Here’s a couple of examples Keep talking and nobody explodes — The most popular in the list I think

Uncle Chop’s rocket shop — the game where you are repairing your client’s rockets by following the in-game guidebook

Tin can — here you are also repairing the spaceshp but this time you are it’s capitan and you are in space in the middle of nowhere

  • Silverchase@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    44·
    26 days ago
    • Tunic — You need to figure out the game’s manual to know how to play. Souls-style exploration and combat.
    • Papers, Please — If you liked Rocket Shop, you’ll like this. You are a border guard, checking people’s documents and choosing if they can enter. The rules change every day as international tensions grow. Great plot with multiple endings, expressed with just your green and red stamps.
    • Hypnospace Outlaw (kind of) — You are a moderator in a fictional version of GeoCities in the last months of 1999. Your training is web pages and crusty point and click CD-ROM slideshows. It’s heartfelt story about the impact of technology on society and a loving funeral for that era of the world wide web.

    As even further stretches, there is TIS-100 and Shenzhen I/O, both Zachtronics games that have you do programming. The tutorial for TIS-100 just opens a PDF that looks like a crusty scan of an ancient computer manual, like you were learning to program on a C64 or something.

    • hahattpro@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      26 days ago

      Tis-100 is like learning new programming language and do some quiz with it. If you want similar experience, learn assembly languages, and do some exercise :)))

    • topherclay@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      26 days ago

      I loved Hypnospace Outlaw. Its so nostalgic and yet the surreal aspect of it gives it its own flavor that is separate from the nostalgia.

  • fartsparkles@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    25 days ago

    Strange Horticulture -You run an occult plant shop and identify plants by leafing through a botanical guidebook, matching illustrations and descriptions.

    HighFleet - Intercepting enemy radio transmissions means using the in-game codebook and manual tables to decode messages and triangulate positions.

    The Signal State - A Zachlike about repairing farm equipment with modular synth racks and lots of documentation.

    Retro Gadgets - You build electronic gadgets from scratch, and reading the chip documentation is basically the whole game.

    Sethian - You learn a dead alien language by studying an in-game dictionary/manual to converse with a computer.

    Carrier Command 2 - Co-op crewing a carrier where the in-game manual is dense and necessary, giving strong Tin Can/submarine-crew vibes.

    Objects in Space - Space sim, flying a submarine-like ship, reading dials and signals.

    Jalopy - Roadtrip / car maintenance game set in Eastern Bloc.

    Reentry - Crazy realistic space sim where you follow manuals, procedures, checklists etc to complete missions like the Apollo moon landing.

  • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.worldEnglish
    93·
    25 days ago

    Keep talking and nobody explodes.

    One player(s) has the bomb disposal manual and the other has the game controls to defuse the bomb.

  • Whitebrow@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    25 days ago

    Not really a manual, but more of a 4th wall derailment into a fever dream of sorts? With a lot of reading while navigating a mystery? And some match 3 tower defence action in between?

    Titanium court.

    For more of a game with an actual manual focus, try - King of the Bridge. It’s a game about chess. Mostly.

  • TheparishofChigwell@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    3·
    25 days ago

    Elite dangerous, you end up with spreadsheets fetching data from online sources if you go wild

    DayZ everyone uses interactive map and it’s a good game for anyone with time to kill and some gluttony for punishment. I do need to add: “Players often describe DayZ as a psychological horror or “psychosis simulator” due to the extreme paranoia and auditory hallucinations of solo survival. In the r/DayZ subreddit, survivors frequently share stories of constantly misinterpreting wind and ambient environmental noises for distant player footsteps or enemy gunfire”

    Project zomboid is really cool if you print out the world map

  • Melobol@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    26 days ago

    I believe in Deaths Door, we had to gather pages that explained the game mechanics, but by the time you got the pages it was moot point. Tho I might mixing up some games.

    • chunkystyles@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      1·
      25 days ago

      I don’t remember a manual in game for Death’s Door. It’s a good game, though.

      Are you mixing it up with TUNIC?