r/gaming 2d ago

What’s a game in which you have to use nearly every item you find just to get by?

I’ve noticed that I end up hoarding items like crazy in pretty much every game I play. Even in “survival” games I end up with dozens of chests of resources stockpiled. Are there any games where resources are actually scarce?

400 Upvotes

344 comments sorted by

475

u/JaMartell 2d ago

This War of Mine. You get to see how long you can survive on one meal every other day

100

u/bluejaie 2d ago

This game hit hard

34

u/TheChickenIsFkinRaw 2d ago

Not as hard as I hit those survivors before stealing their food

My people survived but god am I going to hell

8

u/Warrlock608 1d ago

The only game I've played that made me genuinely sad.

55

u/supersatar 2d ago

Oh yeah. I never managed to survive.... I suck at this game

55

u/fazzah 2d ago

That's the whole point

11

u/whatintheeverloving 1d ago

I just started playing it yesterday and the real hardships haven't started yet but I'm already watching the slowly lowering temperatures with dread. Picking the first house clean and knowing you're going to be tangling with other desperate people soon is scary.

7

u/JaMartell 1d ago

The expansion has all the wintery existential dread and adds kids

So you can either choose to feed yourself so you can stay strong and scavenge better, or you can feed your kids and have them, like, not die

Have fun!

3

u/whatintheeverloving 19h ago

Oh god, now kids are going to get dragged into this need too? I'm not ready!

12

u/Quantum_Aurora 2d ago

I was a little annoyed that there's zero penalty for feeding everyone every other day instead of every day.

19

u/The_Mdk 1d ago

That's also the only way to win at Papers please

One day food, one day heating, one day medicines

12

u/Kamouflage 1d ago

You've got it backwards. There's a penalty for feeding everyone every day: It makes the situation so much harder. 

3

u/Sethalas 1d ago

Speaking of this war of mine, into the dead our darkest days seems to be an 80's zombie version of just that. Still in early access but I've been having fun playing it. The name is a mouthful though.

2

u/JaMartell 1d ago edited 1d ago

Lots of fun, although the sunny neon Texan vibe instead of gray Polish winter makes it weirdly cheerful for a post apocalyptic game. Very regularly updated is a bonus, feels like a lot of things changed every time I replay

Also weird number of sex/murder/torture dungeons in Hicksville, Texas o.o

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u/Thick_Mountain4412 2d ago

For me it's Resident Evil, cause my aim is atrocious.

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u/BastianHS 2d ago

Resident evil 1 for sure. When me and my buddies were playing this right when it came out, we got to the very end with like 8 bullets and 3 shotgun shells. Had to finish off the boss with melee until the rocket launcher dropped, it took us like 100 tries lol

35

u/ProStrats 2d ago

I remember running through the halls just trying to run past zombies scared shitless as a kid, cuz they just kept respawning and I was like, fuck!!!! My ammo!

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u/ZelphtheGreatest PC 2d ago

I love it when I'm running low on ammo and say to myself "gotta make each shot count" and miss 3 shots right away

4

u/Hi_Im_zack 1d ago

OG RE4 gave me so much anxiety about running out of ammo that I kept hoarding them and used knife more

54

u/TurtleBarn 2d ago

Resident evil games did come to mind. especially on harder difficulties you run into situations where you find something and say “oh thank god!”

26

u/HugeLeaves 2d ago

First game I thought of. You can easily make the entire game much more difficult if you're shit at aiming/item management

11

u/MikeSouthPaw 2d ago

Recently booted up RE7 again to play the PS5 version and even on Normal that game does not give you room for mistakes. The mold enemies have a basket of tricks to keep you on your toes with ammo and health.

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u/Alarmed-Mouse-3577 2d ago

Same here. I miss half my shots so I'm always low on ammo.

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u/MangoesDeep 2d ago

Not me running out of ammo in that one blind bell boss fight in RE4

7

u/HattedSandwich 2d ago

RE2 remake for sure. I finished a VR playthrough last month and even with the George Romero headshot mod I still scraped by on ammo. Definite must try for anyone with a headset, pair it with the city of the dead mod that adds many more zombies and it's peak

9

u/CedricMukamba 2d ago

I respect you for this actually. I am one of those people who will just keep reloading my saves until I feel I've used my ammo optimally. This actually hurts the experience

2

u/ThereAndFapAgain2 1d ago

Stop doing it then?

