Mature Games That Cater to Adults

[BloatedGuppy]

Cheers. It's gone on my list. Which probably means I'll buy it (and play it) on Saturday while I'm still trying to hold my nerve on my don't-buy-Diablo-III-until-the-teething-problems-are-over plan.

A game I really want to play is Journey, but I don't have a PS3, and I can't justify buying one (even a pre-owned one) just to play one short game (however beautiful and soulful it looks). I need to make friends with a PS3 owner...

Enjoy. I'll assert now that you'll cry, if not outright sob, at least twice.

Journey does indeed look pretty. Seems to be one of those love or hate games. Alas, as a PC gamer, I'm in the same boat as you as far as ever playing it is concerned.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

The Witcher 2 and Dark Souls.

I can haz thread victory now?

There are plenty of mature games for adults who want a mature character driven story.

I wouldnt exactly call the witcher 2 mature. Nudity, racism, sex, and swearing dont make a game mature.

Lul wut?

It deals with mature themes and is very sociopolitical.

It's how it presents these issues that's mature.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Several of those also do something important: they reflect the "mature" elements in the game mechanics, not just the window dressing. This sort of game isn't uncommon by any means - they just tend to not have massive budgets and lots of advertising.

They're uncommon if you measure their frequency against the frequency of "immature" games.

IE: the 1 Deus Ex per 250 Bulletstorms ratio.

What are we defining as an "immature" game for the purpose of this discussion? Is it a game aimed at children?

I already pointed out my opinion here, but need I say the obvious in that games are for fun, and maturity is often the antithesis of that same concept?

Wait, something can't be fun and mature at the same time? Oh, no, I've been reading the wrong books! Why am I wasting my time reading the Iliad when I could be reading Extruded Tom Clancy Product #38?

 

[Iwata]

What are we defining as an "immature" game for the purpose of this discussion? Is it a game aimed at children?

I already pointed out my opinion here, but need I say the obvious in that games are for fun, and maturity is often the antithesis of that same concept?

Wait, something can't be fun and mature at the same time? Oh, no, I've been reading the wrong books! Why am I wasting my time reading the Iliad when I could be reading Extruded Tom Clancy Product #38?

Of course it can! But it doesn't NEED to be. There is such a thing as mindless fun.

 

[boag]

"But we already have those!"

No, no we don't. If we did, than the game I bought that's supposedly for people over the age of 18 wouldn't be screened for graphic content on the grounds that kids might see it (pants on sex scenes anyone?). And if we did, romantic relationships in games wouldn't culminate with an orgasm. And if we did we'd have complex story driven games whose core gameplay *didn't* consist of shooting terrorists in the face. And I imagine that if we did, than every game wouldn't have a 20-50 minute hand holding section in which the publishers politely explain to you how video games work.

Agree/disagree?

Go "play" a Visual novel, im sure its a Mature enough game, for mature gamers such as yourself.

 

[Kahunaburger]

I already pointed out my opinion here, but need I say the obvious in that games are for fun, and maturity is often the antithesis of that same concept?

Wait, something can't be fun and mature at the same time? Oh, no, I've been reading the wrong books! Why am I wasting my time reading the Iliad when I could be reading Extruded Tom Clancy Product #38?

Of course it can! But it doesn't NEED to be. There is such a thing as mindless fun.

Sure, you can definitely have mindless fun. But I notice a direct correlation between shittiness in one design area (storytelling, for instance) and shittiness in other design areas (core gameplay design.) Similar to how Tom Clancy's bad writing doesn't just make his books badly written from a critical viewpoint, it makes them badly written from an "actively unpleasant to read" viewpoint.

 

[Iwata]

I already pointed out my opinion here, but need I say the obvious in that games are for fun, and maturity is often the antithesis of that same concept?

Wait, something can't be fun and mature at the same time? Oh, no, I've been reading the wrong books! Why am I wasting my time reading the Iliad when I could be reading Extruded Tom Clancy Product #38?

Of course it can! But it doesn't NEED to be. There is such a thing as mindless fun.

Sure, you can definitely have mindless fun. But I notice a direct correlation between shittiness in one design area (storytelling, for instance) and shittiness in other design areas (core gameplay design.) Similar to how Tom Clancy's bad writing doesn't just make his books badly written from a critical viewpoint, it makes them badly written from an "actively unpleasant to read" viewpoint.

See, there, we disagree again. I like Clancy's books. I'm a genuine Tom Clancy fan. But I also read The Divine Comedy, or Plato's Republic. It's all down to taste. But casualy dismissing one or the other seems a bit extreme.

 

[targren]

The Witcher 2 and Dark Souls.

I can haz thread victory now?

There are plenty of mature games for adults who want a mature character driven story.

I wouldnt exactly call the witcher 2 mature. Nudity, racism, sex, and swearing dont make a game mature.

Nor does their presence make a game not mature. It's their treatment by the story that does. I haven't played Witcher 2 yet[footnote]Still working on 1, but the horrible time mechanic keeps driving me to play something else[/footnote], but the story of the first one did handle a lot of adult themes rather competently. Admittedly, the sex wasn't one of those themes, since other than one decision tree, it didn't factor into the story at all (and most of the cards were pretty far into Guide Damn it! [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GuideDangIt](TVTropes Warning) territory), but the racism played a big role, story-wise.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Nor does their presence make a game not mature. It's their treatment by the story that does. I haven't played Witcher 2 yet...still working on 1, but the horrible time mechanic keeps driving me to play something else.

