History Main / DeconstructionGame

* ''VideoGame/ProgressQuest'': {{RPG}}s that assign players randomly generated quests and don't require any real strategy. After creating a player (which has no bearing on the game itself), the game automates grinding and fetch quests which is all the game is.

* ''VideoGame/ProgressQuest'': {{RPG}}s that assign players randomly generated quests and don't require any real strategy. The game automates grinding and fetch quests which is all the game is.

** ''VideoGame/ProgressQuest'' takes it even further, with no degree of player interaction beyond creating your character (which actually has no effect on "game" "play" anyway...) It could be argued that it's more of an exercise in waiting rather than a game.

[[folder:General]]
* {{Simulation game}}s in general can be seen as this to many traditional video game genres. Whereas many video games based on real-life activities [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality make many concessions to realism for the sake of fun and playability]], the point of a simulator is to replicate the activity in as realistic a manner as possible, with accurate physics, mechanics, rules, damage, and more. It's the difference between ''VideoGame/{{GRID}}'' and ''VideoGame/GranTurismo'', ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' and ''VideoGame/DigitalCombatSimulator'', ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' and ''VideoGame/{{ARMA}}'', or ''VideoGame/TecmoBowl'' and ''VideoGame/MaddenNFL''.
* {{Cinematic Platform Game}}s are {{Platform Game}}s that are bound to the limitations of real life physics and human abilities: characters can't jump their height, [[JumpPhysics change direction mid-air]], or [[FallDamage survive a sufficiently long fall]], among many other limitations listed on the former page. The [[{{Rotoscoping}} lavishly-animated]] objects change how the game feels to play, giving each movement a sense of weight; even mundane actions like picking up an object or [[DoNotRunWithAGun drawing ones weapons]] feel drawn out in comparison to the instantaneous actions of typical platform games. While some of these games have surprisingly complicated control schemes in comparison to typical {{Platform Game}}s, to match the complexity of their LeParkour movesets, the realistic physics alone make them feel like a completely different genre altogether.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/Receiver2'' is a general deconstruction of gun tropes. Guns are finicky, capable of jamming in a number of ways, requiring manual reloads of the magazine bullet-by-bullet, discharging if handled inappropriately, and each gun is filled with its own little quirks. Their lethality also isn't understated: Two shots from most pistols kills you, one shot from a rifle-calibre bullet or a Desert Eagle kills you. The tapes you find in game frequently call out standard tropes and give realistic gun advice, recommending looking up local laws, confirming your targets, and ensuring that proper escalation has been followed to avoid unnecessary deaths and potential prison time.

** Contrastly, the [[AlternateUniverse kinda-sequel]] ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' deconstructs ButThouMust, [[DialogueTree Dialogue Trees]], and StrictlyFormula [=RPGs=], showing how suffocating and bleak it would be to live in a world where choices are superfluous at most and [[AnthropicPrinciple nothing changes until a random person fulfills specific conditions]]. You are told straight-up that none of your choices matter and many of said choices get rescinded immediately after they were offered, starting with [[CharacterSelectForcing your customized character being thrown out to force you to play as Kris]]. After awhile the {{Railroading}} gets so pushy that it almost feels abusive, like the game creepily insisting that [[BlatantLies you accept everything that happens]] or characters [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic rudely interrupting you while you're trying to pick dialogue options]].

* ''PokemonStrangledRed'' discusses an eponymous hacked game within a DeconstructionFic.

* ''VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}'', the customizable fighting engine by Elecbyte, can be seen as a deconstruction of crossover fighting games, as well as games with [[GuestFighter Guest Characters]], as you can see the far more realistic consequences of having characters in your roster with [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules widely different rules]] and gameplay. Gaze in awe as characters from games with the simpler mechanics [[note]]''Franchise/StreetFighter'', ''[[VideoGame/GlobalChampion Kaiser Knuckle]]'', the Creator/{{SNK}} fighters, and in general, fighters from the 90s[[/note]] are [[CurbStompBattle mercilessly demolished]] by characters from fast-paced, combo-oriented games [[note]]''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'', ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear''[[/note]], or games with more complex mechanics [[note]]''VideoGame/MeltyBlood'', ''VideoGame/ArcanaHeart'', ''VideoGame/UnderNightInBirth''[[/note]]. And don't even get us started on [[Manga/OnePunchMan Saitama]].
** It can also be counted as a DeconReconSwitch thanks to the customizability of the engine, it is possible to edit the files and states of your characters, weaken the overpowering ones and buff the weaker ones for a proper balancing.

