We all have played many games here. Most of them feature violence in some form.
What I wanted to know is, what were gameplay elements of different games (NO graphic adventures like Monkey Island though) you’ve played that weren’t violent in nature and were really top notch, in your opinion.
**Example **: Tomb Raider 1’s platforming and exploration. Without any shooting this game would still be genius.
Your turn 
Sonic - One of the few games where you never actually kill anything at all (a overlooked aspect of the game).
Blast Corps - just brilliant fun and I don’t remember killing anyone in that
Pilotwings 64 - just simple clean fun
Tetris - the satisfaction of clearing four lines at once is something most players will be able to relate to.
I agree with Team Andromeda about Sonic. Maintaining a clean speed run though the stage without loosing your rings is something that brings me back to these games again and again.
Rez and Child of Eden technically don’t harbour violence, even though they are shooters. They aren’t any worse for the lack of violence.
I used to play SimCity 2000 back in the day. While no particular “gameplay” moment stands out, the satisfaction of seeing a city you’ve designed grow and thrive is one that has stayed with me. It might not be the best example, though, given your criteria Gehn.
Tomb Raider’s exploration sections are another good example.
While Bioware’s games have plenty of violence, the most satisfying parts of them in my view are exploring the different, multilayered dialogue trees. I recently played through Mass Effect 2 and enjoyed interacting with my crew aboard the normandy. I would like to see this emphasised more in RPGs - instead of mere grinding, offer different story paths based on the role you decide to play. Character development can be a form of gameplay if it’s made interactive. Dialogue choices are only the beginning of what is possible.
It’s not just that though, it’s the fact that you never kill a boss or enemy through out the entire game : you’re only freeing the animals from their robotic suits and you never actually kill the eggman .
Even Mario kills his enemies , that doesn’t happen at al in Sonic and its a very overlooked aspect of the game imo
Yeah, that’s a good point. Although there is some violence in places e.g. when Sonic fights Knuckles. Sure, you don’t kill him, but he gets knocked around a bit.
Well seeing as Knucles was in the latter games I think he wasn’t killed . But I really was talking about Sonic (the 1st game) There was no violence in it what so ever really.
Mortal Kombat, its wa…oh…wait xD
Portal 1 & 2 as a whole.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent (there’s violence but not on the part of the player).
Then again, these could almost count as modern takes on the adventure genre… Perhaps specify the point & click variety is excluded, while games like these which include potentially challenging real time gameplay count. Or something. I dunno.
Endless Ocean 1 & 2. Wonderful, beautiful, underwater exploration games.
Mirror’s Edge. Just running about and avoiding enemies is enough to finish most of the game. Though you often have the option of taking them on with or without weapons, that’s not the best part of the game. Bring on the sequel, EA.
PoP: The Sands of Time (2003), for similar reasons to your Tomb Raider example.
I suppose the 3D Legend of Zelda games count as similar to these too. Of course there’s a heavy emphasis on combat, but the designs of the world and puzzles are a joy too.
Well crafted 3D platform games like Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 also tend to be fun even when you’re not fighting enemies and bosses.
Side scrolling platform games, most of the good ones would be good even without killable enemies (some don’t even have any), just the actual levels and obstacles.
In stealth games like Thief II I like avoiding enemies, not taking them out silently, though, sadly, the more “modern” the games are the less of that you can usually do…
Retro RPGs, those with a story line, choices and consequences, the works, are fun to explore, though combat also plays a heavy role in them (though some allow you to avoid a lot of it via stealth or diplomatic options).
Minecraft.
Strategy/sim games like Civilization II.
Well, I guess almost every game that is a little more involving than your average first person shooter has gameplay elements that are enjoyable without including any violence, which tend to be exploration, platforming, stealth, and combinations of those. Perhaps a tougher proposition would be to find great games that can exclude violence for the majority or all of the game, like the mentioned Portal and Sonic, without fitting under generally violence-less genres like point & click, sports & racing or puzzle.
Metal gear solid series, i love the stealth aspects of the series. The less people you kill the higher your ranking, so the game rewards stealth rather than killing. As a matter a fact, you don?t even need to kill the bosses, in 3 if you manage to defeat all bosses with a tranquilizer guns you win new items etc.