20 Video Games That Let You Skip The Story Entirely

So here's the thing, playing a game with a rich storyline is definitely great, but with all these plot twists, developments and character arcs, well they can get pretty tiring at times. So what if, instead, you could skip most of the plot and go straight to the end? Well that's what we're here to talk about today as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com and these are 10 video games that let you skip the story entirely. Number 10, Coin Flip, Zero Escape, Zero Time Dilemma. Zero Time Dilemma is an action-adventure game in which the player has to guide a group of kidnapping victims through a maze of death traps and puzzles set up by a mysterious killer dressed as a plague doctor. But this game doesn't so much let you skip the main story as it basically forces you to right at the start. The killer's sick death games begin with a simple coin toss. When his victims awake, he presents them with a challenge. They can choose the result of a coin toss and if their guess is correct, the killer will set them free. The scene is purposefully set up in a way where the proposition seems a little dishonest, to dissuade you from choosing at all. However, if you do guess correctly, the killer will follow through on his promise and release all of his kidnapped victims unharmed, prompting the end credits to roll. The interesting thing here is though, that the coin toss is rigged. Your first guess will always be right on your first playthrough, which is why if you don't fall for the false narrative, you're guaranteed to get the best possible ending in just a few minutes. The secret developer ending in Chrono Trigger is one of the earliest examples of that trope in video games. Although it is played off as a joke, you can reach the ending by fulfilling the main objective of the game within the first hour, without having to indulge in any exposition, character arcs or plot developments. Now Lavos, the world-ending parasite that serves as the main antagonist of the game, is encountered by the player in the first stage. Being the final boss of the game, you're obviously not supposed to win, but it isn't impossible. By using exploits such as power grinding, or simply by using a cheating device, you can stand a chance against him and defeat him at the Ocean Palace, without having to beat the game or using the New Game Plus mode. Defeating Lavos early awards you with the secret developer ending, in which your character is transported to a literal developer room, seeing Chrono Trigger's various big name creators congratulate you one after another. It's a pretty ironic reward, considering that you just ignored most of the stuff that they worked so hard on, and skipped right to the end. Number 8. Destroy the Dark Brotherhood. The Elder Scrolls V, Skyrim. Aside from becoming the Dragonborn and saving the world, Skyrim allows you to join several factions and slowly climb their ranks to the top. The main questlines for all of these can be pretty lengthy, but luckily, the Dark Brotherhood story offers you a much simpler and quicker alternative. Now normally, the main questline of the Dark Brotherhood requires you to become their top eliminating a wide array of targets to reach the ultimate goal of taking out the Emperor of Tamriel. However, if killing people in the name of some dark god isn't for you, or if you're simply just too lazy to go on a nationwide killing spree, you can skip this questline entirely by ratting out the Dark Brotherhood to the Emperor's personal guard, thereby destroying their faction entirely. To do this, simply kill Astrid when she tries to recruit you, and speak to the leader of the Pentius Oculatus in Dragonbridge. After you inform him of the Brotherhood's presence, he'll send you to their hideout to take them all out. Killing the assassins takes only a fraction of the time it takes to complete all of their missions, and as a bonus, you get to save a little of your conscience from assassinating innocent people. Well, mostly innocent. 7. Defeat Ganon Early Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild Breath of the Wild is an incredibly expansive open-world game. The game's map is huge and filled with all sorts of special locations that Link needs to visit on his quest to defeat Ganon. In order to finish the main narrative, you need to sink in about 100 hours, or if you're clever and more than a little daring, you can do it in about 30 minutes. Since the main objective of Breath of the Wild is to defeat Calamity Ganon, and there's nothing blocking your path to his location, you can technically challenge the glowing pig head as soon as Link wakes up. The fight will definitely be difficult, seeing as you don't have any powers, weapons, or allies, and without the help of the divine beast that you free throughout the course of the game, Ganon will be at full health. You also need to defeat all four of his avatars that you would normally battle inside the corrupted divine beasts. However, if you manage to take on this challenge and come out alive, Ganon will be defeated, Zelda will be rescued, and that will be game over. After all, killing Ganon and rescuing Zelda is what all Zelda games are really all about. 