hmmm, you're right about that.  I guess killing people has universal appeal.  I'm always shocked by how many cop shows there are on TV.  

It's not so recent, but I think Portal 2 would be a good candidate, and I wish that Mirror's Edge hadn't degraded in the end into a shooting/killing game.  

So many cop shows, most of them bad and ignorant of real police procedure.  Too self righteous too.

Yeah, too bad about Mirror's Edge. It's like, stick to a theme guys.

Never Alone is intriguing. Rayman Legends is pretty fun. Guacamelee has great art direction and style, though it's a beat em up. So no guns, but definitely lots of violence in a sense.

Rayman, of course!  I've actually never played one.

Rayman Legends is probably the best one in recent memory.

Civ: Beyond Earth

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse

Captain Toad

The Stanley Parable

Any mainline Pokemon

Five Nights at Freddy's

Broken Age

Batman games

Stealth Inc/Stealth Bastard

Grow Home

Tearaway

Ace Attorney

Splatoon may also fit the bill since you're not shooting other people, but everything around them. Also, Infamous is basically a shooter, just with powers instead of a gun. Your powers pretty much amount to different guns, rocket launchers, and grenades. 

Nice. A lot of games I forgot about. My brain was tired last night. I assume that there is some kind of projectile warfare in Beyond Earth, though.Yes, I'm being that anal about it. Might have to give Infamous a second thought and replace it with Prototype 2 or some other open world superhero game.

Well, most of the games I play have nothing to do with stabbing or shooting at all.  So just play what I play. You don't need your brain cells THAT badly, right? :)

Flipping your pillow over to the Nintendo side is always a sure-fire way to get away from the usual blood and guts.  And you jest, but a lot of these games require more brain cells than your average dudebro manshoot games.

Not sure if these are recent enough but:

The Unfinished Swan

Professor Layton (Whatever the latest one is called)

Mario Vs Donkey Kong

So Mario vs. DK looks similar to the classic Gameboy version. Why is it so pastel colored though? I know Mario games are supposed to be light hearted/family friendly, but it's a little much.  Unfinished Swan looks intriguing. May have to go towards the top of the list.

Yeah the Mario Vs DK games aren't for everybody but fun to play.

Unfinished Swan was a nice surprise for me. I have it as part of PSN+ and had never played it until Daftman brought it up in a blog. 

I mistakenly thought the game was just throwing black paintballs at a white surface in order to complete a black and white world but that's only the first level and it evolves into something much more. It's a short game but well worth the time.

Super Win the Game

Rollers of the Realm

Pinball Arcade (regularly puts out new tables)

Portal 1 & 2

Ico (not recent, but still good)

Didn't know you were into virtual pinball games.  Pinball Arcade looks pretty classy.

Ico is a good choice, but I played the shit out of it back in the day already.  I'm not that out of touch :D

I have Angelo to thank for rekindling my interest in pinball.  But yeah, Pinball Arcade is especially good for me because they faithfully recreate actual pinball tables I've seen or played years ago.  God, I love the Twilight Zone and Bride of Pinbot Tables.

It shouldn't be too hard to find games that don't have shooting or stabbing, though most games are violent.  There are no guns or knives in Mario games, but he still stomps the shit out of everything. 

I want to develop a game based around shoplifting. The only violence will come from store owners or security.

Sounds like fun. 

I remember talking about Minecraft with my nephew. He mentioned mods being done for it and one of the biggest ones was putting guns into the game. WTF, I thought. Does everything have to be turned into CODyflops? People are gun crazy.

Grim Fandango HD just came out on Vita. I keep getting stuck in that game though. I kind of wish I could stab or shoot someone in that game now. Darn adventure puzzle crap!

The least interesting part of Minecraft is the combat. The enemies are too simplistic. I would rather have the option to set up traps or some other kind of defenses.

Yea, exactly.