There are so many comedy games that either fell flat or haven't aged all that well; games like Duke Nukem and Leisure Suit Larry are cringeworthy and overly-juvenile in their approach to humor. Yet, that obviously doesn't mean that there aren't any quality comedy games floating around out there.
Humor is obviously subjective, but, when it comes to interactive media, it's often a pretty tough thing to nail down. But, from tasteful adaptations of animated sitcoms to satires of 1950s B-movies, there have been so many games over the generations that been creative with their humor.
Jazzpunk
The first-person puzzler Jazzpunk might just be one of the most overlooked games ever made. It’s not very long and not much money has gone into it, but it’s such a unique experience, and no other game compares to it.
Being based around a spy agency that operates out of an abandoned subway station, the very first scene shows a human-shaped suitcase moving along a baggage carousel, and, from that point, the laughs just don't stop. There are jokes hidden in every frame, and there’s something to laugh at around every corner.
Far Cry: Blood Dragon
Far Cry: Blood Dragon is an outlier in the Far Cry series. Most of the games in Ubisoft's franchise have a modicum of satire with their characters, but Blood Dragon’s total parody of 80s movies is fascinating. Being an expansion/spin-off of Far Cry 3, Blood Dragon many assets are re-used, and the map feels aggressively repetitive, but the story and all of the new additions more than make up for it.
Players control a cyborg akin to the Terminator, and they explore a world full of dinosaurs that can shoot lasers from their eyes. Its an excellent parody of action/sci-fi tropes, and the lighthearted tone remains a part of the Far Cry series to this day.
The Simpsons: Hit & Run
The Simpsons: Hit & Run might be a clear knock-off of the Grand Theft Auto series, but, given the fact that that franchise is way too violent for kids, Hit & Run is actually a brilliant alternative to GTA.
Obviously, being one of the best animated shows to binge of all time, Hit & Run is full of the humor that fans love from the series. Exploring an open-world Springfield, as well as being chased by cops, makes Hit & Run not only the best The Simpsons video-game, but one of the funniest video-games ever made.
The Worms Series
The Worms series has been going strong for decades now, and it has been on almost every modern platform and console. Whether players choose to play it on a console or on their cell phones, the core gameplay formula rarely changes, and it’s always just as fun and funny as ever.
From the quips and barbs the worms trade to the resounding amounts of wacky weapons at their disposal, the game is simply ludicrous, and the over-the-top hilarity of the game has yet to grow stale for many fans.
Saints Row IV
Taking inspiration from Grand Theft Auto, the Saints Row series ramped up the craziness and absurdity of the GTA series tenfold—as if that was even possible. But, Saints Row IV takes it to another level completely, as the third-person open-world game has been turned into a way over-the-top parody. The player-created character becomes the President of the United States in this entry and springs into action as an alien race attacks Earth, and the game absolutely never lets up on the outlandish gags.
Goat Simulator
A parody of the simulation game trend—though perhaps inadvertently spurring it on for more than a few years—Coffee Stain Studios released the utterly hilarious Goat Simulator in 2014.
Few games revel in how glitchy they are, and, usually, if a game is riddled with issues, it usually means it’s completely unplayable. But, all of the glitches in Goat Simulator are what makes it so much fun. The game is actually less of a simulator and more of a third-person adventure game, as players control a goat freely roaming around open areas with the intention of destroying as many things in the world as possible.
Tony Hawk’s Underground 2
The first Tony Hawk's Underground game was a big change to the series, as it completely dropped the formula of segmented two-minute skate sessions and introduced a fully fleshed-out story. The sequel went even further and capitalized on the popularity of Jackass; similar to Goat Simulator, players are placed in landmark cities, from Boston to Barcelona, and have to cause as much destruction as humanly possible. With the Tony Hawk games going through somewhat of a renaissance right now, fans may potentially see a remake of the game in the future.
South Park: The Stick Of Truth
When it was announced that Ubisoft was releasing a South Park role-playing game, nobody thought it was going to be any good, as few previous South Park-related video games were worth playing, but the first new game based on the vulgar series turned out to be surprisingly great.
There’s so much content in the game that some fans even class it as its own season of the show. It has loads of callbacks to the funniest moments of the series, but there are so many original jokes, too.
Destroy All Humans!
There’s clearly a pattern among comedy video-games, as most of them see players’ objectives being based around destroying something, and Destroy All Humans is no different—it’s even in the name.
The game is set in a rural town in the US in the 1950s, and, though it would make a great movie, it plays out like a B-movie parody. It follows Furon, an alien who has a hatred for the human race. Players take control of this alien invader and cause all sorts of chaos in the name of accomplishing the game's titular goal.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole
After the huge success that was The Stick of Truth, Ubisoft returned with a sequel, only, instead of it being a parody of Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, The Fractured But Whole takes aim at superhero movies.
It retains the turn-based gameplay and all the RPG elements of the first game, and it takes the toilet humor even further. Even the title itself is an ingenious double-entendre. The game is more imaginative than its predecessor, too, as it relies much less on callbacks to the TV series, instead advancing more unique scenarios and gameplay elements.