Play non-human video games in the video games of the human world

Often in video games we play as a person,

a human being,

but there’s also tons of
non-human protagonists

that allow for some scenarios

that are just a little bit different.

Hi folks, it’s Falcon
and today on Gameranx

the 10 Best Games where you aren’t human.

Just to set this up a little bit,

there’s a lot of non-human
protagonists out there,

so we’re gonna narrow
it down a little bit.

We’re talking about
non-humans in a human world,

like post-apocalyptic,

set in a real world or a fantasy world,

but it’s got humans in it somewhere,

either past or present.

So no, we’re not talking

about Sly Cooper where
everyone’s an animal,

or Ratchet & Clank

where they’re all aliens

or Sonic the Hedgehog.

Actually, I guess there are
humans in Sonic the Hedgehog

but tonally that’s not
what we’re looking at here.

So without further ado,

here’s number 10, Maneater.

This is a recent standout.

It’s a game where you play

as a particularly hungry shark

with one single primary goal,

one thing on his mind, so
to speak, eat everything.

You start simple,

you munch on fish in the bayou,

but as you evolve,

you get bigger.

You start going after larger prey,

which includes humans.

It’s not long before
you’re just chowing down

on dozens of hapless beach goers

and drawing the attention
of shark hunters.

It’s kind of a nasty premise,

but the game’s surprisingly goofy

and has a good sense of humor.

Most of it obviously going
to the framing device

that everything in the
game is actually footage

from some kind of reality
show about shark hunters.

The humor keeps things light,

even if the gameplay can
get a little bit repetitive.

If you’re okay with the repetition,

this is a really fun game.

At number nine is AVP 2010,

developed by Rebellion,

this somewhat forgotten,

but I actually decent Aliens game

has the unique distinction
of letting you play

as either a colonial marine,
an alien, or a predator.

And all three have their
own unique campaign

to play through.

The Colonial Marine game play

is pretty much exactly what you’d expect.

Standard alien blasting FPS,

but the Predator and Alien
are pretty unique actually.

Most of the classic
predator tools are here.

You get the plasma cannon, the disc,

the wrist blades for close combat

and the ability to cloak.

So while the predator is powerful,

they can be overwhelmed
by a squad of marines.

So their game play is more
about using ambush tactics

to pick off foes

and slowly weed through their numbers

rather than straight up shooting matches.

(dramatic roar)

The alien has stealthy gameplay, though,

no ranged attack,

relatively vulnerable,

but they can climb on walls

and squeeze through vents that
nobody else can fit through,

on top of being a lot
faster than anything else.

This one’s worth playing

through just for the
single player campaigns.

If nothing else,

the fact you get to experience
the life cycle of a xenomorph

is worth the price of admission alone.

At number eight is Deadly Creatures,

a game that just doesn’t
get brought up enough.

It’s basically Devil May Cry,

but with spiders and scorpions.

Yeah, it’s a bizarre game.

It got published by THQ back
in 2009 as a WII exclusive,

which interesting place to do that.

But it’s a grotesque game

locked into a system that’s
mostly known for kids stuff

and that’s probably why
it’s forgotten these days.

But the gameplay is actually really great.

You play as either, yes, as
scorpion or the tarantula.

You move through these linear levels,

take on all kinds of
other bugs and creatures.

The story’s basically nothing to do

with the creatures you play as,

you’re crawling around trying to survive.

There’s a story about two hicks

looking for buried treasure

that sort of ties everything together.

I wouldn’t even bring it up

but the two human characters

are played by Dennis Hopper
and Billy Bob Thornton.

Yes, really.

– I’m gonna have to loosen
my drawers or something.

Start here.

– No, no, I’m just getting my bearings,

it’s over this way.

– Who we digging up anyway?

(ominous shuffling)

– It is just an incredibly weird game

that’s actually really fun

and worth taking a look at.

In the pantheon of action games,

it’s far from the best out there,

but it’s pretty fun for what it is

and the concept alone is just
cuckoo crazy in a great way.

At number seven is the
Destroy All Humans series.

We didn’t say animals, we said non-humans

and what could be any
less human than an alien?

