As the title suggests: I’ve had it with open worlds with dozens of things to do and checklists to complete. What are your favorite, delightfully simple, linear games?
This question is sparked by the discussion in the Final Fantasy thread, were I disclosed that I actually kind of like XIII because of its linearity. Other linear favorites of mine include: Half-Life series, Portal series, Uncharted series, some COD campaigns, Undertale, Journey, Super Mario 3D World, Plague Tale, Spec Ops: The Line
A shout out to A Way Out in the co-op catergory!
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People listed Mirrors Edge, and I would like to also recommend it. It might take some time to adjust to the controls but it’s fun! I replay it a lot. I’ve lost count but I’ve been replaying it since release.
Titanfall 2 was a fun campaign. Also cool movement mechanics.
One game that I think got average ish scores but I enjoyed was Pneuma: Breath of Life. Idk why but I thought the puzzles were kinda fun and it was pretty enough.
The Stanley Parable
Catherine
(Kinda visual novel ish) AI Somnium files was fun.
I would count Sifu as being pretty linear and very good. Probably the best martial arts fantasy-ish game out there that’s single-player (for that but multiplayer take Absolver, the same devs’ first game)
The OG Mafia and the Metro 2033 series are excellent linear games. Night in the Woods is a really fun little quirky game that’s not too long.
If you like adventure games, I’d suggest Gemini Rue, Primordia, and Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis.
Perhaps Snatcher, if you’re open to something older and different. Same with the classic cinematic platformer, Another World.
So, I’ll just go through my Steam favourites and list the ones that fit the bill.
I recently played I Am Your Beast and absolutely loved it. Not really a story focused game, but it’s it has some of it, the voice actors are better than you would expect and the gameplay is top notch.
Pretty much all Call of Juarez games (well, maybe not The Cartel), but start with Gunslinger. The others are old and clunky, but Gunslinger still holds up and is one of my favourite arcady shooters.
Mirror’s edge is a classic, if you haven’t played it, you definitely should. You can skip the sequel, Catalyst. That one added open world and was mediocre at best anyway.
Speaking of classics, Dishonored is probably one of the best stealth games out there, in my opinion at least.
Mafia 2 and the remake of Mafia 1. Yes, they are open world, but only by technicality. The story is very linear and you barely need to interact with said open world. The games never expect you to explore or collect stuff and there’s fuckall to do on the map besides drive around anyway.
If you like Ace combat, Project Wingman would be right up your alley. I’m not sure if I would call it simple per se, but it’s linear, level based and great.
Tactical Breach Wizards is another recent favourite of mine. It’s slightly x-com-y altho more of a puzzle than a strategy game with some pretty decent humour.
Gunpoint is another indie puzzle game with great humour. It’s by the same guy as Tactical Breach Wizards.
Last but not least, SUPERHOT. You probably know it, but in case you don’t, play it. It’s short, it’s simple and it’s great.
Hi-fi Rush is really good if you’re into rhythm action, Call of Juarez is one I’m trying now and it feels nice to play
I am not into rhythm games at all and I liked Hi-Fi Rush. Just a fun game in general
I liked The Messenger a lot.
Same devs also made Sea of Stars. I found it to be pretty fun.
I actually found The Messenger after completing Sea of Stars and being so invested in it. I looked the devs up and decided I’d buy all of their stuff.
firewatch is a personal favorite.
Half-Life 2
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
- Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
- Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
- James Bond: Everything or Nothing
Do you know how to get xinput to work with Sands of thyme? I bought the game on steam but it doesn’t recognize my 360 controller and mouse + keyboard is not ideal
Can’t say anything about that, as I played the game on GameCube.
I suppose I have to ask how linear. Like can it be mostly linear while having the chance to explore off the beaten path very briefly? Or like straight up hallway simulator.
Ive been using a site actually to rate games I’ve played so I’ll start listing some of my 5 and 4.5 star games that I would personally consider linear.
