic heroes with a heroic flaw that turns your game into a tragedy of sorts. Sidereals are heroes of fate. Their heroic flaw is that the more of them are together the worse decisions they make. The mechanic for it is that there isn't a mechanic for it - given enough time players will come up with worse and worse ideas on their own. And as follows, the Sidereal's biggest mistake was done when all of them got together to figure out the fate of the world and decided to usurp other heroes. Everything fits together so nicely.
idk as a game dev also, i think that resistance to feeling wonder is an active choice to some extent. Its easy to get into the habit of analyzing everything and focusing all your attention on negative aspects, but really after a while I started actively shutting that part of my brain off while playing, and just assuming every game has cool new things for me to discover and learn. Im almost always right to assume that, if you start actively looking for cool things youll find them. Most games are made with passion and care, but if you go into them with cynicism youll miss that
Supraland + the DLC "Crash" + the extra DLC/semi-sequel "Six Inches Under" are all great for that unexpected wonder - the shear amount of different uses you can get from each ability is astounding!
Keeping information from the audience is extremely important. Its basicly the essence of show dont tell.
This is such a good video. You touched upon everything I've been subconsciously thinking but said it in such a concise and easy to understand manner
8:47 no way, that hit me out of nowhere.
That was one of my first issues of LEVEL dad bought me waaaay back in the days.
_(I shall assume you're also Romanian)_
I feel like Hitman is simultaneously the best and worst at this. If you only see it as a game were you have to kill a target and that is it, you are given tons of creative and wondrous ways to do it. However when the game specifically tells you how to do it, it kills the wonder and it just becomes a mission woth steps to follow.
True!!! Everytime i played and heard 2 NPCs talking loudly aboth how it would be a disaster if someone did X or Y thing i wanted to close the game. Let me explore and find out myself.
"Hey steve watch out, dont press that buttom, or it will cause an eletric shock, on the floor and the boss always cross this path"
"Hey Jon, Why the f are you saying that soo loud, why we have this buttom here in the open and why the HELL we dont fix it?"
"Oh hi there sir, nice codebar tatto, but could you stop with the creepy stare? Hey i hope you did not listen to our conversation, Because our Boss could die if you press that buttom"
Superliminal, Boneworks, and Superhot all gave me an immense sense of wonder the first time I played them.
this is exactly the feeling i've been missing for years now. Weird that half life 2 was mentioned because i just recently played it for the first time, and it felt pretty claustrophobic to me (but it's okay since it's old). It doesn't exactly get boring since it constantly switches things up, but i quickly learned that there's no point in asking "i wonder if..." because there's always just one way forward, and stuff only ever happens in response to things you do.
this will prolly get buried but whatever, here it goes: one of the most unexpected things I recently had was in CrossCode: its retro style RPG. What surprised me is that ALL of the mobs are passive and you can just walk through new areas to get to your destinations, no need to fight anything. New DLC with new content and area? just walk through, don't even have to fight new mobs... Also its SO GOOD. I wish more people covered it, as it has truly special narrative and combat.
Your videos evoke my sense of wonder :)
Do you know about space engine ? It is the epiphany of randomly generated games. I had a really great feeling of wonder with that game.
part of the 3.9% lets go
7:02 oh god, despite just being an educated person on the topic not a game developer with any worthwhile finished game that's so relatable.
There are two games I want to mention that have evoked my sense of wonder in spite of me being a programmer and a seasoned player. I won't mention popular games like SUPERHOT here.
1. "else Heart.Break()" - this game is amazing in terms of giving the player a possibility space to explore. It starts as a point'n'click game with some minor frustrations, but it turns out to be an immersive sim where you are given (but instantly) a tool to program in-game objects to solve problems. The game doesn't have a list of achievements, so you never know how deep is the rabbit hole. The game doesn't hold your hand, but rather guides you through world design, leading you to interesting places and events gently. The greatest part of it is that it is deeper than you think. And you don't know how much deeper it is. It's also very cool that your progression is tired to your understanding of the systems and your knowledge of useful in-game places.
2. Infinifactory - I'll spoil it a little bit, but it's a game by Zachtronics, which means it's gameplay first and it's made for engineers at heart. The moment this game surprised me was a moment when I thought it would end.
i cannot wait for the outer wilds video its is by far my favorite game and i cant wait to hear what you have to say about it
i was literaly playing outer wilds when you mentioned outer wilds.
