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Obscure but fun?

nomask7

Arcane
Joined
Apr 30, 2008
Messages
7,620
Now that creating indie titles has become rather common, there are probably many obscure games that are worth playing but that I, at least, haven't kept track of. One such game I ran into:

Tower of Guns

It's a first-person shooter rogue-like, with a lot of variety in its quasi-randomised levels, real imagination used for creating some of them, guns that can be leveled up from drops and that change more than just in terms of their damage output but that also level down when you take enough damage, different unlockable guns that play very differently, gun modifications from drops or purchases. I'm not saying it's some great masterpiece, but unlike Doom 4 and many other AAA games, it's fun to play and feels like something made by people who actually care about games.

All right, that was my contribution. Anything else?
 
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VVVVVV - I'm not spying indie platform game scene at all but that one cought my attention. It's shares C64 graphics and is basing on 'switch gravity' gimmick, pretty good.

Osmos - easily the best puzzle game since Tetris + avesum graphics and shockingly good ambient OST. In short, u are the being that moves only by loosing its mass, larger being absorb the lesser ones, anti-matter reduces each being's mass. Goals: become the bigger / absorb the X being. Infinite replayability, kind of geam that never gets old. 10/10 and being serious about that.
 

Konjad

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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Have you played The Void, Prelude to Darkness and Pathologic yet?


If not, look no further. Ask the question again once you complete these three games.
 

Azalin

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
7,304
Shatter
Next Gen Arkanoid with great soundtrack





Osmos - easily the best puzzle game since Tetris + avesum graphics and shockingly good ambient OST. In short, u are the being that moves only by loosing its mass, larger being absorb the lesser ones, anti-matter reduces each being's mass. Goals: become the bigger / absorb the X being. Infinite replayability, kind of geam that never gets old. 10/10 and being serious about that.

Great little game :salute:It's also available for android/ios,haven't played there it but it might be interesting doing so with a touchscreen considering the gameplay
 
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warpig

Incel Resistance Leader
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Mar 24, 2013
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lmaoing @ your life
From the top of my head:

Axiom Verge

very cool and atmospheric Metroid clone.

Armored Hunter Gunhound EX

"Oldschool" 2d sidescrolling shooter, there are mechs and cute anime girls :3

Project Nimbus

Ace Combat meets Armored Core(well, kind of...sucks that there's no extensive customization). It's still in early access. I played it a while ago and though it had some issues it was an enjoyable "flying" shooter.

The Fall

2d puzzle, game resembles a point and click adventure game a bit. Has an interesting story, unfortunately it's very short and its an "episode 1" (there is another in the making)

The Swapper

puzzle game with mechanics based on cloning your character.



idk if these are obscure enough but I haven't seen these mentioned here a lot
 
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Dr Skeleton

Arcane
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
811
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
New one: Rampage Knights. A roguelike according to steam but really it's a brawler + procedurally generated dungeons and loot, permadeath and all that stuff.

Older one: War Wind. 1996 RTS, recently released on GoG. Complex stealth system, individual inventory, upgrades and spell learning for all units, stealing enemy vehicles, fighting inside buildings and some other things that were ahead of its time. The AI is fairly weak and passive in most campaign missions, there's some wonky pathfinding and the UI takes time to get used to. Great soundtrack.
 

Tehdagah

Arcane
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
9,235
http://www.demu.org/resource/minimonica

minimonika.png


Don't let the :desu: fool you, this game gets insanely hard in later stages.

I remember playing it for the first time on a Windows 98. Apparently it runs well on Windows XP, but I have no idea how to fix the frame rate problem on Windows 8.
 

v1rus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
2,253
Evil Genius - a game similar to Dungeon Keeper, except, instead of a Dungeon Keeper, you play, well, an Evil Genius. Quite wacky, fun and funny.