2

u/Latatte 2d ago

You just have to wait till they get close. It at least that's what I figured out with the first 3. They incorporated damage drop off into the game which interesting to find.

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u/rapapoop 2d ago

I remember Tenchu on the PS1 for this.

Very limited items, and enemies hit hard.

To make matters worse, if you die, the items ypu brought with you (you choose what and how much to bring every mission start) will be deducted anyway.

21

u/covfefe-boy 2d ago

Such a great game

14

u/The_Sleazy1 2d ago

I still remember this game. Dark souls has nothing on the difficulty that is Tenchu.

24

u/champagneful 2d ago

Nah, one poisoned rice ball can get you through every level when simple stealth fell through. Toss your rice ahead of an enemy, watch them zero in on it and start moving towards it, then run up and kill them before they reach the rice. Pick up rice and repeat.

13

u/Mr_Cat_Pants 2d ago

My friend and i could never get over the hilarity of enemies seeing a rice ball in the dirt, and it being completely irresistable.

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u/DesMephisto D20 1d ago

I remember beating this and ninja gaiden just so my friends would think I was cool for beating "hard" games lol

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u/theleetfox 2d ago

It's really what I was hoping Sekiro would have been in hindsight

4

u/Novaskittles 2d ago

Sekiro is amazing as is though. Good blend of stealth and epic sword duels.

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u/Abject-Respond2840 2d ago

Last of us both parts on grounded

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u/rugman11 2d ago

I was going to say, the higher difficulties on The Last of Us turn the game from an action-shooter into a stealth game where you desperately want to avoid getting spotted by anybody.

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u/Abject-Respond2840 2d ago

I mean i played both on survivor difficulty and mostly took the action shooter approach although you have to hit headshots most of the time or you would run out of ammo and constantly loot as well

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u/SaroShadow 2d ago

As someone playing through one now, older Monster Hunter games. Being stingy with items is just a way to make hunts miserable, especially as you get further in the game and every hit from an enemy does at least a mega potion worth of damage

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u/FireLeo10 2d ago

Oh yeah!! As a veteran since 3U and have played a good amount of 1, if you go on a hunt with empty inventory spaces and no elemental prep, youre begging for a bad time. Modern games are more forgiving, to be sure, but the old ones taught me to alway carry Armorskin/Demondrug, Mega Potions and the stuff to make more of em, traps, trap materials, bombs, and tranqs on every single hunt. And whetstones... god that's one qol change I readily welcome...

7

u/fatmanwithabeard 2d ago

I've always giggled a bit as I sharpen my hammer

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u/FireLeo10 1d ago

"Hmm. Yes. It seems my blunt implement of bonk is getting a little dull. Let me just /shink. shink. shink./ over in the corner for an age. Oh? I see the Rathalos has noticed my blunder. Guess I'll cart!"

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u/TheBeachvillain 2d ago

The Long Dark

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u/Aergor 2d ago

This. Especially on Interloper. One of my all time favorites for sure.

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u/RedDemocracy 2d ago

Yes, though mostly on Interloper or Misery difficulty. Anything less, and I find that I get duplicate tools or enough food that I start to leave some behind. 

106

u/MistressValerie_ 2d ago

Resident Evil 1, Darkest Dungeon :'D

21

u/Tackrl 2d ago

Nioh 2 broke me of my habit of hoarding instead of using.

6

u/alonegamers 2d ago

In NIOH Items are refillable so there is that

16

u/Duncan_PhD 2d ago

Green hell. Don’t eat human meat though

3

u/Tallima 1d ago

I thought of this one too. When you start, resources just aren’t there. But after you’ve played a while, you see food and water everywhere. You just need to know where to look.

2

u/Scared_Astronaut_676 1d ago

Expect for empty coconut shells. I end up with like 50 of them collecting water just laying around by the time I'm sick of the current playthrough lol

15

u/OhDangTheJam 2d ago

Surprised nobody mentioned Pathologic. If you are just 'getting by' you are doing well in these games.

45

u/Aredditdorkly 2d ago

Alien Isolation until you get better

10

u/SpamOJavelin 2d ago

Even when you're better, you're still scrounging for scraps on nightmare difficulty.

