Really Obscure RPGs

[AdolfSatan]

For anyone consider giving it a spin, there is one glaring problem with Jewel of Arabia that needs to be pointed out, tho: random encounter rate is way too high, and more often than not it’s boring trash-mobs. The game itself is fun, but only if you’ve got lots of free time and don’t mind wasting it in dealing with tedious battles.

PSA: Finally we have a fixed, non-buggy working version of Prelude to Darkness. It’s one of the greatest RPGs ever. Go play it.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

4. Dark Secrets of Africa, aparently made by Germans. What is interesting is a fresh setting - 19th century colonial Africa

Apparently you can "buy" slaves from the local villages in this game. Warriors to help in battle, workers to pitch tents for healing/etc., and carriers to hold your equipment. Based.

Also found these gems in some blog post review:
"You have to approach the elephant in the room head on when discussing a game like Dark Secrets of Africa, and we're not talking about literal ones like those roaming the continent's jungles. The elephant here is the potentially insensitive portrayal of black Africans during the colonial era. It's a story that portends to be a historical fantasy in the same vein as Indiana Jones or King Solomon's Mines, but there's no getting past the obvious and arguably problematic racial elements."

"They are black men void of any personality or agency programmed to assist the fictional white lead. Even if they were unambiguously slaves, simply adding their voice to the narrative beyond "I need water" may have led to some interesting conversations both in out of the game, but there was little room in 1999 to have such sensitive and emotionally complex topics in this medium. From a 2023 point of view, this seeming lack of awareness is glaring. Back then, the shallowness on display was more or less the norm."

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

13. Dragonfire the Well of Souls - an RPG from Sweden (!) based on their system Dragons and Demons (!!)

Anyone play this? Looks like single character combat from what I've found but I've only seen intro videos. Possibly party-based but not sure. There are 4 preset characters to choose from, with possibility of multiplayer, but don't know if you can have people join your party in single player campaign.

 

[octavius]

4. Dark Secrets of Africa, aparently made by Germans. What is interesting is a fresh setting - 19th century colonial Africa

Apparently you can "buy" slaves from the local villages in this game. Warriors to help in battle, workers to pitch tents for healing/etc., and carriers to hold your equipment. Based.

Also found these gems in some blog post review:


"They are black men void of any personality or agency programmed to assist the fictional white lead. Even if they were unambiguously slaves, simply adding their voice to the narrative beyond "I need water" may have led to some interesting conversations both in out of the game, but there was little room in 1999 to have such sensitive and emotionally complex topics in this medium. From a 2023 point of view, this seeming lack of awareness is glaring. Back then, the shallowness on display was more or less the norm."

NPCs, now that's problematic.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I like Dark Secrets of Africa. Gameplay isn't premium, but the overall atmosphere, the unique setting and the background were fascinating for me. I almost finished it years ago. And I don't give a shit about cultural awareness, sensibility and stuff like that in games so I don't care about "problematic representations". If black porters and warriors were one-dimensional - so is the white adventurer in this game (don't even remember his name). Who cares?

 

[vitellus]

4. Dark Secrets of Africa, aparently made by Germans. What is interesting is a fresh setting - 19th century colonial Africa

Apparently you can "buy" slaves from the local villages in this game. Warriors to help in battle, workers to pitch tents for healing/etc., and carriers to hold your equipment. Based.

Also found these gems in some blog post review:


"They are black men void of any personality or agency programmed to assist the fictional white lead. Even if they were unambiguously slaves, simply adding their voice to the narrative beyond "I need water" may have led to some interesting conversations both in out of the game, but there was little room in 1999 to have such sensitive and emotionally complex topics in this medium. From a 2023 point of view, this seeming lack of awareness is glaring. Back then, the shallowness on display was more or less the norm."

NPCs, now that's problematic.

"totes my god, while i am aware of the technical limitations of the past, they should've thought about judgy faggotry twenty-four years hence"

people nowadays

 

[octavius]

I'm convinced that if a time machine was built today, the first team sent back would be a group of sensitivity experts to correct the past and make it less problematic for a modern audience.

 

[vitellus]

I'm convinced that if a time machine was built today, the first team sent back would be a group of sensitivity experts to correct the past and make it less problematic for a modern audience.

'uh eckskuze me, non-binary appelation Temüjin, you totes can't exterminate this town because they rebelled because of future fee-fees'

 

[JarlFrank]

I'm convinced that if a time machine was built today, the first team sent back would be a group of sensitivity experts to correct the past and make it less problematic for a modern audience.