Ghost Master - Sims. Except you play the ghosts tasked with spooking the Sims. Also tons of fun, has quite fun puzzles and memorable levels. Also quite wacky.
 

nomask7

Arcane
Joined
Apr 30, 2008
Messages
7,620
New one: Rampage Knights. A roguelike according to steam but really it's a brawler + procedurally generated dungeons and loot, permadeath and all that stuff.

Bought it on Steam. I usually hate beat-em-ups like Devil May Cry, but done like this I find it a lot more attractive. I guess the rogue-lite genre in general is a genre that fascinates me.

I like it that you can pretty much skip the two levels in the beginning, as they'd quickly become somewhat tedious. Now you can grind them a little if you feel like it or just breeze through them. The gameplay, items, and all that, seem rich enough to keep you interested. I loved getting a sword that had a chance to freeze enemies, enjoyed finding some throwing-daggers that make huge damage, purchasing a familiar that flies around until it feels like shooting a huge laser beam, getting a disease that makes you jump intermittently but once endured gives you double jump - the game obviously has the basics down and then some.

(I managed to play a little further than the first boss on normal after a few tries, then died in an embarrassing fashion by jumping into a ravine despite having the infinite jumps ability.)
 

sser

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Developer
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Mar 10, 2011
Messages
1,866,661
Lead & Gold is perhaps the most fun I ever had with a competitive multiplayer game until Red Orchestra/Rising Sun hit. Pretty the game is completely dead, though. Nobody ever talks about it. I was in a meeting with [redacted] company discussing [redacted game] and brought it up and not one of them had heard of it although they really should have given some other [redacted] details.

Infested Planet and Subterrain are also really good. Subterrain especially. Not sure if either one is considered obscure, but I don't really see much about them.
 

nomask7

Arcane
Joined
Apr 30, 2008
Messages
7,620
Lead & Gold is perhaps the most fun I ever had with a competitive multiplayer game until Red Orchestra/Rising Sun hit. Pretty the game is completely dead, though. Nobody ever talks about it. I was in a meeting with [redacted] company discussing [redacted game] and brought it up and not one of them had heard of it although they really should have given some other [redacted] details.

Infested Planet and Subterrain are also really good. Subterrain especially. Not sure if either one is considered obscure, but I don't really see much about them.

I was reading this and at first thought you were only talking about multiplayer games, but anyway, that Subterrain game looks interesting. I kind of feel sorry for the dev(s), as the game seems obscure indeed. It did receive an update on July, so he/they haven't given up. Thanks for mentioning it, I'll have to buy it & try it.
 

the_shadow

Arcane
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
1,179
Realmz - An old RPG that is unbalanced as anything, but still enjoyable to this day.

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms - Everyone knows about Total Annihilation, but I've always preferred it's medieval spinoff, which wasn't as well received (also unbalanced as anything!)

Ken's Labyrinth - Old FPS that few people have heard of.
 

J1M

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2008
Messages
14,616
Darksiders - zelda with god of war combat

FORCED - action puzzler, coop fun

Star Wars: Republic Commando - best single-player FPS, squad mechanic

Primordia - post-apocalyptic puzzle game where you are a robot

Uplink - simulated computer hacking with exploration

Polarity - indie game in the Portal genre

Ikaruga - bullet hell shooter with interesting shield mechanic

SpaceChem - puzzle game where you design factories

TIS-100 - assembly programming for fun

Aladdin - SNES side-scroller
 

nomask7

Arcane
Joined
Apr 30, 2008
Messages
7,620
I've been browsing Steam rogue-likes and rogue-lites.

Risk of Rain seems to be pretty popular but I hadn't heard of it. Its distinguishing feature is that the game becomes harder the slower you progress. In other words, grinding and exploration - while not exactly punished - are no longer a must if you want to succeed. Obviously, rogue-likes with good score systems gave you a better score if you completed the game faster, but given that completing them is so hard to begin with, maybe this new design idea is preferable for the vast majority of potential fans, where being fast is as good a strategy as being thorough if you want to survive.