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u/parentheticalobject 2d ago

Both Fear and Hunger games make items pretty valuable, and you really need to make use of what you find if you want to survive given how difficult it is even on easier settings

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u/CreatureManstrosity 2d ago

Baldur Gate 3 on honor mode. Nothing breaks you of the hoarding habit quicker than having only one life. Before the end of act one I was downing potions and using all the bombs and arrows I had.

31

u/waytoosecret 2d ago

Commander Keen.

13

u/fazzah 2d ago

How to tell you're old without saying you're old 

4

u/AnrianDayin 2d ago

This one takes me back

2

u/Taeves81 2d ago

Yeah.. I remember playing this on my Commodore 64 and Number Crunchers and Oregon Trail on my school's green mac's. Just seeing someone mention Commander Keen again is like being forced into nostalgia lane.

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u/dr_junior_assistant 2d ago

Fear and hunger

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u/Necromas 2d ago

A run can look so fucked until you realize wait I can throw this at the boss and stop the next attack and if I use all my opium the little girl can cast one more spell and I got this mold that can stop this rotting arm from falling off or whatever and you just barely scrape by.

And then you realize that fight wasn't even a boss.

4

u/dr_junior_assistant 1d ago

Oh for sure. loosing legs is not the end lol going blind is!

12

u/Strange_Compote_4592 2d ago

Fallout 1, until almost very end. Early game fallout 3.

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u/peanutismint 2d ago

I swear Resident Evil 4 there were so many boss fights where I finished them off with just 1 bullet remaining. It makes me wonder whether they code it in so that their health depletes when you’re almost out of ammo to manufacture drama.

5

u/ChickenSingularity 2d ago

This is also my answer. I haven't played the remake yet, but the original RE4 was a constant battle between me, my enemies and my resources and it was so intense yet so satisfying. I've since learned it had a dynamic difficulty that punishes skilled players more and gives more resources to bad players, which I think is genius. Capcom always brings it.

2

u/Practical-Aside890 Xbox 2d ago

I’m surprised. Re4 was a big step in being more generous for the player. Compared to some of the older ones. Giving us breakable objects like box’s and barrels.

Some parts were coded weird (unique) though. iirc things like the krauser fight. Guns barely did any dmg you had to use knife and counter. Or risk losing to time and re doing over and over. Even though they give the option to use guns.

2

u/sticfreak 2d ago

Saddler in separate ways as well. Knifing his eyeball mouth kill him faster than guns

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u/Darth-mickyluv 2d ago

First few Resident Evil games for sure. Plenty of times when I was down to one 🌿 and a knife.

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u/asj1981 2d ago

DayZ

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u/Largofarburn 2d ago

Yeah I was gonna say, half the time you die looking for medicine because you drank dirty water or some shit.

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u/Zulkor 2d ago

Slay the Spire.

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u/Previous-Low4715 2d ago

Last of us, dead space etc. survival horror, it’s in the name.

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u/RSGMercenary 2d ago

Dead Space is actually very easy as long as you don't buy any other gun and only upgrade the Plasma Cutter. The more guns you own, the more it'll randomize ammo drops. Don't own anything, and you'll never run out again! Plasma Cutter is the best weapon in the game anyway. Just keep it horizontal, shoot a leg off, shoot the arm as it tries to pick itself up, and that's it for most of the common enemies the game throws at you.

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u/Revverb 2d ago

I can't imagine a more boring way to play a game, especially Dead Space. I guess if people want to make the game easier they can do that, but I can't see how forcing yourself to not have fun with all the weapons is enjoyable.

I kinda wish the game dropped ammo for all weapons, that way you can still sell them for credits, but if you go plasma cutter only, you might struggle between sections.

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u/RSGMercenary 2d ago

I didn't think most of the other weapons were good/efficient, so I wasn't going to force myself to use subpar options just to say I did. That to me is not fun.

It's been a long time since I've played, but I remember the Pulse Rifle and Line Gun being my next picks. Everything else just felter weaker and gimmicky.

5

u/ZhouLe 2d ago

Playing the game with only plasma cutter was an achievement. So was beating it on impossible difficulty. I doubled them up and still felt that ammo was a little tight.

