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.)
Stay?, by E. Jade Lomax 5 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Save the Date, by Chris Cornell 5 votes "The whole game is..." [+]"The whole game is about time loops and trying again till you get it right" ( ![]() | |
Rematch, by Andrew D. Pontious 3 votes "One-move where..." [+]"One-move where you have to keep trying until you solve the puzzle and save everyone." --dutchmule... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Victor Gijsbers... "The..." [+]"The quintessential one-move puzzle" --Christina Nordlander... ![]() | |
All Things Devours, by half sick of shadows 3 votes "it is awesome" [+]"it is awesome: Really, one of the best time loops games ever." ( ![]() | |
Endless, Nameless, by Adam Cadre 3 votes "King of Loops" [+]"King of Loops: Truly the Strangest of Loops; most complete and most brilliant usage of the Groundhog Effect." ( ![]() | |
Vicious Cycles, by Simon Mark 3 votes "There is a time..." [+]"There is a time loop similar to the games mentioned in the opening paragraph of the poll." ( ![]() | |
Bigger Than You Think, by Andrew Plotkin 3 votes "You play it over and over" [+]"You play it over and over" ( ![]() | |
Trapped in Time, by Simon Christiansen 3 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Fingertips: Fingertips, by Michael D. Hilborn 3 votes "A one-move loop until you discover how to break out." [+]"A one-move loop until you discover how to break out." --matt w (Matt Weiner)... (No comment) [+](No comment) --<blank>... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Brian Kwak... ![]() | |
Hadean Lands, by Andrew Plotkin 3 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
The Binary, by Simon Mark (as Bloomengine) 2 votes "Hyperlinked time..." [+]"Hyperlinked time loop." ( ![]() | |
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." [+]"You go through the same morning routine several times, though not for the reasons you might think." --matt w (Matt Weiner)... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Delusions, by C. E. Forman 2 votes "Trapped in an alternate reality that keeps repeating itself until ..." [+]"Trapped in an alternate reality that keeps repeating itself until ...: In the middle phase of the game, you end up stuck in a cycle in a virtual world of somebody else's creation. The world resets itself every time you wake up until you figure out the sequence of commands to break the loop." --mjhayes... "You are being..." [+]"You are being held captive by a talkative virus inside of a simulation of your VR workplace. The goal is to escape before the loop resets and sends you back to the simulation's starting point. This involves sneaking around the virus so he does not see you plotting against him. Also: You may or may not be human. " --Kinetic Mouse Car... ![]() | |
Fifteen Minutes, by Ade McT 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) --David Welbourn... (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) [+](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" [+]"One move, lots of endings" --Karl Ove Hufthammer... ![]() | |
Shrapnel, by Adam Cadre 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Save the World in 7 Moves, by chintokkong 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
The Baker of Shireton, by Hanon Ondricek 1 vote "Changing the..." [+]"Changing the world through death and respawning is an essential part of advancing the plot" --Pinstripe... ![]() | |
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." [+]"Based around an extremely repetitive daily routine... there's other spoilery relevant stuff too." --matt w (Matt Weiner)... ![]() | |
Operation Extraction, by Ming-Yee Iu 1 vote ""Rescue Dr...." [+]""Rescue Dr. Galland, a bio-weapons specialist, from the Dawn Militia."" ( ![]() | |
Studio, by Charm Cochran 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) --OverThinking... ![]() | |
Aisle, by Sam Barlow 1 vote "A one-move game with a ton of endings" [+]"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 world ends after nine moves, with restarting justified in universe by magic: The premise is that after 9 moves, a Lovecraftian abomination destroys the world--at which point, a spell you cast allows restarts the game. The gameplay is explicitly about learning magic so that you can accomplish more and more within the time limit." ( ![]() | |
The Brigand's Story, by Laura Michet 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Every Day the Same Dream, by Luis Gonzalez 1 vote "Not a good game..." [+]"Not a good game (the original graphical game is far better), but a good example of the genre." ( ![]() | |
When the Millennium Made Marvelous Moves, by Michael Baltes 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Paradox Factor, by Mike Walter 1 vote "remember the future. preserve the paradox !" [+]"remember the future. preserve the paradox !: I liked the dark themed tone of this psychological thriller text based game ( "choice of game"), after jumping in an untested time machine revisit different periods in your life, making small alterations, trying to fix your future, most of time leading you to a bad outcome, you’ll need to use your memories of the future to solve puzzles in the past, before the probability of a paradox reaches 100% rebooting the machine time loop. " --reghyz... ![]() | |
De Baron, by Victor Gijsbers 1 vote "The game itself..." [+]"The game itself doesn't loop, but it is very strongly implied that everything in the game has already happened many times before and will probably happen many times hereafter. An important theme is the question whether it is possible to break out of such a loop." --Victor Gijsbers... ![]() | |
Look Around the Corner, by Doug Orleans (as Robert Whitlock) 1 vote "Very Groundhog Day--the loop starts every morning. Also very short." [+]"Very Groundhog Day--the loop starts every morning. Also very short." --matt w (Matt Weiner)... ![]() | |
Möbius, by J.D. Clemens 1 vote "A loop with a..." [+]"A loop with a twist (that I don't wish to spoil). A definite goal that can't be achieved without going through the loop at least once. Or twice." --<blank>... ![]() | |
Amanda, by Francisco J. López 1 vote "Seems like kinetic fiction until the first play-through is finished." [+]"Seems like kinetic fiction until the first play-through is finished." --IFforL2... ![]() | |
Witch's Girl, by Geoff Moore 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Poll created on July 29, 2015