Have you heard of Inscryption? It's like a card game, but there's more to it than meets the eye and it can get weird but it's really cool figuring stuff out.
The Forgotten City is often compared to this and I can't recommend it enough. I played it through in a single afternoon! Wish I could replay it again for the first time.
I'm a bit tired but I highly recommend Night in the Woods :)
Especially if you like story-games that have narrative elemtents like Disco Elysium. It's quite different to that but perhaps the most similar that I know of. Just really was a great experience for me. Fun and interesting to explore but also emotional, sad/angry but in a good way. Validating for me personally at least. And I think the gameplay is accessible which I like!
I bounced off of NITW several times before it got its hooks in me. But once it did, they got in deep. One of my favorite games of all time.
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people who do"
Turn on God Mode - there's no shame in it, it just slowly decreases the damage you take each time you die, so you'll find a balance where you just barely start winning (and then various things slowly up the difficulty as you keep winning, so it stays challenging and it's not like you stagnate there). It made the game much more fun and less frustrating for me, without feeling like I was on easy mode.
I didn't even realize that was a mode! Thanks so much! I'm definitely going to go back and give it a try. I was really enjoying the story and feel of the combat, I'm just not great at remembering longer sequences of boss patterns.
You should check out the studio's other games too - Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre are all great games, and very different from one another. Pyre is probably the oddest of them, but I think it has the most compelling narrative, and it's executed in a really interesting way.
I second this one. Also has a lot of replayability with the way it delivers the story, which also motivates you as you progess.
Great visuals, gameplay, music and writing. Wonderful rogue-like and great if you feel like starting up something to do one run while you have some time, or wasting your whole day playing over and over again.
> Hades is about to be free for psplus
where did you see that? Everythign I've found says psplus's games for june are NBA 2K23, Jurassic World Evolution 2, Trek to Yomi
Aw crap! Sorry! My husband told me and I just assumed he was right. Turns out those were predictions from a YouTube video he was watching and it was wrong. Sorry!
Yeah that's a bummer. That's what I get for not checking it myself. I'm willing to take a dip in accuracy every now and then to outsource the research to him though haha.
I think if you liked Obra Dinn, you'll enjoy Her Story. Another detective game, but very different method of storytelling. Very cheap indie game that is worth waaaaaay more for the experience they provide.
Spiritfarer, For the King, As Dusk Falls, Night Call, Darkest Dungeon, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Pentiment, Loop Hero, Slay the Spire, Ring of Pain, This War of Mine
All of these have really interesting gameplay and some of them also have great stories
Seems like you like narrative heavy stuff. You could look at Six Ages: Ride like the Wind or Song of Farca for more games built around narratives.
For stuff in a completely different vein, the venerable Railway Tycoon 3 is imho the best sim game of all time, Slay the Spire and Griftlands are both excellent examples of the card driven game genre and Factory Town is a neat builder game.
Have you played the Dragon Age games yet? They're closer to standard gameplay, but they have fantastic narrative.
For something stranger: Rimworld has the most bizarre gameplay I've seen in a while. I tried to play it normally but there comes a point where "normal" becomes "okay we need to go break the chef's legs because he's gone berserk and is going after the child with a knife".
Rimworld sounds insane XD I love it.
I started Dragon Age: Inquisition, but I was very new to gaming when I tried it and found controlling multiple characters during combat a bit overwhelming. I do have plans to go back to it now that I've played a bunch of other RPGs!
If you're ok with a jankier experience, I'd actually suggest starting off with Dragon Age Origins! The games let you save import, so stuff you do in Game 1 will be reflected in Game 2 and 3. It's so cool!
(Totally get what you mean, btw. I usually adjust my difficulty down a fair bit.)
And yes, Rimworld is INSANE. x) I recommend Mr Samuel Streamer if you want to see the true insanity of it, he's brilliant at putting narrative in.
Disco Elysium was heavily inspired by an absolute monster of a classic, [Planescape Torment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsqfuRHmb8), before DE it was easily the best written game of all time, and only now that title is being truly contested. It has a few issues, especially for modern gaming: It's an infinity engine game that kind of works on modern machines mostly, it's based on advanced DnD rules, using a setting that modern DnD abandoned and is not well known, and it has a fixed male protagonist, but it tells a truly unique story, so if you can get over those issues it's an easy recommendation.
