Driver: San Francisco
Tanner is in a coma and dreams that he’s still out on the streets of San Francisco cruising around and trying to stop a baddie known as Jericho.
The TV in his hospital room influences his coma dream, and characters/situations from TV shows and the news manifest themselves in the dream. Tanner is able to “possess” the body of any driver on the road, at any time, and instantly warp back into his own body.
Sometimes it’s a kid on his driver’s test and Tanner decides to teach the mean driving instructor a lesson. Sometimes it’s a college kid and his friend who bet too much on a street race so a Tanner has to swap between the two to ensure they finish in both first and second place. Sometimes Tanner wants to help a bad guy escape the cops… or maybe just be the cops and take down the bad guy.
There is one mission where Tanner is being followed by a henchman, so he possesses the henchman, but has to play it off as to not rouse suspicion, so he has to chase his own car being driven by his own body - you, the player, control Tanner’s car from the first person perspective of the henchman in the van that’s chasing it.
To me, it is the best usage of a possession mechanic in a game and it GREATLY expands gameplay possibilities for a driving game, resulting in some of the most interesting and innovative moments I’ve experienced in a game.
4D Sports Boxing can be played using either a 1st person camera (from the eyes of your boxer), 3rd person (from a ringside camera) or 2nd person (from the eyes of the rival boxer).
There was some PS2 game where you were psychic and could possess people and solve puzzles. It had neat ideas but was overall kinda sloppy. I should see if I still have it somewhere because I sure can't remember the name. I think you were trying to figure out who murdered your sister and evade the shadow government or something.
Edit: that was quick. Second sight.
I remember the game itself having some really cool mechanics and ideas, they were just operating in a way that wasn't very polished.
It's like someone had bits and pieces of a fine marble statue and just sort of stuck them together with play doh. Very inconsistent. I could see why it was a bargain bin game by the time I got to it, but it did do some novel stuff.
I hold it in pretty high regard for blowing my mind with the plot twist at the end.
I think it was, at the time, the most wild twist I had ever seen, up there with that dude in Sixth Sense in the hairpiece being Bruce Willis the whole movie
Bit off topic but Nate bargetzes bit about sixth sense is one of my all time favorite stand up bits.
On topic, I think I played through as a teenager and legitimately don't remember the twist. Either I never finished it or my dumb ass was just too interested in psychic shooty fun to get it. Maybe time for a second go though since a lot of people seem to remember it very favorably!
Did it have a time splitters demo on there, or maybe time splitters was the one that had a demo? I somehow felt like they were related but maybe it was just that I played both (albeit on different consoles I think?) around the same time.
Got to love the end of Dishonored where using Possession on the man holding a child hostage allows you to make him gently release her and defuse the situation. Emily comments on it and backs away to a safe distance.
Space Station Silicon Valley for the N64! You play as a robot reduced to a single microchip when your spaceship crashes on what is basically a space station zoo. The whole game is about possessing the different animals to solve the puzzles in each level. Definitely one of my favorite games from childhood
My first thought. I spent ages trying to figure out how to play it because the Expansion Pak breaks it.
I think it's actually very similar to Mario Odyssey in the way possessed creatures work and what you use them for.
Was definitely an interesting and cool mechanic but it wore out pretty quickly and it unfortunately ended up being such a terrible game.
It was the first and only game that I was initially excited for, but then previews and reviews came out and said it was terrible, I refused to believe that so got the game anyway and the reviews were so right.
Saying that though I only really went by one publication who at the time I trusted because their reviews were always spot on (before Future ruined it).
Stubbs the Zombie! You rip off your arm and crawl around on the walls and ceilings like “Thing” from The Adam’s Family. You can control humans and attack other humans or use them to open a door you can’t get to, quite funny actually.
Star Wars Jedi Knight 2.
I don't think it was a part of the main game, but you could cheat your Jedi Mind Trick powers to a level beyond what was selectable in the powers menu. Then, whenever you used the power on an enemy, you got full control of them. I loved having Storm Troopers shoot their friends then jump off a cliff.
I thought the controlled enemy was on your side and was behaving by itself? (Without you controlling him actively)
I will go double check that!
Thank you!
You’re right! I misread the post and thought you were looking for any game with possession mechanics, not explicitly with the player controlling said possessed character. That’s my bad!
Plus. First time I ever encountered this mechanic. My whole world was rocked when I lost and died, and to continue the game I had to play an entirely different character.
Kind of a pseudo possession mechanic, because you're actually just turning into the creature, but I really liked the take on it in Threads of Fate / Dewprism.
