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[Fbh]

Mentioned already but definitely Furi, one of my favorites in this sort of "boss rush" genre.



Fun gameplay with nice visuals and music.
All bosses are unique, with their own small stages and unique mechanics. They actually change things up quite a bit while maintaining the same core gameplay. Sometimes it feels more like a fast paced twin stick shooter, others like a bullet hell, then more like a melee focused action game, etc.

 

[Aion002]

You're talking about boss rush games, where each fight is unique against a type of enemy. Shadow of Colossus is that with an open world tossed in the middle.


Other games without the open world are Furi and Cuphead.

On Sekiro and Nioh 1 and 2 you can unlock boss rush modes (special missions), where you fight one boss after the other.

 

[meech]

The Witcher series s famous for this. Joke. Its was too much effort in the past to give each npc an unique face, but tech like this can maybe change that: https://generated.photos/faces

 

[WizeVibez]

Boss Rush games are obviously the defacto answers for this thread. Some games come close like Shadow of Mordor/War. And I haven't played Watchdogs Legion yet, but if every npc has a unique name/identity/abilities then I suppose that could count.

Maybe Absolver? Haven't played that either.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[WizeVibez]

Shadow of the Colossus all enemies have the same glowing weak point and you have to climb them to hit it.
Not unique.

Close enough to the premise of the OP and you failed to provide any example of your own.

 

[01011001]

Watch Dogs Legion maybe? every AI in the game has a different name and biography which you can look at through your phone. many of them you can also recruit

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[The artful mincer]

Have you played SotC? It makes every encounter exciting and the moments between them both relaxing and yet filled with tension knowing another giant battle lies ahead. I can charge forward on my stead while taking in the leaves, rays of light or swirling clouds undisturbed and contemplating the meaning of the encounters while knowing excitement is just around the corner.

Yep its certainly a good game. The unique boss fights certainly make each encounter memorable.

Personally I enjoyed it but I feel its overrated. There's very little gameplay depth and the colossi are exciting to fight first time but boring on repeat playthroughs.

However its definitely a unique game and adding a bunch of mob enemies would have likely ruined the vibe they were going for.

 

[WizeVibez]

There was no premise to begin with.

Visual design? Behavior? Quantity? Bosses?

You tell me.

The example in the OP really explains it all, Shadow of the Colossus contains no fodder mob enemies or any repeated creatures/hostiles for the player to combat.
Each fight in the game is against a unique creature model with different patterns to learn and deal with.
OP is looking for any other games that engage with this design philosophy.
So far only Boss Rush style games fit the parameters exactly.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Danjin44]

Shadow of the Colossus all enemies have the same glowing weak point and you have to climb them to hit it.
Not unique.

Seriously!? "glowing weak point" is part of the game's mechanics, every Colossus have different shape, size and behaviour. You have to figure out how to climb them and figure out how to get to glowing parts.

 

[haxan7]

You need to explain it better

A game can have a unique enemy using a base of "this thing only exists in this game, and it's very different than any other game", like this:

or the example that you used, which apparently is "there's one thing and only one thing. You kill and move to the next"

I hit my quota of dicks viewed per day early today, thanks

 

[mortal]

The thing is SotC is mostly boss fights, it doesn't have regular enemies for you to fight, so games like Monster Hunter series come close to that design philosophy.

How can they be bosses when there aren't any mobs or goons to fight in the game?

Think, Danjin44, think..

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[PleaseDontBanMe]

the game of life

 

[BeardGawd]

Cuphead comes to mind. Epic boss fights and the stages themselves are a unique enemy.

 

[BadBurger]

Punchout

 

[V4skunk]

Binding of isaac

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

TLOU2...every enemy was an individual person.

 

[RoadHazard]

What about the evil, dangerous lizards in SotC though? Those repeat.

 

[MisterBrimstone]

Super Puch Out

 

[Alebrije]

PAC MAN

Each of the 4 enemies behave different.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Every visit to the toilet posses new challenges.

Boss challenges usually pop-up straight after spicy Thai food.

 

[Roman Empire]

I guess fighting games and boss rush games would fall into this category