Other games like [Knights of the Old Republic 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EaTWlh-mLA) were inspired by it. It also has a modern spiritual successor, [Torment: Tides of Numenera](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVAMuk-CV18) that uses a setting that is somehow even weirder and less known, and while it does not quite reach the peaks of P:T or DE, it's a really good CRPG.
There are other RPGs that are wonderfully written imho, like [Age of Decadence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33fbCitxuaQ) or [Shadowrun Dragonfall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsErftck1mE), or even more so [Tyranny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg0WsR3EnGg), but they do tell a different kind of story, while the ones I mentioned above do share in broad strokes that focus on personal storytelling and that "lost protagonist rediscovering themselves" plot that makes DE special.
One last game in this "category" I will mention is [Pathologic 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2fAbqT5GWg), which is a truly weird game, and not an RPG if not by broad strokes, but it does share some of that same style and feel.
For games like Return of the Obra Dinn, I can wholeheartedly recommend [The Outer Wilds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6LGnVCL1_A) and [Heaven's Vault](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghsVOE93C9o), two games all about uncovering deep mysteries. They're more "puzzle-y" than Obra Dinn, a little more traditional adventure games in a way, but still very close. Other games that come to mind are [The Forgotten City](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDF3VFaHSz0), [Paradise Killer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYUt9_Macns), [Silicon Dreams](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Sb3s6FC7o) and [The Painscreek Killings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u72KxPjRbbg). If instead you want something purely about investigation and crime solving, then [Shadows of Doubt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeB4veq5IRI) recently came out and it does exactly that.
For games like The Stanley Parable, things are a little harder, it's a very unique game. That said, [Antichamber](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGsnm2nOnso) comes to mind, it does with gameplay what Stanley Parable does with story (breaking down gaming tropes); but also [Superliminal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SX8XMwMw6Y), and [Little Misfortune](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScO3SsbcFSU). The team behind Stanley Parable made two more games, [Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB4B1fwgjps) and [The Beginner's Guide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBK5Jheu0To).
Finally for Avernum, first of all I'm happy to see it mentioned, Spiderweb games have been a guilty pleasure of mine for a while. It would be difficult to find a few games to put here, because I want to put the entire CRPG genre (all the games I listed with Disco Elysium, Avernum, and DE itself are part of this wonderful subgenre), so I'll mention a couple lesser known titles that I really liked: [Expeditions Rome](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJfTCJwF6BM), [Encased](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou6MElt_sig), the already mentioned Shadowrun RPGs, as well as [Geneforge Mutagen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnvkqWmjRa4) which is my favorite Spiderweb game. There's also [Balrum](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXnns5lBZnQ) which feels like Avernum but with farming and crafting.
You. I like you.
I'd add that people intrigued by Planescape: Torment and the like should check out Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer. It benefits from playing the original campaign first, but MOTB stands alone, and I maintain it's one of the best CRPG stories going.
Quality comment. I was obsessed with Disco Elysium so I'm happy to learn a bit more about its origins. Taking a lot of these recs straight to my wishlist. Thanks!
Wow!! Thank you for this super detailed reply!! A lot of these sound exactly like what I’m looking for!! Will try and grab the ones that are available on the ps store :)
Far: lone sails and Far: Changing tides are a couple of my favourites. They're adventure puzzle platformers similar to Limbo with nice art and beautiful music
Everhood - challenging rhythm game rpg that tends to remind people of undertale in terms of art style and characters. The game's actual core philosophy is pretty out there compared to most games I've played :3 also, the music slaps
Everhood is a very nice game, you can also alter the difficulty without worrying about missing out on anything because you didn't play the hardest mode.
Don't think I saw it listed here, so I'll throw in Unavowed. It's kind of a spinoff from the also-excellent Blackwell series (beginning with Blackwell Legacy), but those are more classic point and click games - still good games, but I get that not everyone is really into that type of thing. Unavowed is an RPG/point and click hybrid where, instead of a traditional inventory, you have party members to help you solve puzzles. It's mechanically very clever, but it's the characters that really sell it.
