A game that is both Unlosable and Unwinnable. There's no way to Game Over, and no victory conditions. This is basically an Endless Game that's also Unlosable.
Although Endless Games try to get so hard that you must lose eventually, if there's not enough Developer's Foresight, a state where the player Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing, or at least never loses, might send the game into this trope.
Wide-Open Sandbox-es might be this kind of game to be really sandbox-y, and in game-mode form it's Sandbox Mode, a subtrope. A Playable Epilogue if it's not all about capping off the story, might do this because you've already done everything, and now the game's just something to safely look back on.
But just because you can't lose the game doesn't mean that not-playing is a safe way to keep your progress going, in the absence of a pause system. It might play itself, much much worse than you can do yourself, such that you'd want a Bladder of Steel to play the game well for any sensible sense of "progress".
This trope is only relevant for things that have goals. Kid-aimed art and writing software with animated guides wouldn't fit, because there's no goals that would imply the existence of an ending.
The Simulation Game genre has this as a Necessary Weasel to make them more relaxing, so examples from that genre should just go on that genre's list, with any aversions of this trope in those genres easily going into Endless Game, or Unlosable as sensible.
Speaking of genres, technically Fighting Games' that have a Training Stage would likely count as this trope, because training shouldn't be dangerous and it doesn't end unless you want it to. But training isn't a game, so such examples stay there. Training Stages can overlap with Sandbox Mode because being able to add enemies and practice with them is an important facet of training.
Art Games might do this so it's easier to show the art instead of cutting things short. Idle Games might not have an ending, and might just be based around showing off mechanics, but there's still a point where 100% Completion has been achieved, maybe after getting all the Reset Milestones. A Museum Game's core is usually a Hub Level so there's usually no way to win or lose that.
There's some relation to Unintentionally Unwinnable states where there's no time limit and the enemies are unbeatable, so the only way out is to quit / reset.
However, any game that's intended to be endless but lets you get into Unintentionally Unwinnable situations due to lack of Developer's Foresight would go there instead.
For other endless, infinite events, there's Forever War, but plots usually involve them ending. Then there's Eternal Recurrence.
Examples:
- Overlord II: The Playable Epilogue lets you roam about the continent after defeating Solarius and thus killing or enslaving every human. Given that enemies never respawn in zones you've cleared, you can explore at your leisure without fear of loss, extort tribute from the towns you've conquered, look for any collectables you might have missed, and spend some quality time with your Mistresses.
- Museum Of Mechanics Lockpicking is a free "game" that consists entirely of reproductions of various lockpicking minigames published by game developers over the years.
- Bejeweled: Endless Mode in 2, and Zen Mode in Twist and 3, are identical to Classic Mode except that you're guaranteed to be able to make at least one move at all times, making the game Unlosable. The only thing stopping you from hitting the score Cap is the willingness to keep it running. The latter mode, especially given the "Zen" name, is designed to be as relaxing as possible for players.
- Smash Hit: The regular game isn't this, but the Zen gamemode is this, having no lose condition, no win condition, or even any way of scoring - just glass to smash with balls.
- Undertale has a Playable Epilogue after the True Pacifist Final Boss, where the player is free to explore the areas of the game and see the new dialogue that every NPC has (and this is the one time the game really encourages you to Talk to Everyone). All random encounters are gone, but the clever loose ends that get tied and little changes are reward enough for many players. Once you're done, you initiate the end sequence, including the credits. You can reload to a save from right before initiating the credits if you wanted to see more, though you'll also get a pleading request not to reset the game.
- 7 Days to Die: Older versions are in this state, due to lack of any story and loss state.
- Alba: A Wildlife Adventure: After the end credits, there's a Playable Epilogue where you're let loose on the island for your last day with no time limit, allowing you to talk to everyone, finish off any remaining quests, and find those last few animals.
- Minecraft: Has respawn-on-death-type Unlosable and had no win condition until its version 1.0 release added a Final Boss, the Ender Dragon, alongside end credits for beating it.
- The Powder Toy: A game about spawning materials and having them react to each other. As the name implies, it's a "toy", not a game with ways to win or lose.
- Valheim: For versions in the mid-development stage, there's no ending, but it's also unlosable. While you respawn every single time you die, your skills are lowered and it's possible to lose constructed buildings, gear and food behind the enemies that killed you. The usual response to avoid a death loop is to start again in a different direction or even a new world.
- OMG Laser Guns Pew Pew: The player squirrel touching the asteroids does nothing so there's no damage source, and there are infinite space rocks to destroy, so there's no way to win.
- Vampire Survivors: missingN▯: There are builds where even the Reapers which are supposed to end runs after 30 minutes, can't actually end the game:
- One with Curse below -100% might be totally unbeatable if they aren't fast enough to get a Reaper to touch and kill them. That's how the game's supposed to end, but such low Curse levels means that Reapers actually flee the player and makes the player invincible if the game doesn't crash after days of being active, or they manually quit.
- Getting the Invincibility of the Laurel to a duration beyond its cooldown makes the player permanently invincible.
- Frantic Frigates: After beating the bosses and the Final Boss, the game begins an endless loop of spawning enemies until running into the final boss again, and again, and again. Dying means starting the cycle again from the beginning, though you get more starting money the longer you last which lets you improve your ship faster.
- Mini Metro: Endless difficulty takes away the game's sole lose condition of "allow any station to remain overcrowded for too long." Scoring is changed from "how many passengers complete their rides" to "how frequently passengers complete their rides".