In these games you play as Crypto,

and if you’ve ever heard
me talk about them,

you know how much I love these games.

So this little gray
alien with a bad attitude

is actually not out to destroy all humans,

there’s kind of a convoluted plot

about collecting alien DNA

that’s been seeded into humanity

in order to sort of
restore the alien race.

But that doesn’t really matter.

It’s kind of just an
excuse to let you go nuts.

I think that it’s better
that there is a plot

and it feels like they have to progress

because the dialogue’s all
really funny in this game.

– Take a spin in your saucer,

get a feel for the controls

and then go ahead and start shooting.

Destroy all buildings.

Leave no trace.

Bomb from those monkeys
back to the stone age.

– Some of it may be a little cheesy,

but generally it’s the kind
of cheesy that is funny.

If you are me, I guess,

I’m sure there’s people that
disagree with me on that.

But you get all these
different alien weapons

and throughout the game

you more effectively destroy humans.

You can ride your flying saucer,

lay waste to entire city
streets with a death ray.

There’s a lot of destruction
you can get up to.

Both the first and second games

were developed by Pandemic

and their remakes,

which were developed
by Black Forest Games,

improve on the originals
in almost every way.

In all seriousness,

this is one of those series

it just feels like it’s a perfect example

of why video games are good.

It’s ridiculous.

It’s over the top.

It’s funny.

It lets you effectively
indulge a power fantasy

that’s also totally unrealistic

for reasons beyond God of War,

beyond cartoony, super silly,

knows exactly what it is.

I love Destroy All Humans.

At number six is Tokyo Jungle,

a weird survival game

set in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo,

where humanity is completely gone

and animals are offending for themselves.

What used to be a city dense
in people is now overgrown

and filled with wild animals.

And when I say filled with,

I mean like a lot,

there’s like 80 different types of animals

and you can play as literally all of them.

It’s got two different modes.

There’s a scenario-based story mode

where you play as different animals

trying to survive

and uncover the mystery
of why humanity is gone,

because I’m sure that’s what
they’d be thinking about

in this situation, right?

“Ah, I’m a bison.

I really wonder where the people are.”

But there’s a also a more
hardcore survival mode

where you pick an animal

and try to see how long
you can go without dying.

The main goal of the game
is to find food to survive

and then establish a pack.

Your player character will
eventually grow old and die,

but if you have a pack

the game doesn’t end because
you got more animals.

You just move on to the next generation.

The actual story elements
are kind of crazy,

but the survival gameplay
is way ahead of its time

in a lot of ways.

It’s a weird and somewhat
awkward game to play

but it’s really unique

and does deserve a mention.

(upbeat electronic music playing)

At number five is Untitled Goose Game,

which, if you dealt
with geese in your life,

you know that they can be
total jerks to put it nicely.

That’s what the game’s about though.

Instead of being a dangerous predator

in a constant life of death struggle,

you play this goose,

you waddle around,

grab stuff with your beak,

flap your wings uselessly and honk.

Doesn’t sound like a lot, right?

It’s great mischief.

That’s what the game is.

It’s a mischief game.

Every area you enter

has its own little checklist of activities

which are built around terrorizing

the inhabitants of a
sleepy little English town.

You steal stuff,

throw stuff into the lake, scare children

and you’re just generally a big nuisance.

The tasks start off pretty simple,

but slowly they turn
into these little puzzles

where you have to figure out
how to complete your goal

while someone is trying to stop you.

It’s a creative

and clever little game

that does only take a few hours to finish,

but you’re gonna laugh
more than a few times

and it never wears out its welcome.

It’s done, after like the
perfect length of time.

(mischievous music playing)

Moving on to number four, Carrion.

In a nutshell, Carrion
is kind of the thing,

except you are the monster

and you can’t really shape
shift in other people.

Quick spoiler alert, until the very end

and you can’t really control it.

Set in an underground lab,

your goal is very simple.

You’re a pile of flailing meat.

You wanna escape,

you want to expand

and you want to eat everything
that stands in your way.

(dramatic music)

(terrified screaming)

(dramatic music)

Combat in this game is
fast and super violent.

The monster doesn’t take a lot to go down

but as an amorphous blob,

you can pretty much
squeeze through anything.