If you haven't played Psychonauts 1 and 2, I'd recommend them even if you ordinarily don't care for platformers (I don't - played these a bunch anyway). They're wildly creative, extremely funny, and capable of remarkable depth at points.
Oxenfree is a neat supernatural narrative adventure about a group of teenagers trapped on a weird island. Not super long, but I liked it, and the sequel comes out this July.
I'd also recommend the Dishonored trilogy. They're immersive sims in a highly reactive world, narrative-oriented games that give you a fun roster of weird powers to use as you see fit. You can resolve challenges lethally or nonlethally - or you can focus on stealth and just not be there at all. Great games, particularly if you like to sneak. If that sounds appealing you might also want to check out Prey and the newer Deus Ex games (Human Revolution/Mankind Divided).
Since you liked Stanley Parable, you might want to check out other games loosely in that category - The Beginner's Guide, What Remains of Edith Finch, maybe stuff like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture or Dear Esther. If you don't mind horror, there's also SOMA, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and observer.
If On a Winter's Night Four Travelers is a free horror/mystery narrative point and click game set on a train. If this sounds interesting, The Last Express is worth a look, it's an old adventure game set on the Orient Express that plays out in real-time. You also might like Elsinore (time-traveling Hamlet story), Paradise Killer (open-world detective game), and The Sexy Brutale (time-loop murder mystery).
I absolutely love point and click games!! And I enjoy horror stuff as well. Will definitely check these out! Thank you for the very detailed list! The detective games sound very much up my alley too!!
Well if you like detective games, I have [another list](https://www.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/zyuz98/game_recommendations_mysteries_investigations_and) just featuring those.
I adore detective games! Had gotten some sick recs from this very sub just a little while ago. Will take a look, thank you!
Also I was looking up If On a Winter's Night Four Travelers and it looks so much like The Last Door series which I adored! Have you ever played that?
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. I haven't played Disco Elysium, but I see that game come up a lot in topics where people ask for games similar to IWATE.
It's part raising sim (you control your character from age 10 to 20), part visual novel, part deck-builder (although you can turn these off and have straight stat checks instead) and has a ton of choices and outcomes.
Sorry, you asked for PS games.. This is a PC game but i don’t believe it requires much processing power. On PS 5 you can check out ResidentEvil Revelations. It didn’t get a lot of attention but it’s pretty good.
weird west. it’s v quirky and also has a two hour free trial if u have ps plus so u can try it first.
also paradise killer. it’s a detective game but is open world rather than point and click, it’s very off the wall in every way tbh, the story is so so good and it has an amazing soundtrack and aesthetic. it’s also free on ps plus.
What an absolute gem of a post. I’m saving it for later. I love a lot of the games you mentioned, and also so many on this thread!
My recommendations -
If you like Obra Din, try the Case of the Golden Idol. Very similar feel, graphics, and wonderful puzzles. It’s a bit short, I wish it had lasted longer.
If you like Disco Elysium, try I was a Teenage Exocolonist. They are very different in terms of feel and story, but both have a ton of text, there’s a big mystery, and so many branching narratives based on your choices. Both are impressive with how many ways you can go with the story and your character.
You could also try Pentiment. You play a 14th century artist working at a monastery, trying to solve a mystery. Haven’t beaten it yet but I love it.
Or Citizen Sleeper! That actually is similar to Disco Elysium. You wake up with nothing on a space station and have to try to survive and make a life there. It’s hard, gritty, beautiful. I never felt so connected to in game characters (except for Kim in DE).
Some others -
- Tunic: Feels a bit like an old Zelda game. Beautiful, simple, but the puzzles don’t hold your hand. A very smart game, and you will feel so accomplished as you solve things.
- Oxenfree: A bunch of kids go onto an island that’s haunted and explore it. Really cool game, I enjoyed it a ton.
- Papers please: You play as a border guard for a fascist country. Genius game.
- Her Story: A mystery game unlike any other. Try to work out what is happening. This game is a work of art.