6. Kill Urizen Early, Devil May Cry 5 Devil May Cry 5 offers something very similar to Breath of the Wild. In the game's prologue, the player needs to take on Urizen, the big bad evil guy stuck to an even bigger, badder throne. The fight is incredibly hard, so hard in fact that the developers expect you to lose. In fact, in fact, your defeat is a crucial point in the story that establishes Nero and Dante's motivations for the rest of the game. That said though, this fight isn't scripted, and you can actually defeat him, although it definitely takes a lot of effort as he has a ton of health and his attacks pack a huge punch. But if you're skilled enough to bring him down without any upgrades or perks, you can unlock a super-secret special ending in which the story is concluded with a few lines of text and a literal, they lived happily ever after moment. The secret ending is obviously a joke, but hilariously you'll still get the well-I'll-be-damn trophy that pops later when you fight him for real. 5. Let the Villagers Kill Gandaha 2 Worlds In terms of sheer hilarity, the early ending of the action RPG 2 Worlds is easily one of the best. There's nothing quite like seeing the final boss of a game getting brutally pummeled to death by an angry mob of peasants. Gandaha, the dark wizard who kidnaps the main character's sister, appears in the starting location of the game, trying to convince you to join his secret society. Though at this stage he doesn't reveal his true identity, the game does consider his character to be the actual Gandaha, which means that killing him can trigger the endgame cutscene where he falls dead in front of the player and the credits begin to roll. Now this mysterious stranger is incredibly powerful, which is why you can't beat him alone. To bring Gandaha down, you'll need to attack him and then run towards the nearest group of villagers. Now, with some careful positioning, you can bait Gandaha into throwing some of his magic towards you and hitting the villagers in the area of effect splash. This will then trigger them to attack Gandaha, and they will slowly, very slowly take him down with their bare fists and pickaxes. Even the darkest and strongest of magic can't stand a chance against the sheer power of an angry mob. 4. Kill Father Fallout 4 The plot of Fallout 4 has you making some tough moral choices to determine the future of the Commonwealth. This involves taking out rival factions, deciding whether the android synths should be protected or destroyed, and betraying some of the companions that you picked up along the way. But don't worry, if this all sounds like something you don't want to bother with, you can skip the entire second half of the main storyline and avoid the major conflict between the factions by doing one rather questionable thing. When you finally manage to infiltrate the Institute, you get to meet your long lost son Sean, who turns out to be their leader, now going by the name of Father. Sean will then offer you to join up, which triggers a series of missions where you act as a double agent for your faction of choice and ultimately cause an all out war between all of them. However, if you kill Father Sean right out of the gate whilst on the side of the Minutemen, you'll be thrown out and the missions will never trigger. After this, you can immediately proceed to the final showdown with the Institute and reach the end of the game without having to destroy the other two major factions at all. I mean, sure, yes, you will have to kill your own son, but what's a little homicide in the face of world peace, right? 3. Kill Liberty on your way to Denver, Wasteland 3 Wasteland 3 has over six different endings, one of which can be achieved so early it concludes Wasteland's main storyline before you even get into it. The game's plot revolves around the Arizona Rangers trying to win the favour of the Patriarch, the ruler of Colorado Springs. This man wants the Rangers to bring back his three rebellious children, and one of them, Liberty, can be met as soon as you finish the prologue. Although Liberty is the toughest out of the three children and is intended to be beaten towards the end of the game, the player can challenge her to a duel that usually ends up with your squad being squashed by Liberty's robots. That said, some players have found a way to beat Liberty early on by exploiting the game's hacking mechanic and disabling her shields and robots. It turns out that killing her right off the bat causes the game to jump straight to the end, resolving all of the Rangers' issues and giving you the happy ending. Now that is efficient. 