Life is a funny thing. You know what else is funny? Video games. Creating an enjoyable or edifying gaming experience is challenging enough. But making a game that’s hilarious? That’s a feat of design and writing worthy of admiration.
If you find yourself in need of a good laugh, we have just the list for you. We have put together a selection of the best video games that are really funny. From amnesiac disaster agents to flying suitcases and more, here are 10 games (and series) with the best comedy the medium has to offer.
Where to play: Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series
Disco Elysium is considered by many to be one of the best-written RPGs of the past decade, so it’s no surprise that it’s also considered one of the funniest. No matter how the player adjusts his starting stats, the main character of Disco Elysium is the living human embodiment of a train wreck, bouncing from one perversely embarrassing encounter to the next in his existential mission to not only discover the perpetrator behind a murder, but also find an ideological framework by which to judge that murder . More often than not, you can’t stop your character from putting his whole foot (or worse) in his mouth. All you can do is try to roll with the punches and laugh your way through it. —Toussaint Egan
Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series
The Homing Case alone would be enough to earn the Hitman series’ spot on this list. But that’s just one example of the many ways IO Interactive’s immersive murder simulator allows players to play with the game’s impressively designed stages. Rather than trying to create massive open-world environments, the games instead function more like the best city block simulators you’ve ever played, each with their own intricate set of patterns, paths, and ridiculous characters. The game’s winking tone, silly weapons, and propensity for jokes mean that every attempt at some level is an opportunity for something hilarious to happen. —Piet Volk
Where to play: Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series
Starting with The secret of Monkey Island in 1990 and runs all the way to Return to Monkey Island in 2022 (which landed at number 16 on Polygon’s list of the 50 best games of the year), this series was a standard-bearer for comedy in point-and-click adventure games. That’s a credit to Ron Gilbert, a master of puns and interactive story design, who helmed every game in the series. Very few games have made me laugh out loud while playing, but all six Monkey Island games have. You must like puns. —Maddy Myers
Where to play: Android, iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC
In Overboard!you are not motivated by justice – unless you think it is fair to push your husband off a cruise ship because he is holding you back in life. This point-and-click murder mystery starts with a gruesome murder like any other, but in this colorful version you don’t try to solve it; you try to get away with it. It has to be inherently funny, otherwise it would be morally corrupt, and that’s where the game succeeds. The main character is sultry and witty, and you may find yourself tasking her with seducing the captain by complimenting his hat or smothering an annoying old woman who knows too much. Whether you end up in jail or not, when each 20-minute playthrough ends, you can start over with your new information and a few new objectives. —Zoe Hannah
Paper Mario: color splash
Nintendo’s writers like to go wild when it comes to the humor and real-world references in the Paper Mario series. The entire franchise is funny to varying degrees, but the series may have peaked in 2016 Paper Mario: color splash for the Wii U – a game that is unfortunately still stuck on that platform.
Paper Mario: color splash sends Mario to Prism Island, after the heroic plumber receives a letter in the mail – which actually turns out to be a paper toad stripped of its color, having met that fate thanks to paint-guzzling, straw-wielding Shy Guys. On Prism Island they meet Huey, a sentient can of paint who provides many of the game’s jokes and meta-commentary. Color splash is also full of wisecracking Toads – this game has SO many Toads – and Bowser’s minions riffing on anything and everything. There are great paper-based jokes, fourth-wall breaking jokes in the Mario franchise, cleverly veiled jokes about gun control, and even jokes about the Watergate scandal. Some of the game’s real-world references may have even become a little too popular for Nintendo’s taste.
If you don’t have a Wii U handy, hope Nintendo sees fit to include it Color splash forward to the switch. But Switch owners have another great option Paper Mario: The Origami Kingwhich is also very funny – just not as consistently funny as Color splash. —Michael McWhertor
Where to play: Android, Linux, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, Windows PC, Xbox 360
The first Portal is a pinnacle of puzzle design, an unstoppable gem that makes almost every critic’s personal list of the best video games of all time for good reason. But the other reason it stands out is the dialogue. You play as Chell, a silent protagonist trapped in a maze-like series of puzzle rooms that turn out to be a testing center run by a sentient robot called GLaDOS. For whatever reason, this robot is programmed to be a master chatterbox, and she’ll make you chuckle even as you wonder what the heck is going on in every puzzle room. She keeps things going Portal 2but her jokes become a lot meaner and (in my opinion) less funny; the original Portal has the perfect balance. —Maddy Myers
Thank God you’re here!
Where to play: Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC
Do you like Monty Python? Fawlty Towersor That Mitchell and Webb look? If so, do I have the game for you? If not, consider this an introduction (or indoctrination) into the world of absurdist British humor. Developed by Coal Supper and published by Panic Inc. (the latter best known for Untitled Game of the Goose), Thank God you’re here is a comedy adventure game about a little guy who runs errands for the locals of Barnsworth, a fictional town in Northern England. You communicate with everything – and I mean everything – by hitting, which turns out to be an exceptionally effective strategy. The writing is smooth and sassy, supported by an exceptional cast of actors What we do in the shadows star Matt Berry. —Chris Plante
The Yakuza/Like a Dragon series
Where to watch: Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Wii U, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series
Think of the Yakuza series (recently rebranded as Like a Dragon in Western markets) as a clash of The godfather And The Simpsons. Each entry tells a life-or-death story of an ex-Yakuza member navigating the gray space between crime, law enforcement and civilian life. But these dramatic storylines become intertwined with hundreds of side characters and their comical, heartfelt ambitions. Take for example the most recent release, Like a dragon: infinite wealth. The protagonist’s desire to save Hawaii from a megalomaniacal cult leader is put on hold when he helps a struggling musician rediscover his passion for environmentalist death metal. For nearly two decades, the game’s designers have placed fun above all else, whether that’s a Pokémon parody where you collect local perverts, an Animal Crossing clone set on an island full of trash, or a boss battle where the team construction repels. vehicles with a collection of impeccable office furniture. —CP
There is no game: wrong dimension
Where to watch: Android, iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC
I neglect to say anything about the how There is no game: wrong dimension plays because watching the confusing story unfold with each chapter is a joy in itself. It feels clearly inspired by the point-and-click browser games of old The world’s hardest gamewhere the game itself plots against the player. This version is animated and outdated for the current moment, filled with decisions and puzzles that will confuse you into putting the game down, but motivate you to pick it up again a few minutes later. This game is not fair, but it is extremely funny – the perfect antidote to the current moment Also feels like the wrong dimension. —ZH
Where to play: Mac, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC
Trombone champion It could have been a one-note joke, with that note being the flatulent honk of a trombone. The rhythm parody play could have effectively mocked the genre with nothing more than the detuned, fart-adjacent imitation of the instrument. A tongue-in-cheek selection of public domain hits like “The Blue Danube” and “The Old Gray Mare” would have made the deal an instant hit on Twitch streams. But the more you play Trombone championthe funnier it gets as you discover bizarre ‘Tromboner’ cards and inexplicable baboon-related lore. The community has created hundreds of custom songs if you want to trombone your way through the fire and the flames. But if that’s all too much satire for you, then at the end of the day it’s still a game about making fart noises, and that will always be funny. Perfect! –Clayton Ashley