5 star games
- Astrobot
- Silent hill 2 (enhanced edition mod for PC, remake I’m still working through but it’s good)
- Rayman origins
- Mario and Luigi superstar saga (borderline linear)
- Kingdom hearts 2 (you can pick the order of worlds at times and have the option to backtrack but not necessary
- Mother 3
- Re4 (og and remake both 10/10 to me)
4.5 star games
- Chants of sennaar
- Kirby super Star ultra
- Halo 2
- Rayman legends
- WolfenStein the new order
- Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
- Dead Space
- The last of us
- the last of us 2 (has one shortish open area section)
- Alan wake 2 (has some open exploration areas at points)
- Celeste
- The case of the golden idol
I could go on, and some are borderline linear, but these are my faves that mostly involve going from one moment to the next
Is it recommended to play the other Mother games before 3?
I’m waiting patiently on Astrobot to get within my feasible price range, I adored Playroom :).
Strongly recommend playing Earthbound before Mother 3. Mother 1 is entirely skippable, I’ve tried to play it multiple times and never could get through it.
Earthbound / mother 2 is also 5 stars for me and can definitely be played before hand. There is overlap in the antagonist and references but otherwise mother 3 takes place an incomprehensible amount of time in the future. I didn’t include earthbound since its a tiny bit more backtracky and explory but tbh it’s about as linear as m&l superstar saga so I’d def recommend it if you want to play!
American Arcadia
Quantum Break
Hellblade
God of War series
Sniper Elite series
Talos Principle
I found out recently that Portal has some free mods, I’ve just started reloaded and its pretty good so far.
- Portal Reloaded
- Portal Stories Mel
- Thinking with Time Machine
I second Quantum Break. When I first started that game, I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but it was fantastic!
Talos Principle
Is not linear.
I’m currently playing through this game. At one point, it totally hit me that the non-linear structure and even the way secrets are scattered throughout the world is very reminiscent of Super Mario 64.
You are not wrong… I guess in both instance they came from the desire never to break the immersion through any kind of loading.
The weirder think to me is that it was made by the guys behing “Serious Sam”, that basically mastered the open field shooter genre, which is kinda like the opposite of this game?
Yes, exactly! Coming from one of the best-made mindless game series to essentially gaming high art is quite the transformation. There has always been a lot of talent at Kroteam, but I’m glad they have finally found their true calling.
The small handful of nods to Serious Sam in The Talos Principle are quite amusing, by the way. I almost got a heart attack from suddenly hearing the sound of the headless kamikaze…
Portal Pro I remember being great. So good that Portal 2 was a disappointment for me when it landed.
I needed to cheat on a few solutions, iirc, too; not because they’re badly designed, just because I couldn’t wrap my head around the solution.
It should be noted that a couple of the portal solutions need reasonably quick portal placement, so I don’t think it would be as good without KB+mouse. It took me a few tries to nail one of the techniques.
The Last of Us Part I.
I generally dislike games on rails, but I loved this one.
The Thief series are linear and awesome. The third game, Deadly Shadows are the easiest to get into (with an almost mandatory patch mod called Sneaky Upgrade) and if the story whets your appetite go back and play the others in order.
Brok The Investigator. There are multiple endings, but each different ending has a linear enough progression, even if the first time you have no clue as to what ending you’ll get. The only thing you need to do for different endings is making different choices.
Simple enough game set in a world where the poor, slummers, live in the polluted, rundown slums while the rich, drummers, live under the high quality dome. You play as a crocodile (alligator?) who is a detective, a slummer named Brok who lives with his teenage cat son Graff. Not saying much more because spoilers, even though the drummer and slummer and the polluted world thing are kinda minor spoilers despite learning about them real quick in chapter 1.
The occasional puzzles aren’t too hard to figure out, at least I thought so for all but one. And if you don’t like the combat mode, I’m pretty sure there is a way to turn it off, though I’m not sure how it affects gameplay/choices. Though, the upcoming DLC (whenever it releases) doesn’t look like it’s gonna be linear since it’s all about the games combat system and adding bonus challenges to fights. So I’d probably avoid that if you aren’t playing the game for the combat.
A Plague Tale is a great one