2. Use Alex's Escape Pod – Prey Have you ever watched a horror movie and wondered, why don't they just leave? Well, sci-fi horror Prey answers this question by giving you the choice to escape its monster-infested space station very early on, allowing you to ignore all the twists and moments of tension that this game has to offer. You see, early on in the story, the player comes across an escape pod belonging to their brother Alex. If you manage to find his access card and bring it to the pod, Prey will present you with a choice of leaving the space station or going back to fight the monsters and rescuing the remaining survivors. Choosing the former will trigger a cutscene in which Alex calls your decision an unexpected disappointment, in reference to a certain plot twist at the end of the game, after which your character enters the pod and jets off into space. The secret ending lets you skip most of the game while simultaneously offering the most logical solution to being stuck on a space station with a bunch of shape-shifting aliens. Yes, it may be cruel to leave your friends and crewmates behind, but who said you had to play the hero here? 1. Escape to the US, Far Cry 6 Secret endings accessible at the start is something of a tradition in the Far Cry series. Ever since Far Cry 4 introduced the idea of working with the villain Pagan Min to finish the game in 30 minutes, each new Far Cry has included something similar, and Far Cry 6 is no different. In fact, it actually did it in a pretty original way. The secret ending is accessible at any point of the game, and doesn't involve waiting for an uncomfortable amount of time. To trigger, simply drive any boat outside of the boundaries of the map, which will trigger a special cutscene where your character, Dani, leaves her war-torn country and moves to the US. Here Dani will be shown chilling on a beach and listening to a radio broadcast about the death of their friend Clara, and the subsequent defeat of her revolution against Anton. After that, the credits will roll. It might seem a little underwhelming, but this faux finale is far more upbeat and positive than what actually happens in Far Cry 6's proper ending. Game plots. They're long, convoluted, and require way too much time to get through. Am I right? And you know what? I've even got this intro written out right here, but you can read the title. I'm going to save you some time, because that's the theme of this list. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 more video games that let you skip the story entirely. Let's get on with it. 10. Activate the Netherese Orb – Baldur's Gate 3 Larian's critically acclaimed role-playing game Baldur's Gate 3 comes with plenty of unique and secret choices for you to make. And one of them even allows you to skip out on making choices by letting you finish the game early and omit the entirety of Act 3. You see, in the second act of the game, your magical god-seducing companion Gale receives the power to control the unstable Netherese Orb infused within his body, which at any given moment can turn him into a living nuclear bomb capable of levelling a city, and then some. Well, control is a bit of an overstatement here, because Gale is still doomed to blow up. He just gets to choose when he does it. Across Act 2, Gale's goddess wants him to sacrifice himself by unleashing his power on the game's antagonist, the cult of the Absolute. And if you go with her plan, you can actually reach a secret early ending. In the scene, Gale activates his orb as soon as he enters the cult's secret lair, and gets rid of the entire gallery of villains with one huge magical explosion. This kills off your entire squad, but to be honest, it's totally worth it, if only for the terrified and rather confused faces of the Absolute's chosen. 9. Take Joy – We Happy Few We Happy Few is an action-adventure game about a dystopian society addicted to a euphoria-inducing hallucinogenic called Joy. In the game, you play as three citizens of the Joy-addicted Wellington Wells who try to escape the town's brainwashed society. One of the characters, Arthur Hastings, works as a censor for the town's local newspaper. Also, depending on your choices, he's the only character who can end his personal story within minutes. Arthur's campaign begins with him working his shift at the paper. As he censors unwanted, depressing news, he comes across a clip of him and his dead brother, Percy, and the player is faced with a choice. You can either let Arthur remember his dead brother by refusing to take your mandatory dose of Joy, therefore prompting the events of the entire game, or take the pill and fall back into blissful ignorance. The latter choice will trigger a brief cutscene showing Arthur swallowing the pill and drifting away into his state-mandated trip. With no more reason for Arthur to escape Wellington Wells, the game will end, and the credits will roll. That was easy, and to think that some people have to go through hours of stealth sections and combat to reach this ending. 