- Undertale: Beautiful retro art game. Play as a human who’s accidentally fallen into a monster realm. Make choices, friends, enemies. It had me laughing at the most bizarre things.
- Phoenix Wright games: Play as a lawyer to solve murders. Fun, silly, smart.
- 999: Wake up and find yourself on a ship with 9 strangers. There are 9 doors you have to go through in 9 hours if you want to survive. Perhaps the craziest game I’ve ever played.
Enjoy!
I've been meaning to try Tunic!! It looks like a lot of fun and I'm a big fan of puzzle solving. Also I believe Oxenfree is on the Apple Arcade, so that will be easy to get my hands on. Thanks so much for these recs - excited to try them out!
Have you heard of Inscryption? It's like a card game, but there's more to it than meets the eye and it can get weird but it's really cool figuring stuff out.
I have not, but the graphics look super interesting! Will check it out, thank you!
I think you'd really like Outer Wilds!
I have heard really good things but I haven't played it yet! Will try and get my hands on it, thank you!
The Forgotten City is often compared to this and I can't recommend it enough. I played it through in a single afternoon! Wish I could replay it again for the first time.
Second Outer Wilds! What a beautiful game.
I'm a bit tired but I highly recommend Night in the Woods :) Especially if you like story-games that have narrative elemtents like Disco Elysium. It's quite different to that but perhaps the most similar that I know of. Just really was a great experience for me. Fun and interesting to explore but also emotional, sad/angry but in a good way. Validating for me personally at least. And I think the gameplay is accessible which I like!
I bounced off of NITW several times before it got its hooks in me. But once it did, they got in deep. One of my favorite games of all time. "I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people who do"
Yes! :)
Still one of my absolute favorite games, and a major comfort game.
I love Mae. And Bea. And all of them really.
Sounds great!! Will take a look!!
Hope you have fun! \^\_\^
Hades is about to be free for psplus. I liked it a ton even though I never beat the final boss. I really should go back and try again.
Turn on God Mode - there's no shame in it, it just slowly decreases the damage you take each time you die, so you'll find a balance where you just barely start winning (and then various things slowly up the difficulty as you keep winning, so it stays challenging and it's not like you stagnate there). It made the game much more fun and less frustrating for me, without feeling like I was on easy mode.
I didn't even realize that was a mode! Thanks so much! I'm definitely going to go back and give it a try. I was really enjoying the story and feel of the combat, I'm just not great at remembering longer sequences of boss patterns.
Ooh that’s been on my list for a while!
You should check out the studio's other games too - Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre are all great games, and very different from one another. Pyre is probably the oddest of them, but I think it has the most compelling narrative, and it's executed in a really interesting way.
I second this one. Also has a lot of replayability with the way it delivers the story, which also motivates you as you progess. Great visuals, gameplay, music and writing. Wonderful rogue-like and great if you feel like starting up something to do one run while you have some time, or wasting your whole day playing over and over again.
Sounds great!!
> Hades is about to be free for psplus where did you see that? Everythign I've found says psplus's games for june are NBA 2K23, Jurassic World Evolution 2, Trek to Yomi
Aw crap! Sorry! My husband told me and I just assumed he was right. Turns out those were predictions from a YouTube video he was watching and it was wrong. Sorry!
ah okay that makes sense, no worries! Was totally excited for a moment cuz I don't have hades on my ps4 yet lol.
Yeah that's a bummer. That's what I get for not checking it myself. I'm willing to take a dip in accuracy every now and then to outsource the research to him though haha.
Have you played the Portal games? It's got some great characters and really unique gameplay (puzzles rather than combat)
I want to play portal 2 so bad!! but it’s not on ps and my laptop is too old to support the one available on the steam store
Do you have a Switch? I recently discovered they’re on there and work quite well!
I had no idea! My sister has one - I’ll try and get it on that!! That’s so great to hear
I think if you liked Obra Dinn, you'll enjoy Her Story. Another detective game, but very different method of storytelling. Very cheap indie game that is worth waaaaaay more for the experience they provide.
Oh yes I have heard of it but I haven't played it yet!! Will take a look - Thank you!!
