What are your favorite video games that force you to pull out the pen and paper?

Ever since the language puzzle in Tunic that got me to fill up 6 pocket sized pages of notes over multiple days while trying to puzzle it out as I tried to and, eventually, succeeded at translating the in-game “paper” manual, I’ve had a craving for games that force you to pull out a notebook and take notes/puzzle things out as part of the actual meta-gameplay mechanics, because the game doesn’t just do that thinking for you.

What other games are like this, even a little bit, that you’ve loved?

And to be clear, I don’t mean things like TTRPGs which are just inherently on paper. Those are cool and all, but aren’t this thing. I want things that force me to engage my thinking beyond what the inputs of a controller and medium of a screen and my short-term memory alone can do for me.

Jarmer,

Pillars of Eternity 2 for me. Had TONS of pages of notes of build ideas, locations, treasures, remembering to go to X at Y level, etc… Absolutely had a blast with that game.

newtraditionalists,

Myst. Surprised this wasn’t mentioned yet.

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

Mostly old point and click games like Sierra and Lucasarts things. Stuff where you can easily softlock yourself with 1 simple mistake.

rivingtondown,

Maybe not my favorite game but one of the very few games I truly felt required pen and paper were some of the old Might & Magic games - most notably I think of the first 3 games.

Those were first person dungeon crawling RPGs. They didn’t have, what later became termed “automaps”, but what is now just a in-game map. So if you wanted to look at a map you had to either buy real life books they sold called Cluebooks which had maps printed in them or you had to pull out the graphing paper and get to drawing.

It wasn’t just a limitation of the time, the games back then honestly treated it like a feature. I think it was in M&M3 that you could eventually cast the spell “Wizard Eye” and the entire point of the spell was to present to you a minimap of the surrounding area. NPCs and quests didn’t put icons on your map (there was no map), you were given directions and had to figure out how to get there.

Devi,

Its old but I think fits, the original silent hill I needed a pad and paper at all times. Some puzzles were quite tricky.

Faydaikin,
@Faydaikin@beehaw.org avatar

Wasteland 2.

There’s a couple of places that need passcodes and figuring out riddles. Sometimes you team is smart enough to remember them, other times not so much.

It also comes in handy with Dialog Options when no one in your team has ‘talking’ as a primary stat. You can still punch in the triggering word manually.

You’re basically the sixth member of the team if you can remember all that stuff. It’s neat little feature. Pen and paper absolutely required.

Jarmer,

I did the same for wasteland 3~! Had a bunch of pages of notes trying to remember where to come back to, etc… Love it!

realitista,

I don’t think anything will ever beat Ultima IV for me in this regard.

Kwakigra,
@Kwakigra@beehaw.org avatar

System Shock 2. Just the perfect amount of non-handholding and thinking required without being cryptic or tedious.

AevumDecessus,
@AevumDecessus@lm.bittervets.org avatar

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes has an entire manual that you should print out and put in a binder, and your manual monkeys will absolutely need pen and paper to help you defuse the bomb in front of you

iamhazel,
@iamhazel@beehaw.org avatar

My best friend and I loved playing this together!! So much fun!

lightninhopkins,

Original Metroid.

GataZapata,

No notepad, but an excellent explorative puzzle that had me making and remaking theories the whole time: outer wilds. Several people also mentioned obra dinn

reyvehn,
@reyvehn@beehaw.org avatar

EverQuest! I was pretty young back then, but I remember EQ not having a quest tracker back in the day. You’d talk to NPCs and have to keep track of what they were asking for.

lightninhopkins,

I took that goddamn boat and ran for hours to get my warrior armor only to have no idea how to give the quest item to the centaur guy. I gave it to him and he just said “thanks”. It was brutal, but kinda hilarious in retrospect.

at_an_angle,

Voices of the Void.

Writing down the dish names and codes for the reports is a lot more fun than I thought.

Leon,
@Leon@beehaw.org avatar

I always keep a notepad in my inventory with the first page dedicated to my “dead fuckers list” of broken servers

TurboHarbinger,

Subnautica forced me to draw a proper map. It was interesting.

PistolsAtDawn,

Pretty much any 90s point and click adventure game made by Lucas arts, Sierra etc. No objective marker, no journal, you just wander around clicking things trying to mash items together. “Where did I see that symbol before?? flips through notebook Oh right!”

LoamImprovement,

I’m going to hijack and offer a specific example: Shivers. In addition to having puzzles with clues and inputs spread apart, it also offers a Flashback system that saves important pieces of information that you’ve already seen (Though actually taking notes is all but required since you still have to tab through the books then go back to the actual puzzle, and some clues are just images placed throughout the museum) The game just oozes atmosphere and tension with the changes in soundtrack and all the writing and environmental storytelling not directly related to puzzles. Once you know all the game’s tricks, it does kind of take the edge out of the horror aspect, but even decades later it’s still just a treat to walk through the museum’s virtual exhibits.

Available on GOG right now, I suggest giving it a try, although do save your game often, as it’s Win95 era.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • gaming@beehaw.org
  • fightinggames
  • All magazines
    •