Does anyone know any games such as ‘A Dark Room’ or games similar or synonymous to those type of games- like Kobayashi Maru (for you star Trekkies)? Thanks in advance.
Unfair Mario’s last level is unwinnable.
I suppose it depends on how you define un-winnable. Games with impossible situations and perhaps even downer endings?
If you haven’t already try Paradox Factor. I won’t say anything more because spoilers.
Hmm. I want to say Creatures Such As We does some meta-commentary on the subject of endings and unwinnable situations too. My brain’s super-fuzzy at the moment though so I could just be misremembering.
Personally I’ve played both, but by unwinmable i meant… Its hard for me to explain unless you’ve played a dark room or the sequel - they’re both text based as well
Technicly the unwinnable games are the games that set you up for the highest stats and then set you up for failure by a predetermined course.
Yeah… But ummm i kinda wanted the name of an in-winnable game, not just a description
I can’t picture a game that…is really un beatable…I mean there are general multiplayer games that have no end like…like…like…ruse…rules…rune…runescape ah that’s it. There’s no end to such games just…updates and the likes, but I don’t think that’s what your meaning…
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Not really… But at least thanks for ummm trying to help. Plus, there’s more to life than runescape, there’s minecraft and films and stuff!
True enough, but that was the first game that doesn’t really have an end to it that came off the top of my head. Though…all games that are multiplayer, well the majority are kinda without an end.
Sorry mate!
Hmmm… I’ve noticed my problem is that when i really really like a game ( none in particular, except FateHaven and Samuel’s Demon Hunter Trial thing that were amazing) i get really annoyed when it ends… maybe I should talk to my therapist, y’know, instead of the voices in my head 
That my friend, worries me =p
Though I understand what you mean a bit more now. There is always skyrim. Once you beat their (though pretty short storyline) You can go through the world still and go on continuously through the world. There are other such games, though I can’t think ofit off the top of my head. If your meaning cog, I’m working on something of the likes. With added difficulty through the game…though it doesn’t really work with COG, unless we’re able to send updates on a weekly basis for our games that won’t cause restarts, which I’m sure doesn’t exist. Sadly all good things, must come to an end.
I instantly thought of Creatures Such As We. I considered it unwinnable, the game within the game was arguably unwinnable, and I disliked that immensely. Which I suppose was the point, to make a game that provoked reactions.
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@Sashira I loved Creatures Such As We, but I also agree with you. It was unwinnable. Actually thinking on it, I’d likely argue the main storyline was unwinnable too, since regardless of what you do it always ends relatively the same. In a dating game, which I believe we were told this was, there’s a certain expectation of what will happen, how things will progress, how things will end, but you’re never able to actually achieve those things.
@Fairlyfairfighter I think you’re asking for different things. If you mean a game that’s unwinnable, try some of the older text adventures. There were a bunch released by Infocom which you can work your way into an unwinnable situation. I spent many a frustrating hour with Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. It’s not fun, it’s frustrating. I think the King’s Quest games did that too. Oh I remember buying Pursival, Legend of the Ancient Dragon, and it was broken. Grrr.
A Dark Room just circles around. I remember a lot of old games used to do that, which I found frustrating as well. You’d play through the entire game and just get a “you have won” screen and be shunted right back to the beginning again, sometimes with a newgame+ mode, sometimes not. I do not miss those days.
Now, the Kobayashi Maru is an entirely different matter entirely. It’s an unwinnable scenario, if your goals are to defeat the enemy space ships, or to survive, or whatever. That’s never going to happen. If the goal’s to prove yourself a capable captain and leader though, well you can win even when losing. Incidentally I went and read http://badassdigest.com/2013/04/28/james-t.-kirk-did-not-cheat-on-the-kobayashi-maru-test/ which I found interesting.
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Aye, Creatures Such As We, I love-hate it. Jolly well written, even if I may not agree with the opinion that may be presented in the game on certain subjects, but it was a pleasure and frustrating to play. Can’t win, but before I realised that, so to speak, it was good. 
Unwinnable is not for me; life has enough of that. 
I wish you luck in your hunt, though. 
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Also Zork. It is a mystery to me, but I have been assured that there are several ways to make Zork impossible to win.
As for the Kobayashi Maru… I always get that one confused with the one where “the only winning move is not to play.” Also, that game from Dune where you stick your hand in a box and it causes unbearable pain didn’t seem to have much of an upside. (Was that a game? I didn’t pay much attention to Dune.)
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@Sashira I found with Zork the only way to win was not to play. 
I only ever completed one of those Infocom games, not for lack of trying either.
And there I was getting the Dune box scenario muddled with the bog-beast log one in Flash. That didn’t seem like much of a fun game either.
Was that in the film War Games? Tic-Tac-Toe? Anyway, I guess A Dark Room isn’t a great example, what i meant was its sequel! The ummm Enisgn… The ensign. Also i loved Creatures Such As We!
Zork is… crude. A first, innovating step into a brave new world.
Out of all Infocom’s, I admit I love these best:
- Beyond Zork – partly visual via text-based map, with a lot of references to popular culture
- Wishbringer – small but fascinating world and with a platypus in it…
- Planetfall – Oh Floyd… The first character in any game I cared about. Miss you!
- Cutthroats – Drew me in and plunged me to the bottom of the sea (bad pun there, it’s about a diving expedition)
- Plundered Hearts – first time I got to play my gender, even if it was in a romance game – well written one, though
…and the one I shall never forget, hard and unforgiving as it is…
A mind forever voyaging – oh boy, a masterpiece, painting virtual worlds within the virtual world itself…
On subject again (sorry)…
Reading about it, I realise I have indeed played the game. Briefly. I lost interest fairly quickly, so I fear my interest in games will not be of much help here, so with this rambling post I shall bow out.
Sorry again, and hope you find what you are looking for; this is probably not what you are looking for: Sacrilege by Cara Ellison (it is still unwinnable). Good hunting!
Steamshovel Harry is an unwinnable, albeit not an IF game.