Non-violent video games with great stories?

Outer Wilds. (Not to be confused with Outer Worlds which came out around the same time.) While the game is non-violent in that you never actively harm anything, your character will die, a lot, in maybe concerning ways (crushed, out of air, crashed, etc). It also has a story with themes that may be over your kids’ heads. Look up reviews to see more.

Single player games fun to play around tv / switch controls :

Firewatch - about 6 to 10 hours narrative walking exploring adventure with beautiful scenery. Teens and up probably.

Outer wilds : astonishing space exploration game. So many mysteries and puzzles and wonders and connections to be made. Cannot recommend highly enough.

Tale of two brothers. There's sadness in this game but handled very well. If you're ready to discuss life and death with your kids. Beautiful graphics and fun puzzles.

Machinerium / Botanicula / Samorost, of course. Beautiful and lovely and happiness inducing.

Tons of point and click adventures.

Coop

It takes two - might be super fun for your kids to play as parents! Beautiful graphics and fun gameplay.

Lovers in dangerous space time - technically there's guns but nothing with people or anything recognizable.

Overcooked - if no guns is really a strict mandate :)

Portal and Portal 2 are absolute classics which I cannot recommend highly enough. The story in the second game is fairly detailed, and the way that it tells that story through gameplay is absolutely phenomenal.

Life Is Strange is a well-done adventure game. It's not quite *zero* violence in that the story takes some turns, but you're fundamentally a high schooler in a relatively normal setting, I wouldn't expect you to run into any issues.

Journey may be more abstract than what you're looking for, but it's a fantastic experience.

Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley have a lot of great game mechanics and are also about discovery, trade, and building relationships.

Factorio is probably a bit more advanced, but meets your criteria (except for story, maybe). There is a rabbit hole of games like that to go down.

Assassins Creed Origins and Odyssey have “education” modes that are about exploring the world and not murder.

The Mario-plus games (Tennis, Racing, Party) tend to be not violence oriented, are collaborative, but have super hokey stories.

Old school point and click games are definitely up there (Monkey Island, Myst) as people have mentioned.

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus do have violence and battle as central elements, but not in a COD type of way.

A challenge is that most games rely on competition and conflict as core drivers of both the story and the game mechanics. I think something like Tomb Raider could easily minimize conflict while still retaining a lot of really interesting puzzles, game mechanics, and story elements… sometimes playing that game (and uncharted) you feel like a mass murderer with the body counts you rack up. But other games like Metal Gear Solid are designed to allow you to get through them without needing to kill anyone (subdue/knock out though). It’s also hella hard to do that.

Death Stranding is an interesting one to consider as well. There is some violence and extremely dark themes, but aside from the boss battles it’s really minimal on guns and violence.

Ape Escape for PS1 kind-of fits the mold as well - capturing escaped monkeys is a really fun.

Katamari Damacy (spelling?) is really fun as well- you roll up things under your magic rolling ball becomes planet sized.

The Ace Attorney series is also almost entirely narrative and puzzle.

It may not meet your criteria for non-violent, or I suspect your kids requirement for interest but... you never know.

"Return of the Obra Dinn" has some of the finest game story telling I have ever experienced, the story it told was ok, a good serviceable story, but nothing exceptional. However the way it was told was amazing, I found it a highly satisfying experience.

Made by Lucus Pope who also made "Papers Please"

Most point and click adventure games fit the bill, assuming you are okay with occasional slapstick or cartoon violence when solving a puzzle. Some of the more serious adventure games feature murder/detective storylines, which may or may not work for you.

Walking sims also rarely feature you, the player character, committing acts of violence, although - again - they often they take place in an environment where violence is a backdrop. I think this happens in a lot of games, because violence is an easy way of creating drama. However, I generally prefer these games that feature a violent backdrop to games where you are actually doing the violence, because they tend to address it in a way that better reflects how we deal with trauma in real life.

Some suggestions: Deponia series, Dreamfall series, Life is Strange series, Edna and Harvey series, The Inner World series, Nelly Cootalot series, Space Pilgrim series, Blackwell series, The Journey Down, Anna's Quest, Jenny LeClue, Sumatra: Fate of Yandi, Milkmaid of the Milky Way, Firewatch, Tacoma, Draugen, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture... There are tons of games like this. Some of these might have a death or two along the way that you might click into or through, but none of them felt like gratuitously violent games per se, at least nothing close to shooters and RPGs.

Cities: Skylines! Really great game; totally stomped SimCity flat, but I must admit that EA did a lot of the work for them. On the other hand, I guess there’s not much of a narrative there.

Hack N’ Slash was great. Not a very long game, but a charming setting and a fun story. It starts out looking like a standard swords–and–sorcery adventure game, but it is actually about programming. Instead of killing monsters, you reprogram everything, and use debug tools to delve into the source code of the game itself. I don’t want to give too many spoilers, but the final boss attacks you by randomly deleting bits of source code from the game. Don’t take too long to fight him, or you might really regret it!

My favorites from the past decade:

Soma, a science fiction horror game around the idea of transplanted consciousness. It's a common sci-fi theme but Soma handles it much better than most and adds a very interesting setting.

What Remains of Edith Finch, not scary, it's a "walking sim" that explores a family's surreal curse over generations. It's actually really touching.

Disco Elysium, a detective RPG in an interesting fictional "post-soviet style" setting. The world building and writing are incredible. While it has a sense of melancholy, it can also be incredibly funny.

My kids and I had a great time going through the first 3 Monkey Island games. The Remastered versions of 1 & 2 with full voice acting helped keep my kids engaged.

They we pretty stoked to see Ron Gilbert's announcement that he's making another game in the series.

Maybe not the greatest story but definitely one of the loveliest games I've played was A Short Hike.

It is a kinda short (~5-6h) feel good game in which you more or less just have to explore a holiday island and meet different other Animals

The developer held a talk on the GDC how he made the game: https://youtu.be/ZW8gWgpptI8

I loved playing The Witness with my daughter.

"Where are the bad guys?" "No one is here, honey. Just us."

Reminds me I should revisit Myst and Riven.

