Last Truly Innovative game

The CoD:AW article about being innovative got me thinking. What is the last truly innovative game? I don't mean indie titles, I mean major releases. I'm not a gaming history aficionado so I keep coming up blank

Well, that's a little too subjective to really think of, and there were a lot of innovative games in the past decades. Problem with this question is that it'll only spark arguments and more opinions than facts, so best not to answer this one.

Transistor was a major release and pretty innovative from what I recall.

Hmm.. its hard but i think the most innovative games i've played recently are Portal.. and and.. err..o_O..

Portal is a good one. It seems like when games try to be innovative they toe the line of being gimmicky. Like the early games with cover mechanics. They were bringing something new but it was more of a gimmick at first.

The Last of Us was the last high budget title I played that felt fresh. I would say the most innovative game I played of last gen was The Last Remnant, though. Its battle system was very unique and tons of fun. Plus, it did not sell very well, so the system will probably stay unique.

Minecraft, anyone?

@MrFreehuggs: i think that there are plenty more innovated games to come but it will take a while. one recent original upcoming game to come out is Destiny, so don't lose all your hope.

@PurpleMan5000: the last of us looks like your average zombie game to me.

@watchdogsrules: I don't think a game has to be innovative to be great.

Hmmmm. I don't know.

Nearly every game I can think of is some sort of idea or combination of ideas as something that came before it. Is there nothing original left to do? Or is it because I'm not able to think of anything new that I'm not able to see the original thing that exists but I haven't thought of yet? O.o

Hm. If I ever think of it I'm gonna make it!

@watchdogsrules: It might seem that way, but the way they present it feels relatable (the people are infected, not zombies, based on a real-life fungal infection that mutated from insects to humans), and the characters and story are amazingly well-written. The combat's intense, even if it takes cues from survival horror and TPS games, and the melee is satisfying as hell.

@mastermetal777: i might just get it when i get my PS4 since i don't have a PS3.

@watchdogsrules: Good man. The game runs at 1080p and 60 fps (you can lock it at 30 if you choose to), includes all multiplayer maps and the Left Behind DLC in the entire package.

If you want innovation your best bet is to play indie games. As far as AAA titles are concerned I can't think of anything recently that I can remember being particularly innovative. Games cost so much to make nowadays that big name developers are less and less likely to take a risk as a result I think most of the innovation we see going forward will be from indie games.

Having said that, if you want an extremely innovative game go out and buy concursion on steam, the game is a completely insane mix of super Mario, ninja gaiden, pac-man and a schmup, and is one of the most fun and innovative games I have played in a long time.

What would you call innovative?

SF4

To me innovation is either creating an entirely new genre(which I think at this point is not very likely) or taking an old genre and giving it a fresh new twist.

Well most of that stuff doesn't happend anymore because games cross genre's a lot. Indie games is where it's at.

Innovative indie games come out fairly regularly, but if we're excluding them from the conversation...god, I don't know what the last innovative major release was.

Does Mirror's Edge count? I mean, it's just a platformer viewed in the first person, so nothing in there was truly 'new', but the way the ideas were stitched together had never been done before.

This.

Indie games aren't any more innovative than mainstream games. I think it's so funny how people say this and provide no examples. Most indie games are trash. Also, Minecraft was a rip-off of copy of a game. Not innovative.

I agree that Indie games in general are not necessarily more innovative than mainstream games, and there are a ton of old school game clones out there that are very fun, but not innovative at all. However an independent game developer is far more likely to innovate and release something on the crazy side since their development costs are far lower and they generally do not have to obey the whims of some corporate suit.

Having said that a few indie games that I think are very innovative are:

1) concursion- extremely innovative genre mash up game that melds genres unlike anything else, innovation done right and is extremely fun.

2) rogue legacy- seems like a simple hack and slash but the way the game unfolds makes an old formula seem new, very innovative with tons of replay value

3) Fez--2d/3d platformer that requires lots of perspective changing,

4) outlast - platformer/hack n slash that makes use of a dual color system to create some very cool moments unlike anything seen in other games

5) trine series: physics based puzzle platformer with beautiful graphics and a very unique playstyle, not much like it out there.

there are tons more, but those are some that stand out off the top of my head.

@firefox59: depends on your definition of innovative.

innovating = evolution = new (even if its just combining 2 or more old ideas together)

In some circles above called innovation.

Dishonored

Walking Dead

Dark souls

Bonus:

Metal gear rising revengeance (innovative name WTF)

Call of Duty™: Ghosts, because it came after Call of Duty™: Black Ops II and before Call of Duty™: Advanced Warfare.

minecraft is up there, but so many game changers out there, i love where the industry as a whole is going, so many new players in the game development world

That is what I thought as well, but the game really finds its stride after a few hours. It's a survival horror without clunky controls. The difficulty is well-balanced, the interactive story telling is top notch, and if you are playing with a good set of headphones or a quality surround sound system, the game is legitimately scary in some places. It's not as innovative as something like Portal, but it definitely innovates.

For me its Dishonored

@PurpleMan5000

What interactive Storytelling ?

You mean those notes that you pick up and read or the the dialogue exchanges used to mask the tedium of Scavenging Resources ?

Portal 2, perhaps

@watchdogsrules: for me, tlou had perfectly mediocre gameplay and forced, cliched and pc storytelling, but, had superb cinematic presentation.

however, there is nothing innovative about tlou by any stretch of the imagination.

most overrated game of all-time having replaced gta5, which, replaced gta4.

imo.

@udubdawgz1: exactly what i thought about the last of us. but gameplay still looks good though.

I loved the last of us but it was not innovative

The most inovating game in the world right now that you can have in your livingroom today i would say is Elite Dangerous VR. The Virtual Reality games that are starting to emerge in these times are the way i see it definetly the most inovating games we see today. It's no wonder, it is a brand new way to play videogames and the whole market just sits and waits for new ideas because it is just the beginning of the vr era.

The Last of Us wasn't exactly "groundbreaking", but it was still an incredibly made game. As for a game that's "innovative", I guess my top pick(s) would be Portal and/or Minecraft. Portal took how we look at the first-person shooter genre and flipped it over, showing that there's more to the first-person perspective than getting a ground-level view of shooting. Minecraft took the idea of a toolset and allowed gamers to build entire games, stories, and creations out of it. All while the game looked like a late-cycle PS1 title

Fez was fairly innovative. It did do something new. The problem with most indie innovations is they are rather gimmicky. Outlast I would disagree with strongly. There are many many games that implemented the switching mechanism better as well as being a better overall game.

Also, I understand the argument that indies have the potential to be more creative as they don't have publishers watching over them. However, imo AAA devs such as Ubisoft have a greater potential with established franchises that provide steady income. It's what let them create 3 new IPs for the start of this next generation.