Video games excel at portraying big-action spectacles and tough tactical challenges, but it's much harder to find a game that attempts comedy. To be fair, comedy is tough in any medium, and it's not any easier when the player might miss jokes when paying attention to gameplay prompts. Rare is the game that tries to be funny; rarer still is the one that actually succeeds.
But funny games do exist, and whether you're in the mood for slapstick, satire or subversion, there's something for you. From wordplay and meta jokes to crude one-liners and cerebral chuckles, here are 15 games that are almost sure to make you laugh.
Trover Saves the Universe (2019)
If you enjoy the off-the-cuff humor of Rick and Morty, you have to check out Trover Saves the Universe. This action/puzzle game comes courtesy of Justin Roiland, who co-created Rick and Morty and voices both titular characters on that show. Trover Saves the Universe casts you as a chair-bound alien who must cooperate with a purple alien named Trover. Together, you'll rescue all of reality from a monster called Glorkon, who's stolen your dogs to use as his new eyes. (No, this doesn't make much more sense even in context.) Full of hilarious, rambling diatribes and gut-busting non sequiturs, Trover Saves the Universe has a chill vibe that eludes most games — even most funny ones. And aside from that, the puzzles are clever, and the combat is just satisfying enough. — Marshall Honorof
Accounting+ (2016)
If you can vibe with Justin Roiland's (Rick and Morty) style of unfiltered improv comedy, check out Accounting+, which tells an entertaining story that will completely enthrall you with a strange virtual world. Starting your journey in a small basement office, you're invited to take part in a new "virtual reality accounting" experiment. After you slap on a headset, all hell breaks loose. The experiment backfires when you're threatened by Tree Guy for invading his land. Forced to descend deeper into layers of virtual worlds, you encounter strange characters, each fleshed out with their own backstories. From a street gang of adorable animals to Satan himself, the characters — as well as the worlds and the tasks within them — are diverse and fun. Whether you're torrenting movies illegally or having a ridiculous shoot-out with cartoon police, Accounting+ is a blast to play. A fun tidbit: William Pugh of The Stanley Parable fame helped Roiland create the game. — Hunter Fenollol
Goat Simulator (2014)
In Goat Simulator, you take the role of a goat that terrorizes a Swedish town. That's about it — and it's as entertaining as it sounds. As a nameless goat capering around the suburbs, you headbutt party guests, get your tongue stuck to race cars and even blow up gas stations, earning a "Michael Bay" achievement. Goat Simulator is a zany sandbox where you can do crazy midair stunts, play a round of Flappy Goat or just run from place to place, seeing how many points you can rack up by causing mayhem. This is one of those games that works best if you like slapstick and/or absurdism, although there's a bit of meta humor as well. If the game crashes (and it very well might), it'll give you an achievement for "Involuntary QA" when you restart. — Marshall Honorof
Jazzpunk (2014)
Set in the fictional country of Japanada in the late '50s, Jazzpunk weaves together espionage and pigeon smuggling. And cross-dressing. Filled with colorful, psychedelic worlds where characters resemble the people on bathroom signs, the game is brimming with strange comedy bits and hilarious dialogue. Describing any of the gags in detail would ruin a play-through, but I will say that the humor channels offbeat comedies like Airplane! and Arrested Development. Surreal and absolutely wacky, Jazzpunk is one of the few comedy games where comedy is built right into the gameplay mechanics. — Hunter Fenollol
Octodad: Dadliest Catch (2014)
In Octodad, players must complete a series of mundane challenges to help the suit-wearing protagonist hide that he is an octopus, not a real human. If that weren't hilarious enough, the game's wonky mechanics force you to learn how to maneuver like a cephalopod. Dadliest Catch is best played with a friend (or three) in co-op mode, where up to four players control each of Octodad's limbs. The amount of coordination required to get a single tentacle going in the correct direction will result in gut-busting laughter for some, and hair-pulling frustration for others. — Phillip Tracy
South Park: The Stick of Truth (2014)
The beauty of an animated TV series is that it’s very possible to make a video game that looks exactly the same. South Park: The Stick of Truth looks, sounds and feels just like an episode of the show, except that it’s more than a dozen hours long, and you’re a part of it. You’ll team up with Kenny, Butters, Cartman, Kyle and all the rest of your favorites on a number of quests, which should be familiar to series fans. You'll encounter such nemeses as ManBearPig, goth kids, Scott Tenorman, the FBI, Jared Fogle, Jesus and Nazi zombie cows. Like all the best South Park episodes, The Stick of Truth is hilarious, but it also has an excellent story — and you won’t see the twist coming. — Monica Chin
BattleBlock Theater (2013)
You can play BattleBlock Theater just for its platforming puzzles and excellent local co-op, both of which give ample potential for humor. Strange power-ups, adorable-but-deadly feline enemies, the ability to throw your teammate around the stage or just blow yourself up on demand — all of these contribute to the in-level hilarity. The best part of the game, however, is the story: a tale about an island of cats torturing shipwrecked friends for ghoulish amusement while an evil top hat controls things from the shadows. This is all communicated to you via a series of paper puppets on sticks, by a narrator who seems just as bizarre as the rest of the island’s inhabitants — which tops off the whole experience perfectly. — Richard Priday
Saints Row IV (2013)
