Games That Are More Fun Without Optimal Builds Or Strategies

Your competitive side can come out when playing video games. Really wanting to finish at the top of the leaderboard, beat a boss, or complete a game is natural. As such, we often come up with optimal methods to achieve our goals as efficiently as possible.

Yet, games are supposed to be fun, too, and doing things efficiently isnt always the most entertaining way to play. In the following games, we sometimes stick to tried-and-true methods for victory, but theyre actually more fun if you mix things up a bit.

Worms W.M.D

[An air strike dropping on a few worms in Worms WMD.]

In Worms W.M.D, your goal is to eliminate the worms on the opposing teams and be the last group standing. There are a bunch of different ways you can accomplish this, as the game is filled with distinct weapons, including those you can craft yourself.

That said, in most scenarios, the most efficient way to hurt the enemy is just by using the standard bazooka or grenade. They're both easy to use and effective. However, they're also pretty boring. The game is a lot more fun if you're using things like the unpredictable Banana Bomb or the tricky-to-control Super Sheep. You're more likely to fail with them, but they're more exciting than the standard weapons when they hit.

Batman: Arkham City

[Batman: Arkham City screenshot of Batman on a rooftop.]

One boss fight in Batman: Arkham City pits you against the very intelligent Mr. Freeze, who forces you to keep using different sneak attacks due to his ability to adapt to your actions. It's in this fight that you're likely reminded of all the distinct ways you can take someone down stealthily.

In most other stealth sections, it's more efficient to simply do standard takedowns from vents or gargoyles. And in combat sequences, things like basic combos, counterattacks, and ground takedowns are often the way to go. Yet, you are playing as Batman, who is famous for having plenty of different ways to hurt thugs. If you make use of all the gadgets and moves that the game gives you, the adventure becomes even more fun.

Minecraft

[Minecraft Fantasy's Furniture bedroom.]

To beat Minecraft, you must find and kill the Ender Dragon. Accomplishing this takes plenty of resource gathering. That means spending a lot of time mining things underground. What doesn't help with efficiency is using those resources to build an extravagant house or items you don't need.

But building is one of the most fun things to do in the game. There is so much freedom to create what you want. The Ender Dragon isn't going anywhere, so put some time into building your home. Make it a place that's truly fit for a dragon hunter.

Baldur's Gate 3

[Minthara in Baldur's Gate 3.]

Baldur's Gate 3 is a game that includes seemingly endless possibilities. This is seen in the combat, where there are many distinct methods of taking down the enemy. Not only can your characters learn all sorts of powers, but there are also things in the environment you can use to your advantage. So, you don't have to lock yourself into a certain way of playing.

Yes, you can make brilliantly crafted builds in this game that make you a juggernaut in combat, but that is limiting your creativity. If you give yourself freedom, you can come up with all sorts of little strategies that make use of your abilities, which makes the game more enjoyable.

WWE 2K26

[AJ Lee perched on the ropes in WWE 2K26.]

In an actual WWE match, there are two or more wrestlers attempting to put on an entertaining contest for the audience. However, when you play the game, most people's instincts are simply to attempt to win. After all, there is no real audience to please.

Yet, if you just try to win, you can end up having a very simplistic match where you don't make use of all the things you can interact with in and around the ring. It's more exciting if you ease up on efficiency a little bit and attempt all sorts of cool moves and attacks.

Hitman: World Of Assassination

[The back of Agent 47's head in Marrakesh in Hitman: World of Assassination.]

Every level in Hitman: World of Assassination is its own sandbox. They're filled with almost countless things to do and interact with. And in almost all of them, you've got a target you must kill, and there are few restrictions on how you do it. The easiest and most efficient way is often to find a discreet place where you can shoot your target in the head with your pistol.

Doing it that way, though, means ignoring a lot of what makes the game interesting. It's much better to use different disguises, poison people, set up unique kills, and make use of some of the funny items in the game. That way you can get the true Hitman experience.

Saints Row 4

[Saints Row 4 character leaping at aliens on a rooftop.]

Since you have superpowers and an array of weapons in Saints Row 4, you have a bunch of ways you can murder people. Not all of them are efficient, though. If you want to wipe out people quickly, using the ice blast to freeze them before shooting them with a shotgun is arguably the way to go.

That is a fun method, but doing that to everyone gets a bit dull. So, you should mix it up by using less effective, but very fun methods of eliminating enemies. Try infalting them with the Inflato-Ray or firing black holes at them with the Black Hole Launcher. Alternatively, you can run up and hit them in the nuts.

The Sims 4

[Don Lothario and Katrina Caliente talking on the couch in The Sims 4.]

Like every entry in the popular series, The Sims 4 is a life simulator. You need to attend to your Sims' needs, send them to work, have them learn new skills, and meet new people. All of that is fine, but just having a virtual person live a normal life can get boring. You need to mix it up a little.

Give your Sims some strange personality traits, or put weird things in their home for them to interact with. You can also kill Sims you don't want and sleep with vampires. All of this makes the game a lot more interesting. Living a normal, responsible life should be saved for your actual life.

Dead Rising 2

[Chuck holding a Snowball Cannon combo weapon in Dead Rising 2.]

Dead Rising 2 puts you in control of a man named Chuck Greene, who is stuck in a mall that is filled with zombies. As with every Dead Rising game, you have a whole host of weapons you can use to fight your way through the undead horde. You can even build special combo weapons that are particularly effective.

The first one you unlock is a bat with nails in it. It's a very effective weapon that is easy to make, so you could play through the whole game relying on nailbats. That wouldn't be a very fun way to play, though. There are so many other interesting and funny combo weapons to use. While they aren't all as easy to make and use as the nailbat, they make things more entertaining.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots

[Snake running with a gun in hand in Metal Gear Solid 4.]

In the early Metal Gear Solid games, your resources were limited, so you had to get through those stealth games with whatever resources you could find. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a little different because you can access an in-game shop that lets you buy and customize weapons.

This can make sections of the game quite easy since you can use a silenced sniper to pick people off from a distance before they even have the chance to spot you. Yet, that isn't the most fun way to play the game. It's more enjoyable to sneak around them or perhaps use your close-quarters combat (CQC) skills to incapacitate them. You've also got a bunch of fun gadgets that can help keep things interesting.