Support NeoGAF

[Dacvak]

First off, when I say creative, I mean something completely original that had never been done before. While I think Mario Galaxy has creative game design, it's still a 3D platformer. I'd even argue that Mario 64, while novel in its time, isn't a completely original idea. It'll obviously be easy to name games from the 80s that were inventing new gameplay concepts, but bonus points if you think of a game from 2000 onwards.


For my vote, I'd nominate Katamari Damacy.

As far as I know, the concept of rolling up a bunch of shit into a gigantic ball was a totally novel idea at the time. Furthermore, the control scheme felt completely original, as well (if not a bit frustrating at times). The wackiness of the visuals and uniqueness of the music is just the cherry on top of this weird, completely original game.

I remember buying this on a total whim for $20 the day it released, just based off the the cover art alone. That's right, the game launched at $20.

Aside from games in the early arcade era that were literally inventing brand new gameplay concepts on the regular, I can't think of another game (especially post-PS1) that had such originality.

Also, one of the greatest OSTs of all time.

 

[semiconscious]

this game blew my mind, like no game before or since...

 

[Ainem Enamas]

I simply want to say "Inside" here, which I just recently finished.

 

[Yoshichan]

Shenmue

 

[spons]

 

[Artistic]

Without thinking long and hard, Kameo.

 

[Rush2112]

I thought fatal frame was original. japanese survival horror and your only tool is a camera.

 

[Mister Wolf]

 

[Banjo64]

Got to be Minecraft surely?

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Shadow of the Colossus and Shemue 1 and 2 for their time were out of this world.

Especially also considering how far they pushed their respective hardware too.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Creativity disappeared after Majora's mask

 

[LordOfChaos]

You hike across a desolate, post-apocalyptic America delivering packages while haunted by invisible ghost monsters you can only see if you plug into a jar baby strapped to your chest, and when they attack, you fight them with grenades made from your own poop, pee, and blood. The rain ages you, your backpack has physics, your boots wear out, and every ladder, zipline, and bridge you build might show up in another player's world as you all quietly rebuild civilization together without ever meeting. Your enemies are nihilistic terrorists, your boss is the President's daughter, and your name is Sam Porter Bridges because yes, you literally bridge ports. Mads Mikkelsen shows up in dream-floods to cradle the baby. It's lonely, weird, genius, pretentious, kind of beautiful, and unlike anything else ever made — it's Death Stranding.

 

[Danjin44]

The Last Guardian, both it has most realistic animal animation and Trico's behavior.

 

[Plies]

Chrono Trigger

 

[mèx]

Absolutely crazy and out there. A timeless masterpiece.

 

[Arachnid]

Without getting into some extremely weird shovelware trash like Senior Caretaker Simulator or joke shit like Goat Simulator?

Death Stranding. What a weird fkn concept for a game.

 

[Rentahamster]

Katamari or Patapon.

 

[Acti]

Shadow of the Colossus hits hard for me.

 

[SILKYSMOOTH30FPS]

Demon's Souls. I don't recall ever seeing an invasion system in another game, unless the game was a super niche indie title that nobody has ever heard off of.

 

[diffusionx]

You hike across a desolate, post-apocalyptic America delivering packages while haunted by invisible ghost monsters you can only see if you plug into a jar baby strapped to your chest, and when they attack, you fight them with grenades made from your own poop, pee, and blood. The rain ages you, your backpack has physics, your boots wear out, and every ladder, zipline, and bridge you build might show up in another player's world as you all quietly rebuild civilization together without ever meeting. Your enemies are nihilistic terrorists, your boss is the President's daughter, and your name is Sam Porter Bridges because yes, you literally bridge ports. Mads Mikkelsen shows up in dream-floods to cradle the baby. It's lonely, weird, genius, pretentious, kind of beautiful, and unlike anything else ever made — it's Death Stranding.

Yea. I always liked Kojima but imo Death Stranding just proved he's a genius.

 

[Beretta]

A tear rolls down my face at the mentions of Shenmue 1 and 2, those games are amazing, definitely creative for their time. I tried to play the third one but I got bored fairly quick….i had replayed the first two to get hype around three and I didn't get bored of them, even with those graphics in this day and age (dealbreaker for some, I don't really get bothered personally). Maybe one day I will try 3 again.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Creative and original?

 

[RoboFu]

simple yet has a layer of complexity and great thought went into its design. Brilliant and creative.

 

[diffusionx]

I'm surprised PaRappa hasn't been mentioned. It was the first real rhythm game. It was also one of, if not the first, games with hip-hop elements in it. It was also totally insane and a fever dream in terms of characters, setting, scenarios, etc.

 

[RCX]

I hadn't played anything like Journey before and haven't played anything like it since.

Pretty singular experience

 

[TintoConCasera]

First time I saw Ikaruga I remember thinking the polarity system was quite cool and don't remember seeing anything like it before.

------

But if you want creativity to the max, just go and checkout the Nintendo DS catalogue. Tons of cool and original shit there powered by the magic of the 2nd screen.

Stuff like Chronos Twin, where you control 2 characters at once, one in each screen:

Or Henry Hatsworth, where you play a platformer in the upper screen while solving a match-3 puzzle game on the bottom one:

And so many more. Loved that console, you never knew what devs could come up with next.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Driller on the C64. I'd never seen anything like it before, a fully 3d environment you could walk around



Followed shortly by Total Eclipse



These games blew my tiny mind

I suppose anything creative or novel before that was my first racing game. Never seen cars racing you could play before, on a screen..

