Sort 31 games:

Looping Stories

Some games are designed to be finished in one go. Others require multiple sittings. But there are some that want to be played over and over again, Groundhog Day-style. These looping experiences are designed to slowly make sense as you repeat the same short period of time.

Looping games not only put you back at the start, but have events unfold exactly the same each time you play. This means you're not only given a second chance to do better, but another opportunity to understand what is happening and what you need to do in the game.

This can be to understand a set of complex systems. It can be to discover the order in which you need to do things to get the desired result. Or maybe it is to let you understand the characters enough to know what they need you to do.

The cherry on the top of these looping experiences is that after many many loops you are able to complete the game, with the realisation that you could have done this right at the start if you knew then what you know now.

This list includes 31 games from the last 14 years, with 404 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to peel back the onion skin.

List Details

PEGI Ratings: PEGI 3 to PEGI 18
ESRB Ratings: ESRB EVERYONE to ESRB MATURE 17+
Australian Ratings: G to R 18+
Genres: Action, Adventure, Battle, Brain Game, Collecting, Communication, Fighting, Narrative, Platform, Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Role-Play, Sequencing, Shooting, Simulation, Sports, Stealth, Strategy and Traversal
Total Likes: 404

Related Lists

We have other Digital Stories lists of games:

Overboard

Release Date: 02/06/2021

Out Now: Android, PC, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Hand-Made and Text

Overboard is a murder mystery narrative game played in reverse. You murder your husband at the start of the game and then try and get away with it. It's played on a ship where the characters are affected by your choices and changes their actions...

Loop Hero

Release Date: 03/02/2021, updated in 2022

Out Now: PC, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Cards, Grid, Hand-Made and Pixels

Loop Hero is a dungeon exploring adventure game where you use cards to create a world for your character to survive. Rather than control the hero yourself, you take the role of designer (or Dungeon Master) who use cards to create a world that is hard...

Ghost Trick

Release Date: 19/06/2010, updated in 2023

Out Now: DS, PC, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Coming Soon: PS4

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a narrative brain game where you play a ghost that can stop time to solve crimes and save lives. You can inhabit and control objects and possess corpses to alter what happens. His ultimate aim is to use his memories to...

Oxenfree

Release Date: 14/01/2016, updated in 2016

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Oxenfree is an adventure game where a teenagers’ beach party spirals into a supernatural story. You guide the outcome with your choices as the well-written dialogue reveals characters coming to terms with family breakdown, death of a sibling, blame...

Heaven's Vault

Release Date: 16/04/2019

Out Now: PC, PS4 and Switch

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

In Heaven’s Vault you play an archaeologist translating an ancient alien language whose decrypting weaves through an unfolding drama. While doing real linguistic work you interact with companions and locals. Your choices can open or close vast swathes...

Deathloop

Release Date: 21/05/2021, updated in 2022

Out Now: PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S

Components: 3D First-Person and Open World

Deathloop is a shooting game where you play an assassin stuck in a time loop. You wake on a beach while residents of Blackreef island have gathered for a party that seemingly lasts forever. Your mission is to assassinate 8 guests but at the end of each...

Elsinore

Release Date: 22/07/2019

Out Now: Mac and PC

Components: 2D Overhead and Cartoon

Elsinore is a mystery-adventure set in Shakespeare's Hamlet. You play Elsinore who repeats the same four days as she tries to find a way to avoid the tragedy that lies before her.

Hades

Release Date: 06/12/2018, updated in 2020

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead

Hades is a fighting game where you battle your way through dungeons to escape hell and the clutches of Hades. You play as Zagreus, the son of Hades and through the game you'll meet many recognisable greek gods like Zeus, Athena and Posiedon who will try...

Outer Wilds

Release Date: 11/12/2018, updated in 2023

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Coming Soon: Switch

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person, Day and Night and Open World

Outer Wilds is an exploration space mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time-loop. After 20 minutes of game time, you must start again – but each time brings a new opportunity to learn how you ended up on the planet and solve the...

Twelve Minutes

Release Date: 19/08/2021, updated in 2021

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Components: 2D Overhead

12 Minutes is an adventure thriller game about a single apartment building. You view things from above and can interact with a simple click and drag interface. What starts as a romantic evening with your wife turns into a nightmare when a police...

The Stanley Parable

Release Date: 31/07/2011, updated in 2022

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Components: 3D First-Person

The Stanley Parable is an interactive drama with no combat or action to speak of apart from walking around and interacting with everyday objects. You guide a silent protagonist, Stanley, while a discouraging narration plays in your ear. As you discover...

