Three Bizarre Games For The Nonviolently Insane
Most computer or console games have one simple objective — kill the bad guys.
Maybe you shoot them, jump on their heads, eat them along with some delicious dots, but it still comes down to violence.
Isn’t there another way?
It turns out there are a lot of other ways, and many are, well… bizarre.
And here are some of the most bizarre game concepts out there:
1 — Chulip
In Japanese, “chu” means kiss. And that kind of sums it all up — the central task in the game is to kiss strangers and win their approval.
As odd as it sounds, the game explores deep themes like love, class struggle and happiness. It also has a homicidal doctor who wanders the streets at night with a huge needle.
In Chulip, you take on the role of a young man in a poor community who becomes smitten with a young woman. Unfortunately, she rejects you — because you’re poor.
You live in Long Life Town, a working-class Japanese village with deep problems. And so you venture out to earn reputation and status in the community, doing favors for the locals and then, kissing them, one by one. Eventually, the protagonist resolves to write a love letter to his unrequited love, but when he stationary is stolen, he must use his kissing abilities to find the thieves and finally write the letter that will finally get him the kiss he wants most.
It also has aliens, an evil corporation, and it’s, well, really creepy at times.
Unfortunately, it did not do well initially, and has since fallen into the “cult classic” definition.
Here it is in it’s original form for Playstation 2.
2 — Papers, Please
Sure, everyone wants to be a faceless bureaucrat sitting behind a desk, crushing innocent peoples’ dreams. But the hiring process at the DMV can be a pain.
Luckily, there’s an alternative — Papers, Please.
The central task of this game is check incoming immigrants’ documents and either let them into the country, or, if there’s a problem, send them packing.
The “Dystopian Document Thriller” takes place in the fictional, Soviet East-bloc-like nation of Arstotzka. You, the player, have been lucky enough to get a job checking passports and visas, and the government has placed you and your family in a class-8 dwelling. Your salary is decided by how many people you process out of the endless line of hopefuls.
The music is dreary. The colors are gloomy. Even the graphics have a Soviet, pixelated quality to them.
The bizarre game concept — stamping passports — gradually becomes more and more complicated as new regulations and exceptions come down from the government. It becomes apparent that things are only getting worse, leaving you with deep moral decisions, potentially sacrificing salary and the health of your family to do the right thing.
Instead of just killing the bad guy, the player is doing something different, slowly undermining the bad guy through difficult, ethical decision-making.
Although it should be noted, at some point you do have the option to shoot someone…
Here’s the game on Steam including its thrilling trailer.
3 — Katamari Damacy
Katamari Damacy is another Japanese import. Katamari means clump, and like with Chulip, it sums things up pretty well.
The object of the game is to roll things, anything, into a clump. There’s a timer, and if the player’s clump is big enough when it’s time’s up, they can move on to the next level.
If not, the player faces the wroth and disappointment of the universe’s most judgmental parent.
In Katamari Damacy, the King of All Cosmos partied a little too much, and wiped out all the stars in the night sky. So, he sends his disappointingly short son (you) to Earth to make some new stars. To accomplish this task, he gives you some magic balls that will stick to anything smaller. When a new object is stuck to the ball, it becomes part of the ball, and so the ball can roll up bigger objects. These katamaris will continue to grow until they envelop everything on Earth. Each successfully made katamari becomes a new star, and when you’re finished, you’ve made the night sky twinkle, even if dad is still a little disappointed.
It’s harder than it sounds. For one, the controls take a little getting used to, and sometimes the people don’t like being rolled into a giant clump.
Still, the game was a stellar success, leading to seven sequels across multiple platforms.
Here’s Katamari Damacy in its original form for Playstation 2.
Sure, this is a bit of a stretch when it comes to the definition of “nonviolent,” afterall, isn’t rolling people into a giant clump “violence.”
Don’t think about it too much. Just remember that fun with games comes in all forms, and some of the weirdest can be the most entertaining.