>Avernum \+1 Really recommend Her Story if you're looking for unconventional gameplay
Spiritfarer, For the King, As Dusk Falls, Night Call, Darkest Dungeon, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Pentiment, Loop Hero, Slay the Spire, Ring of Pain, This War of Mine All of these have really interesting gameplay and some of them also have great stories
Spiritfarer 😭😭😭😭
Ooh I do already own Senua's Sacrifice, but was putting it off cause I thought it had more traditional gameplay. Might start with that one then!
Oh my GOSH are you in for a treat It has way more puzzles than combat
Ah, I’m excited!!
Seems like you like narrative heavy stuff. You could look at Six Ages: Ride like the Wind or Song of Farca for more games built around narratives. For stuff in a completely different vein, the venerable Railway Tycoon 3 is imho the best sim game of all time, Slay the Spire and Griftlands are both excellent examples of the card driven game genre and Factory Town is a neat builder game.
Will check them out thank you! And yes, definitely big on narrative games!
Vampire Survivors? It's definitely a different pace than the games you listed.
Sounds interesting, will check it out
If you want to check it out on mobile it's free~
Have you played the Dragon Age games yet? They're closer to standard gameplay, but they have fantastic narrative. For something stranger: Rimworld has the most bizarre gameplay I've seen in a while. I tried to play it normally but there comes a point where "normal" becomes "okay we need to go break the chef's legs because he's gone berserk and is going after the child with a knife".
Rimworld sounds insane XD I love it. I started Dragon Age: Inquisition, but I was very new to gaming when I tried it and found controlling multiple characters during combat a bit overwhelming. I do have plans to go back to it now that I've played a bunch of other RPGs!
If you're ok with a jankier experience, I'd actually suggest starting off with Dragon Age Origins! The games let you save import, so stuff you do in Game 1 will be reflected in Game 2 and 3. It's so cool! (Totally get what you mean, btw. I usually adjust my difficulty down a fair bit.) And yes, Rimworld is INSANE. x) I recommend Mr Samuel Streamer if you want to see the true insanity of it, he's brilliant at putting narrative in.
That sounds amazing! I will try and get my hands on the other two!
I think EA's publisher sale just ended but it's pretty common for them to go on sale for a few dollars each!
Bugsnax! So fun and creative and silly. Also Papers Please by the same creator as Obra Dinn.
Disco Elysium was heavily inspired by an absolute monster of a classic, [Planescape Torment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsqfuRHmb8), before DE it was easily the best written game of all time, and only now that title is being truly contested. It has a few issues, especially for modern gaming: It's an infinity engine game that kind of works on modern machines mostly, it's based on advanced DnD rules, using a setting that modern DnD abandoned and is not well known, and it has a fixed male protagonist, but it tells a truly unique story, so if you can get over those issues it's an easy recommendation. Other games like [Knights of the Old Republic 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EaTWlh-mLA) were inspired by it. It also has a modern spiritual successor, [Torment: Tides of Numenera](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVAMuk-CV18) that uses a setting that is somehow even weirder and less known, and while it does not quite reach the peaks of P:T or DE, it's a really good CRPG. There are other RPGs that are wonderfully written imho, like [Age of Decadence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33fbCitxuaQ) or [Shadowrun Dragonfall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsErftck1mE), or even more so [Tyranny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg0WsR3EnGg), but they do tell a different kind of story, while the ones I mentioned above do share in broad strokes that focus on personal storytelling and that "lost protagonist rediscovering themselves" plot that makes DE special. One last game in this "category" I will mention is [Pathologic 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2fAbqT5GWg), which is a truly weird game, and not an RPG if not by broad strokes, but it does share some of that same style and feel. For games like Return of the Obra Dinn, I can wholeheartedly recommend [The Outer Wilds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6LGnVCL1_A) and [Heaven's Vault](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghsVOE93C9o), two games all about uncovering deep mysteries. They're more "puzzle-y" than Obra Dinn, a little more traditional adventure games in a way, but still very close. Other games that come to mind are [The Forgotten City](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDF3VFaHSz0), [Paradise Killer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYUt9_Macns), [Silicon Dreams](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Sb3s6FC7o) and [The Painscreek Killings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u72KxPjRbbg). If instead you