This is (probably) going to be a video at some point, but The Henry Stickmin Collection represents games that are “more of a game than an experience” at their best.

(Big ol’ thread)

It’s because the game puts an emphasis on decisions that are either comedic fails or branch out and influence other “episodes”. Most choice-based games don’t give the player enough info on the choices (fallout, telltale games for example) and HSC makes it part of the joke.

You don’t know the outcome of every choice, and yet you don’t suffer from making the wrong one; you just hit “retry” and try another one. You either get a joke, or progress. Sometimes both.

If you play through one path of the full collection, then you only scratch the surface of what it has to offer. This means, in theory, it has FAR more replayability through its various choices.

Most choice-based games just have different dialogue, a cosmetic change, or a different scene play out if you’re lucky. Minecraft Story Mode, DDLC and Bioshock don’t have 12 distinctly different endings. HSC has WAY more than that.

It’s very similar to the Stanley Parable in the references, player choice, multiple endings and them both being comedy games at heart.

You might get just as much out of a letsplay, but the game benefits from playing it blindly yourself more than DDLC or MC:SM in my opinion.

I don’t have a good way to end this thread. I like the Henry Stickmin Collection, and I hope you experience it, if not blindly play it for yourself.