A minigame, or subgame, is a short video game implemented in the larger video game. Those aren’t exactly new, as this kind of practice can be spotted in older titles such as The Legend of Zelda. Here are a few interesting minigames that are equally entertaining as the main title, and sometimes, even more.
Mercenaries
In Resident Evil 4, players can find many exciting unlockables – the content not initially available for them. One of them is a minigame called The Mercenaries. It can be unlocked by completing the main game on any level of difficulty.
The objective is to earn points by killing the enemies in time the evacuation chopper arrives, although there are time extensions to prolong the fun. Enemies can vary in point rewards. It is also crucial to kill them in a row because combos are necessary to achieve high scores.
Mercenaries is an excellent example of a captivating survival horror combat game. It hasn’t left the series since its introduction and even has its own spin-off game.
Gwent
With the release of The Witcher 3, Gwent has taken the internet by surprise. “A free-to-play strategy card game set in the Witcher universe” is precisely what the fans needed. With hundreds of collectible cards, heroes, spells, and special abilities, players pick a faction, build armies, and wage wars against each other across multiple game modes.
Some would compare the game with other popular card games, calling it poker with a magical twist. While this fantasy card game is not exactly like anything you’ll see on the best online poker sites, the need for strategy and calculated moves is equally important in both. Many similar games claim the skill factor is their primary focus, but Gwent really seems to be largely reliant on playing the opponent rather than building a better set of cards.
Triple Triad
Another card game in the bunch. It was originated from Final Fantasy VIII and designed by Hiroyuki Ito. It is a heads-up game where players face each other as ‘blue’ and ‘red’ on a 3×3 grid. They each have five cards in their hands and play them out to capture the opponent’s cards by turning them into their own color.
Similar to Gwent, Triple Triad promotes skill over card worth. Naturally, it is still essential to have a good hand, but beating the opponent will take more than that. The idea is to make them assume your next move. The dynamic gameplay makes for quick in-and-out rounds. The fun part is the element of chaos when it comes to losing. Each loss can end up costing you a lot: sometimes just a card, other times a whole hand.
Geometry Wars
This is an example of a minigame that outgrew the main title. It appeared within a racing video game released exclusively for Xbox in November 2003. Project Gotham Racing 2 supported Xbox Live, which allowed players to race against each other. Many of them, however, spent more time playing Geometry Wars than racing cars.
What started as an ester egg sort of mini game went to be so much more. Now the game is a full-blown series of a top-down multi-directional shooter. The last title, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, was developed by Lucid Games and released in November 2014.
