Controlling your character’s movement may seem like a standard video game mechanic, but you would be surprised to find just how many games forgo it entirely. Whether for technical limitations, stylistic purposes, or simply because the genre doesn’t call for it, movement can be skipped over in favor of other types of interactions.
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This is most common inpuzzle games,strategy games, andsimulation gameswhere your character’s position remains fixed. In some instances, the lines regarding what is and isn’t considered movement can become blurred, such as in games where it’s unclear who the player character is. With that said, games where you don’t get to move are still worth exploring due to their unique perspective and unconventional gameplay.
10Papers, Please
Anyone who’s worked a desk job before knows how much of a toll it can take on your body as you sit stationary in a chair typing away for hours upon end. To experience this for yourself, look no further than the satirical indie puzzle simulation gamePapers, Please, in which you take on the role of a border inspector at the checkpoint of a dystopian country.
Your job is to scrutinize each immigrant’s documents, including passports, work permits, and entry permits, to ensure that they meet the requirements. You can choose to approve or deny them entry based on whether their paperwork checks out, but regardless of the choice, you’re stuck at your post. Day in, and day out, you’ll be inspecting people’s documents until death, the government, or both, comes for you.
9Not For Broadcast
Speaking of dystopian societies, Not For Broadcast is another simulation game set in an alternate Britain under Orwellian rule where you play as a TV producer tasked with editing and broadcasting a live news show. Stationed in front of four camera feeds, you’ll navigate a never-ending stream of controversial content while keeping your ratings high and avoiding any slip-ups that could lead to fines or imprisonment.
Despite not letting you move, Not For Broadcast’s gameplay manages to feel engaging and dynamic as unexpected events continually occur throughout the news show. You can also run ads to increase your revenue and hire new team members to manage other parts of the show, ensuring you never have to leave your television tomb.
8Takoyaki Party Survival
So far, these entries have been pretty doom and gloom, so why not brighten things up with a game about eating tasty food? In Takoyaki Party Survival, up to four players gather to cook and eat takoyaki, a popular Japanese snack made of ball-shaped batter filled with different ingredients.
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The goal of the game is to try to survive for as long as possible off of takoyaki alone. The game encourages you to burn off calories by performing squats every so often to stay at least somewhat healthy. Of course, that’s not a pass to try to leave the table. No one ever leaves the table…
7Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes
What could be scarier than being trapped in a room with a ticking time bomb and having to rely on your friends and family to help you defuse it? In Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, you must work with your teammates to solve puzzles, complete challenges, and hopefully walk away with all of your limbs intact.
To make matters worse, you may’t see the bomb defusal manual for yourself nor leave the sketchy interrogation room where the bomb is located. Naturally, your friends are safely tucked away somewhere else and only have to give you instructions that may or may not lead to your untimely demise. No big deal!
6Assemble With Care
If you enjoy working with your hands but would rather they not be blown clean off your body, consider a more relaxing game where you don’t get to move like Assemble With Care. In it, you play as a globe-trotting antique restorer who arrives in a small town and begins fixing the local residents’ most prized possessions.
This entails taking apart and reassembling each object while gaining insight into the owner’s past and the story behind their personal effects. While it all makes for quite the emotional journey, don’t let it distract you from the fact that your character is now trapped in a vicious labor trap where they’re forced to fix people’s junk day after day.
5Luck Be A Landlord
Paying rent is another trap that many people fall into, much to the relief of crooked landlords such as the one in Luck Be A Landlord. In thisroguelike deckbuilder, you’re faced with paying increasingly high sums of cash to rent a tiny apartment from a greedy landlord.
This leads your character to a life of gambling as they pour every last penny into a slot machine in hopes of making enough to cover the next rent bill and appease their capitalist overlord. The game never specifies if your character goes to a physical casino to do said gambling, but considering the high cost of living, you can’t blame them for wanting to stay home and get their rent’s worth.
4Cat Goes Fishing
While predators are known to spend a lot of time traveling in search of their next meal, the clever feline in Cat Goes Fishing is the rare exception. Billed as a cute andrelaxing fishing game, it sees you starting out on an island with a basic rod used to catch small fish and complete quests for cash.
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Any money you earn can go towards unlocking new equipment and upgrades to assist with reeling in bigger catches for a total of 70 different species. This is all without having to ever dip your furry paws inside the water, as you cast your rod from the dock and let those delicious fish come to you.
3Hypnospace Outlaw
Designed to transport you back to the good old days of dial-up connections and neon-colored webpages, Hypnospace Outlaw is a point-and-click simulation game that casts you as an enforcer tasked with monitoring user pages, tracking down cybercriminals, and keeping the internet safe.
This is done using a special helmet that grants access to the Hypnospace platform and all of its tools for investigating users, sifting through content, managing tasks, and more. To keep you in good spirits while you work, the platform also includes a music player, virtual pet software, and various other time-wasting programs for you to explore as your character’s body slowly withers away from a lack of physical activity.
2Plants Vs. Zombies
As one of the most belovedtower defense gameseries,Plants vs. Zombiesis known for its unique gameplay in which you try to defend your home from waves of zombie attacks by placing an assortment of sentient plants across your lawn. While some plants may excel at dealing damage to the undead or generating resources, they all have one thing in common: they work for you.
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That’s because, as the homeowner, you have the luxury of never having to experience plant-on-zombie warfare firsthand. Instead, you get to watch closely from the comfort of your home while your precious pea shooters and potato mines do all the heavy lifting. Thanks, Mother Nature!
1Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine is a classic puzzle game spin-off to theSonic the Hedgehogseries in which the dastardly villain is seen hatching a new plan to turn the friendly folk of Beanville into devious little robots. You’re enlisted to put an end to this grave catastrophe by matching beans of the same color to create links and increase your score.
While the game makes it a point to let you know that Dr. Robotnik is the one controlling the beans that fall, it’s unclear who you are as the player. Ultimately, it doesn’t even matter, as once you’ve started the Eggman’s wicked game, there’s no turning back. Let the beans fall where they may!
