Trippy games

[Menegrothx]

I love surreal, imaginative Salvador Dali style artwork (whether it's paintings, cartoons or video games) and I'd like to find more games that fit the bill. By that I don't necessarily mean games like Rez and N20 ("LSD trip colors"), I mean games that have level design, dialogue etc that doesn't follow sane logic. Maybe you could say that they follow hallucination or dream "logic".
The milkman conspiracy level of Psychonauts is a great example of this, not only because the level design is so crazy and it defies the laws of physics, but also because the game takes normal every day concepts and twists them into something new and crazy, like the G-men in that level.
For people who haven't played the game, let me elaborate:

http://psychonauts.wikia.com/wiki/G-Men
"The G-Men are characters in The Milkman Conspiracy. Although they are technically not enemies, they act as the main obstacles of the world. They are identical, trenchcoat-wearing humanoids who monitor the neighborhood, searching for The Milkman. They "disguise" themselves by holding different objects and stating what they are supposed to be disguised as"
Quotes
Rolling Pin G-Man:
"I am making a pie."
"Rhubarb is a controversial pie flavour."
"Apple pie is quite popular."
(in response to "I am baking a pie" from Raz) "You'd better not try and steal my husband. Tramp."
"When my husband drinks excessively, I may threaten him with this rolling pin, although we are still very much in love."
"Although over time my husband will desire me less sexually, he will always enjoy my pies."
Sewer Working G-Men:
"Feces."
"Although I often smell of excrement, I should not be discriminated against as I provide a valuable service."
"There are no documented cases of alligators living in the sewers."
"Due to improper disposal of contaminants, sewer water is often radioactive.""

tpsychonauts.jpg (101.78 KiB) Viewed 3671 times

I think that the G-men are a nice example of a "trippy" game concep. It doesn't really make any sense and yet it blends in the game world, so the player just has to accept the fact that they go against logic because he/she really is the only one paying any attention to it. It's like a "am I the only one seeing this?!"-sort of feeling

So here are some examples of games that I consider to be trippy
Super Mario Galaxy. I guess most people dont really consider this one weird, but I just love the innovative level design. I cant remember was it in SMG 1 or 2, but I think there was a level where there was cube of water floating in air where the player could dive and swim in. I guess because of the platforming nature of the game, most people dont really question that kind of stuff. And that's exactly the kind of stuff what I am looking for: level design that defies logic and laws of physics. Many early 3D platform games had levels that were just floating in black space/nothigness, I think it's often a lot cooler than a game realistic setting, like Toy Story 2 for example. If you have a Buzz Lightyear figure exploring mundane settings like a suburban house, then the level design, physics etc can't be very creative, it all has to follow conventional logic and rules.

The hallucination levels in Max Payne 1/2
The mystery vortex level of Sam and Max hit the road
The DLC levels of Alan Wake
Psychonauts
Kula World
LSD: Dream Emulator
Jumping Flash!
Nights into dreams
Weird dreams
Dream Zone
I actually haven't really properly played the Earthworm Jim games yet, but given how crazy the cartoon is at times, I assume the games are pretty kooky?

Alice the madness return and American McGee's Alice perhaps? Haven't tried those out yet myself.

Here are two Simpsons episodes that had the sort of weirdness that I'm talking about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Comput ... nace_Shoes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Viaje_M ... f_Homer%29

I think I should mention that in my opinnion, there is a some kind of line between trippy/surreal and crazy/Japanese(:P) games like Seaman, Little Big Planet, Katamari Damacy, Power Stone 2 and Lollipop chainsaw

[CRTGAMER]

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 55#p635855

[Menegrothx]

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 55#p635855

The last post in that thread was made by me
Unusual video game themes and settings is not exactly the same thing as surreal/trippy video games (the latter being kind of a "subgenre" of the first). You can make a game with an unusual theme that plays and feels like a regular game. Paper boy (and other similiar arcade games) has by today's standards a very unusual theme, but that doesn't mean it's somehow surreal or trippy. I dont see how you could compare a game like Marble Madness to a game like Psychonauts.

[J T]

There are a couple of indie games that I have been meaning to try out, but I haven't been willing to drop the cash... yet.

TRIP

*click for a mind bending trailer or more pics*

Proteus

*click for trailer and developer site*

[Luke]

Child of Eden is quite the experience.

Yars' Revenge set the bar for "this game is trippy".

Rule of Rose and Eternal Darkness perfected Trippy Horror games.

With 3D specs, Space Harrier can be a bit trippy.

Clayfighter is kind of out there, and the Earthworm Jim games are bizarrely hilarious.

[Menegrothx]

Yars' Revenge set the bar for "this game is trippy"

Rule of Rose and Eternal Darkness perfected Trippy Horror games.

When I got my 2600 and fired it up with Yar's Revenge, I first thought there was something wrong with the console when I was greeted by that electronic buzzing sound as the game started

I know Eternal Darkness is famous for it's insanity effects and Amnesia the Dark descent also uses a sanity meter, but how are other horror games based on lovecraft stuff? I've heard that Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is really good and scary, I should try it out some day.

[Gamerforlife]

Pretty much all of Lollipop Chainsaw's third stage is one drug induced trip being created by some wacked out zombie hippie demon demigod. I mean the story pretty much makes it clear that it was all one big drug trip

Though being a Suda51 project, the whole game feels trippy. Throughout the game, Nick makes frequent comments pointing out the sheer absurdity of everything happening around them, while Juliet seems aware of the insanity of it all but enjoys just playing along, like she's in on the joke. She actually breaks the fourth wall a few times

[Gamerforlife]

If this doesn't sound like drug induced dialog I don't know what does

Nick - "Juliette, where do those rainbows when you slice zombies in half with your chainsaw come from?"

Juliette - "From awesome"

[Luke]

Yars' Revenge set the bar for "this game is trippy"

Rule of Rose and Eternal Darkness perfected Trippy Horror games.

When I got my 2600 and fired it up with Yar's Revenge, I first thought there was something wrong with the console when I was greeted by that electronic buzzing sound as the game started

If you ever have the time, fire up Yar's Revenge in a pitch. black room with the sound at 11. It is such a bizarre and fun game.

[MrNash]

The Polynomial is very good for this with its crazy visuals.