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I love obscure and overlooked games and want to share a bunch with all of you. Most “hidden gem” threads end up listing titles with thousands of reviews or that got some level of marketing. I aim to mostly avoid that. While you may see a few familiar games here, everything in the list below has under 1500 reviews on Steam and most have far less. Far fewer had any notable marketing push or appearance in gaming shows or directs. And since the Steam Sale is ongoing, it’s the perfect time to try these games for yourself.

If you’d like more recommendations, comment with at least three games you like and I’ll respond with a couple more indie games hopefully suited to your tastes. Hope you enjoy!

False Skies - 37 Reviews

  • A JRPG with simple GameBoy graphics but scale matching and surpassing lots of genre classics. It’s most similar to Dragon Quest III, since both deal with custom parties and somewhat open exploration of their worlds.

Hyperspace Delivery Service - 37 Reviews

  • A Star Trek inspired take on Oregon Trail. There’s a bunch of minigames based around travel and planets and events like fighting space pirates to make each trip across space feel fresh.

Treasures of the Aegean - 57 Reviews

  • Imagine if Tomb Raider was a 2D metroidvania and had a timeloop mechanic. That’s this game. The parkour system feels great too.

DIG - Deep in Galaxies - 79 Reviews

  • Terraria/Starbound + Noita + Spelunky = this game. Fly through space to dig through planets and create broken character builds. The first free content update was also just released.

Star Drift Evolution - 169 Reviews

  • A racing game with 75 tracks, 51 vehicles, multiple camera modes, and some great handling. Probably most similar to Art of Rally, but this has more variety.

Prodigal - 182 Reviews

  • A Zelda-like game with Stardew Valley-esque characters and interactions. Loads of dungeons and a charming (if simple) story all wrapped in a GameBoy Color aesthetic.

Intergalactic Fishing - 211 Reviews

  • Travel to infinite lakes and fish in them. Despite the simple graphics there’s a lot being simulated and yet the complexity of it all never makes the game overwhelming.

Elsinor - 235 Reviews

  • An adventure game about Hamlet, but you play as Ophelia and she’s caught in a Groundhog Day scenario. While I don’t think this is the best narrative game (that would be Scarlet Hollow), I do think this is the most intriguing one with so many clever and interesting ideas to share.

RITE - 251 Reviews

  • A difficult precision platformer like Celeste, Super Meat Boy, and I Wanna Be The Guy. It’s split into dozens of bite-sized levels so it’s easy to pick up for short play sessions.

Ctrl Alt Ego - 350 Reviews

  • An immersive sim that stands toe to toe with classics like Deus Ex and Prey. You play as a detached consciousness which can jump between robots to make your way through various missions and levels however you want.

The Eternal Cylinder - 383 Reviews

  • This is like Spore, but even weirder and there’s a cylinder that’s going to kill your aliens.

ADACA - 449 Reviews

  • Imagine S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with Halo’s weapons and a special move that’s Half Life 2’s gravity gun and you’ve got ADACA. The two current story acts are just an introduction to the more open zone mode with quests and mysteries to explore and solve.

Legend Bowl - 723 Reviews

  • If you ever played Tecmo Bowl or Superbowl on the SNES, this is basically an upgraded version. I think this is the best American Football game on Steam. Mutant Football League is a close second.

Environmental Station Alpha - 1046 Reviews

  • It’s really difficult, but I think this is the best encapsulation of the Metroidvania formula. Plus the postgame is more substantial than you’ll probably expect.

Heaven's Vault - 1410 Reviews

  • Did you like uncovering the secrets of an ancient alien civilization in Outer Wilds? This offers something like that, with a slower pace, more direct narrative, and focus on learning a lost language.

Northern Journey - 1453 Reviews

  • Explore a mystical and mysterious Nordic region. The atmosphere this game builds for itself through environments and music is possibly the best I’ve ever experienced in any game ever. It’s really that good.
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[-] MarauderIIC@dormi.zone 2 points 1 year ago

Poosh XL 152 reviews. An arcade high score chaser with a neon aesthetic.

[-] subenji@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Lingo (109 reviews) - A word puzzler with inspirations from Antichamber and The Witness. This has taken several sessions of getting the gang together to work on it, and after 20 hours, we still have more to do!

