Indie Obscure indies that deserve more attention - Updated Jan. 2020

[V_K]

I kinda liked level design in Dragonfall.

 

[HiddenX]

Good thread!
Many of these games are listed on RPGWatch: here & here & here.

Opinions from a site where RPG GOTY medals were awarded to Fallout 4.
Must be good!

3rd place in the users' vote that is always undermined by Codexians voting for Bethesda games

 

[Aenra]

Obscure indie dev who needs more recognition?

ME!!!! ME!!!! ME!!!!

He makes a thread announcing he will (will, as in the future and maybe) make a "gaem". Ok. Incline thread about obscure games, (read: released), he pops in to type the above, lol.

Call him an '"attention whore" however, and he gets butthurt*. And then ignores you. Youtube generation

*he also gets butthurt when through his own fault, he misunderstands what developers tell him, and then proceeds to make twitchtard posts flaming them the world over as if he was the entitled one. When he was in fact wrong and it was all his fault in the first place. /mememememe in public. But if you call him an "attention whore" for that one, he gets butthurt. And then ignores you. Youtube generation

Back to topic, V_K cool thread

 

[Urbanolo]

I just wanted to tell that thanks to this and GOTY threads I caved in and bought Voidspire Tactics, and goddamit if that game isn't a gem so far. I'm only like 2 hours in, but the character progression is really satisfying. I still don't really understand how the initiative works in this game (but to be fair I didn't do any research either), but fuck me if it isn't fun. And I probably wouldn't even glance at this game otherwise, since it looks like typical RPG Maker shovelware.

Thanks guys, one of the few worthwile threads here.

 

[Xzylvador]

RPG GOTY medals were awarded to Fallout 4.

3rd place in the users' vote that is always undermined by Codexians voting for Bethesda games

TBH, it isn't the users' vote that really worries me... not even the second place for Snoozefest of Mediocracy.
Wait, well... it does, but who actually cares about them right?

But why oh why did you and the rest of the staff create a friggin' 4th place in Editor's Choice list just so you could actually reward Fallout 4 for being such an awesome RPG.

(Not discussing about how much fun there appears to be in building useless towns or shooting mutants in a part of America where they shouldn't even exist or whatever, to each its own... but as a roleplaying game?)

PS: Has the watch organized an assault on filipepepepe's codex poll too? If so: All's fair in love and war.

 

[sser]

LISA. Although apparently it has 3,000 reviews on Steam so maybe it's not as obscure as I thought. I play it whenever I'm out on the laptop and about and need something to do. Game is pretty hilarious, but also morbidly dark at times. It also has a very interesting mechanic concerning disposable party members that I wish more games would pick up.

 

[V_K]

Added Mr. Robot and Datajack to the OP, will wait for a couple more opinions on Lisa - there doesn't seem to be a consensus on that one.

 

[HiddenX]

RPG GOTY medals were awarded to Fallout 4.

But why oh why did you and the rest of the staff create a friggin' 4th place in Editor's Choice list just so you could actually reward Fallout 4 for being such an awesome RPG.

(Not discussing about how much fun there appears to be in building useless towns or shooting mutants in a part of America where they shouldn't even exist or whatever, to each its own... but as a roleplaying game?)

PS: Has the watch organized an assault on filipepepepe's codex poll too? If so: All's fair in love and war.

There's no 4th place/award - we just listed all 4 games that the staff voted for. There were no votes for other games - each of us could just vote for three games - Fallout 4 is trailing far behind at the last place.

PS: I'm the only one voting at felipepepe's poll. But I'm a 10 year Codex regular member...

 

[Lucky]

Yep, it's in the General RPG Discussion section after all.

Let's say no dedicated thread or a thread with up to 5 pages. Yes, I pulled this number out of my ass, but I'm open to other suggestions. Having a newspost should probably disqualify a title, but I'm too lazy to check.

That's the reason for the 3 endorsements rule.

Given the totally arbitrary rules above, ICY is out, the other three are in as soon as someone writes a one line description for them. I can't do that since I haven't played any of then.

