Games where you decide how to play (not a game)

Sometimes players are in the mood for something more linear. It can be nice if the game points us in the right direction and makes it clear what to do. However, other times we feel much more creative. With the popularity of sandbox environments, it's clear that it's very tempting to have all kinds of tools at our disposal and determine what we want to do with them.

In some of the titles below, we are presented with specific problems and can come up with our own ways to solve them. In others, the character creation is so impressive that we are free to dictate our own playstyle. However, in both cases, the game does not decide how we will play. The player does.

The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom

When Princess Zelda takes charge, anything goes

At this stage in the long history of the fantastic The Legend of Zelda series, fans have come to know Link (in his various incarnations) very well. He is a typically Hylian hero in a green tunic, armed with a variety of typical weapons such as bows, bombs, boomerangs, swords and shields. When Princess Zelda got her own starring role in Echoes of wisdom in 2024 it was a bit unclear what kind of gear he would collect and use along the way.

Turns out the answer was that he would be able to use a huge, ridiculous range of things with the Tri Rod. With the help of her fairy friend Tri, Zelda is able to use the wand to conjure objects (known as echoes) into the world that she can interact with. There are over 130 different echoes in total, from Bombfish to Old Bed and from Wind Cannon to Freeze Slug. While you're limited to the echoes that can be active at once and the cost to summon them, this means that the variety of interactions you can use to solve puzzles increases dramatically over time. The concept is rather similar Scribblenautsand it's a wonderfully creative way to shake up the old “save Hyrule” routine.

Elden Ring

Tainted is who you wish them to be

In some titles, just trying out a new build can make you feel like you're in a whole new game the next time you play. That's part of the enduring appeal of series like this Monster Hunterin which the Light Bowgun and Great Sword are miles apart and require dozens of hours to learn the various subtleties of each. In the Souslborne games, players are used to the poster character being more of a generic knight, but there's an incredible amount of character customization that shakes up what's beyond.

Elden Ring offers ten different classes to join, including Warrior, Samurai, Prophet, and Astrologer. The Warrior, unsurprisingly, is a strong melee attacker and a very conventional choice. Astrologer, on the other hand, as a powerful mage, prefers casting spells to swinging swords. There's enough flexibility in terms of stat growth and weapon scaling to ensure these roles aren't too rigid, and of course one key draw Elden Ring is that you can take on the various Earth Between challenges in any order you choose.

You are finally awake

As the old joke goes, everyone starts a new game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ultimately accepting the fate of becoming a low-key archer, whatever their plans were to launch the game. Those who can defy this fate, however, can still revel in how much freedom is within them Skyrimeven without any modifications. For a title that launched in 2011, that's pretty remarkable.

Of course, mods give players an almost infinite level of freedom to further enrich their experience and differentiate their gameplay, but the combination of racial options, impactful decisions, choice of followers, quest lines, and actions to take means it's possible to roleplay however you want. You can also really embrace your chosen play style, as almost every action you take advances your skills in certain areas. Skyrim he simply had to be represented here. A mage build can be just as powerful.

Garry's mod

Player freedom is an understatement

Garry's mod it is not so much a game as a creative tool. The key is actually access to the resource engine, which provides a galaxy of assets that can become the building blocks of your bizarre, weird physics universe. Other games that use the engine can also be included in the fun (or rather their assets can), which means building worlds, the characters that inhabit them, and the rules under which they can operate as you wish.

Depending on selected mods and available players Garry's mod can be single player, competitive or cooperative. You can play a more conventional game of tag or its derivatives or something much more elaborate. This is partly due to the power of player-generated content Garry's mod always looking for new ways to have fun.

Hitman: World Of Assassination

All that matters is that the job gets done

When there are multiple ways to achieve a set of objectives, it does wonders for the replay value of the game. The Hitman series is a perfect example of this, and while all fans will have their favorite items and mission structures, Hitman: World of Assassination he did a fantastic job taking the liberties of the original trilogy. Not to mention the Party Cracker.

famously, Hitman stages are about simply assassinating a given target or targets. However, they are also full of all kinds of assets that you can claim and use for your own purposes. For example, you can steal a chef's uniform and use it to poison your target's food, or adopt the persona of a barber just to unleash all the fury of Sweeney Todd on your target. The games essentially become gory, highly interactive puzzles where players can solve different stages over and over again and think “I wonder if it works.

Dishonored

Amazingly messy

The Hitman so the games are all about embracing the chaos in order to destroy Agent 47's targets. Ultimately, however, those targets must be eliminated. At Arkane Studios Dishonored series, the same is true, and stages similarly allow for multiple approaches to achieving this goal. Dishonored doesn't offer the same dress-Agent-47-up-in-a-silly-mascot-costume opportunities as the first, but it does offer the same irresistible replayability opportunities with a different approach to the stage.

IN Dishonoredthe chaos meter is affected by how violent Corvo Attano is was in his efforts for the Loyalists. Since this dictates how the story plays out, fans will likely want to try another run with a very different approach to see different endings. This is further supported by a number of special abilities that Corvo has access to that are very powerful and can be experimented with in terrifying ways. For example, Bend Time allows the player to temporarily stop the flow of time (for everyone else), while also possessing other creatures or summoning a pack of rats.

Don't starve

How you survive is up to you

Survival games, generally speaking, avoid holding the player's hand. You find yourself in an unfamiliar, largely hostile newly generated world where there's basically nothing in the way of gear or items and you're tasked with simply finding and gathering what you need. From these humble beginnings, it's a matter of trial and error as you learn which resources to prioritize, good places to set up camp, how to do it, and the order to build certain survival necessities. All of this is the foundation of Klei Entertainment's experience Don't starve.

Maintaining your character's health, sanity and hunger is vital, the Wetness mechanic introduced later and potential food spoilage is also important. The darkness also quickly becomes fatal due to the lingering presence of Charlie. The player is free to use the various resources in his procedurally generated world as he chooses to deal with all these threats and those posed by the local wildlife. As they gain experience, they'll develop strategies for coping with specific seasons, with character selection also playing a big factor.

Each plays completely differently, for example Wigfrid is more attack oriented but with more limited means of suppressing hunger as she will refuse food other than meat. Character abilities and quirks help shape the gameplay, but players can use them as they see fit to stay alive. It's all very Tim Burton-esque and that just adds to the atmosphere.