* ''[[http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=gjfpoi9klpbrfyoa In The End]]'': [[spoiler: UnwinnableByDesign]]
* ''[[http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=0stz0hr7a98bp9mp Rameses]]'': ButThouMust
* ''[[http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=22oqimzgf8snv002 Rematch]]'': TrialAndErrorGameplay
* ''VideoGame/SpiderAndWeb'': [[spoiler: SecondPersonNarration]]

* While not otherwise a deconstruction, ''Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts'' opens with a GottaCatchEmAll sequence played ludicrously simple. The fact that this is coming from [[HypocriticalHumor Rare]] makes it all the more painful.

** Most video games have their economies based around buying and selling items of fixed value. Cruelty Squad ties its economy to an extremely volatile stock market, where not only stock prices but the prices of organs and fish are prone to wild swings during and in-between missions. The stocks are also influenced by what happens in missions too. Get a mission to take out the CEOs of a company on the market? You better sell your investments in that company before going through with that mission, lest you lose your shirt when the stock plummets afterward.
* ''VideoGame/DutyCalls'' is this combined with MediumAwareness.

* ''Videogame/DemonsSouls'', including its [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual sequels]] ''Videogame/DarkSouls'', ''Videogame/DarkSoulsII'', ''Videogame/{{Bloodborne}}'', ''Videogame/DarkSoulsIII'', and ''Videogame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'', seems to be deconstructing modern conveniences of modern videogame features. Autosaves? DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist? The games uses those features against the player instead to help the player, by having valuable ExperiencePoints dropped upon death, and if failed to be collected, it will lost. Not to mention that after death, the player character enter a weakened state that must be restored with a cost... Multiplayer? Only trust will help the player.

* ''Videogame/{{Tyrian}}'' also deconstruct the concept of OneManArmy in a different way. The protagonist, Trent, is supposedly just an escapee that witnessed a corrupt MegaCorp killing his friend and said MegaCorp, Microsol, decided HeKnowsTooMuch. Trent then made contact with Microsol's enemy, Gencore, and singlehandedly won a lot of decisive victories. Later it turns out that Gencore's head is a CorruptCorporateExecutive that, after four episodes worth of missions, decided to exploit the protagonist's OneManArmy credentials further to cut costs of sending an entire battle fleet. Trent naturally got sick of this and went MIA after tying up the loose ends against Microsol.

** ''VideoGame/NieR'', in addition to [[DeconstructorFleet deconstructing several aspects of JRPG's and "save the world" plotlines in games]], also deconstructs the concept of a "dungeon" and lampshades the concept of arbitrary challenges and rules placed at certain segments in games by having the characters point out how ridiculous the "rules" of the temple they're in are. These challenges also seem to be deliberately unfun and tedious to get through.

** [[http://tinysubversions.com/game/ywhtwt/ You Were Hallucinating The Whole Time]] is an even bigger deconstructionist mockery by adding meaningless [[ShockingSwerve shocking swerves]] to classic video games and pointing out that [[YouBastard criticizing people for unrealistic entertainment is stupid.]]

* ''[[http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=1z2lxiqua980sedk +=3]]'': Standard intfic assumptions, [[spoiler:specifically that your inventory is the sum total of items on your person that you can interact with.]]

** Contrastly, the [[AlternativeUniverse kinda-sequel]] ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' deconstructs ButThouMust, [[DialogueTree Dialogue Trees]], and StrictlyFormula [=RPGs=], showing how suffocating and bleak it would be to live in a world where choices are superfluous at most and [[AnthropicPrinciple nothing changes until a random person fulfills specific conditions]]. You are told straight-up that none of your choices matter and many of said choices get rescinded immediately after they were offered, starting with [[CharacterSelectForcing your customized character being thrown out to force you to play as Kris]]. After awhile the {{Railroading}} gets so pushy that it almost feels abusive, like the game creepily insisting that [[BlatantLies you accept everything that happens]] or characters [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic rudely interrupting you while you're trying to pick dialogue options]].

