History Main / RealTimeWithPause

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', ''[[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas New Vegas]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}} 4]]'' have V.A.T.S. mode, where the game is paused mid-battle, and the player can target an enemy's bodyparts. This is unique in that once unpaused, the game goes into a slow-motion replay of the shooting sequence that was queued in V.A.T.S, temporarily taking away the player's control of his character. The game then proceeds right back into full realtime mode. It is pretty much essential by design to keep its AP-based combat roots: because if your gun skill isn't high (as in 75 and up) enough, the gunshots will wildly recoils around and it's pretty much difficult to desirably aim limbs or body parts without V.A.T.S.

* Similar to ''ParasiteEve'' above, ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'' uses a system where the main character Ashley Riot, when not in battle, can run around, jump, move boxes and other objects, and solve puzzles. However, when attacking an enemy, the game freezes, and you can pick an enemy's body part to attack out of all in range. The game also stays frozen ''while'' you attack, but the same applies to enemies as well.

* ''VideoGame/MiniMetro'' lets the player pause anytime they so choose in order to give them time to plan their metro lines optimally.

** ''VideoGame/{{Caesar}}''

** ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}''[=/=]''Cleopatra''
** ''Zeus''[=/=]''Poseidon''
** ''VideoGame/EmperorRiseOfTheMiddleKingdom''

Over the course of the years, there have been many diverse and sometimes very successful attempts to combine aspects of both groups into a single game. The intended result is usually to keep the smooth pace of Realtime games, while allowing for more forethought and elaborate interfaces as in Turn-Based games. The hybrid is then said to belong to the category of ''Realtime With Pause'' games (RTWP, or PausableRealtime [PRT]). In some cases, the hybridization simply makes a fast game more accessible to slower-fingered players.

* In ''VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram'' you can open part action windows while paused, this allows for things to happen simultaneously.

* ''StarWars: Empire At War'' has a tiny, hard-to-reach pause button with no hot-key associated with it. It clearly was not intended (or at least badly designed) to pause the game often enough in mid-combat for it to be useful. There are third-party mods that add a hotkey, making it a viable feature. Considering the quick pace of battles in this game, it is not surprising that such mods were developed. Some players consider this cheating, however.

* ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}''

* ''[[http://www.vgaplanets.com/ VGA Planets]]'' was one of the early FourX games using Simultaneous Turn Resolution.

* ''VideoGame/{{Starsector}}'' works this way both in general flight and during combat. The game pauses automatically whenever the combat command interface is opened.

* In the same vein, ''VideoGame/CitiesSkylines'' also runs in real time except when paused, although you may also react to disasters while paused.

* The battle portion of ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' games. The strategy portion is purely turn-based. However it's subverted in the highest difficulty of ''[[VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2 Shogun 2]]'', as it removes the option to pause, in addition to a large number of other handicaps in order to make the game more difficult.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', ''[[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas New Vegas]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}} 4]]'' have V.A.T.S. mode, where the game is paused mid-battle, and the player can target an enemy's bodyparts. This is unique in that once unpaused, the game goes into a slow-motion replay of the shooting sequence that was queued in V.A.T.S, temporarily taking away the player's control of his character. The game then proceeds right back into full realtime mode. Averted in ''Fallout 4'', V.A.T.S. was changed to merely slow down time instead of pausing the game completely, such that real time combat continues in slow motion around you and you could potentially be wounded or killed while in V.A.T.S mode.

* ''VideoGame/BattleBugs'' is designed around this, and precision to a fraction of a second in the orders for several different units is needed to win many of the later mission.

** ''VideoGame/BigPharma''

* ''VideoGame/StrangeAdventures'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/WeirdWorlds'', during the battle sequences.

* ''VideoGame/CrookzTheBigHeist'' works like this, in a departure from its Spiritual Ancestor ''VideoGame/TheSting'' (see below).
* ''VideoGame/{{Stunts}}'' is a rare racing game example of this. Pausing a racing game to think of your next move may not sound very useful, as you generally pause too late to do any good. That's why Stunts allows you to rewind and restart from any previous point in time. It crosses over in the unintentional category as the feature was intended to exist, but it wasn't intended to allow you to set official record times. Amongst the fan community racing with "replay handling" is now more popular than without, and it allows for some pretty crazy stunts using the bugs the game features.

* The space strategy game ''VideoGame/{{Flotilla}}'' is basically exactly that. You usually only have 2 to 5 units and order every single one of them to move somewhere on the 3D grid, shoot at an enemy (or not) and turn, tilt and roll over during the execution phase. This precision is needed since they all have ridiculous armor on the front and the top and are '''very''' vulnerable at the back and the bottom.

* ''VideoGame/LaserSquadNemesis''

* The board game ''TableTop/RoboRally''.

* ''VideoGame/StarHammer''

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', ''[[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas New Vegas]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}} 4]]'' have V.A.T.S. mode, where the game is paused mid-battle, and the player can target an enemy's bodyparts. This is unique in that once unpaused, the game goes into a slow-motion replay of the shooting sequence that was queued in V.A.T.S, temporarily taking away the player's control of his character. The game then proceeds right back into full realtime mode. In ''Fallout 4'', V.A.T.S. was updated to merely slow down time instead of pausing the game completely, such that real time combat continues in slow motion around you and you could potentially be wounded or killed while in V.A.T.S mode.