Just Go In Blind
Sometimes a game is best experienced knowing absolutely nothing. Surprises, plot twists, and interesting mechanics can be so much more meaningful when the full context isn’t known. Playing with limited or no knowledge of a game can also ratchet up the tension, induce a sense of wonder, and even make old, tired genres feel completely fresh again. With that in mind, here are 20 games that deserve to be played blindly.
1. The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parable is all about challenging expectations of what a game is or should be. It also reacts to the player’s actions in humorous, thoughtful, and even shockingly personal ways. Blind play amplifies those reactions, keeping the narration and mechanics from feeling like anything you might be used to.
2. Doki Doki Literature Club
Doki Doki Literature Club initially presents itself as something happy and familiar. It then quietly and methodically subverts every expectation the player has for the game and for their own comfort. It’s a game that surprises you when and where you least expect it.
3. MiSide
MiSide is a slow burn, a creeping sense of dread found in normal interactions made subtly abnormal. The world and atmosphere feel heavy as the game progresses. Blind play allows the player to see nuances they might otherwise skip over.
4. Subnautica
Subnautica throws the player into a world and then lets them explore it, using only their own curiosity to survive. Guidance is minimal, and players are encouraged to experiment and discover on their own. Every new place and biome feels strange and earned.
5. Inscryption
Inscryption is about familiar mechanics that the game slowly and constantly changes and reinvents. It is a game that plays with and then twists the concept of surprise. Having no foreknowledge means much of the power is taken from that twist.
6. Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds is a learning game in that its entire structure is based around understanding what you are seeing. Progression is based less on collection and more on discovery. The game trusts you to make the connections it wants you to make.
7. Return of the Obra Dinn
Return of the Obra Dinn is an exercise in reconstructing events through critical thinking and deductive logic. Sound is important, but the game’s scenes are static images that come to life through nuance and attention to detail. The pace is a grind by design, and that lets the game toy with the player.
8. Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is a game about dialogue, inner dialogue, and decision-making. The writing is dense, layered, and full of humor, existential dread, and subversion of the player’s expectations. Every choice the player makes matters, as it sets the tone and changes the context of the narrative.
9. Prey (2017)
Prey is a game that strongly encourages creative problem-solving and thinking like the player’s character. The solutions are rarely obvious, and the game world is detailed and allows for many different approaches to similar problems. Playing the game for the first time allows the player to experiment and come up with their own solutions instead of being told or shown.
10. SOMA
SOMA is a game that often favors atmosphere and themes over pacing and narrative structure. It asks questions about identity, memory, and humanity through disturbing, dreamlike, and shifting scenarios. The game’s story is a slow burn, and those who are patient will benefit from quieting their mind and playing attentively.
11. NieR: Automata
NieR: Automata is a game about its own structure. It balances fast and frantic action and plot with a quieter, slower, and deeply thoughtful storytelling process. This structure evolves as the game continues to the point where it feels meaningful and calculated.
12. Portal 2
Portal 2 is a game that teases out mechanics and then reuses and remixes them cleverly. Every puzzle requires the player to use what they have learned before in order to progress. It trusts the player to piece everything together.
13. Undertale
Undertale is unique in that it is very reactive to the player and how they treat its characters and world. This leads to drastic shifts in tone from playful to sincere, and sometimes even personally attacking, at a moment’s notice. Small choices can carry emotional weight the player may not anticipate.
14. Tunic
Tunic is a game that hides its complexity under a charming and friendly veneer. It eschews direct explanation in favor of communicating through symbols and player discovery. The player’s natural learning process of how the game works is often as rewarding as the game itself.
Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
15. What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finch is a game about a series of short stories, each deeply connected to a family and a place. Each vignette is written, performed, and played in different styles with distinct interactive elements. The game is quiet, reflective, and very human.
16. Inside
Inside is a game that tells its narrative almost entirely through visual cues and movement. There is no direct explanation or exposition on what the player is seeing. Going into the game without prior knowledge of the story is necessary in order to heighten the mystery and tension of every moment.
Nikita Kachanovsky on Unsplash
17. ARK: Survival Evolved
ARK: Survival Evolved drops the player into a world with very little direct guidance or specific goal. Instead, the player must learn the basics of survival in order to progress. Having a healthy dose of fear and survival skills is crucial if you are looking to stay alive in this game.
18. Immortality
Immortality is a game that does not require the player to progress through the levels in order. Instead, it is a game about repeating the same scenes to find new patterns and details that unlock the larger story. Curiosity is the primary tool the player is given in order to progress.
19. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Brothers is a game with a simple control scheme used to make an emotional narrative. The game is often representative of the connection between its two protagonists in how the player is required to approach the world and the challenges presented. Playing the game for the first time ever may be brief, but it sure is memorable.
20. Journey
Journey is a game about movement, music, and atmosphere. There is very little in the way of dialogue and even less in the way of overt guidance. It is a game that is best experienced slowly and without distraction.