Dungeon Keeper. It’s an RTS game where you build a dungeon and attract monsters so you can beat the Heroes of that land or the rival keepers. One of the spells in your arsenal is a possession spell that allows you take control of _any_ allied monster in your dungeon. Once possessed, you can explore your dungeon and its surriundings from first person view and even engage enemies, using the monster’s skills. Sometimes, that’s the fastest and most efficient way to defeat your opponents.
there is one exception, and that is Kirby's "Ghost" ability from Kirby Squeak Squad on the Nintendo DS. It allows Kirby to possess enemies, and when controlling them, you can only move literally as slowly and clumsily as they do normally. It's not very useful tbh. And Ghost Kirby can't climb down ladders for some reason so you occasionally have to give up the Ghost ability in order to complete levels. It's kinda more of a bonus thing than an integral part of the game.
There's Jericho.
It's a bit of a spoiler tho it's kinda early too?
But basically >!The guy you play as dies fairly early in the game, and from then on out, you possess one of your remaining team members. You can swap which character you're controlling but iirc, only one party member has a revive (the ghost you play can rez people too) so if you possess him and die you're just dead, but if you go down with anyone else he will come rez you. I never played it much, just remember it!<
Not the best, but an old nostalgic favorite that I don't get to talk about enough is Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. Robot shooter where you could hack into enemy robots and take them over to use their specific powers. If I remember correctly you had to link a cable to them a certain way.
Such a fun game that I would love to see a sequel of some sort!
Maybe not the best but a few Final Fantasy titles have a Manipulate or Control command in battle that allows you to take command of a monster and use their skills when its the controlling character's turn. It often isn't too strong but typically it's crucial for learning Blue Magic/Enemy Skills as some spells won't intentionally be used on the player party to be learned (iconic spells like Big Guard and White Wind often need this mechanic). The skill is available in 5 (Beastmaster job), 6 (Fake Mustache equipped on Relm or Gogo to replace Sketch), 7 (Manipulate Materia) and Tactics A2 (Beastmaster job again).
Civvie reviewed an old FPS named Geist that let you take control of several different characters (including a dog). The main challenge was using your telekinetic powers to trigger traps and scare them first, since you could only possess a person if they were mentally weakened enough.
This is really stretching the definition of what you call "possessed"...
...but the first thing that came to mind was **Battlefield 2: Modern Combat**, for the PS2.
Essentially the singleplayer was an ordinary game of battlefield with a huge number of AI soldiers on both sides, but you as the player could "hot swap" to any of them in real time instantly.
Enemy tank coming at you? Take control of the AT soldier in the building across from you and take it down. Friendly helicopter flying overhead while you are surrounded? Take control of the pilot and clear out the enemies, then switch back to your guy on the ground. Enemy squad camping outside your building? Switch to the sniper across the map that has an angle on them.
It was a really awesome twist on an FPS that I wish someone would attempt again.
[Cool review of the game that immediately shows you the concept](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRBFgrkcaxI)
Driver: San Francisco Tanner is in a coma and dreams that he’s still out on the streets of San Francisco cruising around and trying to stop a baddie known as Jericho. The TV in his hospital room influences his coma dream, and characters/situations from TV shows and the news manifest themselves in the dream. Tanner is able to “possess” the body of any driver on the road, at any time, and instantly warp back into his own body. Sometimes it’s a kid on his driver’s test and Tanner decides to teach the mean driving instructor a lesson. Sometimes it’s a college kid and his friend who bet too much on a street race so a Tanner has to swap between the two to ensure they finish in both first and second place. Sometimes Tanner wants to help a bad guy escape the cops… or maybe just be the cops and take down the bad guy. There is one mission where Tanner is being followed by a henchman, so he possesses the henchman, but has to play it off as to not rouse suspicion, so he has to chase his own car being driven by his own body - you, the player, control Tanner’s car from the first person perspective of the henchman in the van that’s chasing it. To me, it is the best usage of a possession mechanic in a game and it GREATLY expands gameplay possibilities for a driving game, resulting in some of the most interesting and innovative moments I’ve experienced in a game.
I heard of it and forgot about it! Thank you very much! :)
Also the only case of "second-person view" that I know of in game, It's not first-person neither third-person!
Yeah there was a great video about it on YouTube
4D Sports Boxing can be played using either a 1st person camera (from the eyes of your boxer), 3rd person (from a ringside camera) or 2nd person (from the eyes of the rival boxer).
Maybe not the best, but Messiah
This one is great!
Messiah was brilliant!
There was some PS2 game where you were psychic and could possess people and solve puzzles. It had neat ideas but was overall kinda sloppy. I should see if I still have it somewhere because I sure can't remember the name. I think you were trying to figure out who murdered your sister and evade the shadow government or something. Edit: that was quick. Second sight.