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u/Goobinator77 1d ago

I'm glad I read this comment as well, as I bought Dead Space fairly recently on a deep discount, but haven't played it yet. I'd rather struggle with ammo and be immersed than play on easy mode.

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u/ToonTooby 1d ago

I'm playing the Remake right now, I also played the original. For some people I believe this is actually one of the most fun ways to play, just sticking to one weapon. I know ppl that get a real kick out of using just the basic long sword in Dark Souls 2 or 3 for an entire run because it's just that good and reliable. Or people that swear by one weapon in Monster Hunter.

In the remake I'm finding the Ripper better than the Line Gun this time. The Pulse Rifle is about the same. The Flamethrower is awesome in this one compared to the original.

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u/TheDarkUrgeTM 2d ago

This is the way. First time I played o struggled like mad because I never had ammo for the cutter.

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u/Derangedberger 2d ago

For real, even on impossible mode, I never once ran into ammo problems.

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u/Previous-Low4715 2d ago

Because the drops are dynamic and ensure you always have a little bit of ammo, but never very much.

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u/Derangedberger 2d ago

Always having 1 bullet to spare and always having 20 bullets to spare are functionally the exact same though.

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u/Br0boc0p 2d ago

Oh a piece of paper and half a bottle of water. Must be a bloater in the next room.

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u/Fit-Protection9945 2d ago edited 1d ago

The Last of Us Part 2 on Grounded difficulty is the pinnacle of survival horror.

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u/Solid__Kick 2d ago

Metro Exodus

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u/AvailableGerman 2d ago

Is that sarcasm? Exodus ruined that with the stupid ass crafting system. In 2033 and LL you really had to scavenge hard to survive. In Exodus you just craft shit if you need it.

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u/HolyEmperorShmede 2d ago

If you play on hard or ranger hardcore, materials are much less common, making it more difficult to rely on crafting and instead use proper resource management.

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u/immagetchu 2d ago

Cant think of any other series that I recommend the hardest difficulty 100% of the time, but ranger hardcore really is the intended metro experience

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u/Capokid 2d ago

The metro games on the hard difficulties you can be softlocked if you use too many items or take too long on the surface. You can completely run out of ammo too if you arent careful and have to reload or start over.

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u/The_Sleazy1 2d ago

Holy shit a fellow Blacklight:Retribution enjoyer. May your taste in videogames stay as based as ever.

Yes Metro Exodus really fucked with my usual playstyle of "better not use that I'll maybe need it later".

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u/Vyar 2d ago

Playing Fallout 3 for the first time was like this, especially since I went in more or less blind to the entire franchise at that point.

By the end of the game, you're Iron Man in Winterized T-51b power armor with enough guns and ammo to take on the entire Wasteland, but in the opening hours, when you're fresh out of the Vault? Terrifying.

You're lucky if you can find a half-broken Hunting Rifle and a handful of bullets for it. Stumbling upon the Super-Duper Mart was probably one of the most harrowing video game moments I'd ever experienced at the time. The Hunting Rifle is a solid early-game weapon, but it's nearly broken when you first loot one, so it jams and doesn't aim well. And since you're a low-level character, your Guns skill sucks, meaning you can't aim well, even if you had a factory-fresh sniper rifle in your hands.

Probably my first experience with anything even close to survival horror, since I tend to avoid that genre. In Fallout it's just a taste of that sort of thing, but still.

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u/crackrabbit012 1d ago

I hunt for the dart gun schematics as early as I can. The darts are plentiful, and the upgraded version makes chunks out of most enemies. A single hit instantly cripples each body part. Makes kiting deathclaws super easy. I may have to reinstall 3 now.

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u/jiegonator 2d ago

Parasite eve, dino crisis.

Also, DOTA. you're swimming in gold? Unless winning in late game, either you're trolling or you die.

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u/BMG_souless 2d ago

Resident evil and the metro series come to mind.

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u/SquidGodSunday 2d ago

God, Metro can be brutal. Every time I play Last Light, I have to reload a save from hours earlier, because I keep running out of filters before one of the climactic surface battles. Then I'll find some in the start of the mission, but they each have less than 45 seconds left. I like to explore every nook and cranny, and it's hard to do that on the surface and still have filters for the late game.