[-] Hieracosphinx@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

I almost included Lingo on my list because I'm playing it right now and loving it. But I'm only 6 hours in so I didn't want to make presumptions about anything I've not experienced in it yet. What I've played though has been fantastic. I like it quite a bit more than The Witness.

[-] diannetea@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

Boundless

This is probably my favorite game, it's going through a rough patch right now because development had halted for about a year and was then sold to another company last year who are still in the process of transferring everything over. I'm hoping for new development within another year because it's an awesome game, but it's been stagnant for a long time. It's not on sale, but they've discussed a lower price for it openly after they get things rolling. We'll see.

[-] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Treasures of the Aegean looks kind of beautiful in the first trailer. And there's a demo to try? Looks like that's what I'm doing next.

[-] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I played the demo and IDK. It feels a little finicky and I want to like it but it just didn't make me feel like I need to pay to keep playing.

[-] rikonium@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the list, very intrigued by Ctrl Alt Ego being an immersive sim fan

[-] jonathanwerewolf@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

Space Tyrant is a 4x space conquest game, but it plays like a fast paced solo board game or adventure. Fun balance between strategy and random space goofiness.

[-] sapo@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Shout out to Fishery (309 reviews). It's pretty niche as an aquarium simulator, but very relaxing and well made.

Also, Ozymandias (770 reviews) is a great strategy game that manages to squeeze the feeling of a full game of civilization into less than one hour.

If you're interested in classic board games, The Conquest of Go (397 reviews) is a great entry point into Go, with nice tutorial features and a campaign mode that scales difficulty as you win games.

[-] araquen@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

My go-tos. Granted, they’re largely city builders, but my main jam is WoW, so city builders “tickles” different part of my brain - my downtime when I need a break from the MMORPG space.

Planetbase - A survival/sim/city builder. Guide a group of space settlers trying to establish a base on a remote planet. Grow food, collect energy, mine resources, survive disasters and build a self-sufficient colony in a harsh and unforgiving environment.

Dawn of Man Command a settlement of ancient humans, guide them through the ages in their struggle for survival. Hunt, gather, craft tools, fight, research new techs and face the challenges the environment will throw at you.

The Pale Beyond You didn’t ask to lead this expedition, but here you are. Stuck in the ice, Captain missing, miles from civilisation. Someone has to take charge. Manage your meagre resources, balance safety and morale, make the hard calls, and head in the only direction you can - through The Pale Beyond.

Kingdoms and Castles Kingdoms and Castles is a city-building simulation game about growing a kingdom from a tiny hamlet to a sprawling city and imposing castle. Make trade agreements, alliance, and war with neighboring AI controlled kingdoms. Each villager and resource is individually simulated.

The Wandering Village The Wandering Village is a city-building simulation game on the back of a giant, wandering creature. Build your settlement and form a symbiotic relationship with the colossus. Will you survive together in this hostile, yet beautiful post-apocalyptic world, contaminated by poisonous plants?

Homewind Home Wind is a minimalist, relaxing and cozy city builder about creating large settlements based on proximity tactics. All for free!

[-] WhiteRaven22@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Fotonica definitely deserves more love. A simple adrenaline-rush timing-based running game, but extremely addictive! Good for getting really into that hyperfocus zone.

[-] None_S@vlemmy.net 1 points 1 year ago

You know of any other Oregon Trail remixes? Been looking for a game like those ever since I was a little kid.

[-] Dymonika@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

I'd be happy to show you Death Road to Canada at no cost to you through Steam Remote Play with my copy! The only catch is that you'd need a gamepad since it doesn't take multiple players on one keyboard.

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[-] Magnus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

Survivalist, just check it out, looks janky but is a really fun cool game.

[-] pagshile@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Getting major Exile vibes from Environmental Station Alpha; must check it out.

[-] claymore@pawb.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Two exploration games that I found enjoyable are 廃村巡り | Haisonmeguri and Umurangi Generation.

Haisonmeguri is super short with a few alternate endings, quite janky but the atmosphere and feel of the game are really well done.

Umurangi Generations is more polished and more of an actual game with objectives. I dislike that it's timed, but that's the only big criticism I have.

[-] kelvinjps@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

shipped a local multiplayer naval game Overall Reviews: Overwhelmingly Positive (523 reviews) : I had a lot of fun playing this game with my sist er and cousin.
seems like my previous comment didn't get posted

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this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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