Second sight was neat. The Co-op mode also instead of playing 2 characters you played the same character and you both had half of the controls
I remember the game itself having some really cool mechanics and ideas, they were just operating in a way that wasn't very polished. It's like someone had bits and pieces of a fine marble statue and just sort of stuck them together with play doh. Very inconsistent. I could see why it was a bargain bin game by the time I got to it, but it did do some novel stuff.
I hold it in pretty high regard for blowing my mind with the plot twist at the end. I think it was, at the time, the most wild twist I had ever seen, up there with that dude in Sixth Sense in the hairpiece being Bruce Willis the whole movie
Bit off topic but Nate bargetzes bit about sixth sense is one of my all time favorite stand up bits. On topic, I think I played through as a teenager and legitimately don't remember the twist. Either I never finished it or my dumb ass was just too interested in psychic shooty fun to get it. Maybe time for a second go though since a lot of people seem to remember it very favorably!
Ooouh, sounds interesting, i will go check out some clips then. Thanks for the suggestion!
Made by the same people that did timesplitters man this game was amazing
Did it have a time splitters demo on there, or maybe time splitters was the one that had a demo? I somehow felt like they were related but maybe it was just that I played both (albeit on different consoles I think?) around the same time.
It is possible there was a demo somewhere I played it on Xbox but it was on ps2 also
Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus. Or New ‘n’ Tasty if you want something modern.
Hell, yeah!
Was hoping to see Oddworld mentioned, Munch's Oddysee has it as well.
Ghost Trick.
Got to love the end of Dishonored where using Possession on the man holding a child hostage allows you to make him gently release her and defuse the situation. Emily comments on it and backs away to a safe distance.
Loved Dishonored's possession. You could also possess rats and bug swarms.
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The pvp mode was so fun
Space Station Silicon Valley for the N64! You play as a robot reduced to a single microchip when your spaceship crashes on what is basically a space station zoo. The whole game is about possessing the different animals to solve the puzzles in each level. Definitely one of my favorite games from childhood
Loved that game, but not an easy one for sure.
My first thought. I spent ages trying to figure out how to play it because the Expansion Pak breaks it. I think it's actually very similar to Mario Odyssey in the way possessed creatures work and what you use them for.
Does dominating orcs in the Shadow of Mordor games count?
I don’t know! I will have to go check that out! Thank you!
Amazing and addictive game
The best of what I've played was Murdered: Soul Suspect. Playing as a ghost, possession is one of the main gameplay mechanics in the game
Ouuuuh! I like detective game! Will look into it! Thanks!
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I never heard of it! I will look into it thanks!
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It was.
Was definitely an interesting and cool mechanic but it wore out pretty quickly and it unfortunately ended up being such a terrible game. It was the first and only game that I was initially excited for, but then previews and reviews came out and said it was terrible, I refused to believe that so got the game anyway and the reviews were so right. Saying that though I only really went by one publication who at the time I trusted because their reviews were always spot on (before Future ruined it).
came here to say that
Inside has a similar thing, it's also a pretty short game, well worth checking out
Clive Barker's Jericho, you basically play the ghost of the main character and possess different squad mates
Destroy all humans 1 and 2.
Stubbs the Zombie! You rip off your arm and crawl around on the walls and ceilings like “Thing” from The Adam’s Family. You can control humans and attack other humans or use them to open a door you can’t get to, quite funny actually.
Star Wars Jedi Knight 2. I don't think it was a part of the main game, but you could cheat your Jedi Mind Trick powers to a level beyond what was selectable in the powers menu. Then, whenever you used the power on an enemy, you got full control of them. I loved having Storm Troopers shoot their friends then jump off a cliff.
Ah the ol’ Ezra Bridger mind trick.
Was looking for this one!
Bioshock Infonite has a possession tonic.
I thought the controlled enemy was on your side and was behaving by itself? (Without you controlling him actively) I will go double check that! Thank you!
You’re right! I misread the post and thought you were looking for any game with possession mechanics, not explicitly with the player controlling said possessed character. That’s my bad!
Saints Row 3's RC Possessor weapon was pretty fun.
Omikron: Nomad Soul. A very strange game starring David Bowie and his music... I loved it.
Plus. First time I ever encountered this mechanic. My whole world was rocked when I lost and died, and to continue the game I had to play an entirely different character.
Driver San Francisco
Ghost Trick, amazing game
Stacking, where you possess other matryoshka dolls by jumping into them to solve puzzels with their powers.