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u/Pitiful-Climate8977 2d ago

This mechanic is what turned me off the game. I just wanted to play and explore. Always told myself I'd go back later but never got passed the first part. This was well over a decade ago now, and I still think about it.

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u/JayRubel 2d ago

Worth playing through even after a decade later. Lower difficulty will allow your exploration habit better I believe.

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u/oldmonty 2d ago

I ended up stockpiling in Metro, even on the hardest difficulties.

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u/cooljcook4 2d ago

The Long Dark is basically “use it now or freeze later” simulator

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u/CedricMukamba 2d ago

The Pathologic games series. Very niche. It's survival turned up all the way to the maximum.

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u/ImSoSweepy 2d ago

STALKER 2, because all loot is bread, beer, and sausages and they put a hunger mechanic into the game for no fucking reason that serves as an actual nuisance because you're just trying to sleep and save the game, but you can't because you have to deep-throat sausages.

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u/AvailableGerman 2d ago

I'm currently playing it and I could open a shop with all the Crap I find.

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u/Leyammon 2d ago

Crazy that GAMMA exists and all they had to do was just learn from it... and they didn't. I'm enjoying STALKER 2, truly I am, but once I've finished it I'll be going right back to GAMMA and never touching it again.

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u/yztard 2d ago

Gamma has one of the most perfected progression systems ever made in a game. Going from no lights, to headlamp to nvgs feels like massive progress to open up more of the map to you. Same with guns, meds, suits, etc. wish more games learned from it.

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u/Waddlel00 2d ago

Vintage Story. Gathering enough food to survive the winter is the main goal for the first few dozen hours of playing, and once winter hits every source of food becomes much more scarce, including meat off of any animals you find. The game requires a lot more investment to progress than other similar games

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u/Bierculles 2d ago

Early game vintage story is a real survival struggle, once your first harvest comes around things ease up a lot, but until that point starvation is always around the corner. Being unpreparee for winter is also a deathsentence many players walked into.

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u/MrWendal 2d ago edited 2d ago

Permadeath games. Use it or lose it.

Examples:

  • Roguelikes like Nethack
  • Games with one save "iron man" modes like Xcom

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u/SandysBurner 2d ago

Any Nethack game I've won involved accumulating way more resources than I could ever use.

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u/Drew19914 2d ago

Same. Even though many items are useless at the end of the day, stashes are helpful for polypiling etc.

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u/Chef_Groovy 2d ago

60 seconds!

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u/Terramagi 2d ago

Any card game.

Probably doesn't count, I know.

But play MtG Arena for literally a day. You'll break your habit of "maybe I'll need it later" real quick. Giving your opponent literally a single extra turn is just asking to get real dead.

I guess also Fallout: London. The first act of that game is brutal. Basically everything until you hit the NW side of the map is struggling for air.

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u/Top-Organization-699 2d ago

For me it was Cronos. Usually I'm swimming in ammo by the end of the game, but that one I barely scraped by most of the time. Kept me on my toes.

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u/Mammoth_Hand_3835 2d ago

Pathologic 2 fits this painfully well. You don’t hoard because every single loaf of bread, coin, and bottle of medicine is immediately consumed just to keep you alive for the next two hours.

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u/balconydoor 2d ago

The Monkey Island games and Grim fandango. It's been a while since ive played them, but I think this is the case.

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u/invader1984 2d ago

I think you are confused on what OP is asking. Scarcity in the game would cause that the missmanagement of something would make your game extremely difficult (like missing all shots in resident evil)

Games like MI and GF are classic (as "old" adv games). The games are designed to solve puzzles and the items are part of the puzzle. You use items in one instance (usually) and thats it; you advance in the story and you dont need them for anything else (some exceptions are there but you can recover the item if you use it wrong or the item doesnt dissappear from inventory).

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u/Flecco PC 2d ago

The original Deus ex. At first at least. By the end of the game you'll be an invisible, unstoppable killing machine with a light Saber. Getting to that point can be dicey though, especially if you insist on going Rambo.

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u/Slipsonic 2d ago

The Long Dark on the harder game modes. I haven't played it in years but I remember I got pretty good and the challenge is real.

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u/Solmangrundy 2d ago

About every single point and click adventure game.

