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Stolen from myself 6 months ago at https://lemmyverse.link/lemmy.zip/post/35616522

I know I remember seeing some people talk about how nice some of the environments in Hitman were, and that they'd just walk around as a tourist from time to time, treating it like a walking simulator/virtual tourism thing instead of the stealth assassination game it is. Curious about other things like that, where you play a game totally differently than it was meant to be played.

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[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 4 points 1 week ago

Back when I first played Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, I spent way too much time atop some stairs and jump-kicking an orc down, who'd ragdoll down, get up then come back up, only to get another jump kick to the face. I spent several minutes laughing

When I was ~7 years old, I had a Nascar 94 demo for PC, my main mode of play was running the wrong way and crashing as hard as I could on another car, watching all the pieces flying was fun

I also wonder whether there's a "wrong" way to play dorf fortress, since I've tried a lot of stupid shit (it's only stupid if it doesn't work, so...)

Lastly, there's Skyrim with, uh, specific mods

[-] definitemaybe@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 days ago

Dwarf Fortress, so much. But I agree; I don't think that type of play is unintended. It's a fantasy world simulator first and game second (if at all). There are absolutely no objectives in the game at all; it's entirely self generated.

Like, what's more fun than chopping down all the trees, getting the elves raging mad at you, then holing up in your giant underground+inverted pyramid "hourglass" base while completely ignoring the siege going on above/below you while digging deep to get magma pumps set up all the way to the inverted pyramid so you can flood the surface with magma and kiil all the elves with fire, without having a single military dwarf the entire time because you can't be bothered to figure out the military menus/training when it's not as much !!!FUN!!! as mechanical defense options (lava traps.)

Is that a game, or just a sandbox? idk, but I love it. I haven't played in a while b/c of life commitments (kids, mostly), but I look forward to playing again.

Apparently military is a lot simpler, now, but I can't be bothered. Traps are so much more !!!FUN!!! and I totally haven't drowned my complete base with a failed water trap design killing all my dwarves. Not recently. (Mostly because I haven't played recently.)

[-] dbtng@eviltoast.org 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I won't do the main quest in Starfield. I don't want any special powers, and those Foundation guys are lame. I'm like level 58 and I've never found an artifact. I do enjoy killing people and stealing ships tho. Miner character, exclusively Cutter, Arc Welder, and Rivet Gun.

I won't stick the chip in my head in Cyberpunk. Nope. I know its got a virus on it. Just seems like a really really bad idea. That leaves me stuck in the first part of the game, because you can't break out of it anymore since the patches. I might mod it someday. (Any mod suggestions are welcome, plz!)

[-] PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago
[-] dbtng@eviltoast.org 2 points 6 days ago

He's cool. I'd rather install him in a refrigerator or some shit. He can follow me around and serve me beer.

[-] savvywolf@pawb.social 3 points 1 week ago

I grew up with Zelda Ocarina of Time, so now every time I feel like playing it I use a randomiser to put all the items in random locations. It makes every playthrough more unique and interesting.

[-] indomara@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

In osrs there is a PvP mini game "soul wars" that I love playing absolutely incorrectly.

I follow teammates around and rapidly use kits on them to heal them, use weapon specs to stun whoever they're fighting, that kind of thing. I don't usually try to attack anyone.

While osrs does have some healing mechanics and spells, almost no one uses them, which I find really sad.

I'm fact, in soul wars they actually blocked the healing spells from working at all, a fact I learnt only after getting level 94 to cast them.

After all these years, no one had ever tried I guess, I had to have a friend edit the wiki so no one else would be surprised.

Anyway, a friend looked me up and apparently I was pretty high in the high scores for someone who doesn't kill anyone.

[-] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago

Quake / Quake World was really the epitome of "not how it was intended to be played". It introduced zigzag, wallhug and bunny jump through some clever exploitation of game mechanics, and completely changed its game play plus that of future fps games of the time. And people would just come up with stupid maps where you could do fps-parkour. I often did it myself for hours on end, just jumping around a map alone or with friends while chatting or listening to music.

A very short demo of how crazy it could get, speed indicator top right. 320 was the default movement speed.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago
[-] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 37 points 1 week ago

The Witcher 3 is just an RPG minigame you can play between rounds of Gwent.