I remember seeing recommendations for both on the Codex, so once again - someone give me descriptions and I'll add them to OP.

Could you give me a bit more specifics on those?

Ah, I must have misread it as I thought you meant that a dedicated thread would also be good enough for the list. Hence the suggestion.

To use a bit of hyperbole: Iji is 2D Deus Ex. I made a thread on it just now since it wasn't as well known here as I thought it would be. LISA is Earthbound on an insufficient dose of prozac.

Nuclear Throne and Our Darker Purpose are Binding of Isaac style roguelites. Nuclear Throne focuses on gunplay, while Our Darker Purpose is more oriented towards story, stats and bullet dodging.

Seconding Datajack and Aarklash Legacy being worth adding.

 

[V_K]

Ah, I must have misread it as I thought you meant that a dedicated thread would also be good enough for the list. Hence the suggestion.

To use a bit of hyperbole: Iji is 2D Deus Ex. I made a thread on it just now since it wasn't as well known here as I thought it would be. LISA is Earthbound on an insufficient dose of prozac.

Nuclear Throne and Our Darker Purpose are Binding of Isaac style roguelites. Nuclear Throne focuses on gunplay, while Our Darker Purpose is more oriented towards story, stats and bullet dodging.

Seconding Datajack and Aarklash Legacy being worth adding.

I already added Iji and Datajack, will link to your thread now.

 

[tred]

So a description in OP should go something like "An isometric cyberpunk Stealth Action/RPG that allows you to choose between three different factions and several approaches to missions at hand"?

I think ghostdog's description is the better one :D

 

[Roqua]

Datajack. Isometric cyberpunk game.

Syndicate/Deus Ex vibes.
Not very long.
Skill trees, cybernetic limbs, stats, etc. In my opinion it is much better than Shadowrun on what it tries to do. It is not turn based however.
3 different factions to work for (so 3 different endings more or less): Corporations, a Military organization and an Anarchist/Terrorist collective.
What made me truly love it is the mission descriptions...the Anarchist Collective use a lot of Deleuze-Guatarri quotes. Just beautiful.
Non retarded dialogue (unlike Shadowrun).
You have an apartment, get money on missions to buy equipment.
Civilians can be killed. You can go in guns blazing or using stealth. You can use guns (pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles) or go meele-only (there are knifes, katanas, etc).
If you side with different factions you can see the same mission from a different point of view.
I was surprised to see that piece of shit that is Shadowrun being praised here while I've never seen fellow codexers discussing this game.
Hmmm...what else...it's been a long time since I've played it, but I have good memories. Worth a try. Oh, by the way, it is free.

Game description on Desura:

In the not-too-distant future, governments have dissolved and powerful mega-corporations wage covert wars for territory and the control of information. As a freelance mercenary, you will conduct sabotage, assassinations, espionage and ambushes on their behalf to line your pockets and pay for top-of-the-line weapons and cybernetic limbs. Will you side with the corporations, the private military, or perhaps with the radical anarchist youth hacker gang in an attempt to bring down the entire corrupt system?

Wow, looks amazing. I can't believe I've never heard of this game, thank you very much for posting about it. Quick question - how do you view the skill trees? I just started a new game and I wanted to check out the character development and see the implant options but nothing where a skill tree could go in any of the UI tabs.

 

[Roqua]

Added Mr. Robot and Datajack to the OP, will wait for a couple more opinions on Lisa - there doesn't seem to be a consensus on that one.

Lisa is a hipster game like Binding of Isaac and Undertail. They don't need publicity and it will make this thread lose credibility. It seems people would like your rules/guidelines for inclusion to the list to be more defined. I would also like clarification myself. I'll repost the way I see it below-

In my opinion since this is in the rpg forum it should only contain proper or mostly proper rpgs (games that are more proper rpgs than any other genre). I would remove Templar Battleforce and replace it with Heroes of Steel since that is close enough to a proper rpg and Templar BF isn't (made by the same guys). I would definitely exclude Legends of Eisenwald and Telepath Tactics. Maybe replace Telepath Tactics with Telepath RPG (which is a good rpg game that needs more exposure)? SitSL is doing well in the poll and frankly if you consider yourself a rpg fan and haven't heard of that you aren't. I can see the console idiots skipping it due to graphics but they must know about it. This is more stuff that the console fans who post news will never post about.