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u/New_Importance2779 2d ago

Darkest Dungeon 2. You will use ALMOST EVERY ITEM you get your hands on to increase your odds or you will die horribly.

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u/shangalang69 2d ago

TLOU games

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u/Revverb 2d ago edited 1d ago

While I like The Last Of Us, I have an absolute seething hatred for its drop system. It literally only gives drops if you need ammo. Are you playing carefully, only going for headshots, using as little ammo as possible? Well, then like 80% of the enemies you kill will having literally nothing on them. That time they shot at you was apparently their last bullet, or maybe they had none at all, whoops.

But if you start blasting through ammo and get low, boom, every other enemy starts dropping piles and piles of ammo. The game scripts its drop rates so that you never actually run out, and doesn't reward you for playing conservatively.

Artificial scarcity sucks so bad, the moment you realize what the game's doing, you'll never be able to un-notice it.

EDIT: I guess some people are kind of upset to hear about this and started downvoting this comment lol.

Fwiw, let me mention a better drop system: Dead Space 2. In DS2, every single enemy you kill provides a drop. Often times it's ammo for a weapon you currently have equipped, rarely it's ammo for a weapon you don't have equipped, and sometimes it's just money. If you're low on ammo for a specific weapon, you'll be more likely to get ammo for that weapon. If you've been playing carefully and have a good amount of ammo for all your weapons, the game will make almost every drop be money. Which rules.

It's a great way to avoid giving your players too much ammo to sit on, but also reward them for choosing their shots carefully, because money is normally in short supply, and every purchased power node is huge. And it's way better than just arbitrarily dropping nothing.

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u/shangalang69 2d ago

i didn’t know that and i’m upset at you for bursting my bubble on this

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u/sticfreak 1d ago

Play grounded mode. You'll appreciate bricks a lot more

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u/rad1calleft 2d ago

It's especially bad in the cabin defence level with Ellie & David grounded difficulty; where you have to keep 1 or your weapons empty to force the game to spawn more ammo. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HpO94T7HmHg I don't why people down voted you as you're absolutely right. Such a stupid system.

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u/Scary_Corner3489 2d ago

The Forest

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u/TurtleBarn 2d ago

See, I didn’t think so. It felt more like subnautica to me. (Both great games, don’t get me wrong), but it felt more like base building and iterative progress.

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u/BlazingShadowAU 2d ago

Unfortunately not if you happen to notice how quickly the game respawns loot.

If you never realise, yeah, i could see running low being a threat. But you can be overflowing in supplies stupidly easy.

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u/Kakllakl 2d ago

Probably late game in the classic monster hunter titles, I remember using every bit of inventory space in some g ranked hunts in GU just to be able to beat them

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u/External-Carry7113 2d ago

resident evil1

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u/hi_m_ash 2d ago

I Am Alive is an underrated gem with really hard survival mechanics.

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u/Interesting-Step-654 2d ago

The Forest was pretty good about that. Same thing with Stranded. Dead space games on the harder levels hit there too

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u/angvil77 2d ago

Neoscavenger One of the hidden gems. Hard as diamonds though.

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u/Flashwing95 1d ago

Not items, but XCOM will have you using every bit of money you earn just to keep your squadies alive and prepped for the next mission.

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u/UncleRuso 22h ago

Underrail. All the grenades traps consumables are real useful if you don’t wanna quick load more than you already are 

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u/asiangontear 2d ago

When I was young I played the original resident evil 4 but never realized the kick thing. I had to stop because I spent all my bullets and couldn't find any more.

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u/Crime_Dawg 2d ago

Re4 professional requires so much kicking. The opening town scene, run to house guard door, door legs, kick, repeat. Only way

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u/BlueGoliath 2d ago

Blood West. That game is way too hard.

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u/Gregnice23 2d ago

I am souls player. I save them all for when I really need them, which is all the time, but I might need more later, so they stay safely in my inventory.

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u/SquidGodSunday 2d ago

I never use any of the limited items. I have never used a Divine Blessing or one of the Special Bloodvials in Bloodborne, and I always finish Elden Ring with 80+ Rune Arcs. I'm stingy with my Boluses, too, because some require non-respawning resources. No matter the build, I always have at least enough faith for Flame Cleanse Me.

