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What are the best games that will work on a laptop with only keyboard controls?

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Considered

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Apr 23, 2023

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19 Games Considered

Best games that will work on a laptop with only keyboard controls	Price	Steam Rating	Co-Op
-- Limbo	$4.99	Very Positive	-
-- Cave Story+	$14.99	Very Positive	-
-- Risk of Rain	$9.99	Very Positive	4 Player Online / 4 Player Couch
-- FEZ	$9.99	Very Positive	-
-- Dwarf Fortress	-	-	-

Cave Story+

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Top Pro

Incredibly challenging, with hard mode for veterans

Cave Story is hard and the hard mode even harder, which makes this game great for players looking for a new challenge. See More

Top Con

Getting the best ending is almost impossible without a guide

Getting the best ending requires a few highly counter-intuitive if not nonsensical actions to be taken. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Great storyline

Cave Story offers a pretty deep storyline, more than one would think by just taking a quick glance at the game. There is a reason this game is still so popular after being around for so many years and it's story is it. See More

Top Pro

Multiple versions available

After the initial release in 2004, the game has been ported to other platforms and updated along the way by various fans and indie devs. See More

Top Pro

Tons of fun and unique weapons

In cave story you have access to tons of upgradable weapons with unique properties for different situations. See More

Risk of Rain

Top Pro

Replayability is high

The levels are generated very randomly making for a unique experience every time the game is played which in turn makes for a ton of replayability. See More

Top Con

Unlocks unclear

The game explanation of how unlocks unlock is not very clear or intuitive making for wasted time trying to figure them out. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Co-Op:4 Player Online / 4 Player Couch

Controller Support:Partial

Top Pro

10 unique characters

Imagine a small set of DOTA or LOL. These 10 characters can be tankers, DPS, supporters, rangers, carriers, etc depending on your skill and level of use. And they're hard to unlock which makes the challenging to get them even more. See More

Top Pro

Fun local and online co-op modes

No need to compete as the multiplayer is all cooperative where each player has to help the other survive the harsh world which is a fun setting for friends as it leaves out any competitiveness. See More

Top Pro

Time equals difficulty

It gets tougher as time passes by. That means by minute 40, you are playing at hardcore difficulty. This makes for an experience that is good for learning the mechanics as once you can not advance due to the difficulty you will die which means the game has to be repeated which help learn the ins and outs more and more each time it is done. See More

FEZ

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Top Pro

Brilliant puzzles

Fez has some deviously hard puzzles and mysteries that will require gathering clues from around the world to solve them. See More

Top Con

Limited button mapping support on keyboard

FEZ has a couple of preset control schemes to choose from, but the buttons can't have functions assigned individually. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Clever 2D rotation game mechanic

The core mechanic of FEZ is the ability to spin the world around in 3D, and then traverse and interact with the resulting terrain in 2D. See More

Top Con

Frequent crashes on PC

PC version of the game has stability issues. Luckily, FEZ autosaves often so no much progress is lost when the game crashes. See More

Top Pro

Mysterious world with lots of depth

FEZ goes beyond just being a great puzzle platformer. It also has a very clever storyline and game world with a mysterious bygone civilization that fits perfectly with the mysterious puzzles of the game. See More

Dwarf Fortress

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Top Pro

Massive randomly-generated worlds persist across multiple games

Estimating one meter per tile, the smallest possible Dwarf Fortress world is roughly 13 kilometers on each side, and about 400 layers deep. The largest world is about 197 kilometers (123 miles) on each side. Each world has its own randomly-generated history with thousands of notable figures, warring factions, and numerous settlements of various races. Any number of fortresses and/or adventurers can be played in a particular world, though only one at a time. See More

Top Con

No inherent goals or objectives

Simulation, and the resulting emergent stories, are (by design) all there is to the game. Adventurers can die and fortresses can fall, but there is no such thing as winning. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Renowned for depth of simulation and emergent gameplay

The ultimate goal of Dwarf Fortress is no less than a total fantasy world simulator. Its simulated systems include geology, metallurgy, fluid pressure, temperature, combustion and phase transitions (melting, evaporation, etc.), shear and tensile strength, ballistics and gravity, anatomy and tissue damage, growth and maturation of animals and plants, emotional states, life goals, and alcohol dependence. See More

Top Con

Controls are complex and often counterintuitive

New players are advised to read the Quickstart Guide. Dwarf Fortress takes a lot of patience to learn. Even something as basic and early as world creation might take a guide to understand the first time around. It doesn't really matter how experienced of a gamer you are; if you try to play this game without a guide, you're going to have a hard time. See More