And the unique controls make it

so you can move inhumanly fast

to zip around the levels

and ambush the scientists

and soldiers trying to stop you.

It’s all pretty creepy

and the controls do take
a little getting used to,

but there’s something so satisfying

playing as this unstoppable
beast in particular,

just rampaging around like
a true horror movie monster.

At number three is Stray.

Of course, Stray was gonna
show up on this list.

It’s basically an indie favorite.

It has you play as a cat

in a post-apocalyptic world.

It was inspired by an
incredibly packed city

from 1980s China,

except there’s only robots living in it.

So the game’s a narrative adventure game.

You platform around as a cat,

you explore environments,

you solve puzzles,

and it’s all very cat like.

Like that’s probably the
most allure of the game

is just how cat-ish it is.

They really nail cats.

You knock things over,

you scratch things.

You can take naps.

I mean, you really can
do a lot of cat stuff.

Like there’s normal game stuff

but there’s lots of cat stuff

and it’s actually really fun

to be a cat as it turns out.

Yeah, the interactions
are kind of pointless

but they’re also the reason

that you feel like you’re playing as a cat

rather than just like a
thing that has four legs.

All the animations are just fantastic too.

You could move through the environment

in a way that feels right,

traversal is just a joy in this game.

The story’s simple, it’s engaging.

It’s not too scary.

There’s a little bit of an opening moment

that’s a little scary,

but the rest of it, not so much.

If you’re an animal lover

that doesn’t want to see the cat get hurt,

you’re probably gonna be
mostly okay with this game.

It’s not like a story
about animal suffering.

It’s a little on the short side,

but it is definitely a lot more

than being like a meme game.

It’s really good.

Moving on to number two,

Ancestors, The Humankind Odyssey.

In many games that lets you
play as non-human creatures.

There’s some element of
power fantasy involved

but not this game.

Set millions of years before
the human race even existed

you play as one of our distant ancestors

and your mission is
nothing less than to thrive

and evolve in a hostile
world that wants you dead.

This is a strange and difficult game,

even when the most basic
actions have to be researched

and discovered before you can do them.

Even then the unusual controls

can take a lot of getting used to

and finding out how to progress

and evolve can be a little frustrating.

At least it’s a lot of fun though,

climbing around in the trees.

The game gets the climbing part so right.

It’s just really a
weird, fascinating game.

(heavy rain falling)

And not a lot of the other games

let you eat bugs off of a monkey’s back.

It’s not really a thing that you do.

Even in like Donkey Kong country games.

You’d think that’d be a thing

that they’d capitalize on for humor,

Rarewear and all,

but no, Ancestors, The Humankind Odyssey,

is one of the most unique
survival games out there.

And while it did get a lot
of negative reviews at first,

more recently people have come around

and really appreciate what
this game was trying to do.

And finally at number one, Okami,

Capcom’s answer to Legend
of Zelda Ocarina of Time.

Okami originally came out back
in 2006 for PlayStation 2.

It was developed by Clover Studios

and they would eventually
become Platinum Games.

Now, what makes this game unique?

It’s actually a lot of stuff.

You play as Amaterasu,

literally the Shinto goddess of the sun,

in the form of a white wolf.

Because you’re a god,

you have the power of the celestial brush

which can do all sorts of godly things.

When the game starts,

the world is in disarray,

your task is to fix stuff.

And while the premise
sounds deadly serious,

there’s actually a lot of humor in it.

A lot of that coming from Ammy herself.

Yes, I’m saying Ammy,

because the full name
is a hell of a mouthful,

but Ammy often acts as a stereotypical dog

who is easily distracted,

confused and carefree.

And I think that that can easily become

an overlooked part of this
game looking back at it.

But it really adds a layer into the game.

When you talk about games as art,

this game gets brought up a lot

because it has a super
distinct watercolor style.

And while everything is very stylized

and cartoonish, like I said,

the animations on Ammy,

surprisingly accurate and
lifelike to a real animal.

Okami is kind of this
one of a kind classic

and while it still has its flaws,

it’s so unique and interesting

that they’re pretty easy to overlook.

And that’s all for today.

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I’m Falcon, you can follow
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