'uh eckskuze me, non-binary appelation Temüjin, you totes can't exterminate this town because they rebelled because of future fee-fees'

Genghis would imprison these people for their disrespect, have them executed in a way befitting their offense, seize their time machine, send Mongol hordes into the present day, and wipe SJWs from existence.

 

[vitellus]

the only good the abbasids ever did was be obstinant in face of a relentless tide of angry asiatic horsemen.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

23. Amika

To add onto this game: It's only in Cantonese (with random instances of English on menus).

Set in 2035, the global climate changed and US economy crashed. They cut virtually all military spending (apart from Nuclear), as well as civil servants including police. To keep law & order, these jobs were sold out to private parties. This, of course, was taken advantage of by some companies in the "Pan-Asian Republic" which was prospering. A corporation by the name of "Soyi Group" equipped police with cybernetic equipment which essentially made them invincible, which obviously went to shit and within 2 years were too powerful for even the military. Another corporation took this shift in power to make a plan to seize power over the US Government. The prosperous Asian region, however, had many heroic people and a tag team of daredevils was formed and allied themselves with the NSA (National Self-Defence Squads lol, just rebel groups). Pretty diverse group, you have a guy called Sokolov, Ali, Masakazu Takeda, etc.

Combat is turn-based, isometric (as seen in the screenshot) and your party can reach up to 20 people. There are five types of weapons, and an inventory. The in-game command set has: move, attack, defend, mastery (don't know), advance force (don't know), regroup, rest, rest squad, supplies, items, replace team member, etc. with some of these having sub commands.

 

[vazha]

A Farewell to Dragons (also known as Not the Time for Dragons) is also an obscure Russian RPG. It used to be available on Steam but no longer is. The store link leads nowhere.

From what I've read, it's very unfinished. Like, Lionheart level unfinished, only without its Barcelona. Should be available on the high seas, or at least it was last time I checked.

Yeah found it on Adventure Legends now. Yay.

It's not unfinished, but yes, quite buggy.

English version had a nasty bug, that prevented you from finishing the game - the last dialogue in the game bugged out, your account was deleted and saves seemed to vanish. They could be restored though. However, one can find a patch for that online.

PLaying this now. Not too bad, the right kind of janky. Any idea whether it has any way to respec your ability points? I ve made some, lets say, questionable choices.

JarlFrank you might also be able to help methinks

 

[JarlFrank]

@JarlFrank you might also be able to help methinks

No because even if a game has respec options I never use them. So I have no idea.

 

[PeterTheGM797]

Another obscure shitgame that was added to a potato gaming mag once is Dispel. It's a Korean (I think?) Diablo clone. All I remember about it is that it wasn't very good and that it had a gamebreaking bug when you met some kind of Obi Wan Kenobi lookalike.

^ that fucking Napoleon painting, what the hell

That's quite impressive attention to detail. At first i thought it's a badly drawn reproduction of similar David's painting but it's actually Ingres "Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne".
Perhaps the inhabitant of the room is supposed to be of Bonapartist / Hunter hybrid class ?

Seriously though the addition of a painting like that could be a very nice touch. If everything else didn't look so cheap.

Bonapartist/Hunter class... love it

Ok... now it's time... for some more obscure shit! So, here they go:

Blade and Sword - a chinese Diablo clone. Only single player! I think the most fresh idea of this game is presenting health and mana in a single yin and yang symbol, not as two separate orbs.

Spoiler

Boiling Point: Road to Hell - I guess it's similar to already mentioned in this thread White Gold: War in Paradise? This time it was not made by the Russians but by Ukrainians.

Spoiler

Chicago 1930 - tactical RPG (real time) in mafia-infested prohibition era. Fresh setting.

Spoiler

Fall: the last days of Gaia - Fallout: Shovelware Edition

Spoiler

Gun - a western RPG, about gunslingers and shit

Spoiler

Harbinger - hack & slash but this time in SPACE!

Spoiler

Knights of the Temple 2 - an action RPG in historical setting, crusades

Spoiler

I know this is old as all hell but can you tell me where I can find "Gun?"

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

I know this is old as all hell but can you tell me where I can find "Gun?"

Mobygames
Wikipedia
Steam
GOG

Mobygames is always your friend.

If you can't find what you're searching for on mobygames, old-games.ru hasn't failed me with reviews and links most of the time (just need to translate the page if you don't speak Russian). You'll be able to search better once you get the developer and other info to find ENG versions if you're ever searching for another obscure game.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I know this is old as all hell but can you tell me where I can find "Gun?"