Every hipster knows about Lisa and Undertail and Binding of Isaac and games like that. This isn't about hipster games, but indies rpgs that are pretty good and people who like crpgs may of never heard about due to the bourgeoisie that control the news of this and other gaming sites try to keep everyone focused on console games and hipster shit.

We could definitely start a new post like this in Strategy for games like Templar BF, Legends of Eisenwald, and Telepath Tactics, may as well put Red Solstice in that one too.

We could also start a new hipster post in general gaming for games the hipsters somehow missed because they were too busy playing Dark Souls and Undertail maybe?

And one for Space games with heavy rpg elements would be nice (for games like Star Nomad 2, Void Expanse, Starpoint Gemini, Space Wolves 1-3, all the ones with small scale squads or single character with ship upgrades and character upgrades). I think everyone knows about Drox and Space Rangers unless they are retarded or console fans (to be redundant).

 

[Siveon]

Free Droid. Odd sci-fi action rpg starring that linux mascot. It's free and it's pretty fun. Has this odd focus on hacking enemies, and it's pretty easy to die. Pretty funny, too. The graphics remind me of those edutainment children's games though. Has a bit more dialogue than the average Diablo clone but don't expect some hard hitting C&C.

The game is still in development but it's one of those 5+ years in development sort of deals. The game is pretty polished and the main quest is finished. I know a few people on the codex has heard of it.

 

[Roqua]

Datajack. Isometric cyberpunk game.

Syndicate/Deus Ex vibes.
Not very long.
Skill trees, cybernetic limbs, stats, etc. In my opinion it is much better than Shadowrun on what it tries to do. It is not turn based however.
3 different factions to work for (so 3 different endings more or less): Corporations, a Military organization and an Anarchist/Terrorist collective.
What made me truly love it is the mission descriptions...the Anarchist Collective use a lot of Deleuze-Guatarri quotes. Just beautiful.
Non retarded dialogue (unlike Shadowrun).
You have an apartment, get money on missions to buy equipment.
Civilians can be killed. You can go in guns blazing or using stealth. You can use guns (pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles) or go meele-only (there are knifes, katanas, etc).
If you side with different factions you can see the same mission from a different point of view.
I was surprised to see that piece of shit that is Shadowrun being praised here while I've never seen fellow codexers discussing this game.
Hmmm...what else...it's been a long time since I've played it, but I have good memories. Worth a try. Oh, by the way, it is free.

Game description on Desura:

In the not-too-distant future, governments have dissolved and powerful mega-corporations wage covert wars for territory and the control of information. As a freelance mercenary, you will conduct sabotage, assassinations, espionage and ambushes on their behalf to line your pockets and pay for top-of-the-line weapons and cybernetic limbs. Will you side with the corporations, the private military, or perhaps with the radical anarchist youth hacker gang in an attempt to bring down the entire corrupt system?

Wow, looks amazing. I can't believe I've never heard of this game, thank you very much for posting about it. Quick question - how do you view the skill trees? I just started a new game and I wanted to check out the character development and see the implant options but nothing where a skill tree could go in any of the UI tabs.

Alright, I put a couple hours into this game and I can say for value per dollar this is better than SRR since it is free. But this is not really an rpg. There is no character creation. There is no experience. There are no skills, never mind skill trees. There is a hub with shops and missions you run. That seems to be it. Completing missions nets you cash and faction points.

You increase stats by buying implants. You can also buy armor, weapons, and mods for weapons. Hacking is tied to the hacking device you buy, and also seems to impacted by hacking software. Shooting is like the old console SR games where you move a reticle around the screen, but not like a new dual stick game. Dialogue isn't important really and isn't like SRR in that you talk to shop owners, people on the street have nothing important to say, and you get your quests from your computer which doesn't really count as dialogue.