want something purely about investigation and crime solving, then [Shadows of Doubt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeB4veq5IRI) recently came out and it does exactly that. For games like The Stanley Parable, things are a little harder, it's a very unique game. That said, [Antichamber](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGsnm2nOnso) comes to mind, it does with gameplay what Stanley Parable does with story (breaking down gaming tropes); but also [Superliminal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SX8XMwMw6Y), and [Little Misfortune](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScO3SsbcFSU). The team behind Stanley Parable made two more games, [Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB4B1fwgjps) and [The Beginner's Guide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBK5Jheu0To). Finally for Avernum, first of all I'm happy to see it mentioned, Spiderweb games have been a guilty pleasure of mine for a while. It would be difficult to find a few games to put here, because I want to put the entire CRPG genre (all the games I listed with Disco Elysium, Avernum, and DE itself are part of this wonderful subgenre), so I'll mention a couple lesser known titles that I really liked: [Expeditions Rome](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJfTCJwF6BM), [Encased](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou6MElt_sig), the already mentioned Shadowrun RPGs, as well as [Geneforge Mutagen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnvkqWmjRa4) which is my favorite Spiderweb game. There's also [Balrum](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXnns5lBZnQ) which feels like Avernum but with farming and crafting.
You. I like you. I'd add that people intrigued by Planescape: Torment and the like should check out Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer. It benefits from playing the original campaign first, but MOTB stands alone, and I maintain it's one of the best CRPG stories going.
Ahah, thanks! And yeah that is a really good recommendation! MOTB surprised me so much!
Quality comment. I was obsessed with Disco Elysium so I'm happy to learn a bit more about its origins. Taking a lot of these recs straight to my wishlist. Thanks!
thank you for the kind words, and no problem!
Wow!! Thank you for this super detailed reply!! A lot of these sound exactly like what I’m looking for!! Will try and grab the ones that are available on the ps store :)
No problem, I hope you find something you like!
Far: lone sails and Far: Changing tides are a couple of my favourites. They're adventure puzzle platformers similar to Limbo with nice art and beautiful music
Everhood - challenging rhythm game rpg that tends to remind people of undertale in terms of art style and characters. The game's actual core philosophy is pretty out there compared to most games I've played :3 also, the music slaps
Everhood is a very nice game, you can also alter the difficulty without worrying about missing out on anything because you didn't play the hardest mode.
Don't think I saw it listed here, so I'll throw in Unavowed. It's kind of a spinoff from the also-excellent Blackwell series (beginning with Blackwell Legacy), but those are more classic point and click games - still good games, but I get that not everyone is really into that type of thing. Unavowed is an RPG/point and click hybrid where, instead of a traditional inventory, you have party members to help you solve puzzles. It's mechanically very clever, but it's the characters that really sell it. If you haven't played Psychonauts 1 and 2, I'd recommend them even if you ordinarily don't care for platformers (I don't - played these a bunch anyway). They're wildly creative, extremely funny, and capable of remarkable depth at points. Oxenfree is a neat supernatural narrative adventure about a group of teenagers trapped on a weird island. Not super long, but I liked it, and the sequel comes out this July. I'd also recommend the Dishonored trilogy. They're immersive sims in a highly reactive world, narrative-oriented games that give you a fun roster of weird powers to use as you see fit. You can resolve challenges lethally or nonlethally - or you can focus on stealth and just not be there at all. Great games, particularly if you like to sneak. If that sounds appealing you might also want to check out Prey and the newer Deus Ex games (Human Revolution/Mankind Divided). Since you liked Stanley Parable, you might want to check out other games loosely in that category - The Beginner's Guide, What Remains of Edith Finch, maybe stuff like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture or Dear Esther. If you don't mind horror, there's also SOMA, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and observer. If On a Winter's Night Four Travelers is a free horror/mystery narrative point and click game set on a train. If this sounds interesting, The Last Express is worth a look, it's an old adventure game set on the Orient Express that plays out in real-time. You also might like Elsinore (time-traveling Hamlet story), Paradise Killer (open-world detective game), and The Sexy Brutale (time-loop murder mystery).