Let’s step back and look at this a bit objectively - there are various forms of “gameplay” but many involve violence of some sort as that’s one of the easiest to “figure out what to do”. But there are others - off-hand I can think of:

* puzzle solvers (Portal, Phoenix Wright, etc)

* simulations (city builders, etc)

* driving games (racing, boats, etc)

* discovery (often a form of puzzle game, but there are things like the whale petting game - Endless Ocean - Animal Crossing could be one of these)

* RPG (though most involve violence for some it is very stylized, Pokémon could go here)

* Collection (usually an aspect of another game, such as Pokémon or animal crossing - the drive to complete the sets)

* High-level army simulations (Things like Age of Empires, Heroes III et al - games that technically have violence but it’s more like chess, you’re maneuvering armies against other armies. The Heroes storyline was pretty decent and I love the gameplay)

* Sports (Madden, FIFA, many have a career or dynasty mode focusing on a player or team)

So something like a racing RPG with collection aspects might be perfect - though most have a relatively weak “story mode”.

I tend to not like story, so the following might fall short of the story aspect:

* Fez

* Overcooked

* Animal Crossing

* Untitled Goose Game

* Baba is You (maybe?)

* Snakebird

* Stephen's Sausage Roll

* The Witness

* Rock Band (or it's ilk)

* Bernband (haven't played but looks interesting)

* Slime Rancher

* Mini Metro

* Journey

I would recommend "Unrailed" but there is a bit of violence with the robbers that come in that you can kill.

First person:

- Portal & Portal 2

- Outer Wilds

- The Talos Principle

- Antichamber (I haven't finished this)

- Quern - Undying Thoughts

- Myst Remastered

- Infinifactory

Platformers:

- Braid

- FEZ

I don't even know:

- TIS-100

- EXAPUNKS

- World of Goo

Violent but in a different way:

- Inscryption (do not look anything up about this game)

- Stone Story RPG

- Hollow Knight

Pretentious story but extremely fun puzzles (except one.... you know which one it is jblow):

- The Witness

I am surprised that no one has mentioned Kerbal Space Program. Send little green women (and men) into space! You learn about physics, celestial bodies etc

A real classic from C64 times - remastered for up to date graphics:

Day of the Tentacle

https://store.steampowered.com/app/388210/Day_of_the_Tentacl...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Tentacle

PS: There also is https://store.steampowered.com/app/32360/The_Secret_of_Monke...

I play a lot of games with my 6yo, our top suggestions:

1. Chuchel (point&click about a funny creature in pursuit of a cherry)

2. Donut County (drop things into a hole that gets bigger)

3. The Henry Stickmin Collection (classic multiple choice 2D animated Flash game extended, funny)

4. Superliminal (very imaginative space distortion puzzle, adult help needed)

Subnautica is fantastic. A very nice mysterious story and amazing atmosphere. I think you might be able to kill the sea creatures, but I didn't as it is really not the point. If you don't have Thalassophobia yet, you will by the end!

Earthbound snes. Yes you fight things with frying pans, yoyos, etc but the only violent scene in the whole game is a fly dies in a very dramatic way. All of the fights are turn based without violent animations. The story is great, but don't be afraid to use a guide the first time through.

Depending on how old your kids are, text-based interactive fiction (that is, games in the style of 80s text-based games from Infocom and the like) could be fun and also educational. Thaumistry [1] is a particularly easy commercial game in that genre. When it comes to non-commercial IF, I particularly had fun with Counterfeit Monkey [2], and it has a good story IMO. There may be a little killing in both of these games; I don't remember for sure. But there certainly isn't copious violence as in an FPS.

[1]: http://www.thaumistry.com/

[2]: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=aearuuxv83plclpl

Outer Wilds I think has a great story, and is a modern evolution of a Myst point and click sort of thing with more physics. The base game I think is suitable for kids but may be difficult to play, the DLC on the other hand is pretty creepy so maybe not for kids!

Spiritfarer. You play a character ferrying spirits around the afterlife, building up your boat and crafting items to meet their needs, until they’re finally ready to move on. There’s no violence, and the dialog is beautiful and sad. I highly recommend it.

A very good point&click adventure/crime game is Raven:legacy of a master thief. The Broken Sword series are very good story wise. Monkey Island series and Indiana Jones & the Fate of Atlantis are great games (even if a little dated.)

Kerbal Space Program doesn’t have story, but is amazing. Astroneer is less technical, more driven based on manipulation of the terrain, and also doesn’t have much story but is fun with kids.

To the moon

Psychonauts

Full throttle (gritty tone, one scene of bike fighting)

Point n click adventures e.g. Monkey island and Indiana jones series

There's a lot of nonviolent puzzle games. Like portal, superliminal, antichamber, stanley parable, ect.

I love everything by Nintendo for this reason. I would also look at genres like racing and sports where you have a lot of non-violent options.

Then there are platformers like Ori and fun games like Overcooked.

If you're looking for games with a creative spark there's always Minecraft and if you want to throw in some problem solving into the mix, checkout Cities Skylines or any of the games in the Tycoon series. These games might be single player but it can be played by a committee if you know what I mean

I love video games, but consider reading books to you children. Much better, deeper stories and less violence!

A few years ago I played 'Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons' [0] and it was a great experience. The game design centers around pretty good storytelling and with a single player you co-op two brothers.

[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/225080/Brothers__A_Tale_o...

I can't believe nobody else has mentioned It Takes Two. It's one of the most imaginative games I have ever played, and my kids and I had a fantastic time playing it. Excellent story, creative mechanics, and teamwork is required through the whole game.

Does Not Commute is an absolute stitch. The story is often overlooked as the game mechanic is fairly novel as well. One of my favorite mobile games of all time.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/does-not-commute/id971756507

A Night In The Woods. Don’t let the cute art fool you: It’s a deep story that touches on mental illness, economic inequality, and other heavy topics… but not in a way that would be too much for a curious young teen. There’s a bit of violence in the story but this is basically 80s kid movie level intensity stuff.

I haven’t seen Rime mentioned yet and you might check that out. It is a little bit of a puzzle game and a little bit of a walking simulator and has a surprisingly heart-wrenching story in the end.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Lego games, Harry Potter and Marvel variations are a lot of fun

Heaven's Vault is the perfect game for this. Especially if your family likes stories, mysteries, and puzzles.

I recommend playing together and reading the dialog out loud, giving each character a unique voice if that's your wont.

The story and investigation are the main draw, but the core of the game is an ongoing puzzle about deciphering an ancient language that's a slick blend of the game mechanics helping you along and the slow, free-form expansion of your own understanding. It's a great group activity.

Machinarium is a puzzle solver. No major violence (bullying by another robot happens).

Cities: Skylines - tell your own story as you build a city.

Farming Simulator - again a “tell your own story” setup, since it has no storyline.