8. You Don't Really Want to Skip This Part – South Park The Fractured But Whole South Park Fractured But Whole is the second game made by the show's actual creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and just like regular South Park, the game is full of gags and jokes that poke fun at virtually everything and anyone, including you, the player. In fact, one of your particularly infuriating gaming habits can even cause the game to finish itself for you. During the opening cutscene, in which Cartman narrates his epic superhero backstory, Cartman will stop you and call you out for interrupting his cool monologue. Of course, you can keep pressing the skip button, but this will only aggravate your narrator more and more until he finally snaps and decides to give you exactly what you want by skipping the game all the way to the end credits. The gag is brilliant, as not only does it catch you by surprise, but it's also absolutely in character for Cartman to do something so utterly petty. Just think of how many speedrunners' hearts were broken thanks to Cartman introducing this special little feature. 7. The Coward Ending – The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe The Stanley Parable is a unique story-based game in which you play as the titular Stanley as he's guided through the office building by the voice of the story's narrator. The game thrives on you thinking outside the box and constantly challenging your poor, well-intentioned guide, which is why it includes a plethora of different endings, each made for a different instance of you refusing, or indeed going along, with the narrator's story. There's even an ending made specifically for those who refuse to partake in the story at all, called the Coward or Reluctant Ending. In order to get it, you simply have to lock yourself in Stanley's office, where you begin your adventure, and then wait for the narrator to take note of your particularly long absence. After that, he will begin to comment on Stanley's cowardice, going so far as to accuse him of paranoia, until he finally gives up on Stanley and lets him stay in his office forever. You do get labelled a coward, but on the other hand, it's kind of worth it to say that you were able to beat the game in less than 15 minutes. 6. I Know Where I'm Going – Gone Home Gone Home is a 2013 exploration game in which you play as a young woman trying to figure out the circumstances behind her family's disappearance after she returns from overseas. The game doesn't so much as allow you to skip the story, as it unintentionally leaves an open path straight to the ending. In the game, you're trying to collect clues and evidence that let you discover new locations in the house and unlock previously inaccessible areas. However, if you already know what you're doing, or have the dumbest streak of luck possible, you can technically leave all of the clues be and open a secret entrance leading to the final location in the attic as you enter the home. Because the ending doesn't require you to collect any of the narrative clues, you can actually trigger it without learning a lick of the story, and then probably feel really confused when the game suddenly fades to black. To be honest, playing the game like this makes for a much cheerier tone, there are no dark undertones or creeping suspense, just an oblivious idiot stumbling into an attic and then falling asleep in front of a notebook. 5. The Secret Video Ending – The Witness Seeing as The Witness is an exploration puzzle game, it's a bit hard to speak of a story in its case. The game's narrative lies simply in exploring the island and solving its puzzles, with environmental storytelling doing all of the heavy lifting in each section of the map. However, as it turns out, even this bare-bones narrative structure is something you can completely skip. Instead of exploring and traversing the land, you can watch a weird experimental point-of-view video of the game's real-life creator that has nothing to do with The Witness at all. In the first level of the game, there's a hidden puzzle that requires the player to connect the light of the sun with a pillar next to the entrance gate. The power will surge through the wall, opening a secret entrance to a mysterious lounge. Shortly after you step inside, the game will play a real-life video showing the game's creator waking up, doing some coding, presenting his Christmas tree, and then walking outside as the game fades to black. Wait, what? What is going on? Don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Because even if you finish this game normally, it'll still make no sense. 