Yesterday I played the demo of the new game Dispatch and it is all beautifully written, but at some point, while presenting the team in-game, there was a casual funny line, pronounced by a voice off-screen, so without graphical support and I just burst out laughing (I was alone at home, so not pressed by social influence of any kind).
When I stopped, I realized how uncommon this has become lately. As a kid, I found LucasArts games extremely funny and I laughed more than occasionally, but this aspect of video game entertainment has been dying out.
When was the last time you actually laughed out loud while playing a game for something that was actually designed as funny (no Fortnite or CoD shenanigans stories please)?
A couple of minutes ago.
I played Helldivers 2 with some noobs.
We finished all objectives and were going for extraction.
One guy was walking past me with a portable hellbmomb backpack. You don’t even have to play the game to guess what that is. The name nails it perfectly.
You can arm the hellbmomb backpack yourself - but it can be activated by your teammates as well.
It’s kind of a dick move, but I couldn’t resist. Poor guy got blown up into a bazillion pieces.
Outer Worlds 2, baby! It takes itself more seriously than the first one, which I think adds to the comedy.
What got a chuckle out of me was this statue in the first town you visit. It’s a beautifully-designed, marble statue of some hero. The Auntie’s Choice corporation that’s colonized the area used an advertisement drone to project an image of the CEO’s face over the statue’s head.
There’s also the Protectorate members that have tried to integrate into corporate society saying things like, “I only recently learned that artificial means good!”
I love dry humor, and this game is much more dry than the first.
I didn’t know this was already out! Hell yeah
san andreas
skyrim
undertale
Damn, CJ, why you always gotta be a busta?
The Paper Mario games have several laugh-worthy jokes and scenarios
Spiritfarer has a couple
Animal Crossing New Horizons has a couple
Disco Elysium. The dialog options are so cracked
My partner always levels half light and physical instrument to get the most unhinged dialogue and it’s great.
Um… Slay the Princess, like, last night. Sure it’s marketed as a psychological horror game but it’s actually pretty funny.
That said, I’m also often streaming things with friends and we riff the whole time so even the least funny games ever will get a laugh at some point. Lol
VtM Bloodlines 2 just got me yesterday because it changed up the dialogue my character speaks when I put on a catholic priest outfit. He provokes people to rage by saying vampy things depending on his clothes but in the priest suit it’s just simple "Damn you!"s and calling people demon or quoting the exorcist. The NPC’s have the best replies to this though.
Before that it was probably the music video scene from The Alters
Holy shit The Alters has a music video scene? Is it like in American Dad when he’s in Francine’s mind and has the other versions of him sing a song?
Kind of. They play it straight though. It’s corny but also really epic
Ironically, Dispatch was the one that I immediately thought of. There’s a few other games that have made me laugh recently, but the only one where I felt that the humor was there to stay is Tactical Breach Wizards.
Jen: What the hell just happened?
Zan: I think you just met Liv Kennedy.
Jen: …
Jen: …
Jen: I didn’t love it.
Just started playing Wolfenstein: New Colossus for the first time, and everything is just so over the top, it’s funny. The game starts you out in a wheel chair, where you roll through a u-boat, shooting Nazis with an automatic pistol.
Those Wolfenstein games kinda rule because they’re so over the top.
And then you become Terror Billy.
Probably Portal 2, but I plan to try Dispatch as soon as it has completed.
Thank Goodness You’re Here was good for a few laughs.
It’s such a fun and cozy little game, I honestly want the creators to make it into a show or something. I love all the characters and I want to see more of them!
And the soundtrack was absolutely gorgeous too.
Came here to say the same! That game cracked me up all the way through.
Hades 2 when I finally stumbled upon Dionysus. He’s wearing a leopard print speedo in it and his bulge is as subtle as a kick in the shin.
I love that they gave him a massive bulge. Found him in a run last night.
Some Neon White dialogues have me laugh, but there was one level that baited me so badly, I couldn’t stop laughing. Incredibly recommended game, although I’ll never forgive the devs for not adding a map editor.
I mean, I don’t know if you can call it ‘designed’ or not, but multiplayer experiences with chained together are always hilarious. The ironic ‘we own you’ or ‘casually dismissing how unimportant you are’ messages in satisfactory get a chuckle. Boneraiser minions is humorous as well, as the minions range from ‘normal skeleton’ to ‘pumpkin headed horrors’ and are definitely designed around silliness. Ship of fools has the multiplayer shenanigans, but ALSO some really funny, dry humored lines about the state of your boat/character. All the cat quest games… if you’re not rolling your eyes at all the cat puns, there’s something wrong with you. Ooooohh, I almost forgot! Another multiplayer one, but entirely designed around laughing as you put a bomb in front of your friend’s favorite path to the goal: ultimate chicken horse.
The Stanley Parable is very funny. I don’t want to spoil it, especially because reading or watching videos is not the same as interacting with the game, but the narrator reacts to what you do, even if you try to do something absurd there’s a good chance that it has a special reaction for that.
South Park games also are very funny, the first one (Stick of Truth) especially. But it is a very dark humor, e.g. the difficulty slider also changes your skin color.