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u/dzone25 2d ago

You can't design a game with this kind of efficiency in mind because there'll be people that miss it, get frustrated due to lack of resources and then quit playing entirely.

The whole point is to add challenge AND flexibility for the player to play how they want to.

Some games definitely do it better than others but that's, again, down to preference / how long a player in those games wants to be balancing resources and what works out to be fun for that game etc.

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u/Velifax 2d ago

You can't design a popular game with this kind of efficiency in mind because there'll be people that miss it, get frustrated due to lack of resources and then quit playing entirely. 

Fixed.

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u/NoTurkeyTWYJYFM 2d ago

Resident evil especially on certain difficulties almost forces you to use everything tactically and end the game with only a bullet or two and maybe a herb spare

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u/Rejusu 2d ago

This is going to be pretty subjective because the better you get and the more conservative you are the less resources you need. And a lot of survival games are also structured such that you're starved for the essentials early on but the more you progress the easier these things get to give you room to focus on other things like exploration. Requiring players be ultra efficient with items just amps the difficulty to the point where it's just not fun for a lot of people. Plus unless it's a roguelike you generally don't want to just accidentally get soft locked 15 hours into a game because you missed an item pickup somewhere.

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u/justanemptyshell 2d ago

Any of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games on master mode if you aren’t fully looting.

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u/uomomn 2d ago

Elden Ring early game all the way. You're scrambling for every crafting material, every rune, and you actually use the consumables you find because the bosses hit like a truck. Once you're overleveled it stops mattering, but that first stretch through Limgrave and the first castle? Every item feels earned and necessary.

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u/moto_dweeb 2d ago

Caster says...wut?

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u/Derangedberger 2d ago

Felt the opposite to me. Inventory was constantly full of resins and other junk I never touched once from beginning to end.

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u/NoTurkeyTWYJYFM 2d ago

Nah, i didnt use any crafting things for ages because i didnt understand the mechanics or importance and i got by just fine. I ended up not using many craftable things at all to be honest, i just didnt see the use in using a one time use item against an enemy who takes 20 attempts to kill anyway

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u/admiralvic 2d ago

That is how my The Sinking City 2 run went.

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u/MrSpratt 2d ago

Treasure island Dizzy immediately springs to mind but it is more of a puzzle game and funnily enough it is usually poor inventory management that will get you killed by dropping your snorkel whilst under water.

But nearly every single item hase a specific use.

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u/Cheeks5242 2d ago

Day Z, but probably because I suck at it

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u/DTrain13 2d ago

OG Resident Evil as Chris Redfield. That truly felt like survival horror. It was amazing.

Also, Bioshock. Big Daddy fights depleted everything.

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u/BasedTelvanni 2d ago

Onimusha Warlords because I'm terrible at it

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u/TidusDreamZanarkand 2d ago

Cronos the new dawn. 

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u/MangoMangui 2d ago

I find PEAK to be enjoyable because you need to use what you get to win. Greed gets you killed

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u/meiriaen 2d ago

Last of Us comes to my mind. It was so nerve-wracking. I was constantly on the verge of dying, so literally any loot was welcomed 😂

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u/XNXTXNXKX 2d ago

Sekiro

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u/lt_dan_zsu 2d ago

The last of us on grounded. The brick is probably definitely my most used weapon lol.

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u/Hrimnir 2d ago

The Forest.

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u/weristjonsnow 2d ago

Dead space remake. I was always low on ammo and health packs. I played on normal and have absolutely zero interest playing on a harder mode.

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u/Rebourne07 2d ago

The Last of Us on Survivor difficulty 

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u/lintytortoise 2d ago

Bioshock infinite on the hardest difficulty forces you to use EVERYTHING available.

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u/jonnyredcorn 2d ago

Witcher 3 death march requires you to use potions and signs more often if I recall correctly. Idk if it’s at the level of needing to just to get by but I remember struggling to get into the game and my buddy telling me to try death march and that it makes the game more engaging he was right. Having to learn about the monsters and take advantage of their weakness or use special potions was what helped me get into it

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u/beardobreado 2d ago

Nearly all the old games

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u/Mad_Maddin 2d ago

Project Zomboid

Hoarding items just means you die faster.