Just give it up and move on to 2. It's really a vastly superior game in almost every aspect. I ran into a wall myself about halfway through the first Witcher. It's a neat game and it has some good ideas, but it's REALLY rough around the edges, and is just a flat out chore to play in many respects. The sequel is one of the best RPGs to be released in the last decade.

 

[Kahunaburger]

I already pointed out my opinion here, but need I say the obvious in that games are for fun, and maturity is often the antithesis of that same concept?

Wait, something can't be fun and mature at the same time? Oh, no, I've been reading the wrong books! Why am I wasting my time reading the Iliad when I could be reading Extruded Tom Clancy Product #38?

Of course it can! But it doesn't NEED to be. There is such a thing as mindless fun.

Sure, you can definitely have mindless fun. But I notice a direct correlation between shittiness in one design area (storytelling, for instance) and shittiness in other design areas (core gameplay design.) Similar to how Tom Clancy's bad writing doesn't just make his books badly written from a critical viewpoint, it makes them badly written from an "actively unpleasant to read" viewpoint.

See, there, we disagree again. I like Clancy's books. I'm a genuine Tom Clancy fan. But I also read The Divine Comedy, or Plato's Republic. It's all down to taste. But casualy dismissing one or the other seems a bit extreme.

It's less a "casual" dismissal and a "hmm... this guy's inability to write good prose, convincing characters, or interesting plots make his books incredibly boring to read. Maybe I would have a better time reading something that doesn't suck." (See also: Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Da Vinci Code, Kite Runner.)

But back on the topic of "mindless fun," you can have something that is both lowbrow and well-constructed (see also: Shakespeare.) By the same token, you can have games that are designed to be mindless fun and are also well constructed - Team Fortress 2, Tetris, Smash Brothers, etc. don't even try to tell a story at all.

But I find that if a game has tried to tell a story and has failed, it's also quite likely that it has also failed in other areas, often for similar reasons.

And going back to your original statement that:

games are for fun, and maturity is often the antithesis of that same concept?

I find that if a game has tried to tell a story (either through writing or through clever game design) and has succeeded, it's also quite likely that it has also succeeded in other areas, often for similar reasons.

 

[targren]

Nor does their presence make a game not mature. It's their treatment by the story that does. I haven't played Witcher 2 yet...still working on 1, but the horrible time mechanic keeps driving me to play something else.

Just give it up and move on to 2. It's really a vastly superior game in almost every aspect. I ran into a wall myself about halfway through the first Witcher. It's a neat game and it has some good ideas, but it's REALLY rough around the edges, and is just a flat out chore to play in many respects. The sequel is one of the best RPGs to be released in the last decade.

I've been tempted, but unfortunately, a big part of what I'm enjoying about it and that compels me to eventually buy the second, is the story. I just wish there was a cheat code to forward time or something.

 

[hoboman29]

This has been an issue for far too long if you ask me. Mature means mature not violent game to buy for your 12 year old kid. I think the best solution for mature games to be viewed as such is for developers to make their games mature in a serious sense.
And just so I'm not ignoring suggestions for mature games try rpg's because for some reason that's where mature stories go.

 

[Patrick Buck]

Oh look, it's another thread about complaining about modern AAA games.

It feels like every single one of these threads seem to have the mentality that all games that come out now-a-days are like CoD. When that is clearly not true.

You know what? I'm gonna pull a Daystar here. This thread is now about Oddworld. Specifically Abe's Oddysee.

Fucking love that game. Anyone else played it?

Yes. Best game. Just the best. Happen to know if it's available on XBLA? I had it on the PS3 for a while, but then I got rid of it....

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I've been tempted, but unfortunately, a big part of what I'm enjoying about it and that compels me to eventually buy the second, is the story. I just wish there was a cheat code to forward time or something.

Story in the second one is better too. =\

There's a youtube video that'll get you caught up on the story. Save you the pain of slogging through the game in order to have it drip fed to you. You'll miss out on collecting a full deck of titty cards though. =P

 

[scorptatious]

Oh look, it's another thread about complaining about modern AAA games.

It feels like every single one of these threads seem to have the mentality that all games that come out now-a-days are like CoD. When that is clearly not true.

You know what? I'm gonna pull a Daystar here. This thread is now about Oddworld. Specifically Abe's Oddysee.

Fucking love that game. Anyone else played it?

Yes. Best game. Just the best. Happen to know if it's available on XBLA? I had it on the PS3 for a while, but then I got rid of it....

As far as I know, it's not on the 360. It would be awesome if it was though...

 

[veloper]

Mature games are immature.

Games without the immaturity, but some serious subject matter would be games like

Alpha Centauri
Colonization
Europa Universalis

That's not to say immaturity is bad perse. When I'm in the mood for it I love me some ludricrous gibs in my shooter as much as the average gamer.

 

[targren]

There's a youtube video that'll get you caught up on the story. Save you the pain of slogging through the game in order to have it drip fed to you. You'll miss out on collecting a full deck of titty cards though. =P

Those are all available on the wiki anyway.