In my opinion its worth listing since it is a decent game and free, but it isn't an rpg. It is a good mission based game with purchasable upgrades but no character development in the sense you can improve your character at all outside of purchasing anything with cash.

 

[V_K]

Added Mr. Robot and Datajack to the OP, will wait for a couple more opinions on Lisa - there doesn't seem to be a consensus on that one.

Lisa is a hipster game like Binding of Isaac and Undertail. They don't need publicity and it will make this thread lose credibility. It seems people would like your rules/guidelines for inclusion to the list to be more defined. I would also like clarification myself. I'll repost the way I see it below-

In my opinion since this is in the rpg forum it should only contain proper or mostly proper rpgs (games that are more proper rpgs than any other genre). I would remove Templar Battleforce and replace it with Heroes of Steel since that is close enough to a proper rpg and Templar BF isn't (made by the same guys). I would definitely exclude Legends of Eisenwald and Telepath Tactics. Maybe replace Telepath Tactics with Telepath RPG (which is a good rpg game that needs more exposure)? SitSL is doing well in the poll and frankly if you consider yourself a rpg fan and haven't heard of that you aren't. I can see the console idiots skipping it due to graphics but they must know about it. This is more stuff that the console fans who post news will never post about.

Every hipster knows about Lisa and Undertail and Binding of Isaac and games like that. This isn't about hipster games, but indies rpgs that are pretty good and people who like crpgs may of never heard about due to the bourgeoisie that control the news of this and other gaming sites try to keep everyone focused on console games and hipster shit.

We could definitely start a new post like this in Strategy for games like Templar BF, Legends of Eisenwald, and Telepath Tactics, may as well put Red Solstice in that one too.

We could also start a new hipster post in general gaming for games the hipsters somehow missed because they were too busy playing Dark Souls and Undertail maybe?

And one for Space games with heavy rpg elements would be nice (for games like Star Nomad 2, Void Expanse, Starpoint Gemini, Space Wolves 1-3, all the ones with small scale squads or single character with ship upgrades and character upgrades). I think everyone knows about Drox and Space Rangers unless they are retarded or console fans (to be redundant).

I don't think such purism is a good idea, it's not like the list is super long as it is. If it ever grows too long, I can split it into "pure RPGs" and "hybrids", and then maybe to more defined categories. But so far I think the descriptions give enough information to determine what you're getting.

 

[ghostdog]

FFS this is a thread where people recommend some not well known indies, let's not make it a shitfest about pure rpg definitions and subcategories.

 

[Mortmal]

If you want to find obscure stuff , have a look there http://www.myabandonware.com/browse/genre/role-playing-rpg-5/ ,many titles everyone has forgotten.

 

[Bubbles]

If you want to find obscure stuff , have a look there http://www.myabandonware.com/browse/genre/role-playing-rpg-5/ ,many titles everyone has forgotten.

And please people, don't start complaining that games like Dungeon Siege and Heroes of Might and Magic 2 don't fit the definition of "obscure indie RPG". We have a big tent here.

 

[Mortmal]

Amongst those obscure indie those are in my opinion still worth trying today : http://www.myabandonware.com/game/the-four-crystals-of-trazere-1g6 http://www.myabandonware.com/game/bloodnet-22b
I dont remember them being mentioned ever.This site is a gold mine theres probably something worth trying .

 

[V_K]

Bloodnet and Trazere were commercial releases. For older titles I'd prefer sticking to those classified as shareware or freeware. Bloodnet even got a newspost here for its Steam (or was it GOG?) release, so I wouldn't call it that obscure.
That said, it would certainly be worth the time to explore older games. This post is a reminder to myself to add Cythera and Gates of Skeldal. And on that note, anyone here played Walls of Bratock? Any good?

 

[Whipping Post]

 

[V_K]

Prior to joining the Codex I thought UnReal World was hugely famous, but apparently it's not. Wonder when the Big Update finally hits the shelves.

 

[Scroo]

Wow, Datajack looks quite cool. Great thread

 

[Rahdulan]

I wonder why Unreal World is overlooked even among roguelike fans. Not enough fantasy or is it just those goofy LARP pictures?