The Saints Row series began as a mildly self-aware copy of Grand Theft Auto, but it's come a long way since then. By Saints Row IV, your customizable protagonist has become the president of the United States and must fend off an alien invasion using superpowers and robot suits. The humor in the game is mostly of the broad, crude variety, but there's a bit of satire thrown in as well. In particular, Saints Row IV takes potshots at the BioWare style of relationships and romance. Rather than engage in elaborate love scenes, you can simply ask a character to jump into bed with you, and they will, immediately, usually with some kind of pithy one-liner. There's also a surprisingly amusing subplot about Jane Austen, for those who always wondered what the Georgian author might make of an ultraviolent video game. — Marshall Honorof
The Stanley Parable (2013)
The Stanley Parable starts off with a fairly sensible mystery: Where have Stanley's office colleagues gone? What happens after that depends on whether you follow the narrator's instructions or deliberately stray from the path he outlines. Either way, you'll end up in some bizarre situations involving mind-control plots, escape pods, "adventure lines" and even a brief visit to Minecraft. The game offers some clever commentary about the reasons we follow, or don’t follow, a game's instructions, but it's also filled with moment-to-moment jokes that make a short experience dense in funny moments. — Richard Priday
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (2009)
Ratchet & Clank is one of those rare, perfect series that appeal to both kids and adults in equal measure. Kids love the approachable gameplay and colorful characters; adults love the deep customization and slightly raunchy humor. (One of the games is called Up Your Arsenal; another, The Quest for Booty.) A Crack in Time is arguably the most dramatic game in the series, but it doesn't skimp on humor, either. From Mr. Zurkon's murderous wisecracks ("Mr. Zurkon needs no nanotech to survive; Mr. Zurkon lives on fear") to forcing enemies to dance with the Groovitron weapon, A Crack in Time will elicit plenty of laughs from fans of all ages. Apart from that, though, the game is a joy to play, with a huge arsenal of weapons to collect; a diverse array of enemies to fight; and a satisfying story, full of twists and turns, that rewards longtime fans for paying attention. — Marshall Honorof
Portal (2007)
Valve's esteemed first-person puzzler plops you in the Aperture Science Laboratories Computer-Aided Enrichment Center, armed only with a gun that lets you open teleportation doorways. Can you use it (and that pesky thing called "physics") to survive 19 rooms of lasers, androids and other threats? Portal is easy to understand and just as easy to play. Portal has delightful level design that comprises simultaneously sterile and twisted test chambers. There's also the constant guidance and taunts of the artificial intelligence, GLaDOS (voiced — to indifferent perfection — by Ellen McLain), and the lovable-yet-immobile Weighted Companion Cube. This Half-Life spin-off is undiluted joy, and it's as addictive as any after-dinner sweet. (Er, scratch that last part. Don't we all know the cake is a lie?) — Matthew Murray
Destroy All Humans! (2005)
Destroy All Humans! is good, dumb fun. This sci-fi romp was dreamed up by "Dancing" Matt Harding as "mindless destruction that makes sense." You play as Cryptosporidium-137, an angry little alien invading the United States in 1959 to harvest human brains. You've got telekinesis, a flying saucer, a death ray and, of course, an anal probe. Smash the cow into the farmer! Escape from the men in black! Boss-battle the mecha-president! The gameplay is nothing special, and the story isn't that long, but there's a fun, open world to explore. There's also a bonus for beating the game: a hidden, full-length 1959 B movie called Teenagers from Outer Space. No word on whether that will be included in next year’s planned reboot. — Paul Wagenseil
The Curse of Monkey Island (1997)
The whole Monkey Island series belongs on this list. But if I had to pick just one entry in the rollicking point-and-click pirate franchise, it'd be The Curse of Monkey Island. This game is the third outing for Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate, and it has everything fans loved about the first two games. Insult sword fighting? Check. Multiple islands to explore? Check. A soundtrack that'll get stuck in your head and never leave? Checkmate. Whether you're getting swallowed alive by a giant snake, shoving your head into a chiseled block of tofu or trying to get your fellow pirates to stop an incessantly rhyming song, The Curse of Monkey Island offers laughs and brainteasers in equal measure. The game's colorful graphics look just like a hand-drawn animated film, which only sweetens the deal. — Marshall Honorof
Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals (1989)
The first game in Al Lowe's Leisure Suit Larry saga is the best known today. But far funnier is its third installment, Leisure Suit Larry III. The game kicks off with terminal loser Larry Laffer getting divorced, being fired and rediscovering his long-discarded polyester suit. After encountering (and losing) a bevy of beautiful women in increasingly zany ways, he discovers true love with cocktail lounge pianist Patti. But after a misunderstanding splits them up, Patti must find her way through a deadly tropical jungle (complete with brassiere bolas and a log river ride) to get Larry back — and witness one of the most surreal, meta endings in graphic adventure gaming history. Packed with wry dialogue, clever visual jokes and — surprisingly — plenty of heart, this sprawling game is every bit as satisfying as it is hilarious. — Matthew Murray
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1984)
With Douglas Adams involved, Infocom's text-adventure adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy could only have been a smash. Nearly every major plot element and character from the comedy/sci-fi novel remains intact, as does Adams' lacerating sense of humor. Every description and interaction crackles with laughter, thanks to the incomparable game-design smarts of his co-creator, Steve Meretzky. Certain puzzles remain classics, particularly one in which you transfer a babel fish from a vending machine into your ear, and another that requires a cosmic effort to acquire a cup of tea. But in a title where even your typos advance the daffy, universe-spanning plot, everything is terrific. Sure, certain parts can be frustrating ("Marvin needs what tool?!"), but most of the time, you'll be laughing too much to care. — Matthew Murray