[-] teft@piefed.social 10 points 1 week ago

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is just a horse riding simulator in between games of Farkle. A beautiful deadly simulator.

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[-] moody@lemmings.world 9 points 1 week ago

Woman: My child! Please save my child!
Geralt: Care for a game of Gwent?
Woman: nod

[-] GrantUsEyes@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago

No it isn't! ヽ( `д´*)ノ

Tap for spoilerJk, I suck at Gwent

[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 37 points 1 week ago

Any game that has a fishing mechanic will be used as a fishing game.

[-] GriffinClaw@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 week ago

This. So much this.

For me, the peak fishing game was Final Fantasy XV :D

[-] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 week ago

Helps that it has some of the most absurdly hype fishing music ever. Sounds like a boss battle.

[-] HouseWolf@pawb.social 4 points 1 week ago

Even if you don't want it to to be...

Currently got my Sonic Adventure playthrough on pause because I can't for the life of me catch that stupid frog in Big's fishing mini game!

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[-] ImgurRefugee114@reddthat.com 28 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Stellaris. I cheat and mod to put my empire in the middle of the galaxy and have extremely overpowered player-only technologies. Then I just explore the galaxy and guide the AI; usually picking a favorite and try to help them grow e.g. a peaceful uplifted species in a very hostile galaxy. I've also done this in multiplayer where I played a bit of a Game Master role. Built a quest line as part of my custom mod that had lore and let players slowly discover me and the galactic core (cut off from the hyperlane network; this was all custom scripted before mods like the birchworld existed on the workshop)

When I was a kid I would play driver 3 but I hated the driving part and would mostly walk. I also played a skateboard game and ditch the board, dress up like a spy or specops guy, and run around roleplaying various scenarios in my imagination (because I didn't have any games at the time that would let me stealth or run on rooftops, which is all I wanted)

[-] calliope@retrolemmy.com 7 points 1 week ago

That way of playing Stellaris sounds really cool! It makes me want to install Stellaris again

[-] otacon239@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago

I spend a solid amount of time in RDR2 camping. I’ll go to town, gather some supplies, and head out in a random direction with no map.

Gather food as I go, hunt for game as I find it, craft supplies, and live off the land.

You can take multiple in-game days to get places and even better is choosing a mountain or similar in the distance and making that your destination.

You still come across plenty of side missions with this approach because of how much is going on in that game, but it feels quite genuine when you do.

I would argue this is an intended play style. They made camping and the natural world extremely detailed on purpose.

[-] SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 1 week ago

Going back a while - Monster Truck Madness 2 was a great game of exploration if you just drove off in a random direction rather than doing that silly racing stuff :-)

The maps were big, and there was no time limit, so you could just go and do your own thing ... a favourite made-up mini-game was sliding around a frozen lake on the winter map.

[-] TechnoCat@piefed.social 9 points 1 week ago

Yes. I did this with Monster Truck Madness and still remember the opening announcer guy.

I also did this with Big Red Racing, Diddy Kong Racing, and Rallisport Challenge.

[-] BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 week ago

Also did this with the first Monster Truck Madness and Big Red Racing. And Motocross Madness. Seems these games were just built for that. Only had demo versions though, so just the one stage to explore.

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[-] SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 week ago

Carmageddon was really good for it, too.

In modern gaming I've clocked up about 400 hours on Snowrunner, half of the game is intentionally exploring with trucks (albeit a lot slower, lol)

[-] TechnoCat@piefed.social 3 points 1 week ago

Ah yeah Carmageddon! They definitely encouraged exploration. I remember never winning by racing, but instead killing the other drivers.

[-] SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 week ago

Oh yeah, that was often the easiest way to progress.

I used to be a bit of a Carmageddon nut, I think I have original copies of all the games (1 with the Splat Pack expansion was the best for exploration) ... but my old PC can't run the latest version at more than 1fps unfortunately :-/

[-] popcornpizza@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 week ago

GTAV. I don't care for the story or the shooting aspect, I just love to drive or walk around. I can't do either irl, so I love it when games give me the option.

