Games centered around a "groundhog day" loop - an IFDB Poll
by Merk
Two that come to mind, which I haven't played in years and may be remembering wrong, are Moebius and All Things Devours. Games with fail states, by their nature, fit the bill from a mechanical level, but I'm curious about games where that's actually the focus of the plot. One-move games probably fit the bill too, but I'm also looking for examples of games that are maybe a little more complex, and where the repeating loop is used in clever ways.
(This is for an ongoing discussion topic for my podcast, where we've been talking about Groundhog Day plots in games. There are a few examples in video games, but I got to thinking that the best use has probably been in interactive fiction.)
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Endless, Nameless, by Adam Cadre 4 votes "King of Loops" [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Save the Date, by Chris Cornell 4 votes "The whole game is..." [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Rematch, by Andrew D. Pontious 3 votes "One-move where..." [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... "The..." [+] ... ![]() | |
Bigger Than You Think, by Andrew Plotkin 3 votes "You play it over and over" [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Trapped in Time, by Simon Christiansen 3 votes (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Fingertips: Fingertips, by Michael D. Hilborn 3 votes "A one-move loop until you discover how to break out." [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Hadean Lands, by Andrew Plotkin 3 votes (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
All Things Devours, by half sick of shadows 2 votes "time-loop excellence" [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Vicious Cycles, by Simon Mark 2 votes "There is a time..." [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
The Binary, by Bloomengine 2 votes "Hyperlinked time..." [+] ... ""The Timeline..." [+] ... ![]() | |
Rover's Day Out, by Jack Welch and Ben Collins-Sussman 2 votes "You go through the same morning routine several times, though not for the reasons you might think." [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Fifteen Minutes, by Ade McT 2 votes (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Reigns, by François Alliot, Nerial, Devolver Digital 2 votes (No comment) [+] ... (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Twine Story, by Mike69420666 1 vote (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle, by David Dyte, Steve Bernard, Dan Shiovitz, Iain Merrick, Liza Daly, John Cater, Ola Sverre Bauge, J. Robinson Wheeler, Jon Blask, Dan Schmidt, Stephen Granade, Rob Noyes, and Emily Short 1 vote "One move, lots of endings" [+] ... ![]() | |
Shrapnel, by Adam Cadre 1 vote (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Save the World in 7 Moves, by chintokkong 1 vote (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
The Baker of Shireton, by Hanon Ondricek 1 vote "Changing the..." [+] ... ![]() | |
The House at the End of Rosewood Street, by Michael Thomét 1 vote "Based around an extremely repetitive daily routine... there's other spoilery relevant stuff too." [+] ... ![]() | |
Operation Extraction, by Ming-Yee Iu 1 vote ""Rescue Dr...." [+] ... ![]() | |
Aisle, by Sam Barlow 1 vote "A one-move game with a ton of endings" [+] ... ![]() | |
The Lurking Horror II: The Lurkening, by Ryan Veeder 1 vote "The world ends after nine moves, with restarting justified in universe by magic" [+] ... ![]() | |
The Brigand's Story, by Laura Michet 1 vote (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |
Delusions, by C. E. Forman 1 vote "Trapped in an alternate reality that keeps repeating itself until ..." [+] ... ![]() | |
Every Day the Same Dream, by Luis Gonzalez 1 vote "Not a good game..." [+] ... ![]() | |
First Things First, by J. Robinson Wheeler 1 vote "quite fun" [+] ... ![]() | |
Paradox Factor, by Mike Walter 1 vote "remember the future. preserve the paradox !" [+] ... ![]() | |
De Baron, by Victor Gijsbers 1 vote "The game itself..." [+] ... ![]() | |
Look Around the Corner, by Doug Orleans (as Robert Whitlock) 1 vote "Very Groundhog Day--the loop starts every morning. Also very short." [+] ... ![]() | |
Möbius, by J.D. Clemens 1 vote "A loop with a..." [+] ... ![]() | |
Amanda, by Francisco J. López 1 vote "Seems like kinetic fiction until the first play-through is finished." [+] ... ![]() | |
Witch's Girl, by Geoff Moore 1 vote (No comment) [+] ... ![]() | |