Games with enemy infighting

[dagal]

Seen mostly in old shooters like DOOM: a monster hits another by accident, so the hit monster forgets about the player and turns to the last one that hit it. Can easily develop into a big monster vs monster carnage in some maps.

What do you think of this mechanic? What other games implement it well?

[J1M]

I tend to shy away from confusion type spells because they usually have no effect on powerful enemies.

What you are describing sounds fun because it would be tactical instead of a drain on character building resources, save ammo, etc.

[WaterMage]

You mean like using dominate monster or like one monster attacking another like Gothic 1/2 ecology?

[dagal]

You mean like using dominate monster or like one monster attacking another like Gothic 1/2 ecology?

Mind control type spells, while technically qualifying as enemy infighting, are too purposeful and direct to warrant a game-agnostic discussion. Obviously if the game makes situations in which you often have powerful but weak-minded monsters, it becomes an valid tactic, otherwise meh.

I am more interesting in the second case, monsters attacking each other, because of the emergent gameplay that can spawn out of it.

[dagal]

The thought occurred to me when I was looking at a Deus Ex bugfixing mod, and one of the things it advertises is the following:

AI no longer shoots through ALLIANCE_Neutral to hit the player, to avoid in fighting.

My first reaction was "dude that's not a bug!!1". However, thinking it over, most enemies that you fight in Deus Ex are intelligent, and you would not expect a trained soldier going ape mode when friendly fired while engaging a common enemy. It's hard to decide on where the fun vs realism balance must lie.

[Tadeusz]

I am more interesting in the second case, monsters attacking each other, because of the emergent gameplay that can spawn out of it.

What about infighting of different groups of monsters? Valheim has this as many monsters are hostile to the undead and vice versa. Also, groups from different biomes are hostile to each other as well and their border is often a place of their fighting.

[KnightoftheWind]

I liked that about Doom, made it feel a bit more "real" than if enemy attacks simply phased through their allies or something.

[rusty_shackleford]

Any game that has this gets an instant yuge bonus from me. Especially of it's taken even further e.g., enemy factions warring

[Finarfin]

Destiny 1 and 2 has enemy factions fighting each other

[Manny V]

While it's more cinematic than true gameplay, i like the turf wars in newer Monster Hunter games. They also have a tendency to smack each other around a bit with regular moves too if theyve already turf warred or don't have an animation for one.



Gives you a moment of respite in a fight to heal, buff, sharpen etc and just sit back and watch the fireworks. Also nothin better than being in the middle of a fight with something then BAM RAJANG RKO OUTTA NOWHERE MY GOD
or HOLY **** DEVILJHO WITH THE SUPLEX FROM DOWNTOWN

[rusty_shackleford]

Any game that has this gets an instant yuge bonus from me. Especially of it's taken even further e.g., enemy factions warring

This was one of the coolest parts of an otherwise meh game: V Rising. You could lure bosses of different factions to each other and have them fight.
IMO should be one of the top things added to any RPG that wants to feel immersive

[rusty_shackleford]

Everquest has dozens of factions, even in just the base game+first couple xpacs. Many of them will actively fight each other if they're opposing factions. Rather advanced for the time period.

[Tinky Winky]

Any game that has this gets an instant yuge bonus from me. Especially of it's taken even further e.g., enemy factions warring

So basically just Stalker games

[rusty_shackleford]

Any game that has this gets an instant yuge bonus from me. Especially of it's taken even further e.g., enemy factions warring

So basically just Stalker games

Yeah but that's extra spoopy so it gets extra minus

[Tinky Winky]

Any game that has this gets an instant yuge bonus from me. Especially of it's taken even further e.g., enemy factions warring

So basically just Stalker games

Yeah but that's extra spoopy so it gets extra minus

stalker games are not even supposed to be spoopy, they are action adventure shooters set in an abandoned zone.

[rusty_shackleford]

So basically just Stalker games

Yeah but that's extra spoopy so it gets extra minus

stalker games are not even supposed to be spoopy, they are action adventure shooters set in an abandoned zone.

I quit playing FNV because of invisible super mutants

[gerey]

Cultic has monster infighting, but only if one hits the other by accident.

Siren 2 heavily emphasized monster infighting, as there are two supernatural factions that will attack each other on sight, which has both narrative and gameplay implications. Same thing applies to Alien: Isolation, you can oftentimes weaponize the xenomorph against hostile human survivors.

I dunno if Kenshi would count?

There's also games like Singularity, where the Soviet troops fight the mutants. Far Cry 3/4 have a whole mechanic where the wildlife will attack other humans if they are nearby. Probably even more FPS of various eras that I can't really recall at this moment.

[TKVNC]

Cultic has monster infighting, but only if one hits the other by accident.

Siren 2 heavily emphasized monster infighting, as there are two supernatural factions that will attack each other on sight, which has both narrative and gameplay implications. Same thing applies to Alien: Isolation, you can oftentimes weaponize the xenomorph against hostile human survivors.

I dunno if Kenshi would count?

There's also games like Singularity, where the Soviet troops fight the mutants. Far Cry 3/4 have a whole mechanic where the wildlife will attack other humans if they are nearby. Probably even more FPS of various eras that I can't really recall at this moment.

You can cause infighting on Kenshi. So I'd say yes

[Tweed]

Minecraft has monster infighting.

[Maledict]

Elden Ring enemies on the map fight with each other. You can run into them battling and watch the battle.

[fork]

I liked that about Doom, made it feel a bit more "real" than if enemy attacks simply phased through their allies or something.

Not only that, it also enabled the creation of absolutely insane maps which are a blast to play and would be impossible without this mechanic.