 

[The_Mike]

 

[MidGenRefresh]

 

[RetroAV]

Nights into Dreams didn't try to follow. It didn't chase. It led — into a realm of imagination that gaming has rarely dared to revisit.

It's a game about:

• Grace over violence
• Feeling over function
• Dreams over logic

And it was built by a team willing to risk everything to make something beautiful, personal, and impossible to copy.

No game before or since has captured what Nights did. Not even Sega themselves.

 

[CliffBronger]

The Sentinel was completely original never seen anything like it since.

 

[tusharngf]

Arma and PUBG

 

[Trilobit]

The idea that you just live in a village and talk to other villagers and pick apples and whatnot and that it runs in realtime with a real schedule was such a brilliant concept for people who wanted to have a relaxing game in their library.

 

[PlayStaytion]

The Witcher. Villains plot in the game aren't turn based, they are more believable and interact with the world naturally.

 

[Baemono]

I don't care what the OP says, Super Mario 64.

A big 3D world with 360 camera, a hub leading to levels that change shapes depending on your mission, power ups that motivates you to come back to older levels to unlock stuff (like Metroidvanias), absolutely fantastic

 

[crackajack]

Portal

good suggestion
Were there really no games with portals earlier, not even 2D? I know that DNF and Prey had some plans for portals but both failed at realising it. I guess Mario64, jumping into the level, while not really executed like we expect it now, inspired a lot of devs, and that thing might have been inspired by the Stargate movie.

I guess most puzzle games must be considered quite original since their mechanics usually are rather unique so:
2048
clickr (i guess almost no one played it, since only the community pages are on steam and purchase is not there anymore)
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom (or whatever game invented recording your own moves and clone yourself to solve a level)
Extreme Exorcism (kinda similar, iirc you basically play against yourself, since your moves are recorded and your new self can be killed by your past moves)
Superliminal / Maquette (or whatever game invented playing with perspective)
I am Bread (or whatever game had the player controlling four "limbs")
Chariot (it kinda is It takes two but in the PS3 era, most of it can be played solo, dragging along the chariot is imho a quite unique mechanic)
From Dust (the world deformation and fluid physics are imo still quite unique and are actual gameplay mechanic)

 

[sodstall]

REZ/REZ Infinite

 

[Cakeboxer]

Some good choices here, especially Dungeon Keeper and Shadow of the Colossus. I would add Twelve Minutes, Lost Vikings, Lemmings and Day of The Tentacle.

 

[Koenigssee]

Killer7, everytime questions like this were asked.

Crazy ass gameplay and presentation aside, it has unprecedented thematic depth. Read the plot analysis on GameFAQ to see what i mean.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Hard to say exactly as it is very time dependent. Stuff that was super creative 20 years ago may not be so anymore.

So, in recent time, one game that suddenly appeared and introduced a concept i did not expect at all was Roadcraft, where the whole game revolves around road building. Not management, actual, on-site, construction of roads, specifically.




Is it good? No idea, but it does seem unique and original to me

 

[Inanilmaz]

I dont know if all count:
Loco Roco
Katamari
Ape Escape
Gravity Rush
Portal
Sims
Hotline Miami
The last Guy
Pokemon kinda? with the gym system etc

 

[Impotaku]

There's so many but 2 of my faves are Superliminal


And viewfinder


very little like either of these.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

When I replayed Super Metroid recently I was just really struck by how fucking cool the whole idea of Metroid is. In that era of gaming nonetheless. Super Metroid especially still felt modern to me. Highly ambitious and unique.

 

[jmiller180]

You hike across a desolate, post-apocalyptic America delivering packages while haunted by invisible ghost monsters you can only see if you plug into a jar baby strapped to your chest, and when they attack, you fight them with grenades made from your own poop, pee, and blood. The rain ages you, your backpack has physics, your boots wear out, and every ladder, zipline, and bridge you build might show up in another player's world as you all quietly rebuild civilization together without ever meeting. Your enemies are nihilistic terrorists, your boss is the President's daughter, and your name is Sam Porter Bridges because yes, you literally bridge ports. Mads Mikkelsen shows up in dream-floods to cradle the baby. It's lonely, weird, genius, pretentious, kind of beautiful, and unlike anything else ever made — it's Death Stranding.

Playing through the first one now after not being into it a few years ago and giving up after a few hours. About 16 hours in and enjoying it. You are right that it is super unique. Loved MGSV (an all-time favorite) and can see elements of that game in this.

Will add that Outer Wilds was pretty creative as far as gameplay loop and how the story unfolds. Sure there are some other smaller games kinda like it though.

 

[Sooner]

Rocket League

 

[Hazzard4life]

I wanna say Jet Set Radio

 

[Audiophile]

Can't pick one, but these would be my top.....10, for creativity.

 

[AmuroChan]

OG SimCity.

 

[PeteBull]

Many great picks here, i would add to that og demons souls back from 2009(in europe 2010), it had many concepts that would in theory be considered extremly unpopular back in the days, yet the tittle not only prevailed but was huge success (not many games can say whole genre is named after them

Going even further back, first diablo from 1996, had great playstation port with couch coop in 1998, same thing- game was difficult af, had very dark/adult setting, soundtrack still is top notch to this very day and it made whole genre of very popular games, called diablo-clones(nowadays hack&slash).

 

[chicnstu]

Got to be Minecraft surely?

It's based on Infiniminer.