Here’s a couple of examples Keep talking and nobody explodes — The most popular in the list I think
Uncle Chop’s rocket shop — the game where you are repairing your client’s rockets by following the in-game guidebook
Tin can — here you are also repairing the spaceshp but this time you are it’s capitan and you are in space in the middle of nowhere
Papers, please kinda fits
I have a game wishlisted which I think needs constant consultation with diverse information to be played. It’s called Comet64, and you kind of have to program a special kind of computer called Comet64.
Strange Horticulture -You run an occult plant shop and identify plants by leafing through a botanical guidebook, matching illustrations and descriptions.
HighFleet - Intercepting enemy radio transmissions means using the in-game codebook and manual tables to decode messages and triangulate positions.
The Signal State - A Zachlike about repairing farm equipment with modular synth racks and lots of documentation.
Retro Gadgets - You build electronic gadgets from scratch, and reading the chip documentation is basically the whole game.
Sethian - You learn a dead alien language by studying an in-game dictionary/manual to converse with a computer.
Carrier Command 2 - Co-op crewing a carrier where the in-game manual is dense and necessary, giving strong Tin Can/submarine-crew vibes.
Objects in Space - Space sim, flying a submarine-like ship, reading dials and signals.
Jalopy - Roadtrip / car maintenance game set in Eastern Bloc.
Reentry - Crazy realistic space sim where you follow manuals, procedures, checklists etc to complete missions like the Apollo moon landing.
Tunic?
Tunic!
Tunic!!
Tunic!!!
Tunic!!!
The DS version of Ni no Kuni included a physical spellbook you’re meant to consult. JP-only, but the fantranslation made it into a PDF.
Give king of the bridge a check. Learning about the manual and working with it is the whole plan
Not quite as strictly as what you’ve cited, but some of the older Sierra point-and-clicks relied on maps/pamphlets/etc that were packed in with the game. Most just used them as low-budget and thematically in-universe anti-piracy gating (the Dagger of Amon Ra), but some stretched beyond that. Conquests of the Longbow: the Legend of Robin Hood had royal family crests, language keys, and (of I remember correctly) a catalog of gems that were all perused outside of the game interface.
GOG has PDFs of all those documents if you buy the games there, so you can still experience it fully. Might be worth checking out, since it’s usually less than $5.
To keep with the space ship theme, there’s always pikmin
https://store.steampowered.com/app/370360/TIS100/
The instructions for this game come in the form is PDF written in an in-universe style.
From the same develeoper: https://store.steampowered.com/app/716490/EXAPUNKS/
See the game’s manual: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2515197025
Highly recommend. It’s a great puzzle game. No coding knowledge is needed, but familiarity with assembly is helpful
Edit: Whoops, I was thinking of Shenzen I/O. Same developer though
EXAPUNKS!
It’s the dialup 70s, your body is turning into computer parts, and medicine costs 300 dollars a day.
Read the zines, learn to hack. Hack a restaurant. Hack a bank. Hack your body. Hack the planet!
Also other games from zachtronics: TIS-100 and Shenzhen IO
- Tunic — You need to figure out the game’s manual to know how to play. Souls-style exploration and combat.
- Papers, Please — If you liked Rocket Shop, you’ll like this. You are a border guard, checking people’s documents and choosing if they can enter. The rules change every day as international tensions grow. Great plot with multiple endings, expressed with just your green and red stamps.
- Hypnospace Outlaw (kind of) — You are a moderator in a fictional version of GeoCities in the last months of 1999. Your training is web pages and crusty point and click CD-ROM slideshows. It’s heartfelt story about the impact of technology on society and a loving funeral for that era of the world wide web.
As even further stretches, there is TIS-100 and Shenzhen I/O, both Zachtronics games that have you do programming. The tutorial for TIS-100 just opens a PDF that looks like a crusty scan of an ancient computer manual, like you were learning to program on a C64 or something.
Tis-100 is like learning new programming language and do some quiz with it. If you want similar experience, learn assembly languages, and do some exercise :)))
I loved Hypnospace Outlaw. Its so nostalgic and yet the surreal aspect of it gives it its own flavor that is separate from the nostalgia.
Keep talking and nobody explodes.
One player(s) has the bomb disposal manual and the other has the game controls to defuse the bomb.
I already know about this game, and I even mentioned it in the post
Ah. The formatting and lazy reading meant I only saw 2 examples.
Tunic
The first one that came to my mind !
Iron Nest? You drive a turret and you have to read instruction on how to operate it and where to shoot. Not yet come out though.
Not really a manual, but more of a 4th wall derailment into a fever dream of sorts? With a lot of reading while navigating a mystery? And some match 3 tower defence action in between?
Titanium court.
For more of a game with an actual manual focus, try - King of the Bridge. It’s a game about chess. Mostly.
Oh! I’m absolutely loving Titanium Court, I’ve been playing it on and off for a couple of weeks, now. I’ve only recently gotten to Chapter 2!