Top Pro

Base game is free (supported by donations)

From the Bay 12 Games donations page: Bay 12 is dedicated to providing original games free of charge, but that doesn't mean it is free for us to make them. We've been online since December 2000, and you can help Bay 12 Games continue to thrive. If you've enjoyed any of our games, and you are able to give, we accept financial support. See More

Top Con

ASCII text-based display (alternatives available via mods)

Top Pro

"Starter Pack" offers a streamlined introduction

The DF Starter Pack, formerly Lazy Newb Pack, is a collection of community-created enhancements to the interface and visual presentation of Dwarf Fortress. Find it here. See More

Top Pro

Continuous active development is planned for decades to come

Dwarf Fortress was started in 2002 and first released in 2006. Tarn and Zach Adams, its creators, have estimated that version 1.0 will be done in "about twenty years" and development will continue beyond that point. See More

Top Pro

Lots of ways to die, no ways to win

Starvation, riots, goblins raiders stealing your babies, goblin war parties stealing your lives, elephants, vampires, werewolves, werebears, werebadgers, carp, digging into an aquifer, digging into lava, digging into the nesting area of a Forgotten Beast, selling wood to hippies, insanity, drowning in knee-deep water, and being attacked by your own dismembered finger. There are a lot of ways for dwarves to die. Age really isn't one ever heard of. After playing this game long enough, you'll realize why dwarves don't like going outside. Everything from harpies to dangerous man-eating carp is everywhere. Some of them are humorous, but most are a lesson. The entire game acts as a massive learning experience. Don't tell your dwarves to fish; they don't know how to swim. Wall off your fortress or a necromancer will make your lunch attack you. Don't dig too far down, or something scary will follow you back up. There is no victory, only glorious deaths. What goals you set in the game are up to you. Make small, simple goals that you know you can complete. "Surviving for 100 years" is like "curing cancer". Not technically 'impossible', but it might just be easier to settle on building a bridge for now. See More

Top Pro

Sim-like "Fortress" and roguelike "Adventurer" modes

Dwarf Fortress offers two primary ways to play. In Fortress Mode, the player oversees a small group of dwarves who embark to build a new settlement. Individual dwarves cannot be controlled directly; instead, the player supplies objectives and constraints and the A.I. decides exactly what is done by whom. Adventurer Mode presents a more classic roguelike experience, wherein the player controls a single character and can explore the entire world (including previous player-made fortresses). Two secondary modes are also provided: Legends Mode, which allows you to browse through all of the notable people, places, objects and events in a particular world's history; and the Object Testing Arena, where AI combat scenarios can be played out with any arbitrary combination of creatures and weaponry. See More

The Binding of Isaac

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Top Pro

Tons of replayablity

Random levels, random items, random enemies, every game is new, exciting and challenging. See More

Top Con

It's creepy

The game to be put nicely is not really scary but just plain creepy. Definitely not a game recommended for children. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Action / Roguelike / Indie

Controller Support:No

Top Pro

Addictive gameplay

With an arcade style feel and a fairly quick play through, the game makes it easy to sit down and play for hours. Addicting could best describe the gameplay, something that the player can get lost in without getting overly complicated. See More

Top Pro

One of a kind game

One of the best arcade roguelikes (or roguelikes, if you're a purist) out there. Difficult to beat completely and oh so very satisfying. Gazillions of unlocks, secrets, bosses, power-ups and item combinations. Limited co-op (BoIR only). The game can be genuinely terrifying and dark, especially if you take a moment to ponder what's really going on with its backstory and characters. See More

Cuphead

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Top Pro

Really beautiful old-school art style

Cuphead is a very unique visual spectacle in the gaming world, looking exactly like a cartoon from the 1930s. The environments, characters, and even special effects are very detailed, colorful, and drawn entirely by hand on animation paper, complete with a grainy film effect. The end result is pure eye candy that puts most modern cartoons to shame. See More

Top Con

Hard as nails

Cuphead mostly consists of multi-phase boss battles that may take you a lot of tries to beat. These involve a fair amount of trial and error, requiring you to gradually and perfectly memorize each boss' patterns, abilities, and timings. This becomes harder because you die in several hits, so even the tiniest mistakes are costly in the long run. It can be really frustrating if you die right before beating a boss since you have to get through the entire fight again. If you're expecting to simply enjoy the old timey visuals and music, you might get severely disappointed. See More