Braid is a platformer with neat mechanics, not sure about deep story, since I never got far in it.

there's grim fandango remastered on steam, it's a blast

stardew valley has some violence but it's not the focus of the game (it's a farming simulation), you only has to fight if you go to the caverns with monsters, but you can play the game without doing this (you just won't have minerals for tools and cash)

i will second the suggestion of world of go

Age of Empires as History Lessons.

Or get a Nintendo Switch. If Gaming is a necessary evil for kids ( I wouldn't say that but some people do ), Nintendo is trillion times than anything on the market. No stupid Mobile Games Pay to Win or 30 sec Ads. ( Those companies should pray, someday, somewhere, someone will take revenge on them in the market ), Playstation and Xbox gets you Serious Gaming which isn't really good for kids.

Never Alone

A puzzle-platformer adventure video game based on the traditional Iñupiaq tale, "Kunuuksaayuka". Single and two player swapping between an Iñupiaq girl named Nuna and her Arctic fox companion.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Alone_(video_game)

Animal Crossing has a story-ish, when I get my affairs in order I want to get a switch and a nice tv so I can rejoin the community. I never got as into online gaming as I'd have liked since the DS wanted you to put your wifi on WEP, and I wanted to at least use WPA since some people are very... nebby.

Subnautica. Specifically designed to be nonviolent

There's the opposite end of game mechanics in Visual Novel games.

I know having a great story was a condition but I would also recommend shallower stories in rhythm based games for playing with your kids or alone.

Once the mechanics are learned, you can indulge in a similar feeling of accomplishment as with those fun trick shots in fps games.

There's OSU!, Arcaea, Rhythm Heaven and a recent one that has a story that became really popular is Friday Night Funkin and associated mods.

There are classics like portal 1 and 2 for depth in story, but I don't see many puzzle games with strong stories.

Real time strategy like age of empires or mythology are violent but can be considered somewhat educational because it's based on history/myth.

And the following games are shooters but the story is so deep that it doesn't feel unreasonable, the Bioshock series and Control.

Check out visual novels (The visual novel database: https://vndb.org/). Nowadays I don’t play games at all besides reading visual novels. Winning against predictable “AI” in conventional games feels like an unintellectual massive waste of time. Playing against other players online is more satisfying but gets repetitive, and I don’t really get any more learnings (in terms of mental toughness) out of it after reaching a high ranking. Experiencing ingenious and emotionally impactful stories written by fellow human beings is what I’m after nowadays.

Eliza, a visual novel about morality and AI, set in the near future. I usually don't play these types of games, but it was amazing.

Secondly, The Beginner's Guide. It's a first-person "walking simulator" type game with a great story.

I really liked the story of Celeste, not super deep but the gameplay is super smooth, and the art is gorgeous. It has the perfect balance of being difficult but not difficult enough to get mad at (except a few levels...).

Assassins Creed Origins has an explore Egypt mode where there are no weapons and fighting just seeing things like the Pharohs Lighthouse, Library of Alexandria, pyramids of Giza, and the Nile River. It’s quite nice.

See https://yinindie.com/ for a curated list of mostly peaceful video games.

Here are some I have played that I enjoyed:

Balsa Model Flight Simulator - https://store.steampowered.com/app/977920/Balsa_Model_Flight...

Celeste - https://store.steampowered.com/app/504230/Celeste/

Everything - https://store.steampowered.com/app/582270/Everything/

Hollow Knight - https://store.steampowered.com/app/367520/Hollow_Knight/

Lego games, starting with Lego Star Wars: The Video Game - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Star_Wars:_The_Video_Game

No Man’s Sky - https://store.steampowered.com/app/275850/No_Mans_Sky/

SteamWorld Dig 2 - https://store.steampowered.com/app/571310/SteamWorld_Dig_2/

Valheim - https://store.steampowered.com/app/892970/Valheim/

Zelda: Breath of the Wild - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Breath_of...

Adding to what hasn't already been mentioned:

Frostpunk

Hypnospace Outlaw

80 Days

Classic LucasArts point'n'clicks in general

The Paper Mario games (specifically the original and The Thousand-Year Door) technically have violence, but it's obviously rather cartoonish

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

I'm struggling myself to find videogames for my daughter (almost 4). She played Kirby star allies and Yoshi's Crafted World (both finished now), but after that I've been struggling to find any meaningful game that had the right difficulty, right theme and didn't have the requirement of being able to read.

I avoid all tablet games because there is too much garbage.

Anyway, depending on the age of your kids, those two have "cartoon violence", yoshi throwing eggs, not sure if you would count it as that.

Does super mario count as violent with jumping on monster heads?

Try “Lake”, I found it really absorbing and the greatest peril is driving a mail truck that can’t hit anything.

Ace Attorney. You go through witness testimony and identify contradictions between their statements and the evidence. The stories are nuts and get a bit more nuts every game.

Mirror's Edge might be close, it's basically a parkour game with a nice story with some restricted violence (the whole game can be done without killing anyone).

There are a fair amount of good mobile games that are nonviolent with good, resonant stories. As a bonus, touch controls are usually simple enough to pass back and forth. These games are usually smaller; Apple Arcade is a good way to sample many of them without any free-to-play upselling.

A few nice examples of story-rich games on mobile:

Monument Valley, Assemble with Care, Guildlings, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, Pilgrims, Mutazione

Among the so-called “walking simulator” first-person story/exploration games, What Remains of Edith Finch stands out as easily the best in my view. Aside from having more involved gameplay than its contemporaries, its greatest success is its storytelling: a set of beautiful, tragicomic vignettes told through a magical realist lens.

If you’re looking for a compelling story, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Death Stranding

Although having grim theming, the creator specifically wanted a game not focused on violence and instead for a symbol of "togetherness".

Check out Abzu and Journey. I almost always play fighting games and found Abzu such a breath of fresh relaxing air that I started digging into the makers and realized they had been doing really cool things like tying in the lore from other videos games they made into each other, releasing their orchestral compositions, etc.

Another one I haven't played but I've seen a lot of; Stardew Valley.

Gris is my go-to favourite for a relaxing, non-violent adventure

Little Inferno - a short game about burning your toys in a fireplace; I found the narrative interesting and it actually has some relevant life messages; non-violent, but young kids might find it a bit disturbing

Grow Home - a 3D platformer about growing plants into space; story-light, but very chill and fun to play

Do you like adventure/point-n-clicks? There are a ton of new/modern ones on Steam like Norco: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1221250/NORCO/

Obvious classic is the Myst series, or rather, the first three of the series that were created by the Miller brothers. The less said about 4&5 the better.

