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.
Wasteland 2.
There’s a couple of places that need passcodes and figuring out riddles. Sometimes you team is smart enough to remember them, other times not so much.
It also comes in handy with Dialog Options when no one in your team has ‘talking’ as a primary stat. You can still punch in the triggering word manually.
You’re basically the sixth member of the team if you can remember all that stuff. It’s neat little feature. Pen and paper absolutely required.
I did the same for wasteland 3~! Had a bunch of pages of notes trying to remember where to come back to, etc… Love it!