Disco Elysium has a number of potential soft locks, though you kind of have to go out of your way to actually get into one. The easiest one is probably paying for your hostel room the second night. Usually a combination of decisions and unlucky dice rolls are necessary to actually get locked, and/or poor use of skill points (meaning you can’t spend one to re-try the crucial roll).
There is also a seemingly minor decision in a side quest that can make a certain check during the ending unwinnable and thus lock you out of one of the most impactful moments in the game.
It only kind of counts but dead rising 1 fits. You have to follow an exact sequence of events, be at exact spots at exact times, or the main story ends and you can only get bad endings.
It’s actually really hard because you end up having to run from one boss to another and if you’re late there isn’t enough time to resupply. I eventually got to a boss fight where I didn’t have enough time to do anything else and I just couldn’t get past him. It isn’t that the game ends, but it just completely scaps the main story progression and says something like ‘the truth is lost forever’ .
I almost give that game a pass purely because of how much you're meant to start over again anyway. It's not like you spent the entire time on one perfect go through with no do overs, you'd probably already restarted a bunch of times by then, it's just another crazy mistake you couldn't have known you could make in that game.
Not that that really makes it better, but it's not on par with doing the same thing in a giant RPG, unless you only got one shot or something, but knowing that game I would doubt it. I never got that far, though, that game is... weird and particular
In Outer Wilds, dying is part of the story. There’s no way to save the game either, so when you quit it, it’s the same as if you died.
Your progress is preserved through death, with an in-game explanation that ties into the story.
The Stanley Parable also makes you start from the beginning over and over, but don’t be surprised if the game looks different after a restart.
There’s a PC game called Ctrl Alt Ego (Steam link) where you play as a disembodied conscience that can project itself into - and control - different entities in the game.
When your current host is destroyed you just become disembodied again and can project yourself into another nearby entity (even the enemy that destroyed your host, in some circumstances). It’s quite a unique concept and almost completely removes the need to quick save/quick load.
If you’re into Immersive Sim games then I would highly recommend it - Stands alongside Prey and System Shock 2 IMO.
Avenging Spirit for Gameboy and Arcade was exactly like that, and I think maybe Messiah had that mechanic, although you spent a long stretch being a plump and frail cherub.
In Thief 3: Deadly Shadows, when a city guard kills you for the first time you get sent to prison instead of dying. It’s a cool “bonus” level many players can miss because city guards are the easiest enemies.
I think it would be a cool idea if they gave other factions (Pagans and Builders) their own bonus levels
I’ve only played TWEWY Final Remix on Switch recently. I find the control frustrating. Docked, it’s barely playable with joycon motion control, while undocked, it’s tiring, and my finger keeps obstructing the screen. The game also keeps interrupting you, very often when you moved between screens, and sometimes just halfway running, someone will just stop what you’re doing halfway for conversation that’s not that essential.
Now, this sequel has improved the gameplay part a lot. It still has problem with interruptions. But at least with proper controller support, this game is way better than its predecessor.
Immortality
This is very slow, not sure if I will eventually enjoy a 10 hour FMV mainly consists of clips not in proper order. Also, I prefer Her Story’s keyword search than this, because now I need to manually scrub the clips to the point of interests. So far I’m not enjoying the story as much, mainly because it’s about acting for now.
spoilerI know there’s some supernatural stuff in it
I can’t help but fantasize, what if the setting is sci-fi mystery, you scrub thru a number of CCTV, interviews, interrogations videos, about some weird alien / sci-fi murder. So far Immortality feels like a slog.
Katana ZERO. The fact that your character can fail and "die" and yet be able to control the flow of time to return and try again is not only contextualized through the game's lore and your character's usage of a drug, but becomes basically the entire story by the end of it. Brilliant game.
Same although I didnt get into the lucasarts games until the 2000s. I played every Sierra game and love/hated them all not realizing there was a better way to live.
Any of the Sierra "X Quest" games. Space Quest, Police Quest... so many soft locks. I remember Police Quest had a soft lock that would trigger on the first day but wouldn't become apparent until day 3 or 4.
bin.pol.social
Aktywne