Cyan, their company, has been producing new titles, Obduction was quite good.

Your character is in danger but you don't shoot or kill, at least not excessively.

Carto was a blast and really well made. Loved the humor and world building, and the puzzles were satisfying.

One potentially useful search term is “cozy games”. Alternatively, “wholesome games”. [0][1]

With that said, this thread has been a treasure trove for me because my friend group often defaults to co-op FPS games so it’ll be nice to have some alternatives to mix things up a bit.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedesign/comments/tmlmp8/what_are... [1] https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35411526-Wholesome-Ga...

Untitled Goose Game is something my girls (11, 9), played collaboratively, and could not put down.

Flower and Journey by thatgamecompany are short but masterclasses in telling story.

Limbo and Inside might also fit your definition. They're dark but non violent.

Sackboy, Tearaway and Little big planet do have you defeat some baddies but they're also avoidable for the most part.

* This war of mine.

While it does take place in a war zone, you play from the perspective of the civilians that are trapped within a besieged city and struggle to survive. Violence here is incredibly dangerous for survival, and should be avoided at all costs.

* Papers please

You play as a border control employee that must validate that all people crossing the border have the correct documentation. Due to the nature of the environment there will be some guns/violence involved, but it is by far not the main focus of the game. Glory to Arstotzka.

These games may not be to your liking, depending on how hard you are on the "NO gun/violence" requirement. These approach the topics from a more civilian view than other games.

Kentucky Route Zero is beautiful, weird, and more or less non-violent. However, its themes may be too mature for your kids, depending on their ages.

Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR has done a couple video game recommendation episodes. I bet you'll find some suitable recommendations from them:

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1068592935

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995825684/three-of-our-favori...

Bit late but:

To The Moon (and the subsequent A Bird Story, Finding Paradise, and Imposter Factory): Wonderful series of games that focuses on narrative. Amazing soundtrack and good recurring cast of characters.

Firewatch: Beautiful game set in the wilderness with pretty much your only interactions being over the radio with your boss who you never meet face to face. Focuses on the relationship with your boss and the theme of escapism.

Heaven's Vault: Great game that focuses on exploration and discovery. It shines with the small, focused stories you'll run into on different planets while piecing together an ancient language and the mysteries of the universe.

Thank you for this post!

Violence in video games, if it must be present, should be a like a garnish: in vanishingly small quantities and hyper-realistic.

The fantasy (as in ludicrous, not swords and sorcery) violence of modern gaming is just a skin on underlying game mechanics. The imagery, sound, and themes of ultra-violence are not really necessary.

It is ultimately laziness on the part of studios; understandable, though, since the violence sells. Still, I hope studios take note of this thread. There is a thirst out there for non-violent games. And studios hold an awful lot of power in what they contribute to the culture these days.

Since we're here any recommendations for a two player collaborative game I can play with my 4yo son ? I would be preferably able to assist/protect him. Right now we are playing twinbee and arkanoid for snes

Lightmatter is a great first person puzzler that I haven't seen anyone here mention. The story is good enough, and if I remember correctly, told through audio recordings you pick up along the way. Non-violent, but you can die. I really liked the art style

Creature in the Well is a pretty fun adventure/breakout/pinball game. Light story. There is some conflict, but it's about as violent as pinball

Probably not for the kiddos, but Little Nightmares is great. The story is entirely told through ambience, which is dark and creepy. A sequel came out recently, but I haven't played it

The Space Quest series, Kings Quest ... basically all games from LucasArts and Sierra, at least assuming the thousands ways to die in Sierra adventures don't count as violent. And in case you didn't know, thousands is an understatement.

Generally you should be really fine with adventure games. Also text adventures, if you can handle that.

There's also this, which is quite the change from usual games: https://adarkroom.doublespeakgames.com/

Maybe you like it. I actually did! Enjoy!

You don’t say what platform you’re on, but if you have Apple devices, I’ve been pretty happy with what’s available on Apple Arcade. It’s not Steam, but there are some real gems there. I was really surprised by Stranded Sails, for example. There are a bunch of racing games, adventure games, multiplayer party-style games, music games, puzzlers, etc.

I will also second the recommendations for the Portal series (yes, there are unmanned gun turrets, so take that into account), The Witness, Talos Principal, etc. All very good, fairly non-violent, interesting and fun.

In addition to seconding a few recommendations others have already made (Earthbound, Undertale, Monkey Island, Life is Strange), I'd also recommend Alan Wake (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466662/parentalguide/#advisory...).

It's a thriller/horror though so perhaps not what you're looking for (but someone else mentioned Soma which is far more horrific in my opinion)

Although it's kinda buggy, I found Eastshade to fit your description well. Its a bit slower than an FPS but has a solid story in a well fleshed out world and doesn't involve any violence

Firewatch

Minecraft!

Lots of Nintendo games. Mario anything really.

I LOVE playing old King’s Quest games with my kids and they do too. Got them on Gog.

Totally reliable delivery service.

Most racing games are fine (Mario kart)

Heave Ho!

Ultimate chicken horse

But to be honest, I love playing Fortnite with my kids too.

> In real life, I don’t like guns, war or aggression. But when I play games, I often go for FPS or other, violent games

An old friend of mine is working on a game called “Air Hares”, motivated by a very similar concern to the one you’ve expressed. You might appreciate this:

“Why I Created a Non-Violent Shmup Video Game”

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/why-i-created-a-non...

The Swapper is a unique experience that has stayed with me for years. I think of it often and the feelings it evoked in me. Everything is just absolutely perfect: the puzzles aren't so hard as to be annoying but challenging enough to get a good dopamine kick after completing. The music is calming, ethereal, moving and tense all at the same time. The story and endings are contemplative and ask deep questions about identity. It is amazing. I can't recommend it enough.

I am not a gamer at all, and the story is thin but I liked Splatoon on switch. You team up to paint a complex space in a given color, with another team trying to do the same.

Thomas Was Alone and To The Moon. Both absolute masterpieces.

Thomas was alone

Tacoma was a fun FPS adventure story thing without killing.

Infinifactory is kinda like factorio-meets-minecraft and is enjoyable.

System Shock 2 is an oldie - there can be some combat if you want, but you can also avoid it depending on your style. Good story.

