You definitely can't deny Mohandas Gandhi's contribution to Indian independence, but the sceptic in me refuses to bestow all credit to his brand of nonviolence. I believe a plenty of other crucial factors contributed to the end of the nearly 350-year British rule. Some believe that in the post-war world, the British pretty much succumbed to a new world order eager to shun colonialism, and the rising pressure from Indian revolutionary uprising. I mean, Babu Genu would agree that Satyagraha doesn't always work as advertised 100 percent of the time.

Inappropriate jokes aside, here's a fair disclaimer before you proceed. As a staunch proponent of the ideals propagated in Robert Heinlein's seminal sci-fi novel Starship Troopers, I'm the last person who should be allowed to write anything about non-violence. Like Heinlein, I believe that fear is the authority from which all other authorities are derived. Violence therefore, is an unsavoury yet essential means to leverage this basic primordial instinct for enforcing order in society.

However, it isn't just about society. Violence has lot to do with scientific temper and engineering excellence as well. This is most apparent in the duality of war, where humanity is both at its collective worst and best. War has consistently proven to be a crucible for human excellence, for the simple reason that nothing inspires us more than the survival instinct.

Prima facie, war may seem to be mostly about people killing each other, and it is indeed that way in essence, but when you scratch through its bloody veneer, it has always been a clash between technologies. War, in simple terms, has engineers and scientists working towards dominance using tactical and technological superiority. It is this single minded and relentless pursuit of success that's made it the pinnacle of human determination and ingenuity.

The World Wars unalterably changed the public perception of science by underscoring the importance of scientists and engineers. Modern technological marvels such as computing, nuclear energy, internal combustion engine, aviation, penicillin, radar, and telecommunication among many others, have either been developed or perfected during the World Wars.

So now that we have established that violence is pretty good for humanity as a whole, let's compile a list of nonviolent games. Why? Because it's Gandhi Jayanti today, so hold on to your yoga mats as we embark on a wild journey through the nonviolent side of gaming.

Super Meat Boy
This happens to be one of my all time favourite games, and rightly so, because you have to be a total badass to even think of picking up this game. Super Meat Boy harks back to the golden era of side-scrollers that favoured twitch and design brilliance over eye candy. This platformer chronicles the whimsical quest of a hunk of meat to rescue his beau Bandage Girl from the evil clutches of Dr Fetus - an aborted foetus floating around in a glass jar replete with a suit.

The paper thin premise is an excuse for 100 odd levels that swell up to over 300 when you consider the alternate harder versions, bonus levels and warp zones. That may sound like a chore, but that isn't the case, thanks to a genius design decision that ensures no level is more than a minute long. That is if you are a mutant super-gamer conceived by splicing together the DNA of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and Johnathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendel.

For regular mortals, each level may take anywhere between a few minutes and a couple of hours interspersed with bouts of weeping in a corner in the foetal position. The game may be quite challenging, but it is so by the virtue of great design and not poor controls. On the contrary, the controls are razor sharp. Meat Boy can run at warp speeds, yet stop on a dime. Expect to perform gravity defying stunts, as long as you get the timing right.

It is this level of precision, when combined with a brilliant level design, which delivers a sublime experience that pushes your skills beyond your ken. The challenges may seem daunting at first, but with every passing level, you'll be amazed at your exponential rise in skill - something that isn't possible with the current breed of games that encourage you to pussyfoot every move. Here's the shocker: all of this is achieved with a control scheme employing just four keys.

Why it deserves to be on this list: Despite its killer buzzsaws, lava pits, and other diabolical traps, what makes this game ideal for our list is the fact that you don't have to kill anyone directly to beat this game. The idea is to avoid these traps, so you ideally shouldn't see any death as long as you are perfect at it. However, since you're most likely the kind of person who actively seeks nonviolence, expect to see death. A lot of it.

Fallout
Now you might complain that this Turn-Based RPG isn't remotely nonviolent. This is after all a game that allows you to individually target various body parts and destroy the same with a mind-boggling array of post apocalyptic arsenal. However, I personally think its fascist to enforce any ideal—be it violence or nonviolence. True choice should ideally come from within and not because there's no other option.

Fallout's bespoke SPECIAL system of RPG rule-set not only makes for honest to god character generation and complexity, but it also encompasses a complex cause and effect mechanism that has far reaching effects in the game world. This ranges from a simple relation between taking performance enhancing drugs and their physically altering side effects, to more complex moral ramifications of your actions. The latter moral aspect is actually realised to a level where the game actually bestows the freedom of choice in as true a sense as I have witnessed in any game.

Why it deserves to be on this list: In simple words, you can finish this entire game in Gandhi mode by dodging confrontation and violence through tact and dialogue alone. Fallout is the perfect for this list because it gives you the most potent weapon of them all—the weapon of choice.