** Contrastly, the [[AlternaticeUniverse kinda-sequel]] ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' deconstructs ButThouMust, [[DialogueTree Dialogue Trees]], and StrictlyFormula [=RPGs=], showing how suffocating and bleak it would be to live in a world where choices are superfluous at most and [[AnthropicPrinciple nothing changes until a random person fulfills specific conditions]]. You are told straight-up that none of your choices matter and many of said choices get rescinded immediately after they were offered, starting with [[CharacterSelectForcing your customized character being thrown out to force you to play as Kris]]. After awhile the {{Railroading}} gets so pushy that it almost feels abusive, like the game creepily insisting that [[BlatantLies you accept everything that happens]] or characters [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic rudely interrupting you while you're trying to pick dialogue options]].

--> '''[[spoiler:Sans]]''': [[ReasonYouSuckSpeech You'll never give up, even if there's no benefit to persevering whatsoever. No matter what, you'll just keep on going. Not out of any desire for good or evil... but just because you think you can. And because you can, you have to.]]
** The No Mercy route also can be seen as a deconstruction of playing a VillainProtagonist, especially in games with {{Karma Meter}}s and/or MultipleEndings. Plenty of games that have the option of being "evil" often try to play it off for RuleOfCool, RuleOfFunny, or still have you in a [[BlackAndGreyMorality "lesser of two evils" situation]]. Not Undertale. To do a No Mercy run, you need to go out of your way to hunt down and kill absolutely everything you can, and the game will make you feel horrible for it. The quirky humor of the game vanishes, replaced by a dark and dreary ambiance. The [=NPCs=] will either run from you in terror or treat you like the despicable scum you are. All the encounters are either pathetically easy or hair-pullingly hard so that you never get to actually enjoy yourself in battle. Your sympathies throughout the whole thing will lie with the victims. All of the game's puzzles are automatically solved (because Flowey is helping you), and all non-essential areas are warded off by force fields, so you can't do anything except fight. And most importantly, if despite all that you still go through with it, you can never "reset" your way out of the consequences - short of tampering with your computer, your sins will remain with you forever.
** Firstly, the game completely plays with your perception of LevelGrinding. Play through the game like it's a normal RPG, fighting enemies and bosses, earning exp and leveling up? Well, at the end of the game you're told that [[spoiler: [[ExperiencePoints EXP]] stands for '''Ex'''ecution '''P'''oints, and is a measurement unit for [[YouBastard how much pain you've inflicted on others,]] while [[CharacterLevel LV,]] or [[FunWithAcronyms LOVE]] as it's otherwise called in ''Undertale,'' is '''L'''evel '''o'''f '''V'''iolenc'''e''', and acts as a measurement unit of [[ItGetsEasier how desensitized you've]] [[GainingTheWillToKill become to killing.]] Playing this way puts you on track for the worst ending, which reveals that ''YOU'', the player, are the real villain of the story, and every boss you mercilessly cut down was a HeroAntagonist out to stop you. It also invokes BeingEvilSucks by making every fight an AnticlimaxBoss that goes down in one hit, and the few that don't are designed to be [[ThatOneBoss as frustrating as possible]].]] TakeAThirdOption by sparing the sympathetic characters and [[WhatMeasureIsAMook only killing minor enemies]]? [[spoiler:You're told that every monster you killed could have had friends and family, the general populous and one of those main characters will still remember you as a mass murderer, and you get called out for being a hypocrite.]] The only way to achieve the best ending is through a PacifistRun.
** Even that contains a bit of this: the BigBad actually hints you towards the True Ending because he ''knows'' that you'll want to go for it as a completionist, and through this [[spoiler: uses you to get everyone you befriended into one place so he can absorb their souls.]] The game also plays with your notions of OneHundredPercentCompletion: the game itself ''begs'' you not to reset after achieving a happy ending, because you'd be taking that away from all the characters. If you reset a Pacifist file and go for an evil playthrough out of curiosity, multiple [=NPCs=] will be aware of this and will [[YouBastard call you out on it.]] And getting the worst ending even ''once'' permenantly taints any future happy ending you achieve. In other words, exploring every route the game has to offer is a ''very'' bad thing, some paths are better off never being taken.
** The game also plays with the concept of saving by exploring one simple question: ''what does saving and resetting look like to the characters within a game?'' One character is BrilliantButLazy simply due to being aware of the player's save/reload powers: he knows the world is being continually reset, so he doesn't see the point of caring about anything anymore. Other characters are aware of what you did in earlier files, some bosses are ''aware of how many times you've died to them'' and as said above, resetting a True Ending file is seen as undoing everyone's happy ending. The few characters who are fully aware of the resetting treat the player as some kind of horrifying RealityWarper who torments them out of boredom. Oh, and [[spoiler: the FinalBoss ''can SAVE too''.]]
** Contrastly, the sequel ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' deconstructs ButThouMust, [[DialogueTree Dialogue Trees]], and StrictlyFormula [=RPGs=], showing how suffocating and bleak it would be to live in a world where choices are superfluous at most and [[AnthropicPrinciple nothing changes until a random person fulfills specific conditions]]. You are told straight-up that none of your choices matter and many of said choices get rescinded immediately after they were offered, starting with [[CharacterSelectForcing your customized character being thrown out to force you to play as Kris]]. After awhile the {{Railroading}} gets so pushy that it almost feels abusive, like the game creepily insisting that [[BlatantLies you accept everything that happens]] or characters [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic rudely interrupting you while you're trying to pick dialogue options]].