Talos Principle was also special. So atmospheric. Highly recommended. I guess kinda "adult themes" though that might not be suitable for kids (not porn, not sex, not violence - more like existentialism)

I used to enjoy Thief. Not sure if it is available still.

The Thief series. It technically has violence... but I play the game on the hardest settings and the most you can do is sneak up and knock someone out.

Ittle Dew is similar to 2d zelda. I enjoyed its quirky, meta humor. As it's typical for 2D Zelda, you need to beat enemies, but the violence is very cartoonish.

https://youtu.be/sqEvsHnv1TA

I'm sad it wasn't more popular. I really had fun with it, even though more than one person said it looked like I was playing a kids game!

I recently played FixFox, an adorable top-down game where you go around fixing robots and machines in a quirky world where some of the sentient robots formed an anti-repair religion, thereby causing the population to slowly die out. No guns or violence, very wholesome and enjoyable story.

https://www.fixfoxgame.com/

Undertale and Celeste. Shocked undertale was left out.

If you deem beating up three bosses and the occasional exploding snail still tolerable, I'd like to nominate Yoku's Island Express :)

  - Photopia
  - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  - Kerbal Space Program (less deep story, more fun, engaging and educational)

I played through "Forest's Secret" by bynine which is a non-violent game, reminiscent of classic adventure games.

Most of my choices have already been mentioned, except for The Blackwell Series.

Point-and-click adventure games are typically heavy on the story side and low on violence, and the biggest problem with them is the level of difficulty of puzzles. Blackwell doesn't have anything you're going to get stuck on, the actions follow logically.

I helped make Meadow, a non toxic MMO where you basically run around as different animals.

It has maybe around 10 players during the evening in Europe now so it pretty empty (designed for worlds of 50 players max) but it's very calm and wholesome.

You only communicate with emoticons and the story is none unless you count role playing as story.

Outer Wilds - Explore a solar system. Time loops. Disco Elysium - Explore a city in a dying world. Extremely active inner dialogue. Stardew Valley - Build your farm. Help the local community. Opus Magnum - Puzzle game where you manufacture different alchemical compounds (secretly a programming game)

Psychonauts! Both the first and the recent sequel. Great hilarious games for all ages. Definitely my favorites.

Monument Valley

Civilization games can have you craft your own story as they're really engaging, and you can opt for peaceful victories.

Geneforge games have combat as a mechanic but there are very often ways of avoiding or running away that allow for almost entirely pacifist completion, and the stories are great.

Untitled Goose Game has a pretty funny (nonverbal) story and is fun for kids and not particularly violent.

“Unpacking” (on Switch - not sure where else) is a really beautiful game where you unpack a young woman’s things into her new living space at different points in her life (moving in to college, with roommates, a boyfriend, etc) and learn her life story. It’s quick but we’ll worth it.

I was going to recommend Star Control UrQuan Masters, an old classic with great story telling, but it does feature combat between space-craft, so I'm not sure it meets your criteria.

http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

It's difficult to make a video game that's engaging without conflict. It's difficult to make conflict compelling without at least aggression. I'd consider sports games to have aggression. Stardew Valley or Mario Tennis don't even reach this lofty bar.

Turing Test isn't necessarily a great story, but is interesting to play.

The Trine games are pretty fun if you like platformers.

Get Packed is a hilariously fun couch coop.

Sorry if I'm not specifically hitting the nail on the head, every game I can think of with an awesome story has some amount of violence in it.

Stardew Valley

I really enjoyed The Long Dark. There is some violence and it has some adult (non sexual) themes, but it’s not primarily about fighting, it’s a wilderness survival game.

I played it for months and am anxiously awaiting the last chapter.

It’s rich, engaging, and the visuals are gorgeous.

Oxygen Not Included

The new King's Quest (2015) is great action/puzzle game, with some fairy tale mischief but no significant violence. It's framed as a narrative by an elderly king and his granddaughter, and clearly intended to be kid-friendly.

Age of Empires series. It is like taking History lessons with strategic thinking skills.

Soma: a little creepy because you explore dark underwater vessels. But there are no violence, but you may have to run away from some enemies that chase you.

Story is amazing. Themes include the identity of “self”, sacrifice, and future of humanity.

Epitaph, by Max Kreminski.

It's a haunting look at the Fermi Paradox of "so where is everyone else in the universe".

https://mkremins.itch.io/epitaph

I got tired of first-person shooters because of the violence. I started playing exploration and building games: Subnautica, No Mans Sky, and others. There is a whole genre of these types of games. Kids love Minecraft.

What Remains of Edith Finch is a pretty amazing ~3 hour experience. It’s not necessarily violent but it has dark themes so I would read a synopsis to see if your kids are ready for it.

The Life is Strange series is pretty good as well.

I got tired of first-person shooters because of the violence. I started playing exploration and building games: Subnautica, No Mans Sky, and others. There is a whole genre of these types of games.

There are lots of good ones on Apple Arcade, if that’s an option for you.

Life is Strange

Braid, a platformer based on manipulating time, is great.

Baba is you, a puzzle game having the player change the rules of the game is also great. Not a lot of story in this one.

Both have won a bunch of awards - look them up.

A couple I’ve enjoyed with my young son are Sneaky Sasquatch on Apple Arcade and https://chicorygame.com/

What Remains of Edith Finch is a waking sim that includes a series of stories, each from the viewpoint of members of a family. It is one of the most memorable games I've ever played.

racing sims and MS flight simulator are non-violent, but lack story. Some classic games in these categories have detailed historical settings and a lot of complexity, allowing you to create your own adventure in an open world. The adventure is different every time you play. Some classic sims of this type are here: https://github.com/sim-museum/esports-for-engineers

I haven't finished it but I started playing Sable for a bit. There's no attack mechanics at all and it's fun to explore. The art style is also very nice to look at IMO.

Myst and its sequel Risen. Myst used to be the most sold game ever.

I find most of these are for older kids maybe, Outer Wilds and Witness may be too much for younger kids. One game my kids became entranced watching me play is The Last Guardian.

I would suggest trying out the INFRA. It's great and atmospheric puzzle no-gun FPS which gives Half-Life vibes as it uses Source engine. I've had much fun with it.

Eh, what about cartoon violence? Like Rayman, Mario, Sonic, Pokemon, Worms...

If you want more story, you could try with visual novels, like Ace Attorney, Professor Leyton, or any DS game.

Syberia is a good one.

“Stacking” is a fun little game about Russian dolls fighting against child labor. There is violence, but more in a slapstick sort of way (it’s rated E10+).

