Video games offer much in the way of entertainment, but there’s one thing they have long failed to do: tickle the funny bone.

Yet a few games have emerged recently in which comedy is the primary focus or, at very least, the primary tone. And others contain humour that the designers never intended. So, can they actually make us laugh?

If the power of a joke is in its telling, small wonder video games have a reputation for being unfunny. Humour is difficult to design into games. It’s too easy for the player to mess up the timing of it all, to be looking the wrong way when the punch line is delivered or to switch off the game just before a carefully plotted gag. Moreover, video games tend to be obsessed with triumph and victory, with overcoming the odds and averting tragedy – a typically unhelpful destination for any comedy vehicle.

That hasn’t stopped some designers aiming for laughs recently though. One game launched this year that employs humour as a main selling point is Octodad: Dadliest Catch. The premise itself is humorous: manoeuvre the protagonist through increasingly complex challenges while attempting to hide the fact that he is a cephalopod in human clothing. But the game’s funniest moments come from its slapstick. Octodad is incredibly difficult to control; his limbs wobble and fling off in wild directions, leading to absurd scenes in which you attempt to apply make-up in the mirror, or place a wedding ring on your bride’s finger.