The Forgotten City

Release Date: 28/07/2021

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5 and Xbox One

Coming Soon: Switch and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and Open World

The Forgotten City is a mystery adventure. You explore and relive the final days of a cursed Roman city, where if one person sins, everyone dies. It starts as a bewildering array of characters, locations and information but over multiple goes your...

Returnal

Release Date: 30/04/2021, updated in 2023

Out Now: PC and PS5

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Returnal is a sci-fi shooting game played in repeating rounds that slowly change the world and your character. You are a pilot stranded on a mysterious planet and must investigate and fight through the world to both survive and solve the repeating...

Quantum League

Release Date: 26/05/2020

Out Now: PC

Coming Soon: Mac, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Quantum League is a shooting game where you go back in time when you die, to play through the same loop of the battle. You have three lives and so play through the same short gun-fight three times. But each time you have more knowledge about what the...

Minit

Release Date: 28/08/2018

Out Now: Android, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Minit is retro puzzle game where you complete small tasks in within a 60 second time frame. You must dodge or fight foes, cut through the undergrowth, explore your world and find keys and swords. You start from the same place for each of your 60 second...

Alt-Frequencies

Release Date: 16/05/2019

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, Switch and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Alt-Frequencies is an adventure game played by listening to a series of radio shows. It's a story about people stuck in a time loop without realising it and what you can do to save them.

Burly Men at Sea

Release Date: 29/09/2016, updated in 2018

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS4, Switch and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Burly Men at Sea is an adventure where you play three seafaring brothers who explore the Scandinavian seas. It's novel because it requires multiple playthroughs to discover the full narrative. It has a unique cyclical gameplay loop that remembers your...

Lemnis Gate

Release Date: 28/09/2021

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Components: 3D First-Person

Lemnis Gate is a combat game that combines turn-taking with real-time shooting. At the start of the battle, you pick one of your seven operatives for the first 25 second round. The game then rewinds to the start and you go again with your second...

Reventure

Release Date: 04/06/2019

Out Now: Android, PC, Switch and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Reventure is a running, jumping and flying game. Or, that's what it looks like. In fact, it's a game about discovering ways to die. The goal isn't the usual rescue the princess. Instead, you're on a scavenger hunt to discover the 100 different ways to die.

The Sexy Brutale

Release Date: 11/04/2017

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead

The Sexy Brutale is a time-loop adventure puzzle where you play an elderly priest who wakes up in a mansion on the day of a masquerade party. As you explore you realise its inhabitants are being killed off one by one. It stands out for the murder...

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

Release Date: 25/08/2022

Out Now: PC, PS4 and Switch

Coming Soon: Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Cards and Cartoon

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a narrative game about growing through teenage years on an alien planet. It's played by making choices about who to help or which skills to master over the ten years. This determines the course of your life on the colony...

Time Flies

Release Date: Coming soon

Coming Soon: PC, PS4, PS5 and Switch

Components: 3D Third-Person and Hand-Made

Time Flies is a traversal game about being a fly. Like the insect's own life, your life in the game is short. You fly through the black and white world with the simple aim of completing your bucket list of whimsical tasks.

Treasures of the Aegean

Release Date: 11/11/2021

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Treasures of the Aegean is a Tin Tin-style tomb raiding adventure game. You are Marie Taylor and unveil the secrets of a forgotten kingdom trapped in an endless time loop. To do this, in 15 minute runs you explore a hand-drawn world to recover valuable...

Vessels

Release Date: 08/12/2020

Out Now: PC

Components: 3D First-Person

Vessels is a narrative adventure where you wake to find yourself quarantined inside an airlock with no memory of how you got there. You speak to the crew to work out who you are and try to convince them not to jettison you into space. If you fail you...

Pendragon

Release Date: 22/09/2020

Out Now: Mac and PC

Components: 2D Overhead, Grid and Hand-Made

Pendragon is a character-driven strategy game, from the creators 80 Days and Heaven’s Vault where you rally the Knights of the Round Table to reach Arthur before he meets his fate.

Zero Escape

Zero Escape (Series)

Release Date: 10/12/2009, updated in 2016

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS, DS, PC, PS Vita, PS4, Xbox One and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On

Zero Escape, is a series of adventure games that follows a group of nine individuals, who are kidnapped and held captive by a person who goes by the name "Zero", and are forced to play a game of life and death in order to escape.

