Summary
ThePlayStation 4saw its catalog of games completely boom as developers were hard at work to make some of thebiggest and coolest gamesthat players had ever gotten their hands on. In that hustle, many were hard at work to make sure that “funny” was the main descriptor for a lot of those projects.
Some games can be developed by just a handful of devs in a small apartment, or by a team of hundreds in a well established studio; But if the end goal is to create a product that makes the player laugh, it can mean the difference between a hit and a flop.
9Jay And Silent Bob: Mall Brawl
Snooch To The Nooch All Through The Mall
Kevin Smith has always been a director that people either love or hate, with no room in between. Most of the films he has released since his debut withClerksin 1999 have been panned critically. Despite this, he has garnered a cult following that is frankly unparalleled in the world of cinema.
It’s that cult following thatJay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawlwas made for. It’s some serviceablebeat ‘em up-style butt kickingsurrounded by a host of references to the View Askewniverse at large. Unfortunately, as funny as it is, if players are not already a fan of the niche moviemaker, it’s definitely not going to move the needle.
8Hatoful Boyfriend
Get To Know A Flock Of Handsome Birds
There was a period in the mid to late 2010s where the dating sim thrived with interesting premises and even jokes about the genre.Hatoful Boyfriendlead that charge with its romance story between a human and a harem of birds. That’s birds, with wings.
While the main comedic draw to this game is the love story anddating sim gameplay, it’s wrapped up in some surprisingly well thought-out - but no less silly - explanations involving sentient birds and a war between them and humans. The dating sim is an understandably niche genre, butHatoful Boyfriendis great for a laugh if it’s what the heart wants.
7I Am Bread
I Am Vengeance. I Am The Night. I Am Bread.
Platinum hunters knowI Am Breadwell, as it’s a fairly popular game in which to shoot for 100% completion. The game is just about as simple as it sounds, with players taking control of a slice of bread trying to wiggle its way to the toaster.
Where it can get a bit tricky is in its controls. Each corner is assigned a button for movement, not unlikeOctodad,or the browser-based gameQWOP. Bread can also get surprisingly dirty, so players have to watch out for the edibility bar that will fill up the more times they find themselves on the floor, or in a pile of ants.
The popularity of goat scream compilations on YouTube is a phenomenon that is truly unmatched in our modern society. It’s also, no doubt, what led to the creation of one of the wildestphysics-based gamesthere is:Goat Simulator. Oh, the game build is broken? Think again.
The havoc that ensues inGoat Simulatorfrom its built-in bugs is the price of admission, while pulling off tricks to earn points as the world falls apart is all the fun. Players will definitely struggle to complete objectives in between fits of glee.
Games likeFall GuysandParty Animalsapply their frustratingly fun brand of character movement to objective-based gameplay. Conversely,Gang Beastskeeps things simple by having the main game mode simply be to knock opponents off the stage.
Gang Beastshas secured its spot as one of the premier party games for sharing some hearty laughs with friends. Its brand of ragdoll physics-based player movement is silly enough for players to give a go, regardless of skill-level orgeneral video game prowess.
There is no denying the cultural impact that Justin Roland andRick and Mortyhave had on today’s comedy. So when it was announced that Squanch Games would be created to develop games in Rolland’s design, the hype train seemed to leave the station immediately, headingstraight for the PlayStation VR.
This adventure can also be enjoyed without being held down by a VR headset, though. In the game, players work to find their stolen dogs with the help of the Trover, who they have to guide them through obstacles. The game is chock-full of colorful characters that would fit right into Roiland’s previous works.
Stop Bickering Long Enough To Save The Galaxy
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
Fire up a wild ride across the cosmos with a fresh take on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. In this third-person action-adventure game, you are Star-Lord, and thanks to your bold yet questionable leadership, you have persuaded an oddball crew of unlikely heroes to join you. Some jerk (surely not you) has set off a chain of catastrophic events, and only you can hold the unpredictable Guardians together long enough to fight off total interplanetary meltdown.Use Element Blasters, tag-team beat downs, jet boot-powered dropkicks, nothing’s off-limits. If you think it’s all going to plan, you’re in for a world of surprises, with the consequences of your actions guaranteed to keep the Guardians on their toes.In this original Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy story, you’ll cross paths with powerful new beings and unique takes on iconic characters, all caught in a struggle for the galaxy’s fate. It’s time to show the universe what you’re made of. You got this. Probably.
It’s a common thought that superhero movie fans have: “That was incredible, if they just made a game like that movie, it’d be soooo good.” Well,Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, developed by Eidos Montreal, flips the script, taking the irreverent personalities of a lot of the team that was established by the movies andtransplanting them into a game.
Every moment of runtime is filled with quippy line deliveries and fun choices that change entire mission structures. Frankly, at times, it’s hard to believe that our heroes are working to save the galaxy from an imminent threat, when they themselves are laughing just as much as the player is at all of it.
Psychonauts 2continues the story of Raz on his journey to become a Psychonaut, while also trying to find out the origins of his family and his psychic abilities. It also continues with the off-kilter humor that made the first entry such a cult classic.
It seems like a hard task for each new game in a series tolive up to the last. But in the case ofPsychonauts 2, it succeeds in retaining the distinct Double Fine humor, while also widening the story’s scope.
Borderlandsis an example of a series that found its lane and stuck with it, and surprise surprise,Borderlands 3has players select between a new set of vault hunters in the midst of another power grab by the villains of the story.
The game features many characters from the previous games for players that have stuck around since the beginning. That shouldn’t stop a newcomer from jumping in, though, even if they never played the previous games, as the comedy is often less about story context and more shaped by all the characters’ eccentricities.
