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.
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Myst and its mainline sequels, especially Riven will generally require pen and paper for almost all puzzles (except for the godforsaken train tunnel puzzle). Cyan has also made Obduction which is very similar and I ended up using pen and paper to take notes for. Quern: Undying Thoughts is a Myst-inspired game that is also like this.
the Submachine series by artist Mateusz Skutnik also benefits from using pen and paper, although a few of the games include virtual notes as well. The later games in the series are more open ended and require you memorizing coordinates if you don’t take notes. It also helps to write down which items you collect (potentially) go to which screens. It’s a 2D point and click adventure game series.
I came here to say “Any Cyan game”, Riven i think was definitely one of the most complex and needed the most notes. They’ve recently released Firmament and Riven remake is on its way too.
Just checked out firmament. Looks very cool.
Welcome to my favorite genre of game!
As they’ve already been mentioned before, I will second both La-Mulana (and though not mentioned, it’s sequel), and FEZ.
The Witness didn’t make me break out Pen and Paper, but it was definitely one I had to give my brain a break and come back to to look at things from a fresh angle.
Now for some previously unmentioned finds where your attention to detail will be rewarded. Not all will require notebooks. But there puzzles hidden in all of them.
Environmental Station Alpha is a Metroidvania.
Full Metal Furies is a side-scrolling beat-em up.
INSIDE is a side-scrolling platformer.
Inscryption is a deck-builder / puzzle room.
Return of the Obra Dinn
This was going to be mine as well. The fact that you don’t start to investigate the mystery in chronological order turned out to be quite a treat, as I need some way to organize my thoughts.
Fantastic game, honestly, I’ve had quite a few good detective experiences the past few years that nearly perfected the genre to me.
This was my first thought as well.
I’m trying to put it in a way that won’t spoil clues for those who haven’t played it yet, but I ended up with plenty of notes and even took screenshots of the ship maps to scribble notes on.
God I wish I could forget all about it and play it for the first time again.
Came here to mention this. I had so many clues and mysteries I was trying to keep track of that I was regularly jotting down notes
I did this for the Witness - it really helped to think out some of the puzzles if scribbled possible solutions down. Oh and Obra Dinn to an extent - mostly things like ‘I saw this guy hanging around in this memory - could he be X’?
Seconding the witness
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!”
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.
Subnautica forced me to draw a proper map. It was interesting.
Only 2 games that really made me break out pen and paper.
Myst 3 and Final Fantasy XII (The Great Crystal).
Yes, the crystal! I still have the scribbles of my map I drew back then. I loved the feeling to get “lost” in there.
I just got my notes out a month ago because someone was sharing their FFXII collection. It has so many switch names, one-way markings, and strike-throughs where I messed up and realized I went in a big circle. I’m so glad I didn’t use a guide for that.
Since you already said Tunic, I’ll throw out Riven: The Sequel to Myst
I played it several months ago for the first time and my desk was completely littered with sticky notes, most of which would have been incomprehensible to anyone else
Tunic is a BIG one. The language puzzles, and the math puzzles. SO MANY NOTES.
Factorio
Gotta keep track of production balance somehow…
In the same vein, Satisfactory and Dyson Sphere Program. I love planning and optimizing and it feels great to plan it on paper then build it in the game, only to run into countless problems, distractions, and rabbit holes of things to do to achieve my goals, requiring taking countless more notes to keep track of it all. Definitely one of my favorite genres of games.
Satisfactory is the first game I thought of. It even made me craft little 2D building models to plan proper factory layouts.
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.
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
Original Metroid.
Not quite the same puzzley aspect but check out etrian Odyssey. It’s premise essentially is that you have a dungeon crawler and you have to make the map yourself. There are tools in game for making the map as you go.
I’m playing through the Switch re-releases now and they’re great. The mapping controls leave a lot to be desired versus the DS originals, but it was never gonna be as good as that magic.
DS flashcarts are great and cheap, and the DSi can be soft modded to work directly from an SD card. If you can afford it, get a DSi XL for the best DS experience.
I gave away my NES, 3DS, Dreamcast, N64, and all related games and peripherals a few years ago cause they were taking up too much room for stuff I barely ever used.
I’ve already played these games on (3)DS back in 2013 or so, so I agree it’s the best way to play em. But I just don’t have the time, money, or space to be a retro game collector (outside of Evercade) anymore so I’ll make do with playing these games on Switch.
Oh man, last one that made me do that was probably Zork III. I was hand-drawing my own maps to navigate that game. I miss those days.
Definitely Fez when you start looking beyond the golden cubes.