Personally I really the loops subgenre, with stuff like stuck in time, increlution, cavernous, etc. They give such a strong sense of progression over time. I think a lot of that is how the speed improvements are polynomial so progression didn’t feel like it diminished over time.
My favorite implementation of a prestige mechanic is actually Ctrl/Cmd-C’s completion token system, simple and boring as it may be.
This system gradually makes you build up a multiplier which increases polynomially over the course of your playthrough. It can get big enough to break the game’s intended pacing, but you build it up slowly enough that you can see it slowly crumbling. In other games, behavior around prestiging is tightly controlled (this can be seen in the game’s chapters). That’s still the case here even with absurdly large multipliers but the feeling that you are supposed to do this is less present.
It’s a power fantasy in which you feel you are defying the developer’s intentions for how the game should be played. Eventually you quit because you have so much power that getting more requires giving the game constant attention (and by that point, a multiplier of 2x doesn’t feel like anything anymore).
That sounds really interesting - I hadn’t heard of that game before. I like games with a definite ending though
Really enjoying Dodecadragons and how it handles prestiges. Earlier resources become automated, and while there’s still some grinding it’s not forever and you know that there’s going to be a milestone that takes the pain away. Each resource builds, and you know what your target is for the next prestige. I like it.
Louigi Verona’s Machinery, I liked the way different prestige mechanics still mean the game is still more or less the same time between resets with more progress, and adding new mechanics.
CheckBackMod - spending prestige currency for more gainz, carefully! It’s entirely possible to go backwards because RNJesus isn’t on your side!
