this post was submitted on 03 May 2025
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We've all played them. Backtracking, not knowing where to go. Going back and forth. Name some of these games from your memory. I'll start: Final Fantasy XIII-2, RE1

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[–] Spoilt@lemmy.world 3 points 55 minutes ago

Mirror's edge

/s

[–] moakley@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

Star Flight. I played it on Genesis, and it's still one of the greatest games I've ever played.

One space ship, 270 solar systems, and 800 planets. The manual included a captain's log that was sent back in time from the future, but without that you'd just be scouring the stars for clues, interrogating aliens, digging through ancient ruins, and watching slowly as a rash of planet-destroying solar flares spreads through the galaxy.

So fucking good.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Chrono Cross. You can accidentally write out all the endings of the game if you try to play without a guide.

Also Mordor 2. Completely procedurally generated world. The game literally can't tell you where to go, it doesn't know.

[–] ClumsyFingers@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

Many of the early console and PC games were only solvable by finding answers in published magazines. Nintendo was notorious for this - they had their own magazine called Nintendo POWER and a hotline you could call to get tips. A few that come to mind:

Blaster Master / Goonies 2 / Mad Max / The Kings Quest games / The Black Caludron

[–] Hugin@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Kings Quest? I played them on pc. They had stuff you needed the manual for but that was it. Did they change it for Nintendo?

[–] TwitchingCheese@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Probably just a comment on the moon logic puzzles in some of the games. And yea, Sierra had their own hint line to call. Or write in

Son, you’re talking to a guy who spoke no English when he first played the legend of Zelda for NES. Talk about playing a game that doesn’t tell you where to go next

[–] artifactsofchina@lemmy.world 6 points 3 hours ago
[–] thr0w4w4y2@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago

Beneath a Steel Sky, where literally half the game is going back and talking to everyone you’ve spoken to before for one extra dialog option that advances the plot

[–] Abnorc@lemm.ee 6 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

La Mulana for sure! It's a game where you play as professor Lemeza Kosugi (i.e. Japanese Indiana Jones) exploring an ancient temple. I admit that I did not have the patience for it. The map is huge and exploration is very non-linear. You also have to solve fairly obscure puzzles. If you really wanted to give it a go, I'd keep hand-written or typed notes separate from the in-game notes. They only let you save so much data at once, and you need more notes (or a good memory). I still kind of loved exploring the maps even partially though. It's pretty huge and ambitious in scope.

The combat and movement are not fantastic though. Not bad, but they feel very limiting compared to typical metroidvanias that let you style on enemies as you get better at the game. The game is not very shy about how it enjoys killing you too! I respect it, but it was tough for me to enjoy.

[–] cr0n1c@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

Came here to say this!

[–] tophneal@sh.itjust.works 10 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Myst 3 and hollow knight got me that way. Hollow knight was the worst, I simply couldn’t tell where I needed to go and where I’d already been 😅

[–] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I like hollow knight, but i don't think i can ever go back to that game. I had so much fun for a few hours and then i walked around for an hour or two, being beyond lost.

[–] GoodEye8@lemm.ee 2 points 6 hours ago

Interestingly that's the exact thing I loved about Hollow Knight. I got so immersed in the exploration specifically because I got lost. On my first playthrough I ended up sequence breaking the game and cleared out deepnest, ancient basin, hive and kingdoms end before the city of tears. I was way out of my depth and I loved every moment of it.

[–] MajesticElevator@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 hours ago
[–] MyNameIsAtticus@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I had the Old Ninja Gaiden i believe on some Collection for the PS3 growing up. Maybe it was just my age but i could never figure out what the hell i was supposed to do. There were a few games like that in the collection now that i think about it, like Echo the Dolphin and some top down rpg like thing

[–] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 3 points 7 hours ago

I remember playing echo the dolphin a lot as a kid. There wasn't a single moment where i knew what i was supposed to do.

[–] jonjuan@programming.dev 13 points 13 hours ago (4 children)

I got echo the dolphin for Sega genesis when I was about 8. I don't know how much of the game I got through, but thinking back it couldn't have been more than a few percent. And I played that shit for hours trying to figure out where to go next.

[–] Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

I really need to try it again with a guide, I want to see the wild shit after that first damn level.

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 7 points 10 hours ago

I still have the fond memory of the Ecco the Dolphin being called like game of the year by many magazines. So I begged my uncle to rented it from Blockbuster. First few days, I struggled. Then I asked to extend the rental. After a week, I gave up. Game was bs. I played Nintendo hard games.

A decade ago, I decided to read about Ecco and yeah, fuck that game.

[–] lowered_lifted@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I found the way to progress once, you have to like flip up out of the water and across to some other part of the level. I couldn't ever remember how I did it afterwards though.

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

Yeah you have to free Willy yourself but before that you have to … do some sort of katamari thing(?)

[–] ReasonablePea@sh.itjust.works 4 points 13 hours ago

Holyshit I forgot this game existed! I had the exact same experience, no idea what I was doing but for some reason I kept playing

[–] UnsavoryMollusk@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

Unreal 1 (not Unreal Tournament), some level were a bit too labyrinthic

[–] MufinMcFlufin@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Currently playing through Rainworld for the first time, and "where the fuck do I go" has definitely crossed my mind more than a few times.

I will say I've mostly been enjoying just exploring, but it has been frustrating at times trying to figure out what to do or where to go when my little in-game helper suddenly decides to play coy at another crossroads.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

Fractal Block World

[–] Bunny19@lemmy.world 9 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 13 hours ago

I got lost a few times in that game as a kid. I do not htink it is too bad these days. I think it was a matter of being put in a significantly larger world from what we were used to.

I've played it so many times at this point, I think I could navigate it without enemies or needing to click on consoles it with my eyes closed.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

That game, bro, omg

You stumble around, find a key, a corpse gets up and you have no idea how to fight back, and then do it all over again.

[–] Numenor@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

azrael's tear

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