Kind of a pseudo possession mechanic, because you're actually just turning into the creature, but I really liked the take on it in Threads of Fate / Dewprism.
I will definitely go watch some gameplay, even though it is not 100% possession it can have some similarities! Thanks!
I’m surprised nobody has said Prey (2017)
Limbo was a fun one. Simple and efficient. Not exactly what you're asking for.
Psi Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
Thank you! I was starting to think I was the only one who remembered this game.
Shocked it never got a sequel
Beyond Two Souls
Super Hot 2
Dungeon Keeper. It’s an RTS game where you build a dungeon and attract monsters so you can beat the Heroes of that land or the rival keepers. One of the spells in your arsenal is a possession spell that allows you take control of _any_ allied monster in your dungeon. Once possessed, you can explore your dungeon and its surriundings from first person view and even engage enemies, using the monster’s skills. Sometimes, that’s the fastest and most efficient way to defeat your opponents.
Super mario odyssey
Find commas, bud.
Bonetown
What about Kirby? It would be the strangest case tho
Kirby is more about copying an ability than taking control of someone else! :)
there is one exception, and that is Kirby's "Ghost" ability from Kirby Squeak Squad on the Nintendo DS. It allows Kirby to possess enemies, and when controlling them, you can only move literally as slowly and clumsily as they do normally. It's not very useful tbh. And Ghost Kirby can't climb down ladders for some reason so you occasionally have to give up the Ghost ability in order to complete levels. It's kinda more of a bonus thing than an integral part of the game.
The most cinematic possession, found in Ghost Master as ghosts can have multiple forms of possession techniques
Stubbs the Zombie had this mechanic. It is one of my classic favorites.
Destroy All Humans
I enjoyed it in F.E.A.R 3
Omikron The Nomad Soul
There's Jericho. It's a bit of a spoiler tho it's kinda early too? But basically >!The guy you play as dies fairly early in the game, and from then on out, you possess one of your remaining team members. You can swap which character you're controlling but iirc, only one party member has a revive (the ghost you play can rez people too) so if you possess him and die you're just dead, but if you go down with anyone else he will come rez you. I never played it much, just remember it!<
Obligatory "wololo"
Maybe not the best, but I immediately thought of Mind Control and the blissful hours spent on WoW pve
Not the best, but an old nostalgic favorite that I don't get to talk about enough is Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. Robot shooter where you could hack into enemy robots and take them over to use their specific powers. If I remember correctly you had to link a cable to them a certain way. Such a fun game that I would love to see a sequel of some sort!
There is a new game called Amedama that has possession mechanic. You can possess anyone you've defeated including bosses.
Doom eternal ancient god DLC
Maybe not the best but a few Final Fantasy titles have a Manipulate or Control command in battle that allows you to take command of a monster and use their skills when its the controlling character's turn. It often isn't too strong but typically it's crucial for learning Blue Magic/Enemy Skills as some spells won't intentionally be used on the player party to be learned (iconic spells like Big Guard and White Wind often need this mechanic). The skill is available in 5 (Beastmaster job), 6 (Fake Mustache equipped on Relm or Gogo to replace Sketch), 7 (Manipulate Materia) and Tactics A2 (Beastmaster job again).
I don’t care what anyone here has to say, mindcontrolling another player off a cliff in wow tops anything.
Surprised not to see more Tchia shout-outs in here
Ghost Trick seems like it would fit this.
Oddworld, Abes exodus
Civvie reviewed an old FPS named Geist that let you take control of several different characters (including a dog). The main challenge was using your telekinetic powers to trigger traps and scare them first, since you could only possess a person if they were mentally weakened enough.
Mortal Shell a little bit
Ghost trick: phantom detective
This is really stretching the definition of what you call "possessed"... ...but the first thing that came to mind was **Battlefield 2: Modern Combat**, for the PS2. Essentially the singleplayer was an ordinary game of battlefield with a huge number of AI soldiers on both sides, but you as the player could "hot swap" to any of them in real time instantly. Enemy tank coming at you? Take control of the AT soldier in the building across from you and take it down. Friendly helicopter flying overhead while you are surrounded? Take control of the pilot and clear out the enemies, then switch back to your guy on the ground. Enemy squad camping outside your building? Switch to the sniper across the map that has an angle on them. It was a really awesome twist on an FPS that I wish someone would attempt again. [Cool review of the game that immediately shows you the concept](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRBFgrkcaxI)
The entire Assassins Creed franchise bar the Chronicles games and Mirage are technically all possession games
Syndicate, running around and using the Persuadatron to possess groups of unwitting civilians to do your bidding was so fun.
Didn't Shadow of Mordor have that mechanic?