[-] Repelle@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I haven’t really played V, but other GTA games I just treat like arcade games where I start by stealing some car and try to stay away from the cops and steal bigger/cooler shit for as long as I can without getting caught

[-] perishthethought@piefed.social 16 points 1 week ago

Just Cause 3

I fire it up just to drive aound / grapple-hook float for an hour or more

[-] dbtng@eviltoast.org 1 points 6 days ago

I like car surfing, for the scenery.
I also enjoy firing tethers to wreck other cars as we go along, for the entertainment.
Or tow a few, that's fun too.

[-] bizarroland@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

In Rust you can host your own server, and if you do that on your own local network with nobody else connected, then you have a very large world, with only like a couple of things that can kill you, and you can have a very fun, laid-back, relaxing, you know, builder, simulator, survival thing.

And also Skyrim. I have been trying to complete every single side quest and every single add-on side quest that I can, while basically not advancing the game at all. My current game is easily 40 hours in, and I only recently defeated the first dragon that you can kill as part of the main quest.

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[-] rozodru@piefed.social 11 points 1 week ago

No Mans Sky exclusively in creative mode.

I don't care for getting resources or any of that. I just want to build stuff and explore. it would be 10x better if they made building regular ships as easy as the new ones and that's my only gripe, having to sit in a station to wait for a ship to show up with a part you want. It's an incredibly idiotic system for creative mode.

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[-] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

I've never finished FF7 because there is a snowboarding mini game that gave me SSX vibes so good I put like 15 hours into it and then stopped playing FF7. No idea what happens in the story but man that Bits and Chitz style mega arcade was fun.

[-] ving_thor@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

In Kingdom Come: Deliverance, I used a mod to allow unlimited saving. I will do the same for the second game if I ever find time to play it.

[-] teft@piefed.social 5 points 1 week ago

I wish i could forget KCD2 just so i could play it again fresh. I have 1000 hours in it and i still play it all the time. Such a great game.

[-] makyo@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Speaking of Hitman, my buddy said Hitman has a club level that is somewhat popular as a place to chill

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 9 points 1 week ago

I enjoyed playing Baldur's gate 3 as a rogue, playing it like a assassin's creed game. Nothing but stealth attacks and running away. Never get into a full combat if possible.

[-] Vespair@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 week ago

This probably isn't what you mean, but I usually only make like, 3 or 4 military units in Civ 6 and play entirely peaceful, zero war games. And yes I play on deity difficult

[-] Bademantel@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

What strategy works best for you? I'd like to win with something other than science or military. If only religion wasn't super boring to play...

[-] Vespair@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Largely prioritize production for every game type, always get the mausoleum wonder; great engineers are OP for every victory type.

Aside from that, Hercules and Himiko are far and away the best heroes, and controlling city-states is crucial.

[-] mohab@piefed.social 8 points 1 week ago

Yes! Action RPGs and I ignore all the RPG because, despite my thorough research, I've been bamboozled by COMBO MAD videos.

Fuck you, NieR:Automata—I'm not collecting 5 mushroom and 3 pyrite or whatever else you want me to collect. I paid for an action game and I'm getting one!

[-] Aeao@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Playing the Tony hawk pro skater demo and trying to hurt ourselves as badly as possible.

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[-] Kirk@startrek.website 7 points 1 week ago

I make custom maps in Civilization that essentially turn it into a tower defense

[-] SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 week ago

I just remembered another one - the original Car and Driver game (way before Need for Speed 1) was a vector 3D affair that ran at full speed on a 386.

One of the courses was the San Dimas Mall parking lot - I worked out that I could use the "drop camera" command in one spot, and then it became a radio control car simulator since the 'dropped' camera followed the car being driven :-)

[-] wattanao@fedia.io 6 points 1 week ago

Civilization VI, I usually make "multiplayer" games so that I can set every AI's team and difficulty, and I'll make a somewhat large map with way too many players, each on teams of two or three, and then one AI will be the god-emperor-king that we all have to band together to defeat.

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[-] jaschen306@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

Beamng drive.

I don't actually know the point of this game but it's awesome.

[-] NycterVyvver@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Money generated from Community Chest/Chance goes to Free Parking and players can buy Jail.

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this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2025
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