Sort 28 games:

The Needs Of The Many...

Most often in games, we are battling to survive no matter the cost to others. Games are usually a story about the wielding of power to achieve worthy ends. However, there are some games that embrace the limits of this use of power.

The games in this list, find another way to deal with insurmountable problems. Rather than overpowering enemies and situations, they offer a chance to lay down arms, find alternatives and in some cases sacrifice our character's agency (and sometimes life) in service of the greater good. Echoing Spock's "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one."

This list includes 28 games from the last 27 years, with 718 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to pay the ultimate price. We break them down into the following areas:

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, Brain Game, Collecting, Communication, Fighting, Narrative, Platform, Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Role-Play, Sequencing, Shooting, Simulation, Strategy and Traversal
Total Likes: 718

Related Lists

We have other Digital Stories lists of games:

Choose Sacrifice

Detroit: Become Human

Detroit: Become Human is a branching narrative game from Quantic Dream, the studio behind Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. This is the third game in the series and offers a more refined version of the filmic branching experience.

Life Is Strange

Life Is Strange (Series)

Life Is Strange is a click/tap-to-move adventure where you play a student at a high school in a sleepy American town. Despite the idyllic setting, you have a foreboding premonition of a disastrous storm. Along with this prophetic vision, you discover...

Heavy Rain

Heavy Rain is from the same Quantic Dream studio who made Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human. It preceded these games but shared the same branching narrative and photo-realistic aspirations.

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead (Series)

The Walking Dead is a survival adventure game series. You explore locations and gather a ragtag group of survivors. How you interact with each of them and make decisions about various dangers results in a branching story where no one is guaranteed to...

Mass Effect

Mass Effect (Series)

Mass Effect is a sci-fi adventure where you role-play a soldier named Commander Shepard, who must save the galaxy from a race of powerful mechanical beings. The series started in 2007 and has fourth substantial instalments that take you from that first...

Sacrificial Hero

Journey

Journey is an adventure game set in a desert. Exploring the eerie sandscape, you discover a world abandoned by the race that created it. The sense of space and scale evokes feelings of aloneness and being lost. But then the game pairs you with other...

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is an action platform game that places you in control of a diminutive elfish spirit called Ori. As in the previous game, you run, jump and solve platforming challenges to progress through the world. As you do, new powers...

Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is a game where you run, jump, and battle your way through the underground kingdom of Hallownest. It’s not uncommon for platform games to invest in the environments through which you pass, but the haunting depths in this game contain...

Planet of Lana

Planet of Lana is an adventure where you play a young girl Lana and her loyal animal friend Mui, on a rescue mission. Set on a planet under siege by cold machines and unfamiliar creatures. Rather than the war, though, this is a game about the vibrant...

Elden Ring

Elden Ring is a role-play game set in a fictional world created by fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin, with a focus on combat similar to Demon's Souls and an open world with real time and weather like Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Shadow Of The Colossus

Shadow Of The Colossus is an action-adventure game where you play a young man who enters a forbidden land to defeat sixteen massive beings to restore the life of a girl he cares about. It sounds like any other video game, although in fact, Shadow of the...

Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is an adventure game with a wild west theme and a prequel to Red Dead Redemption. As you explore a vast and varied open world, you partake in shootouts, heists, and elaborate chases across the...

Alan Wake

Alan Wake is a shooting game with a horror tone where you must survive the darkness and the terrors that dwell within it. You use your torch to weaken the monsters that hunt you, then switch over to conventional weapons to dispatch them. It stands out...

Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is an action-adventure game where you control two brothers at the same time with a single controller. After their mother passes away, they must find some water from the Tree of Life to save their father. The controls weave...

Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Call of Duty Modern Warfare is an action shooting game that recreates the adrenaline of being in a warzone. The games have walked the line between glamorising this kind of heroic violence and recreating the horror of the experience. Either way, these...

Persona

Persona (Series)

Persona 5 (also known as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona) is the latest game in a series of role-playing games that focus on a group of students. You explore the world and take on enemies like other role play games. Here though, you manage relationships...

Nier: Automata

Nier: Automata is a role-playing game, that span off from the Drakengard series. It's set in an alternate future where there is a war between alien machines and human androids. But this isn't a game about winning the war. It's more focused on the plight...

Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite is an adventure shooting game. Although the story is unconnected to the previous games in the series, it raises similar themes of dictatorship communities and alternative to capitalistic society. It's another nuanced and complex story...

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an adventure fighting game set in the Sengoku period in Japan. You play a shinobi known as Wolf, who has lost an arm, as he attempts to take revenge on a samurai clan who attacked him and kidnapped his lord.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Series)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and its sequel, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II are fighting-adventure games set in the Star Wars universe. You use force powers and lightsaber attacks to defeat enemies in fast-paced combat, and in the latest Switch...

Heavenly Sword

Heavenly Sword, similar to Enslaved, offers a heady mix of heroic storytelling and narrative. The fighting is styled on martial arts and the main character, Nariko, uses a weapon called the Heavenly Sword which changes into one of three forms depending...

Ori and the Blind Forest

Ori and the Blind Forest is a running and jumping game that places you in control of a diminutive guardian spirit. You traverse and solve platforming challenges to progress through the world while fighting off monsters. It's familiar territory but...

Dark Souls II

Dark Souls II is a fighting game with an emphasis on precise timing and extreme difficulty. You navigate through labyrinthine ruins and ancient kingdoms, defeating monsters with your weapons and magic. It pairs immense difficulty with a grand story and...

L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire is a narrative adventure where you play a police detective in 1947 Los Angeles. You explore the open world and solve crimes to advance through the ranks. As you interview suspects you need to not only pay attention to what they say but their...

Dark Souls

Dark Souls is a fighting game with an emphasis on precise timing and extreme difficulty. You navigate through labyrinthine ruins and ancient kingdoms, defeating monsters with your weapons and magic. A spiritual successor to [link to game/Demons+Souls...

Bloodborne

Bloodborne is a fighting game where you defeat monsters in demanding combat. As you navigate the labyrinthine levels, you use weapons, which can transform between fast-paced and weak and slower but more powerful forms, to attack, dodge, and parry...

Dark Souls III

Dark Souls III is a fighting game with an emphasis on precise timing and extreme difficulty. You explore labyrinthine ruins and ancient kingdoms and defeat monsters with your weapons and magic. The final entry in the Dark Souls trilogy features the same...

Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption is an adventure game set in a vast wild west open world. As you play, you meet characters, engage in shootouts and heists, and define your character's legacy in the twilight of the cowboy era. It stands out for the freedom it gives...

Curated lists:
Game genre:
Style of Play:
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:
Menu Navigation:

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

Search:
Type:

Minimum age rating:
Age of player:

In-game purchases:
Cost:
Released:

Gender and Sexuality
Gender and Sexuality Choices:
Gender Representation:
Sexual Orientation Representation:

Search by game

Search by interaction

Refine for your family

Video Game Accessibility Filters

Controls

Difficulty

Getting Started

Reading

Navigation

Visual

Audio

Communication

Board Game Accessibility Filters