Discussion Monochrome games you played and want to recommend

[Virtual Ruminant]

Got the idea for this thread while playing OVIVO and remembering Parallax while doing so. Monochrome/1-bit graphics are a perennial darling indie style choice, because it stands out, can look really cool and interesting, saves resources and often cuts down on development time. On the flipside, there's a lot of monochrome garbage (mostly in black-and-white) around these days. This thread is for the good stuff. Help it stand out!

Thread rules:

• Doesn't have to be super-strictly monochrome. For example, if you would like to feature Downwell in this thread, it fits the bill. Same with black-and-white-games that use the rare sprinkle of color for accents (neo-noir look).
• On the other hand, games with just somewhat desaturated graphics do not belong in here. E.g. This War of Mine or Valiant Hearts - The Great War do not qualify.
• True 1-bit graphics like Return of the Obra Dinn absolutely on topic!
• Should be intentionally monochrome, not forced by hardware restrictions. In other words, don't post all your favorite Gameboy games. Although that would be a pretty rad thread, I'd read it.

 

[Stevey]

Betrayer is great.

They added an option in to make it colour, but I never used it.
So atmospheric.

 

[kio]

There are quite a few that I remember playing and enjoying:

 

[Virtual Ruminant]

For completeness sake, here's the titles I mentioned in the op already:


Abstract first-person puzzler that dispenses with story and color for pure, focused puzzling. I loved it, but it really is for hardcore fans of the genre, since there is nothing to string you along other than the challenge.


This game mis-brands itself a little bit as "meditative". Don't be fooled, there's challenging platforming in here, too.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

Death Crown was in my top three games of last year. I'll also link the Meta thread for it since the opening post does a great job giving an overview of what it is. But think of it mostly as a very simple RTS:

|OT| - Death Crown - a really neat fast-paced 1-bit RTS

Thanks to deep dive (seriously, thanks AI, I think we might never have found this one without it), yesterday a friend and I found Death Crown while looking for more unusual local co-op games. Really, just watch the trailer: It's pretty much exactly like it looks. A single-screen RTS with a...

metacouncil.com

Cypher is a big favorite of mine despite barely being a proper game. It's made by Matthew Brown, that most people know from Hexcells, but it's a game really centered around cryptography. If you really get into it you can actually learn how the Enigma Machine worked and even manually decode phrases. But it goes into many different realms of cryptography beyond that. It could be nearly as effective as just sheets of paper with the same puzzles but I loved playing it and it's one of the very rare times I took notes of the puzzles outside the game and had scribblings all over and looked like a nut:


Edit: Virtual Ruminant I'm assuming you don't intend to include games that are monochrome because they're played using what's essentially an in-game computer system. Stuff like TIS-100 for example (Ha, bad example, forgot it has red as well. But the point is the same.)

 

[Stevey]

There are quite a few that I remember playing and enjoying:

Gato Roboto is awesome.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Hook on Steam.
Simple to play but gets tricky later. only 79p too. cheap as chips! Basically you have to "untangle" the hooks by sliding them out one at a time.

 

[Prodigy]

I was going to mention Betrayer, but that is covered.

Then there is White Night

Limbo

Not sure if it counts but The Sabateur

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

West of Loathing? I've only ever seen positive things about it.


Kingdom of Loathing is it's online, freebie predecessor.

The Kingdom of Loathing

The Kingdom of Loathing (or KoL, as it has come to be known by its player base) is a free, comical RPG, brought to you by the folks at Asymmetric Games.

www.kingdomofloathing.com

 

[Rando10123]

Limbo counts I think.

Also remembered this game but it's still in early access, it's pretty good though

Ghosts of Tsushima can be played in Black and White like all these Akira Kurosawa movies, but not sure if it counts or not for this thread.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Antichamber is a first-person, geometric, space warping puzzler which is predominantly monochrome with splashes of colour and will twist your melon!
Like seriously, this game will mess you up.

Not sure if these count. One i haven't played, the other uses 4 colours!

I always wanted to play Echochrome a puzzler with Escher inspired geometry and perspective twisting gameplay. PSP and PS3 tho.

Not sure if this counts, it kinda does for me, but might not fit what you want as It uses a 4 colour palette. It's a narrative, explorer/mapping/discovery and documenting game with you as an AI guiding a stranded xenobiologist through an alien ocean.

edit: oh well, one out of three ain't bad. Could have been 0 out of 3. lol.

 

[Virtual Ruminant]

Antichamber

As much as I love Antichamber, it very much does not fit the criteria of this thread. A lot of that game is positively color-coded! And parts of it are as bright as a parrot in front of a rainbow.

I always wanted to play Echochrome a puzzler with Escher inspired geometry and perspective twisting gameplay. PSP and PS3 tho.

I'll co-sign for this one. In fact, I just bought it, was only 5 bucks.

In other waters

Another great game, but no.

Ghosts of Tsushima

Wow, you got to play it already? Spill some juicy deets!