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

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

9. Destroy Lavos in the Prologue – Chrono Trigger 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

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

Normally, the main questline of the Dark Brotherhood requires you to become their top

assassin, 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, I don't know, like 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

Now, 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 still get the well trophy

that pops later when you fight him for real. 5. Let the villagers kill Gandahar

Two Worlds In terms of sheer hilarity, the early ending of the action RPG Two 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. Ganderhar, 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 Ganderhar, 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 Ganderhar 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 calls 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, Danny, leaves her war-torn country and moves to the US

Here, Danny 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. Now, it might seem a little underwhelming, but this faux finale is far more upbeat and positive

than what actually happens in Far Cry 6 proper ending Game plots they long convoluted And require way too much time To get through am I right And you know what I even got this intro written out right here but you can read the title I going to save you some time because that is 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 admit 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 netheryce orb infused

within his body, which at any given moment can turn him into a living nuclear bomb capable of

leveling 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 is 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 tried to escape the town's brainwashed society

and 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 of 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 a bit hard to speak of a story in its case The game 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 spent 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 the 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 scrapbookified version of the Mushroom Kingdom, loves toying with ideas that

border on outrageous and outrageously funny. And this includes turning that age-old cliche

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. Now, 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, and once he transforms into his true

form, he will allow Nyx to bring about the end of the world. Now 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. Now 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 do you think? She was just going to let it be? Come on, dude. Idiot. Idiot

But then again, at least it's one very happy year at school, so cool, I guess. At number one, 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 finish 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 it's 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 enjoyed that where'd you buy that? really? you got it for that? 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 all these years and there we go my friends those who attend 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 comment section below. And you can go follow me over on the social medias over on X and Instagram where it's at Retro J

but the O is a zero. I hope to see you over there. But before I go, I just want to say one thing

I 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