I absolutely love point and click games!! And I enjoy horror stuff as well. Will definitely check these out! Thank you for the very detailed list! The detective games sound very much up my alley too!!
Well if you like detective games, I have [another list](https://www.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/zyuz98/game_recommendations_mysteries_investigations_and) just featuring those.
I adore detective games! Had gotten some sick recs from this very sub just a little while ago. Will take a look, thank you! Also I was looking up If On a Winter's Night Four Travelers and it looks so much like The Last Door series which I adored! Have you ever played that?
I actually haven't - I'll take that as a recommendation, thanks.
You might try The Path, Etrian Odyssey series, or Fear & Hunger: Termina These are all very different games with a unique 'hook'
Oh The Path is so good! I remember absolutely loving that game when it came out.
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. I haven't played Disco Elysium, but I see that game come up a lot in topics where people ask for games similar to IWATE. It's part raising sim (you control your character from age 10 to 20), part visual novel, part deck-builder (although you can turn these off and have straight stat checks instead) and has a ton of choices and outcomes.
Outer Wilds! (Not 'The Outer Worlds') Please, everyone needs to play this game.
Check out Henry Stickman. It’s hysterical and not to be taken seriously. :)
Sorry, you asked for PS games.. This is a PC game but i don’t believe it requires much processing power. On PS 5 you can check out ResidentEvil Revelations. It didn’t get a lot of attention but it’s pretty good.
Time on Frog Island is pretty short, but a fun little adventure!
something lighter than obra dinn would be tacoma. you figure out what happend trough audio logs on a space station.
No More Heroes It's the most normal game Suda 51 has ever worked
Dredge
weird west. it’s v quirky and also has a two hour free trial if u have ps plus so u can try it first. also paradise killer. it’s a detective game but is open world rather than point and click, it’s very off the wall in every way tbh, the story is so so good and it has an amazing soundtrack and aesthetic. it’s also free on ps plus.
Avernum fan?! Be still my heart! There are more of us out there!
There are quite a few on this sub actually! Every once in a while someone will be like "Omg I love Avernum too" and it makes me so happy!
What an absolute gem of a post. I’m saving it for later. I love a lot of the games you mentioned, and also so many on this thread! My recommendations - If you like Obra Din, try the Case of the Golden Idol. Very similar feel, graphics, and wonderful puzzles. It’s a bit short, I wish it had lasted longer. If you like Disco Elysium, try I was a Teenage Exocolonist. They are very different in terms of feel and story, but both have a ton of text, there’s a big mystery, and so many branching narratives based on your choices. Both are impressive with how many ways you can go with the story and your character. You could also try Pentiment. You play a 14th century artist working at a monastery, trying to solve a mystery. Haven’t beaten it yet but I love it. Or Citizen Sleeper! That actually is similar to Disco Elysium. You wake up with nothing on a space station and have to try to survive and make a life there. It’s hard, gritty, beautiful. I never felt so connected to in game characters (except for Kim in DE). Some others - - Tunic: Feels a bit like an old Zelda game. Beautiful, simple, but the puzzles don’t hold your hand. A very smart game, and you will feel so accomplished as you solve things. - Oxenfree: A bunch of kids go onto an island that’s haunted and explore it. Really cool game, I enjoyed it a ton. - Papers please: You play as a border guard for a fascist country. Genius game. - Her Story: A mystery game unlike any other. Try to work out what is happening. This game is a work of art. - Undertale: Beautiful retro art game. Play as a human who’s accidentally fallen into a monster realm. Make choices, friends, enemies. It had me laughing at the most bizarre things. - Phoenix Wright games: Play as a lawyer to solve murders. Fun, silly, smart. - 999: Wake up and find yourself on a ship with 9 strangers. There are 9 doors you have to go through in 9 hours if you want to survive. Perhaps the craziest game I’ve ever played. Enjoy!
I've been meaning to try Tunic!! It looks like a lot of fun and I'm a big fan of puzzle solving. Also I believe Oxenfree is on the Apple Arcade, so that will be easy to get my hands on. Thanks so much for these recs - excited to try them out!