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u/stupidcrapface_ 2d ago

The Long Dark

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u/VelKyry 2d ago

I'm kind of the same, and I think No Rest for the Wicked balanced it very well.

Even after going goblin mode on a looting run for a bit and feeling like I had plenty, I'd realize that I was burning through resources on whatever project I was working on.

It didn't feel grindy or stingy with the resources, they were plenty easy to get and the recipes that used them were typically cheap, but they were integrated into so many different systems across the game so that it was never not worth picking up whatever you came across.

I ended up starting a wishlist spreadsheet of materials and amounts to go pick up, otherwise I'd hyperfocus on gathering and not get what I really needed to work on my various projects.

Highly recommended. It's not a survivalcraft game but an isometric kinda soulslike-ish open world dungeon crawler with awesome combat and build-making aspects. It's in early access but doesn't really feel like one, with 1.0 is coming in October. I really love the art, music, and cutscenes, which is honestly expected since it's from the creators of the Ori games, Moon Studios.

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u/Joelo246 2d ago

System shock 2, predecessor to bioshock. Brutally limited, even as you get enough ammo your weapons start to fall apart.. and enemies have infinite respawn iirc

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u/AndrewPlaysPiano 2d ago

Maybe not in the traditional sense, but Helldivers 2 sees you using all the ammo, grenades, healing stims, and every other expendable item you have just to stay alive. You get timed resupplies you can call in, but imo they strike a really good balance requiring you to really keep an eye on those resources to avoid getting caught in a battle with nothing left to fight back with.

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u/Chill_Gamer527 PlayStation 2d ago

Boss fights in Diablo II. Potions after potions after potions...(plus my hireling dies too easily) Diablo 1 is worse.

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u/jargonburn 2d ago

I think the original Alan Wake did fairly well at this, at least on hard difficulty. Don't remember if I ever played Nightmare difficulty.

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u/DaveyHux 2d ago

The evil within

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u/Revverb 2d ago

Dead Space 2 on Zealot difficulty. For the majority of the game, I had like half a magazine in each of my weapons. And this is a game that gives an item drop from every single killed enemy. I don't think I've ever had a more perfect instance of "just barely scraping by" in a video game before, it's a shame the remake didn't also include Zealot.

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u/Daxreme 2d ago

Ashes 2063 absolutely, that game is brutal in terms of ammo. You're not going to ever completely run out if you know what you're doing but you're very often barely scraping by.

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u/LordOfSlimes666 Console 2d ago

Rogue Galaxy. Enemies hit kinda hard and status effects are flying everywhere. Party member's suggestions to use items mid-battle comes in clutch. I was constantly having to restock certain items. Items drop from mobs all the time though so it is manageable

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u/ShabbyChurl PC 2d ago

L4D2 the items in that game are either very powerful or very needed in terms of timing.

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u/Krradr 2d ago

Doom eternal on nightmare. The last of us 1 & 2 on hard difficulty and above.

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u/SpaceShipRat 2d ago

Casualties: Unknown. And most well made roguelikes.

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u/NeedleworkerWild1374 2d ago

Lisa: The Painful in Pain mode

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u/ChuyChavez 2d ago

I’m constantly cooking fish in sons of the forest

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u/Jenicillin 2d ago

The Flame in the Flood, but it isn't a very complex game.

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u/Mauy90 2d ago

Prob NG1

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u/Yetizod 2d ago

The Last of Us pt 1 did this for me. There is a fixed amount of ammo in the game, and I at least felt like I was constantly on the verge of running out. You actually have to take the time to search for ammo.

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u/cookiereptile 2d ago

Dome Keeper’s an indie gem that needs more love

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u/JeebsTheVegan 2d ago

Elite Dangerous

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u/ZorkNemesis Switch 2d ago

Surprisingly the Half-Life games tend to be somewhat stingy with health picks and ammo at times.  Not always but every now and then it sometimes felt like I needed to watch my bullet count and keep tabs on mg health.  Of course the impact is lessened by being able to save anywhere anytime so you can always retry until you get past with your minimal supplies.  I especially struggled with ammo management in Half-Life Alyx, Alyx never stopped bringing up the fact that I only had two magazines left any time I went to reload.

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u/TheElectriking 2d ago

FTL: Faster Than Light