RickZeeland's Experience

Get ready for a bullet hell ! See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Platformer

Co-Op:Shared / Spit screen

Top Pro

Challenging

The game is short, but it's so difficult that you'll spend hours trying to beat it See More

Top Pro

Excellent co-op

While it can be overly frustrating when you're playing alone, Cuphead also has local co-op for two players, making your adventure easier but a lot more enjoyable. The boss fights become shorter because together you deal more damage, you don't take needless hits because you can cover more blind spots, and you can even resurrect the other player by touching their ghost if you die. This way you still get the satisfaction of a challenging fight, but it won't be as disappointing if you fail. Even if you're not into challenging games, co-op can be a way to enjoy Cuphead. See More

Top Pro

Large speedrun community

Very welcoming community for people who love beating hard games. See More

Top Pro

Every single frame is hand-drawn

The game is made from a monumental amount of effort, and it is very well seen in each and every single frame of the experience. See More

Super Meat Boy

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Top Pro

Play through iteration is fast

When you die, you spawn quickly to try again. Many games draw out the death, and have to reload. Super Meat Boy immediately re-spawns you so you waste no time. See More

Top Con

Cut-scenes lack polish

Between the game's gameplay are cut-scenes that fill the player in on the evolving story, sadly the artwork and polish for these cut-scenes shows quite a bit that this is an indie game made by two people as they are a bit unrefined. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Platformer

Top Pro

Forgivingly tight controls

The addition of a "run" button adds a lot of depth to levels, keeping the run-jump-repeat loop more interesting. The characters have acceleration as well, which demands finesse. See More

Top Pro

Unique visual style

As is typical of Ed McMillen's games, it looks like nothing else out there. The art style is 2D based but heavily unique with a vector graphics cartoony look. See More

Top Pro

Large number of levels

This is not a game you are going to complete in an afternoon. With 240 levels scattered across 7 worlds there is a lot to play in the game. See More

Thomas Was Alone

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Top Pro

Enjoyable professional narration

What really drives the well crafted story home is the wonderful narration done by British filmmaker, comedian, writer, actor, and presenter of radio and television, Danny Wallace. Not many indie small budget games receive the polish this game has in their voice acting, which really adds to the experience when playing the game. See More

Top Con

Short

The gameplay only lasts about 3 or 4 hours. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Puzzle, Platformer

Top Pro

Great story

For what is a pretty simplistic looking game, Thomas Was Alone offers a truly great story that actually gets the player to care about what are basically squares and rectangles. See More

Top Con

Some puzzles can be difficult

Here an there are a few really tough puzzles in the game which can be frustrating, luckily they are few and far between as the gameplay does not tend to repeat itself too often. See More

Top Pro

Polished ethereal soundtrack

Haunting guitar strums mixed with beautiful piano chords and bits of chiptune creates a very fitting soundtrack that allows for an experience of polish not often found. See More

Braid

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Top Pro

Clever game mechanics

Braid utilizes a rewind mechanic where in the player can rewind the action in the game at any time. This is coupled with puzzle layouts to each lever where the player has to use the rewind mechanics to reach certain spots in a level. See More

Top Con

Story is depressing

There is a definite sense of melancholy while playing this game which can make for a depressing experience while playing the game, which may reduce the amount of time played. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Wonderfully challenging

On the outset Braid looks like any other platformer but once any time is spent with the game users soon find that the puzzles are deviously difficult forcing users to think outside of the box and even time itself. See More

Top Pro

An ambiguous, yet impactful retelling of a man's downfall and a warning to others

Braid is a story about loss and obsessiveness and how those forces drive the hunt for redemption. See More

BIT.TRIP RUNNER

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Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

The Typing of The Dead: Overkill

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Top Pro

Actually requires some strategy

While words per minute type counts for a lot in the game, the player does need to keep track of what mutants are moving faster towards them and plan out attacks accordingly. This means that the player needs to access the situation to then type out the word or words for the mutant they deam the most immediate threat. This makes for a lot of fun as it requires some skill with gaming by judging what the game is throwing at you, which can be a lot. See More

Top Con

Poor graphics

Originally released for the Dreamcast, this game does show its age. While this is a port of the Wii version,simply the graphics look poor. Textures and models look pretty poor, though that does mean the game is not that demanding, so is good for people with low end hardware. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

One Finger Death Punch

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Steam Rating:Very Positive

Knytt Underground

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Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Security Hole

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Steam Rating:Very Positive

zombie shooter dead terror

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