4. Stay With The Song – Fury The story of Fury follows its mysterious protagonist, referred to as Ryder, as he tries to break out of his elaborate prison made out of levitating futuristic islands. You spend the entire game fighting and killing for Ryder's freedom, only to discover that your character is actually an alien invader, and the only reason he was trying to escape was to return to his mothership and prepare an invasion. Luckily though, there is another, more satisfying ending that lets you skip all of this murder. One of Ryder's jailers, The Song, offers your character a chance to just give up the fight. Believing him to be capable of good, she invites him to stay with her inside her peaceful sanctuary for all of eternity. If this sounds like the plan for you, all you need to do is wait a few minutes in front of The Song's arena. This will trigger a cutscene in which Ryder sits down next to The Song, and she reassures him of his good heart. And then the credits roll. You can stop the alien invasion without killing any additional jailers, and as a bonus, you'll spare yourself the frustration of fighting them. Now that is a win-win. 3. Don't Feel Like Saving the World – Super Paper Mario Have you ever played a game and come across a pointless yes or no choice where both options led to the same outcome anyway? Well, it's an especially common occurrence in Pokemon and Zelda games, but not in Super Mario, because here, a no is a no. Super Paper Mario, a ridiculous Mario RPG set in a scrapbook-ified version of the Mushroom Kingdom, loves toying with ideas that border on outrageous and outrageously funny. And this includes turning that age-old cliché of false dilemmas into an actual choice. In the beginning of the game, Mario is approached by Merlon, who will ask him if he wants to save the world from the evil Count Bleck. The answer to the question seems obvious, so you expect the choice to be fake. However, if you choose to answer no, Merlon won't actually correct you into saying yes. Instead, he'll start panicking and ask you to reconsider. At that point, you can keep refusing him until he finally concedes and leaves you be, ending your adventure prematurely and dooming the world to total destruction. This naturally results in an instant game over, but then again, it's nice to see a game that actually treats your choices seriously, even if they are terrible. 2. Kill Ryoji – Persona 3 In Persona 3, you play as a group of supernaturally gifted teenagers trying to stop a mysterious goddess of death from ending the world. If this all sounds like a bit too much to handle, don't worry. The game actually offers you an easier solution to your character's mission than taking on an actual god, and that is just simply backing out of the fight. When the in-game calendar reaches December 31st, Ryoji, the roommate of the main character, reveals that he's actually an avatar of Nyx, the god of death. Once he transforms into his true form, he will allow Nyx to bring about the end of the world. At this point, you're given a choice. You can either kill him before he sets off the apocalypse, or let him live and face Nyx in all of her glory. The former option will actually lead to a special secret ending in which your characters forget about all of the supernatural stuff they experienced and get to spend the rest of their school year in peace. But that is only until Nyx comes back to end the world anyway, because it turns out that killing her avatar just postponed her arrival. I mean, what did you think? She was just gonna let it be? Come on, dude! Idiot! But then again, at least it's one very happy year at school, so cool, I guess? 1. Gotta Get That Crab Rangoon – Far Cry 4 Now, listen. You knew that Far Cry was going to be on this list. Everyone knows about this secret ending by now. By the time that I've finished speaking about this, the footage on screen will have actually shown you the ending that you can get. So why don't we just wait out this little bit here together? There's a script in front of me that I should be reading, but this is the only way to make this interesting for me after years of talking about Far Cry and the secret ending. So how are you? You alright? Cool. Nice shirt, by the way. I enjoy that. Where'd you buy that? Really? You got it for that much? That is surprisingly cheap. Or expensive. I don't know. I don't do fashion. Sorry. Anyway, the ending's over now. Hope you're well. Big love to you. And I'm gone. Bye! Seriously, that's the only way to make it fun after talking about it for all these years. And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 more video games that let you skip the story entirely. I hope that you enjoyed that, and let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section below. And you can go follow me over on the social medias, over on X and Instagram, where it's at RetroJ, but the O is a zero. I hope to see you over there. But before I go, I just want to say one thing. Hope you're treating yourself well, my friend, and reminding yourself that you are a big ledge so you deserve love, happiness, and success. We all do as human beings. So treat yourself well. As always, I've been Jules. You have been awesome. Never forget that. And I'll speak to you soon. Bye.