Subnautica. You have a knife for self-defense against creatures but that's it, 99% of the game is just exploration of the ocean. It's wonderful.

My daughter (6 years) really likes My Brother Rabbit. It's a point and click adventure with no violence and a decent story.

Gone Home is a beautiful coming of age game, 1st person, completely story driven, no violence at all, and some 90s nostalgia to go with it.

TrailMakers is super fun for all ages. You build vehicles/contraptions and go around collecting new parts. I highly recommend it.

The Stanley Parable (2013) is quite popular, and recently got updated and expanded as The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.

Disco Elysium perhaps? Like there is some rare instances of violence, but the point of the game isn't to be a violence simulator.

Hardly a game for kids though, perhaps mostly because they wouldn't be able to relate to the world or its characters.

Stories involve conflict, and almost all conflict in video games are going to resemble violence in some way. Even the Super Mario games are violent if you want to look at them that way. If fantasy violence is okay, then Nintendo Zelda and Mario games are probably the best route.

Although a game like Mario Party might be the most fun non-violent option to play with kids (disclaimer: I have never played it).

EDIT: And Mario Kart of course. One of the greatest games to play with kids of all time. No story of course.

Broken Age

Moonglow Bay, Stardew Valley. Full of cute, sad, and lovely character vignettes along the way to building your own story.

My little pony: A Maretimebay adventure is a platformer with a story for the younger kids, its very much liked here now.

What are these fps games with great stories?

Syberia 1, 2, 3 from the late master Benoît Sokal. Or Spore, come to my mind as some of the most striking examples.

* Buddy Simulator 1984 (has some, but it's not the core)

* The Fall Part 1 and 2. (has some, but again, not the core)

* Later Alligator (very sweet)

* SOMA (horror)

Mario Odyssey on the Nintendo Switch. Basically any of the major Mario games like Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy.

It is quite old school at this point but I loved The Longest Journey for a classic adventure throwback.

Dyson Sphere Program.

Like Factorio, in space, no combat.

From my perspective better than factorio and traveling in space is always amazing

Journey, flower, Minecraft, Astroneers

Stray is out next month. You play a cat in a distopian world of robots. Looks very interesting.

Webbed - it's fairly short, but it has both a charming story and great mechanics.

I wonder what are the perceived outcomes if you did let your kids play violent video games?

The Gunk - while the violence there is really marginal, the game itself is really charming.

Armikrog. Claymation point and click adventure with heck of a story and nice riddles.

Okami | Ookami (available on PC too) and many, MANY japanese games.

"It takes two" has marvelous story and definitely is not violent

Some (mostly gog.com-based and linux friendly) suggestions:

Astrologaster – essentially an interactive visual novel about a Tudor doctor who diagnoses people by looking at the stars. Cracking (tudor choir music) tunes. https://www.gog.com/en/game/astrologaster

The Talos Principle – a puzzle-em-up which uses the FPS perspective but entirely for solving rather hard logic puzzles and with little reference to war, but a surprisingly engrossing plot – https://www.gog.com/game/the_talos_principle_gold_edition

To the Moon – another essentially visual novel, but in the style of a 16 bit RPG – https://www.gog.com/game/to_the_moon. Also, A Bird Story, its sequel: https://www.gog.com/en/game/a_bird_story

A Short Hike – a very cute, adventure/exploration game with no combat at all – https://www.gog.com/game/a_short_hike

Slipways – a strategy game that scratches the RTS itch, but isn't RT and has no combat – https://www.gog.com/game/slipways

Superliminal – a puzzle game entirely based on perspective, again with an excellent (if creepy) plot – https://www.gog.com/game/superliminal

Gorogoa – an absolutely beautiful visual puzzle game with a charming, graphically told plot – https://www.gog.com/game/gorogoa

Obduction – an excellent Myst-like puzzle experience that tells a lot with no combat – https://www.gog.com/game/Obduction

The Witness – a really surprisingly varied difficulty, excellent, puzzle game that has lots of hidden secrets – https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_witness

An "honourable mention" would be Caesar III and its open-source engines (Julius and Augustus) which, whilst not being combat-free, is an entirely combat-optional town-building RTS game where the economic-only missions are far, far harder than those where you defeat a military enemy. This is arguably true of Roman society, as it happens…

Oneshot. Absolute masterpiece of a story in my opinion, and no violence.

Outlanders (iOS) Sim city (pc/mac) Transport fever (pc/mac)

Hollow Knight

Although sure, it is 2D Platformer with lots of critters being killed.

Anodyne 2 has a unique enjoyable story and is not very violent.

Highly recommend Undertale, this game thought me compassion

Ms. Pac-Man, Burgertime, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Lady Bug.

- Subnautica

- The Talos Principle

- Portal (1/2)

Ico? Although it's got mild violence in it.

World of contraptions.

Planet crafter is a grind, but still fun.

Mario for the NES

Overcooked is an amazing game for all ages.

i recently found timberborn on gog, an game where you play with post apocalyptic beavers.

You should try A Story About My Uncle.

Shooting is fun. But life is strange.

Check out `A Short Hike` and `Alba`.

Super Monkey Ball, Sonic Adventure 2

world of goo

The Turing test is a portal like

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

for those who love story-driven games, The Longest Journey is old but amazing

I hear you, it's not that I don't like combat games, it's just that they're overdone and the medium has so much potential. The story and atmosphere are usually what draw me into a game, and the gameplay mechanics are usually just a means to an end of progressing through the story.

I'm going to focus entirely on first person non-combat games because I prefer first person and it's more rare for them to be non-combat. First up are FP games with interesting game premises or mechanics:

The Occupation, absolutely zero other games like this. You are a journalist during a politically charged period in history, and you wander about beautifully crafted old institutional buildings in order to find documents and clues that you can use during your interviews with various people. The story you are putting together centres around a murder, but it's really a story about political manipulation, immigration and corruption in policymaking. Sounds a bit dry, but it is both relaxing and thrilling.

Hardspace: you're a ship-breaker in an orbital space ship breaking yard, and you float around using tools to slowly pull apart ships for scrapping. It's got a comical dystopian sense of humour and a decent story line.

INFRA: Absolute hidden gem. You are a structural engineer, sent out on an inspection job. As you follow the path of infrastructure degredation, a series of mishaps pull you deeper and deeper into the cities hidden infrastructure, through dams, power stations, water processing plants, steel mills or underground water infrastructure. The game has a good, dry sense of humor, and the story is good. Each location has some system or facility you can take the time to fix, or you can just keep moving through the story.

