Hi all, is there a GOG game list of games that you can just jump in and start smashing things? By that I mean games where you can ignore anything resembling a story, and start shooting/smashing/throwing fireballs/driving/whatever and just wreck havoc. No need to spend time learning new or interesting game mechanics--just start a game and have fun.

Some games that full under this category, to me, are:
*Diablo
*Doom (Anything by id, really; they never bothered with that pesky thing called 'story')
*Metal Slug
*Moto Racer
*Amid Evil

This list would be entirely subjective, of course, but some games are generally considered more "jump in" than others.

For driving play FLATOUT 1 and FLATOUT 2.

No matter what you do you can continue driving with your destroyed car lol

Ok I would definitely play a racing game where I could continue on with a smashed-up, fucked-up car

You might want to narrow down your requirements a bit as there's a lot of games that fit that description on GOG

Descent
Overload
Tesla vs Lovecraft
Crimsonland (the former is a better game)
Heretic
Hexen
Quake
Blood (highly recommended)
X-Morph
Hotline Miami (1st game)
Enter the Gungeon
Project Warlock
Turok
Ziggurat
Carmegeddon
VVVVVV
Shadow Warrior (Classic)
Alien Shooter
Serious Sam
Redneck Rampage (2nd game, 1st one ain't that great)
MDK (1st one)
Incoming (kinda dull though)
Postal (1st game)
Raptor
Unreal (minus Unreal 2)
Stargunner
Super Hexagon (no story here at all)

Kind of a lot huh? Sooooo, care to refine your search a bit?

I left the description vague on purpose, because one player's "jump in" might not be that way for another. I was hoping to create a GOG list of this, even though GOG doesn't support this feature anymore. Maybe Reddit's r/gog subreddit might be open to lists, don't know.

Ahhhh, I see where your coming from now. Before you created your account, GOG used to have GOG mixes where you could create lists such as this one. GOG really needs to bring them back.

BTW, this is a great idea for a GOG mix.

Broforce

It's great, mind-less gaming.

https://www.gog.com/game/broforce

Since getting it last year, I've easily played through it a hundred times. I like to play it a little each day to clear my mind.

The only game mechanic that wasn't obvious to me was the level about agility where you get the vitamin power-up. You have to hold the sprint button down before you jump onto a zip line and keep holding it to maintain enough momentum to be able to jump across some large gaps that come after that.

Edit:
To disable the hud (if you want to), press Ctrl + F12 in game.

Streets of Rage 4, Fight N Rage, Bad Dudes, Two Crude, Double Dragon Trilogy and basically every other beat 'em up will serve that purpose well. You may also enjoy the LEGO games if you just want to mindlessly smash things.

When I get off of work I'm going to post these on Reddit's GOG sub to see if there's interest there. I'd love to see a community-maintained list (or lists).

Ys: Origin is one of the best for that.

Although it does have a bit of a story and some long cutscenes once in a while.

But for the most part, it's just fast-paced smashing done very well.

Some modes of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, including Classic Mode.

In fact, I think the only mode that *wouldn't* qualify is playing the main game with Miriam, or perhaps the Randomizer mode.

Also, Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania & Contra would qualify (once you choose the game, and possibly excluding Castlevania 2 depending on your definition (you start in town and some items require talking to people)).

Perhaps Crimzon Clover: World Ignition would also qualify.

Interestingly enough, some older RPGs might fit; you might need to create characters and buy supplies in town, but once you do that you're all set to adventure.

Unfortunately, the lengthy cutscenes (in particular, there's one at the start), which can't be skipped, mean the game doesn't qualify.

There are boss rush and arena modes, but unfortunately you have to beat the main game to unlock those. (This differs from the situation in Bloodstained, where most of the extra modes are unlocked from the start.)

Well yes, it wouldn't, if one is going by a very strict literal adherence the rules the OP stated.

However, I would suggest that the OP may want to relax his rules somewhat in some cases, as otherwise he'd missing out on ever playing great games such as that Ys: Origin one.

It's exactly what he asked for 98% of the time...and then 2% of the time it's not.

So then the question is: is it worth not playing the game and hence not experiencing the 98% of its content which he would likely consider to be "good stuff" for the sake of avoiding the 2% of the content that he might consider to be "bad stuff"?

I'd argue that no, that is not enough cutscene content to make it be worth skipping the game over, and the very favorable ratio of action:cutscenes makes it worth putting up with a bit of content that is not "perfect" according to OP's criteria.

Honestly, since the topic is about jumping right in, I would weigh the start of the game, the very beginning of it, particularly heavily. For a game to fit the topic, the action really needs to start right away.

In the first few minutes, I believe Ys Origin is 100% cutscene and 0% gameplay, and as a result it does not fit this topic.

Whether the game is worth playing, and whether the game fits the topic, are not the same thing, and Ys Origin does not fit the topic.

Also, even a tiny portion of the game can ruin the rest; while it may not be the case with cutscenes (if the player is a bit patient), it *is* the case when part of a game is particularly frustrating or presents an accessibility issue.

I'm not all that interested in "stating rules". There's a list of games that treat GOG as "2nd class citizens" stored in Google Docs. That's what gave me the idea for this-I was imagining what would be a GOG mix, structurally similar to:
Jump In and Play List!
Game Genre Publisher How "Jump-In-able" is it?
Doom 1st Person Shooter Bethesda Very!
Metal Slug Arcade/Shoot 'Em Up SNK Very!
Ys Origin Action/Role Playing Nihon Falcom Contains unskippable cutscenes, probably 98% "jump-in-able"

I was also hoping to have a community-maintained list; gauging interest is my main point here. I thought it would be handy. After work I have barely an hour before I have to hit the sack. Thus the desire to be able to find a game that doesn't take a lot of work to get into.

I created a simple Google Sheet. Do you have any thoughts? I think this might help some people choose a game: Sort by genre and "jump-in-ness" to help decide.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/165mOBNCaRPavkoIj355FAQfFLgBaQskAtIV2_uYMRiU/edit?usp=sharing