Flame Keeper

Release Date: 16/03/2023, updated in 2023

Out Now: PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead

Flame Keeper is a strategic fighting and collecting game where you gather energy to restore the eternal flame and save the world from evil monsters. As you explore and fight enemies in fast-paced combat, you sacrifice your health to collect energy and...

Kraken Academy

Release Date: 10/09/2021, updated in 2023

Out Now: PC, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Day and Night and Pixels

Kraken Academy is a narrative adventure where it's your first day at high school. No ordinary high school though, it's a melting pot of wacky personalities and fantasy goings-on: ghosts fill the art department, cultists meet below the monkey bars and...

Quantum Break

Release Date: 05/04/2016, updated in 2000

Out Now: PC and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 15+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Quantum Break is an adventure shooting game with action-packed combat sequences. You explore and influence a world where the time has been distorted, make important decisions in intense narrative scenes. Play is punctuated with live action TV-style...

Temporal Fuse

Temporal Fuse (Dreams)

Release Date: 20/04/2020

Out Now: PS4 and PS5

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Temporal Fuse is a puzzle game where you explore a building to defuse bombs. You only have 30 seconds, but time only proceeds when you move. This forces you to think carefully about each step and interaction. You will die, but each time you have learned...

Katana Zero

Release Date: 18/04/2019

Out Now: Mac, PC, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 15+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Katana Zero is a noir-styled fighting game where you are a samurai assassin. At (literally) breakneck speed you slash, dash and jump your way through side-on missions. The twist is if you die the game rewinds time and you try that loop again.

Curated lists:
Game genre:
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Components:

How long to play:
User-generated content:	No
Accessibility features:	Yes

Controls
Gamepad:
Mouse And Keyboard:
Touchscreen:
Motion:	Motion Aiming Motion Pointing Motion Tilting Motion Gesture Motion Camera
Remap Controls:
Button Combinations:	Holding Down Buttons Optional Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional No Simultaneous Buttons
Controller Vibration:
Sensitivity:

Getting Started
Onboarding Before Play:
Assistance Getting Starting:	Tutorials Practice Area View Control Mapping Assistance With Controls Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Adjust Speed No Jump Scares
Assistance For Progressing:	Guaranteed Progress With God Mode Bank Progress With Frequent Checkpoints Assisted Progress With Boosts Assisted Progress With Hints Assisted Recall for Characters Assisted Recall for Narrative and Dialogue Save Progress Anytime

Reading
Reading Level:
Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text High Contrast Text
Subtitles:
Captions:
Voice Acted:

Navigation
Clarity:
Head-Up Display:
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Visual
Contrast:
Interactive Elements:
Visual Distractions:
Audio Cues for Visual Events:
Narration for Visual Elements:
	Motion Sickness Friendly
Colour Options:
Play Without Sight:
Violence:

Audio
	Balance Audio Levels
Audio Events:
	Play Without Hearing

Communication
Player-to-Player Online Communication:
Online Communication Assistance:

Difficulty
Difficulty Options:	Simple and Full Version No Memorisation Advantage No Hidden Information No Deceit Advantage No Colour Advantage No Mathematics Advantage No Weighing Decisions

Getting Started
Assistance Getting Started:	Clear Manual Electronic Version of Manual Electronic Version of Manual for Screen Readers Getting Started Video Digital Version Reference Aid
Assistance Progressing:	Play Order Tokens (Or play order doesn’t change) Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Low Impact Catch Up Rule

Reading
Reading Level:
Necessary Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text on Board (Or no text required) Large Clear Text on Cards (Or no text required) High Contrast Text (Or no text required) QR Code For Text (Or no text required) Primary and Secondary Text Distinguishable (Or no text required) Information Orientation Clear Icons

Physical
Pieces:	Components are Distinguishable by Touch Components are Replaceable No Non-Standard Dice (Or No Dice) No Tiny Pieces No Paper Money No Sprawl
Cards:	Large Card Size Standard Card Shape Limited Hand Management No Excessive Card Shuffling No Right-Handed Advantage
Placement:	No Unbound Placement Player Components Not Shared No Fiddly Placement Easily Verbalised Actions

Visual
Printed Visibility:	Colour Blind Friendly Design Double-Coding Colour High Contrast Colours
Component Identifiability:	Outline Key Elements No Busy Backgrounds Easily Verbalised Game State No Close Inspection Disadvantage Playable Without Sight

Audio
Communication:	Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals) No Pressured Reveals No Pressured Communication Playable Without Hearing

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Looping Stories

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