Crysis was defenitly unexpected. The alien twist was just so cool
The quality of your videos always impress me. :)
great stuff.
looking forward to that outer wilds video you have planned! def my favourite game
10:43 I had the same reaction at that same chest literally just two days ago! I’m loving the game so far :)
11:20 "we all took it"
I actually took the right part and was confused when I met dead end.
OH definitely can of wormholes, it nails that unexpectedness because most puzzles have an alternate solution involving mechanics that don't appear till the end of the game. and that seems very standard but it does this over, and over and over again. even at the end of the game, you're still revisiting those puzzles
An example of a game that gave me a sense of wonder was Summer Carnival '92: Recca. Before playing it, I had fairly low expectations, because it's a SHMUP for the Famicom. Then it blew my expectations out of the water, as it turned out to be the fastest, hardest, and best bullet hell game I've played. And I mean bullet hell when I say it- by using flickering it goes well over the famicom's sprite limit, and sometimes it's actually easier to not shoot enemies. It didn't need easter eggs or an expansive world, it just needed to do the impossible. It also uses lag as a game mechanic, encouraging avoiding score items to make avoiding enemies easier, and making it unplayable on bad emulators.
In this video you managed to point out why I have trouble enjoying things anymore - my brain is stuck in analytic mode :/
I know a couple old flash games that did unexpected pretty well, those being This is the Only Level & Super Karoshi Man. Flash games did this quite often, granted on a much smaller scale
The dishonored series def comes to mind with wonder/emergent gameplay.
This is why I have never watched behind the scenes videos of movies, I don't wanna know how the magic is made. Darkwood, Witch hunt, and skinwalker hunt games have that sense of wonder and the woods of Witch hunt are one of my happy places. Right now and for the last month or so however Elden Ring has been my mental and visual playground, and though it's a book not a game Piranesi by Susanna Clarke does the same. One of my absolute favorite parts of watching the beginning of a new Playthrough of Elden ring is when the person finally understands how big the map is lol.
Multiplayer games often cause unexpected moments. For example, I never get jump scared when a zombie gets in my face in a survival game, but when you hear a shotgun going off behind you in Rust, you will jump a bit. The same thing happens in sandbox games with a lot of content: for example, the SS13 playerbase never ceases to amaze me when I play a round, there's just so much you can do in that game.
But I think this is a double edged sword, the same thing happens when you include jokes in your games. It will make the game have 0 replayability, because the second time you hear a joke/see something unexpected, it won't be the same. And it's not just about music, textures, models, or layouts; you have to get the feeling right to have that sense of wonder. It's not repeatable with procedural generation. You need a human input, by either having a carefully created ambience, or by making the game multiplayer and relying on the players to create this sense of wonder.
I think that "Prey" (2017) is the game with creative and unexpected mechanics as well as simple straight-froward path that you can go if you want to.
This just reminds me of when I started getting into how games worked it really ruined a lot of my expectations on what I see as playable spaces in games.
9:22 no wonder i find games nowadays to be not as fun, because i like to scroll through the entire wiki of a game before i buy it
I still watch a much smaller creator play a game he is not very good at rather than watching larger creators who are more skilled because his lack of skill brings more wonder to the same situations. good video. +1.
I'm thinking about Hollow Knight. About how I kept exploring and finding not just new rooms but surprise entire new zones. I'd break through a wall and just. Wait, this is a whole new section of the map?!
It got to a point where I went back over the entire map space rubbing my face on every single wall that showed the slightest hint of promise to see if I could find more secrets. Even tiny rooms with a bit of money were exciting.
If I could erase just one game from my memory and play it again fresh, it would be Hollow Knight. I love that sense of exploration and there being more to see around every corner.
Subnautica is also a strong contender for giving me that sense of exploration. The ability to go in any direction and not know if I'll find a new fish, or a new zone, or a weird cave, or who knows what else...
Few games have inspired a sense of wonder in me like Open Sorcery. It is a text adventure game in a world of magic and technology and exploring the world, both spacially and conceptually, is very fun. There is nothing quite like being quizzed by the queen of faries, where one misplaced word could have horrifing consequences.
i feel like the games that do recontextualization well fit very well in this category, so stuff like the witness and the outer wilds evoke a lot of wonder through the hints they leave in their design that there may be more to the world than the player expects
idk how appropriate this is to the topic at hand, but mystery games have the sense of wonder at their core, trying to piece together what happened in the story. the series i love most is zero escape, from the mystery genre. kotaro uchikoshi's design philosophy is really interesting, and i fear mentioning the very way in which he does recontextualization in his games may be a spoiler. all i can say is, among many other things, he uses the idea that you have to get multiple ends before getting to the "true end"