* ''Videogame/{{Tyrian}}'' also deconstruct the concept of OneManArmy in a different way. The protagonist, Trent, is supposedly just an escapee that witnessed a corrupt MegaCorp killing his friend and said MegaCorp, Microsol, decided HeKnowsTooMuch. Trent then made contact with Microsol's enemy, Gencore, and singlehandedly won a lot of decisive victories. Later it turns out that Gencore's head is a CorruptCorporateExecutive that, after four episodes worth of missions, decided to exploit the protagonist's OneManArmy credentials further to expand Gencore's own influence. Trent naturally got sick of this and went MIA after tying up the loose ends against Microsol.

* ''VideoGame/SpookysJumpScareMansion'' appears to be at first a deconstruction of horror games and their ever-increasingly usage of {{Jump Scare}}s... [[spoiler:but when you reach room 100 [[DeconReconSwitch the creepy stuff happens]].]]

* Both of the ''VideoGame/Kane&Lynch'' games are surprisingly subtle deconstructions of crime-themed action games. Both deliberately avoid glorifying violence, and instead goes out of its way to portray realistic consequences of it, such as the firefights being messy with civilians very frequently being caught in the crossfire. The two main protagonists are also portrayed as desperate, selfish and destructive, as to show how morally bankrupt one would have to be to commit the actions of the anti-heroic protagonists found in titles like Grand Theft Auto as well as how horrible they would actually be.

* Both of the ''VideoGame/Kane&Lynch '' games are surprisingly subtle deconstructions of crime-themed action games. Both deliberately avoid glorifying violence, and instead goes out of its way to portray realistic consequences of it, such as the firefights being messy with civilians very frequently being caught in the crossfire. The two main protagonists are also portrayed as desperate, selfish and destructive, as to show how morally bankrupt one would have to be to commit the actions of the anti-heroic protagonists found in titles like Grand Theft Auto as well as how horrible they would actually be.

They often make use of PlayingThePlayer and can range in length from short flash games that exist to make a short point about the trope involved, indie projects written and coded by one or a handful of people, all the way up to high quality blockbuster AAA titles that utilise their high budgets & technology to make statements within the context of mechanical similarity to the games they are deconstructing.

* ''VideoGame/{{ICEY}}'': The narrator will not so subtly hint that your whole purpose in the game is to kill the "final" boss, and that you should ALWAYS follow the floating guide arrows, and NEVER stray from the path laid out before you. In actuality, disobeying the Narrator and breaking the game flow is the only way to [[PlayingThePlayer uncover the true ending... among other things.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' uses EXP, LV, saving, and loading as relevant plot points. Additionally, it brutally deconstructs the idea of OneHundredPercentCompletion with it's Genocide Route: [[spoiler: Not only does completing a genocide run irrevocably taint any subsequent playthroughs,]] the game will frequently remind you that you are going out of your way to murder everyone you come across, just to see what will happen - or even worse, [[YouBastard just because you]] ''[[VillainProtagonist can.]]''