A more obscure game and a more hardcore, traditional rogue-like that caught my eye: WazHack. Heavily inspired by NetHack, but reportedly not as unfair, and also boasting new features and ideas. Some people seem to be really enjoying it, with dozens and even hundreds of hours of playtime on their accounts for this game. One dude even had over a thousand hours in this game.

A lighter experience, a rogue-lite platformer in Early Access - Vagante. This looks like it's gathering momentum and may become relatively popular and much loved. It's already received 740 reviews, overwhelmingly positive.
 

pippin

Guest
Risk of Rain is made to be played with friends in my opinion. I might be slow though, but the game gets very twitchy when you have to fight the bosses.
 
Self-Ejected

Jack

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Insert Title Here
After reading this thread I'm no longer sure I know what obscure means.
 

SuperSonicGd

Literate
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
31
Most games I'd be embarrassed to be part of the development of. Too many of them outright piss me off knowing they waste people's welfare money on something that cannot deliver even half the fun it promises. And the thing is their issues are obvious enough to where they could've patched that or just not had them to begin with before release.

RealmOfTheMadGodLogo.jpg

But Realm of The Mad God is a good game. It provides a plethora of classes to tryout and have fun with in a fast-paced Gauntlet style environment. It's completely cooperative, no PvP. Insuring there's no elitism, no greed for dropped loot, and no social Darwinism. You either help eachother out, or go your separate ways and die faster.

You'd think knowing death is eminent would be one of the game's bad points but no. Nihilism is wisdom, and if you KNOW you're going to die, you should be a free man. And Realm of the Mad God understands that at least somewhat. Movement is rapid enough, potions are abundant enough, you get special powers, and you feel like you are in control despite how at any moment you could die and lose everything. And when you DO die, you gain fame points which can be used later.

Now this is not to say the game is perfect by any means. My biggest gripes are the lack of menu controls which is pretty necessary for a game. I don't want my attack tied to M1, that should be one of the easiest parts to change.

Secondly; I'm unsure of how "free2play" this actually is. It's clearly obvious they want you to pay to enjoy all the 30 or so classes and variants those classes have... but through gameplay can I earn gold anyway? These lack of explanations make it painfully annoying but do not ruin the game because if nothing else, it's at least a fun app size game where you get four to five classes to fuck around with.

The third issue is a meta-issue that should've been considered upon design. There's a reason retro games stuck to turn based when they were rpgs. You can't tell a monster from a background half the time with the limited 8-bit capabilities... however, because we know death is unavoidable, and the fact that it is a very action oriented game where you should not stop moving or attacking... it's not nearly as infuriating as it could've been.

All I want is for developers to try. To make an actual effort even if they are motivated purely by financial gain. Out of all the flaws I mentioned, my only real worry is I wouldn't be able to get to play all the classes. Which tells me they were doing their job right when it came to mechanics and aesthetics where I'm not drowning in reasons NOT to play. And I know some nitwits will say "than just don't play bad games" but than turn around and say there's no legitimate criticism, no "journalism in gaming", #GamerGate.

Well here's your God damn gamergate. Most game designers are rape fetishists and get enjoyment putting you through a few kilometers of bullshit because they got bullied in school.

Realm of the Mad God ISN'T one of those games. And is actually a pretty solid hack n' slash trope.
 

the_shadow

Arcane
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
1,179
After reading this thread I'm no longer sure I know what obscure means.

In this context I'd say it means 'not known to most people', ergo. games which most people haven't heard of. I'm guessing most obscure games would be from independent companies, although games from bigger companies that didn't get much attention because they were overshadowed by competitors (eg. Rise of the Triad vs Doom) could qualify. It is all a bit subjective, since none of the gamers I've talked to in Australia have heard of Fallout, Planescape Torment or Baldur's Gate II, whereas I'm sure most Codexers have.

Another couple examples I've thought of:

- Castle of the Winds -> Burnt so much time on this back in the day.

- Crimsonland
 

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