Jazzpunk: A spy game, but as if it were written by a 17 year old on mushrooms.

Outer Wilds, others have mentioned it, but you can't miss this one!

Portal 1, 2, though I suspect you would know of these already.

The Witness, a fantastic atmospheric exploration and world-puzzle game, I think watching a bit of it on YouTube probably shows it off well but it's just a great world to spend time in.

Event[0], your only friend is a well scripted space station AI, it uses a natural language typing interface and you have to talk to him while you wander around the station trying to figure out what happened and how to get back home.

The Stanley Parable, a very funny exploration of choice in videogames. I'm really underselling it.

Teardown, voxel based demolition game where you have puzzles and objectives to achieve with the tools and vehicles of construction and destruction at your fingertips.

Superliminal, a game where each object you grab changes in size to match the perspective of where you are looking. Great sense of humor as well.

Siberia.

Wandersong

Celeste

Shadow of the Colossus?

Spiritfarer Haven Park

Paper Mario 1 & 2

Play Life is Strange

Biohazard of course

The Last Guardian

The Full Pipe

The 7th Guest

Unravel two

I wrote [1] targeting some younger audiences, but here's some more "mature" (teens and up, I'd wager) ones for you, OP:

Tacoma: I saw this mentioned but it's absolutely worth a shot. The gameplay is distinctly well built and the story is superb. Tacoma is best experienced with one person playing the game and a few others trying to figure out what's going on silently, or collaboratively.

Gone Home: From the same people that did Tacoma, a story that explores what happens when you have to unravel a few family secrets you didn't realize you had to conquer.

Oxenfree: Something is wrong, and the story doesn't let on what exactly. I had to play this

2067: Read Only Memories. Point and click adventure game that covers some extremely mature topics in an approachable way. Racism, classism, the pressure of being a minority, all these come up. You're a writer turned unwitting detective when a rogue AI breaks into your house and begs you to help find the killer.

Opus Magnum, and any of the other Zaktronics games: They're absolutely nerdsniping, with deep techincal lore that makes you think long and hard about an answer. Opus Magnum is absolutely a game that you will spend some time trying to optimize down to a tee.

Orwell: You, civilian, have been tasked with assisting the training of an online learning AI to help categorize and assist in law enforcement. How much free will you have in that process... well, that's not for you to decide. (n.b. I had to set this one down for a while; There came a time where I felt like I was fighting the central conceit of the game before I let it go)

Snakeybus: you are bus. you collect passengers. More deliveries of passengers = longer bus. You see where this is going. The physics engine is... part of the charm.

Snapshot: What if cameras could transpose a whole world? Side scrolling platformer, but where you can snag a snapshot of the world to grab items out later.

Slipstream: A classic OutRun Arcade title, thrown in since it's cheap and a great mind-melter. Unlike OutRun, however, it doesn't make things unfair... Any failures are your fault, not because the game wanted to screw you over.

Later Alligator: A slightly paranoid alligator is worried someone's taken out a hit on him. The question: Who?

Eversion: Mario clone but with the warning that not all is right. Cute turns to creepy.

VVVVVV: vvvvvv

Night In The Woods: There's no way around recommending this game, it's just so well written. Not a lot of action but some definitely mature conversations about accepting growing up.

Verlet Swing: Vaporwave speedrunning game where you catapult yourself off things by leveraging momentum.

The Stanley Parable: This is the story of a man named Stanley. The narrator of this story is not Stanley.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31625287

Even counting only killing violence can come up in stories that aren't generally violent. For example, the Wingspan board game adaptation is great but could be seen as fairly violent considering the fish and mice shown as food, although even as a vegan I find that a quite different feel than the "shoot and kill stuff" games (although there is one more graphic card that is a bit disturbing). Of course that one doesn't have a story, so not really what you are looking for, but I find it relaxing to play music plus the bird sounds and it is a fairly quick game once you get used to it (AI is a bit slow, though).

I would also say something like Trails in the Sky, while violent in a number of different ways, has a quite different feel from FPS style violence and has an extremely extensive story (just the Sky series is likely 200-300 hours, so not the best recommendation when you have kids :/).

I avoid any kind of game with blood (unfortunately no blood options are not that common these days), although I find non-red blood much less disturbing. In addition to the story there is often a strategic element connected to the violence that and I appreciate games that try to do more complex stuff without violence. Card City Nights is one where there are card game battles instead of fighting (there are a few bits of the story that make it less enjoyable than it could have been but mostly it is wacky in a good way). If there is violence I much prefer it to be more cartoony and ideally not involve killing. The old SNES Donkey Kong Country games are great at that, not very violent to begin with IIRC and the violence is very cartoony.

Story could be considered in maybe four aspects: plot, world building, symbolism, and interpersonal interactions. IMO, games almost never have a decent plot. I find good world building and symbolism to be the most common.

Anyway, enough rambling and to repeat the above suggestions and more (with a note that my memory isn't great so I could easily be forgetting something):

Good less violent games with some kind of story:

* My Brother Rabbit - hidden object puzzle with minigames

* A Short Hike - platformer with flying mechanic and parkour racing

* Rime - finding stuff and light puzzles, heavy symbolism

* Little Bug - two-stick platformer again more symbolism heavy

* Card City Nights - wacky story with card game battles

* NyxQuest - another good platformer with unusual mechanics, minimal story

* SNES Donkey Kong Country series - excellent platformers with mostly environmental obstacles, minimal story

* Beatbuddy - music synchronized platformer, minimal story

* Calico - cat cafe and a magical island, lots of bugs but cute, minimal story

* The Witness - puzzle game, symbolism but not much story

* Botanicula - music heavy adventure game with cartoon violence

* Creaks - puzzle + adventure game with some cartoon volence

Good less violent games with no or almost no story:

* 140 - music synchronized platformer

* Timberborn - sim game with beavers

* Ostriv - traditional Ukranian village sim

* Wingspan - boardgame adaptation

* Cyber Hook - 3d grappling platformer

* Kerbal Space Program - can be quite violent if you aren't careful or don't retry when things go wrong :/

Not low volence but good story or setting:

* 8doors - gameplay similar to Hollow Knight with an afterlife setting inspired by Korean folktales

* Trails in the Sky - likely most extensive story in a game series with turn-based battles and some volent themes in the story

There is a DRM-free game store focused on story heavy games called Fireflower Games. I think it is run by one person in Sweden and has a small selection of mostly adventure games (and not necessarily low violence but generally less violent). I haven't purchased anything there (not a big fan of adventure games) but it might be worth a look.

https://fireflowergames.com

Everything I mentioned is available on GOG, although Calico isn't kept up to date there unfortunately.