Abandonware sites most likely. buy it from GOG for a few pennies

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

I know this is old as all hell but can you tell me where I can find "Gun?"

Abandonware sites most likely.

Is my link not the game? It's on both gog and steam

 

[Lord_Potato]

I know this is old as all hell but can you tell me where I can find "Gun?"

Abandonware sites most likely.

Is my link not the game? It's on both gog and steam

Ah, yes, it's on GOG now.

 

[JarlFrank]

I know this is old as all hell but can you tell me where I can find "Gun?"

Abandonware sites most likely.

Is my link not the game? It's on both gog and steam

Ah, yes, it's on GOG now.

For some reason not available on either Steam or GoG in my country.

I hate this place

 

[Lord_Potato]

Ah, yes, it's on GOG now.

For some reason not available on either Steam or GoG in my country.

I hate this place

But... why? There's neither porn nor swastikas in this game. It's just a western shooter with light rpg elements. So what could have triggered the Germans?

 

[JarlFrank]

Ah, yes, it's on GOG now.

For some reason not available on either Steam or GoG in my country.

I hate this place

But... why? There's neither porn nor swastikas in this game. It's just a western shooter with light rpg elements. So what could have triggered the Germans?

Back in the day, "violent" games were labeled 18+ quite often and not available for purchase unless you asked your dealer to provide it under the counter. Legal to sell but not to advertise.

Nowadays, Germany is a lot more lax on this. Hyperviolent modern games are ok, and even swastikas are fine now!

But when it comes to old games that were banned back in the day... well, they haven't been unbanned because the authorities don't go back to re-evaluate old games. Companies would have to re-submit the games for validation, and most companies don't even know about it. So a lot of older games are blocked from sale here.

That includes stuff as tame as Doom 2 lmao.

 

[luj1]

• The Banished
• Mistmare
• Another War
• Shadow Vault
• Vampire Hunters
• Archangel
• Dragonfire: The Well of Souls
• Anito- Defend the Land Enraged
• World of Chaos
• Paradise Cracked
• Dark Secrets of Africa
• Morning's Wrath
• Blind Justice
• Icarus, Sanctuary of the Gods
• Metal Hearts: Replicant's Rampage
• Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon

Anyone heard about these? I only heard about Gorasul and maybe (?) Vampire Hunters

 

[Modron]

Heard of 95% of them, have I played any? Maybe I pirated and tried Paradise Cracked back then briefly before deciding it wasn't for me and the demo for Another War which was pretty decent but I hear the game degrades after that like Lionheart.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

• The Banished
• Mistmare
• Another War
• Shadow Vault
• Vampire Hunters
• Archangel
• Dragonfire: The Well of Souls
• Anito- Defend the Land Enraged
• World of Chaos
• Paradise Cracked
• Dark Secrets of Africa
• Morning's Wrath
• Blind Justice
• Icarus, Sanctuary of the Gods
• Metal Hearts: Replicant's Rampage
• Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon

Anyone heard about these? I only heard about Gorasul and maybe (?) Vampire Hunters

Check the RPGs list thread pinned on first page of the forum, I've added many of these. If you need more info just let me know which one.

Archangel and Dark Secrets of Africa had some discussion a page or two back about.

World of Chaos I'm currently translating and started a LP (which is delayed because I haven't had access to my PC). German ISO in my sig, but I have russian translation too.

World of Chaos I know most about because I had a long discussion about it with the project manager I tracked down on LinkedIn, who also sent me an extra original copy he had for free. Great guy.

 

[Lord_Potato]

• The Banished
• Mistmare
• Another War
• Shadow Vault
• Vampire Hunters
• Archangel
• Dragonfire: The Well of Souls
• Anito- Defend the Land Enraged
• World of Chaos
• Paradise Cracked
• Dark Secrets of Africa
• Morning's Wrath
• Blind Justice
• Icarus, Sanctuary of the Gods
• Metal Hearts: Replicant's Rampage
• Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon

Anyone heard about these? I only heard about Gorasul and maybe (?) Vampire Hunters

Another War, Gorasul - completed, there are short reviews in my sig.

Tried most of the others but they didn't seem interesting enough to continue. One day, when I have lots of free time I might try to soldier through Mistmare, Anito, Metalheart.

Blind Justice is I think broken, like, there is no working version available online. You always get an error upon leaving the first location or something.

Archangel might have been a fun action rpg but its controls are wooden.