Limbo
Limbo is one of the most visually stunning games I have come across. I don't exaggerate when I say that it might as well be termed as interactive art. The game puts you in the shoes of a kid who wakes up to find himself in, well, limbo. The sidescroller interprets the biblical version of the S3 state in black and white, with rich greyscales that capture the contrasts quite well. The fabulous lighting engine coupled with generous bloom, soft edges, and deliberately subdued movements allow Limbo to beautifully convey the feeling of being caught in the void between the living and the truly dead.

It isn't just about eye candy either. Give it a few minutes and you realise that the puzzle platformer has been carefully designed and thoroughly beta tested to perfection. Limbo is a side-scroller that leverages physics to create puzzles that appear deceptively simple, but are incredibly complex when you get down to it. The game forces you factor in mass, momentum, friction, and buoyancy of objects to reach places or make things happen.

However, if there's one thing more devious than the puzzles, it the brutal traps peppered within Limbo. The sheer violence of these booby traps is only surpassed by their ability to catch you unawares. The game really knows how to mess with your head. The moment you learn to preempt a certain trap, it will find a new method to kill you. It will lead you to believe something, but that will just be a red herring for something much more sinister than you can imagine.

The sidescrolling masterpiece is paced beautifully. It keeps on getting interesting, so much so that I ended up finishing it in one sitting. It's one of those games that you just don't want to take a break from, or let go till you have reached the very end. Limbo, indeed, is as perfect as a game can get. Praise doesn't get any higher than this.

Why it deserves to be on this list: Limbo by no means is a walk in the park. It's a twisted and, at times, sad tale set in a foreboding monochromatic aesthetic tone. Like Super Meat Boy, there's plenty of violence in the way the game tries to kill you with devious traps and other denizen of the game world. However, at no point of time do you cause any aggression or otherwise have any capability to hurt anyone directly. Well, that's just what's experienced by the followers of satyagraha and other nonviolent means of protest. I think it's safe to say that this is a game that even "Gandhiji" would be proud of.

Machinarium
Machinarium puts you in the shoes of a robot named Josef. The game starts off with Josef emerging from a scrap heap, with his head and most other parts missing. If you didn't clue in on it yet, this is a Point-and-Click (PnC) adventure title, and the very first puzzle involves putting Joseph together. The game, however, cleverly rids the dying PnC genre of its most bemoaned flaw - pixel hunting. It achieves this by allowing Josef to interact with only those objects that are within his reach.

That isn't the only way it ensures intuitive gameplay. At the heart of Machinarium's brilliance is its brilliant puzzle design. The puzzles aren't easy by a long shot, but they are meticulously crafted to fit into the context. This game doesn't shoehorn random puzzles just for the heck of it. Every element has its purpose and fits into the larger scheme of things. Rack your brains hard enough and the logic behind each puzzle will unravel eventually.

Even if you do get stuck, the game allows one cryptic hint per level that gets tougher as you progress. If you're still stumped, you can access a pictorial walkthrough, providing you a clear minigame to unlock it. Yes, a pictorial walkthrough, because the game doesn't use any kind of dialogues or subtitles. The narrative is akin to a silent movie, albeit one with breathtakingly beautiful hand drawn art.

Why it deserves to be on this list: When you consider its clever spin to the PnC mechanics, cerebral puzzles, beautiful art design, and a memorable soundtrack, it is no surprise why I consider Machinarium to be the finest PnC adventure game I have played in the last decade. However, that's not the only reason why it should be here. Just like most PnC games there's absolutely no violence of any sort to be found here.

Candy Crush Saga
I'm not going to bother describing this mobile puzzle game, because practically everyone and their uncle is hooked onto it like Charlie Sheen is to his stash of cocaine. As for me, after the Twilight Saga, this is yet another saga that has brought an unimaginable amount of grief to my life. Wildly popular among women, it's not surprising that I have had lunch with lady friends who found it perfectly okay to divide their attention between food, conversation, and candy crush. It's little wonder why I hate this game with a vengeance then.

Why it deserves to be on this list: Let's face it, if you genuinely seek a nonviolent game, you most probably aren't a real gamer to begin with. That means, there's a good chance that you will absolutely not be able to play any of the real games listed above. As horrible as it sounds, this leaves just Candy Crush Saga as the only viable game that you can handle. Guess what, just like all the mindless mobile games targeted at reflex-impaired sheeple, this one is completely devoid of violence as well. Have fun crushing candies, I guess.

So there you have it. Four of the finest (potentially) nonviolent games and one pansy excuse of a mobile game for tree-hugging laymen seeking an inclusive gaming experience. Here's hoping you'll have fun with these games, and will rightfully get back to your senses tomorrow and start spilling virtual blood by the gallons. Because the only meaningful way to interact with virtual people is with cat-silenced pistols and dual-chainsaws duct taped to a double-paddled oar.

Tags : Gaming