Might not have story:

$0 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1580970/Samorost_1/ +sequels

$7 https://store.steampowered.com/app/730820/The_Curse_of_Monke... +sequels

$8 https://store.steampowered.com/app/323320/Grow_Home/ +sequel

$10 https://store.steampowered.com/app/207690/Botanicula/

$10 https://store.steampowered.com/app/303210/The_Beginners_Guid...

$10 https://store.steampowered.com/app/224760/FEZ/

$10 https://store.steampowered.com/app/711660/CHUCHEL/

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/413150/Stardew_Valley/

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/225080/Brothers__A_Tale_o...

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/716500/Eliza/

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/22000/World_of_Goo/

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/40700/Machinarium/

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/26800/Braid/

$15 (60% off = $6) https://store.steampowered.com/app/232430/Gone_Home/

$17 https://store.steampowered.com/app/448510/Overcooked/ +sequel

$20 https://store.steampowered.com/app/383870/Firewatch/

$20 https://store.steampowered.com/app/421120/Samorost_3/ (is a sequel)

$20 (60% off = $8) https://store.steampowered.com/app/343860/Tacoma/

$20 https://store.steampowered.com/app/501300/What_Remains_of_Ed...

$20 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1049410/Superliminal/

$20 https://store.steampowered.com/app/837470/Untitled_Goose_Gam...

$25 https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/

$25 https://store.steampowered.com/app/512790/Quern__Undying_Tho...

$25 https://store.steampowered.com/app/774201/Heavens_Vault/

$30 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1255560/Myst/

$30 https://store.steampowered.com/app/848350/Katamari_Damacy_RE...

$30 https://store.steampowered.com/app/255710/Cities_Skylines/ or $1 'til 20220614: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/cities-skylines-colossal-...

$30 https://store.steampowered.com/app/361420/ASTRONEER/

$30 https://store.steampowered.com/app/264710/Subnautica/

$40 https://store.steampowered.com/app/210970/The_Witness/

$40 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158850/The_Great_Ace_Att...

$40 https://store.steampowered.com/app/220200/Kerbal_Space_Progr...

Violent / Not for little kids:

$0 https://store.steampowered.com/app/319630/Life_is_Strange__E... +sequels

$10 https://store.steampowered.com/app/400/Portal/ +sequel

$14 https://store.steampowered.com/app/246070/Hack_n_Slash/

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/252110/Lovers_in_a_Danger...

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/251430/The_Inner_World/

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/221260/Little_Inferno/

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/228360/Full_Throttle_Rema...

$15 https://store.steampowered.com/app/316790/Grim_Fandango_Rema...

$20 https://store.steampowered.com/app/653530/Return_of_the_Obra...

$20 https://store.steampowered.com/app/6300/Dreamfall_The_Longes... +sequels

$20 (80% off = $4) https://store.steampowered.com/app/959000/Edna__Harvey_The_B... +sequels

$20 (50% off = $10) https://store.steampowered.com/app/417880/Everybodys_Gone_to...

$30 https://store.steampowered.com/app/427520/Factorio/

$30 https://store.steampowered.com/app/282140/SOMA/

$40 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1850570/DEATH_STRANDING_D...

$40 https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The...

$40 (50% off = $20) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426210/It_Takes_Two/

$40 https://store.steampowered.com/app/257510/The_Talos_Principl...

$60 https://store.steampowered.com/app/582160/Assassins_Creed_Or... (explore)

$60 https://store.steampowered.com/app/812140/Assassins_Creed_Od... (explore)

$70 (94% off = $4) https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/18569/Deponia_Full_Scr... (4 games)

Haven Park

The Sims has always been about TELLING great stories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjuOSgPdtS0

>Emergent Storytelling Techniques in The Sims: In this 2018 GDC session, Maxis EA's Matt Brown examines the various techniques employed across all four generations of The Sims to empower player-driven and emergent storytelling.

https://forums.thesims.com/en_us/discussion/862499/the-art-o...

>The Art of Sims Storytelling

>@CathyTea and I were talking, and we thought we'd try making a thread that would be focused solely on writing, especially Sims story writing. The writers' lounge thread is great for being a lounge, but a separate space for more in-depth discussions with a slower pace and less immediate burying of posts could be good too. :)

>I'm not good at making lists and rules, but here are some suggestions for things to talk about here:

>the process of writing Sims stories

>the Sims story community

>how Sims literature fits into the greater literature community

>how we use the game as a medium for storytelling

>the imagery and themes in our work, and also possibly how they are influenced by the game

>what it means to be a reader of Sims literature

>the expectations or lack thereof that we have of Sims stories

>the history of Sims storytelling and all the genres and their relationships to each other

>and really just anything else you can think of that has to do with writing and reading and community and art and literature

http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/simulating...

>Simulating the Storytelling Qualities of Life: Telling Stories with The Sims

>The stories vs. games debate has been prominent during the early years of game studies, and few other perspectives have been introduced to the discussion. In the paper, Game Researcher and Concept Designer Satu Heliö from Sulake Corporation introduces new concepts with which to approach the supposed divide. She argues that concepts such as narrative mindset and social schema provide better means to understand game features and player motivations regarding such game genres as role-playing games and popular game series such as The Sims.

https://www.reddit.com/r/thesims/comments/bchvj6/how_do_you_...

>How do you tell a story in Sims?

>It may seem like a stupid question but people have said before what makes Sims 4 better for them is storytelling, which is great.

>However whenever I try to think of a storyline or character, I initially follow it then I forget and just end up with the same old gameplay.

>I think about youtubers who talk about how their sims are feeling and what they're thinking but talking to myself whilst on the computer doesn't sound all that appealing when there's no one listening lol.

>So I was just wondering how do you guys keep your storyline going? Do you literally play with it in mind or do you capture it somehow?? Please share!

The Last Guardian

Inside

Journey

Kentucky Route Zero

Firewatch

Journey

Duke Nukem 3D, superb story.

spiritfarer

I think Limbo might fit the bill (albeit you "fight" a monster in it. Maybe give the trailer a look). It's about 3 hours of beautiful gameplay, nonetheless.

I suggest you re-examine your taste as violence is a big part of every good story ever told